Summary:
Crude oil prices rose quite sharply in June, they started the month on about $66 and ended the month at nearly $80 per barrel. As a result, crude oil trade increased and went up by 9% month on month in June. All the other tanker cargoes did well too. Oil products went up 6%, LNG went up 12% and LPG went up 5%. Even chemicals went up by 16%. 147 million tonnes of crude oil were traded in June, the highest volume this year. India, South Korea and USA were among the larger import volumes for this month.
Oil product trade has been building all year and the strongest two groups are gas oil and gasoline. Gas oil trade was 31 million tonnes compared to 25 million tonnes a year ago. Gasoline was 22 million tonnes compared to 14 million tonnes a year ago. Gasoline imports into the USA were at 4.2 million tonnes, this trade has been strengthening all year. Jet fuel is continuing to improve marginally with more volumes heading into Europe.