Oil shipments from the Persian Gulf surge as traders chase higher profits despite heightened risks

The revival of oil exports from the Persian Gulf is being powered by alternative routes that pass through Oman and by the backing of US naval forces, making shipments through the Hormuz Strait more viable. Traders are now willing to risk the passage, attracted by premium freight rates that can add about $20 per barrel and generate up to $40 million in extra profit for a full supertanker load. The higher earnings also extend to crew members, with some companies offering bonuses equivalent to two or three months’ wages, and a Chinese firm reportedly paying up to $25,000 for a round-trip.

Shipping patterns have shifted, with older tankers that once carried Russian or Venezuelan crude now making shorter hops between the Persian and Omani gulfs before transferring cargo under partial US air cover. However, the route remains perilous: October recorded roughly 30 attacks on merchant vessels, representing about 20 percent of all ships hit during the conflict, including a grenade strike on the tanker Loyalty that damaged its fresh-water tank while it was carrying two million barrels of Iraqi oil. These incidents have driven transport costs to near-record levels, with the price of moving a barrel to China reaching $37.37, and insurance premiums climbing to as much as ten percent of a vessel’s value, up from less than three percent before the war.