Heavy Crude Oil News

China's Shandong refining hub has begun releasing millions of barrels of oil that were stuck at ports after inspections curbed imports into the province, trading sources said following a meeting this week between officials and refiners.The easing of curbs placed on China's top oil importing province in mid-April will help free up inflows of heavy crude from Venezuela and Iran, they said. In a meeting hosted by the Shandong government on Tuesday between customs officials and independent refiners…

Chinese customs authorities are stepping up inspection checks on cargoes of heavy crude oil after uncovering several Iranian shipments that were mislabelled as diluted bitumen in an effort to bypass import quotas.The checks, begun a month ago, are delaying oil discharges into the eastern refining hub of Shandong province.They are also adding to uncertainty over the risk of disruption to shipments from Iran and Venezuela, while cutting into refining operations just as fuel demand recovers.

When the supertanker Young Yong sailed to the Chinese port of Qingdao in September last year, it had quality certificates for its cargo stating it was transporting Malaysian crude oil, according to the documents reviewed by Reuters.But satellite images and photos show the Chinese-owned ship had loaded the oil four months earlier in Venezuela, an OPEC nation in South America under U.S. oil sanctions.The Young Yong is one of three vessels identified by Reuters that were chartered by little-known companies to export Venezuelan oil and used false documents to conceal its origin, according to shipping documents and 11 sources with knowledge of the trade.Two of those tankers, including the Young Yong, were designated this month by U.S.

A U.S.-sanctioned Venezuela-owned supertanker that had mechanical problems since January is transferring its 2-million-barrel cargo of heavy crude to other vessels in Asia, according to three people familiar with the matter.The very large crude carrier (VLCC) Maximo Gorki left Venezuela in November amid an export push designed to generate funds for cash-strapped state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which has been under U.S. trading sanctions since 2019.Aging infrastructure problems, including a lack of oil storage and vessels, frequent refinery outages and export port congestion, are undermining PDVSA's increased oil production, impeding efforts to boost revenue, according to company documents and sources.

Work to siphon off the remaining cargo from a stricken tanker was expected to commence on Friday, the vessel's manager said on Thursday, two days after hundreds of tonnes of oil spilled into the Yellow Sea following a collision in dense fog.The size of the spill from the Liberia-flagged tanker A Symphony was revised down to about 400 tonnes (2,920 barrels) on Thursday, from the original estimate of 500 tonnes, and one Chinese maritime official said it seemed to have been contained.A…

Chinese officials were waiting for better weather before deciding whether to siphon off the remaining cargo from a stricken tanker after hundreds of tonnes of oil spilled into the Yellow Sea after a collision in dense fog two days ago.The size of the spill from the Liberia-flagged tanker A Symphony was revised down to about 400 tonnes (2,920 barrels) on Thursday, from the original estimate of 500 tonnes, and one maritime official said it seemed to have been contained.An official at the Shandong Maritime Safety Administration told Reuters the amount of oil on the tanker…

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) , the country's top refiner, has loaded its first cargo of Iraq's newly introduced Basra Medium crude grade, according to ship-tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon and a source with knowledge of the matter.IOC loaded the cargo onto Minerva Kalypso, a Suezmax-sized vessel, which left Iraq's southern port of Basra on Jan. 4, the data showed.The ship is expected to arrive at Chennai port in southeastern India for IOC's subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp (CPCL) around Jan. 14.Iraq's state oil marketing company (SOMO) launched the new sour crude grade in January by splitting existing Basra Light production into two grades to provide better quality stability."From this year IOC will get all three grades - Basra Light…

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…

United States will soon export more oil and liquids than Saudi Arabia, thanks to the continued rise in oil production from US shale plays and the increased oil export capacity from the Gulf Coast.According to Rystad Energy, energy research and business intelligence company, it is a a pivotal geopolitical shift. The US has for decades relied on large-scale imports to satisfy its thirst for oil, but this is about to change.The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported last week that the United States exported more crude and petroleum products than it imported. Granted, the EIA followed up with a report this week that US crude oil stocks had risen by 7.1 million barrels in a week…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard issued a joint federal Clean Water Act order to ensure the cleanup of heavy crude oil leaked from a pipeline near Refugio State Beach, Santa Barbara County, Calif. The order requires Plains Pipeline, L.P. (a.k.a. Plains All American Pipeline), the pipeline owner and operator, to continue its cleanup work inland, beachside, and in the ocean, to contain the oil and prevent further shoreline contamination. Today’s…

Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam (DSR), part of Damen Shiprepair & Conversion (DSC), has been awarded an EPC contract by Petrojarl I LLC for the upgrade of its FPSO Petrojarl I. The Petrojarl I is a Teekay Petrojarl managed FPSO built in 1986 which has been active in the North Sea. Its redeployment will be at the Atlanta field in Brazil. The Petrojarl I is contracted by Queiroz Galvão Exploração e Produção (QGEP) for deployment at the Atlanta post-salt oil field in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil to produce heavy crude oil in a water depth of 1,535m.

On Oct. 20, 1973, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia imposed a total embargo on oil shipments to the United States among other countries in response to their support for Israel during the Arab-Israeli war. Faisal's decision led directly to the introduction of a ban on U.S. crude exports, which remains in force in a slightly modified form and is now the focus of an intense struggle for reform. Following the U.S. mid-term elections next month, Congress will take up the issue again, a debate that would benefit from an understanding of the history behind the ban. On Oct.

BP today announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2014. Underlying replacement cost profit for the quarter of 2014 was $3.6 billion, 34% higher than the $2.7 billion reported for the same period in 2013 and 13% higher than the $3.2 billion result for the first quarter of 2014. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of 9.75 cents per ordinary share, the same level as the previous quarter but 8.3% higher than a year earlier. As previously announced, BP’s board will review the level of the dividend with the first and third quarter results each year. “This was another successful quarter, delivering both operational progress and robust cash flow.

Brazil will export more crude oil in 2014 than it will import, Magda Chambriard, director general of Brazil's oil regulator, the ANP, said on Tuesday. If her prediction comes true, the oil-trade surplus will be Brazil's first since 2012, when the country exported $20.3 billion of crude oil and imported $13.4 billion, according to Brazil's commerce and trade ministry. Brazil had an oil trade deficit in 2013, importing $16.3 billion of crude oil and exporting $13 billion, the ministry said on its website. As most of Brazil's oil output is heavy crude oil and its refineries operate best with light crude, Brazil exports domestic oil to buy lighter, imported grades.

In order to tap into Colombian stranded gas reserves, Pacific Rubiales Energy Corporation and EXMAR nv have partnered in a project to build and operate a floating LNG liquefaction, and storage unit, the Caribbean FLNG, which will be stationed at a jetty several kilometers off the Caribbean coast of Colombia for at least 15 years. In order to protect the hull of the Caribbean FLNG, keep it clean and facilitate class inspections over that time period without recourse to drydock and without causing harm to the local marine environment…

Wärtsilä say they are to supply a 62 MW topside power module solution for a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel to be deployed at the Kraken oilfield located in the U.K. sector of the North Sea. This EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) award comes from Armada Kraken Pte.Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Malaysia based international offshore oilfield services provider, Bumi Armada. Bumi Armada will be using a recently built Suezmax tanker for the FPSO conversion, which will have a storage capacity of 600,000 barrels.

The new gas engine runs on liquefied natural gas rather than heavy crude oil and has a maximum power output of 13,000 bhp. The HiMSEN H35/40GV can be used to generate power for onshore power plants, commercial ships, and offshore facilities including drillships. The new engine emits 20% less carbon dioxide than diesel engines, reduces NOx emissions by 97% to reach world’s lowest level of 50 ppm, and improves engine performance by 47%. The Ulsan, South Korea-based company will export the engine to an onshore gas-powered power plant in the Middle East after final paint and packing work. Mr.

EXMAR has teamed up with Pacific Rubiales to build a small-scale LNG export project in northern Colombia. The Colombian-Canadian exploration and production player and EXMAR have begun front-end engineering and design for the scheme. Plans involve building a small liquefaction barge and a pipeline from the company’s La Creciente gas field to the Caribbean coast and shipping to the targeted markets. The project is targeting Caribbean and Central American markets. Pacific Rubiales…

Swollen by weeks of heavy rain and snowmelt, the Mississippi River has been breaking high-water records that have stood since the 1920s and 1930s; it is projected to crest at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on 19 May and break the mark set there during the historic Great Flood of 1927; the crest is expected to reach New Orleans on 23 May; officials with the Port of New Orleans said the Coast Guard may close the river to ships as early as Monday, halting traffic on one of the world's busiest commercial waterways; barges headed south from the U.S.

Hamworthy signed a contract with FPSO Owner OSX 1 Leasing B.V., a subsidiary of OSX Brasil S.A., for delivery of its newest generation Vessel Internal Electrostatic Coalescer (VIEC) technology to the FPSO OSX-1. Upon completion of customization works currently in progress in , the FPSO OSX-1 will be delivered by OSX to its customer OGX Petróleo e Gás Ltda. under charter arrangements, for deployment in the basin, offshore . OSX and OGX are controlled by the EBX Group, owned by Brazilian entrepreneur Eike Batista.

Hamworthy, the international fluid handling specialist, is highlighting its commitment to Brazil’s growing marine and offshore sectors in the run up to opening its first dedicated service centre in Brazil in 2011. Hamworthy’s commitment to offer strong technological solutions at competitive prices and to seek local product content has been strongly rewarded through a series of high profile orders for oil and gas handling systems. Hamworthy has an established presence in Brazil, offering products and services through its local agency, Tridente since the 1970s. Hamworthy Oil & Gas Systems was recently awarded a major contract by Brazilian…

Hamworthy Oil & Gas Systems was recently awarded a major contract by Brazilian shipyard Estaleiro Promar SA for the design and supply of cargo handling systems for eight liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers destined for operation by Transpetro, a subsidiary of Petrobras. The vessels will be designed by Hamworthy’s specialist naval architecture consultancy in Poland, along with the cargo tanks and cargo handling system. In 2007 the Oil & Gas Systems business secured an order for its regasification technology onboard the floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) Golar Winter. Located in Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, the vessel has an important role in supplying gas to the Rio de Janeiro area.

FMC Technologies, Inc. announced that it has received an order from Ramseyer & Miller International Inc., an affiliate of Techint International Construction Corporation, for the supply of two SOFEC™ CALM (catenary anchor leg mooring) buoy marine export terminals, for installation offshore Ecuador, South America. FMC SOFEC Floating Systems is the designer of the buoys. One of the buoys is planned to be delivered new from inventory, and an essentially identical second buoy is anticipated to be constructed for the project. Each buoy is planned to be equipped for mooring and loading various size export tankers with heavy crude oil received from a new, 300-mile (500-kilometer) pipeline being constructed by Techint. Installation of the buoys is scheduled for early 2003.