Bhp Billiton Ltd News

A Brazilian federal court on Thursday ordered the suspension of activities at Vale SA's Port of Tubarão because of pollution concerns, halting the world's largest iron ore exporter's ability to ship more than a third of its output. The ruling by the court in Vitoria was made as part of a police investigation at the giant man-made port as Vale comes under increasing pressure over its environmental record in Brazil after a dam burst at a mine run by its Samarco joint venture in October, killing at least 17 people.

Brazil's Vale SA said on Friday that it plans to sell its 11 remaining Valemax iron ore carriers and lease them back in transactions that could raise $1.1 billion. Vale has said it has experienced some delay in selling the ships, the key to its attempt to cut transportation costs between its Brazilian mines and Asian customers, as it seeks to get the best freight rates under contracts to lease the ships back from the new owners. Each more than 360-meter-long (1181-ft-long) ship can carry 380,000 to 400,000 tonnes of ore and are among the biggest vessels afloat. Vale has been selling its part of the world's 35-vessel Valemax fleet for about $110 million each, Luciano Siani, chief financial officer of Rio de Janeiro-based Vale told investors at a conference in London.

The first company to get U.S. government approval to ship minimally processed super-light oil to international markets is building its own export terminal on the Texas Gulf Coast aimed at topping off massive tankers to keep them full. Matthew Goitia, chief executive of privately held Peaker Energy, received the first U.S. government approval to export ultra-light oil known as condensate in September 2013, months before other companies followed suit to exploit the first cracks in the decades-old domestic crude export ban. But Goitia's efforts to put that approval into action faltered, as potential customers listened and then bypassed Peaker to connect their marketing teams directly with shippers. "We weren't big enough to really move the needle on them.

Brazilian mining company Vale SA was downgraded late on Thursday by the Standard & Poor's credit-rating agency over concern that a drop in iron ore prices will erode revenue at the world's largest producer of the main steel-making ingredient. New York-based S&P reduced the company's rating to "BBB," the second-lowest investment grade level, from "BBB+." S&P had cut the company's rating to BBB+ in January. A BBB rating means a company has "adequate capacity to meet financial commitments, but (is) more subject to adverse economic conditions" than higher-rated companies, according to the agency. S&P, which took Vale off a "credit watch," said the outlook for Vale's rating was negative.

Australia's Newcastle port, the world's biggest marine coal export terminal, will reopen later on Thursday after shutting down earlier this week due to a heavy storm, according to the port. Australia's biggest coal companies, including BHP Billiton Ltd , Glencore Plc, Rio Tinto , Peabody Energy Corp and China's Yancoal Australia Ltd rely on the port. (Reporting by Sonali Paul

Coal port shut since Monday night; seven coal ships waiting to leave, ship queue undisclosed. MELBOURNE, April 22 (Reuters) - Australia's Newcastle port, the world's biggest coal export port, has stopped all ship movements due to a cyclonic storm lashing the country's east coast, a port spokeswoman said on Wednesday. "Due to the weather event, no shipping movements occurred yesterday and port operations also paused," the spokeswoman said. Seven coal ships are waiting to leave the port, four from terminals operated by Port Waratah Coal Services and three from a terminal run by Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group (NCIG). The port operators declined to comment on how many coal ships were waiting offshore to pick up their cargoes from the port…

Enterprise bumps up exports through annual contracts; signs 2015 contracts with PDS, Vitol; seeks one more term buyer. U.S. exports of condensate have been given an important boost after pipeline company Enterprise Products Partners LP agreed annual contracts with at least two major trading companies to sell the light crude, trade sources said. Oil producers have been pressing to lift a 40-year-old U.S. ban on crude exports and the Department of Commerce broke its year-long silence in December and began approving a backlog of requests to sell processed light oil abroad. Enterprise is selling 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) under the contracts, which should give it a headstart before other firms get the nod to export condensate produced from shale operations.

BHP Billiton Ltd has sold its second cargo of processed condensate from the United States via a tender to U.S. firm Koch, traders said on Tuesday. The producer sold the 650,000-barrel cargo for delivery during the first half of January at the Houston Ship Channel at a premium of about $2 a barrel to West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the two traders said. They declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak with media. BHP declined to make immediate comment. Koch did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment outside regular U.S. office hours. This is Koch's second purchase of U.S. condensate, traders said. The first cargo, lifted in September, went to Europe. Reporting by Florence Tan

Asian refiners shift towards cheaper Mideast oil, naphtha-trade; U.S. light oil exports to Asia only started 4 months ago. U.S. exports now going to Europe instead. An aggressive strategy by Mideast Gulf producers to exploit the lowest oil prices in five years to defend market share is showing signs of bearing fruit as U.S. crude exports to Asia grind to halt. Asian refineries have suspended imports of condensate, a light crude oil produced from the U.S. shale boom, just four months after they began in favour of cheaper Middle East grades, according to trade and industry sources. The suspension illustrates how competition between suppliers has heated up following a more than 40 percent decline in oil prices since June.

Companies eager to export U.S. oil face fines and other risks if they stray from government-approved practices, trade lawyers said this week, but the challenge is figuring out what the government allows because its rulings have so far been private. As the drilling boom floods the Gulf Coast with light oil that local refineries cannot easily process, energy companies are under pressure to sell the petroleum to global markets, despite a 40-year ban on crude exports. A 20 percent drop in oil prices this fall has also made them anxious to find new buyers. The Obama administration this summer put a hold on more than 20 new applications for exports of minimally processed light oil called condensate after issuing two approvals for the fuel.

BHP Billiton Ltd is set to be the first company to export lightly processed ultra-light U.S. oil without explicit permission from the government, further testing the limits of an increasingly contentious ban on foreign sales. Eight months after two other U.S. energy firms said they had received the first formal authorization to sell domestic condensate abroad, BHP said it had determined that its oil would also meet the legal criteria for export since it was being minimally processed in distillation towers in South Texas. "We took the necessary time to thoroughly examine the issues involved and ensure that the processed condensate was eligible for export…

Petchem producers unlikely to buy due to impurities in oil. Big middle distillates yield, less naphtha, LPG; wide variance in API gravities in assays, samples. Tests on samples of the same type of U.S. condensate now heading to South Korea and Japan have raised questions about the ultra-light crude's suitability for use in Asia, sources said, making some potential buyers wary about taking the oil. The uncertainty could delay a rapid build-up in the flow of U.S. condensate to Asia after the arrival of the first exports of U.S. crude in 40 years. Asian refiners and chemical producers will have to first determine the best use for the ultra-light oil before starting to buy in large volumes.

Brazilian miner Vale SA posted a sharp decline in profit from the previous quarter as lower iron ore prices undermined record production of the steel-making ingredient. Vale, the world's largest producer of iron ore, reported second-quarter net income of $1.43 billion, down 43 percent on the previous quarter and below the average analyst estimate of $1.89 billion in a Reuters survey. "It was a very challenging environment where the price of our most important product has dropped by 15 percent," Chief Financial Officer Luciano Siani said in a video accompanying results. Net income was more than three times higher than the year-ago quarter, when a one-time foreign exchange charge slashed profit to $424 million.

A proposed $10 billion Australian coal port expansion, one of two port expansions planned near the Great Barrier Reef, was shelved by its sponsors on Friday who pointed to a lack of demand for the extra capacity. The Dudgeon Point coal terminal project, designed to handle 180 million tonnes a year, was withdrawn on Friday ahead of a deadline for submitting all the studies for its application for environmental approval. The decision came in the wake of a slide in coal prices to five-year lows that has forced miners, led by BHP Billiton Ltd and Glencore, to cancel coal projects, shut mines and sack thousands of workers. The two-terminal…

It all began with a pre-World War II contract between China's then "ship king" and a Japanese company to lease two Chinese freighters. When the one-year lease was up in 1937, the ships were nowhere to be found. That year also marked the start of a full-scale war between China and Japan. And so began a protracted legal case which came to a head last weekend, when a Chinese court ordered the seizure of an iron ore carrier owned by the successor to the original Japanese company in compensation for the loss of the two Chinese vessels. The impoundment has created unease in Japan's government, which warns that the action could affect Japanese businesses in China. It remains unclear whether the sudden ruling by the Shanghai Maritime Court would herald the seizure of more Japanese assets.

It all began with a pre-World War Two contract between China's then "ship king" and a Japanese company to lease two Chinese freighters. When the one-year lease was up in 1937, the ships were nowhere to be found. That year also marked the start of a full-scale war between China and Japan. And so began a protracted legal case which came to a head last weekend, when a Chinese court ordered the seizure of an iron ore carrier owned by the successor to the original Japanese company in compensation for the loss of the two Chinese vessels. The impoundment has created unease in Japan's government, which warns that the action could affect Japanese businesses in China. It remains unclear whether the sudden ruling by the Shanghai Maritime Court would herald the seizure of more Japanese assets.

Exxon Mobil plans to develop a floating liquefied natural gas project to develop the Scarborough field off the coast of Western Australia. Exxon, whose partner in the field is Melbourne-based BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), expects to make a decision on whether to go ahead with the floating LNG venture in 2014 or 2015, with the project starting production in 2020 or 2021, reports Bloomberg. In Australia, Shell is developing the Prelude floating LNG vessel -- expected to be as long as the Empire State Building and weigh six times as much as the biggest aircraft carrier -- after costs for onshore LNG plants in the country surged. While Exxon’s floating LNG facility in the Carnarvon Basin off northwest Australia is expected to be about 495 meters (1,624 feet) long and 75 meters wide.

According to a March 19 report from The Wall Street Journal, India approved oil exploration contracts for Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC), the nation’s biggest energy explorer, and BHP Billiton Ltd as it sought to cut dependence on imports. The South Asian nation approved the award of 33 blocks, home minister P. Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi after a cabinet meeting. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)