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Refined Oil Products News

29 Feb 2024

Barge Fuel Exports Help Russia Negotiate Tanker Shortage

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Russia exported more than 700,000 metric tons of oil products from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk in 2023 using small river barges because of a lack of bigger tankers owing to EU sanctions and price cap limitations, market sources said and LSEG data showed.Some ship owners have avoided Russian ports since the EU embargo and price cap on Russian refined oil products went into effect in February last year, forcing shippers to turn to a so-called shadow fleet of ageing tankers.The shadow fleet has supported the flow of Russian barrels…

03 Feb 2023

EU Agrees on Price Caps on Russian Refined Oil Products

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European Union countries agreed to set price caps on Russian refined oil products to limit Moscow's funds for its invasion of Ukraine, the Swedish presidency of the EU said on Friday.EU diplomats said the price caps are $100 per barrel on products that trade at a premium to crude, principally diesel, and $45 per barrel for products that trade at a discount, such as fuel oil and naphtha. Ambassadors for the 27 EU countries agreed on the European Commission proposal,which will apply from Sunday.The price caps…

02 Feb 2023

Price Cap on Russian Refined Fuels Set to Disrupt Trade

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The European Union's ban on imports of Russian refined oil products, including diesel and jet fuel, will disrupt global flows once it takes effect on Sunday and could hurt Moscow more than an embargo on crude oil.Although Western sanctions could force Russia to cut crude production and refining runs, which would further tighten global supplies, some analysts said the ban on products may ultimately have little impact on overall availability."Barrels will get out and find a market…

01 Dec 2022

EU Tentatively Agrees $60 Price Cap on Russian Seaborne Oil

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European Union governments tentatively agreed on Thursday on a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian seaborne oil - an idea of the Group of Seven (G7) nations - with an adjustment mechanism to keep the cap at 5% below the market price, according to diplomats and a document seen by Reuters.The agreement still needs approval from all EU governments in a written procedure by Friday. Poland, which had pushed for the cap to be as low as possible, had as of Thursday evening not confirmed if it would support the deal…

31 May 2022

How Much Oil Does the EU Import from Russia?

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The European Union has agreed to ban the bulk of imports of Russian crude and oil products in its latest round of sanctions following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.The ban on seaborne crude imports will be phased in over six months and for seaborne refined products over eight months. It excludes deliveries via the Druzhba oil pipeline which supplies refineries in Eastern Europe and eastern Germany.Yet many European buyers have voluntarily suspended purchases of Russian oil or announced plans to phase it out…

20 Sep 2021

Expect the Unexpected on the Inland Waterways

Among transportation planners, “resilience”, describing the ability to bounce back from adversities, both economic and other, has become a top consideration as we increasingly must “expect the unexpected.” The U.S. waterway system, covering the network of inland rivers and coastwise waterways, has seen a mix of good and not so good. As the 2020-2021 pandemic moves toward winding down, a recovery from the dismal 2020 is underway, but activity on the rivers is uneven. Ken Eriksen…

12 May 2021

U.S. Refiners Book Tankers to Store Oil Products as Cyber Attack Cripples Colonial Pipeline

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U.S. refiners booked at least four tankers to store refined oil products off the Gulf Coast following a cyber attacks that crippled the biggest U.S. pipeline, shipping data showed on Tuesday.The attack on the Colonial pipeline network, which supplies half of the fuel consumed along the East Coast, has forced Gulf Coast refineries to scale back operations due to lack of storage space.The tankers, booked by Marathon Petroleum, Valero Energy, Phillips 66 and PBF Energy, can hold around 350,000 tonnes of fuel.

07 Aug 2020

China's Crude Imports Surged 25% in July

Oil tanker in China - Image by Igor Groshev

China's crude imports surged 25% in July from a year earlier, as massive purchases made while prices collapsed in April arrived and as some shipments delayed at ports in June finally cleared customs.China, the world's top crude oil importer, brought in 51.29 million tonnes of oil last month, equal to 12.08 million barrels per day (bpd), data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Friday.That is higher than the 9.66 million bpd imported in July 2019 but below a previous record of 12.94 million bpd set in June.Crude bought by Chinese bargain hunters in April…

07 May 2020

China's Crude Oil Imports Rebound in April

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China's crude oil imports rebounded in April from a month earlier on daily basis as refiners ramped up output amid a recovery in fuel demand with the impact of the coronavirus outbreak easing while crude prices crashed on slumping consumption elsewhere.Crude oil arrivals were 40.43 million tonnes last month according to a full data table released by the General Administration of Customs on Thursday, equivalent to 9.84 million barrels per day (bpd).That was more than the 9.68 million bpd imported in March…

14 Jan 2020

TORM Secures $496M for Debt Refinancing

Denmark-based product tanker company TORM has obtained a commitment for a total of USD 496 million from a syndicate of lenders to refinance its debt and bolster its capital structure.The carrier of refined oil products said the total amount is a combination of two separate term facilities and a revolving credit facility, which will be used to refinance the company’s debt covering a total of USD 502 million.Following the refinancing, TORM does not have any major debt maturities until 2026 which supports TORM’s strong capital structure, it said.“I am very pleased that we have been able to utilize TORM’s strong relationship with our lenders to remove all major near- and medium-term debt maturities with the financing of USD 496m in debt facilities at attractive terms.

12 Nov 2019

TORM Conducts 16 Scrubber Installations

TORM, a pure play product tanker company and one of the world's leading carriers of refined oil products, expects to install a total of 44 scrubbers and has since the last quarter committed to an additional ten scrubber installations.The new installations support our balanced approach to the new sulfur regulation, with scrubbers.The recently decided additional scrubber installations will be conducted during the first and the second quarter of 2020.As of 12 November 2019, TORM has conducted 16 scrubber installations. Of the remaining 28 installations, seven are expected to be conducted in 2019, 12 in the first quarter of 2020 and nine in the second quarter of 2020.As seen across the entire industry…

15 Aug 2019

TORM Takes Delivery of 2 MR Newbuildings

TORM, a Denmark-based shipping company that owns and operates product tankers, announced that it took delivery of two medium range (MR) newbuildings during the second quarter of 2019.The carrier of refined oil products said in a stock exchange announcement that it during the second quarter of 2019, TORM has purchased four modern 2011-built MR vessels for a total consideration of USD 83m. The vessels are expected to be delivered during August 2019.TORM has sold the MR vessel TORM Gunhild (built in 1999) for a consideration of USD 6 million and repaid debt of USD 4m in connection with the vessel sale. The vessel has been delivered to the new owners."After the quarter ended on 30 June 2019…

03 Jun 2019

TORM Adds Four MR Tankers

Danish shipping operator TORM has reached an agreement to acquire four modern 2011-built MR vessels “at an attractive price point”."Looking into an improving demand-supply situation for the transportation of clean petroleum products, we believe that the timing for a fleet expansion with modern vessels is appropriate and underlines the flexibility provided by our strong capital structure," says Executive Director Jacob Meldgaard.A press release from the carrier of refined oil products said that it has agreed to buy the quartet for a total consideration of USD 83m with expected delivery between August and December 2019.The vessels are built at the Korean yard Hyundai Mipo.

17 May 2019

Maersk in Sale, Leaseback Pact with ICBC

Danish tanker shipping company Maersk Product Tankers has just entered a sale-and-leaseback agreement for four medium range (MR) vessels with the Chinese bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).The four ships were built in 2015 and 2016 and will be chartered back to Maersk Product Tankers on ten-year bareboat contracts. The company will retain options for the vessels and will still undertake the commercial and technical management for the vessels.“The agreement will increase financial flexibility and strengthen the financial position of Maersk Product Tankers,” says Morten Mosegaard, Chief Financial Officer at Maersk Product Tankers.Maersk Product Tankers continues to hold a strong balance sheet.

01 May 2019

Oil Shipments from Georgia's Batumi Port Drop

Oil and oil-related shipments from Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi dropped 24 percent in the first four months of 2019 from a year earlier, an official at a KazMunaiGas-operated terminal at the port said on Wednesday.Shipments of crude oil and refined oil products from Batumi have fallen in recent years, partly because Azerbaijan prefers to send its oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline or via its own terminal at the Georgian port of Kulevi, rather than from Batumi, which is operated by a Kazakh company.There were no shipments of crude oil, naphtha, jet fuel or vacuum gasoil from Batumi in January-April, the official, who did not want to be identified…

09 Apr 2019

Maersk Expects Tanker Market to Improve

Maersk Product Tankers A/S said that the product tanker market, which was challenging in 2018  is expected to improve from the end of 2019.The company that transports refined oil products through its product tankers vessel fleet said in a press release that while fleet growth had slowed significantly over the previous two years, the market remained heavily oversupplied.Product trade demand growth was positive, but below historical ranges. As a result, product tanker freight rates fell. This decline, combined with high fuel prices, depressed industry earnings, reaching lows not experienced since the 2008/9 financial crisis.After hitting near record lows in the third quarter of 2018, however, the market rallied in the fourth quarter.

06 Mar 2019

Torm Joins Inatech for IMO 2020 Bunker App

Danish product tanker operator Torm has joined Glencore subsidiary Inatech on an app to tackle the anticipated complex bunkering landscape in shipping post-2020.Inatech, which specialises in energy trading risk management systems, has built the ‘Smart Trader’ app to enable companies to map their entire fleet of ships and visualise best routes given sea and port conditions to achieve lowest prices for the desired quality of fuel.The toolkit leverages bunker alerts and pricing data from S&P Global Platts, the leading independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the energy and commodities markets."Torm, the tanker company that’s one of the world’s biggest carriers of refined oil products…

03 Jan 2019

Oil Shipments from Georgia's Batumi Port Drop 51 pct in 2018

Photo: Batumi Sea Port

Oil and oil-related shipments from Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi fell 51.2 percent in 2018 from a year earlier, an official at a KazMunaiGas-operated terminal at the port said on Thursday.Some crude oil was re-routed to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium last year, the official added, while some fuel oil was sent to the port of Taman in Russia and Georgia's other Black Sea port of Kulevi.The fall in shipments is partly because Azerbaijan prefers to send its oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline or via its own terminal in Kulevi, rather than from

09 Nov 2018

TORM, ME Production and GSI JV for Production for Scrubbers

Danish shipping company TORM has established a joint venture with scrubber manufacturer ME Production and Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI).The joint venture, ME Production China, will manufacture and install scrubbers in China and deliver them to a range of maritime industry customers for both newbuildings and retrofitted vessels, said a press release from the carriers of refined oil products. TORM holds an ownership stake of 27.5% in the new joint venture. GSI is part of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation group.“Our long-standing relationships with GSI and ME Production helped to facilitate this unique joint venture at a time when demand for scrubbers is expected to increase significantly.

15 Jun 2018

China to Impose 25% Tariffs on 659 US Goods

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China will impose additional 25 percent tariffs on 659 U.S. goods worth $50 billion in response to the U.S. announcement that it will levy tariffs on Chinese imports, the Chinese commerce ministry said.Tariffs on $34 billion of U.S. goods including agricultural products such as soybeans will take effect from July 6, the ministry said. Soybeans are China's biggest import from the United States by value.The tariffs will also be applied to autos and aquatic products, the ministry said.The list of 659 U.S.

08 Aug 2018

Chinese Exports Accelerate Even as Trade War Escalates

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China's exports surged more than expected in July despite U.S. duties and its closely watched surplus with the United States remained near record highs, as the world's two major economic powers ramp up a bitter dispute that some fear could derail global growth.In the latest move by President Donald Trump to put pressure on Beijing to negotiate trade concessions, Washington is set to begin collecting 25 percent tariffs on another $16 billion in Chinese goods on Aug. 23.In a statement on its official website late on Wednesday, China's commerce ministry criticised the U.S.

01 Feb 2018

Oil Shipments From Georgia's Batumi Port Down 34%

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Oil and related shipments from Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi in January were down 34 percent from a year earlier, an official at the terminal, operated by Kazakh KazMunaiGas , said on Thursday. The official gave no reason for the fall, but state company KazMunaiGas continued to reroute some shipments to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline this year. January shipments of crude oil and refined oil products from Batumi totalled 108,464 million tonnes, down from 164,218 tonnes a year earlier and 221,210 tonnes in December, said the official, who asked not to be identified.

04 Apr 2018

Jan-March Oil Shipments from Georgia's Batumi Down 54 pct

Batumi Port (© Sergej Ljashenko/ Adobe Stock)

Oil and oil-related shipments from Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi fell 53.7 percent between January and March from a year earlier, an official at the KazMunaiGas-operated terminal said on Wednesday. The official said some volumes of crude oil had been rerouted to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium this year, while some fuel oil had been sent to the port of Taman in Russia and Georgia's other Black Sea port of Kulevi. About ten Batumi terminal…