Ras Tanura Terminal News

The very large crude carriers (VLCC's) will load at Ras Tanura terminal for deliveries to a US Gulf Coast port next month. The very large crude carriers will each load 280,000 metric tons of oil at Saudi's Ras Tanura terminal between April 3 and April 9 for the voyage via the Cape of Good Hope to the Port Arthur, Texas terminal, reports Bloomberg from various sources. Saudi Aramco, as Saudi Arabian Oil Co. is known, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) operate refineries through Motiva Enterprises LLC. The joint venture is bringing its Port Arthur, Texas plant back to full capacity after a series of unplanned shutdowns. The facility will be able to process as much as 600,000 barrels a day and is the nation’s biggest. Source: Bloomberg

According to reports, oil prices fell by three per cent Monday, slipping below $59 a barrel as traders looked ahead to U.S. supply data due out Wednesday that is expected to show rising inventories of crude. Doubts about OPEC's ability to implement a 1.2 million barrels a day production cut also weighed on prices. Last week, oil prices surged after the U.S. Energy Department data showed a large decline in crude-oil inventories. But some analysts believe the market overreacted to the data by failing to account for the impact of a temporary shutdown of the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, through which 10 per cent of all U.S. oil imports flow.