Oil Consumers News

The United States is "in the midst of an internal process" of considering sanctions waivers for countries that are reducing their imports of Iranian oil, a U.S. government official said on Friday.The Trump administration, which withdrew from a deal over Tehran's nuclear program in May, is reimposing sanctions on Iran's crude oil consumers on Nov. 4. The government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, called the exceptions SRE waivers, also known as significant reduction exemptions.(Reporting by Timothy Gardner Editing by Marguerita Choy)

South Korea said on Wednesday it would seek U.S. exemptions to buy Iranian oil, a path many big oil consumers are likely to follow in the wake of new U.S. sanctions on Tehran, which will tighten world oil markets and push up prices.Iran is the third-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and a key supplier, especially to refiners in Asia.The United States plans to impose new unilateral sanctions after abandoning an agreement reached in late 2015 which limited Iran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for removing joint U.S.-Europe sanctions…

Brightoil Petroleum (Holdings) Limited announced its interim results for the six months ended December 31, 2014, reporting steady growth over the period. During the period, profit attributable to the owners of the group increased 3% year-on-year to HK$561 million. Basic earnings per share amounted to 6.41 HK cents, up 3% from a year ago. Total revenue climbed 11% from HK$40.3 billion in 1HFY2014 toHK$44.9 billion for the period as the twin-engines business model (upstream and mid-downstream businesses) enabled the group to secure steady growth amid volatile oil prices.

The first condensate cargo for export is due to load in Texas at the end of this week, headed via the Panama Canal to Asia, shipping sources said. Westport Petroleum Inc., the Franklin, Tennessee-based shipping arm of Japanese trader Mitsui & Co., chartered the BW Zambesi, an LR1 tanker, also known as a Panamax class vessel. Reuters previously reported that Mitsui had bought a 400,000-barrel cargo, and is said to be being marketed to refiners in Asia. According to a Reuters shipping database, the BW Zambesi has capacity of more than 76,000 deadweight tons (DWT). Shipping sources said the BW Zambesi will likely carry less than its maximum capacity, due to draft restrictions in the Panama Canal. The $1.8 million one-way trans-Pacific trip is expected to take a month or more, sources said.

Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Nigeria and now Iraq: the crude oil market has weathered a long list of actual and threatened supply shocks with remarkable calm. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), unplanned disruptions have removed around 2.5 million barrels per day from the crude market since the start of 2011. But for most of that time, Brent, the international marker, has traded in a narrow range around $105 per barrel and daily price volatility has fallen to the lowest level for 20 years.

Fossil fuel subsidies cost governments in emerging markets more than $500 billion every year and are a major contributor to climate change, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The biggest subsidies are concentrated in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and parts of Latin America, according to the IEA's Fossil Fuel Subsidy Database (http://www.iea.org/subsidy/index.html). Moreover energy-exporting countries accounted for three quarters of all consumption subsidies in 2012, according to the IEA and OPEC members account for more than half the world's subsidies. Subsidies account for 82 percent of the cost of electricity and fuel in Venezuela…

U.S. crude stocks likely rose 2.2 mln barrels last week. Brent futures were steady on Tuesday and held above $108 a barrel as a worsening crisis over Ukraine stoked supply disruption fears, while concerns over demand growth from the world's two biggest oil consumers kept a lid on gains. In the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War, Russia said the United States had spurned an invitation to hold new talks on resolving the Ukraine crisis, the latest instance of attempts of finding a diplomatic solution stalling. The United States will also begin previously planned military training exercises in the region. Brent futures were unchanged at $108.08 a barrel by 0255 GMT, recovering from a low of $107.83 touched earlier.

Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. reported net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2004 of $76,188,000, or $1.99 per share, an increase of 72% compared with net income of $44,235,000, or $1.28 per share, in the first quarter of 2003. $94,216,000 in the first quarter of 2003. Morten Arntzen, President and Chief Executive Officer of OSG. "Strong charter rates for VLCCs and Aframaxes, which commenced in October 2003, prevailed throughout the first quarter and have continued into the second quarter. We have already fixed approximately 56% of VLCC open days and 52% of Aframax open days in the second quarter. "Expanding in our areas of strategic focus, we have acquired two U.S.

Oil prices rocketed to a new nine-year high Nov. 22 after Iraq suspended oil exports under its humanitarian exchange program with the United Nations. London January Brent futures opened at $25.90, the highest oil price since January 1991 when allied forces were preparing to eject Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Prices leapt as Iraq's Oil Minister Amir Mohammed Rasheed confirmed that Iraq had stopped oil deliveries under the latest six-month phase of its oil-for-food exchange with the UN. Baghdad protested the UN's proposal to extend by two weeks the sixth phase of the program and accused the United States of trying to push other Security Council members into accepting a draft resolution on weapons inspections.