Lloyd’s List: Shifting Trade Patterns Bolster Product Tankers in Atlantic Basin

“Profound changes have occurred in Atlantic basin product tanker trades over the last year; changes that most commentators agree have provided a vital boost to the industry at a straitened time for tankers sorely in need of any morsel of positive news. . . . With cargoes also heading in ever greater volumes from the US Gulf to Latin America to meet that region’s rampant development programmes, US exports exceeded imports for the first time in more than 60 years in 2011. The rise in exports from the US is due to the US having more domestic oil to refine as a result of greater volumes of oil extracted from its shale rock, leading to a surplus of product for export. Also, the US has been receiving more oil imports from Canada’s tar sands, which last year topped 2m bpd for the first time. On top of that, US domestic consumption of refined oil products is down, largely due to better fuel efficiency in vehicles, which has sharpened the focus on the export market from the US. ‘As domestic consumption in the US continues to languish, it can be expected that new US refining capacity will push additional product into foreign markets,’ says Poten & Partners.”