Supply and Demand Improves for Crude Oil Tankers, Clarkson Says

Supply and demand for tankers that transport about 46 percent of the world’s crude oil may be improving, according to data from Clarkson Research Services Ltd., a unit of the world’s largest shipbroker.

Demand to ship oil will expand 3.8 percent this year, Clarkson Research said in a monthly report on its website today, revising upward an estimate of 3.2 percent made last month. The fleet will expand more slowly, swelling 7.1 percent rather than the 7.4 percent Clarkson forecast in May.

Global seaborne crude oil imports will average 40.7 million barrels a day this year, Clarkson estimates. By contrast, global oil demand will be 89.3 million barrels a day, estimates the International Energy Agency, adviser to 28 oil-consuming nations.

Clarkson Research is a unit of Clarkson Plc, the world’s largest shipbroker.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alaric Nightingale in London at anightingal1@bloomberg.net

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