By Collin Eaton, Devika Krishna Kumar and Julia Payne
HOUSTON/NEW YORK/LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Rates to charter
oil tankers from the Arab Gulf, United Kingdom and the U.S. Gulf
Coast to Asia surged to fresh highs on Friday as global oil
traders grappled with a tanker shortage in the aftermath of U.S.
sanctions on units of Chinese giant COSCO.
Occidental Petroleum Corp tentatively chartered a
supertanker to ship U.S. crude from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Asia
for a record $15.8 million this week, three sources said on
Friday.
Royal Dutch Shell chartered the Suezmax vessel
Amoureux this week for $9.2 million to ship crude from Teesport,
U.K. to Dalian, China in early November, according to a shipping
source and Refinitiv Eikon data.
Shell declined to comment. Occidental did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
Freight rates for supertankers from the Louisiana Offshore
Oil Port in the U.S. Gulf Coast to Singapore <TD-LPP-SIN>
climbed to a record $9.28 a barrel this week, while rates to
charter supertankers from Rotterdam to Singapore <TD-RDM-SIN>
climbed to a 10-year high equal to $5.12 a barrel, according to
Refinitiv Eikon data.
"Would make you choke on your Cheerios," one shipbroker
said, referring to the rising freight cost.
The United States in late September imposed sanctions on two
units of China's COSCO, which operates more than 50
supertankers, alleging the units violated U.S. sanctions on
Iran. Freight rates for supertankers across the globe to ship
oil, particularly to Asia, have surged.
Occidental provisionally chartered the Very Large Crude
Carrier (VLCC) Hong Kong Spirit for $15.8 million for departure
to Asia next month, sources said. That does not mean the voyage
will actually be completed.
Bids for chartering VLCCs from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Asia
were assessed on Friday as high as $20 million, shipbrokers
said, though no charters had been booked at that price, sources
said.
In the Arab Gulf, Indian Oil Corp Ltd was offered
rates in a range of $8.2 million to $16 million to ship Iraqi
Basra crude to Chennai, India, according to a source with direct
knowledge of the matter.
Rates from Basra to Visakhapatnam, India, for VLCCs reached
$2.24 per barrel this week, highest in at least a year, Eikon
data showed. Indian Oil did not immediately respond to a request
for comment.
(Reporting by Collin Eaton in Houston, Devika Krishna Kumar in
New York and Julia Payne in London; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
