Mediterranean Port Of Ceyhan News

A clash between trading house Vitol and Azerbaijan's SOCAR over Caspian Sea oil shipments is forcing Turkmenistan to slash exports of crude due to a lack of tankers.Turkmenistan typically exports about 200,000 tonnes of oil per month via the Caspian to world markets, mainly from fields operated by the UAE's ENOC and Italy's Eni, but flows have halved in recent weeks, six traders involved in operations said.That happened after Turkmen producers decided to export oil via Russia with the help of Swiss trader Vitol and ditch the previous Azeri route…

Russian state oil giant Rosneft will buy its first shipment of oil from Iraq's Kurdistan in early April, becoming the first oil major to take Kurdish crude directly into its refining system, trading sources said on Friday. The shipments aboard tanker Minerva Sophia will sail from the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan to Italy's Triest, from where the oil can be taken by pipeline to Rosneft's refineries in Germany.     (Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov)

Oil prices extended gains in post-settlement trading on Friday after Turkey's armed forces said they had taken power in the country to protect the democratic order and to maintain human rights. Supply outages across the world have led to crude prices rallying from 12-year lows touched earlier in the year. For the oil market, a military coup raises concerns of an impact to the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which runs from Iraq's Kirkuk oil fields to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in Turkey. (Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

TonenGeneral imported Japan's first cargo of Kurdish crude from northern Iraq in January, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region began selling oil directly to world markets in 2015 to get money for its survival and to fight Islamic State. Typically, Kurdish oil, exported via Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, has gone to Europe. TonenGeneral imported about 1 million barrels of Kurdish oil last month, classified as "export blend of Iraqi origin" in data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's (METI). The cargo was delivered to TonenGeneral's refineries in Kawasaki and Chiba, both of them near Tokyo, according to the source and Ministry of Finance data. TonenGeneral declined to comment on the deal.

The United States welcomes an agreement between Iraq's central government in Baghdad and its northern Kurdistan region over the management of oil exports, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday. Biden told an Atlantic Council summit in Istanbul that Washington also supported the development of an oil pipeline from Iraq's Basra to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Dasha Afanasieva; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Jonny Hogg and Alison Williams)

Incat Crowther announced the launch and sea trials of Muslim Magomayev, a first-of-type 70m Catamaran Fast Crew Boat (FCB). Constructed by Incat Tasmania, Muslim Magomayev is compliant with IMO HSC code and complete with a crew transfer system consisting of dynamic positioning equipment class (DP2) coupled with a walk-to-work stabilized access platform. The vessel’s operation includes fast crew transfer for 150 offshore workers to multiple offshore installations. The hull design is optimized for high speed transits with a maximized operability envelope and low incidences of sea sickness.

Iraq said it filed a lawsuit against Greek shipping company Marine Management Services (MMS) for its role in the export of crude from the Kurdistan region, which Baghdad says is illegal. The case is the latest move by Baghdad to deter customers and thwart independent exports of crude from the autonomous Kurdistan region. The federal government claims sole authority to manage sales of all the oil in Iraq. The Iraqi oil ministry said on Thursday that MMS operated five vessels that had transported oil on behalf of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) from a Turkish port.

Iraq has filed a case against Greek shipping company Marine Management Services (MMS) for its role in the "illegal" export of crude from the autonomous Kurdistan region, the oil ministry in Baghdad said in a statement on Thursday. The lawsuit is the latest move by Baghdad to deter customers and thwart independent exports of crude from Kurdistan. The federal government claims sole authority to manage sales of all the oil in Iraq. The statement said MMS operated five vessels that had transported crude oil on behalf of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) from a Turkish port. "MMS is liable for damages of at least $318 million, and possibly significantly more, as a result of its willing and active participation in the KRG's illegal crude oil export scheme," the statement read.

The fifth cargo of crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan was being loaded at Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan on Thursday and the tanker was scheduled to depart on Friday, Turkish energy officials said. The Suezmax tanker Kalamari arrived at the port late on Wednesday, according to a shipping source, and will be carrying one million barrels of crude oil, officials said. (Reporting by Orhan Coskun, Humeyra Pamuk and Julia Payne in London; Editing by Daren Butler)

Iraqi Kurdistan's attempts to export oil independently of Baghdad hit another obstacle on Wednesday, as a Turkish energy official and industry sources said the autonomous region's pipeline to the Mediterranean has been shut for the past week. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has not launched any oil tankers from the Turkish port of Ceyhan in over a month as Baghdad has moved to block the vessels from unloading at foreign ports. The latest set-back comes as Iraqi Kurdistan's increasingly bitter legal and diplomatic struggle with Baghdad over oil sales threatens to spill over into the United States. Arguing all oil sales outside its control are illegal…

U.S. Brent crude dipped below $114 a barrel on Monday as worries about disruptions to Iraqi crude supplies began to look overdone given that exports have so far been unaffected by a Sunni Islamist insurgency. Brent was down 90 cents at $113.91 by 1336 GMT, off an intraday high of $115.66. U.S. crude for August delivery was down 54 cents at $106.29, after touching $107.45 earlier in the session. The July contract expired on Friday. Traders and analysts said that the rally had faltered as the market was becoming desensitised to the news out of Iraq.

A third tanker carrying piped crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan is being loaded at Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, a source at the Turkish energy ministry told Reuters On Friday. The source said the loading was expected to be completed by Saturday and that the tanker would be carrying 1 million barrels of Kurdish oil. (Reporting by Orhan Coskun; Writing by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Nick Tattersall)

A second tanker carrying piped crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan has departed Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Tuesday. Yildiz said the tanker sailed towards the Mediterranean but did not provide its final destination. Industry and government sources said on Monday that the second shipment sailed from Ceyhan, increasing the stakes in a battle with Baghdad over control of oil sales from the autonomous region. Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk

Move likely to infuriate Iraqi government in Baghdad; first 1 million barrel cargo being loaded at Ceyhan, Turkey. Tanker scheduled to sail later on Thursday, buyer not identified. Iraqi Kurdistan started loading oil from its new pipeline for shipment from a Turkish port on Thursday, defying the Baghdad government, which claims sole authority over Iraqi crude and declares any independently sold oil as 'smuggled'. The cargo of 1 million barrels of crude oil was being loaded on a tanker in the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told Reuters on Thursday. "Loading will be completed today," Yildiz said, declining to name the buyer.

Kazakh CPC Blend crude strengthened on Tuesday as the outlook soured for the resumption of rival Libyan oil exports and a loading programme showed lower Azeri loadings in May. In the Platts window, oil major Total bid for CPC at dated Brent minus 50 cents, some 20 cents stronger than previous price estimates, but found no sellers, traders said. In the Urals market, Eni offered a cargo in the Baltic at dated Brent minus 75 cents, but found no buyers as the levels were considered too strong. Traders said CPC might be strengthening as the market for light barrels in Europe might be tightening. Azeri Light oil exports will decline in May to 748,000 barrels per day from 818,000 bpd in April, traders said on Tuesday, citing a loading programme.

Incat Crowther announced a first of type 70m Catamaran Fast Crew Boat (FCB), compliant with IMO HSC code and complete with a crew transfer system consisting of dynamic positioning equipment class (DP2) coupled with a stabilized access platform. Construction of the vessel has commenced at the shipbuilder Incat Tasmania, with delivery scheduled for September 2014. The vessel will operate as a fast crew transfer vessel for 150 offshore workers to multiple offshore installations.

Iraqi oil exports from the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, Turkey, remained off line on Tuesday as three vessels slated to arrive at the weekend were still unseen, industry sources said. Three tankers had been nominated by Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) for arrival Saturday, Sunday and Monday, but the port has been idle since the two-million-barrel Amazon Falcon sailed on Saturday, the sources said. Some sources said the Orient Tiger and Front Champion -- both very large crude carriers (VLCCs) -- could potentially arrive the next day or two, but others noted that no formal estimated time of arrival (ETA) had been supplied. The Crudesky, a SuezMax, was expected later as it sailed from Novorossiisk only on January 22.

Iraqi crude oil exports from two U.N.-approved loading ports remained on hold on Thursday but could resume later in the day with the expected arrival of two vessels, shipping sources said. "If they arrive, then loadings might start today," said one. Majestic Unity, which was due to take on two milllion barrels of Basrah Light, was due to arrive shortly at the Gulf port of Mina al-Bakr after a one-day delay, the sources said. No loadings have taken place at Mina al-Bakr since a tanker set sail on Saturday. Amazon Eagle, which was also due to load two million barrels of Iraqi sour Kirkuk, was expected on Thursday at the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Eclipse was due to arrive on Friday to take on one million barrels of crude.

A leading U.S. tanker brokerage has warned that the newly-opened Khazakstan to Novorossiisk oil pipeline will need between 17 and 28 million-barrel tankers to serve it, further clogging the congested Bosphorus sea lane. New York-based Poten and Partners foresaw pipeline capacity starting at 560,000 bpd and eventually reaching 1.34 million bpd. "This level of throughput may start bumping against the upper limit of allowable tanker transits through the Bosphorus," it said. The analysis comes in the same week that the Turkish minister for maritime affairs, Ramazan Mirzaoglu, announced a state investigation into the safety threat posed by swelling Bosphorus tanker traffic. "The Turkish straits are already at their limits.

Surging Suezmax tanker rates are set to soar if Iraqi exports come back on stream next week, shipping brokers said on Wednesday. Rates for the one million barrel tankers have lifted to around 100 Worldscale points on fixtures from West Africa and the North Sea to the U.S., and on cross Mediterranean and North Sea routes, brokers said. "Suezmax rates are going to sky rocket if Iraqi exports come back next week," one broker said. U.S. and British envoys to the U.N. said that the Security Council would vote on a straight-forward six month renewal of the humanitarian Iraq "oil-for-food" program last Friday. Iraq has previously said it would accept a renewal of the scheme on previous terms after rejecting two week and one week extensions.

The BP-led Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) said on Wednesday it expected the Azeri government to give a green light in August for the next phase of its Caspian oil production project. AIOC's president David Woodward told an oil and gas conference in the Azeri capital Baku the next phase aims to boost production to 350,000 barrels per day in 2005 from current levels of 100,000-130,000 bpd. The project envisages bringing the Azeri field onstream in early 2005, adding to volumes from the Chirag field, which has been in production since 1997. The cost of the expansion plans, called Phase One, is put at $3.3-3.4 billion, Woodward said.

The BP-led Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) expects the Azeri government to give a green light in August for the next phase of its Caspian oil production project. AIOC's president David Woodward said the next phase aims to boost production to 350,000 bpd in 2005 from current levels of 100,000-130,000 bpd. The project envisages bringing the Azeri field onstream in early 2005, adding to volumes from the Chirag field which has been in production since 1997. The cost of the expansion plans, called Phase One, is put at $3.3-3.4 billion, Woodward said. The next phase envisages the construction of a drilling platform for 48 wells, a gas compressing facility, an underwater pipeline from the Azeri field and modernization of an onshore oil terminal.