I don't have a dog in this fight but if I did it would have been a very "short" dog.
You're upset with the CEO but there isnt a CEO of a tanker company on the planet that could have navigated his way around the contango situation which in turn made offshore storage no longer economical. Need proof? Look at a 5 year chart of NAT and what you will see is a sudden and steady rise in NATs' pps beginning in the fall of 2014. What triggered that was OPECs' announcement it would NOT be cutting production..and nobody saw that coming. In fact the Saudi's not only didnt cut production, as they normally would have, they announced they would be increasing production.
The Saudi's were effectively declaring war on US domestic oil producers...many of whom had a debt structure that could only be sustained IF oil stayed in the $100+ @ bbl range. Over 65 domestic produers would declare bankruptcy over the next 2 years but thats another story.
What ensued after the OPEC decision was a sudden worldwide glut of oil. US producers were pumping record amounts ...so was Russia...South America, Africa, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, etc. Etc. The world was drowing in crude... so much so that one of the only places left to put it was on a ship/tanker or a tanker train. Subsequent (and very lucrative) storage fees for ship owners were like pennies from heaven for an otherwise listless and sinking tanker industry.
Contrary to a popular notion you cannot store crude on a tanker forever. Ships are the last choice for long term crude storage. What immediately began next in 2015 was a worldwide effort to build more land based storage facilities. What effect do you think that had on the dudes with ships! Land based storage is far cheaper. Those good times for NAT et al didnt last long and the pps has been declining ever since.
Blame the CEO if you want but the fact is when you own a bunch of empty tankers that hold only one type of cargo sitting in ports all over the world paying mooring fees its a tough way to earn a living.
A new CEO couldn't change the oil shipping situation. I'm sorry man but it is what it is. Good luck.
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