Oil Tanker Company Says It’s Owed $55 Million in Rate Dispute

By Alex Longley (Bloomberg) — Oil tanker company Hunter Group ASA says it’s owed $55 million by a counterparty that’s disputing its contractual obligations after a surge in the world’s benchmark freight rate.

The underpayment has been steadily accruing over several months, with the deficit up about $12 million from an update a month ago, according to the company’s statements.

Tanker earnings have ballooned since the start of the Iran war, with owners demanding huge premiums to enter the Persian Gulf due to the risk of attack. That matters because the world’s supertanker benchmark rate relies on journeys conducted from inside the waterway. 

The war, combined with Houthi attacks on shipping and a giant bet on supertankers by a South Korean shipowner, has helped propel rates to records.

On Monday, earnings for ships carrying crude from Saudi Arabia to China, the industry’s benchmark route, were assessed at $728,000 a day, an all-time high. That’s more than 10 times the average of last year. 

Hunter hasn’t disclosed the counterparty. In May, a person familiar with the matter said that the customer involved in the dispute is commodity trader Mercuria Energy Group. The company is awaiting a court case, in which it will argue that the reference rate has become distorted by the disruption to the key Mideast-China shipping route from the Iran war.

Mercuria declined to comment on Tuesday.

Ships hauling cargoes from outside the Strait of Hormuz to China still have elevated earnings at $302,000 a day, but they’re far below those from inside the Gulf.

© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

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