Tanker Rates Extend Rally on Sanctions, Demand to Load Mideast Oil, Products

By Florence Tan, Trixie Yap and Chen Aizhu

SINGAPORE, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Oil shipping rates extended their rally on expectations of a tightening in global tanker supply from wider U.S. sanctions on Russia’s fleet and traders’ demand for ships to load Middle East oil for Asia, industry sources said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Shell booked three Very Large Crude Carriers, capable of carrying up to 2 million barrels of oil, at the rate of Worldscale 70 to load Middle East crude in early February and Chinese refiner Shenghong Petrochemical booked two VLCCs for the same loading period at the same rate, a shipbroker said.

Worldscale is an industry tool to calculate freight charges. For comparison.

Traders are expected to seek more tankers to load crude from Saudi Arabia in February, which could drive freight rates higher, the shipbroker said.

China’s Unipec booked a further 10 tankers to transport oil from the Middle East, according to fixture data on Wednesday. Since Friday, Unipec has fixed 23 vessels to ship cr…