Middle Eastern and Asian companies are snapping up aging oil tankers to transport Russian crude as charter rates soar

Market entrants are snapping up aging oil tanker's to ferry the fuel at a premium rate because of the sanctions and boycotts.

According to a report on Monday, new ship owners from the Middle Eastern and Asia are looking at high charter prices for their vessels to transport Russian oil to India and China After the European Union banned the import of Russian crude on December 5, India and China became major buyers.

The broker said that ships earning $80,000 a day in the Mediterranean could make $130,000 a day if they carried Russian oil. That's because crude tanker rates have soared this year to their highest level since 2008 when oil companies used the ships for storage of excess supply as demand slumped.

Second-hand oil tanker prices have gone up because of the prospect of bumper profits.

The price of the standard vessel size used for loading crude at Russian Baltic ports has more than doubled in the last six months.

So far this year, 161 Aframax sales have been made, 5% more than in the same period in the previous year.

Lloyd's List reported in August that one China-based shipowner bought five Aframax tanker ships.

According to the shipping journal, the buyer spent a total of $376 million on 13 tanker ships for ship-to-ship transfers of Russian crude oil. Most of the ships were purchased in the summer of 2022.