An Iranian oil official has predicted that the global crude market would improve in 2011 compared to 2010 due to higher demands during winter season.
“We think 2011 will be a better market than 2010, but not much better. We should not expect a high market,” Mohammad Souri, the chairman of National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) told Reuters on Wednesday.
He said that the NITC, Iran’s biggest crude oil tanker operator, was set to make a profit in 2010.
“As long as there is a recession and there is a surplus of tonnage, even if you’re breakeven or have a marginal profit, you are happy,” he said.
Souri noted that his company is storing Iranian crude on two very large crude carriers with the capacity of up to 2 million barrels of oil.
“At the moment, only two ships are now allocated for storage,” he said.
The NITC chairman also stated that the volume of Iranian crude stored at sea will fall because of higher demands for oil in winter.
“But they are not going to stay there forever … It (the number of storage tankers) is slowly decreasing. It was seven-eight maybe eight or nine months ago. It is falling with the winter demand,” he said.
Iran is one of the world’s major oil exporters and its production level is equivalent to about 4.2 percent of the daily global demand for oil.
Meanwhile, oil prices climbed by more than two dollars on Wednesday.
U.S. light sweet crude for January delivery climbed by $2.61 dollars to $83.86 per barrel in New York, while Brent North Sea crude soared $2.59 to close at $85.84 a barrel in London.
“We think 2011 will be a better market than 2010, but not much better. We should not expect a high market,” Mohammad Souri, the chairman of National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) told Reuters on Wednesday.
He said that the NITC, Iran’s biggest crude oil tanker operator, was set to make a profit in 2010.
“As long as there is a recession and there is a surplus of tonnage, even if you’re breakeven or have a marginal profit, you are happy,” he said.
Souri noted that his company is storing Iranian crude on two very large crude carriers with the capacity of up to 2 million barrels of oil.
“At the moment, only two ships are now allocated for storage,” he said.
The NITC chairman also stated that the volume of Iranian crude stored at sea will fall because of higher demands for oil in winter.
“But they are not going to stay there forever … It (the number of storage tankers) is slowly decreasing. It was seven-eight maybe eight or nine months ago. It is falling with the winter demand,” he said.
Iran is one of the world’s major oil exporters and its production level is equivalent to about 4.2 percent of the daily global demand for oil.
Meanwhile, oil prices climbed by more than two dollars on Wednesday.
U.S. light sweet crude for January delivery climbed by $2.61 dollars to $83.86 per barrel in New York, while Brent North Sea crude soared $2.59 to close at $85.84 a barrel in London.