Freight rates for Russian oil exports from its western ports to India climbed to fresh record highs in early October amid heightened risks in the Black Sea and a continuing rally in the global tanker market, trading and shipping sources said.
The rise in freight costs is preventing Russia from fully capitalising on high oil prices, as Moscow is forced to ship most crude volumes from its western ports to Asian markets, primarily India and China, via lengthy and costly export routes.
According to traders and Reuters calculations, freight costs for exporting Urals crude to Asia currently amount to around $30 per barrel or more.
The cost of transporting Urals crude from the Black Sea to India on Suezmax tankers with a deadweight capacity of about 140,000 tonnes has risen to a record $27 million to $30 million per one-way voyage, up from around $19 million in September, traders in the grade said.
The increase in Urals freight rates comes against a backdrop of record global hydrocarbon shipping costs.
According to shipbroker Riverlake, the cost of transporting a 140,000-tonne cargo of crude from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean surged to Worldscale 1002.5 in October from about WS500 in the second half of September, almost twice the previous all-time high.
Cross-Mediterranean freight rates also climbed to record levels in early October, exceeding WS900.
According to market sources, the cost of transporting a cargo of around 100,000 tonnes aboard Aframax tankers from Baltic ports to western India has increased on average to $21 million to $23 million per one-way voyage, compared with roughly $13 million to $16 million during September.
Some shipowners are now quoting rates approaching $25 million per voyage.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Louise Heavens)