Surplus oil tankers vie for cargoes
There are 22.5 per cent more very large crude carriers for hire over the next 30 days than there are likely cargoes
Dubai: A glut of oil tankers competing for Middle East crude expanded as demand for the vessels slowed.
There are 22.5 per cent more very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, for hire over the next 30 days than there are likely cargoes, according to the median in a Bloomberg News survey of five shipbrokers and owners.
That compares with a 12.5 per cent excess on July 26. VLCCs can ship two-million barrel cargoes.
Demand has been "low" for the past week, causing the excess to build, Nikos Varvaropoulos, a Dubai-based official at Optima Shipbroker Ltd, said.
Owners are contending with a fleet that is expanding at more than twice the speed of demand.
