Goldman Sachs Warns of New Oil Price Shock as Tanker Rates Soar

AI Summary

Goldman Sachs says oil freight rates have climbed to about $20 per barrel from $3 last year amid the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz crisis. The bank warns that persistently high tanker costs could push oil prices above its baseline forecast of $90 per barrel for Brent crude at year-end.

The average global freight rate to transport oil has surged to $20 per barrel from $3 per barrel last year as the Iran war and the Hormuz crisis have created a shipping crisis that’s unlikely to end soon, Goldman Sachs says. Oil shipping rates are set to remain elevated in the near term amid no end in sight to the Middle East crisis, with the massive surge in freight costs posing an upside risk to Goldman’s current baseline oil price forecast of $90 per barrel Brent crude at the end of this year, the bank’s analysts said in a…