Nustar Energy News

Venezuela's PDVSA and NuStar Energy LP have reached an agreement over outstanding storage fees, allowing the state-run company to resume use of a key storage terminal in the Caribbean, the U.S. energy firm said on Monday.NuStar had suspended PDVSA several times since 2017 from using its St. Eustatius facility over millions of dollars in missed payments.The terminal played a role in a legal dispute between PDVSA and ConocoPhillips, which earlier this year tried to enforce a $2…

U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips has moved to take Caribbean assets of Venezuela's state-run PDVSA to enforce a $2 billion arbitration award over a decade-oil nationalization of its projects in the South American country, according to three sources familiar with its actions. The U.S. firm targeted facilities on the islands of Curacao, Bonaire and St. Eustatius that accounted for about a quarter of Venezuela's oil exports last year. The three play key roles in processing, storing and blending PDVSA's oil for export. The company received court attachments freezing assets at least two of the facilities, and could move to sell them, one of the sources said. Conoco's legal maneuvers could further impair PDVSA's declining oil revenue and the country's convulsing economy.

Tankers carrying record levels of crude are leaving in droves from Texas and Louisiana ports, and more growth in the fledgling U.S. oil export market may before long test the limits of infrastructure like pipelines, dock space and ship traffic. U.S. crude exports have boomed since the decades-old ban was lifted less than two years ago, with shipments recently hitting a record of 2 million barrels a day. But shippers and traders fear the rising trend is not sustainable, and if limits are hit, it could pressure the price of U.S. oil. How much crude the United States can export is a mystery. Most terminal operators and companies will not disclose capacity, and federal agencies like the U.S. Energy Department do not track it.

Dominican Republic closed most of its ports ahead of Hurricane Maria, but the country's 34,000-barrel-per-day refinery was still running, the government said on Wednesday. Ports that suspended operations under the "red alert" declared for extreme weather conditions are La Romana, Samana, Arroyo Barril, Puerto Plata and Manzanillo, the Dominican Port Authority said in a statement. Maria was a Category 4 hurricane when it hit Puerto Rico earlier on Wednesday. The ports of San Souci and Haina…

Several Caribbean oil storage terminals that temporarily closed ahead of Hurricane Irma earlier this month have started making preparations in case they have to shut again due to Hurricane Maria, which was a rare Category 5 storm on Tuesday. Shippers and traders in the Atlantic basin are struggling amid this year's very active storm season, which has seen seven hurricanes so far, four of them major hurricanes, defined as at least a Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. Hurricane Harvey hit the U.S.

The U.S. Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency are working with Texas state regulators to clean up oil and chemicals spilled from a dozen industrial facilities after flooding from Hurricane Harvey, authorities said. The spills came from oil refineries, fuel terminals and other businesses, but EPA spokeswoman Terri White said it was not possible to provide an estimate for the amounts spilled. "Initial reports were based on observation," White said. Refineries owned by Valero Energy Corp in Houston, Motiva Inc in Port Arthur, and Exxon Mobile Corp in Baytown, were among the facilities that had reported spills, according to White. Representatives for those companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA, sent a tanker in October to the Caribbean with the expectation that its cargo of crude would fetch about $20 million - money the crisis-stricken nation desperately needs. Instead, the owner of the tanker, the Russian state-owned shipping conglomerate Sovcomflot, held the oil in hopes of collecting partial payment on $30 million that it says PDVSA owes for unpaid shipping fees. Despite a longstanding alliance between Venezuela and Russia, Sovcomflot sued PDVSA in St. Maarten, a Dutch island on the northeast end of the Caribbean. "The ship owners ... imposed garnishment on the aforementioned oil cargo," reads a March decision by the St. Maarten court.

Emco Wheaton has played a pivotal role in the transfer of the first shipment of U.S. crude oil for export in 40 years, after the Theo T tanker set sail from the Port of Corpus Christi bound for Europe. The Greek oil tanker was loaded on New Year’s Eve by NuStar Energy LP at its North Beach Terminal at Port Corpus Christi in Texas using three Emco Wheaton Marine Loading Arms. To cost effectively and safely supply crude oil to the global market, Nustar Energy LP made significant investments in its Corpus Christi terminal operations in 2014 with the purchase of new equipment.

Demand for crude storage in the Caribbean, one of the world's most important oil hubs, is rising as producers and traders try to ride out the worst price crash in six years by holding onto more barrels or making blends that can be sold for premiums. The last time tanks in the logistically-important islands were this full, during the price collapse of 2009, companies started leasing vessels to use as floating storage. That is not yet happening now, but the only way to get tank space at the moment is to sublease it, said one tank broker with decades of experience. Since June, his firm alone has received requests to lease up to 7.5 million barrels of tankage in a region with some 100 million barrels of capacity.

Venezuela's state-run PDVSA has put on hold its plans to export diluted crude oil (DCO) in October as the company reviews production costs that have risen on imports of costly naphtha that it uses to mix with its extra heavy crude, traders told Reuters on Friday. The move comes as the company scrambles to cut costs to partially solve its well-known cash flow problems. Reuters reported on Wednesday that PDVSA is considering importing Algerian Saharan Blend light crude instead of costly naphtha that it has been buying since 2013 to use for its blends. One of several sources who was told of the halt by the company said it might also try to raise DCO prices to better offset import costs. "Sales of DCO are suspended, but PDVSA said it won't stop production of these crudes.

The Port of Vancouver USA welcomed the Nord Geranium, commanded by Capt. Kim Aarup of Denmark, on her first voyage to the United States July 29. Capt. Aarup and his 22-member Danish and Filipino crew were welcomed to Vancouver by Aaron Flett, terminal manager with NuStar Energy Corporation, Gary Martinke, vessel agent with Inchcape Shipping Services and Mike Schiller, business development manager for the Port of Vancouver. The July 29 visit in Vancouver was the Nord Geranium’s maiden voyage, after being launched on June 25, 2014.

Venezuela's state-run PDVSA will use a terminal owned by U.S. firm NuStar Energy on the island of Saint Eustatius to store crude and load very large crude carriers (VLCCs) going to Asia, after deciding it will no longer rent a facility in the Bahamas, according to a PDVSA executive. PDVSA has been using the Saint Eustatius terminal in the Caribbean since March as a center to store and mix its crudes and produce exportable blends, the Venezuelan oil company confirmed after Reuters reported it this week. The company already started receiving crude tankers at the facility going out from Venezuelan ports. "We plan to build a new terminal…

Venezuela's state-run PDVSA will use a terminal owned by U.S. firm NuStar Energy on the island of Saint Eustatius to store crude and load very large crude carriers (VLCCs) going to Asia, after deciding it will no longer rent a facility in the Bahamas, a PDVSA executive said on Friday. PDVSA has been using the Saint Eustatius terminal in the Caribbean since March as a center to store and mix its crudes and produce exportable blends, the Venezuelan oil company confirmed after Reuters reported it this week. The company already started receiving crude tankers at the facility going out from Venezuelan ports. "We plan to build a new terminal…

NuStar Energy says it has completed construction of a private marine loading dock at its North Beach Terminal in Corpus Christi, Texas, and has its first ship at the dock to be loaded with crude oil. Originally scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of this year, NuStar expedited the project in order to meet strong customer interest in using the dock to transport shipments of Eagle Ford crude oil by water. The new dock project includes a series of 30-inch and 12-inch pipelines that move the crude oil from incoming pipelines or tanks within the terminal to the new dock…