Oil Benchmark News

Global oil benchmark Brent on Tuesday rose above $89 a barrel for the first time since October, albeit briefly, as oil supplies faced fresh threats from Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities and escalating conflict in the Middle East.Brent futures for June delivery were up $1.35, or 1.5%, at $88.76 a barrel by 11:40 a.m. EDT (1540 GMT) after touching a peak of $89.08.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for May rose $1.27, or about 1.5%, to $84.98 after touching a peak of $85.46…

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, launched a further nine Marine Fuel 0.5% futures contracts in advance of the implementation of the 0.5% sulfur cap by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in January 2020.The American company that owns exchanges for financial and commodity markets announced that its new futures contracts expand the existing suite of Marine Fuel contracts launched in February 2019 and will settle against the S&P Global Platts physical Marine Fuel 0.5% assessments.The IMO regulation limits sulfur emissions from shipping bunker fuel…

The Intercontinental Exchange will launch new Marine Fuel 0.5% futures contracts in advance of the implementation of the 0.5% sulphur cap by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2020.The operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services said in a press release that the new contracts are expected to launch on February 4, 2019, subject to completion of relevant regulatory processes.The new contracts have been developed in response to significant market demand in advance of the IMO regulation limiting sulphur emissions from shipping bunker fuel from January 2020. The new regulation requires…

An oil tanker and a Norwegian navy frigate collided off Norway's west coast on Thursday, injuring eight people and triggering the temporary shutdown of a North Sea crude export terminal, Norway's top gas processing plant and several offshore fields.The frigate, which recently took part in a major NATO military exercise, was aground and tilting on one side, live television pictures showed. The Norwegian military was attempting to save the ship."We are working on stabilizing the vessel…

Global oil benchmark Brent fell more than $2 a barrel on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to levy new tariffs on China and Libya announced the reopening of key oil export terminals.The spectre of tariffs on a further $200 billion of Chinese goods sent commodities lower along with stock markets, as tension between the world's biggest economies intensified.Brent crude fell $2.10, or 2.7 percent, to a low of $76.76 before recovering slightly to $77.20, down $1.66, by 1325 GMT. U.S.

A U.S. decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran is supporting China's newly established crude oil futures, and may spur efforts to start trading oil in yuan rather than dollars, traders and analysts said.Since launching in March, Shanghai crude oil futures have seen a steady pick-up in daily trading, while open interest - the number of outstanding longer-term positions and a gauge of institutional interest - has also surged.Traded daily volumes hit a record 250,000 lots last Wednesday…

Cosmo says considering adding units to process more heavy crude; looking to maximize diesel output at Sakai coker. Japan's Cosmo Oil plans to increase diesel output at its Sakai refinery in Osaka, looking to capitalize on an expected jump in demand when a global mandate for ships to switch to cleaner fuels kicks in from 2020, its top executives said. The company, wholly owned by Cosmo Energy Holdings, is considering adding units such as a desalter that will allow its 100,000-barrels per day crude distillation unit (CDU) to process more heavy oil and maximize diesel output from its delayed coker in Sakai, Cosmo Oil President Hisashi Kobayashi told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry event.

Royal Dutch Shell is nearing the sale of a large part of its North Sea oil and gas assets to private equity-backed Chrysaor for $3 billion, banking sources said, marking a milestone in its drive to reduce debt after buying BG Group. Chrysaor, a North Sea-focused oil company backed by private equity fund EIG Partners, will acquire from Shell a mix of older fields, new developments and infrastructure in a move analysts say could breathe new life into one of the world's oldest offshore basins where production has been in a steady decline since the late 1990s. The anticipated deal in what is a relatively high-cost region has been seen by the industry as a litmus test for the sector's appetite for buying and selling oil and gas fields…

Loose barge drifts by platforms in North Sea; BP platform evacuated, output shut down. A fierce storm in the North Sea forced oil firms to evacuate platforms and shut down production on Thursday on concerns that they could be hit by a drifting barge that had broken its anchor. The strong winds had ripped the barge from its moorings and sent it towards BP's Valhall platform, which lies in the middle of the North Sea between Norway and Britain. This prompted the oil and gas company to shut down output and evacuate dozens of staff on board. ConocoPhillips also stopped production and removed crew from installations in the same area. A spokeswoman for the Rescue Coordination Centre for southern Norway told Reuters the barge eventually missed the BP platform by some two kilometres.

Japanese refiner Cosmo Oil has for the first time shipped U.S. condensate and Mexican crude on the same supertanker to reduce costs, industry sources said on Friday. U.S. condensate exports to Asia have slowed this year after West Texas Intermediate prices strengthened against Dubai crude, the Asian oil benchmark. Asian buyers have also faced high freight costs to ship oil from the Americas as shippers are reluctant to lease out their tankers on such long voyages. To reduce costs, Cosmo Oil is co-loading crude and condensate from the Americas onto a Very Large Crude Carrier which can carry up to 2 million barrels of oil. The Japanese refiner chartered the BW Opal, which loaded Mexican crude in early October, according to trade sources and Reuters shipping data. It then sailed to the U.S.

Maersk Oil said on Wednesday it would seek regulatory permission to shut its Janice installation, which produces around 7,000 barrels per day (bpd) from three UK North Sea oilfields, as the Danish firm reviews its operations due to falling oil prices. It is one of the first North Sea oil fields to be threatened with closure due to the drop in prices, with Brent crude futures having plunged to around $43 a barrel from over $100 a barrel last June. North Sea producers have been under increasing pressure to cut costs and improve production efficiency…

Oil rose more than 3 percent on Tuesday as oversold conditions brought some buyers back to the market, but a lingering supply glut and worries about the slowing economy in top commodities consumer China kept crude prices near 6-1/2-year lows. Futures of U.S. crude and Brent, the global oil benchmark, are both down more than 16 percent on the month. About half of those losses were incurred in the past two sessions as plummeting Chinese equities sparked a selloff across global markets. China cut interest rates on Tuesday and lowered the amount of reserves banks must hold in its latest move to stimulate growth, aiding a recovery in European and Wall Street shares. Brent was up 68 cents at $43.37 a barrel by 12:07 p.m.

Oil prices rallied briefly on Tuesday after reports that Iran had seized a cargo vessel, described initially by Iranian and Saudi media as a U.S. ship, raised geopolitical tensions and concerns about the security of Middle East crude shipments. A weaker dollar was also supportive to the oil market which was down sharply earlier on expectations that industry data due later in the day would show U.S. crude stockpiles at record highs for the 16th consecutive week. Futures of Brent, the more widely-used global oil benchmark, were up 12 cents at $64.95 a barrel by 11:11 a.m. EDT (1511 GMT) after rallying to as high as $65.49. U.S. crude futures were down 10 cents at $56.88 a barrel, after soaring to $57.83 earlier.

Brent crude futures hovered above $97 a barrel on Tuesday, aided by firm U.S. and Chinese data, but the oil benchmark was on track for its deepest quarterly drop in more than two years on plentiful supplies. * Underpinned by firm U.S. $115.71 in June as investors focused on a well supplied market, although it has regained some footing since touching a 26-month trough last week. Monday's upbeat U.S. consumer spending data for August added to signs of strength in the world's top economy, aiding oil prices. "Although economic data from Europe and other regions have been sluggish, U.S. economic indicators, such as the upward revision of its gross domestic product data, have been firm," said Hiroki Kakuno, analyst at Japanese refiner Idemitsu Kosan.

Oil pricing agency Platts plans to lengthen the loading period of North Sea crude cargoes it uses in its dated Brent oil benchmark to a full month starting next February. The move is part of efforts to boost liquidity and bolster the credibility of the global Brent benchmark in the face of declining North Sea output. "Platts intends to move its Brent assessment processes to reflect a month-ahead schedule with effect from Feb. 2, 2015, for cargoes loading the following month," Platts said in an emailed statement on Monday. (Reporting by Claire Milhench and Alex Lawler, editing by David Evans)