Record supertanker rates squeeze Asian oil refiners' margins

Reuters reports in The Economic Times, citing the IEA, that supertanker freight from the Middle East Gulf to Asia reached around $36 a barrel by early October, more than five times its cost before the Iran war. The IEA said higher delivered crude costs pushed Asian refiners' margins on medium sour crude into negative territory in September. Buying US crude offered only a partial alternative: freight from the US Gulf Coast to China exceeded $37 a barrel, it said.