Unipec Seen Overtaking Shell as Largest Booker of Oil Tankers
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China International United Petroleum & Chemical Co. became the world’s largest charterer of oil tankers for the first time in 2012, surpassing Royal Dutch Shell Plc, according to Poten & Partners Inc.
Unipec, as the Asian company is known, hired 707 vessels to carry 159 million metric tons of crude, a report by the New York-based shipbroker published Jan. 4 showed. Shell chartered 701 tankers to haul 73 million tons of cargo and oil trader Vitol Group was third, booking 463 ships to deliver 48 million tons, Poten said.