The “big ones are on the move”. Taking to Twitter yesterday, Lars Barstad, CEO of tanker giant Frontline, noted the “quite amazing” US oil exports by VLCC slated for March.
Citing data from Kpler, US oil exports to East Asia this month are set to be 56% higher than February, and three times the 2022 monthly average.
The giant wave of crude leaving US shores will see many VLCCs taken out of the market for two to three months, ballasting from other locations.
Last week saw the highest US’ crude oil exports ever in history, according to data from Lorentzen & Co.
“More US crude oil is entering the international market just as Russian output has hit pre-sanction levels and OPEC production is also increasing. That is leaving ample supplies, but also competition, not only to Europeans strapped of Russian volumes but also the hungry buyers in India and China,” stated a daily markets report from Lorentzen & Co.
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Weighing on the changed tanker market fortunes this year as global trade patterns are reshaped following sanctions against Russia, Maritime Strategies International noted in a new report that it is not just the Russia/Europe dynamic that is changing. China’s intake of Middle Eastern crude has been falling despite its opening up from covid restrictions and the country is taking in more Urals crude from Russia but also American-sourced barrels.
