Muyu Xu News

The economic incentive to import oil from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Asia has closed as the cost of booking supertankers on the route has surged amid a jump in bookings for the vessels, traders said this week.With the arbitrage for U.S. shipments closed, Asian refiners may make up some of the difference with similar Middle Eastern crude oil after top regional producer Saudi Arabia cut their sales prices for February, which is expected to carry over to other regional crudes. The spur…

Indian refiners have resumed Venezuelan oil purchases through intermediaries, with Reliance RELI.NS set to meet executives from state firm PDVSA next week to discuss direct sales following the easing of U.S. sanctions on the South American country, people familiar with the matter said.Trade resumed between the OPEC producer and the second largest destination for its oil after Washington in October temporarily lifted sanctions banning Venezuelan oil exports, prompting a flurry of spot sales of crude and fuel through middlemen and traders…

Vitol, the world's largest independent oil trader, has provisionally chartered a supertanker to load oil from Venezuela for China, according to two shipbrokers and data from shiptracking firms Kpler and Vortexa.The Very Large Crude Carrier Gustavia S., chartered for $11 million, is scheduled to load its cargo between Nov. 27 and Dec. 2, according to the sources.The company declined to comment on the issue.Vitol is among major European trading houses seeking to resume trade in Venezuelan oil after Washington in mid-October issued a general licence lifting…

Appetite for Iranian crude is growing in China, the world's biggest oil importer, after the extension of supply cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia boosted global prices, while Tehran is stepping up output and exports despite U.S. sanctions.Although China's "teapots", or small independent refiners, are stocking up on Iran's discounted oil as they exploit robust margins to fill strong seasonal demand, big state refiners are still keeping away.Iran's crude exports of about 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) stand at their highest in more than four years…

Normal traffic is expected to resume through the Suez Canal within hours, the head of the canal authority said on Wednesday, following the collision of two vessels."Slight contact" was made after LNG carrier BW Lesmes made a sudden stop due to a technical failure that coincided with a strong current that drove oil tanker Burri towards it, authority chairman Osama Rabie said.The canal authority responded by sending tugboats to move both ships, he said.Singapore-flagged BW Lesmes was successfully towed outside of the waterway…

Ports in China's Shandong province are demanding more detailed information about oil tankers that are more than 15 years old that call at their terminals, sources with knowledge of the matter said, potentially delaying the unloading of crude shipments in the world's biggest oil importer.Last week, the maritime safety administrations at Qingdao and Rizhao, which covers the oil terminals at the port of Lanshan, notified shipping agencies to submit details on their ships' age, where a ship is flagged…

Shell has cut crude oil imports at its Singapore refinery this month and is relying on smaller tankers after extending repairs at its single buoy mooring (SBM) facility to June, according to government notices and shipping data.The company is moving crude from Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) onto smaller Aframax tankers through ship-to-ship transfers before discharging them at another jetty on Pulau Bukom, the island south of Singapore where the refinery is located, shipping…

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.

A rise in spot prices for Russian crude oil to above the $60 per barrel cap imposed by western powers has made ship insurers even more nervous of running foul of the rules as they are unable to independently track the value of cargoes, executives said.To curb Moscow's oil revenues following the Ukraine war, the Group of Seven Nations, the European Union and Australia imposed price caps on Russian crude and oil products from December and February, respectively.So long as the prices do not exceed capped levels…

Tankers delivering to ports in China's Shandong province are facing delays discharging their oil due to orders for tighter customs inspection checks after several Iranian cargoes were declared as diluted bitumen, traders said.Crude oil, unlike bitumen, is subject to strict import quotas and dozens of oil tankers were being inspected since last week, after customs authorities were given instructions in late March to step up checks. The delays at the terminals could cause further reductions in already low operating rates among the independent refiners in Shandong…

China's seaborne imports of Russian oil are set to hit a record this month after refiners took advantage of cheap prices as domestic fuel demand rebounded, but Russia's plan to cut exports will likely cap buying in coming months.Hefty Chinese buying, alongside robust Indian demand, has been spurred by steep price discounts but is providing Moscow much-needed revenue after the Group of Seven imposed a $60 price cap on Russian crude."Price is the king," said a purchasing manager…

Companies in Singapore will have to consider and manage any potential impact on their business activities, transactions, and customer relationships when dealing with Russian crude oil and refined products, a government official said on Friday.Russia's oil trade faces multiple restrictions imposed by the West and Moscow in the wake of the Ukraine war.The European Union has imposed bans on Russian crude and oil products imports while the Group of Seven nations, EU and Australia agreed to ban the use of Western-supplied maritime insurance, finance and brokering for seaborne Russian oil priced abo

Chinese utilities and traders have stepped up purchases of Australian coal in February, encouraged by signs of further policy relaxation after trade partially resumed last month following a two-year hiatus.In early January, Beijing gave permission to four government-backed firms, comprising steel giant Baowu Group and three state utilities, to ship in Australian coal, the first sign of an easing of the unofficial import ban in place since late 2020. The ban was imposed after relations…

At least one ship carrying Australian coal that was destined for China has been diverted due to uncertainty around Chinese customs policies following the easing of a ban on imports from Australia, according to traders and shiptracking data.The BBC Maryland, hauling about 12,000 tonnes of thermal coal from Australia's Newcastle terminal, was headed to Vung Tau in Vietnam on Thursday after waiting five days without unloading at the eastern Chinese port of Changshu, Refinitiv and Kpler data showed.Changshu customs officials and China's General Administration of Customs had no immediate comment.The ship's diversion is the first sign that…

At least two vessels carrying Australian coal have arrived in China for the first time since an unofficial ban on imports was introduced more than two years ago, and several more are on the way, shiptracking data showed. The cargoes are being closely monitored by coal traders as they are keen to see how smooth Chinese customs procedures will be.China last month, in a partial easing of the import ban, granted permission to just four central-government owned firms to bring in Australian coal. Tiger East, a dry bulk vessel loading some 73,300 tonnes of Australian thermal coal from Queensland, is discharging at the southern Chinese city of Taishan…

China is set to receive at least two cargoes of Australian coal in early February, according to traders and shiptracking data, the first since an unofficial ban on imports in place since 2020 was lifted earlier this month.Coal traders will be paying attention to how easily the shipments pass customs for signs that the informal ban is truly over and in the hopes of sending more Australian coal to China.Australian thermal coal for power generation and metallurgical coal for steelmaking are favoured by Chinese consumers for their high-quality. China's coal demand is forecast to rise in the upcoming months amid an expected economic rebound after Beijing rolled back its draconian zero-COVID strategy.

Russia remained China's second-largest source of crude oil in 2022, following repeat top supplier Saudi Arabia, as Chinese refiners snapped up low-cost Russian barrels while Western countries shunned them after the Ukraine crisis.China's crude oil imports from Russia jumped 8% in 2022 from a year earlier to 86.25 million tonnes, equivalent to 1.72 million barrels per day (bpd), data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Friday.Russian crude has been trading in widening discounts to global oil benchmarks following Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine…

Indonesian authorities said on Monday it could take up to a month to free a crude oil tanker stuck in its waters, while the United States slapped sanctions on the vessel for alleged links to Hezbollah and a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards. The Indonesian navy has been trying to free the Djibouti-registered vessel, Young Yong, which ran aground off Indonesia's Riau Islands on Oct. 26. The U.S. last week issued sanctions against an international oil smuggling network it said supports Hezbollah and Iran's Quds Force, targeting dozens of people, companies, and tankers as Washington sought to mount pressure on Tehran. The Young Yong was among the vessels sanctioned. U.S. embassy officials in Singapore and Jakarta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

China's exports of marine fuel in March plunged 15% from a year ago, customs data showed on Wednesday, hit by high prices and COVID-19 curbs at domestic ports.March shipments were 1.42 million tonnes, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. Most of this was very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO), with a maximum sulphur content of 0.5%, to meet the emission rules of the International Maritime Organization.The volume was up from 1.31 million tonnes in February but was…

At least four supertankers are waiting to load Murban crude off Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates a week after floods shut operations at the oil hub, according to trade sources and shipping data on Refinitiv Eikon.Last Thursday, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said it had shut down its operations at Fujairah terminal due to "exceptional rainfall".The company had said it would divert Fujairah terminal oil lifting to the Jebel Dhanna terminal which can handle Murban shipments.However, supertankers are still waiting off Fujairah and it remains unclear when loading will resume, according to the sources and Refinitiv data.Two…

The container shipping arm of China's COSCO Shipping said on Friday that it will stop accepting new bookings for cargoes to and from Ukraine, the latest shipping group to take such action after Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine.The company's vessels already en route to Ukraine will be re-directed to elsewhere available, COSCO Shipping said, without giving further details.(Reporting by Muyu Xu and Florence Tan; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Chinese refiners are paying for Russian crude oil using cash transfers to maintain imports from Russia’s Fast East, as banks shy away from financing the oil because of sanctions, sources with knowledge of the matter said.Global oil prices have soared to their highest in a decade as banks halted financing Russian oil after the United States and other countries ramped up sanctions on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.Spot crude premiums and freight rates also spiked, piling on buyers’ costs.Several European and U.S.

Chinese refiner Shenghong Petrochemical Corp, part of the listed Jiangsu Eastern Shenghong Co 000301.SZ, has readied a new terminal to receive Very Large Crude Carriers and boost the refiner's logistics efficiency, a company representative said. The Lianyungang terminal in Jiangsu province is able to dock super tankers with capacity of 300,000 tonnes deadweight.The refiner, which started trial operations at its 320,000 barrel per day crude distillation unit in May, is in the process of starting up secondary and petrochemical units…