SingaporeShipping US crude to Asia costs $40 a barrel, Vitol says.
Freight now weighs heavily in which crude Asian refiners buy, a South Korean refining source said.
About 80 supertankers are tied up shuttling oil through Hormuz, Vitol says, leaving fewer ships for other routes.
Morgan Stanley analysts say record refining margins make crude demand insensitive to freight.
Abu Dhabi’s state oil company sold cargoes loading over the next two months to China and India on a delivered basis, absorbing freight.
How each outlet framed it
- Reuters
- shows freight cost as the constraint: Asian refiners shift to smaller tankers and term charters, citing $40/barrel US-to-Asia shipping
Sources: Reuters