Oil Tanker News

Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it was suspending oil shipments through a strategic Red Sea lane after Yemen's Iran-aligned rebels attacked two tankers in the waterway, underscoring the risk of an escalation in tensions in the region.Brent crude futures rose 59 cents to $74.52 a barrel by 1008 GMT, extending their rally into a third day but falling from a 10-day high in earlier trading.Saudi Arabia and arch-foe Iran have been locked in a three-year proxy war in Yemen, which lies on one side of the Bab al-Mandeb strait at the southern mouth of the sea…

InterMoor has completed work for the installation of the new Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) facility Benchamas 2 (FSO Benchamas 2). Previously, the Benchamas Explorer FSO, owned and operated by Chevron, was installed in 1999 in Block B8/32 in the Gulf of Thailand. The FSO began initial production in 1999 and after operating the facility for almost 20 years, Chevron decided to replace the aging facility with the new FSO Benchamas 2. The new floating facility FSO Benchamas 2 was delivered by MISC Berhad…

As a further step in fleet positioning ahead of the gradually stronger market that is expected, Concordia Maritime has decided to participate in three suezmax tankers chartered in by Stena Bulk. The 158,000 dwt vessels were built in Korea in the period 2012-2014. The contracts are for 12 months, with an option to extend until the end of 2019. After delivery in May and July, the vessels will be employed on the spot market through the successful Stena Sonangol Suezmax Pool. Concordia Maritime's share in the vessel charters is 50%.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) survey and inspection firm Cyberhawk has completed the first full ABS Intermediate Hull Survey 4 on an oil tanker using UAVs.Cyberhawk performed full class inspection across 19 tanks on board an oil tanker while at a shipyard in Singapore. This included 12 Cargo Oil Tanks (COT), two slop tanks and five ballast tanks. Attending was the American Bureau for Shipping (ABS) to ensure the quality of the inspection complied with the specific ABS rules (ESP) set for tankers.

The captain of a Russian oil tanker is forced to pay £25,761.99 (more than $34,300) in the U.K. for breaching the International Safety Management (ISM) Code in a prosecution brought by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA).Vitaliy Trofimov, Captain of the Russian registered 85-meter-long tanker Tecoil Polaris, pleaded guilty at Hull Magistrates Court on Thursday to a number of safety failures which placed the vessel – to be loaded with 1,665 metric tons of lubrication oil – at risk.

Some Russian ships have stopped transporting cargo to Ukraine, deeming it risky after a Russian tanker was detained in a Ukrainian port as Kiev made good on sanctions against Moscow, two sources at shipowners said.It is the latest fallout from Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014 and the emergence of a pro-Moscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine.The Mekhanik Pogodin oil tanker, under the Russian flag, has been moored in the port of Kherson since Aug. 10, Reuters ship…

A Singapore flagged oil tanker came to the rescue of four French sailors whose sailboat became disabled by broken sails and engine failure approximately 225 miles east of Cape May, N.J. on Thursday, June 7.U.S. Coast Guard rescue authorities received a notification from French rescue personnel that the 43-foot sailboat Simbad had a disabled engine and broken sails and required assistance. The four sailors reported two were in good health, one sailor had broken ribs and the last…

The acquisition of Gener8 resulted in the recognition of a gain on bargain purchase on business combination of USD 36.3 million being recorded in the consolidated statement of profit or loss in the second quarter, says Euronav.The largest NYSE listed independent crude oil tanker company in the world said that it booked a gain on bargain purchase as a result of the Net Assets acquired being higher than the consideration paid.Paddy Rodgers, CEO of Euronav said: "Completion of the…

The world's No. 2 container shipping line MSC said on Wednesday it would stop taking new bookings for Iran due to the decision by the United States to re-impose sanctions on Tehran after withdrawing from the international nuclear deal. In a note to clients, privately held MSC said it was "ceasing to provide access to services to and from Iran", adding that they would "conclude this period with the minimum disruption" to their customers' business. "While MSC is not accepting bookings for shipments originating from Iran…

Natasa Pilides, Cyprus Deputy Minister of Shipping, has held this newly created political post for only three months, but already she has big plans to facilitate the growth of her country’s stature in world maritime circles. In Athens at Posidonia we sat with Pilides to discuss her plans for the development of Cyprus’ blue economy.While dubbed “deputy” minister, make no mistake that Natasa Pilides is in charge, reporting directly to Nicos Anastasiades, the president of Cyprus who asked her to take on the challenge.

A Shipping Corporation of India very large crude carrier (VLCC) has suffered an explosion in one of its cargo tanks while transiting off the coast of Oman, the shipowner confirmed Tuesday.Three crew members of the 316,409 DWT oil tanker Desh Vaibhav are reported missing, and one person with burn injuries has been evacuated by helicopter, according to a press release issued by the shipowner.The 2005-built Desh Vaibhav was sailing toward Fujairah, UAE when the blast occurred around 9:35 a.m. IST, the shipowner said.

Yemen's Houthis attacked a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea, causing slight damage, an Arab coalition said on Wednesday, after the Houthis reported targeting a Saudi warship in the area.Saudi Arabia and its coalition of Sunni Muslim allies have been fighting in Yemen for three years against the Iran-aligned Houthis, who control much of north Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, and drove a Saudi-backed government into exile in 2014.One of the coalition's main justifications for its intervention is to protect shipping routes such as the Red Sea…

Keppel Offshore & Marine said its Keppel Shipyard subsidiary is on track to deliver a floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) to Dixstone holdings, an affiliate of the Perenco Group, on time in 3Q 2018.The FPSO, named La Noumbi at Keppel Shipyard today, will be deployed to the Yombo field operated by Perenco off the Republic of the Congo, Africa. It will be capable of producing 12,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd), processing 120,000 barrels of water per day and storing 762…

Significant moments in naval architecture & marine engineeringIn March 1989, oil tanker Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil after running aground in Alaska's Prince Williams Sound. The oil spill stood as the largest in U.S. history until the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.The Exxon Valdez incident, while certainly not a bright spot in maritime history, led to broad changes across the industry, including new design requirements for oil-carrying vessels.The October 2018 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News…

The crude oil tanker company operating a fleet of crude oil tankers in the VLCC, Suezmax and Aframax segments, DHT Holdings has reached agreements to exchange existing convertible notes due 2019.DHT Holdings has entered into separate, privately negotiated exchange agreements with certain holders of its outstanding 4.5% Convertible Senior Notes due 2019  to exchange approximately $67.5 million aggregate principal amount of the Existing Notes for approximately $74.2 million aggregate principal amount of the Company's new 4.5% Convertible Senior Notes due 2021.

Art Regan, who has been the Executive Chairman at Genco Shipping and Trading (NYSE: GNK) since October 2016, personifies the new type of shipping executive, savvy on all things maritime (he is a graduate of SUNY Maritime College at Fort Schuyler) coupled with a keen understanding of market dynamics. Regan commenced his maritime industry career at sea, rising through the shipboard officer ranks completing as a Master Mariner during a more than ten-year period sailing on oil tankers and dry bulk vessels.

Exxon Mobil Corp said it has commenced development drilling in the first of three offshore Guyana projects, which could produce more than 500,000 barrels of oil per day. Development drilling began in May for the first of 17 wells planned for Liza Phase 1, the company said.So far, Exxon Mobil and its co-venturers have discovered more than 3.2 billion oil-equivalent barrels estimated recoverable resources on the 6.6 million acre Stabroek Block.Liam Mallon, president of ExxonMobil Development Company…

To prepare for a gradually strenghthening tanker market, Concordia Maritime decided to participate in three suezmax tankers chartered in by Stena Bulk. The 158,000 dwt vessels were built in Korea between 2012-2014. The contracts are for 12 months, with an option to extend until the end of 2019. After delivery in May and July, the vessels will be employed on the spot market through the Stena Sonangol Suezmax Pool. Concordia Maritime’s share in the vessel charters is 50%. The contracts also include a profit-sharing clause with the contractual partner. “We continue to act based on our belief in a progressively stronger market from autumn 2018 onwards.

The United States said on Friday it was concerned about a Houthi missile strike on a Turkish vessel carrying wheat to Yemen this month and another attack on an oil tanker in the Red Sea. "The United States is alarmed by the Houthi missile strike against a Turkish cargo ship 70 miles off the coast of Yemen that was attempting to deliver 50,000 metric tons of wheat to Yemen’s Saleef port near Hudaydah," the White House said in a statement. "This proves yet again that missile proliferation in Yemen is a real threat to all countries and underscores the need to fully enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216."  Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe

Tanker shipping: Added uncertainty is not helpful to the struggling tankersDemandJust when you thought it could not get any worse for the tanker shipping industry, the U.S. is reimposing sanctions on Iran coming into force after a six months wind-down period ending on November 4, 2018. The immediate effects are less tangible but sure to add more uncertainty to the whole shipping industry that has plenty of uncertainty to deal with already.At the same time, freight rates for both crude oil tankers and oil product tankers are mostly in loss making territory.

Increased scrapping of older oil tankers and the potential for higher output of OPEC crude are likely to boost vessel demand and thus rates, Oslo-listed shipper Frontline said on Thursday.The company reported a first-quarter operating profit of $2.8 million, while analysts in a Reuters poll on average had expected a loss of $13.3 million.Tanker rates are still low, however, and 78 percent of Frontline's very large crude carriers (VLCCs) are covered at a daily $11,600 for the second quarter compared with $14…

The shipping industry will this year scrap the largest number of oil tankers in over half-a-decade, driven by weak earnings, firm prices for scrap steel and the need to prepare fleets for strict new environmental regulations.The surge in scrapping underscores how the sector is grappling with one of its worst-ever crises, hit hard after rates for transporting oil plunged to multi-year lows in the wake of excess tanker supply and tepid demand as OPEC production cuts bite."The tanker markets are definitely in a trough at the moment…

Unidentified forces attacked a U.N. aid vessel off the main Yemeni port of Hodeidah at the weekend and started a fire in the engine room, port authorities said on Monday.The United Nations aid chief, Mark Lowcock, confirmed there had been an incident but said it was now over and everyone was safe, without elaborating.The vessel used by the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) was attacked after delivering a shipment at Hodeidah, Yemen's Red Sea Ports Corporation said. The port is held…