Surging Tanker Rates Signal a Deepening Global Energy Crisis

By Weilun Soon

Sep 10, 2026 (Bloomberg) –Global tanker freight rates are surging to record levels with little respite in sight, a sign of the growing strain in oil markets as traders, shipowners, producers and buyers grapple with a drawn-out conflict in the Persian Gulf and increasingly complex workarounds.

Earnings for supertankers sailing on the benchmark Middle East-to-China route are at a record of nearly $800,000 a day. Meanwhile, for the US Gulf to Asia run, charterers have been offered very large crude carriers at a record lump-sum fee of $29.5 million — close to $15 per barrel without considering additional war