LONDON, 27 March 2004 — Top global oil exporter Saudi Arabia’s VLCC oil tanker bookings to the United States this month grew to eight on Thursday, taking spot charter volume earmarked to hit US shores in May and early June to 16.4 million barrels, shipping brokers said.

They said Vela International Marine, state oil company Saudi Aramco’s chartering arm, had booked the “Folk Sun” on subjects to load on April 30. That follows bookings for three others on Wednesday and four more that were fully confirmed in early March.

Assuming a typical journey of 35-40 days from the Gulf port of Ras Tanura to the United States, most of the cargoes of crude were due to arrive in May. The spot charter bookings overtake those made in February to carry 14.5 million barrels of crude to the US, the world’s largest consumer, for late March early April delivery.

Analysts have told Reuters that Vela was probably seeking to cover for a large proportion of its fleet that was already seaborne, employed in transporting crude oil on long-haul westbound voyages.

They said oil volume from the Gulf moving West had been rising through the month of March and was expected to replenish low inventories after the Northern Hemisphere winter Vela owns and operates one of the largest tanker fleets in the world with 21-VLCC and ULCC-class tankers at its disposal.

Vela supplies oil to major purchasers, mostly in Asia and the United States, on a delivered basis but also sells fob to major international oil companies.

Heavy spot tanker chartering has in the past indicated Saudi Arabia has shipped additional volumes, analysts say. On Tuesday, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi met the chief of the International Energy Agency in Riyadh and stressed the Kingdom’s commitment to stabilizing world oil markets, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Naimi told the IEA’s Claude Mandil that the Kingdom had reaffirmed its commitment to “market stability in a way that would benefit consumers and producers alike.”