Baltic Exchange pressured brokers for tanker rates during Iran war, court hears

Mercuria Energy Group claims the Baltic Exchange should have suspended the world’s benchmark oil tanker rate after the Iran war disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg reports. In the London trial, an exchange assessor’s remark that “a certain amount of cajoling and bullying” was needed to get companies to provide tanker rates came to light. A separate post, citing documents reported by Bloomberg, says the exchange received two claims of attempted benchmark manipulation since the war began.