Tesoro News

NOAA presented awards to 13 global shipping firms for their commitment in helping prevent ship collisions with whales off the coast of California.The companies participated in a Voluntary Speed Reduction initiative by slowing their ships to speeds of 10 knots (about 11.5 mph) or lower while transiting vessel traffic lanes outside the Golden Gate during whale feeding season, from May through mid-November.The national marine sanctuaries of North-central California - Greater Farallones…

Greece-based international diversified shipping partnership Capital Product Partners announced the completed acquisition of the M/T ‘Aristaios’, as well as the sale of the M/T ‘Aristotelis’ and the acquisition of the M/T ‘Anikitos’. On January 17, 2018, the Partnership acquired the eco-type crude tanker ‘Aristaios’ (113,689 dwt, Ice Class 1C, built 2017, Daehan Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., South Korea) for a total consideration of $52.5 million from the Partnership’s sponsor, Capital Maritime & Trading. The M/T ‘Aristaios’ is currently employed under a time charter to Tesoro Far East Maritime Company at a gross daily rate of $26,400. The Tesoro charter commenced in January 2017 with duration of five years +/- 45 days.

Capital Product Partners has announced that its Board of Directors has approved the acquisition of the eco-type crude tanker ‘Aristaios' (112,800 dwt, Ice Class 1C, built 2017, Daehan Shipbuilding, S. Korea) for a total consideration of $52.5 million from the Partnership's sponsor, Capital Maritime & Trading. The M/T ‘Aristaios' is currently employed under a time charter to Tesoro Far East Maritime Company (‘Tesoro') at a gross daily rate of $26,400. The Tesoro charter commenced in January 2017 with duration of five years +/- 45 days. The Partnership intends to fund the acquisition through available cash in the amount of $24.2 million…

Crowley Marine Services said it will relocate the tugboat Veteran to the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach to service all vessels, including large petroleum tank vessels with deep drafts greater than 65 feet calling on Long Beach Berth 121. With a bollard pull rating of over 90 short tons, the powerful Veteran is better suited to serve the very large crude carriers (VLCCs) that are calling more regularly in Long Beach. Tesoro and the Long Beach Pilots are now requiring a tug with…

Supertankers entering the Port of Long Beach will use ABB’s marine software to produce real-time data of the keel-to-seabed clearance, improving the safety and efficiency of the operations. Sensors fitted to Tesoro vessels will send information to a Portable Surveyor Box (PSB), carried by the pilot, which will verify their route to the dock. In this specific case, the system is used to continuously validate (and improve) pre-calculated motions from the online decision support system PROTIDE, which is used to calculate safe transit time windows for large oil tankers to enter the port.

Oil company Royal Dutch Shell has signed a three-year contract to lease storage tanks at a large terminal in Panama that had been used by U.S. refining company Tesoro Corp, sources involved in the deal told Reuters. The facility, designed for storage and transshipment of crude oil to tankers, is owned by Petroterminal de Panama (PTP) and includes up to 14 million barrels of storage capacity on the Atlantic and the Pacific shores. "We have signed a contract with Shell for a three-year period involving all the available space we have," said an official from the Panamanian government. The contract still needs final approval by the country's Finance Ministry.   (Reporting by Elida Moreno and Marianna Parraga)

Brazilian shipbuilder ETP Engenharia in Rio de Janeiro has delivered the final six vessels of a 12-ship order for Baru Offshore. The six newest 48-meter DNV Classed DP-1 vessels – Baru Serrana, Baru Tesoro, Baru Sinu, Baru Sirius, Baru Taurus and Baru Vega – were delivered over the last several months to Baru Offshore, a subsidiary of INTERTUG, for charter with Petrobras. The vessels’ designer Incat Crowther said the vessels are optimized to comply with the Petrobras UT4000 Fast Supply Vessel specification.

Organizers of this summer’s inaugural LA Fleet Week 2016 are in full planning mode for the week-long call of U.S. Navy ships on the LA Waterfront  in the days leading up to and including Labor Day Weekend. Friday September 2, through Monday September 5, big crowds are expected to converge at the Port of Los Angeles World Cruise Center for Naval vessel ship tours and a variety of exhibits and activities along the main channel that will bring together the public and more than 1,500 military personnel descending on the nation’s largest trade gateway for the end-of-summer celebration. Fleet Week is a United States Navy, United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard tradition in New York, San Francisco and a number of other port cities.

Colombia, Latin America's No. 4 oil producer, is changing the slate of crudes it exports in a bid to offset the falling prices that are crimping the revenues of its top oil companies. The country has started to deemphasize exports of several heavier crudes, mainly Castilla, and increase offerings of Vasconia, a medium blend that fetches about $3.50, or 8 percent, more per barrel. But to lift output of Vasconia, Colombia must increase imports of products such as naphtha and natural gasoline, which are used as diluents to lighten the barrels for export. State-run Ecopetrol has already started to make the shift and has pushed independent producers in Colombia, including Pacific Rubiales, to do the same, brokers and industry sources said.

Shipping lines, environmental organizations, trucking companies, terminal operators and a railroad were honored today, July 29, by Long Beach Mayor Dr. Robert Garcia and the Port of Long Beach at the annual Environmental Achievement Awards. The awards are an outgrowth of the groundbreaking Green Port Policy, the Port’s commitment to improving the environment. Approved in 2005 by the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, the policy put the Port on the path to become a world leader in environmental stewardship. At today’s event, Mayor Garcia introduced the “Mayor’s Green Port Award,” which was presented to terminal operator Long Beach Container Terminal.

The largest U.S. refinery strike in 35 years entered its fourth week on Sunday as workers at 12 refineries accounting for one-fifth of national production capacity were walking picket lines. Sources familiar with the negotiations said talks may resume by mid-week to end the walkout by 6,550 members of the United Steelworkers union (USW) at 15 plants, including the 12 refineries. Representatives of both sides said no date has been set to restart negotiations, however. The strike comes as U.S. workers seek more pay in a strengthening economy. Wal-Mart Stores Inc has said its U.S. workers will get a raise to at least $9 an hour, while West Coast port workers have reached a tentative deal for a new contract after a months-long dispute. The refinery work stoppage began on Feb.

U.S. oil refinery managers are going to the mats, literally, during the biggest fight with union workers in 35 years, bedding down for a third strike week that experts and some employees say raises concerns over safety and operations. At the 135,000 barrel-per-day refinery just outside of Toledo, Ohio, run by BP Plc and Husky Energy Inc , most of the nearly 300-person staff have been calling the refinery home since Feb. 9. For the last week, they have slept on recently purchased mattresses inside rental trailers to rapidly respond to any problems and avoid striking workers, sources say. On Tuesday, a van full of washing and drying machines gingerly cut through about a dozen United Steelworkers carrying pickets and walking a strike line at the facility's front gate.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc and the United Steelworkers union (USW) negotiated for hours on Tuesday over a new labor contract for U.S. refinery workers, the company said on day 10 of the biggest refinery walkout since 1980. They have been unable to agree since this year's talks started on Jan. 21 on the size of wage increases and how to monitor worker fatigue, which is tied to accidents and can be handled through overtime pay or adding workers. Shell is the lead representative for oil companies at the negotiations for a three-year pact that would cover 30,000 workers at 63 plants. The union wants wage increases, a tighter safety policy, and reductions in non-union contractors working in refineries.

Glencore, Suncor, ENI, Vitol all booking tankers; U.S. crude oil stocks at highest ever level for time of year. Traders are shipping West African crude to the United States to store the oil until prices recover, as the global glut forces them to source any tanks available and as seaborne cargoes are able to compete better on price with U.S. crude. Oil firms including Swiss-based Glencore, Italian energy major ENI and Canada's biggest oil company Suncor have lined up ships to take at least 10 million barrels of West African crude to North America, ship brokers say, with freight bookings and tanker tracking also showing the moves. The move reinvigorates a trade that had been largely shut off by the U.S.

Traders are shipping West African crude to the United States to store the oil until prices recover, as the global glut forces them to source any tanks available and as seaborne cargoes are able to compete better on price with U.S. crude. Oil firms including Swiss-based Glencore, Italian energy major ENI and Canadian's biggest oil company Suncor have all lined up ships to take at least 10 million barrels of West African crude to North America, ship brokers say, with freight bookings and tanker tracking also showing the moves. The move reinvigorates a trade that had been largely shut off by the U.S. shale boom, as West African barrels that used to be imported to the United States were some of the first to be pushed out by soaring output in Texas and North Dakota. While U.S.

Chevron Corp has hired an investment bank to identify potential buyers of its 54,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Kapolei on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, a company official said. Deutsche Bank AG was retained to sell the plant, according to another person familiar with the sale, who was not authorized to speak on the matter publicly. Deustsche Bank declined to comment. "After much consideration, Chevron's downstream and chemical leadership has decided to engage an investment banking firm to identify potential parties interested in the purchase of our assets in Hawaii. No decision has been made at this time other than to determine the level of interest of potential buyers," Chevron spokesman Braden Reddall said on Friday. The Hawaiian facility is among the company's smallest refineries.

Freeman Freeman & Smiley say that its lead trial attorney  Robert S. Crowder (assisted by attorneys Russell R. Fisk and John D. Van Ackeren) have celebrated a win with their client, Tesoro Refining & Marketing Company LLC in a lawsuit filed by Plaintiffs North of England Protecting & Indemnity Association Limited, United Africa Petroleum Limited and General National Maritime Transport Company. Plaintiffs brought claims as insurer, owner and operator of the Libyan Motor Tanker Aljalaa for cleanup costs associated with an oil spill which occurred at Tesoro’s Long Beach, California, terminal on February 21, 2011. Although the M/T Aljalaa was admittedly responsible for the spill of its own fuel oil…

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is in disarray and has struggled to finish investigations into serious accidents at chemical plants and refineries that in one case killed seven people, according to a draft report by two Congressional committees. The report, prepared by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, said CSB Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso and two other officials have created an "abusive and hostile work environment" at the board's offices. The report, seen by Reuters, will be issued later Thursday. As a result, experienced investigators have left, according to the report, and delayed probes such as the one into the 2010 explosion at Tesoro Petroleum Corp's refinery in Anacortes, Washington, that killed seven.

U.S. regulators seeking data from refiners in the effort to gauge the volatility of North Dakota Bakken crude being shipped by rail will have the information by the end of May, according to the industry's trade group. Seventeen companies have anonymously submitted data from more than 1,000 samples to an undisclosed third-party auditor hired by the American Fuel and Petrochemicals Manufacturers (AFPM), the U.S. independent refining industry's trade group, the group's general counsel, Rich Moskowitz, said on Friday. A technical consultant is compiling the information into a report to be submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation by month's end, Moskowitz said. It will be submitted without companies identifying themselves because they consider the data proprietary.

The Jones Act has been blamed for everything from higher prices of goods and oil to a shortage of rock salt supply in the Northeast during the past winter, but the 94-year-old U.S. federal statute governing the U.S. coastal shipping trades will not be going away anytime soon. The solid status of this deeply entrenched U.S. federal maritime law is reflected in heavy investments by oil, logistics and shipping companies in this lucrative domestic shipping sector. Last December, Kinder Morgan spent nearly $1 billion in its acquisition of its first Jones Act tanker assets when it bought American Petroleum Tankers and State Class Tankers. The market outlook for U.S.- flagged oil tankers remains bright, and some companies are banking on that.

A faulty Valve Pump station at a Petroleum Pipeline Ruptured Early on Thursday in an Industrial corner of Los Angeles, spewing Crude Oil 40 Feet (12 meters) into the Air, onto the Roof of a strip club next door, and leaving four people sick from the fumes. An Estimated 10,000 gallons of Oil gushed from the Pipeline before it was shut down and the spill was halted, soaking an Area about a half-Block Long, Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Jaime Moore Said. The Company that runs the Pipeline, Plains All American Pipeline LP, a Unit of Plains Pipeline LP, put the Volume of the spill at "less than 450 barrels (18,900 gallons)" based on Current field Inspections.

Mexico's Pemex has quietly begun shipping light Isthmus crude to a variety of West Coast refiners this year, according to U.S. and Reuters data, resuming such sales after a six-year hiatus. The state-run oil company, which exported only about 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Isthmus last year, shipped about 340,000 barrels of the crude to Valero Energy Corp at Benicia, California, in January and February, according to U.S. government data. It sent another 350,000 barrels (48,000 tonnes) to Tesoro Corp in San Francisco in March, according to Eikon's trade flow database based on PIERS data. Pemex then exported another 150,000 barrels to Shell Trading at Anacortes, Washington, in May from the Salina Cruz terminal.

Sheriff Craig Apple assured a room of concerned citizens that county emergency crews were prepared to handle an oil-train accident involving three or four tank cars. Firefighters have been training to combat railcar fires with foam, and evacuation plans are detailed in a 500-page emergency response plan, Apple told residents in a May 12 address. Albany's tracks handle as much as a fourth of the oil pumped from North Dakota's booming Bakken Shale, or up to several 100-car trains per day, each carrying 70,000 barrels. It is one of several spots along North America's new oil-by-rail corridors where residents and officials are restless, following six fiery derailments in the past 10 months.