VLCC Backlog Builds at Iraq’s Basra Port After Bad Weather

By Keith Wallis

SINGAPORE, April 1 (Reuters) – A backlog of over 30 oil tankers has constructed up exterior the Iraqi port of Basra and shippers face prolonged delays of as much as three weeks to load oil due to unhealthy climate and doable oil high quality points, delivery trade sources stated.

The issues might delay or restrict the variety of oil export cargoes from Basra in April, probably pushing down tanker freight charges, two Singapore ship brokers aware of the problem stated.

More than 30 oil tankers, two-thirds of them supertankers (VLCC), with a mixed capability of round 50 million barrels are at the moment mendacity exterior Basra, a few of them since mid-March, Reuters delivery information exhibits.

“The bad weather (in February) has caused all these delays,” stated Sadiq Jaafar, head of marine consultancy agency Sadiq Jaafar & Associates in Baghdad.

The sturdy winds and storms created a backlog into March and April, stated two different maritime sources in Iraq.

The standard ready time is about 5 days, one dealer stated, but delivery information exhibits that some tankers have been ready to load for practically three weeks at a each day constitution charge of round $48,000-$50,000 a day per ship since early March.

The delays might have an effect on the whole variety of cargoes being chartered from the Middle East, whereas delays in chartering tankers might end in a drop in freight charges.

“By accepting less quantities to be lifted during March and April, this issue may be resolved over the coming 60 days,” the supply stated.

Shipbrokers have seen a drop in cargo numbers being fastened from the Middle East within the first 10 days of April. “We’re some 16 fixtures down,” stated one dealer.

VLCC charges from the Middle East to Asia have fallen by round $10,000 per day, or about 14 p.c, since Feb. 24 because the variety of ships ready for charters outpaced cargo volumes, chartering information confirmed.

The drop-off in cargoes comes after oil exports from Iraq’s southern fields rose to a median of two.66 million barrels per day (bpd) within the first 18 days of March, near final December’s 2.76 million bpd report and effectively up 2.29 million bpd in February, when unhealthy climate affected loading.

Beyond unhealthy climate, loading delays may have been brought on by oil not assembly high quality specs.

At least one latest cargo was “not useable because it wasn’t the right grade,” one dealer stated, though sources in Iraq denied this.

Basra’s high quality swings from a heavy oil with API gravity at 26 levels to a medium kind at 34 levels.

Iraq plans to separate south Basra oil manufacturing into two grades, with a heavier kind of crude supplied from May.

(Editing by Henning Gloystein and Richard Pullin)