The oil traders demand that the US ease the sanctions on the merchant fleet.
Oil traders are asking Washington to allow sanctioned tankers to resume operations as a global shortage of ships increases the cost of transporting oil.
Trafigura, Vitol, Mercuria and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. are in talks with US authorities to obtain licenses to purchase or lease blacklisted tankers, Bloomberg reported. We are talking about about 50 vessels that are currently under American sanctions. Representatives of the Ministry of Finance examine each case individually, although final decisions have not yet been made.
The cost of renting a supertanker to transport cargo from the Gulf of Mexico to China reached almost 80 million dollars in October, about ten times the average rate before the start of the conflict. Valero estimated that US oil supplies to Asia reached 30-35 dollars per barrel, compared to about 5 dollars a year earlier. Asian orders for US crude oil for November delivery fell about 50% in October, which could push supply volumes to the lowest levels in 7 years.
As of Nov. 4, U.S. sanctions covered 1,568 ships, including 462 crude oil tankers, according to U.S. Treasury Department data compiled by Bloomberg.
It all depends on which vessels are approved. Resuming the operation of tankers that were idle in the past will increase the turnover of cargoes. Legalizing ships already carrying oil would have much less impact on reducing the shortage. Potential US approval would not automatically remove restrictions imposed by the EU or the UK.