Tanker torpor despite Iraq'events'

摘要

The declines in tanker earnings noted last week have slowed. For VLCCs in particular the market might now have reached its nadir, at least for two or three weeks. However, just when the market appears to be settling into a more predictable pattern 'events' occur to give the market the jitters. On Saturday 24 April, three small vessels packed with explosives blew up near Iraq's al-Basra and Khor al-Amaya export oil terminals. Exports from both terminals were stopped pending inspections for structural damage. The Khor al-Amaya terminal reopened the following day, but the al-Basra terminal remained closed until Monday, with officials saying the facilities had suffered a power cut due to generator and power cable damage from the incident.