A resumption in Middle East oil exports to the U.S. is required to drag VLCC tanker rates off the floor, shipping brokers said. A late start to seasonal westbound oil shipments from the Middle East is making tanker brokers ask when relief will arrive. VLCC tanker rates out of the Middle East have nose-dived again in the last two weeks due to a lack of activity, to around W42 east (around $4 per ton) and west (about $7.00 per ton). Even when there has been strong tanker demand from Asia over the last month, large tanker rates have failed to take off because of the lack of oil going west, brokers said. "It is a simple formula. The Red Sea-East journey is much shorter than to the West, and allows a build up of vessels returning to the Middle East.