Olivier Jakob News

An Aframax tanker is scheduled to deliver the largest shipment of crude oil from Vancouver to China since January 2015 later this month, Thomson Reuters trade flow data show.For years, Canadian officials have pushed for an escalation in crude exports to rapidly growing Asian markets, but companies in the oil-rich Alberta have limited capacity to move crude to the nation's western coastline.That makes Canadian crude exports from Vancouver to Asia rare, but shipments have picked up in recent months, with oil tankers to China, Thailand and South Korea departing in April and July. Most of the crude shipped from Vancouver - which has limited export capacity - is carried to the U.S.

U.S. crude oil exports to India hit a record in June and so far this year are almost double last year's total as the Asian nation's refiners move to replace supplies from Iran and Venezuela in a win for the Trump administration.U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has been pressuring its allies to cut imports of Iranian goods to zero by November and India's shift advances the U.S. administration efforts to use energy to further its political goals.The United States has become a major crude exporter…

United States taking share from OPEC nations in Asia, Europe, as China’s biggest U.S. crude buyer to double imports. In the two years since Washington lifted a 40-year ban on oil exports, tankers filled with U.S. crude have landed in more than 30 countries, ranging from massive economies like China and India to tiny Togo. The repeal has unleashed a flood of U.S. shale oil, undercutting global crude prices, eroding the clout of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and seizing market share from many of its member countries. In 2005, before the shale revolution, the United States had net imports of 12.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and fuels - compared to just 4 million bpd today. U.S.

Oil prices firmed on Friday as bullish news from strong Chinese oil imports to turmoil in the Middle East put Brent on track for a nearly 3 percent weekly gain. The developments added to other signs that the market was finally rebalancing after years of excess, but analysts warned that the 2018 balance was still shaky. Brent was at $57.20 at 1335 GMT, up 95 cents. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $51.44 per barrel, up 84 cents from its last settlement. The contracts were on track for weekly gains of more than 2 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

Mexico buys gasoline from Europe, Asia; in rare move, Europe exports diesel to Brazil. The crippling of the U.S. Gulf Coast refining hub by Tropical Storm Harvey roiled global oil markets on Thursday as traders scrambled to buy gasoline and diesel from distant markets to avert supply shortages in the United States, Mexico and Brazil. A slew of gasoline tankers has been booked over the past two days out of Europe to the United States and Latin America, with around 12.5 million barrels expected to leave the region in the first half of the month, sharply higher than usual flows, according to traders and shipping data. Mexico's state-run oil company Pemex, which heavily relies on U.S.

Goldman Sachs says 23 pct of U.S. refining capacity is shut. Crude oil slid and gasoline futures hit their highest since mid-2015 on Wednesday as flooding and damage from Tropical Storm Harvey shut over a fifth of U.S. refineries, curbing demand for crude while raising the risk of fuel shortages. Refineries with output of 4.1 million barrels per day (bpd) were offline on Tuesday, representing 23 percent of U.S. production, Goldman Sachs said. Restarting plants even under the best conditions can take a week or more. "It will be a while before operations can return to normal and the U.S. refining industry is bracing itself for an extended shutdown," Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM said.

Oil jumped 1.7 percent Tuesday, continuing its year-end rally with support from expectations of tighter supply once the first output cut deal between OPEC and non-OPEC producers in 15 years takes effect on Sunday. U.S. crude prices have surged 25 percent since mid-November, helped by expectations for OPEC's supply cut and generally solid U.S. economic figures that have also bolstered equity prices. Trading was thin on Tuesday, with less than one-third of the usual volume in futures contracts in West Texas Intermediate crude oil. With oil near $54 a barrel, U.S. crude futures are not far from the year's high of $54.51 high reached on December 12. "Some of the doubts (in OPEC) people are showing are going to have to be put to rest," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

Refineries from India to the United States are backing away from buying Nigerian oil amid heightened uncertainty about deliveries as the country squares up to militants in the restive Delta region. Their reluctance to buy is limiting the prices Nigeria can get for its oil even as there is less of it - another hit to the finances of a country battling its worst economic crisis in decades. A group calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers has staged a number of attacks on oil installations belonging to Shell , ENI and Chevron, pushing output in what is usually Africa's largest crude exporter down past 20-year lows last month. Some oil facilities have clawed back output, but the Avenger attacks have continued and the group has vowed to bring Nigerian production to "zero".

Iran has managed to sell only modest volumes of oil to Europe since the lifting of sanctions seven weeks ago and several former buyers are staying away, citing legal complications and Tehran's reluctance to sweeten terms to win back customers. Tehran had been unable to sell crude to European firms since 2012 when the EU imposed sanctions over its nuclear programme, depriving it of a market that accounted for over a third of its exports and leaving it relying completely on Asian buyers. Since the restrictions were lifted in January, Iran has sold four tankers - 4 million barrels - to Europe, including to France's Total, Spain's Cepsa and Russia's Litasco, according to Iranian officials and ship-tracking data.

The seemingly relentless slide in the oil price has savaged global financial markets and raised the spectre of widespread recession, but the derivatives market is showing traders are not necessarily buying into the "lower for longer" scenario. Volatility, a gauge of options prices, has rocketed to its highest since the depths of the financial crisis in late 2008 as traders have scrambled to snap up protection against an even more aggressive sell-off. This week has seen a flurry of buying of derivatives that give their holder the right to sell at $30 a barrel as far out as December, suggesting that traders and investors are growing increasingly gloomy about the prospects of price recovery.

Chinese exports tumble 8.3 pct, biggest fall in 4 months; Chinese crude oil imports up 4.1 pct in July. OPEC has no plans to hold emergency meeting. Crude oil futures touched multi-month lows on Monday after a weekend of mixed data from China showing higher oil imports in July but weaker trade figures overall. Brent then edged up 24 cents to $48.85 a barrel at 1105 GMT, after dipping to $48.24 earlier in the session, the lowest in over six months. U.S. crude was down 2 cents at $43.85 after hitting an intraday low of $43.35 in Asian trading. Both benchmarks have been falling for six weeks, hampered by a supply glut. "The market remains in a battle between the bearish current fundamentals and the perception that the market will begin to rebalance in the not too distant future…

Iran, the United States and five other major powers reached an agreement to restrain the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Q: Can you outline the timeline from here? "The P5+1 will now work on a UN resolution to endorse the deal; separately, domestic legislatures and other processes will review text, in the U.S, that includes a 60-day review period; 90 days from today the deal goes into implementation mode in which Iran does a number of nuke steps, and the P5+1 establish legal conditions for relief, but it doesn't get activated until the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) issues a report verifying Iran did what it said it would do, which Secretary (of State John) Kerry put at about 6 months, and which I think is about right, as noted before.

As many as four VLCC tankers could take North Sea crude oil to Asia this month, shipping fixtures show, after an Atlantic Basin supply glut forced prices to multi-year lows. The Samco Europe, Bunga Kasturi Empat, Britanis and Starlight Venture VLCCs - very large crude carriers - have been lined up for the shipments, according to the fixtures, equivalent to around 8.4 million barrels of Forties crude oil. The tankers have been booked by Unipec, Glencore's shipping arm ST Shipping, Trafigura and Vitol respectively. Unipec's tanker is listed as heading for Singapore, but the other three are expected to head for South Korea, which benefits from freight rebates and a free trade agreement with Europe. Both of these measures encourage local refiners to diversify their crude imports.

Traders in the Brent oil market have started to use a word that was almost forgotten in the last four years - "contango" in industry jargon, which could also be described as "music to the ears of sellers". The market has not seen a prolonged contango time structure - with front prices lower than future prices - since at least 2010. Back then, oil traders racked up hundreds of millions of dollars by storing fully loaded cargoes at sea. With each week and month that the oil was in storage, it gained in price. The opposite time structure - backwardation - then prevailed, up until this week when it reversed back to contango. This led some analysts to predict a repeat of the 2008-2009 bonanza. Bank of America Merrill Lynch said it even saw a "super-contango" returning.

Crude oil prices rose to new nine-month highs on Friday as concerns persisted that an insurgency in Iraq could disrupt oil exports from the second-largest OPEC producer. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest religious authority for Shi'ites, on Friday urged his followers to take up arms against Sunni militants advancing south toward Baghdad, raising the prospect of further violence. The surge in both Brent and U.S. crude prices, up about $4 this week, lost some momentum on Friday as the market waited to see if the conflict in Iraq would threaten oil refineries south of Baghdad. "Right now the market is looking for a comfort zone," said James Williams, an energy economist at WTRG Economics in London, Arkansas.

Total SA’s Elgin platform leaked gas for a third day in the U.K. North Sea, and neighboring rigs were evacuated to guard against the risk of an explosion. The platform was evacuated and production halted after a “well control problem” caused a leak on March 25. Total has flown in outside experts to help stem the flow of fuel, which prompted Royal Dutch Shell Plc. to move staff from its neighboring Shearwater field. The Elgin and Franklin fields, which send oil and gas through the platform, supply about 15 percent of Forties crude, the biggest component of Dated Brent used to price more than half of the world’s oil. As well as gas, about 23 metric tons of condensate…

The European Union may allow insurance against risks, such as collisions and spills, for tankers carrying Iranian oil, a proposal which would ease curbs on Iran’s crude exports. The EU would prohibit the insurance and re-insurance of Iranian oil “except for third-party liability insurance and environmental liability insurance,” according to a draft document obtained by Bloomberg News. The bloc aims to complete the regulation, which is being considered by national governments, within a month, according to an EU official with knowledge of the matter. Brent oil has risen 14 percent since an EU embargo was announced January 23 to pressure Iran over its nuclear program.