39 Million Barrels of Oil Are Stuck in a Turkish Shipping Jam
- Increased use of tugboats seen as primary cause of delay
- Signs that waiting times might start to improve soon: FGE
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Oil tankers exporting Kazakh and Russian crude from ports in the Black Sea are contending with spiraling delays when navigating Turkey’s key shipping straits, stalling the delivery of millions of barrels of supplies to refineries on the Mediterranean Sea and beyond.
The lengthening queues to pass through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits are due to a change in rules back in September requiring more vessels to be escorted by tugboats, according to Tribeca Shipping, a local port agent. It estimates that tankers holding about 39 million barrels of oil are backed up. Bad weather has also contributed.