TradeWinds News: ‘Influx’ of tankers from floating storage pressure spot rates

June 11, 2020

In a webinar held on Thursday, Poten & Partners’ global tanker research and consulting manager Erik Broekhuizen also said the amount of oil stored at sea is peaking.

“Crude oversupply has been reduced and concern about land storage has dissipated,” Broekhuizen said.

“The contango play is no longer attractive…The unwinding of floating storage will be a headwind for the tanker market.”

However, using a different methodology, Lloyd’s List Intelligence (LLI) suggested the quantities of crude stored on tankers were still rising and breached the 250m-barrel market as of 5 June.

The Informa unit considers vessels stationery for at least 10 days in loading areas and 20 days in discharge terminals as being utilised for floating storage.

According to LLI data provided by Poten, 52 VLCCs were used to store oil as of 5 June, up 11 over the past week.

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