Oil Brokerage has enticed respected Braemar tanker analyst Anoop Singh to head a new six-strong research team.
Chief executive James McNicol said Singh would start work this week as head of research and analytics based in Singapore.
The eye-catching appointment marks the latest raid by McNicol on established shops as the rapidly growing oil market specialist expands its new shipping arm.
Former Vitol chartering executive Nick Mahoney was brought on board last year to build a shipbroking team to challenge the biggest players in the market.
McNicol said the London-based company has a roster of 200 brokers working across oil and shipping, drawn by lucrative financial terms and a “culture of openness” across the company.
He added that Singh’s role would be to “distil all the information and data that are available in the market to have one coherent view from OB [Oil Brokerage] across shipping and oil”.
“We will probably hire a couple more people within that team,” McNicol said.
Singh spent nearly seven years at Braemar, the final two as head of tanker research based in Singapore.
Some of his latest public reports focused on the composition of Russia’s tanker fleet and the impact on oil flows of the war in Ukraine.
LinkedIn shows Singh worked for energy transportation specialist AET for 13 years before that, initially as chief officer on aframax tankers.
“I am most strongly drawn to Oil Brokerage because the management truly ‘gets’ the value that quality research adds to the business,” said Singh.
Singh’s departure from Braemar has seen head of research Henry Curra take on the tanker role, according to the company.
Former Simpson Spence Young head of research Derek Langston is due to start next month as head of dry cargo research in what is part of the reshuffling of Braemar ranks.
The hire of Singh marks the latest addition to the Oil Brokerage team that in recent months hired staff from established players including Gibson Shipbrokers, Braemar and Affinity Shipping.
Oil Brokerage started in 1989 with physical oil trades before expanding into paper derivatives and freight forward agreements. As well as London and Singapore, it has offices in the US and Dubai.
Management has identified tanker broking as the latest bolt-on to allow the company to have oversight of the complete trade and transportation process to serve the oil markets.
McNicol, a former Trafigura trader who began his career as a chemist with BP in 1990, told TradeWinds last year that “we’re not going to try to build Clarksons overnight”.
He said: “We’ve got a really good oil broking business and we’re going to put a really good shipbroking business beside it. This is the start of a journey.”
