Business Data
Global industry overview - crude oil shippers face changing global dynamics
Crude oil s hipping companies remain undercons iderablepres sure since the global economic cris is stalled the growth of demand for s eaborne oil, jus t as a glut of ordering beg an to flood the market. In the firs t of a two-part overview of the crude oil shipping s ector we examine the changing dynamics surrounding the two larg es t importers of crude oil in the world - the US and China. The US is s et to concede its pos ition as the world's number-one oil importer to China as its production of unconventional oil continues to chang e the dynamics of the g lobal trade. This will have s ig nificant repercus s ions on tanker operators , in particular Suezmaxes , which have been crucial to trans porting crude supplies to the US. Meanwhile, continued g rowth in China's demand is vitally important to operators of very larg e crude carriers (VLCCs ).