Glencore charters supertanker to load oil from Middle East

Commodities trading firm Glencore has chartered a supertanker to load Middle Eastern crude for Asia, according to a shipping source and LSEG data, likely the first oil tanker to be fixed for the route since the ceasefire in the US-Iran war.

The Asian Lion, a very large crude carrier (VLCC) capable of holding 2 million barrels of oil, is heading to the Middle East, LSEG data showed.

Glencore chartered the tanker at W580 on the Worldscale industry measure used to calculate freight rates, according to a shipping source and LSEG data. Spot VLCC shipping rates on the route, more commonly known as TD3C DFRT-ME-CN, were at about W230 on February 27, before the war started, LSEG data showed.

The demurrage fee is at $580,000 per day, the source said. Demurrage is a charge paid to the ship owner in the event that a vessel exceeds the amount of time agreed for loading and unloading a cargo.

Glencore could not be immediately reached for a comment on the vessel fixture.

Shippers on Wednesday said they needed more clarity on the terms of the US-Iran ceasefire before resuming transit through the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran said the waterway remained closed to vessels sailing without a permit.

Iran said it would offer safe passage in coordination with its armed forces, though its coastguard warned on Wednesday that any ship attempting to sail without permission would be “targeted and destroyed”.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy posted a map showing alternative shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz to help transiting ships avoid naval mines, the semi-official Iranian news agency ISNA said early on Thursday.

The six-week conflict brought traffic through the strait – a chokepoint for about 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments – close to a standstill, pushing global energy prices sharply higher.

(By Florence Tan; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)