S. Arabia, Qatar Share Tankers Amid Tensions

As Saudi Arabia leads three other Arab states in accusing Qatar of destabilizing regional security, one thing is becoming increasingly clear in the oil market: tensions have yet to reach a point where the world’s biggest crude exporter is disrupting its tiny neighbor’s shipments. The number of tankers loading Qatari crude, along with that of Saudi Arabia or the UAE, has increased since tensions escalated on June 5, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg for the 25 days before and after that date. The three countries’ joint loadings of crude remain largely unaffected since the dispute that broke out on June 5. Since then, 17 tankers have loaded crude in Qatar and either Saudi Arabia or the UAE, or both. There were 16 over an equal period before June 5.