Seaborne Barrels 2026 — Tankers, Refiners & Oil Majors

Built on 6 Feb 2026 as a one-year, high-beta bet that oil keeps moving by sea and someone has to carry it. Crude tanker rates hit multi-year highs in late 2025 (EIA, 27 Jan 2026) as sanctions on Russian and Iranian barrels push flows onto longer, compliant routes, and OPEC+ is still unwinding cuts. On top of that the US has a carrier group in the Arabian Sea and talks with Tehran look shaky (Al-Monitor 26 Jan, BBC 28 Jan 2026) — if anything goes wrong in the Gulf, freight and refining spreads spike while the majors get a bid. Core is five crude tanker names, satellites are a product tanker, a refiner and two majors plus an LNG play. This is NOT a dividend portfolio: tanker stocks can lose 30% in a quarter if rates roll over; risk class speculative, I expect to trim into any spike.