Energy Price News

Western sanctions on Russia have significantly reduced state oil revenues and diverted tens of billions of dollars towards shipping and refining firms, some with Russian connections.Most of the winners from the sanctions are based in China, India, Greece and the United Arab Emirates, at least 20 trading and banking sources said. A handful are partly owned by Russian companies.None of the firms is breaching sanctions, the sources told Reuters, but they have benefited from measures…

DP World expects freight rates to drop by a further 15% to 20% in 2023 as demand slows, the Dubai-based global logistics company's deputy chief executive and chief financial officer Yuvraj Narayan told Reuters on Monday.Narayan said the first signs of a significant drop in demand were visible and freight rates on the shipping side had declined quite significantly on certain routes as agencies including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered growth forecasts.Freight rates are the prices at which cargoes are delivered by container from one point of the globe to another.The biggest problem

Russian missiles hit Ukraine's southern port of Odesa on Saturday, the Ukrainian military said, threatening a deal signed just a day earlier to unblock grain exports from Black Sea ports and ease global food shortages caused by the war.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the strike blatant "barbarism" showing Moscow could not be trusted to implement the deal. However, public broadcaster Suspilne quoted the Ukrainian military as saying the missiles had not caused significant…

Wind power pioneer Henrik Stiesdal built his first wind turbine in 1978. It was one of Denmark’s first step towards becoming a wind energy powerhouse, with Stiesdal regularly at the helm. He’s now got wider climate initiatives in his sights, including industrializing floating offshore wind. He reflected with OE’s Elaine Maslin.By 2021, a total of 35 GW of offshore wind had been installed across the world. To meet global climate targets, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says that another 80 GW of it needs to be built per year by 2030.

Offshore vessel operator Rem Offshore said Friday it had agreed to buy four platform supply vessels from K-Line Offshore AS, which is set to be dissolved and cease to exist.K-Line Offshore, was established in Norway by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K” LINE) in 2007, which wanted to enter the offshore support vessel (OSV) business, expecting stable demand in the oil and gas fields of the North Sea. However, "K” LINE said Friday that K-Line Offshore "had long struggled after energy price decline…

Worsening diplomatic relations between the United States and China are putting a spotlight on their economic inter-dependency in the context of global supply chains for both technology and energy.Top policymakers in the United States and some of its closest allies, including Australia and Britain, have recently hardened the language in which they describe relations with China.China has been labelled a “strategic competitor” for some time but the country is increasingly described as a “strategic adversary” implying a more confrontational relationship.Complaints about unfair trade practices…

The marine transportation company Waterfront Shipping Company has added two new innovative, clean-burning vessels, M/T Mari Couva and M/T Mari Kokako, to its fleet.Both 49,000 dwt vessels are built with the second generation of MAN B&W ME-LGIM two stroke dual-fuel engines that can run on both methanol and conventional marine fuels, said the wholly owned subsidiary of Methanex Corporation.The vessels join the seven existing methanol-fueled vessels chartered by Waterfront Shipping that have received accolades from the marine industry for their use of methanol as an alternative fuel.These existing vessels have surpassed more than 50,000…

IHS Markit has announced that its energy price-reporting arm, Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), has signed a strategic agreement for an end-to-end LNG trading solution with GLX, an online platform to transact physical LNG cargoes.OPIS, an internationally-referenced price reporting agency serving the oil, natural gas, chemical, coal and biofuels industries has been a long-trusted industry leader for energy price indices, real-time news and expert analysis across the global fuel supply chain. OPIS was at the forefront in adopting IOSCO Oil Price Reporting standards having completed its first independent audit in 2013, with a global…

GE and Maersk Drilling have partnered for a data analytic-driven pilot project that aims to increase Maersk’s drilling vessels’ productivity and reduce maintenance costs by up to 20 percent. The two companies have collaborated to deploy SeaStream Insight, GE’s latest innovation in marine asset performance management, powered by Predix. The pilot project will be carried out on one of Maersk Drilling’s XLE rigs and will last for 12 months. Currently, the project has reached its first milestone, with data collected from the rig currently being processed and analyzed online.

A little-known investment company said it intends to order up to 20 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, probably from South Korean shipbuilders. The contracts would be worth as much as $3.8 billion, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. CBI Energy and Chemical, which is controlled by Australian and Canadian investors and has offices in Hong Kong, also said in a statement to Reuters that it would be seeking to buy floating LNG production and import facilities as part of an ambitious plan for Africa and Asia. The orders would be a major shot in the arm for South Korea's ailing shipbuilding industry, which has been hit by a collapse in new orders as global trade growth slows and after the slump in commodities prices in recent years.

U.S. energy firms this week cut oil and natural gas rigs for a 14th week in a row to the lowest level since at least 1940, data showed on Thursday, as energy firms continue to slash spending as part of the deepest energy price rout in a generation. Oil rigs alone fell 15 to 372, the lowest level since November 2009, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc  said in its closely followed report. Looking forward however, analysts forecast the rig count will bottom in a couple months before recovering later this year when they expect energy prices to rise. Drillers cut 12 oil and gas rigs in the week to March 24, bringing the total rig count down to 464, the report said. That compares with 1,048 oil and gas rigs operating in the same week a year ago.

U.S. energy firms this week cut oil rigs for an 11th week in a row to the lowest level since December 2009, data showed on Friday, as Exxon Mobil Corp and other producers slashed their drilling rig count to focus on uncompleted wells amid low oil prices. Drillers removed eight oil rigs in the week ended March 4, bringing the total rig count down to 392, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc said in its closely followed report. That compares with 922 oil rigs operating in the same week a year ago. In 2015, drillers cut on average 18 oil rigs per week for a total of 963 for the year, the biggest annual decline since at least 1988. Before this week, drillers cut on average 17 rigs per week so far this year.

Hapag-Lloyd improved its result and transport volume in the previous financial year despite persistently tough competition. EBITDA increased year-on-year by €54.6 million to €389.1 million. The operating result also saw a significant improvement, climbing by €41 million to €67.2 million, meaning that Hapag-Lloyd performed well in comparison to its competitors. Thanks to its global liner network with almost 100 services, Hapag-Lloyd was able to take full advantage of growth opportunities in a difficult market. Transport volume rose by a total of 4.6% to approx.

Natural gas pipelines and power utilities across the United States struggled for several weeks to keep lights on and homes warm through the coldest winter in decades, but it may take many months for the cost and the fallout of the so-called "polar vortex" to work through the energy chain. As sub-freezing temperatures spread in January and February, spot natural gas prices spiked at many gas delivery points in the Midwest, Northeast and New York, pushing wholesale power prices above $100 per megawatt-hour for days at a time. Customers will soon receive gas and electric bills, reflecting the higher cost of gas in January. In unregulated power markets, January bills will present a "double whammy," said Nick Akins, chief executive of American Electric Power Co, one of the largest U.S.

Singapore, 16 March  — The 11 March earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and the continuing nuclear crisis that they triggered, will have significant repercussions in global energy markets, according to international energy price reporting agency Argus. Japan will rely more on oil for power generation at least until the end of this year, altering regional balances for some grades of crude and providing a large boost in demand for low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO). And it will seek additional LNG supplies. The quake and tsunami knocked nuclear plants with 11GW of generating capacity off line, and another 1.1GW nuclear plant was shut for maintenance at the time, leaving 25pc of Japan's nuclear capacity shut after the disaster.

“Due to increasing demand and reducing reserves, oil prices currently at $40 are likely to soon enter a period of sustained rises resulting in a need to massively develop natural gas and renewable energy resources” according to John Westwood of energy analysts Douglas-Westwood. “Oil reserves are depleting and demand growing. Recent increases in oil demand from China, for example, are likely to accelerate. The average American consumes 25 times as much oil as the average Chinese yet China has 5 times the population and is industrialising rapidly. Vehicle growth in China is rising rapidly and this will cause global demand for oil to continue its increase.

"Due to increasing demand and reducing reserves, oil prices currently at $40 are likely to soon enter a period of sustained rises resulting in a need to massively develop natural gas and renewable energy resources" according to John Westwood of energy analysts Douglas-Westwood. "Oil reserves are depleting and demand growing. Recent increases in oil demand from China, for example, are likely to accelerate. The average American consumes 25 times as much oil as the average Chinese yet China has five times the population and is industrializing rapidly. Vehicle growth in China is rising rapidly and this will cause global demand for oil to continue its increase.

The Finland-based AC drives manufacturer Vacon has signed a distributor agreement with Ruselprom, one of the biggest motor manufacturing companies in Russia. Vacon will supply drives to Ruselprom in the power range from 200 kW up to 2 MW. With its extremely rapid market growth and rising energy price, Russia is a very interesting and important area for Vacon. Market growth in Russia is even faster than in China. The high energy price encourages investments in AC drives, which bring considerable energy savings. Ruselprom supplies motors to a wide scope of industries ranging from oil and gas to chemical and petrochemical industry, machine building, metallurgy and construction. In accordance with the agreement, Ruselprom will sell and market Vacon AC drives through its own channels.

The following is an outline of some of the key conclusions of the "The World Offshore Drilling Report 2003-2007" recently published by energy analysts Douglas-Westwood. Offshore drilling has, for the last 30 years, been the driving force behind growth in oil and gas industry activity and production. Beginning in the 1960s, after global opportunities on land had begun to decline, offshore drilling levels grew rapidly, peaking in 1981 following two decades of technology improvements and a decade of energy price rises. Since then, offshore drilling levels have broadly stabilized on a flat trend, albeit moving up or down in response to fluctuations in energy demand and oil price.

Concurrent with marine industry consolidation on the ship owning, building and supply fronts, increasingly innovative vessels concepts are originating from in-house design teams sitting with the major equipment manufacturers. Single-source supplier is today’s mantra on the commercial and military fronts, with companies such as Wärtsilä leading the way. The company recently published details of an innovative new LNG carrier concept, the Wärtsilä DF-electric propulsion concept for liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, bringing together two technologies: electric propulsion and dual-fuel engines. The Wärtsilä DF-electric LNG carrier concept is designed for a single-screw vessel with four cargo tanks and a capacity of about 138,000 cu.