Shipowners will be delighted to see bunker prices plunge.

It has been frustrating for them to shoulder soaring fuel costs while trade levels have been patchy and freight rates low.

Many have struggled to understand why oil prices were above $110 per barrel when economic growth remained sluggish and oil supply very high due to US shale.

Geopolitical upheaval — whether the ISIS/ISIL advances in Syria and Iraq or the Russia versus the West stand-off over the Ukraine — was usually cited as the answer.

There