Suggested Headline:Shipping Oil Through Hormuz Costs $20 Million, TotalEnergies CEO Says

Shipping an oil cargo on a supertanker through the Strait of Hormuz costs about $20 million, TotalEnergies Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanne said, highlighting the significant costs and potential margins involved for traders and shipowners, Mitchell Ferman and Alex Longley reported for Bloomberg News.

The Strait of Hormuz is a critical route for global energy shipments.

Pouyanne said TotalEnergies is buying barrels at about $50 to $60 inside the Persian Gulf as producers seek to move their supplies to market following six months of conflict.

The additional freight cost for a supertanker is equivalent to about $10 a barrel, he said. Benchmark Brent crude futures were trading above $90 a barrel at one point this week.

TotalEnergies is one of the largest traders of oil from Iraq and Qatar, two countries that have continued moving barrels through the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks, Pouyanne said.

Before the Iran war, the critical waterway carried about one-fifth of the world's oil flows.

Continued shipments through Hormuz have helped prevent global oil prices from rising above $100 a barrel, while creating potentially lucrative opportunities for shipowners and intermediaries.