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Oil Tankers News

29 Feb 2024

BIMCO: Tanker Supply/Demand Balance will Tighten

© alexyz3d / Adobe Stock

The BIMCO Tanker Shipping Market Overview & Outlook February 2024 by Niels Rasmussen, BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst, forecasts that the supply/demand balance will tighten further during both 2024 and 2025.Low fleet growth, along with increasing sailing distances, create the foundation for the improvement despite a slowing of growth in oil demand. The product tanker supply/demand balance is also expected to tighten in 2024 but weaken in 2025. Like the crude tanker market, longer sailing distances support demand growth despite slowing oil demand.

23 Feb 2024

Hanwha Ocean Secures $258M Order for Two VLCCs

(Credit: Hanwha Ocean)

South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean has received an order to construct two very large crude carriers (VLCCs) for a shipping company in Oceania.The order for VLCCs, worth $257.8 million (342 billion won), is the first such order for Hanwha Ocean in the last three years. This is also the highest price for the vessels in 16 years, since the 2008 global financial crisis, the company said.The ships will be built at the Geoje plant and delivered to the shipowner in the first and second half of 2026…

08 Feb 2024

Lithuania Probes Baltic Sea Oil Spill

© Studio Barcelona / Adobe Stock

Lithuania said on Thursday it had been informed by a subsidiary of Polish oil refiner Orlen PKN of an oil spill in the country's waters in the Baltic Sea and had launched a probe into the incident.Lithuania's Environmental Protection Department said in a statement the subsidiary, Orlen Lietuva, had informed it on Wednesday of a 300-litre spill near the Butinge oil import terminal in connection with the loading of a tanker.It said an inspection by Lithuania later on Wednesday showed the spill measured nine kilometers by two kilometers with at least 1.8 tonnes of oil on the surface…

12 Dec 2023

Oil Rises after Houthi Attack on Ship

© Sergey / Adobe Stock

Oil rose on Tuesday as an attack by the Iran-aligned Houthis on a chemical tanker escalated geopolitical tension in the Middle East, though concerns over excess supply and slowing demand kept a lid on gains.A cruise missile launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen struck a commercial chemical tanker, causing a fire and damage but no casualties in the latest such attack to heighten safety risks for tankers in vital shipping lanes.Brent crude futures LCOc1 for February rose 21 cents, or 0.3%, to $76.24 a barrel by 0915 GMT, while U.S.

26 Nov 2023

AD Ports Expands Shipping Operations in Kazakhstan

Source: AD Ports

AD Ports Group in collaboration with KazMorTransFlot (KMTF), the national shipping company of Kazakhstan, has announced the acquisition and commencement of operations of two tankers designed for the transportation of Kazakhstan's oil across the Caspian Sea.The two oil tankers were named Liwa and Taraz - after ancient cities in the UAE and Kazakhstan, respectively, and have been acquired under AD Ports Group’s joint venture with KMTF - Caspian Integrated Maritime Solutions (CIMS).The two vessels represent a combined investment of USD35 million…

17 Nov 2023

EU to Ban Sale of Tankers to Russia to Curb Shadow Fleet Growth

Credit: alexyz3d/AdobeStock

The European Commission is proposing to ban the sale of tankers for crude oil and petroleum products to Russia to prevent Moscow bypassing western sanctions on Russian oil with a shadow fleet of ships, a proposal by the Commission showed. The proposal, discussed on Friday by ambassadors of EU governments, also says that sales of tankers to a third country should include contractual clauses that ships cannot be re-sold to Russia or used to carry Russian crude oil or petroleum products that avoid western price caps - in the case of crude oil of $60 per barrel.

16 Nov 2023

Vitol Hires Ship to Load Venezuela Crude for China after U.S. Lifts Sanctions

Credit: nelasova/AdobeStock

Vitol, the world's largest independent oil trader, has provisionally chartered a supertanker to load oil from Venezuela for China, according to two shipbrokers and data from shiptracking firms Kpler and Vortexa.The Very Large Crude Carrier Gustavia S., chartered for $11 million, is scheduled to load its cargo between Nov. 27 and Dec. 2, according to the sources.The company declined to comment on the issue.Vitol is among major European trading houses seeking to resume trade in Venezuelan oil after Washington in mid-October issued a general licence lifting…

16 Nov 2023

Venezuela's PDVSA Offers Corocoro Crude Cargo through Intermediary

Credit: JosIsaac/AdobeStock

Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA is offering to sell up to 1 million barrels of Corocoro crude through an intermediary, sources said on Wednesday, which could become the first sale of that grade in two years.Since Washington temporarily eased oil sanctions on the country last month, PDVSA has been allocating spot cargoes of crude and fuel oil through little known firms that contract with trading companies, which ultimately deliver to refiners. PDVSA and Italy's Eni ENI.MI…

15 Nov 2023

Denmark Could Block Tankers with Russian Oil from Reaching Markets - FT

For illustration, the Danish frigate Peter  - Photo: Rune Dyrholm / Danish Armed Forces

Denmark will be tasked with inspecting and potentially blocking tankers carrying Russian oil through its waters under new European Union plans, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing three unidentified sources.Russia sends about a third of its seaborne oil exports, or 1.5% of global supply, through the Danish straits so any attempt to halt those supplies would send oil prices higher and trigger a confrontation with Russia. The FT said that Denmark would target tankers carrying Russian oil that did not have Western insurance…

02 Nov 2023

Euronav Doubles Q3 Core Profit Yr/yr; Beats Estimates

Credit: Euronav

Belgian oil tanker firm Euronav on Thursday beat analysts' expectations and more than doubled its core profit in the third quarter from the same year-ago period, helped by higher sales and high freight rates.The market for very large crude carriers (VLCC) "has improved due to increased frequency of loadings from higher USA crude production", Euronav said in a statement. Although freight rates fell modestly during the quarter, they still remained strong when compared to historic averages since 1990, Euronav added.

26 Oct 2023

World's Ghost Fleet in Focus Over US Russian Price Cap Crackdown

Credit: komi$ar/AdobeStock

U.S. penalties on shippers transporting Russian oil in breach of the G7's price cap could push more Russian cargoes onto vessels referred to as the ghost fleet and away from mainstream tankers, shipping sources and analysts told Reuters.The cap bans Western companies from providing maritime services for Russian seaborne oil exports sold above $60 a barrel.It was designed to keep oil flowing to markets while reducing Russia's energy earnings that it can use to finance its war on Ukraine…

18 Oct 2023

Oil Tanker Hit by US Sanctions Heads to Texas for Unloading - Exxon

An oil tanker that the U.S. government imposed sanctions on for recently carrying Russian oil above the Western price cap is proceeding to the Baytown refinery in Texas for unloading, Exxon Mobil said on Tuesday.Exxon, the current charterer of the Yasa Golden Bosphorus, was not targeted by the sanctions last week since the oil producer chartered the tanker months after it had carried and offloaded Russian oil, a price cap coalition official after the U.S. imposed the sanctions on the tanker.The unloading by Exxon has been authorized by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the company said in a statement. The deliveries are certified products of Canadian origin, according to Exxon.The U.S.

16 Oct 2023

Tanker Hits Mine in Black Sea

A Liberian-flagged oil products tanker hit a mine on Sunday in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania and sustained minor damage, but the crew was safe, sources said on Monday.It is the second vessel this month to have been hit by a floating mine in the Black Sea, in a reminder of the continued perils faced by commercial ships in the region.The Ali Najafov tanker was sailing near to the Sulina channel near Romania when the blast occurred on Sunday, Yoruk Isik, head of the Bosphorus Observer consultancy, told Reuters.A Ukrainian source separately confirmed the vessel had struck a mine.The vessel's Istanbul-based manager Palmali, listed in shipping databases, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

13 Oct 2023

Growing Tanker Fleet, Cheaper Freight Challenge Russian Oil Price Cap

Russian crude oil producers are enjoying the cheapest costs to ship to refiners in China and India in almost a year thanks to a growing number of vessels plying the routes, according to trading and shipping sources.The arrival of new shippers working outside the purview of Western governments allows Russian firms to earn more than the $60 per barrel cap that the U.S. and its allies had aimed to impose on Russia through sanctions. It also means that enforcing the price cap will have a limited impact on Russian revenues.On Thursday, the U.S. imposed the first sanctions on owners of tankers carrying Russian oil above the cap, one based in Turkey and one in the United Arab Emirates…

09 Oct 2023

Euronav Says Shareholders CMB and Frontline Reach Deal on Acquisition

Credit: Euronav

Belgium's Euronav on Monday said that its two major shareholders CMB and Frontline have reached a deal that would see CMB take control of the oil tanker company and buy its remaining shares.The deal ends uncertainty over Euronav's future, after peer Frontline - controlled by Norwegian-born shipping tycoon John Fredriksen - in January scrapped a $4.2 billion merger plan that would have created the world's largest publicly-listed tanker company.That decision had led Euronav to launch arbitration action against Frontline.

05 Oct 2023

Euronav Says CMB Offers to Buy 26% Stake, Shares Surge

Credit: Euronav

Euronav second shareholder Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) is offering to acquire Frontline's 26.12% stake in the company for $18.43 per share, which will be followed by a mandatory public offer at the same price, the Belgian oil tanker and storage operator said on Thursday.Shares of Euronav, which were suspended earlier in the day after spiking on media reports about the company going private, jumped around 18% as trading reopened at 1330 GMT.The completion of the deal would end the arbitration action started by Euronav against its peer Frontline…

05 Oct 2023

Milan Prosecutors Push for Fraud Trial Over Failed 2019 Eni Tanker Deal

Italian prosecutors have requested a former senior Eni employee, the now chief of a UK oil firm, and others be sent to trial for allegedly defrauding Eni over the attempted sale of an oil cargo to the company, a document from the Milan prosecutor's office shows.Sources previously told Reuters that the 2019 "White Moon" shipment of crude oil, purportedly from Iraq, created panic within Eni over fears it could be, at least partially, Iranian. Eni rejected the cargo, which it has said it bought from Nigerian firm Oando, who in turn bought the oil from the London branch of Italian fuel trading company Napag.Handling Iranian oil would have breached sanctions the United States reimposed in 2018 after quitting a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

05 Oct 2023

How Serious is Russia's Fuel Export Ban and Who Will be Hit?

Credit: borissos/AdobeStock

Russia said on Sept. 21 that it had temporarily banned gasoline and diesel exports to all but four ex-Soviet states in response to domestic shortages, a move that will disrupt global trade that has already had to adjust to Western sanctions on Russian fuel exports.Russia eased some of the restrictions on Sept. 25, saying it would allow the export of bunkering fuel for some vessels and diesel with high sulphur content. The government has yet to give a timeline for any further easing…

04 Oct 2023

Russia's Sovcomflot Transfers Ships to New Management Firm to Boost Trade

Russia's leading tanker group Sovcomflot has transferred dozens of ships into a new Dubai based management company aiming to boost trade through this entity amid growing pressure from financial restrictions, according to maritime industry data and shipping industry sources.State-owned Sovcomflot (SCF) is subject to sanctions and other restrictions by the UK and the European Union, while Washington has restricted its financial activities. Sovcomflot - whose fleet in the region of 80 vessels including crude, oil products and liquefied natural gas tankers - has had to deal with these capital restrictions over the past year. It has also had to rebase its overseas operations from Cyprus to Dubai.Since July…

04 Oct 2023

Philippines Says Marshall Islands-flagged Tanker May Have Been Involved in Deadly Sea Collision

An oil tanker registered under the flag of the Marshall Islands was suspected to have been involved in an 'accidental collision' with a Philippine boat in the South China Sea that killed three fishermen, the Philippine coast guard said on Wednesday.Philippine coast guard spokesperson Armando Balilo said that the incident was under investigation but that coast guard monitoring pointed to the Pacific Anna, registered under the flag of Marshall Islands, as the likely vessel that collided with the fishing boat.The coast guard said in a statement the Philippine boat "failed to detect" the approaching foreign vessel because of poor weather, resulting in a collision that caused the boat to capsize.

26 Sep 2023

Mideast-Asia Oil Shipping Rates Rebound, Capped by OPEC+ Supply Cuts

Credit: Carabay/AdobeStock

The cost of chartering a supertanker to load Middle Eastern crude oil for Asia has rebounded from a 19-month low in September, but industry sources expect output supply cuts, led by Saudi Arabia, to cap freight rates for the rest of the year.The world's benchmark very large crude carrier (VLCC) export route from the Middle East Gulf (MEG) to Japan, known as TD3, rose to W50.46 on Monday in the Worldscale measure of freight rates, LSEG data showed. It fell to W35.60 in September…

25 Sep 2023

Russia Lifts Export Ban on Low-quality Diesel, Marine Fuel

Credit: borissos/AdobeStock

The Russian government has approved some changes to its fuel export ban, lifting the restrictions for fuel used as bunkering for some vessels as well as diesel with high content of sulphur, a government document showed on Monday. It also lifted restrictions on the export of fuel already accepted for export by the Russian Railways and Transneft before the initial ban had been announced last week. The ban on all types of gasoline and high-quality diesel remains in place. Russia…

21 Sep 2023

Russia Cuts September Seaborne Diesel Exports to Meet Domestic Shortage

Credit:  borissos

Russia cut its seaborne diesel and gasoil exports by nearly 30% to about 1.7 million metric tons in the first 20 days of September from the same time in August, as local refineries went into seasonal maintenance and the domestic market faces a fuel shortage and rising prices, traders said and LSEG data showed.Idle primary oil refining capacity for September is estimated at 4.657 million tons, up 45% from August, according to Reuters calculations.Due to the domestic fuel shortage…

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