Oil tanker rates seen softening

Rates for oil tankers on key Asian freight routes are expected to weaken this week on softening freight demand following the release of IEA's emergency oil stocks, shipbrokers said.

Rates on the benchmark Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) export route from the Middle East to Japan dropped to a six-week low of W49.08 on Monday from W52.82 last week.
The market was quiet with US traders away on holiday on Monday. Only one Indian fixture was confirmed for the week so far, shipbrokers said.
''Summer is typically a slow season for tankers, and with IEA releasing 2 million barrels per day of oil from strategic inventories through July, even slower tanker activity than normal should be expected,'' said broker RS Platou.
The International Energy Agency, adviser to 28 industrialized countries, last month announced it would release up to 60 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves to fill the gap in supplies left by the disruption to Libya's output.
IEA's surprise action has pressured freight rates as oil consuming nations were likely to rely less on imports following the release of their stockpiles.
Source: Reuters