Crude Tanker

摘要

There will be no major respite for crude tanker owners over thenext couple of months as freight rates will remain weak becauseof subdued demand. Low refinery runs in Europe and the US duringthe spring maintenance season will hurt tonnage demand in the crudetanker market, capping any surge in rates. About 1 mbpd refinerycapacity in Europe was under maintenance in February, with another900 kbpd refinery capacity expected to go offline for maintenancefrom March to July. In China, a spell of heavy refinery maintenance isscheduled in April that will also hurt tonnage demand in the VLCCmarket. Moreover, a surge in crude oil inventories in China in recentmonths will cap the country’s imports over the next couple of months.For any significant recovery in demand, owners will have to wait for therally in refinery runs ahead of the summer driving season.