Hellenic Shipping News: Tanker Market Will Keep on Climbing if Tonnage Supply is Kept Under Control

02 Mar 2015: “According to the latest weekly report from Poten & Partners, ‘there is an expectation that a significant number of large crude oil tankers will be employed in floating storage as a result of a widening contango in the oil markets. As these vessels leave the spot market, spot rates will experience another boost. Going forward, some of the key questions are (1) how much excess oil is in the market, (2) where will it be stored, (3) how long can this imbalance last and (4) what happens next?’, said the shipbroker and market analyst. “Poten said that an important driver of the oil markets is the volume of the ‘overhang’, i.e. by how much does oil supply exceed demand? At the moment, global oil demand estimates range from 92.3 million barrels per day (b/d) to 93.4 million b/d, a difference of 1.1 million b/d, based on the organization one chooses to follow. The projections for total oil supply show similar variations.”