Rates for oil tankers hit record high, as more crude passes through Hormuz

Charter rates for oil tankers hit a record high recently, creating a significant gap between the nominal price of crude futures and the actual cost of obtaining barrels. Over the past week, crude oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz averaged around 10 million barrels per day, despite numerous attacks targeting tankers. The length of time required for the largest tankers to wait outside the strait for smaller vessels to make deliveries has led to a shortage of tankers.

Hiring a large tanker to move crude from the US to Asia now costs up to $77 million, a significant increase from less than $10 million last year. Crude futures, on the other hand, have been influenced more by traders' interpretations of statements from the Trump administration than by the actual flow of physical barrels, rendering them "increasingly unreliable as a proxy for genuine supply," according to analyst Amrita Sen of the Financial Times.

The gap between the outdated prices and futures prices for Brent crude is now the highest since the war began. Additionally, emergency crude stocks have been depleted; if exports from the Gulf region decrease again, there is a risk of reaching a $200-a-barrel scenario, as warned by the CEO of trading house Vitol. The International Energy Agency also clarified that the G7's commitment to release diesel from strategic supplies, announced last week, will utilize the volume originally authorized in March and not bring any new barrels to the market. Consequently, European diesel prices surged by 8% following this announcement.