Asian refiners said yesterday they were worried about the rising cost of importing crude oil from the Middle East as oil prices hit a 29-month high.
Benchmark light, sweet crude oil in Asian trading hours Thursday was at US$37.11, US$0.05 down from the close in New York.
Freight charges have gone up to US$1.50 a barrel for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) from about US$0.30 last year, with hull insurance hitting US$100,000 for each trip to main crude loading ports in the Middle East, said a highly placed source at a Singapore refinery. Insurance rates have also surged by more than 100 percent for importing crude from Middle East ports, according to the source.
"War or no war, we will continue to buy crude oil from the Middle East," the source said on condition of anonymity.
Major oil exporters including Saudi Arabia have assured Asian refiners of a steady supply of crude, Singapore-based traders said.
Light, sweet crude oil hit a 29-month high of US$37.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday.
US and British diplomats are working on a United Nations resolution in which Iraq would have to explain why it had provided no trace of seven missiles, 50 warheads and 550 chemical-filled artillery shells which it claimed to have destroyed or lost during and after the 1991 Gulf War.
The US-British aim was to change opinions in the Security Council, where no more than two other members are currently willing to declare Iraq in breach of UN Resolution 1441 and authorize military action to disarm it, diplomats said.
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