Saudi Pipeline Restart Fails to Ease Oil Market Tensions
The Saudi East-West pipeline has restarted, and Saudi Arabia is trying to push volumes back toward roughly 4 million barrels a day. However, the system remains brittle, with oil still moving but not flowing freely.
Oil prices have eased slightly following the news, but the delivered barrel price remains high due to increased freight costs. VLCC earnings on the Middle East-China route have been quoted around $1 million to $1.25 million a day, and freight from the Gulf to China has been estimated above $30 a barrel.
JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has warned that imposing tariffs on Indian oil imports could harm India and the global oil market. He noted that some of the crude imported by India is processed for specific units, and if India cannot buy those grades, it may have to buy something else with different properties.