BP readies oil tanker spree after Alaska outage

LONDON (Reuters) – BP (BP.L) is scrambling to move oil from across the world to make up for lost production at its Prodhoe Bay oilfield in Alaska, shipping industry sources and brokers said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday half of the field’s output, some 200,000 barrels per day, was shut-in. London Brent crude oil prices hit a record on Tuesday on news of the outage.

BP’s enquiries for fixtures ranged from Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) to suezmaxes and smaller panamax ships, from as diverse places as the Middle East Gulf, West Africa the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.

“They are out there for lots of ships, with different discharge options,” a source at one of the world’s biggest oil tanker firms said.

Reuters