Tankers steered back from the brink
A recent spike in rates has rescued tanker owners, but the reprieve could be short-lived
Crude and product tanker owners hemorrhaged cash in the first three quarters of 2018, then pulled out of their slump in the fourth as spot freight rates surged. Any threat that oil shippers' tanker counterparties could go bankrupt and default on their obligations has been alleviated—at least for now. Crude tanker owners' reserves were fattened by very strong years in 2015-16, but excessive newbuild orders caused freight pricing to fall much more steeply than expected in 2018. Jonathan Chappell, a shipping analyst at investment bank Evercore ISI, described 2018 in a year-end client note as having "the worst three-quarter start to any year in many decades". At an investor event in New York in
Also in this section
25 April 2024
Some companies with assets in Israel have turned towards Egypt as tensions escalate, but others are holding firm despite rising tensions
24 April 2024
But even planned exploration activity is unlikely to reverse declining output from mature fields
23 April 2024
Cheaper Russian barrels and lower overall crude prices have helped cut key oil consumer’s import bills in election year
22 April 2024
Pursuing three different goals as part of the same package may mean achieving none of them