Oil-Tanker Slump Seen Worsening Amid Record U.S. Crude Growth

The market for tankers carrying crude will extend a slump this year because U.S. oil production is growing at the fastest pace on record, according to Jefferies Group Inc.
Earnings for very large crude carriers, the biggest tankers that each haul 2 million barrels of oil, will average $14,000 daily in 2013, compared with $18,564 in 2012 and $100,600 in 2008, the New York-based investment bank said in a report sent by e-mail.
Oil inventories are near a 20-year high in the U.S., the largest importer, and domestic production is increasing the most since at least 1859, Jefferies said. As domestic output curbs demand for crude carriers, it’s also helping spur record U.S. exports of refined petroleum this year, lifting demand for the product tanker fleet by 3 percent to 4 percent, it said.
Hire costs for the fleet of 1,300 Handymax product tankers, that carry the most refined-oil products, will gain to $15,000 a day in 2013 from $12,890 last year, according to Jefferies. Rates averaged $28,375 in 2008, the bank said.
Crude tanker rates may rally again next year provided global growth quickens and the economies of Europe and the U.S. improve, according to Jefferies.
Source: Bloomberg