The state refiner of Taiwan and commodity trading giant Glencore have each booked a tanker to travel to the Middle East and load oil, in a sign that crude customers are hoping for a re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz after the announcement of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire.
CPC, Taiwan’s state refiner, has booked a tanker to load 2 million barrels of crude from the Middle East and bring it to Taiwan in the coming weeks, Taiwanese Economy Minister Kung Ming-hsin said on Thursday, as carried by Reuters.
“If passage is possible within the next two weeks or so, it can come over,” the official was quoted as saying.
Separately, Glencore has booked the Asian Lion supertanker to travel to the Middle East and load crude, a shipping source told Reuters.
The demurrage fee is $580,000 per day, according to the source.
Refiners and traders appear to be rushing to book vessels to travel to the Middle East to load crude, but the situation around the Strait of Hormuz is very fluid and uncertainty prevails as to whether inbound and outbound traffic has materially increased.
The ceasefire didn’t hold for 24 hours as Israel continued strikes on Lebanon, which Iran said was a violation of the ceasefire and signaled the Strait of Hormuz is closed again.
“The passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz has been halted following Israel’s attacks on Lebanon,” Iran’s Fars News Agency reported late on Wednesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the public reports out of Iran that the Strait is again closed “are false,” and that it had been privately relayed to President Trump that the Strait would open.
“Coordination with Iranian armed forces is still required for all transits,” maritime intelligence firm Windward said on Wednesday, noting that “The strait has not reopened — it is in a supervised pause.”
