Source : Bloomberg
Europe’s threat to ban cargoes from Iran over the nation’s nuclear ambitions is helping push Middle East oil-tanker hiring to a record on concern shipments from the region will be disrupted, consultant FACTS Global Energy said.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows how oil tankers booked to load 2 million-barrel cargoes of Gulf crude climbed to 140 in December, the most since at least January 2005, according to data from London-based shipbroker Galbraith’s Ltd. European Union foreign ministers will meet Jan. 30 to discuss possible sanctions to pressure Iran to abandon a suspected nuclear weapons program.
EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said Dec. 6 the 27-nation bloc may have reached a consensus on imposing a ban. Greece blocked the measure at a summit on Dec. 1.
“Fear of potential Iranian sanctions has contributed greatly to the increased shipments from the Persian Gulf,” adding to seasonal gains in the last two months of the year, said FACTS analystRoy Jordan, previously an oil trader at Royal Dutch Shell Plc, where he worked for more than 30 years. “Some of the refiners around the world are undoubtedly beginning to get a little bit concerned about a reduction in exports.”
Oil traded in New York climbed the most in almost a month on Dec. 13 after a report said Iran would hold military drills in the Strait of Hormuz, a shipping lane handling a fifth of the world’s crude shipments. Cargoes from the Persian Gulf grew 13 percent this year as demand from Asian refineries accelerated.
Charters reflect single voyage or spot tanker bookings, not shipments arranged on longer-term freight contracts.
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