According to The Financial Times, citing Icap Shipping, a brokerage, in 2012 oil tanker shipments have increased by 10% to a record high 7.8 million tonne-miles per year. Oil shipments posted fastest growth for the last ten years.
The rise of shipments is not the result of the increase in the trade volumes, but indicates the growth in the volumes of long-distance delivery. The volumes of oil exports from West Africa and Latin America to China and India have been steadily growing for several couples of years. On the contrary, the volumes of export from these regions to the U.S. have fallen.
The first tendency is due to the fact that India and China's economies are growing, the second one is connected with the U.S. shale revolution and the surge in oil and gas production. Nigeria, Venezuela, and Angola are forced to shift import from the U.S. to Asia, in particular. Thus, oil import from Venezuela to India has been growing since 2011.
The changing of major routes of shipments is putting pressure on key transit points, like the Strait of Malacca, a narrow waterway between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula.
India and China lack energy resources, thus they have to look for new ways to get oil and gas. China is actively discussing the possibility to import from Russia and Kazakhstan. China also intends to produce shale gas. Chinese oil imports increased by 6% last year.
Oil imports to the US have fallen since 1997 prompting a discussion about whether the U.S. army should continue to guard the world's critical sea lines from pirates. In 2012, the U.S. imports fell 5% .In 2012, for the first time since 1970, the U.S. was not ranked first in terms of oil imports, as China is a new leader.
