Russia Ukraine War Impact, High Oil Prices Pushed Up Global Tanker Rates

According to Reuters, global tanker rates have surged on concerns about possible disruptions to Russian supplies, war risk premiums for ships sailing in the Mediterranean and rising fuel costs after oil prices soared above 100 a barrel.  

On Thursday, tanker prices from the United States to Europe jumped more than 8 percent to their highest level since May 2020, while fuel oil prices at the Singapore hub jumped 6 percent to 555 a tonne, the highest since 2019, Reuters reported.  

According to Reuters, rates for very large oil tankers from the Middle East to China rose 4.77WS to 38.82WS on Friday, while rates for clean oil tankers on the Arabian Gulf to Japan route climbed to 77.5WS from 75WS last week.  

At least three major buyers of Russian oil were reportedly unable to open letters of credit from Western banks to buy oil on Thursday because of market uncertainty following the Russian invasion.