Morgan Stanley to lease floating fuel oil storage

Singapore, May 24: Morgan Stanley , which entered physical fuel oil trading about three months ago, will be the first investment bank to lease a floating storage unit (FSU) in Asia, scheduled for operations within the next month, industry sources said on Thursday.

The 240,000-tonne FSU, to be leased from Titan Petrochemicals Group , will allow the U.S. bank to vie with other large physical players such as BP , Vitol and Glencore to meet demand from China and the Asian marine fuels market.

Morgan Stanley, which has dominated energy derivatives trading for a decade, will lease the Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Titan Chios, for one to two years, sources close to the deal said.

When contacted, Barry Cheung, chief executive of Hong Kong-listed Titan declined comment. Morgan Stanley's spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Reuters >