Tanker Rates At Fifteen Year Low

Oil supertanker rates have slumped to a fifteen year low this week as Iraq's export boycott exacerbates a shortage of crude on the seas. That has halted a rally in shares of companies such as Frontline, the biggest oil ship owner, which almost doubled from November to March on expectations of a rebound in oil demand. Frontline has fallen 5.6 percent this week, rival Bergesen fell 2.9 percent. Tanker tariffs as measured by World Scale points, the industry standard, dipped to WS 28 on Wednesday for 250,000 tons of crude moving from the Middle East to Japan. That is seventy percent less than the rate a year ago. Frontline's very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, are earning less than $8,000 a day, shipbrokers said. The break even rate for such ships is $21,000. “VLCC owners experienced yet another disastrous week,” Norwegian shipbroker Fearnleys said in a research report. “The prospects of any turnaround in the immediate future appear rather bleak.” Visit to &to=http://www.neftegaz.ru' target=_blank>NEFTEGAZ