Iran Reduces Oil-Tanker Fleet Idling in Persian Gulf by Half

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

31 Jul 2008

Iran, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, cut by half its fleet of oil tankers idling in the Persian Gulf, adding ships to the market as rental rates plunge. That means five Iranian supertankers remain stationed at the Kharg Island loading facility or the nearby Soroush terminal. The tankers Huwayzeh, Hoda and Nesa are now bound for Ain Sukhna, a crude-oil discharge facility at the Suez Canal, according to AISLive ship-tracking data on Bloomberg. They may then sail through to the Mediterranean or return to the Middle East. The Nabi is bound for the port of Juaymah in Saudi Arabia and the Hengam isn't signaling a destination yet.
Daily rental returns for supertankers sailing to Japan from Saudi Arabia, a global benchmark, declined 29 percent to $120,160 a day this week, data from the London-based Baltic Exchange show.

Source: Bloomberg