Brightoil Petroleum, which had earlier put up a profit warning, saw FY2016 full-year net profit plunge 39% to HKD844.0m ($108.8m) from HKD1.39bn in the previous corresponding period.

Revenue plunged 35% to HKD48.1bn from HKD74.1bn previously. Brightoil blamed the falls mainly on the decrease in global oil prices.

Some segments did better however, with Marine Transportation seeing a rise in revenue which compensated for the decrease in sales as a result of the decrease in global oil, Brightoil said in a stock market announcement.

At the segment level, the marine transportation business recorded a 79% rise in profit to HKD547.0m, while the international trade and bunkering segment (ITB) business saw a small 4% rise in profit to HKD727.0m.

The biggest hit, as flagged, came from the upstream oil and gas business, which saw profit fall 55% to HKD347.0m.

Brightoil did particularly well out of the the crude tanker freight market, where it has experienced an optimal trade pattern which has generated high return through 2015, driven by the strong demand and relatively limited tonnage supply, Brightoil said.

It noted that the overall VLCC freight movements in 2015 have stayed in owners’ favour, and at the end of 2015, the daily return of VLCC reached the highest level since 2010.

"Our fleet net profit grew by an impressive 150% to HKD530m in FY2016. Our strategy of focusing on Chinese imports and the Chinese state-owned oil companies continues to pay dividends," Brightoil said.

"In FY2016 more than 80% of our total revenue was derived from spot voyages fixed for transporting cargoes to China and this ratio increases to over 90% for our VLCC fleet," Brightoil noted.

Source: seatrade-maritime.com