The cost of shipping oil across the Mediterranean Sea surged to the highest in almost six years as traders accelerated bookings to load Libyan cargoes at a time when tankers are being delayed reaching the region. Aframax ships hauling 80,000 metric ton cargoes to southern European refineries from North African exporters are earning $137,687 a day, according to data today from Poten & Partners, a New York-based shipbroker. The figure is the most since March 2008, its data show. Nationwide protests shut Libyan oil fields and export terminals in July last year, curbing shipments from Europe ’s third-largest crude supplier. Some lost output is now returning and traders booked tankers to load 610,000 tons of Libyan oil in the week ended Jan. 26, the most since Sept. 1, according to charter lists compiled by Bloomberg. Fog is delaying ships at Turkey ’s shipping straits, meaning fewer in the Mediterranean, […]