Shipping Rates for Mideast Oil Are Surging
- Shipbrokers see little change in terms of supply and demand
- Owners are asking for higher charter fees; insurance costs up
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Oil tanker owners are raising the prices they charge to export Middle East crude as tensions surge in a region that accounts for about a third of all seaborne petroleum shipments.
Rates for transporting 2 million-barrel cargoes from Saudi Arabia to China jumped to almost $26,000 a day on Thursday, more than double where they were at the start of June, according to Baltic Exchange in London. Shipbrokers report a surplus of vessels in the Persian Gulf, indicating that owners are reluctant to accept charters at low rates given the current risks.