Cost of Shipping Oil Through the Strait of Hormuz Reaches $20 Million
Nashnova编辑部
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne says a single supertanker passage through Hormuz costs roughly $20 million — about $10 per barrel extra — while crude inside the Gulf trades at $50–60, well below Brent's $90-plus, feeding a lucrative arbitrage chain.
$20 million per voyage — how does the math work?
A supertanker — a vessel carrying roughly two million barrels — pays about $20 million to transit the Strait of Hormuz, adding roughly $10 per barrel in freight.
This means → any Gulf-to-Brent spread above $10 turns a profit on the voyage. The current spread sits at $30–40, making each run extremely lucrative.
In plain terms = producers are desperate to sell, crushing the in-Gulf price; shipowners and traders pocket the difference between "cheap inside" and "expensive outside."
Why is crude inside the Persian Gulf so cheap?
Six months of conflict have pushed Iraq, Qatar and other producers to offload cargoes fast, dragging the in-Gulf price down to $50–60 per barrel.
Brent benchmark futures traded above $90 on Monday — the $30–40 gap is the direct source of trader profit.
This reflects a paradox: the more urgently producers sell, the lower the Gulf price falls, the wider the arbitrage — and the more vessels risk the strait.
Who is sailing through, and how?
TotalEnergies is one of the largest traders of Iraqi and Qatari crude; both countries continue to export via Hormuz.
Pouyanne noted that a growing number of producers are shipping through the strait — before the conflict it carried roughly one-fifth of global oil flows.
Cargoes split two ways: some sail directly to refineries worldwide; others first undergo ship-to-ship transfer in the Gulf of Oman before heading to final destinations.
Crude bearish, refined products tight — what does the split mean?
Rising Hormuz cargo flows are capping crude-price upside; the crude market looks relatively bearish.
Yet gasoline and diesel remain tight: Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries have cut refining capacity, and Hormuz shipments are overwhelmingly crude, not products.
This means → refining margins stay supported in the near term: refiners buy cheaper crude and sell pricier products, widening the spread.
In plain terms = crude is "abundant" but finished fuels are "scarce" — refineries that turn crude into gasoline and diesel sit on both sides of the profit.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.