Normal Oil Sales News

Three Iranian vessels tried to block a BP-operated tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz but backed off when confronted by a Royal Navy warship, the UK government said on Thursday.Britain urged Iran to "de-escalate the situation in the region" after the British Heritage, a Suezmax oil tanker operated by BP under an Isle of Man flag, was approached."HMS Montrose was forced to position herself between the Iranian vessels and British Heritage and issue verbal warnings to the Iranian vessels…

The tanker market is fast approaching record lows, with little prospect of recovery this summer, brokers said on Tuesday. "It's back to the bad old days," said one London broker. "The market's gone down the pan." He blamed the stand-off between Iraq and the United Nations for the stagnation. He said that the 280,000-ton Napa had been fixed from the Mideast Gulf to Thailand in the first week of July at W38, while two others had been fixed to Singapore at W40. He said that not since the market hit W30 several years ago had he seen it so bad. "I don't see any relief this summer," he added. Even if OPEC were to agree to increase output at its next meeting on July 3 to account for the Iraqi stand-off, brokers said, it would take a while to impact on the tanker market.