Supertanker Shortage Lifts Asia-Bound Oil Shipping to $26 a Barrel, Threatening Crude Flows
Updated
Updated · Yahoo Finance · Sep 19
Supertanker Shortage Lifts Asia-Bound Oil Shipping to $26 a Barrel, Threatening Crude Flows
3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Finance · Sep 19
Summary
$26 a barrel in freight now gets added to Houston-to-Asia crude shipments, making some long-distance trades uneconomical and threatening already tight global fuel supplies.
A shortage of available supertankers is driving the surge, with some regions left with barely any vessels for hire and benchmark VLCCs from the Persian Gulf to China earning more than $1.2 million a day.
That squeeze is pushing refiners to seek barrels closer to home and raising concern that high transport costs will erode refining margins enough to deter purchases even with strong diesel and gasoline demand.
Shipowners are the main beneficiaries: the world's largest oil-tanker equities hit a record near $70 billion this week as freight pressures spread across global routes.