Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) reached $300,000 per day last week, which is the highest since December 2007.

On Friday, VLCC earnings on the MEG- East route reached $308,000 per day, which is the highest since september 2007. Such a high increase in rates could be attributed to a couple of factors. Firstly, the COSCO sanctions which have taken out a portion of the tanker fleet.  To put things into a perspective, before the COSCO sanctions, in September, VLCCs earned $35,000 per day.

Besides that, US crude exports which are being driven higher by new pipeline capacity and increased demand for crude. Therefore, US has turned into a gloal net exporter of crude. 

Finally, in September Brent Crude surged 10% in a signe day fter a drone strike on a Saudi Arabian oil facility which resulted in a loss of nearly 6% of the global oil output recorded during that weekend. More about it can be read here.

It is also worth mentioning that LR1 and LR2 Product Tankers, which also carry crude are expected to increase the share of crude being shipped. This could potentially lead to a spillover (a rise in price) on MR Product Tankers, due to the lower supply of the LR1 and LR2 Product Tankers.  

This is particulary interesting for TNG whose fleet consist of solely MR Tankers.