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Tanker Market
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OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report – June 2016
Tanker Market
Dirty tanker market sentiment weakened in May as average spot freight rates
dropped on most reported routes. On average, dirty tanker freight rates dropped
by 4% from the previous month, mainly on the back of lower rates registered for
VLCC and Suezmax, which dropped by 7% and 15%, respectively. Freight rates
declined on all reported routes from the previous year and month. However,
Aframax spot freight rates saw bright spots, rising by around 6% on average as a
result of an active market and premiums paid mainly in the Mediterranean.
Clean spot freight rates showed a mixed performance in May, dropping on
average. They were mainly affected by lower rates in West of Suez, while those in
East of Suez remained mostly flat from the month before.
Spot fixtures
Preliminary data for May shows that OPEC spot fixtures dropped by 3.6%, compared
with the previous month, to average 11.49 mb/d. Global spot fixtures declined as well
by 2.4% in May, compared with the previous month, to average 16.6 mb/d. Fixtures on
the Middle East-to-East route were down by 2.2% and on the Middle East-to-West
routes by 0.5 mb/d. In general, global chartering activity showed a drop of 12.6% from
the same month one year earlier on reported destinations.
Table 7.1: Tanker chartering, sailings and arrivals, mb/d
Sailings and arrivals
OPEC sailings dropped by 0.28 mb/d, or 1.2%, in May from a month ago while
remaining up by 0.17 mb/d from a year before. Sailings from the Middle East dropped
from the previous month by 0.29 mb/d and from one year earlier by 0.06 mb/d.
According to preliminary data, arrivals at main importing regions in North American and
West Asian ports showed an increase from a month earlier, rising by 0.4%, and 2.8%,
respectively, from the previous month. In contrast, vessel arrivals in the Far East and
Europe declined from a month earlier by 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively.
Change
Mar 16
Apr 16
May 16
May 16/Apr 16
Spot Chartering
All areas
17.68
17.01
16.60
-0.41
OPEC
12.19
11.92
11.49
-0.43
Middle East/East
5.22
5.44
5.32
-0.12
Middle East/West
3.23
3.19
2.68
-0.50
Outside Middle East
3.74
3.29
3.49
0.20
Sailings
OPEC
24.08
24.27
23.99
-0.28
Middle East
17.50
17.67
17.38
-0.29
Arrivals
North America
10.00
9.95
9.99
0.04
Europe
12.57
12.51
12.46
-0.05
Far East
8.52
8.46
8.43
-0.03
West Asia
4.62
4.70
4.83
0.13
Source: Oil Movements.