Dan Grebler News

Members of the U.S. commercial fishing industry are teaming up with an oil industry-backed lobbying group to fight offshore wind energy development on the East Coast, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and interviews with people involved.The unusual alliance reflects the breadth of opposition President Joe Biden faces as his administration pushes to expand offshore wind power and other clean energy sources dramatically to combat climate change.The fishing industry believes offshore wind farms will interfere with vessel navigation and hurt crucial stocks like squid and scallops…

U.S. soybean exports jumped last week to a six-month peak, while corn shipments were the highest in a month as Louisiana Gulf Coast terminals steadily ramped up operations disrupted nearly a month ago by Hurricane Ida, preliminary data showed on Monday.The export pace remained well below normal for this time of year as some terminals remain shuttered or running at reduced capacity after the storm flooded and damaged some facilities and wrecked the region's power grid.Ida crippled overseas grain shipments weeks before the start of the Midwest harvest and the busiest period for U.S.

U.S. oil offshore losses remained at 76% on Thursday after Hurricane Ida hit the Gulf of Mexico, according to government data, which prolonged outages and caused the first oil cargo shipment cancellations to buyers in Asia.Production should be disrupted for several more days amid lasting damages to transfer stations and offshore facilities used by different companies, analysts said, with impact to oil prices."It seems to be at least more than a week away until most of the shut-in Gulf of Mexico production is restored…

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating damage to a Noble Corp drillship hit by Hurricane Ida while operating in the Gulf of Mexico, a spokesperson said on Thursday.Nine crew members suffered minor injuries when the storm hit on Sunday, Noble said. Workers were treated onboard and four were taken to shore for evaluation, Noble's vice-president for Investor Relations Craig Muirhead said in a statement.The U.S.

Most ports along the U.S. Gulf Coast had reopened on Thursday following lengthy closures from Hurricane Ida, which lashed southern Louisiana with 150-mile-per-hour winds that caused extensive infrastructure damage and floods.Two of Louisiana’s main ports, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, reopened late on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. They joined the already functional terminals of Panama City, Biloxi, Mobile, Pascagoula, Bienville, Beaumont, Cameron, Lake Charles, Port Arthur…

The giant container ship Ever Given, which blocked the Suez canal for six days in March, crossed the waterway on Friday for the first time since it left Egypt after the incident.The ship, en route from the United Kingdom to China, crossed the canal among a convoy of 26 vessels sailing from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a statement. Another 36 ships crossed the waterway from the south.A group of SCA senior pilots and two tugboats escorted the Ever Given throughout its journey through the canal…

Russian investigators were conducting searches at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) after Saturday's oil spill near the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, the regional branch of the investigative committee said on Thursday.Russia opened a criminal investigation on the spill, which occurred during loading of a tanker moored to an offshore floating jetty. According to CPC, a crucial part of the jetty broke and caused the accident."In connection with the criminal case, representatives of the Investigative Committee are interviewing CPC employees and examining documents. The consortium provides the necessary assistance to the investigation team…

A U.S. military ship fired warning shots after three vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) came close to it and another American patrol boat in the Gulf, the United States military said on Tuesday.Such incidents have occurred occasionally over the past five years, though there has been a relative lull over the past year.While officials said it was too early to discern the exact motivation of the Iranian forces, they have said that generally in the past such incidents are carried out by local commanders rather than directed by senior Iranian leaders.“The U.S.

Syria's oil ministry said firefighters on Saturday put out a fire on an oil tanker off the Baniyas refinery after a suspected attack by a drone coming from the direction of Lebanese waters.The identity of the vessel was unclear, with Iran's al-Alam TV saying it was one of three Iranian oil tankers that had recently arrived at the Syrian oil terminal, while the semi-official news agency Tasnim denied it was Iranian.TankerTrackers said in a tweet that "the tanker seen burning today off the coast of Baniyas is not an Iranian vessel", but Beirut-registered.Syria's coastal town of Baniyas houses a refinery, which along with another in Homs…

Spain on Monday ordered the slaughter of 1,610 cattle which have been stuck aboard the Elbeik livestock ship since December, just weeks after hundreds of cattle on another vessel met a similar fate.The agriculture ministry said the animals were unfit for further travel and could not be re-imported into the European Union, meaning they must be isolated and killed in the coming days.In December, Turkish authorities rejected the animals and another 850 Spanish cattle aboard the Lebanon-flagged Karim Allah over concerns they had bovine bluetongue virus, turning both vessels into international pariahs.Having failed to find a new buyer after months wandering the Mediterranean, the Karim Allah returned to the port of Cartagena on Spain’s east coast in February and the Elbeik followed suit last we

The United States has sold more than a million barrels of Iranian fuel seized under its sanctions program last year, a Department of Justice official said, as another ship with intercepted Iranian crude oil sails to a U.S. port.The seizures are part of Washington's tough economic sanctions on Tehran imposed over its nuclear program and the U.S. designation of a number of Iranian groups as terrorists, continuing decades of rancor between the two nations. Iran rejects U.S. accusations of wrongdoing.In a new approach last year, the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump used civil forfeiture procedures to seize some 1.2 million barrels of gasoline it said were being sent from Iran to Venezuela aboard four tankers.The shipments…

The United States on Friday sanctioned companies in Iran, China and the United Arab Emirates for doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and on three Iranian entities over conventional arms proliferation.They are the latest in a series of measures aimed at stepping up pressure on Tehran in the waning days of President Donald Trump's administration, which ends on January 20.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington had sanctioned seven companies, including Chinese-based Jiangyin Mascot Special Steel Co.

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri's planned acquisition of state-controlled French rival Chantiers de l'Atlantique to create a European "Airbus of the Seas" is facing collapse barring last-minute political intervention from Paris or Rome.With the offer due to expire in two days after repeated deadline extensions over competition concerns, the deal is still awaiting European antitrust approval in a market that has been completely transformed by the coronavirus pandemic."There is no news on our side…

Loading of more than 140 agricultural export ships in Argentina has been stalled by a port-side oilseed workers' strike that started on Dec. 9, the head of the local chamber of soymeal manufacturers said on Monday, on the eve of talks on a new contract.The CIARA-CEC chamber of soy byproduct manufacturers will meet on Tuesday with the two main unions representing oilseed workers to try and hammer out a 2021 compensation package."We seek an agreement with the unions that allows the efficient…

Argentine grain port workers launched surprise strikes to protest stalled wage talks, their labor union said on Monday, delaying shipments from one of the world's top exporters."We are going to make surprise halts as much as we consider it necessary," said Juan Carlos Peralta, a spokesman for the URGARA union, which represents inspectors who check the quality of grains before they are loaded onto ships."It is a strike in one of the richest sectors in Argentina. We have exhausted…

The cruise industry will extend its suspension of U.S. cruise operations through Dec. 31, an industry group that represents 95% of global ocean-going cruise capacity said on Tuesday.The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) said its members will use the remainder of the year to prepare for the implementation of measures to address COVID-19 safety issues.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday issued a framework for a phased resumption of cruise ship operations after a no-sail order issued in March in response to the coronavirus pandemic was to expire on Saturday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper expressed concerns about Beijing’s “destabilizing” activity near Taiwan and the South China Sea in a call with Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, the Pentagon said on Thursday, the first time the two are believed to have spoken since March.The call came as U.S.-China ties have rapidly deteriorated this year over a range of issues, including Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus, telecommunications equipment maker Huawei, China’s territorial…

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Thursday predicted up to 16 more named tropical storms this year, to as many as 25, the highest in the agency's history.The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1, has already produced nine named tropical storms, two of which reached hurricane strength, including Isaias that lashed the North American Atlantic coast this week."We've never forecast up to 25 named storms, so this is the first time," said Gerry Bell…

The third cargo of an Iranian tanker flotilla carrying fuel for gasoline-thirsty Venezuela on Tuesday reached the nation's exclusive economic zone as the previous two were discharging at state run PDVSA's ports, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.The Iran-flagged tanker Petunia crossed the Caribbean Sea earlier on Tuesday, following the route taken in recent days by vessels Fortune and Forest.The Fortune was welcomed on Monday at PDVSA's El Palito refinery by Venezuela's oil minister, Tareck El Aissami, who thanked Iran for its support during the crisis, which has forced Venezuelans to wait in long lines for gasoline.The deal has been criticized by the United States as both OPEC-member nations are under sanctions. A U.S.

A flotilla of five tankers carrying Iranian fuel for gasoline-starved Venezuela is approaching the Caribbean, with the first vessel expected to reach the South American country's waters on Sunday, according to Refinitiv Eikon tracking data.Iran is supplying about 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and alkylate to Venezuela, according to both governments, sources and calculations made by TankerTrackers.com based on the vessels' draft levels.The shipments have caused a diplomatic standoff between Iran and Venezuela and the United States as both nations are under U.S. sanctions. Washington is considering measures in response, according to a senior U.S.

Energy companies on Monday began preparations to resume oil and gas production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, a day after Tropical Storm Cristobal blew through with high winds and heavy rains.Producers had evacuated 182 offshore facilities and shut in about a third of oil and gas production in U.S. Gulf of Mexico wells as of Monday.Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Murphy Oil Corp and BP Plc were among the companies that said on Monday they were starting to resume normal operations and return…

U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran's shipping network took effect on Monday, months after they were announced in December following accusations of supporting proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement on Monday warned commercial and maritime industries, governments and others that they risked U.S. sanctions if they did business with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and its Shanghai-based subsidiary, E-Sail Shipping…

Seismic surveyor TGS, a supplier of geological data to the global oil industry, on Thursday said it had made an unsolicited cash offer of $600 million for a key part of rival PGS.If successful, the offer to buy PGS's so-called multi-client library would significantly broaden TGS's worldwide geophysical data offering, the company said.PGS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.In addition to spending cash from its current holding, TGS said it will borrow $200 million and also conduct an equity issue to pay for the transaction.While TGS' strategy has been one of rentin