Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese state energy major Sinopec Group, has become even more dominant in the dirty tanker chartering market.
Figures provided by Poten & Partners showed Unipec fixed 1,058 vessels to carry nearly 231m tonnes of crude or dirty petroleum products in spot trade last year, or 17% of the global total.
In 2018, the company chartered 985 dirty tankers to ship 217m tonnes, or 14.7% of the total.
“Unipec continues to dominate,” Poten said in a note.
While the numbers of Unipec’s VLCC and aframax fixtures for 2019 were almost equivalent to those of 2018, the company hiked its suezmax fixtures to nearly 170 from less than 120.
“Unipec is a very close second [as a suezmax charterer]. To illustrate its rapid rise in the suezmax rankings: Unipec was not even in the top 10 in 2018,” said Poten.
Unipec may have even more shipping requirements in 2020, w ith Sinopec reportedly set to commission its new 10m-tonne-per-year refinery in Guangdong. The facility plans to process Kuwaiti crude.
Overall rankings
In total, Poten recorded 9,597 dirty tanker fixtures totaling 1.36bn tonnes in 2019, compared with 10,515 fixtures with 1.47bn tonnes in the previous year.
“It should be noted that charterers with a large controlled fleet and/or a preference for private deals keep a low profile in these rankings,” the brokerage said.
The notable charterers included Petrobras, which moved up to the ninth largest charterer by volume from 18th amid a rise in Brazilian oil production. Equinor and SK Corp entered the top 20 league table by taking the final two spots.
Poten data showed a total of 2,434 VLCC spot fixtures were reported in 2019, up 6.5% year-on-year.
Unipec, Sinochem, PetroChina and China National Offshore Oil Corporation were among the top 20 charterers in 2019, underscoring the dominance of Chinese state-owned players in this segment.
The number of suezmax fixtures was 2,675 in 2019, down from 2,944 in 2018.
In this segment, Shell retained the top spot with about 170 fixtures, while Vitol pushed Lukoil out of the top 10.
Also, Poten recorded 3,734 aframax fixtures last year, up from 3,551 in 2018.
Vitol and Shell were still the two largest charterers in the segment, while the ranking of Lukoil dropped from the third to the ninth.
