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January 16, 2009 Morgan Stanley to secure supertanker to store crude oil Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent Shipping brokers in Tokyo say that Morgan Stanley has joined a growing international scramble to secure an oil supertanker and use it to store millions of barrels of crude in what commodity dealers believe may be the “trade of the year”. The rush to snap-up supertankers and profit from the huge “contango” spreads between the falling crude spot price and rising futures price comes amid dire warnings by analysts over the future of the wider shipping industry. Massive overcapacity and slumping global trade...

ALTHOUGH the price of oil continues to hit new records, it has in one respect been a quiet week on the oil markets. America’s lawmakers are celebrating Independence Day by taking a few days off. That has led to a brief interruption in the torrent of proposals aimed at curbing speculation. Ten different bills on the subject are in the works in Congress. Before the House of Representatives shut up shop, it approved one by a vote of 402-19. America’s politicians are not the only ones to have fingered speculators for the feverish rise in the price of oil and...