SNSUC runs seven crude re-export lines, and delivered cost increasingly cannot escape two chokepoints: the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. With Brent above 112 and geopolitical risk premium repriced, VLCC sailings lengthened by Red Sea diversions and war-risk premiums are being booked directly into the delivered accounts of ESPO, Dubai and Oman.

For cargoes like Urals and Basrah Light that must transit narrow waterways anyway, freight and premium are hard costs; for long-haul grades like Lula and Bonny Light, diversions lift voyage days and eat into effective capacity. Both are more expensive, but for different reasons.

In response, re-export contracts largely fix the discharge port as an STS anchorage (Fujairah/Sohar); transshipment only changes the ship-switch location, not the loading port. Under that structure, freight and premium are open risks that must be locked into the quote before the letter of credit is opened - changing the port afterward is not permitted on compliance grounds.