Oil Consumer News

At least 10 vessels carrying Russia-linked cargoes of crude and refined products were approaching the United States on Wednesday, as suppliers rushed to deliver ahead of the U.S. government's deadline to wind down Russian energy purchases, data from traders and Refinitiv Eikon showed.The United States, the world's biggest oil consumer, this month banned imports of Russian energy products due to the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special operation." Washington's ban gives importers until April 22 to discharge cargoes moving under pre-ban contracts.At least one tanker carrying fuel oil heading to the United States has diverted, and at least two others that stopped at Russian terminals are awaiting discharge at U.S. ports, according to Refinitiv data, one since March 7.U.S.

Britain will phase out imports of Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday, joining other nations including the United States in reducing their energy dependency on Russia.In response to President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade of Ukraine, Britain and others are seeking ways to deprive Moscow of income and cut their own use of Russian energy exports by becoming more self-sufficient."In another economic blow to the Putin regime following their illegal invasion of Ukraine, the UK will move away from dependence on Russian oil throughout th

Oil prices fell by 4% on Monday, extending last week's steep losses on the back of a rising U.S. dollar and concerns that new coronavirus-related restrictions in Asia, especially China, could slow a global recovery in fuel demand.A United Nations panel's dire warning on climate change also added to the gloomy mood after fires in Greece have razed homes and forests and parts of Europe suffered deadly floods last month.Brent crude futures fell by $2.82, or 4.2%, to $67.88 a barrel by 0930 GMT after a 6% slump last week for their biggest weekly loss in four months.U.S.

Global oil producers and refiners are struggling with a series of unprecedented dislocations as the simultaneous epidemic and volume war between Saudi Arabia and Russia rip through every element of the supply chain.Some idea of the extraordinary speed and scale of the disruptions was evident in the "Weekly Petroleum Status Report" published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.The United States is the world's largest oil consumer and producer, though it is…

The Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has placed the shipping industry on high alert amid a rising death toll in China and reports that the fast-spreading illness is reaching new shores.The flu-like coronavirus, first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China on December 31, has killed more than two dozen people in China and is believed to have infected more than 900 worldwide, according to several media reports. Cases have been confirmed in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, and internationally in travelers returning from China to Japan…

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) announced that it has signed another significant long-term sales agreement with Indian Oil Corporation (IndianOil) for its high-quality base oil called ADbase.IndianOil is the largest seller of finished lubricants in the Indian market with approximate volume of 450,000 tonnes per annum. The total Indian market for finished lubricants is 2 million tonnes and is growing at the rate of 2.4 per cent per annum.IndianOil will use the ADbase oils to manufacture high end engine oils for India’s growing automotive sector.Ahmad Bin Thalith, Acting Senior Vice President of Refined Products Sales, in ADNOC’s Marketing…

India's oil imports rose by about 1.8 percent in 2017 to a record 4.37 million barrels per day (bpd) as the country boosted purchases to feed its expanded refining capacity, ship-tracking data obtained from sources and data compiled by Thomson Reuters Oil Research & Forecasts showed. To meet its growing fuel demand India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer, raised its refining capacity in the second half of 2017. India's capacity expansion to about 5 million bpd was aided by Reliance Industries…

Total WAF loadings for Asia hit record. Shipments of West African oil to China are set to surge to a record in January, boosting overall fixtures heading east to their highest in at least 14 years, a Reuters survey of shipping fixtures and traders showed on Wednesday. China's loadings are expected to jump by more than 20 percent from December to more than 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in January, the survey showed. The figure is the highest barrel-per-day total to sail for China since September, and is some 37 percent above the same month last year. Traders said China's appetite was whetted in part by the first batch of government import quotas for 2018, which were issued in late December, but announced in November.

Benchmark European gasoline refining margins spiked nearly 9 percent on Tuesday to their highest since April after more than 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of U.S. refining capacity was knocked offline by Hurricane Harvey. Margins, a measure of the profit that can be made from refining crude into gasoline, hit $15.45 a barrel in morning trade. Harvey knocked out 13 percent of refining capacity in the United States, the world's largest oil consumer, while the ongoing rain and flooding threatened other units, including the country's largest refinery. The shutdowns are expected to prompt a late-year spike in gasoline bookings from Europe to compensate for the production losses. Buyers in the United States and in Latin America, which has been reliant on U.S.

PetroChina is this week unloading the first Chinese purchase of crude oil from U.S. strategic petroleum reserves at a port in eastern China, according to shipping data and two industry sources. The move comes as China, the world's No.2 oil consumer, steps up imports from the Americas to diversify supply sources. PetroChina unit, PetroChina International America Inc, bought the 550,000-barrel cargo of Bryan Mound sour crude in a sale from U.S. strategic petroleum reserves in March for $28.8 million. Supertanker Cosrising Lake <C}KV7309834335>, chartered by PetroChina, is unloading the U.S. oil at Qingdao port in Shandong province this week, shipping data on Thomson Reuters Eikon showed. The crude has an API gravity of 33.3 degrees and sulphur content of 1.41 percent, according to the U.S.

After the first OPEC oil production cut in eight years took effect in January, oil traders from Houston to Singapore started emptying millions of barrels of crude from storage tanks. Investors hailed the drawdowns as the beginning of the end of a two-year supply glut - raising hopes for steadily rising per-barrel prices. It hasn't worked out that way. Now, many of those same storage tanks are filling back up or draining more slowly than investors and oil firms had expected, according…

Oil prices were up as much as 2 percent on Wednesday after a third surprise weekly drop in U.S. crude stockpiles helped assuage fears over a global oil glut. Oil was also supported by an industry strike in Norway that threatened to cut North Sea crude output and a weaker dollar ahead of a Federal Reserve policy announcement at 2:00 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), where the central bank was expected to keep U.S. interest rates unchanged. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude inventories fell 6.2 million barrels last week, versus a 3.4 million-barrel drop forecast in a Reuters poll. Crude stocks in the United States, the world's largest oil consumer, have fallen since 14.5 million barrels were drawn in the week to Sept.

U.S. payroll, jobs data may support oil prices; demand outlook improving. Crude oil futures edged up on Friday, building on the week's gains, as traders and analysts eyed U.S. jobs data which could give further momentum to rising prices. Brent futures rose 19 cents to $37.26 a barrel as of 1203 GMT, after settling 14 cents higher in the previous session. The crude benchmark is set to end the week with a gain of more than 5 percent. U.S. crude futures traded up 13 cents to $34.70 a barrel, having settled down 9 cents in the previous session. While U.S. crude inventories rose to a new record of 517.98 million barrels last week, output fell for a sixth straight week to 9.08 million barrels a day, according to the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration. Cuts in U.S.

Oil rose on Tuesday to above $31 a barrel on hopes that OPEC and non-OPEC producers were inching closer to a deal to reduce output in the face of one of the biggest supply gluts in decades. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is making renewed calls for rival producers to cut supply alongside its members, but Russia, seen as key to any deal, has so far refused to cooperate. Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi said on Tuesday he saw "some flexibility" for a deal, an idea has been repeatedly mooted and dismissed for over a year. Brent crude was up $1.02 at $31.52 a barrel by 11:05 a.m. EST (1605 GMT), rebounding from a decline earlier in the session. On Jan. 20, Brent reached as low as $27.10, its lowest since November 2003. U.S.

Oil prices have been extremely volatile since the first trading day of 2016 and hit 12-year lows last week with Brent dropping below $33 a barrel for the first time since 2005. The fall in the Chinese manufacturing index, the Saudi-Iran standoff and North Korean nuclear test have all had a significant impact on shaping oil price trends, says market analyst and consultant Douglas-Westwood (DW). Brent crude rose to a three-week high of $38.91 a barrel on January 4 as a consequence of the Saudi-Iran geopolitical risk but these gains were quickly diminished due to concerns over economic slowdown. Rising tensions in the Middle East typically trigger an increase in the price of oil, yet it seems that bearish sentiment elsewhere has prevailed over potential risk.

Oil, gas and iron ore imports resume after disruptions; Strategic oil reserves in the region not affected. Many operations have resumed at China's Tianjin port, trade sources said, after explosions last week that killed more than 100 people and disrupted business at what is an important oil, gas and bulk import harbour for Asia's biggest economy. The explosions on Aug. 12 led to the disruption of all chemical and oil tanker discharges at the port, and imports of iron ore were also affected. But shipping data from Reuters on Monday showed that tankers were discharging again, with traders and shippers confirming that operations had restarted over the weekend. Port officials were not immediately available for comment.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has been granted access to real-time oil export information for the first time, allowing it to improve weekly estimates of fuel demand at a time of intensifying scrutiny of energy data. The change is likely to be welcomed by oil traders who routinely scrutinize the EIA's reports for clues on what is happening in the world's biggest oil consumer, who have long rued the agency's dependence on calculated figures. The appetite for reliable data has taken on added urgency as refined fuel exports doubled since 2010 to about 4 million barrels per day. Every week, the EIA publishes a Petroleum Status Report that includes data on inventories and refinery operations collected directly from energy firms.

Cairn India Ltd has invited initial bids for exports of its oil from the desert state of Rajasthan, according to a copy of the tender notice seen by Reuters, despite a government ban on overseas sales of locally-produced crude. A government official said there had been no change in the ban and that Cairn India might simply be trying to establish a price for its oil via the tender process ahead of negotiations to sell it to local buyers. Cairn India, backed by billionaire Anil Agarwal, did not respond to telephone calls and an email seeking comment about the export notice. India is the world's fourth-biggest oil consumer and imports about 80 percent of its oil needs, leading it to place restrictions on the export of locally-produced oil.

Oil-market watchers are struggling to reconcile the large estimated oversupply in the market with the much smaller buildup of reported inventories and narrowing contango in futures prices. Some blame the barrel counters who compile official statistics on supply, demand and stocks. But the truth is that information on the world oil market is incomplete and it is easy for hundreds of millions of barrels of oil to disappear from the supply chain without being counted. According to the three main statistical agencies, the global market has been oversupplied by between 1.5 million and 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) since the start of the year. Stockpiles should have increased by between 200 million and 350 million barrels, according to the International Energy Agency, OPEC and the U.S.

India will use an upcoming visit by Barack Obama to press the United States to remove Indian oil companies from a list naming firms doing business in Iran, and to seek priority access to U.S. LNG exports, sources in the Oil Ministry said. The U.S. president will arrive in New Delhi on Jan. 25 and hold discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Washington in September. An official agenda has not been released. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) listed three Indian companies as having commercial activity in Iran's energy sector in a report this week, potentially making it difficult for them to do business with other countries, mainly the United States.

China is set to import more than 335,000 tonnes of naphtha and diesel, rare moves for the world's no. 2 oil consumer given it has been self-sufficient at meeting domestic oil product demand, industry sources said on Friday. Unipec, the trading arm of top Chinese oil firm Sinopec, has bought more than 300,000 tonnes of naphtha for delivery into China. Traders said the firm rarely buys specifically for China. State-run Sinochem has bought at least 35,000 tonnes of diesel for October-to-November delivery and could import more, industry sources said. CNOOC and PetroChina have bought 105,000 tonnes of diesel and could buy more, they said, though volumes could not be confirmed. China became a net diesel exporter in 2013.

Brent crude fell for a third day on Wednesday, slipping further below $97 a barrel as inflated supplies and weak economic data from Europe outweighed rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. * U.S. The European economic data and a rise in oil exports from Iraq and Nigeria overshadowed a boost from China with Tuesday's release of a better-than-expected flash Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for September. U.S. air strikes on militants in Syria also failed to lift prices. Brent for November delivery slipped 1 cent to $96.84 a barrel by 0704 GMT, although U.S. crude rose 29 cents to $91.85 a barrel. "Oil prices did not really gather the support coming from China's manufacturing data from yesterday as softer European manufacturing data followed…

World oil demand growth is softening at a remarkable pace as the European and Chinese economies falter, the West's energy watchdog said on Thursday, while supplies grow steadily, particularly from North America. "The recent slowdown in demand growth is nothing short of remarkable," the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its monthly report, revising down its oil demand growth projections for both 2014 and 2015. "While festering conflicts in Iraq and Libya show no sign of abating, their effect on global oil market balances and prices remains muted amid weakening oil demand growth and plentiful supply," it added. The IEA said demand growth in the second quarter of 2014 alone eased back to a near two-and-a-half year low.