Saudis Make Rare Supertanker Bookings to Carry Flood of Oil
Saudi Arabia’s biggest tanker company booked a batch of ships to transport the kingdom’s crude to U.S. customers in what shipbrokers say is a highly unusual step for the company.
National Shipping Co., also known as Bahri, has booked around five Very Large Crude Carriers to load supplies this month from Saudi Arabia’s main oil ports bound for the U.S. Gulf, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The supertankers, which each can carry about 2 million barrels of oil, include Dalian, Agios Sostis and Hong Kong Spirit, they said. There is a chance that the preliminary bookings could fail.
It’s a rare move for Bahri, which has typically relied on its own fleet to deliver oil around the world. A shipbroker involved in booking the vessels said he couldn’t recall Bahri booking supertankers in the spot market for Middle East-to-U.S. Gulf voyages for several years....MORE
