Reuters: Asia Crude Buying to Drive Tanker Trade in 2011

“Chinese and Indian crude oil buyers will drive activity on larger tankers in the coming months and rates are expected to hover slightly below historical averages, leading brokerage Poten & Partners said on Tuesday. Earlier this month firm crude buying by China helped earnings for very large crude carriers on the benchmark Middle East Gulf to Japan route rise to their highest in four months. ‘The projections are that U.S. demand will stay relatively flat or grow a small amount and Chinese demand will increase at a significantly more rapid pace than U.S. demand,’ Jeffrey Goetz, managing director with the New York headquartered brokerage and consulting firm, told Reuters in an interview. “Earlier this year Poten announced its move into providing broking services in the over-the-counter derivatives market which includes crude oil options and ethanol as well as wet freight derivatives, known as FFAs. ‘We decided to open a financial brokerage desk to complement our historically strong physical shipping and energy coverage,’ chief operating officer Steven Garten told Reuters. ‘We are getting ready to launch a natural gas desk in the first quarter of next year. . . We are looking to expand it to London and Singapore as soon as we find people who share our vision. We will grow as fast as we can or as slowly as we have to,’ Garten said.”