Robin Pagnamenta
Oil traders are seeking to hire at least five more supertankers this month to hoard crude at sea, bringing the total amount being stored to enough to supply Britain for 35 days, according to the world’s largest operator of the vessels.
At least 25 supertankers are being used to store oil at sea, as traders and oil companies bet that prices are set to rebound this year, according to Jens Martin Jensen, temporary managing director and chief executive of Frontline, a Norwegian-listed shipping group that operates or leases more than 50 such vessels.
It’s the strongest demand we have seen in many years, he said. We are having new inquiries every day. At least 25 vessels have already been booked and I would expect the number to reach at least 30 by the end of the month.
Mr Jensen said that the vessels, each of which can carry about two million barrels of oil, had been leased by a range of groups. Royal Dutch Shell is thought to have hired at least four, BP has hired one, the Eagle Vienna, while Koch, an American company, has leased another.
It’s a new situation, a shipping broker at Barry Rogliano Salles, a Paris-based company, said. There has been very strong demand for VLCCs over the last few weeks. It is speculation on the price of oil. They are just hoping that the prices will increase.
The price of crude collapsed in the second half of last year as a broadening recession gripped some of the worlds largest economies, sapping demand, which fell last year for the first time since 1983, according to the International Energy Agency.
Crude has fallen by more than $100 per barrel from a record high of $147.27 per barrel in July 2008 to trade around $41 per barrel on Friday. Yet the forward market for oil is in what traders call a contango in other words, it suggests that prices will rise later in the year. Crude oil for delivery in December stood at more than $61 per barrel last week.
The trend to store crude at sea has been given a boost by a steep decline in shipping rates. A supertanker now costs around $60,000 to $90,000 (£39,000 to £59,000) a day to lease, depending on the length of rental. This is well below the rates being charged last summer, according to one London shipping broker.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
