Refined Oil News

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…

Russia resumed oil exports to North Korea in December, United Nations data shows, the first such shipments reported since 2020 as the two countries deepen ties and the United States flags the risk of arms supplies to Moscow.North Korea has been seeking closer relations with the Kremlin and backed Moscow after it invaded Ukraine last year, blaming what it called the "hegemonic policy" of the United States and the West.Russia had exported 67,300 barrels of refined petroleum to North Korea by April, the first deliveries reported to the U.N.

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…

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…

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…

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…

BP and Maersk Tankers successfully completed trials using marine fuel blended with biofuel on tankers as efforts grow to tackle the shipping sector's greenhouse gas emissions.Global shipping accounts for around 3% of global carbon emissions. The sector is considered relatively hard to decarbonize because of a lack of alternatives to marine fuel.The trials were completed on two refined oil product carriers chartered to BP from Maersk Tankers - Maersk Cirrus and Maersk Navigator, BP said in a statement.Maersk Tankers is an independent company, owned by A.P.

China's crude oil imports plunged in October to the lowest since September 2018, as large state-owned refiners withheld purchases because of rising prices while independent refiners were restrained by limited quotas to import.The world's biggest crude oil importer brought in 37.8 million tonnes last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Sunday, equivalent to 8.9 million barrels per day (bpd).That is down from 9.99 million bpd in September and 10.02 million bpd in the same period last year.Over the January-October period, crude arrivals totaled 425.06 million tonnes,

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…

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.

China foiled criminals seeking to smuggle nearly 1 million tonnes of refined oil worth 5 billion yuan ($770 million), with officials seizing 11 ships and detaining 171 suspects in a sprawling swoop on Tuesday, customs authorities said.The operation, which saw customs officers from the port city of Ningbo join forces with local law enforcement and maritime police, spanned eight Chinese regions, including the coastal provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and Fujian, the General Administration of Customs said in a statement.A total of 14 gangs were busted on Tuesday, the agency added.

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…

Taiwan is complying with international sanctions against North Korea, a senior Taiwanese security official told the United States’ deputy representative for North Korea on Tuesday, having previously been called out for breaking them.Taiwan, claimed by China as its own, is not a member of the United Nations, but says that as a responsible global player it is committed to ensuring sanctions are enforced to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.In 2018, independent U.N. monitors told a U.N.

China's energy and chemical giant Sinopec has said it has put China's largest petrochemical port into operation with the successful docking and unloading of the New Renown, a very large crude carrier (VLCC) from the Middle East. The tanker was welcomed at the new 300,000-ton crude oil terminal of Sinopec Zhongke Refinery Port, which forms part of the company's "front terminal, rear plant" production model.Located 1,100 meters from Sinopec's refinery, the petrochemical port features eight terminals including a 300…

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…

China will beef up its Caofeidian pilot free trade zone, prioritizing the development of international commodities trade and bringing in more foreign investments, local government said on Monday.The Caofeidian district, on the edge of China's top steelmaking city of Tangshan, aims to achieve trade volume of more than 50 billion yuan ($7.07 billion) and introduce 100 foreign projects by 2022, it said in a statement on its website.The district also plans to make a commodities trading center in northeast Asia in early 2025 and to make China's northwestern provinces and Mongolia a key shipping hub

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.

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…

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…

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, launched a further nine Marine Fuel 0.5% futures contracts in advance of the implementation of the 0.5% sulfur cap by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in January 2020.The American company that owns exchanges for financial and commodity markets announced that its new futures contracts expand the existing suite of Marine Fuel contracts launched in February 2019 and will settle against the S&P Global Platts physical Marine Fuel 0.5% assessments.The IMO regulation limits sulfur emissions from shipping bunker fuel…

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.

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.

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…