Bureau Of Industry And Security News

An Iraqi national has appeared in U.S. District Court in Savannah after his indictment on charges related to the attempted smuggling of firearms to Iraq.Nihad Al Jaberi, a Clarkston, Ga., resident, is charged with smuggling, failure to notify a common carrier and submitting false or misleading export information. The smuggling charge carries upon conviction a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and substantial financial penalties. There is no parole in the federal system.Al Jaberi, an Iraqi citizen and legal permanent resident of the United States, was arraigned last week.

This article will focus on conflicts of laws stemming from the EU Blocking Statute and U.S. antiboycott law, both of which are intended to prevent parties from complying with a disfavored sanctions regime. The article will highlight some of the inherent conflicts in dealing with multiple conflicting sanctions regimes. It follows our comprehensive summary of sanctions and shipping, which covered several of the issues herein in some detail.Antiboycott law: in generalAntiboycott law is essentially the inverse of sanctions law.

The U.S. maintains a comprehensive sanctions program against Cuba, generally prohibiting all trade between the two nations, subject to multiple exceptions. In a previous article we addressed U.S. comprehensive sanctions generally, focusing on Iran, Syria and North Korea. Because the Cuba sanctions program has several idiosyncrasies that are unique to Cuba we address the Cuba sanctions program on its own.Background to Cuba sanctionsThe Cuba sanctions program is the oldest U.S. sanctions program still in existence.

Export Control Lists Include Key Marine Tech Categories  Each year, the U.S. Department of Commerce receives thousands of inquiries from businesses looking to export, many of which involve licensing questions. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), together with other USG agencies, is responsible for export licensing and controls. BIS export licenses may be required for items (commodities, software, or technology) with proliferation, military, or terrorist uses, or which warrant control for other reasons.

Each year, the U.S. Department of Commerce receives thousands of inquiries from businesses looking to export, many of which involve licensing questions. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), together with other USG agencies, is responsible for export licensing and controls. BIS export licenses may be required for items (commodities, software, or technology) with proliferation, military, or terrorist uses, or which warrant control for other reasons. Export licensing requirements can apply to a wide array of products, including marine technologies.

BP Plc exported nearly 670,000 barrels of minimally processed super-light crude oil from the Houston Ship Channel more than a week ago, according to ClipperData, an industry firm that tracks crude movements. The 667,638-barrel cargo left Enterprise Products Partners' ship channel docks - part of the company's recent $4.41 billion acquisition of Oiltanking Partners LP - on Feb. 15 bound for Rotterdam in The Netherlands, ClipperData partner Abudi Zein said in an interview. The shipment's documentation said the cargo was processed condensate - a super-light form of crude - from the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas, he said. BP declined comment on the shipment or whether the company is among several companies that received U.S.

The U.S. Treasury Department, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has publish revised Cuba sanctions regulations opening trade with Cuba for the first time in decades. Those changes, issued January 16, 2015, are the first step in moving toward normal relations with Cuba. The revised regulations ease certain limitations on travel to Cuba and certain associated services (e.g., insurance services), broaden exports and imports, and make financial transactions related to authorized transactions easier. The biggest impacts appear to be in travel, telecommunications, financial services and exports to the Cuban private sector. A pre-release of the revised regulations from the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Commerce said it gave "some" oil companies on Tuesday permission to export a lightly processed crude oil, taking the first action in several months on applications from about 20 energy companies eager to ship the fuel abroad.   The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), an office of the Commerce Department, did not say how many so-called commodity classifications it issued. The bureau communicates on the rulings in private letters, which are not open to the public.   Previously the BIS issued permission to export the condensate to Pioneer Natural Resources and Enterprise Products Partners in 2014 and to Peaker Energy in 2013.   (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Sandra Maler)

The Obama administration released on Tuesday a long-awaited explanation of what petroleum is allowed to be shipped under the contentious 40-year ban on exports of most domestic crude. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released the guidance in the form of frequently asked questions, or FAQ, in the first effort by the administration to clarify an issue that has caused confusion and consternation in energy markets for more than a year. The BIS guidance said energy companies must use distillation towers to produce lightly treated oil called condensate to export it and not simply treat it with flash drums that have so- called heater treaters.

The U.S. Commerce Department has taken a small step toward resolving some two-dozen pending requests to export lightly processed oil this summer, asking energy companies to fill out a one-page questionnaire about their plans, sources familiar with the document told Reuters. The nine questions may help the department map out a further easing of the four-decade old ban on crude exports. In August, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) sent a standard set of nine questions to companies that had requested rulings on whether they could export an ultra-light oil called condensate, people who had seen the questionaire told Reuters. Those requests have been "held without action" since July, effectively removing any time frame for a decision, Reuters has reported.

A lobbyist group for four U.S. oil refiners urged the federal government on Thursday to stop issuing approvals for energy companies to ship abroad a lightly processed crude oil, saying it is prohibited by a nearly 40-year-old ban on oil exports. Consumers and Refiners United for Domestic Energy (CRUDE), wrote to Commerce Department officials five months after the department's Bureau of Industry and Security gave approval to Pioneer Natural Resources and Enterprise Product Partners to export certain condensates. CRUDE, whose members include Alon USA Energy Inc and PBF Energy Inc, formed this year with the goal of preventing a hasty reversal of the export ban at a time sharply rising oil production has spurred calls for a change.

As the first U.S. oil condensate exports head to Asia from the Gulf Coast, crude producers and refiners are exploring ways to get around a century-old law that makes it three times more expensive to ship by water between U.S. ports than to sail to a foreign port. The Jones Act, originally passed to protect the U.S. maritime industry, restricts passage between U.S. ports to ships that are U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged and U.S.-crewed. If oil exports pick up pace while the Jones Act is left in place, U.S.

Russian oil major Lukoil has emerged as one of the first companies to buy Canadian crude re-exported from a U.S. port, shipping one cargo last month to its refinery in Augusta, Italy, data showed on Tuesday. A 445,000-barrel cargo of Canadian Sour grade loaded on the Sifnos, a Suezmax crude tanker, in Houston and departed on July 6, according to PIERS oil export trade flows data available via Thomson Reuters' Eikon. It discharged at the 320,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) ISAB refinery in Augusta, Italy, on the island of Sicily, on Aug. Lukoil, the second-biggest oil producer in Russia, took a stake in the Sicilian refinery in 2008 and gradually increased its stake to full ownership in December 2013. The U.S.

U.S. crude oil exports reached 288,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, the highest levels since April 1999, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday. The increase compares to April figures of 268,000 bpd, data showed. Exports to Canada hit 263,000 bpd, the highest number on record, data showed, unchanged from volumes in the previous month. Meanwhile, exports to Spain, the first on record with the EIA, were 17,000 bpd. Traders said the shipments were likely test batches of Canadian crude by Repsol for its Spanish refineries. Exports of crude to Switzerland increased to 8,000 bpd in May from 5,000 bpd in April. The U.S. Commerce Department approved 13 crude oil re-export licenses in May. Licenses show approvals to Spain and Switzerland.

U.S. shipbuilders are making a $500 million bet on robust domestic demand for crude oil from newly-tapped shale fields by building new tankers without having lined up customers to lease them. Philly Tankers AS, majority-owned by Aker Philadelphia Shipyard is building four ships on spec, and Seabulk Tankers Inc, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of SEACOR Holdings Inc, is building another two. The 330,000-barrel ships, which cost about $125 million each, conform to the 1920 Jones Act, which requires ships moving between U.S.

Crude oil exports from the United States were 268,000 barrels per day in April, the highest in 15 years, with almost all of the oil delivered to Canada, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Monday. Exports have increased sharply since the start of 2013 and have exceeded 200,000 bpd in five of the past six months. The EIA, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, said the increase was largely the result of sharply rising U.S. crude production. Congress banned most U.S. crude oil exports after price shocks from the 1973 Arab oil embargo led to the notion that the United States was running out of oil. For the kinds of exports that are allowed, including sales to Canada and shipments from Alaska's Cook Inlet, U.S.

Recent meetings between U.S. oil producers and Commerce Department officials have fueled industry hopes that the Obama administration may soon begin to ease a longstanding ban on oil exports. Although it would require an act of Congress to end the four-decade export ban, some analysts and executives believe the White House may be getting ready to open up the taps a bit, allowing some export of a super-light form of oil known as condensate, which falls into a regulatory gray area. Executives and sources said a number of major shale oil producers have quietly stepped up lobbying efforts over the contentious energy issue in recent weeks, meeting with officials from the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), which oversees exports.

Continental Resources , the largest leaseholder in the booming North Dakota oil fields, recently applied for a U.S. license to swap crude oil abroad in an attempt to get around the country's 40-year ban on exports, a spokeswoman confirmed on Friday. "The pending license is to further demonstrate the need for a free market for crude, just like refined products already have," the spokeswoman said, without specifying when Continental made the application. Continental applied for the license through the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, which did not comment on the matter. The United States may soon pass Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world's top oil producer thanks to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and other modern drilling techniques.

The primary focus of last year’s annual update, which appeared in the April 2010 issue, was U.S. efforts to tighten economic sanctions against Iran. The last several months have seen these efforts come to fruition, as well as imposition of new sanctions affecting Libya, North Korea, and Somalia. Our 2011 update concentrates on these key developments, but readers should be aware that these were not the only changes to sanctions programs administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) over the past year. As always, remaining abreast of all applicable embargoes and sanctions must be a priority for international businesses. U.S. Developments. On July 1, 2010, long sought amendments to the Iran Sanctions Act (“ISA”) became law.

By Barbara D. Recent changes to U.S. economic sanctions programs have resulted in both new opportunities and new restrictions for offshore service vessel operators. In April, the United States substantially reduced restrictions on trade with Libya. However, these actions were followed in early May by the imposition of a new embargo against Syria. In addition, over the past several months, many additional individuals and entities have been designated as subject to trade sanctions, and the Secretary of Homeland Security has been granted authority to take various measures to prevent the unauthorized entry of vessels into Cuban territorial waters.

Early in the coming year, the U.S. export control regime governing the shipbuilding supply chain will undergo a sea change with the implementation of export reform in the naval and marine categories of the U.S. Munitions List (USML) and the Commerce Control List (CCL). Reforms affecting the aerospace industry(1)  were published April 16, 2013(2)  and took effect October 15 of this year, and the final rules published on July 8, 2013 for the naval and marine categories will take effect on January 6, 2014. As previously reported,(3)  one of the goals of the export reform initiative is to protect the nation’s “crown jewels” with higher export control walls while removing restrictions on less important items and technologies in order to promote, among other things, interoperability of U.S.

The U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued an order temporarily denying export privileges to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, as well as two related companies.  The order relies on evidence that the parties are about to engage in conduct prohibited by the Export Administration Regulations by re-exporting US-origin items.  Specifically, it appears that the parties are planning to re-export from South Africa a Bladerunner 51 powerboat, known as the Bradstone Challenger, for use by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.  Under the Order, no person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States may take any action that facilitates this re-exportation.  74 Fed. Reg. 6265  (February 6, 2009). (Source: Holland & Knight)

The U.S. Department of Commerce approved 52 crude oil re-export licenses in the last six months to destinations other than Canada, the department said on Tuesday. The permits, which were approved between October 2013 and March, include 14 licenses for re-exports to European countries, according to data released by the department's Bureau of Industry and Security. The United States does not allow exports of its own oil with few exceptions such as barrels going to Canada or re-exports of foreign oil from U.S. ports. Since late February, four licenses were approved for re-exports to Spain, where traders say Enbridge Inc  plans to send Canadian oil as early as this month.