Tanker Owner to Stop Shipping Rosneft's Venezuelan Oil
Mercantile & Maritime said on Monday it would terminate its shipments of Venezuelan oil for Rosneft after the United States imposed sanctions on the Russian oil firm's Swiss trading unit.Washington imposed sanctions in February on Rosneft's Geneva-based unit Rosneft Trading (RTSA), accusing it of providing a financial lifeline to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government.Last month when the sanctions were announced, the company issued a statement calling the actions against Rosneft’s subsidiary RTSA and its Chairman "illegal…
Mercantile & Maritime Hires ex-Trafigura Waters as Asia Head
Energy trader Mercantile & Maritime Group said on Thursday it was hiring Ben Waters, previously with Trafigura, as its head of Asia-Pacific trading."We increase our presence and range of capabilities in the region to include trading, storage and blending," MM's chief executive Murtaza Lakhani said.Singapore-headquartered MM employs around 100 people across Asia, Europe and the Middle East and says it operates in frontier markets, trading oil, refined products and offering shipping and storage services. (Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson)
India Eases Norms For Ship Imports
India has eased norms for the import of ships, the government announced last week. Import of ships by open general license (OGL) under a bareboat charter-cum-demise method, which is similar to hire-purchase, will not need a technical clearance by the government, but will need an evaluation of the import price, officials said. "The price reasonableness (evaluation) and interest margin on rental payments will be verified by ICICI," a government spokesperson said, referring to bareboat charters. ICICI is one of India's leading finance firms. "However, the price reasonableness will be required only if the value of the imported vessel on CIF (cost, insurance and freight) basis is more than 10 million rupees," he added.
