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Claire Milhench News

03 Oct 2016

Empire State Stake, Melbourne Port Among Q3 Sovereign Fund Acquisitions

Photo: Port of Melbourne

An Australian port and a stake in the Empire State Building's operator were among assets acquired by sovereign investors such as wealth funds and state pension funds in the third quarter of 2016, with deals totalling $21.2 billion. The combined value of deals was up 38 percent from the previous quarter, helped by a handful of jumbo-sized transactions in the infrastructure, energy and real estate segments, although the number of direct investments fell to 35 from 43 in the second quarter, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

26 Aug 2015

Maersk Seeks to Shut Janice in UK North Sea

Janice (Photo: Maersk Oil)

Maersk Oil said on Wednesday it would seek regulatory permission to shut its Janice installation, which produces around 7,000 barrels per day (bpd) from three UK North Sea oilfields, as the Danish firm reviews its operations due to falling oil prices. It is one of the first North Sea oil fields to be threatened with closure due to the drop in prices, with Brent crude futures having plunged to around $43 a barrel from over $100 a barrel last June. North Sea producers have been under increasing pressure to cut costs and improve production efficiency…

10 Aug 2015

Brent Edges Up off Six-Month Low

Chinese exports tumble 8.3 pct, biggest fall in 4 months; Chinese crude oil imports up 4.1 pct in July. OPEC has no plans to hold emergency meeting. Crude oil futures touched multi-month lows on Monday after a weekend of mixed data from China showing higher oil imports in July but weaker trade figures overall. Brent then edged up 24 cents to $48.85 a barrel at 1105 GMT, after dipping to $48.24 earlier in the session, the lowest in over six months. U.S. crude was down 2 cents at $43.85 after hitting an intraday low of $43.35 in Asian trading. Both benchmarks have been falling for six weeks, hampered by a supply glut. "The market remains in a battle between the bearish current fundamentals and the perception that the market will begin to rebalance in the not too distant future…

16 Jun 2015

North Sea Job Losses Raise Skills and Safety Concerns

Photo: BP

Cost-cutting in Britain's North Sea oil and gas sector could lead to more acute skills shortages in future, industry experts have warned, with some expressing concerns that safety could be compromised. A plunge in crude prices over the last 12 months has prompted oil majors such as Royal Dutch Shell, BP , Chevron and ConocoPhillips to lay off hundreds of workers. Oil field services groups such as Amec Foster Wheeler , Wood Group and Petrofac are also in consultation with employees over job cuts.

15 Jun 2015

Supertankers Set to Take North Sea Crude to Asia in June

As many as four VLCC tankers could take North Sea crude oil to Asia this month, shipping fixtures show, after an Atlantic Basin supply glut forced prices to multi-year lows. The Samco Europe, Bunga Kasturi Empat, Britanis and Starlight Venture VLCCs - very large crude carriers - have been lined up for the shipments, according to the fixtures, equivalent to around 8.4 million barrels of Forties crude oil. The tankers have been booked by Unipec, Glencore's shipping arm ST Shipping, Trafigura and Vitol respectively. Unipec's tanker is listed as heading for Singapore, but the other three are expected to head for South Korea, which benefits from freight rebates and a free trade agreement with Europe. Both of these measures encourage local refiners to diversify their crude imports.

01 Jun 2015

Homeless Atlantic Oil Cargoes Deepen Glut

Millions of stranded barrels underscore glut; elevated freight rates complicate search for buyers. A shadowy build up of oil has intensified in the Atlantic Basin with homeless cargoes of crude turning into unintentional floating storage - another sign the global surplus has some way to go before clearing. Off the coast of West Africa and in the waters of the North Sea, vessels holding millions of barrels of oil have become, in effect, accidental storage, as their owners fight for buyers. These are competing with new loadings, as well as time-chartered cargoes that major trading houses such as Unipec and Trafigura booked to store crude months ago and are now selling. "It's pretty bad," one West African crude oil trader said.

27 Mar 2015

UK North Sea Workers Give "Overwhelming" Support for Strike

Trade unions Unite and GMB said members working offshore in Britain's North Sea oil and gas industry had shown overwhelming support for industrial action in a consultative ballot which closed at 1200 GMT on Friday. Unite's members covered by the Offshore Contractors' Agreement delivered a 93.5 percent vote in favour of proceeding to a strike ballot, increasing the likelihood of North Sea strike action for the first time in a generation, the union said. GMB's members also voted "overwhelmingly" in favour of an official ballot for strike action over proposals from clients and contractors to change the terms and conditions of employment, GMB said. Reporting by Claire Milhench

17 Mar 2015

N.Sea Forties Echo Accident Investigation Ongoing

An investigation into the extent of any damage caused to the Forties Echo platform in the North Sea is still underway, a spokesman for operator Apache North Sea said on Tuesday.   The platform, which is in the British section of the North Sea, was struck by a supply vessel on Monday morning, triggering emergency procedures including a shutdown of production.   The spokesman was unable to give a restart date for production, saying it would depend on the outcome of the investigation. "The team is trying to determine exactly what happened," he said.   The rest of the Forties system is still producing as normal, he added.     (Reporting by Claire Milhench; Editing by Pravin Char)

16 Mar 2015

N. Sea Forties Echo Platform Shut after Collision

The Forties Echo platform in the North Sea has been shut after being hit by a supply vessel, a spokesman for operator Apache North Sea said on Monday. Fifteen workers were taken off the platform and transferred to the nearby Forties Bravo platform following the collision, which happened at about 0840 GMT on Monday morning, the spokesman said. Another 15 remain on the platform. The spokesman also confirmed there had been no leak of hydrocarbons, but was unable to give a restart date for production. Apache North Sea, part of Apache Corp, is investigating the extent of any damage but there was no structural risk to the rig, he added. "An…

02 Mar 2015

Cheap Oil Threatens Debt Squeeze for Smaller North Sea Producers

Photo: EnQuest

Small and mid-sized independent oil producers in the British North Sea could face a financing squeeze this year as banks cut lending linked to the value of oil reserves, following last year's oil price sell off. Unlike the oil majors, which can slash headcount and delay projects, smaller firms tend to be reliant on few fields, and those that are mid-project have little choice but to continue with their capital expenditure. "Where companies have committed to projects when the oil price was $100-plus and their capital budget was set in advance…

27 Feb 2015

Brent up to $61, First Monthly Gain Since July

Brent premium over U.S. crude widens to $12; China's implied oil demand set to grow 3 percent this year. Crude oil futures rebounded on Friday and Brent headed for its first monthly gain since July, helped by strong investor inflows, an improving demand outlook and supply outages. At 1148 GMT, Brent crude futures were up 92 cents at $60.97 a barrel, off an earlier high of $61.75. U.S. crude was up 78 cents at $48.95 a barrel. Both contracts tumbled on Thursday, with U.S. crude falling hardest. Brent is trading at a premium of about $12 to U.S. crude, which remains hamstrung by massive inventory builds. This is the widest spread since January 2014. "The main event this week has been the widening of the spread between Brent and WTI (U.S.

19 Jan 2015

First Satorp Diesel Cargos to US Will Land This Week

The first United States-bound cargoes of diesel from Saudi Arabia's 400,000 barrel per day Satorp refinery will land in New York early this week, traders said on Monday. The cargoes of 10 ppm diesel on the SKS Driva and the Clio are scheduled to land in New York on Jan. 19 and 20, according to Reuters ship tracking data, after loading at Jubail last month. The joint venture refinery between Saudi Aramco and Total reached full capacity in mid-2014 but its diesel exports have so far been shipped to other regions, including Latin America and Asia. Traders said the United States is buying the diesel now due to colder weather, as well as a series of refinery outages in January that affected around a fifth of refinery capacity in the eastern half of the country.

10 Dec 2014

Talisman Sinopec Closes North Sea Platform Ahead of Storm

Talisman Sinopec Energy UK has closed its Buchan Alpha platform in the North Sea, the company said on Wednesday, ahead of an expected severe winter storm. The Buchan Alpha is a floating production installation that contributes less than 5,000 barrels of oil per day to the Forties crude stream. A spokeswoman for the company, a joint venture between Canada's Talisman and China's Sinopec, said 61 non-essential personnel had been taken from the installation to Aberdeen, Scotland, in advance of the storm. "This was completed on December 8. A team of 15 remain on board and production remains shut down for the time being," she said. Britain's Met Office has issued an amber "be prepared" warning for Scotland…

04 Oct 2014

Oil Shaves $1, Retreats to Bear territory on U.S. Dollar Spike

Global crude oil prices extended a months-long rout into bear market territory on Friday, with Brent notching a new 27-month low as the dollar spiked following upbeat U.S. employment data and further signs of undiminished crude supply. The rallying U.S. dollar has re-emerged as a key driver for commodity prices in recent months, making raw materials more costly for most importers and reviving a once-popular spread trade. It reached a more than four-year peak on Friday after a report showing the U.S. economy created more jobs than expected last month, putting unemployment at a six-year low. Brent for November delivery fell by $1.11 to settle at $92.31, after earlier touching $91.48 a barrel, its lowest since June 2012.

29 Sep 2014

Platts to Adopt Month-Ahead Brent Assessments

Oil pricing agency Platts plans to lengthen the loading period of North Sea crude cargoes it uses in its dated Brent oil benchmark to a full month starting next February. The move is part of efforts to boost liquidity and bolster the credibility of the global Brent benchmark in the face of declining North Sea output. "Platts intends to move its Brent assessment processes to reflect a month-ahead schedule with effect from Feb. 2, 2015, for cargoes loading the following month," Platts said in an emailed statement on Monday. (Reporting by Claire Milhench and Alex Lawler, editing by David Evans)

20 Aug 2014

Traders Store Crude for Profit as Contango Takes Hold

Oil traders have begun fixing tankers to take North Sea, West African and Arab crudes to South Africa for storage, hoping for a repeat of the multimillion dollar bonanza they reaped in 2008-2009. Shipping fixtures show that in late July and August, BP , Mercuria, Total and Chevron all booked suezmaxes to deliver crude to South Africa, with traders saying that a good number of these barrels will go into storage. Storing crude is now considered profitable for some companies because of a glut of barrels in the Atlantic Basin which has weighed on physical crude prices and Brent crude futures. As a result, a contango structure has developed which should allow traders to sell stored crude for a profit at a later date. (Reporting by Claire Milhench, editing by David Evans)

23 Jun 2014

Crude Falls Below $114 as Iraq Supply Fears Ease

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerrylanded in Baghdad on Monday. (Photo: http://www.state.gov)

U.S. Brent crude dipped below $114 a barrel on Monday as worries about disruptions to Iraqi crude supplies began to look overdone given that exports have so far been unaffected by a Sunni Islamist insurgency. Brent was down 90 cents at $113.91 by 1336 GMT, off an intraday high of $115.66. U.S. crude for August delivery was down 54 cents at $106.29, after touching $107.45 earlier in the session. The July contract expired on Friday. Traders and analysts said that the rally had faltered as the market was becoming desensitised to the news out of Iraq.

18 Jun 2014

Urgent Need to Cut Costs in UK North Sea

A STatoil rig in the North Sea (Photo courtesy of Statoil)

Britain's North Sea oil and gas industry faces a bleak future where more fields are likely to become uneconomic and shut in as platforms close - unless costs can be controlled, operators say. For some elderly platforms in the Northern North Sea, time is running out. If the industry does not get to grips with costs quickly, fresh investment is likely to dry up, forcing unsaleable rusting rigs to be abandoned. "From a cost point of view, the chickens are coming home to roost," said Tim Walsh, senior vice president, asset integrity services at Lloyd's Register Energy.

17 Apr 2014

North Sea Crude-Forties eases, VLCC options narrow

Forties trades at parity with dated Brent; Competing Libyan barrels returning to market. Refining margins under pressure as capacity ramps up. North Sea Forties crude differentials eased on Thursday as the market remained sluggish ahead of the long Easter weekend and the window of opportunity for VLCC voyages to Asia narrowed. Some traders said that the VLCC Phoenix Vanguard, which is currently off Fawley, UK, would still go to Hound Point to load Forties for South Korea around April 23. This would make it the last VLCC to load before Jetty 1 closes for two months of maintenance work. With little chance of arbitraging barrels to Asia in May and June, traders expect the supply of competing crudes such as Urals to drive North Sea crude values in coming weeks.

10 Apr 2014

Commodity Funds Bounce in Q1 after 2013 Losses

Commodity funds bounced in the first quarter from a 2013 loss, with the top performers in the Lipper Global Commodity group racking up double-digit returns after rallies in agriculture, natural gas and nickel. Supply disruptions provided opportunities across the asset class, but fund managers said only a few of these bullish fundamentals would persist into the second quarter and that some commodities are now over-valued. The average actively managed fund in the Lipper Global Commodity sector gained 4 percent in the first quarter, compared with a loss of 9.98 percent in 2013. "It got off to a strong start this year. Commodities outperformed equities for the first time in a while…

04 Mar 2014

New Fuel Rules Could Prompt Gasoil Price Spike

New fuel rules for ships entering low sulphur zones around northwest Europe and North America next year could trigger a price spike in European gasoil, whilst refiners will struggle to offload unwanted fuel oil. From January 2015, ships entering "Emission Control Areas" (ECAs) in the Baltic, North Sea and English Channel and around the North American coast, will have to switch from low sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) with 1 percent sulphur content to 0.1 percent gasoil, in a crackdown on marine pollution. Industry experts believe shipowners will opt for gasoil rather than using exhaust filter systems known as scrubbers or alternative fuels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), because of high investment costs, long payback times, and the lack of suitable port infrastructure.