Oil Purchases News

Chinese officials have asked their Iranian counterparts to help rein in attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis, or risk harming business relations with Beijing, four Iranian sources and a diplomat familiar with the matter said.The discussions about the attacks and trade between China and Iran took place at several recent meetings in Beijing and Tehran, the Iranian sources said, declining to provide details about when they took place or who attended."Basically, China says: 'If our interests are harmed in any way, it will impact our business with Tehran.

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…

Iranian oil exports hit new highs in the last two months of 2022 and are making a strong start to 2023 despite U.S. sanctions, according to companies that track the flows, on higher shipments to China and Venezuela.Tehran's oil exports have been limited since former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 exited a 2015 nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions aimed at curbing oil exports and the associated revenue to Iran's government.Exports have risen during the term of his successor President Joe Biden, who had sought to revive the nuclear deal, and hit the highest since 2019 on some estimates.

India is providing safety certification for dozens of ships managed by a subsidiary of top Russian shipping group Sovcomflot, official data showed, enabling oil exports to India and elsewhere after Western certifiers withdrew their services due to global sanctions against Moscow.Certification by the Indian Register of Shipping (IRClass), one of the world's top classification companies, provides a final link in the paperwork chain - after insurance coverage - needed to keep state-owned Sovcomflot's tanker fleet afloat and delivering Russian crude oil to overseas markets.Data compiled from the IRClass website shows that it has certified more than 80 ships managed by SCF Management Services (Dubai) Ltd…

Russian Urals crude exports and transit from its Baltic ports in May are expected to match the initial plan, despite Western sanctions that have hit demand in Europe, according to three traders and Reuters calculations based on shipping data.Official sanctions and self-sanctioning by European buyers have hammered demand for Urals in its traditional market, but Asian buyers have stepped in to keep export flows unaffected.The ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga will load a total of 7 million tonnes of Urals in May, in line with the initial plan, traders said and the data showed.

China is set to receive close to two million barrels of Iranian oil this week and pump into a reserve base in south China, according to tanker tracker specialist Vortexa Analytics.Diona, a very large crude carrier owned by National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), is expected to discharge the oil into an oil terminal in Zhanjiang of Guangdong province, said Emma Li, Vortexa's China analyst.This would be the third Iranian oil cargo destined for government stockpile following two similar-sized shipments in December and January.This shipment is likely to be reported by Chinese customs which is due

Traders are deploying smaller, costlier vessels to ship displaced Russian oil from European ports to China, in a rare move as Western sanctions on Moscow force them to use unconventional methods to transport the product.About 5 million barrels of Russian Urals crude was scheduled to load in April and May destined for China on four Aframax-sized tankers that each carry 730,000 barrels and two Suezmax-sized vessels each holding around 1 million barrels, according to shipping reports and research by Refinitiv and Vortexa.A very large crude carrier (VLCC)…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Italy on Tuesday to seize a mystery yacht worth some $700 million that has been linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin.In an address to the Italian parliament, Zelenskiy said Putin and his wealthy backers often went to Italy on holiday and should have all their assets frozen to put pressure on them to end the invasion of Ukraine."Don't be a resort for murderers. Block all their real estate, accounts and yachts - from the Scheherazade to the smallest ones," he said, referring to a superyacht that is moored in the Italian port of Marina di Carrara.The sleek, six-deck vessel has two helicopter landing pads and can host up 18 guests and 40 crew.

U.S. crude oil shipments to China will rise sharply in coming weeks, U.S. traders and shipbrokers and Chinese importers said, as the world’s top economies gear up to review a January deal after a prolonged trade war.Chinese state-owned oil firms have tentatively booked tankers to carry at least 20 million barrels of U.S. crude for August and September, the people said, moves that may ease U.S. concerns that China’s purchases are trending well short of purchase commitments under the Phase 1 of the trade deal.China had emerged as a top U.S.

The minimal impact on oil prices from a global deal for record output cuts showed that oil producers have a mountain to climb if they are to restore market balance as the coronavirus shreds demand and sends stockpiles soaring, industry watchers said.After several days of discussions, oil producing and consuming countries aim to remove nearly 20 million barrels per day (bpd) or 20% of global supply from the market, Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Monday.The oil market has barely shrugged, however: Brent crude gained 1.5% on Monday, while U.S. crude ended the day lower. The move underscores what both…

Chinese buyers of Iranian oil are starting to shift their cargoes to vessels owned by National Iranian Tanker Co (NITC) for nearly all of their imports to keep supply flowing amid the re-imposition of economic sanctions by the United States.The shift demonstrates that China, Iran's biggest oil customer, wants to keep buying Iranian crude despite the sanctions, which were put back after the United States withdrew in May from a 2015 agreement to halt Iran's nuclear program.The United…

European oil companies are not ruling out reducing Iranian oil imports after the threat of new U.S. sanctions, with some expecting banking issues to hinder trade, but there was no rush to immediately cut volumes.U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the United States was exiting an international nuclear deal with Iran and would impose new sanctions that seek to reduce oil exports from OPEC's third-largest producer.But as of Friday, companies in Europe said they were still taking Iranian oil.

Poland's imports of Russian oil last year fell to their lowest level since 2005, a central bank report published on Tuesday showed, though Warsaw's bid to diversify its energy imports also meant paying higher prices.Russian oil accounted for 76 percent of all oil purchases, down from 96 percent in 2012, as state-run refiners PKN Orlen and Lotos increased their purchases of oil from sources other than Russia.PKN Orlen signed a long-term agreement on regular oil supplies with Saudi…

Royal Dutch Shell has bought only three cargoes of Iranian oil since sanctions were eased a year ago, a small fraction of what it used to buy and an indication of the legal difficulties and high prices that still hamper the trade. The Anglo-Dutch firm did not give a reason for the drop in purchases, which were disclosed in its annual report, and the company declined to comment further. But oil trading sources say Iranian oil is often too expensive and in any case remaining sanctions make dealing with the Islamic Republic a legal minefield. As an example of sanctions-related difficulties, Shell's filings showed it had to disclose payments of only a few hundred dollars when its employees bought tickets with Iranian airlines.

India's Iran oil imports rose about 39 percent in June year on year, preliminary data obtained by Reuters shows. In the first half of 2016 India's Iran oil imports surged by about 58 percent to about 342,000 bpd, the data showed, in comparison with 216,500 bpd in the same period last year. HPCL-Mittal Energy, majority owned by state refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp, halted oil imports from Iran in November 2012 under pressure from Western sanctions over Iran's nuclear ambitions. HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL), partly owned by steel tycoon Lakshmi N. Mittal, took a cargo from Tehran after a three-and-a-half year break. Last month HMEL took a million barrels of Iranian oil…

Nigeria’s crude oil production and exports have been hit by severe outages as a result of attacks on oil infrastructure by rebel fighters in the Niger River Delta. Various sources report that Qua Iboe Terminal has shut down operations until further notice. All tanks on the facility were emptied of crude, operations have ceased completely and all personnel have been evacuated from the terminal, which is operated by ExxonMobil. Qua Iboe is Nigeria’s largest crude oil stream and exports usually more than 300,000 barrels per day (b/d). Exports of Nigeria’s other large crude oil grades, like Forcados, Bonny Light and Escravos have also been restricted, primarily due to sabotage and attacks on pipelines. As a result of the outages Nigeria’s oil production has dropped below 1.5 mb/d.

A government based in eastern Libya has shipped its first cargo of crude in defiance of authorities in the capital Tripoli, a bold move that could deepen the divisions that have brought chaos since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. The Tripoli authorities asked the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to blacklist the India-flagged tanker Distya Ameya, which left the eastern Libyan port of Hariga overnight carrying oil they said could not be lawfully sold. The eastern government has set up its own National Oil Company (NOC) to act in parallel to the Tripoli-based NOC that is recognised internationally as the only legitimate seller of Libyan oil. The tanker departed Hariga carrying 650,000 barrels of crude late on Monday and was bound for Malta, a spokesman for the eastern NOC said.

Indian-flagged tanker leaves port with 650,000 barrels. A government based in eastern Libya shipped its first cargo of crude on Monday in defiance of authorities in the capital Tripoli, a bold move that could deepen the divisions that have brought chaos since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. The eastern government has set up its own National Oil Company (NOC) to act in parallel to the Tripoli-based NOC that is recognised internationally as the only legitimate seller of Libyan oil. A tanker carrying the eastern NOC's first export shipment was en route to Malta carrying 650,000 barrels of crude, a spokesman for the company said on Tuesday.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump told the New York Times he would consider stopping U.S. oil purchases from Saudi Arabia unless the Saudi government provide troops to fight Islamic State. Trump's comment on Friday was included in a lengthy foreign policy interview published by the newspaper on Saturday and came in response to a question about whether, if elected president, he would halt oil purchases from U.S. allies unless they provided on-the-ground forces against Islamic State. "The answer is, probably yes," Trump said, according to a transcript. Trump has said the United States should be reimbursed by the countries it provides protection, even those with vast resources such as Saudi Arabia, a top oil exporter.

Greece's biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum agreed on Friday to buy crude oil from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), the first European refiner to restart trade relations with Iran after the lifting of international sanctions. Hellenic Petroleum was a major buyer of Iranian crude, which accounted for about 20 percent of the southeast European country's annual crude oil imports before sanctions were imposed on Tehran in 2011. The agreement came after Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia and his Greek counterpart Panos Skourletis met in Athens on Friday. The two ministers also attended talks between executives from Hellenic Petroleum and NIOC, a meeting reported by Reuters on Jan. 18.

The primary focus of last year’s annual update, which appeared in the April 2011 issue, was U.S. efforts to tighten economic sanctions against Iran. Over the past year, U.S. pressure on Iran has intensified. Syria also has been a target of new U.S. sanctions, while the sanctions against Libya imposed in early 2011 have been eliminated for all practical purposes by a series of general licenses. Our 2012 update concentrates on these key U.S. developments, but readers should be aware that these were not the only recent changes to U.S. and international sanctions programs.

Oil refiners’ investment in more-efficient refinery facilities is leaving shipping lines competing with Japanese power producers for a fuel no one wants to make. Refiners are upgrading plants to cut output of fuel oil, a byproduct of making gasoline and diesel, as it sells for less than the price of crude. Shipping lines are seeking more of the product -- known in the industry as bunker -- to fuel expanding fleets, while Japanese electric companies are speeding purchases as they close nuclear plants for safety checks following 2011’s tsunami. “We have a bunker market which is still growing, and we have no fuel,” said Fereidun Fesharaki, chairman of Singapore-based Facts Global Energy Inc.

A U.S. proposal to sanction Iran’s state-owned oil company and its main tanker fleet may ensnare any person or business in the world involved in purchasing or shipping Iranian oil, according to a report from Bloomberg. Pressure is mounting on Iran’s nuclear program, as the prospect of an attack from Israel grows beyond rhetoric. In turn, the pressure is rising to force Iran to back down. The Senate Banking Committee unanimously adopted a measure Feb. 2 to compel the administration to investigate links between Iran’s crude-oil supply chain and its powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite military unit that the U.S. has sanctioned for weapons proliferation, terrorism support and human-rights abuses. The move would essentially “black list” Iranian oil.