Tanker freight fell again, hard. The site market tables put tanker freight at 691.6 dollars, down 17.17 percent on the day and down 23.06 percent on the week, a second straight large fall after Tuesday’s 8.5 percent drop. Dry bulk freight rose 1.68 percent to 12.61 dollars. The tanker move runs against the contested state of Hormuz, where the IRGC’s latest fire claims remain unconfirmed, and it matches the crude market’s direction this week, with Brent down 17.09 percent on the week in the same tables.
Fitch sees Sub-Saharan Africa’s LNG exports rising nearly 175 percent to 98 billion cubic metres by 2034, from 35.7 billion cubic metres in 2024, as buyers diversify away from Hormuz, OilPrice reported. The African Energy Chamber projects upstream spending of about 40 billion dollars a year through 2030 and continental hydrocarbon output of 12.5 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, with Mozambique, Nigeria, Angola, Libya and Ivory Coast taking the largest capital shares. ExxonMobil has doubled its working interest in Mozambique’s 30 billion dollar Rovuma LNG project to 50 percent, with a final investment decision targeted for late 2026.
The global diesel crunch is set to last well into 2027, on OilPrice’s assessment of refining capacity and demand. That read is consistent with the hard data in this edition: the EIA put US distillate stocks at 99.3 million barrels, 13 percent below the five year average, in the week ended October 30.
US maritime industry groups are urging the Trump administration to let the Jones Act waiver expire on November 15, gCaptain reported. The waiver, issued during the Hormuz disruption, allowed foreign flagged vessels to move fuel between US ports, and its expiry is a dated decision point for US product tanker rates.
Grains and softs were quiet in the site tables. Corn rose 0.34 percent to 445.8 cents a bushel, soybeans rose 0.86 percent to 1,203.5 cents and wheat eased 0.17 percent to 597.5 cents, with no new fundamental catalyst in the morning’s reporting after Tuesday’s four month low in corn.