July 15 (Bloomberg) -- Supertanker bookings for oil exports from the Middle East reached their highest monthly level this year in July, doubling shipping costs, as OPEC increased output.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Europe's second-biggest oil company, led charterers that booked 119 supertankers to carry oil from the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea to refineries in the U.S., Asia and Europe, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The vessels, known as very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, can ship about 2 million barrels of oil each. Shell booked 10 tankers for single voyages, or so-called spot contracts, the data showed.

Shipping rates for voyages to Asia have doubled in the past three weeks after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps about 40 percent of the world's oil, agreed to raise daily production quotas by 500,000 barrels to 28 million barrels last month. OPEC began raising quotas July 1 in a bid to lower record oil prices that threatened global economic growth.

The bookings are ``clear evidence that OPEC's sailings have gone up, even by more than the 500,000 barrel-a-day increase they pledged,'' said Roy Mason, the founder of consulting company Oil Movements, based in Halifax in Britain. ``Normally bookings reach a trough during this time of the year.''

Oil companies such as Shell, based in London and The Hague, and traders booked 112 VLCCs in July last year. VLCCs carry almost four of every five barrels of crude pumped in the Persian Gulf region, according to Hamilton, Bermuda-based Frontline Ltd., which operates 40 such tankers.

`Active in Spot Market'

VLCCs handle 47 percent of all oil transported by sea, and cargo-sizes usually range from 230,000 metric tons to 300,000 tons of crude.

``In order to meet part of our overall transportation needs, Shell has recently been active in the VLCC spot market,'' said Susan Shannon, a spokeswoman for Shell in London.

Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, and Chevron Corp. were the second- most active bookers, each signing eight VLCCs to ship crude from the Middle East in July, according to data compiled from shipbrokers' reports. Chevron, based in San Ramon, is the second- biggest U.S. oil company.

The data tracks bookings in the spot market and excludes vessels leased for months or years. The spot market handles more than half of crude-oil shipments.

Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil company, and China International United Petroleum & Chemicals Co. each signed up seven.

``The underlying demand is very strong,'' said Finn Louis Engelsen jr., joint chief executive of Oslo-based shipbroker Lorentzen & Stemoco. ``OPEC is pumping 1 million barrels more than at the same time last year.''

OPEC Production

OPEC production averaged 30.08 million barrels a day last month, the highest since October, according to a Bloomberg survey of oil companies, producers and analysts. Oil prices today are about 45 percent higher than a year ago. Crude reached a record $62.10 on July 7 amid concern hurricanes and tropical storms striking the Gulf of Mexico would disrupt oil imports and production when demand is rising.

``With today's oil price, all producers and refiners have an incentive to pump and refine as much as possible,'' Ole-Rikard Hammer, the managing director of Oslo-based shipbroker P.F. Bassoe AS, said in an interview . ``This is very promising for the tanker market.''

VLCCs are usually booked about four weeks in advance and cargo owners have 24 hours to cancel a contract.

Freight Rates Double

The cost of shipping oil on VLCCs has risen after reaching 20-month lows three weeks ago as charterers started signing up vessels for August earlier. Freight rates, measured in the market's Worldscale point scale, reached WS 105. The measure equates to about $1.05 a barrel on the benchmark route to Singapore.

VLCC operators such as Frontline, the world's biggest oil- tanker company by capacity, are earning about $58,000 a day on the 39-day round trip between the Persian Gulf and South Korea, according to Bloomberg data and R.S. Platou, an Oslo-based shipbroker. The calculation takes into account costs such as fuel and port fees.

January had the second-highest number of bookings from the Middle East this year with 116 VLCCs, according to the data. An average of 107 VLCCs were booked a month during the first half. VLCC bookings amounted to 101 in June, 108 in May and 105 in April.

Kuwait Petroleum Co. booked the vessel Front Page for a 270,000-ton cargo to the U.S. Gulf Coast, loading July 29, Paris- based shipbroker Barry Rogliano Salles said yesterday. The booking may bring the July tally up to 120. As many as 42 VLCCs are booked for August, the broker said.

The worldwide fleet of VLCCs and ultra large crude carriers, which can ship about 3 million barrels of oil each, stood at 456 vessels at the end of June, up from 443 units a year ago, according to London-based shipbroker E.A. Gibson.

To contact the reporters on this story: Petter Narvestad in Oslo at pnarvestad@bloomberg.net and Saijel Kishan in London at at skishan@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 14, 2005 19:09 EDT