Unipec topped the list again with 868 charters for 176.1m tonnes of cargo, giving it a 13.5% share of all spot dirty tanker cargoes in 2016. By contrast second ranked Shell also unchanged from 2015, had a 5.1% share dirty tanker spot cargoes with 65.8m tonnes of cargo. Third ranked Vitol also remained in the same spot with 5.1% of dirty tanker spot cargoes at 61.2m tonnes.
There were some changes lower down the rankings with Indian Oil Company (IOC) and ExxonMobil moving up one place each to fourth and fifth respectively. PetroChina dropped to sixth position from fourth.
“Commodities trader Trafigura continued its climb in the rankings. In 2015 it entered the top 20 at number 16. This year Trafigura moved up 5 spots to number 11,” Poten noted.
Unipec dominated in the VLCC spot chartering market again in 2016. In 2016, we counted 524 reported fixtures for the Chinese powerhouse, which is the same volume as the next five largest VLCC charterers combined!” Poten commented.
The next five were IOC, Reliance, Shell, PetroChina and ExxonMobil.
“The list also illustrates the growing dominance of China and India as crude oil importers, since five of the top seven VLCC charterers are either Chinese or Indian,” the report noted.
Meanwhile Chevron was the spot charterer of suezmaxes and Vitol number one in the aframax sector.
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