Increased Oil Production News

A U.S.-sanctioned Venezuela-owned supertanker that had mechanical problems since January is transferring its 2-million-barrel cargo of heavy crude to other vessels in Asia, according to three people familiar with the matter.The very large crude carrier (VLCC) Maximo Gorki left Venezuela in November amid an export push designed to generate funds for cash-strapped state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which has been under U.S. trading sanctions since 2019.Aging infrastructure problems, including a lack of oil storage and vessels, frequent refinery outages and export port congestion, are undermining PDVSA's increased oil production, impeding efforts to boost revenue, according to company documents and sources.

Performance Shipping Inc. (NASDAQ: PSHG) has taken delivery of the M/T P. Kikuma (formerly FSL Shanghai), a 2007-built Aframax tanker of 115,915 dwt that the company entered into an agreement to purchase in February 2020."M/T P. Kikuma marks an additional step in becoming a pure tanker owning company," said Andreas Michalopoulos, the company’s Deputy CEO.

Brian Salerno was sworn in as the Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) on August 26, 2013. He is responsible for promoting safety, protecting the environment and conserving resources through the vigorous regulatory oversight and enforcement of offshore operations on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. Prior to his appointment as Bureau Director, Salerno served as the U.S. Coast Guard’s Deputy Commandant for Operations where he was responsible for establishing and providing operational strategy…

The cyclical nature of the tanker market continues its trend upward, a development which has Lazard & Freres & Co. stamping both Nordic American Tankers (ASE: NAT) and Knightsbridge Tankers Ltd. In a pair of separate corporate profiles released June 29, Lazard & Freres’ James L. In accordance with this information, Winchester has raised VLCCF’s 2000 dividend estimate to $2.32 from $2.29, a dividend which implies of yield of 11.9%. There are a myriad of factors driving the current VLCC surge, chief among them increased oil production and a lack of qualified tonnage. Oil production was boosted by a 708,000 bpd rise in OPEC quota, agreed June 21 to help keep oil pricing in the desired $22-$28 range.

Software that automatically produces loop, cable, and termination drawings from information in piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs) allowed Merpro Limited to prepare electrical schematics for an offshore retrofit twice as fast as on previous projects. The retrofit involved a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) tanker, the Bluewater Uisge Gorm, which was increasing the water cut and accumulating solids in one of its separators. Merpro designed a system that addressed both problems. The documentation for the system included 78 electrical schematics, and in a time and cost-saving move designers created "intelligent" P&IDs containing equipment specifications, engineering information, and other data.

Middle East tanker charter rates, up more than 90 percent since the start of the year, appear to have reached a plateau, shippers said. Worldscale rates for chartering a very large crude carrier (VLCC) to transport two million barrels of crude oil from the Middle East to the U.S. Gulf now stand at W82.5-W85, compared with W42.5 at the beginning of January. To Japan rates have risen to W95-W100 from about W52.5. That means the cost of shipping oil to the U.S. has almost doubled to $2 a barrel and surged to $1.50 barrel for crude going to Asia from the Middle East - rates at their highest in two years. Tanker brokers now expect rates to plateau out a little below current levels over the summer until increased oil production coincides with winter restocking in the autumn.

A two-year battle for Swedish tanker company ICB Shipping ended Sept. 23 in victory for Norway's Frontline - but only after four of 12 ICB tankers are sold to a new group set up by key ICB players. An agreement between Frontline, ICB and ICB's main shareholder, Greek shipowner John Angelicoussis, values ICB at about $600 million and ends a stalemate over ownership involving several legal wrangles. Bermuda-registered Frontline launched a hostile takeover bid for ICB in September 1997 with the aim of creating one of the world's largest quoted tanker companies, part of the consolidation emerging in the highly fragmented tanker industry. "We feel that what we have agreed to is a creative solution although it does mean that Frontline has achieved its aim," ICB chairman Clarence Dybeck said.

British shipbroking group Seascope Shipping Holdings Plc plans to diversify further beyond its core business despite expecting better shipping markets this year. The company wants to keep broadening its income base, managing director Duncan Hill said, despite forecasting improved shipping earnings in 2000. On Thursday the company reported pre-tax profits of 2 million pounds for 1999, down from 3.2 million in 1998, after OPEC oil cuts hit tanker and offshore markets last year. "I would be hugely disappointed if we are not able to announce another significant acquisition which further diversifies our income base this year," Hill said. Hill declined to give details, but signaled that the acquisition would not be related to online broking ventures being set up by some other brokers.