Monday, July 27, 2020

Platts' Commodity Tracker—5 charts to watch this week: "2. [tanker] Freight rates start to slump as oil rebounds"

From S&P Global Platts: 

2. [tanker] Freight rates start to slump as oil rebounds

Freight vs Brent crude price
What’s happening? Tanker freight rates nosedived after experiencing a floating storage bonanza in April which saw rates for VLCCs on a WAF-East voyage near record-highs of over $70/mt in early April.  A pick up in crude demand has seen Dated Brent prices recover from the April lows, but on the sea, this has served to worsen floating storage economics.

What’s next? According to S&P Global Platts Analytics, freight rates on the dirty tankers market will likely remain under pressure until OPEC+ cuts are reversed. OPEC and its allies aim to ease its 9.7 million b/d production cut to 7.7 million b/d in August, but even then, it remains to be seen how the improved production profile translates into seaborne exports.
Go deeper: Infographic – Floating storage and volatile tanker markets
...MUCH MORE

HT: ZH

Related, July 23:
Shipping: "Tanker rate puzzle gets even harder to solve"