Oil Trader News

Tankers carrying Russian oil have continued sailing through the Red Sea largely uninterrupted by Houthi attacks on shipping and face lower risks than competitors, according to shipping executives, analysts and flows data.Russia has become more dependent on trade through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea since it invaded Ukraine, which led to Europe imposing sanctions on Russian imports and forced Moscow to export most of its crude to China and India. Before the war, Russia exported…

The economic incentive to import oil from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Asia has closed as the cost of booking supertankers on the route has surged amid a jump in bookings for the vessels, traders said this week.With the arbitrage for U.S. shipments closed, Asian refiners may make up some of the difference with similar Middle Eastern crude oil after top regional producer Saudi Arabia cut their sales prices for February, which is expected to carry over to other regional crudes. The spur…

Polish oil and gas firm Orlen has provisionally chartered a supertanker to load Venezuelan oil for China, according to a shipbroker and tracking data, following a temporary easing of U.S. sanctions on the South American country.The Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Olympic Trophy, chartered for $13 million, is scheduled to load in early December, according to a source and ship tracking data on Kpler.Vitol, the world's largest independent oil trader, chartered a supertanker earlier this month to load Venezuelan crude for China.

Vitol, the world's largest independent oil trader, has provisionally chartered a supertanker to load oil from Venezuela for China, according to two shipbrokers and data from shiptracking firms Kpler and Vortexa.The Very Large Crude Carrier Gustavia S., chartered for $11 million, is scheduled to load its cargo between Nov. 27 and Dec. 2, according to the sources.The company declined to comment on the issue.Vitol is among major European trading houses seeking to resume trade in Venezuelan oil after Washington in mid-October issued a general licence lifting…

U.S. penalties on shippers transporting Russian oil in breach of the G7's price cap could push more Russian cargoes onto vessels referred to as the ghost fleet and away from mainstream tankers, shipping sources and analysts told Reuters.The cap bans Western companies from providing maritime services for Russian seaborne oil exports sold above $60 a barrel.It was designed to keep oil flowing to markets while reducing Russia's energy earnings that it can use to finance its war on Ukraine…

China's seaborne imports of Russian oil are set to hit a record this month after refiners took advantage of cheap prices as domestic fuel demand rebounded, but Russia's plan to cut exports will likely cap buying in coming months.Hefty Chinese buying, alongside robust Indian demand, has been spurred by steep price discounts but is providing Moscow much-needed revenue after the Group of Seven imposed a $60 price cap on Russian crude."Price is the king," said a purchasing manager…

The world's largest independent oil trader, Vitol, loaded a cargo of Russian ESPO Blend crude for the United Arab Emirates this week, the first such voyage for the grade, data from several analytics firms showed.Suezmax tanker Kriti Breeze loaded the 740,000-barrel cargo on May 3, and is heading to the port of Fujairah, data from Refinitiv, Kpler and Vortexa showed.Vitol could not immediately be reached for comment.(Reporting by Florence Tan and Chen Aizhu; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Traders are deploying smaller, costlier vessels to ship displaced Russian oil from European ports to China, in a rare move as Western sanctions on Moscow force them to use unconventional methods to transport the product.About 5 million barrels of Russian Urals crude was scheduled to load in April and May destined for China on four Aframax-sized tankers that each carry 730,000 barrels and two Suezmax-sized vessels each holding around 1 million barrels, according to shipping reports and research by Refinitiv and Vortexa.A very large crude carrier (VLCC)…

Global energy trader Vitol Group made a record net profit of just over $4 billion last year, sources familiar with the matter said, as oil, natural gas and other commodity prices soared.Vitol, the world's biggest independent oil trader, declined to comment.The unaudited result beats its previous record net profit in 2020, when oil markets were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Bloomberg reported Vitol made $3.2 billion in 2020. The company does not disclose its net profit.Last week, Vitol said revenues leapt to $279 billion in 2021 as oil prices recovered from 2020 lows.

Chinese refiners are paying for Russian crude oil using cash transfers to maintain imports from Russia’s Fast East, as banks shy away from financing the oil because of sanctions, sources with knowledge of the matter said.Global oil prices have soared to their highest in a decade as banks halted financing Russian oil after the United States and other countries ramped up sanctions on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.Spot crude premiums and freight rates also spiked, piling on buyers’ costs.Several European and U.S.

Tanker operator TOP Ships said Wednesday it had taken delivery of the "very high specification" scrubber fitted, 300,000 dwt newbuilding Very Large Crude Oil Carrier (VLCC) vessel M/T Legio X Equestris.Built at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea, the vessel is gearing up to start its previously announced time charter in a few days.The charter is with an unnamed major oil trader. The contract is for three years with two yearly extensions at the charterer’s option.

Oil benchmarks are hitting multiple price and spread milestones across several key markets as the fallout from severe sanctions on key exporter Russia sows confusion and panic among global crude oil traders, shipping firms and importers.The oil industry has been gripped by acute risk aversion in the finance and shipping sectors after several nations including the United States sanctioned multiple Russian entities following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, though Washington has explicitly exempted energy products from the Russian measures.

PetroChina International Singapore Pte Ltd climbed three spots to be the top marine fuel supplier in the world's biggest ship refueling hub in 2021 while the overall number of licensed suppliers fell by four to 41, official data showed on Monday.Shell Plc's Singapore bunkering unit, Shell Eastern Trading Pte Ltd, fell from the top ranking in 2020 to third, behind Singapore's Equatorial Marine Fuel Management Services Pte Ltd in second place, unchanged from 2020, the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) of Singapore data showed.Vitol Bunkers Pte Ltd…

Singapore-based oil trader Winson Group denied on Tuesday a U.N. Security Council report alleging that it supplied fuel to North Korea in breach of international sanctions."Winson denies, in the strongest possible terms, any and all allegations and/or insinuations that it knowingly facilitated the illicit supply of oil to North Korea in breach of any United Nations Security Council resolutions, and/or that it is a 'key node' in North Korea's procurement of oil or refined petroleum products…

A Singapore prosecutor filed 23 additional forgery-related charges on Friday against Lim Oon Kuin, the founder of collapsed oil trading firm Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd.Last year, police had charged the 79-year-old former oil tycoon, better known as O K Lim, with two counts of abetment of forgery for the purpose of cheating.Friday's charges accuse Lim of instigating a Hin Leong employee to forge documents supposedly issued by UT Singapore Services Pte Ltd.The paperwork stated that Hin Leong had transferred cargoes of oil products to China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp between June 2019 and March 2020, the charge sheets showed.Lim was also…

Singapore port operator Jurong Port has completed its acquisition of a stake in a major oil storage terminal in the city-state from the family behind collapsed oil trader Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd, a port spokesman said on Saturday.The spokesman said government-owned Jurong Port had completed the purchase of a 41% stake in Universal Terminal from the Lim family. He declined to give details on the transaction.A lawyer for the family did not immediately respond to a Reuters email…

Federal prosecutors in Brazil filed a civil lawsuit against Danish shipping company Maersk and former executives representing the firm for alleged corruption involving shipping contracts with state-run oil firm Petrobras, they said on Friday.The lawsuit requests that a judge freeze almost 1 billion reais ($198 million) in assets in order to make sure funds are available to pay for damages resulting from the alleged scheme.Prosecutors said there was evidence of bribe payments to…

Asian refiners' profit from producing very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) climbed to six-month highs this week as output cuts keep supplies tight while demand for the shipping fuel at most ports are back at pre-pandemic levels, traders and analysts said.The trend is likely to stay for the rest of the year, encouraging Asian refiners to prioritize VLSFO production along with petrochemical feedstock naphtha, where demand has also firmed.The front-month VLSFO crack was at $9.43 per barrel above Dubai crude on Tuesday, its highest since April 10.

Singapore has suspended the licenses to sell ship fuel held by a subsidiary of defunct oil trader Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd since it could no longer meet the licensing requirements, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said on Monday.The MPA suspended the licenses for Hin Leong's subsidiary Ocean Bunkering Services Pte Ltd (OBS), an agency spokesperson said in an emailed response to questions from Reuters sent on Oct. 12.MPA typically issues licenses to supply bunker…

The court-appointed manager for Ocean Tankers Pte Ltd has applied to the Singapore court to return most of the ships the company manages to the shipowners, as cash is running low and Ocean Tankers will not be able to maintain the fleet, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.If successful, the move will allow Ocean Tankers, the chartering arm of embattled oil trader Hin Leong Pte Ltd, to resume its cash-generating business such as its oil lubricants business, for which a sales process is underway…

The supervisor of Singaporean shipping group Xihe Holdings Pte Ltd has put seven oil tankers controlled by the company up for sale as part of efforts to recoup funds owed to creditors, three sources said on Wednesday. Xihe Holdings is part of the Lim family business empire, which also includes oil trader Hin Leong Trading and fleet manager Ocean Tankers (Pte) Ltd, both of which were placed under court-appointed supervisors earlier this year.The sale includes three crude oil supertankers and is expected to get fully underway in the coming days, the sources said.The ships were valued at a total of just over $196 million, according to vessel…

An Indian court has issued a second arrest warrant for a marine refueling tanker owned by troubled UAE oil trader GP Global after it failed to make payments to its ship manager, court documents showed.On Sept. 10, the High Court of the western Indian state of Gujrat granted the vessel manager's, Singapore-based Celestial Ship Management Pte Ltd, a request to arrest the GP B3 bunker tanker for unpaid dues, according to the court documents seen by Reuters.On the previous day, the same court granted a request by the National Bank of Fujairah (NBF) to arrest the same GP Global-owned bunker tanker after the oil trader defaulted on a loan payment.Celestial…

The Singapore High Court has appointed Grant Thornton Singapore as the supervisor of Xihe Holdings Pte Ltd and four of its subsidiaries, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.The court decision followed an application by Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd (OCBC) to place Xihe Holdings and the subsidiaries under the business adviser's supervision.The subsidiaries involved are Da Xin Tankers (Pte) Ltd, Hua Guang Shipping Pte Ltd, Nan King Maritime (Pte) Ltd and Hua Xin Shipping Pte Ltd and these units together own five ships.Xihe Holdings is part of the Lim family business empire, which also includes oil trader Hin Leong Trading and fleet manager Ocean Tankers (Pte) Ltd…