NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — The cost of delivering Middle East crude to Asia, the world's busiest route for supertankers, may drop for a sixth session because of lower cargo volumes and spare vessels available from Asian refiners.

Asian oil companies may be offering so-called re-lets, ships that are surplus to requirement while refineries go through annual maintenance, Nikos Varvaropoulos, an official at Optima Shipbrokers, said by e-mail today.

"The cargo count looks like it could be the lowest in years," Varvaropoulos said. There may be 80 to 85 cargoes for March, compared with enough ships to carry 120 to 125, he said.

Oil companies in the Middle East normally hire about 100 very large crude carriers each month to perform single-voyage deliveries. Those that are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to cut output by a combined 3.1 million barrels a day since last year, equal to about 46 2- million barrel cargoes a month.