Oil Contracts News

Supply disruptions in the Middle East on top of an already tight crude market could send oil prices violently upward, said the energy research firm Rystad Energy.Two Saudi Arabian oil tankers were reportedly attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates this weekend, sending crude futures up sharply May 13.Bjørnar Tonhaugen, Head of Oil Market Research at Rystad Energy, says: “In the short term, the perceived risk of supply disruptions from the area will only add to the premium of short-dated oil contracts compared to deferred contracts on the futures curve, which are already trading at a high premium.”The tightness in prompt supplies is caused by declines in production from Iran and Venezuela…

Dutch provider of offshore support vessels Vroon has entered into a five-year charter plus options with Premier Oil for one of its emergency response and rescue vessels (ERRV). "We are pleased to announce that VOS Famous has entered into a five-year charter (plus options) with Premier Oil, following a competitive tender. This is to attend their newly arriving Catcher FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading)," said a press statement from the company. This builds on a steadfast partnership built up over a number of years on a number of vessels. What is hugely encouraging is Premier Oil’s pro-active approach and drive to explore enhanced recovery technology and invest in modern, state-of-the-art tonnage.

Peru is reducing royalties on oil and gas production to about 5 percent on average from the current 20 percent in order to encourage exploration amid slumping prices, the government said Wednesday. The smaller take should help Peru boost interest in new oil contracts that will come up for bidding soon, said Rafael Zoeger, the president of state energy agency Perupetro. Peru has repeatedly pushed back auctioning on more than two dozen oil blocks because of a lack of interest in recent years. "I'd rather get 5 percent on some production than 20 or 30 on none," Zoeger said at a news conference. Perupetro will tailor royalties for each concession, setting a lower rate for more costly and less accessible areas, he said.

Despite falling oil prices, traders in recent weeks have booked just a few tankers to store cargoes at sea as higher freight costs outweigh any profit play for now. This is partly due to expectation among tanker owners for higher rates in the final quarter of the year. That means oil traders will have to pay a premium to lease vessels for longer periods as shipping firms remain reluctant to tie up vessels given the potential for quicker earnings. "Owners will not do storage and miss out on the spot rallies to come," a tanker market source said. "There is not much incentive for owners. For the first time in several years, the price curve for Brent crude oil futures is now fully in "contango", meaning that every ICE futures month is trading below the subsequent month.

Gabon's oil ministry said on Friday it had signed seven oil contracts with six companies as part of an offshore licensing round expected to attract at least $1.1 billion in investment to the sector. "(We) proceeded on August 8 with the signing of seven oil contracts with the companies Impact, Repsol, Marathon , Noble Energy, Petronas and Woodside," the ministry said in a statement. (Reporting by Gerauds Obangome; Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Daniel Flynn)

London - Freight Investor Services has expanded its rapidly growing commodity broking business into cleared, over-the-counter bunker swaps. The new service – the Fuel Oil Single Swap (FOSS) - comes in response to escalating bunker prices, which are hurting shipowner margins at a time of historically low freight rates. The new FIS offering will include three fuel oil contracts: Singapore 380 centistokes (CST), Singapore 180 CST and Rotterdam 3.5% sulphur barges FOB. In contrast to existing swaps, these contracts will be traded in lot sizes of just one tonne, enabling easier access to these markets for smaller players such as shipowners who need to manage their fuel cost risk for small fleets or even individual vessels.

Executive vice president for Exploration and Production Norway (EPN), Tore Torvund, and executive vice president for Projects, Morten Ruud, are resigning from their present posts and StatoilHydro's corporate executive committee. Reports indicate the resignations are a result of a probe into possible corruption in Libyan oil contracts. Øystein Michelsen and Helga Nes have today been appointed acting executive vice presidents for Exploration & Production Norway and Projects respectively. Both will join StatoilHydro's corporate executive committee. Øystein Michelsen has been senior vice president for Operations North in the EPN business area since the merger.

Modern vessel shortages in the North Sea are pushing Aframax and Suezmax tanker rates to year high levels. Rates for Aframax 80,000 ton vessels have repeated the year-high of W217.5($8.00 per ton) for late month U.K./Continent liftings, but brokers said June business was now played out. One million barrel Suezmax tankers were benefiting strongly from bouyant North Sea markets with transatlantic rates climbing steeply to W165-W180. "There is a self-fueling cycle with each sector supporting the other in turn," a broker said. Attempts to replace Aframaxes with Suezmaxes after a number of the smaller ships were taken out of the short North Sea market for transatlantic crossings last month has put pressure on both.

Iraq has set the stage for enough snags in its oil-for-food export program to keep overheated oil markets nervous about possible export disruptions until mid-January, oil traders and analysts said, Reuters reported. Yet weary of false alarms on Iraqi supply, traders say they will now need to see real evidence of a halt to Iraqi supplies before they believe it. "The market has already priced in a chance that Iraq will suspend oil exports. In order to drive the prices noticeably higher, we now need to see some specific actions," said Timothy Evans, analyst with IFR-Pegasus in New York. "We've been down this route before. The market has got a bit desensitized on Iraq. We're waiting for something to really happen," said Nauman Barakat of ABN Amro bank. Iraq is using the window between the U.S.