Oil Company Rosneft News

A Liberian-flagged oil tanker set sail in May from Russia's Ust-Luga port carrying crude on behalf of a little-known trading company based in Hong Kong. Before the ship had even reached its destination in India, the cargo changed hands.The new owner of the 100,000 tonnes of Urals crude carried on the Leopard I was a similarly low-profile outfit, Guron Trading, also based in Hong Kong, according to two trading sources.The number of little-known trading firms relied on by Moscow to export large volumes of crude exports to Asia has mushroomed in recent months…

In June, the United States imposed sanctions on half a dozen oil tankers managed by established shipping firms. It was a major escalation of American attempts to choke off Venezuela’s oil trade.Within weeks, a little-known company based in the United Arab Emirates took over management of several tankers that had been shipping Venezuelan oil. The vessels got new names. And then they resumed transporting Venezuelan crude.The company, Muhit Maritime FZE, is one of three UAE-based entities identified by Reuters that have shipped Venezuelan crude and fuel during the second half of this year. Their role emerges from an examination of internal shipping documents from Venezuela’s state oil company as well as third-party shipping and vessel tracking data.

Russia's Zvezda shipbuilding complex has starting building a new Aframax tanker for compatriot shipowner Sovcomflot.The vessel is the sixth tanker build underway at the newly opened shipyard and is one of 12 Aframaxes in the builder's order book. The ice class ICE-1A ships are 250 meters long, 44 meters wide and are equipped with the Class A automation system, and can run on liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel.Currently four Aframax tankers are under construction at the shipyard.

Russia's Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex said it has launched its very first newbuild, a 114,000 dwt dual-fuel tanker for oil company Rosneft.The milestone vessel Vladimir Monomakh is the first Aframax ever to be built in Russia and is one of 12 currently on order at the yard, which is owned by a Rosneft-led consortium.The Vladimir Monomakh was launched using Zvezda's unique Vympel floating transfer dock, which enables the longitudinal launching of ships up to 300 metres in long and…

At least two cargoes of Venezuelan crude have been delayed due to health inspections aboard tankers to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to an internal document from state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela seen by Reuters.The delays add to a growing glut of tankers loaded with Venezuelan crude that preceded the coronavirus crisis as U.S. sanctions spooked potential customers. With domestic onshore oil inventories approaching capacity, PDVSA has been increasingly forced to send barrels onto floating storage.The largest shipment affected by the health measures is the Delta Angelica tanker, which was originally scheduled to depart Venezuela's Jose terminal between March 19-21 with 1.9 million barrels of heavy Merey crude bound for India's Reliance Industries…

Russian oil company Rosneft announced it has ordered two Aframax crude oil tankers to be built at Russia's far eastern Zvezda shipyard for scheduled delivery in 2022.The Russian-flagged vessels will have a deadweight of 114,000 metric tons and a 1A/1B ice class, which makes them able to operate in icy conditions year round, including in sub-Arctic seas and Russian ports of the Baltic region, said Russian shipping company PAO Sovcomflot (SCF Group).According to the documents, Arctic Leasing will place orders for construction of the two Aframax tankers at the shipyard…

Russian state oil company Rosneft will continue geological explorations in the Arctic offshore zone after ExxonMobil quits the joint projects, reports TASS. The report qouted Natural Resources Minister Sergey Donskoy saying that the Arctic licenses will remain with Rosneft and the company "plans to continue to operate there". Exxon Mobil  decided to withdraw from the joint projects with Rosneft in late 2017 after Washington issued a legal act expanding against Russia. According to the document, in 2013 and 2014 Exxon Mobil and Rosneft created various entities for operations in oil exploration. In particular, the two companies agreed to work together on the shelf of the Kara Sea, the Chukchi Sea, the Laptev Sea & Black Sea.

Russian gas producer Novatek aims to topple Qatar as the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas as it gets closer to completing its first LNG project, a top executive said, batting away concerns about U.S. sanctions on the sector. The country's largest non-state gas producer is expected to start exporting LNG from the first phase of the Yamal project, situated far above the Arctic circle, towards the end of this year and may bring forward its final stage by six months, CFO Mark Gyetvay said.

The Houston-based Rig player Northern Offshore has negotiated a nine month delay for the delivery of two high specification jack up rigs Energy Engager and Energy Encounter. It will push back the delivery of the Energy Engager and Energy Encounter from a shipyard in China. The Energy Engager will now be delivered in December 2016 and the Energy Encounter will be delivered in June 2017. Northern Offshore placed orders for the two LeTourneau Super 116E class jackups in October 2013, with the rigs are reportedly being built at COSCO Dalian shipyard in China. The delay will allow the company to defer $22 million in owner furnished equipment expenditures for the units from calendar year 2015 to 2016.

Morgan Stanley said on Friday that there is "no assurance" a deal to sell its physical oil trading business to Russian oil company Rosneft will close. The Wall Street bank cited a contractual requirement to get regulatory approvals by year end, and said it "would consider a variety of options" if deal does not close. The news follows a Reuters report last month that Rosneft might back out of the deal because Western sanctions had hurt its ability to finance the operations. A key U.S. regulatory committee has asked the two parties for more information about the deal, but did not approve or reject it. "In the current environment there can be no assurance that the transaction will close…

Norway's Statoil defied gloom in the oil sector by reporting first-quarter earnings above expectations on Tuesday due to higher prices and good results from shale gas activities in the United States, lifting its shares. Regarding new sanctions on Russia, Statoil's CEO told Reuters it was too early to say whether he would attend a high-profile St Petersburg economic forum in June as planned, as the firm had to assess the impact of the measures first. Oil firms have seen their profit margins decline due to a rise in costs as crude becomes more difficult to extract and several big projects…

The United States imposed fresh sanctions on Russian firms and government officials on Monday, a move that financial markets largely shrugged off and U.S. Republican lawmakers dismissed as too little to deterMoscow from further action in Ukraine. The reaction underscored the dilemma facing President Barack Obama: how to use sanctions to punish Moscow for its intervention in Ukraine without hurting European countries and foreign companies with deep financial ties to Russia. Washington slapped sanctions on seven Russian government officials and 17 companies linked to President Vladimir Putin, in response to what the White House said was Moscow's failure to adhere to an April 17 agreement on ways to resolve the crisis.

Reuters - Russian state oil company Rosneft awarded its semiannual April-September jumbo Urals crude tender for delyvery from the Baltic Sea ports to Shell , Total and Eni, traders said on Tuesday. The majors will lift 100,000-metric-ton Urals cargos from the ports of Primorsk and Ust-luga after winning the six-monthly tender, the largest in Russia and among the world's biggest. All three majors will were granted cargoes from Primorsk, while vessels fron Ust-Luga were split between Total and Eni, industry sources said. Rosneft was selling between 9.24 million tonnes and 15.24 million tonnes of Urals crude oil for April - September loadings, up from 7.62-15.04 million metric tons in the previous tender.

The Russian government has reportedly denied permission for the Greenpeace icebreaker Arctic Sunrise to enter the increasingly busy Northern Sea Route (NSR), despite the ship having fulfilled all the requirements for such an entry. Greenpeace International beleives the decision is an attempt to prevent it from exposing the activities of Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft. Multiple vessels contracted by Rosneft and U.S. partner ExxonMobil are conducting seismic testing and geological work in the Kara Sea in preparation for offshore Arctic drilling.

Exxon Mobil subsidiary, Exxon Neftegas Limited, has commenced production from the multiphase Sakhalin-1 Project offshore Eastern Russia. The initial phase of the project will produce 50,000 barrels (6,300 metric tons) a day by year-end 2005 and 250,000 barrels (33,000 metric tons) a day of oil by year-end 2006 from the Chayvo field. Associated domestic gas sales will start at about 60 million cubic feet (1.7 million cubic meters) per day, and ultimately are expected to increase to about 250 million cubic feet (7.1 million cubic meters) per day by the end of the decade. The project start-up was on schedule and within about 10% of unit development cost expectations.