The world’s biggest crude oil tankers earned more than $100,000 a day for the first time since 2008, amid speculation that a surge in Chinese bookings is curbing the number that are left available for charter. Ships hauling 2 million barrel cargoes of Saudi Arabian crude to Japan, a benchmark route, earned $104,256 a day, a level last seen in July 2008, according to data on Friday from the Baltic Exchange in London. The rate was a 13 percent gain from Thursday. Bookings by Chinese oil companies surged this week to collect oil from regions including the Middle East and West Africa, the world’s biggest loading areas, according to George Los, a New York-based analyst at shipbroker Charles R. Weber Co. The Asian country imported 26.6 million metric tons of crude in August, 5.6 percent more than a year earlier, according to customs data. “China was particularly more active […]