Summary:
Crude oil comes off the boil in June as prices start to rise again and production gradually decreases. Q2 is 1% ahead of the previous year and June volumes are just below volumes this time one year ago. It’s interesting to note that China has been sucking up all the extra volumes. In June they imported 48.1 million tonnes which is 15 million tonnes more than June last year.
Altogether an impressive performance and tanker operators have made their money in the first half of the year. One broker I spoke to this week believes the next 12-18 months will be subpar. We will of course be monitoring the decline closely.