據路透社5月7日倫敦報道，油輪運營商歐航公司(Euronav)周四公布了創紀錄的第一季度業績，并預計2020年海上石油儲存的強勁需求將持續，推動其股價上漲8.5%。

由于疫情導致的需求下降，即使在主要產油國減產之后，全世界仍在與石油過剩作斗爭。供應過剩促使人們爭先恐后地尋找陸上和海上的儲存選擇。

比利時歐航集團首席執行官Hugo De Stoop表示，浮動存儲“增加的可能性大于減少的可能性”。

他對路透表示：“目前我們仍處于石油供應過剩的世界，陸上儲存已經達到極限，石油必須去別的地方。”

歐航公司的船隊目前包括42艘超大型油輪，每艘可裝載200萬桶石油，以及25艘較小的蘇伊士型油輪，每艘可裝載100萬桶石油。公司還有兩艘巨型油輪，每艘油輪最大儲存容量為300萬桶原油。

De Stoop表示，全球有65艘超大型油輪在海上至少停留了15天，這表明它們可能在儲存石油，另有38艘蘇伊士型油輪也在海上儲存石油。

這意味著有近1.7億桶原油儲存在海面上，創歷史新高。

De Stoop稱，油輪停泊在世界各地的樞紐，特別是美國海灣、中東、新加坡和南非等地，并稱歐航的五艘超大型油輪正在簽訂儲存合同。

原油市場一直存在所謂的期貨溢價，即遠期價格高于當前價格。這種市場結構鼓勵交易員將石油儲存起來，希望在未來出售石油獲得利潤。

De Stoop稱，"第一階段"的儲存興趣是由交易商希望從期貨溢價中獲利而推動的。

他說:“今天，我們收到的要求大不相同，不是來自貿易商，而是來自那些正在尋找可以儲存已生產石油空間的人。”

該公司表示，現在還無法量化疫情對其結果的長期影響，該公司公布第一季度未計利息、稅項、折舊及攤銷前利潤(EBITDA)為3.299億美元，高于上年同期的1.253億美元。

格林尼治時間10點39分，該公司股價上漲8.5%。

KBC證券表示，歐航公司第二季度的業績很可能“不錯”。

裘寅 編譯自 路透社

原文如下：

Euronav's prospects lifted by floating storage demand

Leading tanker operator Euronav (EUAV.BR) posted record high first-quarter results on Thursday and expects strong demand for oil storage at sea to continue in 2020, driving its shares up 8.5%.

The world is still struggling with an oil glut due to a drop in demand caused by the coronavirus even after top oil producing countries have cut output. The glut has prompted a scramble to find storage options on land and sea.

Hugo De Stoop, chief executive of Belgian group Euronav, said floating storage was “more likely to increase than to decrease”.

“At the moment we continue to be in a world that is oversupplied with oil and the oil has to go somewhere and the land storage is full,” he told Reuters.

Euronav’s fleet currently includes 42 very large crude carriers (VLCCs) - each of which can carry 2 million barrels of oil - as well as 25 smaller suezmax tankers which can each carry 1 million barrels. It also has two megatankers each with a maximum capacity of 3 million barrels.

De Stoop said 65 VLCCs around the world had been stationary for at least 15 days, indicating they were likely to be storing oil, with a further 38 suezmaxes also holding oil at sea.

That would indicate nearly 170 million barrels of crude were held on the water, which is a record high.

De Stoop said tankers were being parked in hubs around the world especially around the U.S. Gulf, the Middle East, Singapore and South Africa, adding that five of Euronav’s VLCCs were on contracts with storage options.

The crude market has been trading in what is known as contango, where forward prices are higher than immediate prices. This market structure encourages traders to park barrels in storage in the hopes of selling them for a profit later.

De Stoop said “the first phase” of storage interest was driven by traders looking to benefit from the contango.

“Today, the requests that we are receiving are very different - it’s not from traders, it is from people who are looking for space to store the oil that has been produced,” he said.

The company said it was too early to quantify the long-term impact of the coronavirus on its results after it reported first-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $327.9 million, up from $125.3 million in the same period a year ago.

The company’s shares were up 8.5% at 1039 GMT.

KBC Securities said Euronav was well set up for a “great” second-quarter.