Nordic American Tankers Ltd (NAT)

[conix]

Supertanker earnings flip from boom to bust as glut set to persist -

Bloomberg

Sep. 4, 2020

Carl Surran, SA News Editor

Oil supertankers - which just six months ago enjoyed a windfall as the pandemic cut demand for crude and traders raced to book vessels to store the resulting glut - now earn the lowest in nearly two-and-a-half years.

The tankers which can haul 2M barrels of oil are now earning just $6,100/day on the benchmark route from the Middle East to China, Bloomberg reports, vs. a $250K dayrate on the same journey back in March.

The boom-to-bust comes as the oil demand recovery slows and the OPEC+ alliance continues to cut production, reducing the need for tankers, and top oil importer China has slowed its purchases following a buying binge when oil was cheap.

"The return of vessels from floating storage and reduced port congestion is putting pressure on rates," Clarkson Platou analysts write, adding that "an improvement of crude oil trade will have to wait until oil stock levels have come down before OPEC+ opens its tap."