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Bernstein News

02 Feb 2023

Price Cap on Russian Refined Fuels Set to Disrupt Trade

© AUUSanAKUL+ / Adobe Stock

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 Jun 2022

Kinder Morgan Says Tanker Rates Gain After Ukraine Crisis

Day rates for vessels that move oil and refined products between U.S. ports rose after the United States banned Russian oil and product imports this year, Kinder Morgan Inc Chief Executive Steven Kean said on Wednesday.Pipeline and terminal operator Kinder Morgan, which owns about 16 Jones Act vessels, saw a "meaningful" uptick in demand spurred by the U.S. ban following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Kean said at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions conference.The Jones Act requires goods moved between U.S. ports to be carried by ships built domestically and staffed by U.S. crews. Kinder Morgan vessels carry crude oil, refined products and fuel blend stocks to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast ports.Daily chartering rates were moving toward the bottom end of pre-pandemic rates of $60…

21 Dec 2021

Carnival's Long-term Demand Indicates Omicron Threat Will Fade Soon

© Solarisys / Adobe Stock

Carnival Corp on Monday flagged a hit to its near-term bookings from Omicron, even as demand for cruises late next year and beyond suggest a short-lived impact from new coronavirus variants.Shares of Carnival gained 3.3% as the cruise operator said new COVID-19 variants have not had a significant impact on its plan to return its full fleet to operations in the spring of 2022.The fast-spreading COVID-19 Omicron variant has been a cause of concern over the last month, creating some…

09 Jun 2021

The Navy’s Big Fleet of Small Boats

The U.S. Navy’s Mark VI class patrol boat is designed to patrol riverine and littoral waters around the globe. (Photo: Nelson Doromal Jr / U.S. Navy)

The Navy is known for its big ships. It has a lot of smaller boats and craft, too—3,200 of them.The three primary stakeholders for these craft are the Surface Fleet, Commander Navy Installations Command and Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. Other stakeholders include Submarine Forces; Air Forces (which own the aircraft carriers); Naval Special Warfare; the Coast Guard; Naval Facilities Command and the Naval Warfare Centers.Boats and craft are procured and managed by Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Program Executive Office for Ships (PEO Ships)…

07 May 2020

Virus Lockdowns Pummel Global Gas Demand, Force LNG Output Cuts

Lockdowns to slow the coronavirus pandemic are pummelling gas demand in the world's biggest buyers of liquefied natural gas (LNG), pushing Asia's spot prices to record lows and forcing some suppliers to start cutting output. Economies worldwide have ground to a halt as virus containment measures have taken their toll, slashing gas demand for power generation, heating, cooking, vehicles and chemical manufacture. The world's biggest LNG markets - Japan, China, South Korea, and India - are all seeing a drop in demand. Asia's spot LNG prices dropped to $1.85 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) last week, the lowest ever, as cargoes have flooded the market. "At prices in the $2/mmBtu range ... some producers are getting close to not recovering cash costs of their operations.

12 Feb 2020

Stephens Elected PVA President for 2020

Colleen Stephens (Photo: PVA)

Colleen Stephens, President of Stan Stephens Glacier & Wildlife Cruises will be President of the Passenger Vessel Association (PVA) for 2020, the trade association announced.Elected during the PVA Annual Convention at MariTrends 2020 held February 3-6, 2020 in Tampa, Fla., Stephens reaffirmed PVA's commitment to continuously improving safety in passenger vessel operations as well as the association's engagement in being good stewards of the environment. "PVA's Green WATERS program…

09 Sep 2019

FBI Seeks Evidence in California Boat Fire

Responder battle the blaze on the ill-fated Conception. CREDIT: USCG

Federal and local investigators on Sunday carried out search warrants involving the owners of a diving boat that caught fire off the California coast in the middle of the night last week, killing 34 people.Agents from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office searched the offices and two additional vessels owned by Truth Aquatics of Santa Barbara, owner of the Conception, on which the deadly blaze occurred last Monday…

16 Apr 2019

Interview: Astrid Skarheim Onsum, SVP, Head of Wind, Aker Solutions

Offshore renewable energy is gaining investment support in the United States, particularly on the east coast. While the U.S. is a full generation behind its European counterparts in tapping the wind as an energy source, if current plans come to fruition it could gain ground quickly. Recently we spoke with Astrid Skarheim Onsum, SVP, Head of Wind Aker Solutions, for her view on the path ahead and the growing role and promising future of ‘floating wind.’Please give an overview of your responsibilities as SVP…

02 Oct 2018

Shell's LNG Canada Seen as Tip of Megaproject Iceberg

Photo courtesy of Shell

The launch of a massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project in Canada has finally fired the starting gun on a wave of plan approvals around the world, needed to avoid a supply crunch after 2020.Royal Dutch Shell said it would export LNG from Western Canada by 2025 after approving a $14 billion project, hot on the heels of Qatar's commitment last week to expand its facilities.The two announcements, adding 37 million tonnes a year (mtpa) to the 290 million tonnes traded in 2017…

02 May 2018

McDermott, CB&I Shareholders Approve Merger

(File photo: CB&I)

McDermott International shareholders on Tuesday approved a merger with Chicago Bridge & Iron Co that creates a vertically integrated onshore and offshore engineering and construction company, thwarting an attempt by offshore drilling contractor Subsea 7 to block the deal.More than 50 percent of McDermott shareholders supported the deal and approved a 3-to-1 reverse stock split, according to a spokesman. CB&I shareholders also voted in favor the merger, the companies said, and the combination is expected to close on May 10.Shares of CB&I were up about 6 percent…

12 Feb 2018

Big Oil Takes Stage for Post-austerity Beauty Contest

(File photo: Shell)

With years of austerity in their rear-view mirrors, the world's biggest oil companies are locked in a beauty contest to lure investors with promises of growth and greater rewards. Royal Dutch Shell and Total are emerging as frontrunners after a three-year slump thanks to strong growth projections but Exxon Mobil, the biggest publicly traded oil company, has largely disappointed with a weaker outlook. Major oil companies slashed spending and cut costs after oil prices collapsed…

07 Feb 2018

California to Ban Crude from Trump Offshore Drilling Plan

© Don Bright / Adobe Stock

California will block the transport of petroleum from new offshore oil rigs through its state, officials told Reuters, a move meant to hobble the Trump administration’s effort to vastly expand drilling in U.S. federal waters. California's threat to deny pipeline permits for transporting oil from new leases off the Pacific Coast is the latest step by states trying to halt the biggest proposed expansion in decades of federal oil and gas leasing. Officials in Florida, North and South Carolina…

21 Jan 2016

Tullow Launches Deepwater FPSO Despite Glut

Tullow not for sale but could be take-over target - COO. Amid one of the deepest oil price crashes in history, Britain's Tullow Oil is sending one of the world's biggest floating deep-water oil production platforms to West Africa to pump crude for at least 20 years. The 340-metre long production vessel, named after late Ghanaian president Prof John Evans Atta Mills, was converted in Singapore from a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) super-tanker, and is expected to set sail this weekend to Ghana, where it is scheduled to gradually ramp up production from the TEN deepwater oilfield from July/August this year, the company's chief operating officer Paul McDade said on Thursday.

26 Jan 2017

Australian LNG Projects Face Delays, Benefiting US Producers

Shell's Prelude floating LNG production vessel (Photo: Shell)

Australia's plans for a huge increase in its production of liquefied natural gas are being dealt a big blow by a series of production delays, as energy companies struggle with technical problems and cost overruns. The country is still likely to become the world's biggest LNG exporter, dispatching about 85 million tonnes a year by the end of the decade, up from 30.7 million tonnes in 2015 and 45.1 million tonnes last year. But the pace of growth is much slower than expected because…

02 Feb 2016

BP Reports Biggest Ever Annual Loss

BP shares slide 8 pct after results miss forecasts. BP slumped to its biggest annual loss last year and announced thousands more job cuts on Tuesday, showing that even one of the nimblest oil producers is struggling in the worst market downturn in over a decade. The British oil and gas company, which is still grappling with about $55 billion of costs from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, said it would cut 7,000 jobs by the end of 2017, or nearly 9 percent of its workforce. BP said it lost $6.5 billion in 2015 and its fourth-quarter underlying replacement cost profit, which is the company's definition of net income, came in at $196 million, well below analyst expectations of $730 million.

22 Feb 2017

Inland Waterways Conference Set for Cincinnati

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft conducts an all-hands meeting at Sector San Juan, Puerto Rico, Nov. 14, 2014. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Patrick Kelley.

The 2017 Inland Waterways Conference is set to be held in scenic Cincinnati, Ohio, from March 6-8, 2017 at the Hyatt Regency Cincinnati. The event will feature full days of hot topics and VIP speakers to address emerging inland waterways topics and trends, highlighted by Lunch Keynote Speaker United States Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral Paul F. Zukunft, speaking on March 7 from noon to 1:15. "We are honored that Admiral Zukunft will take part in our conference" said Alan Bernstein, Conference Director.

22 Feb 2016

First U.S. Shale Gas Exports Imminent

Asia Vision LNG tanker docks at Cheniere's export terminal. A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker on Sunday docked at the Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana, with only days to go before the United States ships its first export cargo of seaborne gas from the lower 48 states. U.S. exports will add to a wave of supply coming from Australian projects at a time when demand falters in major consuming countries and prices have plummeted in line with oil. Expected to become an importer of LNG until just a few years ago, the shale gas revolution in the United States that unlocked cheap, abundant supplies has wreaked havoc on global gas markets as LNG meant for the country was redirected around the world.

04 Mar 2016

US Drillers Cut Oil Rigs for 11th Week Straight

U.S. energy firms this week cut oil rigs for an 11th week in a row to the lowest level since December 2009, data showed on Friday, as Exxon Mobil Corp and other producers slashed their drilling rig count to focus on uncompleted wells amid low oil prices. Drillers removed eight oil rigs in the week ended March 4, bringing the total rig count down to 392, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc said in its closely followed report. That compares with 922 oil rigs operating in the same week a year ago. In 2015, drillers cut on average 18 oil rigs per week for a total of 963 for the year, the biggest annual decline since at least 1988. Before this week, drillers cut on average 17 rigs per week so far this year.

09 Mar 2016

Low Commodity Prices Drive 2016 Defaults, Oilfields to Shut

Commodity prices at multi-year lows drove a rise in defaults early this year, and the oil sector could see still more unprofitable fields shut, industry analysts said on Wednesday. Debt defaults in the commodity sectors rose in the first two months of 2016 from the same period a year ago, credit ratings agency Moody's said. "Of the 18 defaults since the start of the year, half have been in commodity sectors," said Sharon Ou, a Moody's vice president and senior credit officer, in an e-mailed statement late on Tuesday. Five of the defaults were in the oil and gas sector while four were in metals and mining, she said. For the same period last year, there were 11 defaults in total and only one in commodities, Ou said.

06 Oct 2016

Oil Rallies as Hopes Grow for Output Cut

Oil rallied to four-month highs on Thursday, underpinned by a surprisingly large drop in U.S. inventory levels the previous day and by growing expectations for the world's largest producers to agree to cut supply. Brent crude futures were last up 55 cents on the day at $52.41 a barrel by 1408 GMT, having risen to a session peak of $52.65, the highest in four months. U.S. futures rose 46 cents to $50.29 a barrel, having broken above $50 for the first time since June this year. A number of OPEC oil ministers plus Russia's energy minister set to attend an energy conference in Istanbul are expected to meet together informally although they are unlikely to make any new decisions, OPEC sources said.

25 Oct 2015

Mexico's main Pacific Ports Reopen

The major Mexican cargo port of Manzanillo was set to reopen at 4 pm (21:00 GMT) on Saturday, a port official said, after avoiding the worst of Hurricane Patricia, which slammed into the country's Pacific coast but caused less damage than expected. The port of Lazaro Cardenas, south of where the storm hit, resumed operations for cargo ships on Saturday morning, a port official said, and the smaller port in the resort town of Puerto Vallarta reopened at midday, Mexico's communications and transport ministry (SCT) said. Hurricane Patricia, which was at one point the biggest storm ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, blasted Mexico's Pacific coast on Friday evening, but weakened as it came ashore, sparing various highly populated areas and tourist centers from major damage.

28 Nov 2015

Sandra Weakens to Tropical Storm off Mexico's Coast

Hurricane Sandra weakened to a tropical storm on Friday and was expected to continue losing strength as it approached Mexico's Pacific coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Sandra, about 215 miles (346 km) southwest of the Pacific port of Mazatlan on Friday evening, was producing maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (113 kph), the NHC said. "Sandra is expected to be near tropical storm strength when it moves near the coast of Mexico in the warning area on Saturday. After the center moves inland, Sandra should quickly dissipate," the Miami-based NHC said. Sandra had been the strongest hurricane recorded in the eastern Pacific Ocean this late in the year. Mexico called off a tropical storm watch for the southernmost portion of Baja California.

16 Dec 2015

Producers, Shippers in North American Food Fight

The North American spat pitting Canada and Mexico against the United States over meat labels has sown confusion among producers and shippers in all three countries, with a trade war potentially just weeks away. The World Trade Organization on Monday authorized Canada and Mexico, the biggest markets for exported U.S. goods, to retaliate against the United States' meat-labeling rules, setting the annual level at C$1.055 billion for Canada and $228 million for Mexico. The United States took a step towards defusing the row on Wednesday when the U.S. Congress approved a spending bill that includes the repeal of federal laws mandating meatpackers identify where animals are raised and slaughtered.