Mitsubishi Unit Books Tanker to Ship Gabon Crude Oil to Japan

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

17 May 2008

Petro-Diamond Inc., a unit of Mitsubishi Corp., will ship a cargo of Gabonese crude oil to Japan this month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Petro-Diamond booked the Suezmax tanker Cape Balder to load about 1 million barrels of Gabonese crude from Gamba port on May 19, Bloomberg data showed. The trader paid a Worldscale rate of 225 for the tanker, the data showed. Gabon's Rabi crude blends including Rabi Light are typically exported from Gamba, according to data compiled by Energy Intelligence Research. Rabi crude can be used in power plants to generate electricity, Energy Intelligence said.
Japan typically imports crude oil from Indonesia and Vietnam for electricity generation. Asia's biggest crude oil importer has also bought Sudan's Nile Blend grade to be used at power plants.
Gabon pumped an estimated 240,000 barrels a day of crude oil in 2006, making the country the sixth-largest producer in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's country analysis report on its Web Site updated in November 2007.

Source: Bloomberg