Supertanker Shortage Sends Persian Gulf Oil Shipping Rates to Record $1 Million a Day

Chartering a very large crude carrier (VLCC) from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz topped $1 million a day earlier this month, maritime-intelligence firm Windward reported. Shipping alone now adds roughly $26 per barrel — nearly one-quarter of crude's open-market value. Drone strikes knocked out Saudi Arabia's bypass pipeline earlier this month, forcing crude back through the strait and onto an already overtaxed tanker fleet. Longer voyages and shuttle operations are tying up vessels and cutting the number available for hire. The crunch is squeezing refiners, whose margins are compressed by record freight costs. Slower deliveries could keep fuel prices elevated even if global crude prices decline. Operators remained wary of the strait well before the pipeline disruption. Following a U.S.-Iran peace framework announced in June, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines CEO Jotaro Tamura said resuming tanker traffic could take weeks. BIMCO cited uncleared mines as a primary hazard. Before the conflict, the strait carried close to 20% of global seaborne oil and LNG flows. Iran said it struck an oil tanker attempting to transit the strait last Thursday night.