Libyan importers have stepped up their bitumen buying over the past month after they cut back sharply on the massive price gains driven by the US-Iran war.
Bitumen cargo imports have reached 43,000t this month, all into either Tripoli or Benghazi, compared with 18,000t in June, none in May, 6,000t in April and 13,000t in March, according to Kpler data.
The earlier slippage had followed a 12pc jump in annual imports to 210,000t last year from 188,000t in 2024. That rally that continued into early 2026, with 18,000t in January and 21,000t in February, before a dramatic slowdown caused by the mid-February to mid-March Islamic fasting month of Ramadan and by the 28 February start of the US-Israel war with Iran.
The June-July import surge is in part linked to urgent Libyan requirements for road and highway repair, maintenance and upgrade work, after months of weak buying when war-linked bitumen price escalation made it very difficult for importers to raise letters of credit (LCs) to finance deals.
A sharp drop in bitumen outright prices, largely linked to dramatic crude and high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) falls during the three-week resumption of Mideast Gulf traffic through the strait of Hormuz from 17 June, facilitated the recent upturn.
Outright prices for Greek bitumen cargo exports jumped from $386/t just before the the start of the US-Iran conflict to a $650/t peak on 22 May, before retreating to $425/t in early July. They have moved up again, to around $550/t last week, after hostilities resumed, road paving demand in Europe moved into peak season, and supply tightening again, with a prolonged halt in bitumen production and exports at Eni's 88,400 b/d Taranto refinery in southern Italy.
Those factors drove up Mediterranean bitumen cargo premiums to year-highs against to fob Mediterranean HSFO cargo prices earlier in July. Cargo premiums have since jumped further, to $35-40/t fob Greece and Italy assessed premiums, adding to outright prices.
Bunker fuel cost gains have also pushed up cross-Mediterranean bitumen tanker freight rates, adding to the delivered cost of bitumen cargoes.
Market participants say as much as 30,000t of Iraqi Kurdistan sourced bitumen was discharged into Benghazi, eastern Libya, on the 37,000dwt Gunvor-operated White Pearl. It arrived on 19 July with its large cargo loaded at the Dortyol export terminal in Turkey. Gunvor and another regional bitumen supply and trading firms each had a chunk of the cargo.
Another Iraq-sourced cargo, loaded at Turkey's Mersin on the 6,189dwt Iver Blessing, arrived at Tripoli, western Libya, on 26 July. The 6,065dwt Marlin Pearl, operated by Trafigura, arrived at Tripoli on 29 July with a cargo loaded at Greek refinery Helleniq Energy's Aspropyrgos facility.
Suppliers say Libyan buying, which has historically been intermittent, could now slow sharply again, with tanks filled at Benghazi and Tripoli and as higher delivered prices begin to to discourage buying. Cargo premiums to Mediterranean HSFO cargo prices have, on a delivered basis, raced up to around $120/t for shipments to north African markets like Algeria and Morocco, and traders said Libyan importers would probably have to pay similar amounts to secure spot cargoes.
