Vela International Books 3 VLCCs

LONDON, 20 April 2004 — Saudi Arabia has booked three more very large crude carriers to the United States for loading in mid-May, taking spot chartering for the month to at least 12 million barrels, shipping brokers said yesterday. They said Vela International Marine, state oil company Saudi Aramco’s chartering arm, had booked three VLCCs to carry 6.12 million barrels of crude oil from Gulf ports loading mid-month. That chartering, adds to bookings last week for at least another six million barrels of crude to be loaded for the US in early May.