Brent Crude Soars to $139 a Barrel as U.S., Europe Mull Russian Oil Import Ban
Oil prices spiked to their highest levels since 2008 on Monday as the United States and European allies weighed a Russian oil import ban and delays in the potential return of Iranian crude to global markets fuelled supply fears.In the first few minutes of trade Brent crude reached $139.13 and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) hit $130.50, both benchmarks striking their highest levels since July 2008.By 1017 GMT, prices had lost some of those gains, with Brent up $6.60, or 5.6%…
Baltic Exchange Launches Escrow Service for Vessel Sales
The Baltic Exchange announced it will launch an Escrow Service for its members to hold deposits for ship sale transactions.The paid-for service will be available from May 2018 for use in transactions where the buyer of the vessel is a Baltic Exchange member. The service will cost $5,000 per side and is likely to be extended to disputes related payments, the Baltic Exchange said.The Escrow Service will be run by the Baltic Exchange's Asia office in Singapore and will be subject to the Singapore Exchange's (SGX) compliance and money laundering procedures.
NOL To Raise $300M
Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. launched an issue of seven-year notes totaling $300 million after setting up a $1 billion medium-term note (MTN) program for up to 10 years. The shipping group, which owns container group APL, said in a statement the funds raised would be used for expansion and to refinance existing borrowings. The issue, with a coupon of 4.09 percent per year, is arranged by OCBC Bank, Overseas Union Bank, Societe Generale Asia (Singapore) Ltd and Standard Chartered Bank. "The arrangement not only meets our current requirements, it allows us to access further funds sometime in the future if we choose," said Lim How Teck, NOL's chief financial officer. "We consider this is good timing because interest rates are currently very low.
