China Gets Most Oil Carried on Biggest Tankers, Braemar Says

China is the biggest recipient of oil hauled on the largest tankers, said Braemar Seascope Ltd.

Forty percent of very large crude carriers booked for single voyages discharged their cargoes in China last month, twice as many as in 2005, the London-based shipbroker said today in an e-mailed report. Braemar included Taiwan in its calculations with China, the world’s second-largest consumer of crude after the U.S.

“As Chinese refiners will probably add over 6 million barrels a day of domestic refinery capacity in the next five years, their presence in the VLCC spot market is likely to increase further as China makes efforts to secure its energy supplies,” Braemar Seascope research director Mark Williams said in the report.

A VLCC can haul 2 million barrels of crude.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Sheridan in London at rsheridan6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alaric Nightingale at anightingal1@bloomberg.net