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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (43873)	12/14/2008 5:22:54 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 219582

"at least 24 million barrels of crude on oil tankers around the world, to take advantage of the steep contango in oil futures prices, traders say. Koch ups oil tanker storage in US Gulf to 10 mln bbls Wed Dec 10, 2008 11:41am LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - U.S. oil firm Koch Supply and Trading has booked two more Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) to store crude offshore in the U.S. Gulf, shipping analysts and brokers said on Wednesday. The latest booking ups the amount of crude earmarked for "floating storage" in the region by the trading house to 10 million barrels, the industry sources said. Oil majors and independent trading houses are storing at least 24 million barrels of crude on oil tankers around the world, to take advantage of the steep contango in oil futures prices, traders say. Shipping analysts said Koch had so far taken the Front Champion for nine months, the Songa Chelsea for six months, the Front Commander for five months, the Mercury Glory for eight months time-charters with storing options in the last few weeks. Reuters had previously reported Koch booking the Dubai Titan for storage beginning on December 8. A sixth VLCC taken by the oil trader was recently failed, they said. Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), oil trader Vitol and an unnamed oil trading house have also booked VLCCs to store millions of barrels of oil in the last three to four weeks. Speculation is rife that Iran has also marshalled up to six of its own VLCCs for off-shore storage around Kharg Island in the Gulf. However, industry sources point out that Iran is known to regularly anchor at least two of its own tanker fleet off Kharg year round. Shipping brokers have said the trend to store crude on oil tankers, which they described as significant, has helped lift crude freight prices on major export routes. (Reporting by Stefano Ambrogi; editing by James Jukwey)