Higher freight rates are exacerbating the price impact of September’s attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure and the ensuing disruptions. While the kingdom has managed to stage an impressive recovery in output, ensuring all its customers remain adequately supplied, crude grades flowing from almost every region to Asia-Pacific are still posting record or multi-year high prices relative to their benchmarks. The deteriorating economics for long-haul crude shipments is helping embed tightness across Asian physical crude markets.

Presented by Alejandro Barbajosa, Argus Media Vice-President, Crude, Middle East and Asia-Pacific.