Oil Shipping Costs Spike, Lifting Prices from Pump to Grocery

HOUSTON/LOS ANGELES, Oct 15 (Reuters) – When the oil supertanker Esteem Explorer sails from the United States to Japan in late November, loaded with about 2 million barrels of crude, the journey will cost $81 million. The same journey would have cost $9.1 million last year, on average.

The shipping cost translates into $40.50 per barrel, about nine times last year’s rate. While oil’s soaring selling price worries consumers, the Esteem Explorer’s expensive voyage illustrates how transport costs are further inflating the price. Refiners process oil into fuel to move food, retail goods and construction materials, and rising costs