World News
Euronav Turns Profit on VLSFO Stockpile
Tanker company Euronav has said it eventually turned a profit on the VLSFO stockpile it built up in 2019 ahead of last year's price crash.
The firm held a stockpile of about 135,000 mt of VLSFO on board its ULCC the Oceania by the end of last year, it said in a quarterly earnings release this week, down from 200,000 mt three months ago.
The oil was worth about $2 million more than it paid for it, compared with losses of $14 million, $32 million and $56 million noted in its releases for the third, second and first quarters of last year, respectively.
Euronav took the innovative move of building up VLSFO stocks on board one of the world's largest oil tankers in the run-up to IMO 2020 in a bid to get around expected shortages of the product. That strategy backfired as last year's crash in crude prices in March left the stockpile worth considerably less than its purchase price.
The company has since been both buying fuels in the market and working down its stocks.
"Despite the challenges, the overall project has been profitable," the company said this week.
"Euronav will look to integrate key features from this project in our fuel procurement strategy going forward."
Key Bunker Prices More
| VLSFO | MGO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $/mt | +/- | $/mt | +/- | |
| Singapore | 647.50 | 1.00 | 770.00 | 3.50 |
| Rotterdam | 601.50 | 2.50 | 754.00 | 2.00 |
| Houston | 619.00 | 11.50 | 795.50 | 3.00 |
| Fujairah | 651.50 | 1.00 | 895.00 | 2.00 |
| Global 20 Ports Average | 664.00 | 1.50 | 856.50 | 2.00 |
| Global 4 Ports Average | 630.00 | 3.00 | 803.50 | 2.50 |
| Global Average Bunker Price | 718.00 | 0.50 | 914.50 | 0.50 |
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