Maritime Shipping Weekly:Shifting Tides

Oil Tankers

    Nigeria bans specific oil tankers from calling on its portsThe Nigerian state oil company (NNPC) last week banned 113 oil tankers,primarily VLCCs, from calling on Nigerian oil terminals. The ban wasreportedly due to a crackdown on oil theft and corruption in the country, asit’s alleged that there were discrepancies between loading and dischargefigures. Intertanko strongly opposes the ban, pointing out that some of theships haven’t called on Nigeria ports in years, and some haven't called atall. Regardless, if the ban holds we believe this could have a positive effecton the tanker market, as the ban would artificially reduce local supply offWest Africa and decrease trading efficiencies, effectively lowering theoverall supply potential of the fleet.

    Push for repeal of crude export ban continues

    The Senate Energy committee released a bill last week that did not includelegislation that would repeal the ban on exporting crude oil. Nevertheless,Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Alaskan Senator who has been championinga repeal of the law, said she intends to have the panel vote before Augustrecess (August 7th) on a bill that includes oil exports. Regardless, debate inCongress over repealing the ban continues to grow, especially after the Irandeal was announced. We continue to view a repeal of the ban as asignificant positive for smaller crude tanker, with neutral to slightlynegative effects for product tankers.

    EURN and ASC remain our top picks in the sector.