Even though the front end of the cash and carry contango trade has been moving up faster than the out months there is still $5.50 between the front May's and the third-month August contract, more than enough to cover insurance and tanker lease, that is if you can find a tanker to lease.It still seems very low.
Glencore supposedly got the world's second-largest tanker, TI Europe for $1.1 million per month which seems very low considering the ship holds 3.1 mm/bbl...
We never saw a correction from Reuters or gCaptain so maybe it was an accurate price. Either way, we'll give them another shot. From Reuters via gCaptain, March 30:
Supertanker freight rates are on the rise for a second time this month as producers, refiners and traders scramble to secure ships to transport crude or store a fast-growing global glut of oil, industry sources said.And some of the stocks (all via FinViz):
Freight rates for very large crude-oil carriers (VLCC) along the Middle East Gulf to China route were assessed at about $180,000 a day on Monday, up from some $125,000 on Friday and a weekly low of about $90,000 a day on Wednesday, according to several ship broking sources.
“Its difficult to say whether or not the rates will be sustained, or at what levels, but generally looking at Saudi’s export plans for the coming months at more than 10 million barrels per day (bpd) – as well as the demand for floating storage – then you can expect freight rates to remain strong,” said Anoop Singh, head of tanker research in Asia at Braemar ACM Shipbroking.
“But how strong is the question,” said Singh, adding that forward prices for VLCCs for the second quarter were trading at some $170,000 a day for the Middle East to China route...MORE
