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The energy sector has been one of the most affected by the crisis of the coronavirus, with the price of a barrel of Brent falling 40% in dollars and West Texas, reference USA, 39%. However, the market of the ‘tankers’ has been a significant rise, despite the fact that several sectors of the maritime industry have been severely affected by the closing of ports and the fall of the demand.
The excess supply of crude oil and other fuel products, led by Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members, has been compounded by the demand severely decreased caused by the mandatory quarantine. This and the lack of storage on land to accommodate the excess oil products has caused the rates of the ‘tankers’ to increase astronomically.
In mid-march, the freight rates for oil tankers of crude oil of great size, also known as supertanqueros (VLCC), have surged nearly 10 times after Russia and Saudi Arabia said it would boost production, thereby initiating a price war that led to a fall in the oil prices. In such a way that in the first half of 2020, the daily rate of transportation of crude oil averaged $68,600 in key routes.
Today, these rates have returned to around $30,000 and is expected to worsen even more. BP, for example, recently posted to a carrier of crude oil (VLCC) Gene the daily rate of transportation of crude oil to To 20,500 dollars for three months and has the option of extending for a further three months to $ 22,000 per day.
On the other hand, the main traders of oil as Trafigura, Vitol, Litasco and Glencore they are once again booking tankers to store millions of barrels of crude oil and refined fuels in the sea with the global economic recovery from the pandemic coronavirus that shows signs of stagnation.
The booking of the ‘tankers’ has risen in a context in which the Brent contango has widened to around $3 per barrel compared to $2 per barrel last month. Low supply of ‘tankers’ and growing contango help support storage supertanqueros.
*** Igor Kuchma analyst at Trading View.