Crude Processing News

Chinese crude oil imports fell year-on-year in June and July, ending a streak of five months of accumulated year-on-year growth. After the first seven months of 2021, China’s crude oil imports are down 5.7% compared with the same period last year. January to July imports stood at 301.9m tons, an 18.1m tons decline from January to July 2020.The June and July decline in crude oil imports is not attributable to unusually low imports as much as to unusually high imports in June and…

Chinese refinery crude oil throughput has reached its highest level ever, with total processed volumes up 12% in the first five months of this year compared to 2020, and up 10.9% from the same period in 2019. In total 292.7m tonnes have been processed so far this year according to the National Bureau of Statistics China.Despite the 12.0% growth in crude oil processing, Chinese crude oil supply, which includes imports and domestic production, has only grown by 2.3% in the first five months of this year.

Energy trader Gunvor Group aims to cut its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 40% in absolute terms by 2025, the company said on Tuesday, and has set up a new subsidiary to invest in non-hydrocarbon projects.The Geneva-based firm, which is among the top five global oil traders, aims to cut emissions it produces directly, and those from the electricity it uses, against its 2019 total of 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.Its new unit will invest in biofuel, renewable power projects such as solar and biomass…

Congestion at China's east coast oil ports that is adding to costs for shippers and importers is likely to run well into August, with crude shipments set to hit another record high this month, according to analysts and Refinitiv data.The massive inflows are straining offloading facilities, while refiners and port operators in Shandong province -- home to a quarter of China's refining capacity -- are rushing to build new storage tanks.July seaborne arrivals into the world's biggest oil importer are expected to surge to 14.4 million barrels per day…

The third cargo of an Iranian tanker flotilla carrying fuel for gasoline-thirsty Venezuela on Tuesday reached the nation's exclusive economic zone as the previous two were discharging at state run PDVSA's ports, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.The Iran-flagged tanker Petunia crossed the Caribbean Sea earlier on Tuesday, following the route taken in recent days by vessels Fortune and Forest.The Fortune was welcomed on Monday at PDVSA's El Palito refinery by Venezuela's oil minister, Tareck El Aissami, who thanked Iran for its support during the crisis, which has forced Venezuelans to wait in long lines for gasoline.The deal has been criticized by the United States as both OPEC-member nations are under sanctions. A U.S.

The first of five Iranian tankers carrying fuel to Venezuela has moored at a port serving the El Palito refinery, the oil minister said on Monday, and Refinitiv Eikon data showed a second vessel had entered its waters.Iran is providing Venezuela with 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and refining components in a move criticized by U.S. authorities as both countries are under U.S. sanctions, according to the governments, sources and calculations by TankerTrackers.com.Refinitiv Eikon data showed that the tanker Fortune docked at one of El Palito's berths around 1 a.m. local time (0500 GMT).Tareck El Aissami, Venezuela's economy vice president and recently named oil minister…

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…

U.S. refiners had a plan for 2020: use their complex operations to maximize profits by making products that would comply with new international laws capping sulfur content in shipping fuels.But after a series of unexpected market moves, heavy, sour crude oil processed by U.S. refiners has become more expensive, eating up hoped-for profit windfalls before they even materialized, forcing refiners to rethink plans to invest more in heavy crude processing units.New regulations by…

Gasoil traders expect the middle distillates market to stay well supplied until almost the end of 2019 before swinging into deficit with the introduction of new maritime fuel regulations.Calendar spreads for low-sulphur gasoil delivered to Europe's Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub are currently in contango through until October before shifting to backwardation from November onwards.In futures markets, contango structures, where future contract prices are higher than front-month prices, are associated with expectations of adequate or rising inventories.

Gasoil traders expect the middle distillates market to stay well supplied until almost the end of 2019 before swinging into deficit with the introduction of new maritime fuel regulations.Calendar spreads for low-sulphur gasoil delivered to Europe's Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub are currently in contango through until October before shifting to backwardation from November onwards (https://tmsnrt.rs/2WgXabR).In futures markets, contango structures, where future contract prices are higher than front-month prices, are associated with expectations of adequate or rising inventories.

Indonesian state-owned energy company PT Pertamina and Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) of Malaysia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop oil and gas business – upstream and downstream, not only in Indonesia or Malaysia but also in other countries.As per MoU, Pertamina will swap crude produced in its Malaysian fields of Kikeh, Kimanis and Kidurong with crude from Petronas' Indonesian fields of Jabung and Ketapang, said a Reuters report quoting Pertamina sources.Meanwhile, Pertamina,  Jakarta-based state-owned oil and natural gas corporation, said in a statement that the two companies have also agreed to explore crude processing investment in East Asia and in other continents…

Maersk and PBF Logistics LP announce agreement for production and storage of 0.5% sulphur fuel on the U.S. East CoastPBF Logistics terminal facility in New Jersey to deliver approx. 10% of A.P. Moller – Maersk’s annual fuel demand as Maersk continues preparations for the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) 2020 global sulfur regulation.A.P. Moller - Maersk and PBF Logistics LP announced an agreement for Maersk to source and PBFX to process crude oil at CPI Operations LLC, a PBF Logistics LP terminal facility in New Jersey, United States.The agreement enables Maersk Oil Trading to supply IMO 2020-compliant 0.5% marine fuel to its customers on the US East Coast. Annual production will be around 1.25 million metric tonnes (mt), the equivalent of approx. 10% of A.P.

Venezuelan crude oil sales to the United States rose nearly 4 percent in May to 762,000 barrels per day (bpd) after declining since January amid falling output and delays at the country's main oil port, according to Thomson Reuters data on Tuesday. The United States last month received 47 cargoes of Venezuelan crude, a 3.7 percent increase versus the previous month, but still a 2 percent decline versus May 2015, according to trade flows data made with preliminary figures. A larger number of shipments of diluted crude oil (DCO) and Merey blend received by PDVSA's customers, including its refining unit Citgo Petroleum, Valero Energy and Phillips 66, contributed to the growth.

Russia's Finance Ministry will go ahead with plans to lower oil export duties next year if prices do not increase significantly, Deputy Finance Minister Ilya Trunin told reporters on Monday. Russia had scrapped plans to cut the duty for this year due to lower prices of oil, the country's main exporting commodity. Oil producers had expressed concern that the government would increase the tax burden as it tries to make up the shortfall in state coffers. The changes will reduce oil export duties while increasing a mineral extraction tax, allowing Russian refineries to reduce crude processing and increase sales abroad. As a part of the change Russia's government should reduce a coefficient of the formula to 30 percent from the current 42 percent…

Achinsk Oil refinery, suspended after the incident of June 15, 2014 has recovered the processes of primary crude oil processing on a tight schedule, according to the plan of repair activities. From the 1st of September the enterprise has commenced production of the main types of oil products: straight-run gasoline, diesel fuel, marine fuel and aviation fuel, as well as WLHF (wide light hydrocarbon fraction). Concurrently with the primary crude processing plant a VT-Bitumen unit, producing petroleum bitumen, resumed to operating. Achinsk refinery is planned to produce more than 400 thousand tons of finished product, which makes more than 70% of prefault performance. The production volume will be increased in months to come.

Foster Wheeler AG (Nasdaq:FWLT) announced today that subsidiaries of its Global Engineering and Construction Group, together with a joint venture partner for the project, Altair Strickland LLC, have been awarded contracts by Pemex Refinación (“Pemex”) for the engineering, design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and start-up of  slide valve systems on the Foster Wheeler delayed coker units at two refineries in Mexico: the Hector R. Lara Sosa Refinery located in Cadereyta, Nueva Leon, and the Francisco I. Madero refinery in Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas. Both projects are scheduled to be completed during refinery turnarounds in 2015. The Foster Wheeler contract values were not disclosed and were included in the company’s fourth-quarter 2013 bookings.

Aker Kvaerner Netherlands B.V., part of the Aker Kvaerner Group, has received a letter of intent, based on Contract Terms currently being finalised, to perform Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management Services (EPCm) for major BP Petrochemical and Refining sites in Germany. Under this contract Aker Kvaerner will perform Engineering, Procurement services and Construction Management services for small and medium size projects at the BP sites in Gelsenkirchen, Köln, and Marl with an option for Lingen also to participate. The duration for this agreement is five years with the possibility of further extension in terms of locations and duration. "This is an important and strategic frame agreement for Aker Kvaerner," says Jarle Tautra, executive vice president in Aker Kvaerner.