Oil Cargos News

The Trump administration is considering sanctioning a Venezuelan military-run oil services company and restricting insurance coverage for Venezuelan oil shipments to ratchet up pressure on socialist President Nicolas Maduro, a U.S. official said. With Maduro running for another term in an April election that Washington and its allies oppose as a sham, the United States is weighing sanctions that would target Venezuela’s vital oil sector beyond what has been done before, the official told Reuters on Wednesday. Some measures could come before the vote and others could be imposed afterwards.

Costa Rica's refining company Recope has launched a tender to buy two 90,000-100,000 barrel cargos of fuel oil for delivery from September to December at Port Caldera, according to a document seen by Reuters on Friday. Previously this month, Recope bought three 25,000 barrel cargoes of MTBE, a component to oxygenate gasoline. The company, which operates the 25,000 barrel per day (bpd) Puerto Limon refinery, supplies most fuel for the Costa Rican domestic market. For this offer, the company is requesting fuel oil with maximum 1.8 percent sulfur. It will accept bids until August 25 and they must refer to fuel oil number 6 prices from the U.S. Gulf Coast. (Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Anna Driver)

(Reuters) - Costa Rica's refining company Recope launched a tender to buy three 165,000 cargos of fuel oil to be received from mid-April to October at Port Moin, according to an invitation seen by Reuters on Monday. The state-run company has increased imports of fuels since 2013, while planning the upgrade of its 25,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Moin, next to Port Limon in the Caribbean. In recent months, it awarded a contract to U.S. Valero Energy to import up to 14.25 million barrels of fuels during 2014 and it also bought on the open market 1.53 million barrels of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and several cargos of MTBE, a component to oxygenate gasoline. The cargos being sought this time must contain fuel oil with 2.2 percent or 3 percent sulfur, the company said.

International classification society Bureau Veritas has responded to demand for safe LNG transportation in the Arctic regions by developing new high-level tools to assess cargo sloshing in ice conditions. It has also developed a cutting-edge probabilistic method for assessing ice loads on structure which will reduce the time and data needed to assess the structure of vessels and units designed for heavy ice operation. Pierre Besse, Director of Innovation, Bureau Veritas, said, “All eyes are on the Arctic sea routes and on the opening up of the Arctic mineral and energy resources. We have to ensure the vessels and offshore units that operate in those extreme conditions are safe.

General Maritime Corporation entered into a contract of affreightment (COA) agreement with Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO), the principal trading and shipping business of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. The contract gives General Maritime the opportunity to transport STASCO oil cargos for its Aframax and Suezmax fleet in the Western Hemisphere. Peter C. Georgiopoulos, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, commented, "General Maritime's success at signing this agreement with Shell underscores the quality of the company's fleet and operations as well as its leadership position in the mid-sized tanker industry.