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THE cost
of shipping Middle East crude to Asia, the world’s
busiest market for supertankers, may rise for a 13th
day, its longest winning streak since March, as owners’
confidence strengthens.
A rally
in rental rates that started November 12 began because
of a lack of vessels on specific dates and has now
become “sentiment driven,” Per Mansson at Nor Ocean
Stockholm AB said in an e-mailed note.
Refineries will ship as many as 115 cargoes in December,
the tanker broker said.
That
would mean the number of ships that can reach the
region’s ports will be about double demand, based on
data on November 29 from Paris-based shipbroker Barry
Rogliano Salles.
Royal
Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s biggest oil company, hired the
tanker Universal Brave at a rate of as much as 164
Worldscale points for a cargo to
South Korea,
according to a report from Athens-based Optima
Shipbrokers on November 29.
That’s
7.5 percent above the London-based Baltic Exchange’s
assessment of 152.5 points for a voyage to Asia.
Universal Brave is fitted with two steel hulls to cut
the risk of an oil spill.
The
exchange assessment also takes into account single-hull
ships that are cheaper to hire.
Worldscale points are a percentage of a nominal rate, or
flat rate, for more than 320,000 specific routes.
Flat
rates for every voyage, quoted in US dollars a ton, are
revised annually by the Worldscale Association in
London
to reflect changing fuel costs, port tariffs and
exchange rates.
Each
flat rate assessment gives owners and oil companies a
starting point for negotiating hire rates without having
to calculate the value of each deal from scratch.
At 152.5
Worldscale points, owners of double-hulled very large
crude carriers, or VLCCs, can earn about $119,300 a day
on a 38-day round- trip from Saudi Arabia to South
Korea, based on a formula by RS Platou, an Oslo-based
shipbroker, and Bloomberg marine fuel prices.
Frontline Ltd., the world’s biggest VLCC operator, said
November 15 it needs $30,000 a day to break even on each
of its supertankers.
Bookings
for VLCCs sailing from the
Middle East to
Asia account for 47 percent of global demand for the carriers,
according to New York-based McQuilling Brokerage
Partners Llp.
Shipments to the
US
and Caribbean, the second-biggest market, account for 14
percent of demand for supertankers.
Saudi
Aramco is selling its crude to US refiners for
collection in December at the cheapest ever compared
with West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark.
Forward
freight agreements, contracts that are a precursor for
the future cost of shipping crude, climbed 3 percent to
112 Worldscale points for the first quarter of next
year, according to data from PVM Oil Associates
Singapore on November 29.
Forty-nine VLCCs can reach the
Middle East by December 28, according to Barry Rogliano.
Based on
115 total cargoes in December, shippers, who’ve already
hired tankers to haul 88 cargoes, need to find 27 more
ships, according to the shipbroker’s data. (Bloomberg) |
