G7 News

Global industry leaders from North America, Asia and Europe have announced the formation of the North Pacific Green Corridor Consortium (NPGCC) whose members and partners will work together to decarbonize the value chain for commodities between North America and Asia.The NPGCC will apply its collective expertise to develop a corridor for the decarbonized transportation of multiple commodities, including agricultural products, metal concentrates and steelmaking coal.The members of the NPGCC are committed to establishing the consortium as a catalyst for decarbonization efforts…

Dozens of oil tankers used by Russia have stopped sailing under the Liberian and Marshall Islands flags in recent weeks after the United States ramped up sanctions enforcement on ships linked to those registries, according to shipping data and interviews with industry and government officials.The shift reflects the close relationship between the U.S. and the flag administration companies of Liberia and the Marshall Islands, which are headquartered not in their home countries, but in Virginia, just miles from Washington D.C. and within the jurisdiction of U.S.

One of Turkey's mid-sized Mediterranean oil terminals - the Dortyol terminal - will no longer accept Russian imports after receiving record volumes last year, amid an increase in sanctions pressure by the United States.Turkey has become one of the biggest importers of Russian crude and fuel since 2022, after the West imposed sanctions on Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine. Russia responded by re-routing oil away from Europe and the U.S. to Asia, Turkey and Africa.Global Terminal Services' (GTS)…

Russia exported more than 700,000 metric tons of oil products from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk in 2023 using small river barges because of a lack of bigger tankers owing to EU sanctions and price cap limitations, market sources said and LSEG data showed.Some ship owners have avoided Russian ports since the EU embargo and price cap on Russian refined oil products went into effect in February last year, forcing shippers to turn to a so-called shadow fleet of ageing tankers.The shadow fleet has supported the flow of Russian barrels…

The U.S. Treasury said on Fridayit has imposed sanctions on Russia's leading tanker group Sovcomflot FLOT.MM, as Washington seeks to reduce Russia's revenues from oil sales that it can use to support its invasion of Ukraine.The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control also designated 14 crude oil tankers vessels as property in which Sovcomflot has an interest. It issued a general license allowing the offloading of crude oil, or other cargoes, from the vessels for 45 days."Sovcomflot as a whole…

Tankers carrying Russian oil have continued sailing through the Red Sea largely uninterrupted by Houthi attacks on shipping and face lower risks than competitors, according to shipping executives, analysts and flows data.Russia has become more dependent on trade through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea since it invaded Ukraine, which led to Europe imposing sanctions on Russian imports and forced Moscow to export most of its crude to China and India. Before the war, Russia exported…

Russian ports are operating during more severe storms and easing restrictions for non ice-class vessels during winter, traders said and regulations showed, in an attempt to boost exports following disruptions from Western sanctions and harsh weather.Following the European Union oil embargo, Russia has to rely mostly on seaborne loadings, rather than westbound pipeline supplies via the Druzhba pipeline.Traders and analysts said the easing of restrictions carried technical and ecological risks, but could help Russia's revenues that are heavily reliant on oil.Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft,

Commodities trader Trafigura said on Saturday it was assessing the security risks of further Red Sea voyages after firefighters put out a blaze on a tanker attacked by Yemen's Houthi group a day earlier.The U.S. military said a U.S. Navy ship and other vessels provided assistance after the Marlin Luanda was hit by a Houthi anti-ship missile."No further vessels operating on behalf of Trafigura are currently transiting the Gulf of Aden and we continue to assess carefully the risks involved in any voyage…

The U.S.-led coalition imposing a price cap on seaborne Russian oil announced changes on Wednesday to its compliance regime the Treasury Department said will make it harder for Russian exporters to bypass the cap.The Treasury also imposed fresh sanctions on a ship manager owned by the Russian government and three oil traders involved in Russian oil trade.The Group of Seven (G7) industrialized countries last year imposed a price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian oil shipments in…

The U.S. on Thursday imposed sanctions on maritime companies and vessels for shipping Russian oil sold above the G7's price cap, as Washington seeks to close loopholes in the mechanism designed to punish Moscow for its war in Ukraine.The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it slapped sanctions on three United Arab Emirates-based companies and three vessels owned by them in the action, accusing the vessels of engaging in the export of Russian crude oil priced above the $60 a barrel cap.

The Biden administration is working closely with partner countries over sanctions on a Russian liquefied natural gas project in the Arctic as a January deadline looms on a wind down of transactions with the plant, a State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday.The U.S. imposed sanctions last week on the Arctic LNG-2 project in Russia as part of wide-ranging measures to punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine. The Office of Foreign Assets Control, part of the Treasury Department, also issued a general license that authorizes the wind down of transactions involving Arctic LNG-2, through Jan.

U.S. penalties on shippers transporting Russian oil in breach of the G7's price cap could push more Russian cargoes onto vessels referred to as the ghost fleet and away from mainstream tankers, shipping sources and analysts told Reuters.The cap bans Western companies from providing maritime services for Russian seaborne oil exports sold above $60 a barrel.It was designed to keep oil flowing to markets while reducing Russia's energy earnings that it can use to finance its war on Ukraine…

An oil tanker that the U.S. government imposed sanctions on for recently carrying Russian oil above the Western price cap is proceeding to the Baytown refinery in Texas for unloading, Exxon Mobil said on Tuesday.Exxon, the current charterer of the Yasa Golden Bosphorus, was not targeted by the sanctions last week since the oil producer chartered the tanker months after it had carried and offloaded Russian oil, a price cap coalition official after the U.S. imposed the sanctions on the tanker.The unloading by Exxon has been authorized by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the company said in a statement. The deliveries are certified products of Canadian origin, according to Exxon.The U.S.

Russian crude oil producers are enjoying the cheapest costs to ship to refiners in China and India in almost a year thanks to a growing number of vessels plying the routes, according to trading and shipping sources.The arrival of new shippers working outside the purview of Western governments allows Russian firms to earn more than the $60 per barrel cap that the U.S. and its allies had aimed to impose on Russia through sanctions. It also means that enforcing the price cap will have a limited impact on Russian revenues.On Thursday, the U.S. imposed the first sanctions on owners of tankers carrying Russian oil above the cap, one based in Turkey and one in the United Arab Emirates…

The U.S. on Thursday imposed the first sanctions on owners of tankers carrying Russian oil above the G7 price cap of $60 a barrel, one based in Turkey and one in the United Arab Emirates, in an effort to close loopholes on the mechanism designed to punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine.The U.S., other G7 countries and Australia imposed the cap last year, seeking to reduce Russia's revenues from seaborne oil exports as part of sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine.The cap bans Western companies from providing maritime services, including insurance, finance and shipping, for Russian seaborne oil exports sold above $60 a barrel, while seeking to keep oil flowing to markets. Caps also were imposed on Russian fuel exports.U.S.

A new and deadly chapter of the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict is a reality check for an ambitious trade route. The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), championed by Washington last month on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi and dubbed a Western rival to China’s Belt and Road, had much to prove anyway. The latest conflict presses pause on any grand financial visions involving the neighbourhood.IMEC’s chief backers waxed lyrical about the potential of the trade route involving railways, ports and green energy. U.S.

“During the first eight months of 2023, contracting of product tanker newbuilds hit a 10-year high, reaching 140 ships and 10.72 million deadweight tons (DWT). The last time more than 10 million DWT were contracted from January through August was in 2013,” said Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.Newbuild contracting activity during the past five years has been low at about 5.46 million DWT per year. In addition, the product tanker order book hit a low of 9.67 million DWT in December 2022…

Japan will ensure stable and steady energy supply to the country even after the U.S. imposed fresh sanctions related to Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Tuesday.The Arctic LNG 2 project is operated by Russia's Novatek while Japanese trading company Mitsui & Co and state-owned Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) hold a combined 10% stake.Mitsui and JOGMEC are set to receive a combined 2 million metric tons of LNG per year from the project.The latest sanctions are part of several economic measures the U.S.…

Russian seaborne crude oil export volumes have remained strong and grew 13% y/y in 2022 despite the invasion of Ukraine. However, after a 4% m/m fall in June, volumes fell another 16% m/m in July, and the Russian administration has announced export cuts for August, says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.An even more important factor for the crude tanker market is how EU regulations have reshaped crude trades. China, India, and Türkiye have replaced EU countries as the main buyers of Russian crude oil…

“Second-hand crude tanker values for five-year-old ships hit bottom levels in late 2020 and have since increased by an average 67%. Over the past twelve eventful months values have risen by 34%, reaching their highest level in 25 years,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.Crude tanker values saw their most recent low in December 2020 when Clarksons Research estimated the combined value of a five-year-old Aframax, Suezmax, and VLCC was USD 138.5 mill. Twelve months ago, that valuation had risen to USD 172.0 mill. (+25%).

India and China have snapped up the vast majority of Russian oil so far in April at prices above the Western price cap of $60 per barrel, according to traders and Reuters calculations.That means the Kremlin is enjoying stronger revenues despite the West's attempts to curb funds for Russia's military operations in Ukraine.A G7 source told Reuters on Monday the Western price cap would remain unchanged for now, despite pressure from some European Union countries, such as Poland,…

China will ban vessels from an area near Taiwan on Sunday because of the possibility of falling rocket debris, its maritime safety agency said on Thursday, as Japan sought details from Beijing on a reported no-fly zone in the same location. China has not commented on the no-fly zone, but South Korea, which was also briefed on the plans, said it was due to a falling object related to a launch vehicle. The disruption comes during tension in the region over Chinese military exercises around Taiwan…

An oil tanker runs aground off eastern China, leaking fuel into the water. Another is caught in a collision near Cuba. A third is seized in Spain for drifting out of control.These vessels were part of a "shadow" fleet of tankers carrying oil last year from countries hit by Western sanctions, according to a Reuters analysis of ship tracking and accident data and interviews with more than a dozen industry specialists.Hundreds of extra ships have joined this opaque parallel trade…