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Iran has provisionally booked two more Ultra Large Crude Carriers (ULCCs) to store 4.5 million barrels of oil for 120 days, extending a chartering spree that has supported freight rates, shipbrokers said on Friday.
The provisional bookings, which must be confirmed by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), come on top of a combined 600,000 tonnes of dirty tonnage taken last week to help the Opec member store some of its crude.
Shipbrokers said it was not yet clear whether the new bookings were to replace any of the supertankers already being used for storage, estimated at as much as 20 million barrels. NITC has provisionally taken the 319,000-deadweight tonne Athina and the 300,000-deadweight tonne Titan Virgo. It is unclear if the shipping firm will confirm both bookings, which are scheduled for delivery into the United Arab Emirates' Port of Fujairah on June 17.
The double-hulled ULCC time-charter rate on this tanker has been set provisionally at about $55,000 per day. Fujairah is a key Middle East oil transhipment hub.
"It makes sense for them to take the delivery in Fujairah, because it's convenient if they are going to trade it in smaller lots to either Asian or European buyers," said a Singapore-based trader with an Asian refiner.
The flurry of tanker bookings by Iran has raised Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) freight rates on the benchmark Middle East-Japan route by about 28 percent to W90, since mid-May, data from the Baltic Exchange showed.
"The inquiries and the bookings being confirmed by NITC have given the market a boost, creating a buzz in the market," a Singapore-based shipbroker said. Last week, NITC booked the ULCCs Stena Bulk and the Elizabeth, for the purpose of oil storage.
NITC, the shipping arm of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has since end-April been using seven VLCCs - a total of 14 million barrels capacity - for crude storage.

Copyright Reuters, 2006

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