Arctic: Shipping Daily - LPG, Tankers, NVGS, KCC, Ocean Yield, MPCC

Research evidence excerpt

Arctic: Shipping Daily - LPG, Tankers, NVGS, KCC, Ocean Yield, MPCC

are coming just two months after the UAE walked out, this is a meaningful signal that OPEC's quota

discipline is losing its grip. Each defection makes the next one easier. Iraq has targeted 7.0 mbd by

2029, which compares to current quota of ~4.22 mbd. That ambition, combined with the BP-Kirkuk

deal adding future capacity (~0.25 mbd next 2/3 years) is what underpins the pressure on OPEC.

The longer-term risk is not necessarily supportive tankers. If OPEC fragmentation continues and

Saudi Arabia eventually decides to defend market share rather than price, you get a production

surge from the Gulf. Middle East barrels get cheaper relative to Atlantic basin supply, Asian

refiners re-optimise toward shorter hauls, and ton-miles compress. Bullish on volumes, bearish

on distances, not obviously a net positive for tankers at that point. Short to medium term bullish,

longer term the structural question is whether OPEC can hold together at all.

Tankers: Rumored that Hyundai is set to construct VLCCs in Phlippines

HD Hyundai is expanding VLCC construction beyond South Korea, with industry sources saying

the group has secured an order from long-term customer Cido Shipping for four 300,000-dwt crude

tankers to be built at its leased Subic yard in the Philippines. The vessels are reportedly priced at

around USD 130m apiece, with deliveries scheduled for 2029–2030. The Subic facility, leased in

2024, is being repositioned as a commercial shipbuilding hub. The yard already has an orderbook

of LR tankers and aframax product tankers, and the Cido contract would mark the first VLCCs built

there since 2018. The VLCC orderbook is swelling and the fact that we are seeing several new