Dale Hudson News

Oil prices jumped more than 2% on Friday, October 11, 2019, after Iranian media said a state-owned oil tanker had been struck by missiles in the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia, raising the prospect of supply disruptions weeks after attacks on Saudi oil plants.The Suezmax crude tanker Sabiti was ablaze and suffered heavy damage after being hit by two missiles, Iranian media reported.Both oil benchmarks recorded their biggest daily rise since Sept. 16, the first trading day after the attacks on Saudi installations pushed oil prices up around 20%.International benchmark Brent crude futures were up$1.39, or around 2.4%, at $60.49 a barrel by 0829 GMT.U.S.

At least two refined product tankers that were due to load at Saudi Arabia's Jubail port in mid to late September have been diverted, data from analytics firm Vortexa showed.The moves come after attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure on Saturday that cut the country's crude output by more than half and reduced its refinery runs by an unknown amount.Saudi Arabia is typically a net exporter of diesel but Aramco Trading Co, the trading arm of state oil producer Saudi Aramco, has been looking to buy several cargoes of the fuel.The Polar Cod tanker changed its destination on Sunday from Jubail to the port of Ruwais in the United Arab Emirates.

Energy trader Mercantile & Maritime Group said on Thursday it was hiring Ben Waters, previously with Trafigura, as its head of Asia-Pacific trading."We increase our presence and range of capabilities in the region to include trading, storage and blending," MM's chief executive Murtaza Lakhani said.Singapore-headquartered MM employs around 100 people across Asia, Europe and the Middle East and says it operates in frontier markets, trading oil, refined products and offering shipping and storage services. (Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson)

Top Russian oil producer Rosneft has put up marine fuel cargos for sale with the euro as the default currency, a tender document showed on Monday, in line with its plan to sell oil products in the single currency instead of the U.S. dollar.Rosneft said it had tendered to sell up to 70,000 tonnes of low-viscosity marine fuel with sulphur content of up to 1% from its oil refineries with delivery between Sept. 1 and Oct. 31 on a freight-on-board (FOB) Black Sea basis or FOB St Petersburg, or Carriage Paid To (CPT) any port/Russian border.The decision to switch to the euro as its settlement currency is likely to be seen as an attempt to offset any negative impact of U.S.

Norwegian oil and gas rig operator Dolphin Drilling filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, leading creditors to seize its key assets in a restructuring that will see the company maintain operations.Formerly known as Fred. Olsen Energy, Dolphin Drilling ASA had debt of just over $1 billion at the end of 2018 and a net loss for the year of almost $300 million, its annual report shows.Once a dominant supplier of drilling rigs to oil and gas firms exploring the North Sea, Dolphin was…

A clash between trading house Vitol and Azerbaijan's SOCAR over Caspian Sea oil shipments is forcing Turkmenistan to slash exports of crude due to a lack of tankers.Turkmenistan typically exports about 200,000 tonnes of oil per month via the Caspian to world markets, mainly from fields operated by the UAE's ENOC and Italy's Eni, but flows have halved in recent weeks, six traders involved in operations said.That happened after Turkmen producers decided to export oil via Russia with the help of Swiss trader Vitol and ditch the previous Azeri route…

When the global oil industry held its biggest annual gathering this week in the Swiss town of Davos, it invited banking bosses and fund managers to discuss two key topics - climate change and pressure from investors.The conclusion of the discussions was worrying for those present - pressure is rising and the industry is losing a battle not to be seen as one of the world's biggest evils.The answer? Lure investors with higher returns and raise the PR game."There is no doubt - and…

The port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates has decided to ban the use of a type of ship exhaust cleaner, becoming the latest location to impose restrictions on so-called open-loop scrubbers, a port document showed.In recent months, many shipping companies have opted to fit scrubbers onboard their ships, ahead of major changes in the use of marine fuel across the world.The International Maritime Organization (IMO) will prohibit ships from using fuels with sulphur content above 0.5 percent from Jan.

Global oil refining capacity is set to increase at its fastest pace on record this year, possibly boosting stocks of products such as diesel, gasoline and marine fuel, the International Energy Agency said.Oil refining capacity will rise by 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) and demand for refined products by around 1.1 million bpd, the IEA said in a monthly report.It was not clear yet what that meant for margins, which slumped as the price of crude rose last year, said the Paris-based IEA…

Work began on Thursday to extend a small British port that could serve as a back-up if the UK leaves the European Union with no trade deal, providing the government some respite after days of criticism.Less than three months before Britain leaves the EU on March 29, the transport minister has been forced to defend awarding a 14 million pound ($18 million) contract for shipping goods to a new ferry company that has no ships.On Thursday the company, Seaborne Freight, came in for further criticism when its business terms and conditions showed references to placing "any meal/order"…

British ferry and shipping freight operator P&O is reviewing its UK-registered fleet and is already re-flagging two vessels to keep European Union tax arrangements ahead of Britain's departure from the bloc, the company said.A P&O spokesman said two of its UK ships operating on the English Channel route to France would be re-flagged to Cyprus."The change is being made to preserve the tonnage tax financing arrangements, under which the ships should remain flagged in an EU member state," a statement said.The spokesman added that P&O was reviewing the flag status of its four other ships operating

Political instability and low credit ratings in emerging economies are putting some shipowners off ordering new floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), as they shift focus to more mature gas markets.Liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand from emerging markets in Asia, Africa and South America was expected to be boosted by FSRU technologies that are less expensive and time-consuming than onshore import terminals.But a boom in speculative FSRU orders from shipowners led to an oversupply of units this year as import projects across the world were delayed or cancelled…

British ferry and shipping freight operator P&O is reviewing its UK-registered fleet and is already re-flagging two vessels to keep European Union tax arrangements ahead of Britain's departure from the bloc, the company said.A P&O spokesman said two of its UK ships operating on the English Channel route to France would be re-flagged to Cyprus."The change is being made to preserve the tonnage tax financing arrangements, under which the ships should remain flagged in an EU member state," a statement said.The spokesman added that P&O was reviewing the flag status of its four other ships operating on the Channel route, although no final…

Italian refiner Saras is constructing a ship-refueling terminal at its Sardinia plant and will market a new, cleaner marine fuel ahead of a major regulatory change in 2020, its chief executive told Reuters.From January 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will ban ships from using fuels with a sulphur content above 0.5 percent, compared with 3.5 percent now, in one of the biggest changes in the oil market in decades.Refineries around the world have been gearing up for the switch by reducing output of high-sulphur fuel and upgrading plants to maximize production of the cleaner…

Workers at Croatia's largest shipbuilding group Uljanik on Monday held their second strike in less than two months, this time over unpaid salary for September.In late August, the workers downed tools because of uncertainty over payments for July and August. Those two months' salaries were secured after the government reached a deal with a local bank.Uljanik owns two docks, with some 4,000 workers, located in the northern Adriatic cities of Pula and Rijeka. Some 1,500 started a…

The Aoka Mizu floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel ordered by Hurricane Energy has left Dubai following a series of upgrades, the company said, another milestone for the group as it seeks to extract so-called fractured basement oil in Britain.Hurricane specializes in recovering oil from fractures in hard and brittle rock known as fractured basement reservoirs, which some see as a risky way to obtain crude.It expects first oil from its Greater Lancaster Area (GLA) project, west of Scotland's Shetland Islands, in the first half of 2019.

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…

China set a 10 percent tariff on U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, extending a trade dispute into energy and casting a shadow over U.S. export terminals that would propel the United States into the world's second-largest LNG seller.Beijing on Tuesday said it would tax U.S. products worth $60 billion effective Sept. 24 in retaliation for tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump in an escalating trade war.The rate was smaller than the 25 percent tariff China had touted earlier, which offered some relief and helped shares in listed U.S.

Beatrice wind farm off the Caithness coast in Scotland has generated power for the first time, operator SSE said on Thursday.Following installation of the first 7-megawatt (MW) turbine, the wind farm exported power to the National Grid, the firm added.The 2.6 billion pound ($3.4 billion) wind farm will be completed in spring 2019.

The world's largest offshore wind farm will open on Thursday off the northwest coast of England when Danish energy group Orsted unveils the Walney Extension project.The wind farm has a capacity of 659 megawatts (MW), enough to power almost 600,000 homes, and overtakes the London Array off England's east coast which has a capacity of 630 MW.Walney Extension is made up of 87 turbines built by Siemens Gamesa and MHI Vestas, and covers 145 square kilometers (55 square miles), which is equivalent to around 20,000 football pitches.The 40 eight-megawatt MHI Vestas turbines being used stand 195 meters

Dutch deep-sea prospector Fugro on Wednesday surprised the market with a first-half profit, driven by strong growth in offshore wind projects, sending its shares sharply higher.The company, hit by a downturn in the oil sector in recent years, reported first-half earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), excluding exceptional items, of 4.0 million euros ($4.7 million) compared with a year-earlier loss of 25.3 million euros.Analysts in a poll conducted for the company had on average expected an EBIT loss ex-items of 1.9 million euros.Fugro shares traded in Amsterdam were up nearly 7 percent at 13

A vessel that arrived in Bangladesh in April to offload its maiden cargo of liquefied natural gas and moor permanently as an import terminal should begin operations "within a week" after bad weather hampered its start-up, an official said on Thursday.The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) will allow Bangladesh to import LNG for the first time as its domestic gas production falls and will boost several power projects in a nation where 30 percent go without electricity.Since its arrival at Moheshkhali…

Oil prices fell for a third day on Thursday, following a surprise increase in U.S. crude inventories that added to existing concern about the rapid rise in global crude supply.Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have increased production, as agreed at a meeting in June, to help to compensate for an anticipated shortfall in Iranian crude supplies once U.S. sanctions come into force later this year.Brent crude futures were last down 33 cents at $72.06 a barrel by 1200 GMT, while U.S. crude futures fell 55 cents to $67.11."There's been a lot of bearish news over the last week. We've seen the OPEC July numbers increasing quite drastically month-on-month and along with that…