Asian Refiners Ditch U.S. Oil as Supertanker Rates Hit $82 Million
The record-high freight costs refiners have to pay to receive a cargo of crude oil from the U.S. Gulf Coast have effectively shut the arbitrage to Asia, with refiners in the top crude oil-importing region turning to more barrels from the Middle East and South America, shipbrokers and traders have to
Source: OilPrice.com
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DW NOTE
Supertanker rates have reached $82 million because the Hormuz closure — now in its eighth month — has forced Asian refiners to reroute around Africa, tripling voyage length from the Gulf. The headline frames this as refiners "ditching" U.S. oil, but the real story is simpler: when transit costs exceed the cargo value, arbitrage dies. This is what a supply shock looks like after it stops being a price shock and starts being a logistics collapse.