Top Reported Dirty Spot Charterers for 2014
According to Poten & Partners, Unipec remains number one in the overall ranking of reported dirty spot charterers for 2014.
With 815 reported fixtures, they represented 7.8% of the total dirty spot market activity, again edging oil major Shell, which retained 2nd place with 758 fixtures. Oil trader Vitol moved up one spot and replaced BP in the top 3. One new entrant in the top 20 was Italian oil company ENI, which moved up to no. 15, while U.S. refiner Valero dropped out of the top 20 in 2014.
Top 10 VLCC Spot Charterers
Unipec further expanded its dominant position in VLCCs (see chart above). With 566 reported fixtures they represented 28.4% of the reported VLCC spot market in 2014. This is more than the next 5 largest VLCC charterers combined! Together, Chinese companies cover approximately 40% of the reported spot VLCC spot market.
Top 10 Suezmax Spot Charterers
In the Suezmax market, the reported spot market fixtures are more evenly distributed among the main charterers, with none of the companies having a market share greater than 10%. Chevron is leading the pack (up significantly from No. 5 in 2013), with other integrated oil companies, BP, Shell, Repsol, Total (CSSA) and ExxonMobil, following closely behind. Vitol represents the trading community in 5th place, while Unipec is the first non-Western charterer at number 8.
Top 10 Aframax Spot Charterers
In the Aframax market, dirty fixtures continue to be dominated by Atlantic basin charterers with Shell, Vitol and BP taking the top spots. However, charterers from Russia and the Former Soviet Union are also a notable presence in the Aframax segment, due to companies like Litasco, Socar and Clearlake moving significant volumes of crude and fuel oil in traditional Aframax markets like the Baltic and Black Sea.
Poten expects an interesting year in the oil and tanker market. With the rapid decline in oil prices and a healthy rate environment, we are off to a good start!
Source and Image Credit: Poten