China’s Unipec topped the list with 815 reported dirty tanker fixtures last year or 7.8% of all spot market charters. It was followed by Shell with 758 fixtures and Vittol in third place, moving ahead of BP from 2013, with BP the fourth largest charterer last year Chevron fifth.
“One new entrant in the top 20 was Italian oil company ENI, which moved up to no.15, while US refiner Valero dropped out of the top 20 in 2014,” Poten said in its weekly report.
Unipec was the dominant charterer in the spot VLCC market with 566 reported fixtures or 28.4% of all fixtures last year.
Poten commented: “This is more than the next 5 largest VLCC charterers combined! Together, Chinese companies cover approximately 40% of the reported spot VLCC spot market.”
Chevron was the largest suezmax charterer followed by BP and Shell, while Shell was the largest spot aframax charterer, with Vittol and BP second and third respectively.
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