Oil Flows News

Venezuela's loss of a key U.S. license that allowed it to freely export and increase investment in its oil sector will hit the volume and quality of its crude and fuel sales while prompting a flurry of requests for individual U.S deal authorizations.U.S. officials had warned that absent progress by President Nicolas Maduro on implementing an electoral roadmap agreed last year, the U.S. would not renew license 44, which since October had eased oil sanctions in place for the last five years.On Wednesday…

Imports of fuel oil bound for the U.S. Gulf Coast fell to a five-year low last month as refiners ran more cheap, heavy Canadian crude and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East pressured fuel oil flows.Fuel oil deliveries to the Gulf Coast dwindled in February to just 318,000 barrels per day (bpd), a 20% drop from the prior month and marking their lowest level since February 2019, data from tanker tracking firm, Kpler showed.Heavy fuel oil feedstocks like high sulfur fuel oil…

Tankers carrying Russian oil have continued sailing through the Red Sea largely uninterrupted by Houthi attacks on shipping and face lower risks than competitors, according to shipping executives, analysts and flows data.Russia has become more dependent on trade through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea since it invaded Ukraine, which led to Europe imposing sanctions on Russian imports and forced Moscow to export most of its crude to China and India. Before the war, Russia exported…

Oil and fuel tanker traffic in the Red Sea was stable in December, even though many container ships have rerouted due to attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi militants, a Reuters analysis of vessel tracking data showed.The attacks have driven up shipping costs sharply along with insurance premiums, but have had less impact than feared on oil flows, with shippers continuing to use the key East-West passage. The Houthis, who have said they are targeting Israel-bound vessels, have largely…

A number of container ships are anchored in the Red Sea and others have turned off tracking systems as traders adjust routes and prices in response to maritime attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on the world's main East-West trade route.Attacks in recent days on ships in the major Red Sea shipping route have raised the spectre of another bout of disruption to international commerce following the upheaval of the COVID pandemic, and prompted a U.S.-led international force to patrol waters near Yemen.The Red Sea is linked to the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal…

Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday as investors eyed the impact on oil supply after attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants on ships in the Red Sea disrupted maritime trade and forced companies to reroute vessels.Brent crude futures rose 6 cents to $78.01 a barrel at 0726 GMT. The front-month U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures contract , which expires on Tuesday, fell 18 cents to $72.29 a barrel. The more active second-month contract dropped 10 cents, or 0.1%…

The disruption to energy flows in the Red Sea is unlikely to have large effects on crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices as vessel redirection opportunities imply that production should not be directly affected, Goldman Sachs said.Oil prices advanced on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session, as attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants on ships in the Red Sea disrupted maritime trade and forced companies to reroute vessels.Oil major BP temporarily paused all transits through the Red Sea and oil tanker group Frontline FRO.OL said on Monday its vessels would avoid

Oil loadings from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal have not resumed due to an ongoing storm forcing exporters to look for alternative routes, three sources familiar with exports told Reuters on Wednesday.Novorossiysk and the CPC terminal account for about 2 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) from Russia and Kazakhstan."A storm warning is in effect in Novorossiysk. It is raining, and the wave height is from two to four meters…

An oil tanker that the U.S. government imposed sanctions on for recently carrying Russian oil above the Western price cap is proceeding to the Baytown refinery in Texas for unloading, Exxon Mobil said on Tuesday.Exxon, the current charterer of the Yasa Golden Bosphorus, was not targeted by the sanctions last week since the oil producer chartered the tanker months after it had carried and offloaded Russian oil, a price cap coalition official after the U.S. imposed the sanctions on the tanker.The unloading by Exxon has been authorized by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the company said in a statement. The deliveries are certified products of Canadian origin, according to Exxon.The U.S.

U.S. and Canadian refiners have turned to North Sea "Forties" crude oil for the first time in seven years in the latest sign of changing global oil flows from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Nearly 2.6 million barrels of the crude are set to arrive at U.S. East Coast ports since February, according to Customs data on Refinitiv Eikon. Some of the oil is likely headed to Canada via pipeline. The light, low-sulfur Forties crudes are blended with others to replace Russian crudes that have been barred from the U.S. and Canada. Prior to the ban, about 50% of all crude from Russian ports that landed in the U.S. went to East Coast refineries, the customs data showed. The tanker Sea Turtle in February discharged 770,000 barrels of Forties and Forties blend crudes in Maine, destined for Suncor Energy.

U.S. oil company Chevron Corp is sending two oil tankers to Venezuela, one of which will load the first cargo of crude destined for the United States in nearly four years, according to a person familiar with the matter and shipping data.On Friday, a Chevron-chartered vessel approached the South American country's waters to pick up a cargo of Venezuelan crude. A second tanker carrying a cargo of diluents to a Chevron oil joint venture is due to arrive in Venezuela early next month, the person said.The U.S. last month issued a six-month license to Chevron authorizing it to take an expanded role at four Venezuelan oil joint ventures that produce, process and export oil, and to bring their oil to the United States.The U.S. license will reopen oil flows that were shut by U.S.

India has received 34 million barrels of discounted Russian oil since Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, according to Refinitiv Eikon data, more than trebling the value of total imports from Russia, including other products, compared with the same period of 2021.The volumes of India's seaborne oil imports from Russia exclude CPC Blend oil, which is also exported via Russia's Black Sea port, but mostly supplied by Kazakhstan's subsidiaries of western countries as transit volumes.India's oil imports from Russia have been rising since February…

Euronav has suspended operations with Russian customers, the oil tanker firm said on Thursday, adding this business accounted for less than 5% of its turnover.The Antwerp-based group, which provides crude oil shipping and storage services, joins the growing ranks of Western companies scaling back ties with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls "a special military operation."The company also said it could be adversely affected by trade tariffs and embargoes in light of the conflict.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, have come

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%…

Iranian oil exports have risen to more than 1 million barrels per day for the first time in almost three years, based on estimates from companies that track the flows, reflecting increased shipments to China.Tehran's oil exports have been limited since former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 exited a 2015 nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions aimed at curbing oil exports and the associated revenue to Iran's government.Iran has kept some exports flowing despite sanctions as intermediaries find ways to disguise the origin of the imports.

Tanker and barge shipments in and out of Europe's biggest oil hub have been delayed by up to a week as four storage companies scramble to resume operations after cyber attacks, sources familiar with the matter said.Since the end of last week, storage company Oiltanking and oil trading firm Mabanaft, both owned by Germany's Marquard & Bahls, have been hit by hackers. Belgium's SEA-TANK and Dutch fuel storage firm Evos have also been affected.The companies have had to suspend some operations, affecting oil flows in the Netherlands, Belgium and across Germany.

More oil from a massive offshore spill landed on the southern California shore on Monday, with beaches closed and dead fish and birds washing up on shore as officials investigated whether a ship anchor striking a pipeline could have triggered the leak.Crews dressed in white coveralls and helmets raced against an approaching storm as they cleaned damage from 3,000 barrels (126,000 gallons) of oil that spilled into the Pacific Ocean in recent days from a pipeline connected to an…

A large oil spill off the southern California coast left fish dead, birds mired in petroleum and wetlands contaminated, prompting local officials to call it an environmental catastrophe.The U.S. Coast Guard, heading a clean-up response involving federal, state, and city agencies, said on Sunday there was an around-the-clock investigation into how the spill occurred.An estimated 126,000 gallons, or 3,000 barrels, had spread into an oil slick covering about 13 square miles of the Pacific Ocean since it was first reported on Saturday morning…

A containership blocking the Suez Canal like a "beached whale" may take weeks to free, the salvage company said, as officials stopped all ships entering the channel on Thursday in a new setback for global trade.The 400-meter Ever Given, almost as long as the Empire State Building is high, is blocking transit in both directions through one of the world's busiest shipping channels for oil and grain and other trade linking Asia and Europe.The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said eight tugs were working to move the vessel…

When the maritime history books are written, 2020 will be viewed as a year of pivots, re-invention and new paradigms. By February 2020, concerns about marine fuel’s sulfur content quickly shifted to near-term disruptions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. By mid-year, with demand recovering, the conversation turned to longer term questions surrounding the moves towards reduced maritime carbon emissions and alternative fuels. How will this all impact the current fleet?Perhaps the most extreme reaction to the shifting landscape is the ongoing “pivot” of Scorpio Bulk (NYSE: SALT)…

Oil shipping rates are soaring following a series of sanctions on a Chinese transportation giant and limitations placed on movement of Venezuelan crude oil tankers.WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO SHIPPING RATES?The cost of chartering a supertanker to send crude oil from one country to another is rising sharply. A South Korean importer paid more than $12 million in shipping costs for one crude shipment from the U.S. Gulf Coast. This was followed by Friday's tentative charter of another crude…

Exxon Mobil Corp this week banned the use of vessels linked to oil flows from Venezuela in the last year, according to four people familiar with the matter, placing new pressure on the U.S. sanctioned country and on global crude freight rates.The largest publicly-traded oil producer's contract clause would affect about 250 tankers, two of the people familiar with the matter estimated. Exxon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Over 25 foreign vessels touch Venezuelan ports per month, according to PDVSA's and Refinitiv Eikon data.Reporting by Collin Eaton

A disruption in global oil flows following attacks on Saudi Arabian facilities has left U.S. crude exporters without enough tankers to cover rising demand for cargoes, traders and shipping sources said.Missile attacks last Saturday temporarily cut Saudi oil production by more than 5 million barrels per day, or about half the country's output.That set off a scramble for alternative cargoes of crude, particularly in the United States, which lined up available tankers sailing from the Mediterranean, West Africa and continental Europe to pick up cargoes.