Marine Link
Friday, March 29, 2024
SUBSCRIBE

Diego Ore News

21 Mar 2023

US Firm Says Mexican Authorities Illegally Seized Its Port Terminal

© Viktor Ketal / Adobe Stock

U.S. construction materials firm Vulcan Materials Co said on Monday that Mexican security forces illegally took possession last week of its port terminal in southern Mexico, as an extended legal battle over its nearby limestone mining activities plays out.The incident took place last Tuesday night at the terminal in the popular tourist hub of Playa del Carmen, and follows a five-year fight with the government over Vulcan's concessions punctuated by sharp criticism from the country's president last year.Vulcan…

18 Jan 2023

Panama Has Canceled Registry to 136 Iran-linked Vessels

Panama's vessel registry, the world's largest, has withdrawn its flag from 136 ships linked to Iran's state oil company in the last four years, the country's maritime authority said this week, pushing back against claims by an anti-nuclear group.Shipments of Iranian crude hit all-time highs in the last two months of 2022 and had a strong start this year, according to flow tracking firms. Those gains come despite U.S. sanctions on companies it accuses of helping Iran export oil…

24 May 2022

US Prepares Renewal of Chevron's Venezuela License Without Broader Terms

© poonsit / Adobe Stock

The U.S. Treasury Department is getting ready to renew in the coming days Chevron Corp's license to operate in Venezuela, but likely without the greatly expanded terms the U.S. oil major sought, four people close to the talks said.The last U.S. energy producer in Venezuela asked President Joe Biden's government in March for a license that would allow it a greater say in its joint ventures with Venezuela's state-run PDVSA, a first step to reviving output and controlling where oil is sent.In a reversal of earlier hopes for a broadly expanded authorization…

23 Jul 2021

Mexico Sending Navy Ships with Food and Medical Supplies to Cuba

Credit: Oleksii/AdobeStock

Mexico will send two navy ships loaded with food and medical supplies to Cuba, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador blamed the U.S. embargo for fomenting the biggest unrest in Cuba in decades.The ships will leave the port of Veracruz in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, taking syringes, oxygen tanks, and masks along with powdered milk, cans of tuna, beans, flour, cooking oil, and gasoline.The shipments exemplify Mexico's policy of "international…

20 Feb 2020

Shipping Industry Faces $370 mln Hit From New Panama Canal Charge

© searagen / Adobe Stock

A new "freshwater" charge that came in this month to help the Panama Canal cope with climate change will cost the shipping industry up to $370 million a year, marking another blow for maritime companies already hit by fallout from the coronavirus.The Panama Canal, one of world's busiest shipping routes, which handled nearly 14,000 transits last year, said last month it would introduce a charge from Feb. 15 of $10,000 for any vessel more than 125 feet long.The canal, which relies on water from nearby Gatun Lake, has been hit by drought which affects water levels in the chokepoint.

21 Sep 2018

Pemex Reaches Deal to See if Talos Find Reaches Its Block

(Photo: Premier Oil)

Mexican state oil firm Pemex has reached a preliminary agreement with a consortium led by Talos Energy to evaluate whether the group's find in the Gulf of Mexico extends into a neighboring Pemex block, the companies said in a statement on Thursday.The deal, which covers territory in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico, is the first of its kind for Pemex and will be in force for two years.The Talos consortium, which includes Britain's Premier Oil and Mexico's Sierra Oil & Gas, won development rights for two blocks during the first oil auction launched by President Enrique Pena Nieto.

10 Apr 2015

Venezuela Curbs Cocoa Exports

Venezuela's flavorful cocoa, coveted centuries ago by pirates and now a darling of specialty producers, will not be enriching foreign chocolate bars any time soon. The South American country's socialist government has drastically reduced export permits for cocoa in the last five months, according to Venezuela's cocoa industry group. The group said about 5,000 tonnes from the January-February cocoa harvest are stuck in the country, ruffling chocolatiers in top importers Japan and Switzerland and risking roughly $17.5 million in export revenue. "They're ruining the reputation of Venezuela as a cocoa exporter," said group President Alejandro Prosperi. Governments around the world require export licenses, sometimes to limit sales of goods in short supply.

17 Oct 2014

Venezuela's PDVSA Puts Six Tankers Up for Sale

Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA said on Friday it is selling four crude tankers and two liquid petroleum gas (LPG) tankers that are currently inactive, amid a broader plan to modernize its fleet. The Venezuela-flagged ships were built in the 1980s. PDVSA since 2006 has ordered 42 tankers from different shipyards around the world to expand its ageing fleet and reduce shipping costs as it boosts sales to far-away clients including China, India and Japan. Since then, according to a Reuters investigation, the company has received only four new ships due to chronic delays.

21 May 2014

PDVSA gets $2B Credit Line

Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA on Wednesday said it had been granted a total of $2 billion in credit lines by oilfield services companies Halliburton Co, Schlumberger NV and Weatherford International Ltd. "What we have signed is for the companies to increase activities in our country, in some cases doubling them," PDVSA President and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said at a ceremony in the western city of Maracaibo. By giving credit lines to PDVSA, the companies will be able to increase their service contracts with OPEC member Venezuela. The deal may allow PDVSA, whose cash-flow problems are well known, to postpone payments of accumulated debts to its main service providers.

12 Apr 2014

Anglo American seeks compensation from Venezuela

Anglo American is seeking compensation from Venezuela at a World Bank tribunal over the 2012 cancellation of mining concessions by late president Hugo Chavez's government. The World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) said on its website the claim was introduced on Thursday, but gave no more details. Venezuela faces more than 20 international compensation cases in disputes largely stemming from the 1999-2013 Chavez era. He died from cancer in 2013, with a protege, Nicolas Maduro, winning election to replace him. The best-known cases are multi-billion compensation claims by ExxonMobil Corp and ConocoPhillips over nationalizations.