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ASIAN
oil-product tanker rates may extend a decline next week
as maintenance work on plants by refiners such as Nippon
Oil Corp. and S-Oil Corp. reduced cargoes for
shipment.
The cost
of transporting 55,000 metric tons of fuel to Japan from
the Middle East dropped to Worldscale 152.88 Saturday, a
3.4-percent decline, according to the London-based
Baltic Exchange. The rate is the lowest level since June
29.
“At the
moment, nobody can stop this downtrend as there are just
too many vessels,’’ Arata Uga, a shipbroker at Matsui &
Co. in Japan, said by phone from Tokyo. Twenty-nine
vessels are waiting for cargo in Fujairah in the United
Arab Emirates for end-November shipments, Uga said.
Two
oil-product tankers with a total capacity of 159,503
deadweight tons are scheduled to arrive in Singapore
next week, compared with this week’s four with a
combined capacity of 206,187 deadweight tons, according
to Bloomberg data.
“Even
though there was an increase in activity in the products
market east of Suez this week, this did not necessarily
translate into higher rates for shipowners,’’ Oslo-based
Fearnleys AS said in an October 24 report. “There was
little to indicate that any dramatic improvements are to
be expected any time soon in the east of
Suez market.’’
Japan oil stocks
Oil
inventories in
Japan,
the world’s third-largest oil consumer, rose to 15.2
million kiloliters (129.5 million barrels) last week
from 15 million kiloliters a week earlier, the Petroleum
Association of Japan said October 24.
South Korea,
Asia’s biggest gasoil seller, may keep November exports
of the fuel little changed as refiners delay plans to
switch to kerosene production because of warm weather,
company officials said.
SK
Energy Co., GS Caltex Corp., S-Oil Corp. and Hyundai
Oilbank Co. will sell between 7.6 million and 8.1
million barrels of gas oil in line with October’s plan,
said officials who declined to be identified because of
company rules. The refiners typically cut gas-oil output
and raise production of kerosene, a heating fuel, before
the Northern Hemisphere
winter.
The
following is a table of rates to charter smaller tankers
capable of carrying less than 1 million barrels of crude
oil or oil products on Asian routes as of October 25,
according to the Baltic Exchange:
The
rates above are in Worldscale points, which are a
percentage of a nominal, or flat rate, for a specific
route. Flat rates, quoted in US dollars a ton, are
revised yearly by the Worldscale Association in London
to reflect changing fuel costs, port tariffs and
exchange rates.
---Bloomberg |
