Potential Buyers News

U.S. refiners Phillips 66 and Citgo Petroleum are seeking to buy heavy crude directly from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA starting in April to maximize profits, rather than purchasing through trading houses and U.S. oil major Chevron, according to sources familiar with the efforts.Trading houses Trafigura and Vitol in January secured the first U.S. licenses to export Venezuelan oil as part of a $2 billion deal between Caracas and Washington. Chevron has held an authorization to operate there and ship crude since last year.Refiners in the U.S.

Russia's Lukoil is selling its international assets after the U.S. imposed sanctions on the company.Washington refused to approve the sale of assets to Swiss commodity trader Gunvor, throwing Lukoil's operations in disarray and leading to a scramble of potential buyers.The U.S. Treasury cleared potential buyers to talk to Lukoil until December 13. They will need separate approval for specific deals. U.S. oil major Chevron is studying options to buy some global assets of Lukoil, sources have said. U.S.

Chevron is studying options to buy global assets of sanctioned Russian oil firm Lukoil, five sources familiar with the process told Reuters on Monday.The U.S. Treasury gave clearance last week to potential buyers to talk to Lukoil about foreign assets. Chevron would join Carlyle and other firms in the race for the Lukoil portfolio worth at least $20 billion.The United States last month imposed sanctions on Russia's two biggest oil companies, Lukoil LKOH.MM and Rosneft ROSN.MM…

Global trade flows have adjusted to new geopolitical developments last week, with Red Sea diversions maintaining their grip on vessel demand patterns. Against this backdrop, timecharter earnings hit their highest levels since October 2024, with Capesize rates leading the rally while smaller segments lagged behind. The S&P market saw continued interest in modern tonnage as owners position for tightening supply fundamentals. Values for 5YO Capesizes of 180,000 DWT have rallied impressively this year…

The TotalEnergies West of Shetland offshore assets it agreed to sell to Prax Group last year remain under the French oil major's ownership, it said on Wednesday, so will not be subject to disposals resulting from liquidation proceedings affecting the British company."The transaction to sell our West of Shetland asset to Prax has not yet completed and as such we remain the operator of the Shetland Gas Plant and related fields," TotalEnergies EP UK said in its statement.TotalEnergies had agreed to sell Prax a portfolio of mature offshore fields producing about 7…

Woodside Energy has held talks with several potential buyers of stakes in its Louisiana liquefied natural gas plant, including Tokyo Gas, Japan's JERA and Saudi Aramco-backed MidOcean Energy, multiple sources told Reuters.The timing of the stake sale is a test case for buoyant market expectations around LNG with the return of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency. Trump has said trade partners should buy more U.S. energy and issued several executive orders in his first weeks in…

Woodside Energy has held talks with several potential buyers of stakes in its Louisiana liquefied natural gas plant, including Tokyo Gas, Japan's JERA and Saudi Aramco-backed MidOcean Energy, multiple sources told Reuters.The timing of the stake sale is a test case for buoyant market expectations around LNG with the return of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency. Trump has said trade partners should buy more U.S. energy and issued several executive orders in his first weeks in…

Qilak LNG plans to invest $5 billion in a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Alaska's North Slope to compete with Russia's Yamal project for Asian customers towards the end of this decade, its chief executive said. Major LNG importers such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are rethinking Russian supplies after sanctions on Moscow after it invaded Ukraine and more natural gas could be needed to produce lower emission and alternative fuels as nations try to reduce their carbon emissions.

Singapore's Strategic Marine has ordered 50 of its C32 ACERT IMO III engines from Caterpillar dealer PT Trakindo Utama Singapore Branch, citing severe disruptions to the supply of what it says is critical shipbuilding equipment due to the pandemic, which has caused worldwide logistics and supply chain bottlenecks and disruptions.The company, which builds aluminum boats, with offshore crew transfer vessels being its main offering, said the acquisition of the 50 engines would significantly shorten its production timeline for new vessels…

Maersk has found possible buyers for its stake in Global Ports Investments, which operates ports in Russia as it withdraws from the country following a final cargo shipment this week, the Danish shipping group said on Wednesday.Maersk put its 30.75% share of Global Ports up for sale as it decided to quit Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.It said talks were taking place with several potential buyers without giving names and that it did not expect to have to give the stake…

Sixty-five years after Aristotle Onassis founded Greece's Olympic Airways, another shipping entrepreneur is planning to take to the skies - this time in Italy, where Gianluigi Aponte's MSC has its sights on the successor company to Alitalia.The 81-year-old, known as "the captain" after building his shipping empire from a single vessel, is hoping to forge an air freight and passenger business to dovetail with MSC's sea cargo and cruise operations.But there are big challenges.Alitalia stumbled for years…

U.S. energy regulators on Wednesday granted Delfin LNG a second one-year extension until September 2021 to build its proposed floating liquefied natural gas export facility off the coast of Louisiana.Delfin is one of several North American LNG developers that have delayed decisions on whether to go ahead with multibillion-dollar projects as gas prices slumped worldwide and buyers became reluctant to sign long-term agreements needed to fund construction.Global gas prices collapsed because of an oversupplied market and coronavirus demand destruction.

Oil product tankers earnings have skyrocketed in the first half of 2020, while the sale and purchase (S&P) activity of the oil product tanker market has slowed to the lowest level since 2016. Data from VesselsValue highlight that in the first five months of 2020, only 2.8 million deadweight tons (DWT) of oil product tankers have shifted hands in the second-hand market, a 45% drop compared to the same period last year.A surprising S&P slowdown?The oil product tanker market has thereby experienced a disconnect in the first half of 2020 with high spot earnings…

Southampton, United Kingdom: It has been quite a few years since I last touched down in the UK; longer still for a visit on a maritime business trip. And, I don’t cross 'the big pond' casually for one these events. This morning, Seawork 2019 in Southampton is not yet over but if the past two days have been any indication at all, then the entire event will be regarded as a rousing success for all involved.There is something for everyone here. I overheard one attendee refer to the event as the annual gathering of “the boys and their toys.” To be sure; almost every possible development, new idea, and the widest gathering of shallow draft workboats I’ve ever seen in one place, was mustered and on display in this compact venue.

All offers from potential buyers of a strategically located but debt-laden Philippine shipyard will be welcome, the trade minister said on Thursday, ruling out barring Chinese firms over national security fears.Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the government would not, and could not, block interested buyers of distressed shipbuilder Hanjin Philippines, which defaulted on $1.3 billion in loans, of which $900 million is owed to South Korean banks and the rest to five Philippine lenders.Hanjin, a unit of South Korea's Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co Ltd, until recently employed 20,000 workers at its yard in Subic Bay, which until 1992 was home to a U.S.

The international marine transportation company d’Amico International Shipping (DIS) announced that its joint venture (JV) company DM Shipping (DMS)  signed a memorandum of agreement for the sale of its product tanker vessel MT High Strength  for a consideration of USD 16.4 millionThe 46,800 dwt MR tanker is , built in 2009 by Nakai Zosen Corporation, Japan. DMS is a JV with the Mitsubishi Group, in which d’Amico Tankers (Ireland) holds a 51% participation.MT High Strength will continue its current time-charter out contract with d’Amico Tankers until October 2019, said the product tanker market operator.This transaction allows DM Shipping to generate around US$ 12.3 million in cash…

MetalCraft Marine’s 10 Meter Interceptor model is a formidable workboat. Defined by the sum of its myriad parts, it really can be seen that ‘the equipment makes the boat.’ This month, we ask "What's in Your workboat?"In a business where there is rarely any shortage of pretty boats, cutting edge designs and equally impressively performing workboat tonnage, it is also true that the real value to any design is cemented by the very equipment that makes it run. Typically, however, comparing apples to apples when it comes to selecting your next patrol, fire, SAR or pilot boat is almost impossible. Until now.Kick the tires. Pop open the hood. Put this one up on the jacks. Spend a little time under the chassis.

The response to troubles at Thyssenkrupp's plant engineering and shipbuilding division could determine whether interim boss Guido Kerkhoff has a realistic shot at keeping the top job, three people familiar with the matter said.Settling who will succeed Heinrich Hiesinger, who left in July over a strategy clash with leading shareholders, will help to determine whether Thyssenkrupp clings on to its conglomerate structure or seeks ways to simplify its business.The 50-year-old Kerkhoff, who served as finance chief under Hiesinger and was given the top job pending the appointment of a permanent suc

Creditors of Stanford Marine Group (SMG), which has links to troubled private equity firm Abraaj, are in talks with three potential buyers, sources familiar with the matter say.Banks are overseeing control of Dubai-based SMG after it failed to meet the terms of its debt obligations due to financial stress linked to a steep fall in chartering rates, the sources said.SMG, which operates offshore supply vessels that service the oil and gas industry, is 51 percent owned by a fund managed by Abraaj. Dubai-based Abraaj filed for provisional liquidation in June after a row with investors over the use of their money in a $1 billion healthcare fund.

Global LNG imports rose by 20 percent in 2017; new demand emerges across South, Southeast Asia. Soaring gas demand from China, India and Southeast Asia is sucking up an LNG supply glut previously expected to last for years, opening opportunity for new production from East Africa to North America that had been deemed part of the overhang. Trade flows in Eikon show global liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports have risen 40 percent since 2015, to almost 40 billion cubic metres (bcm) a month. Growth accelerated in 2017, with imports up by a fifth, largely due to China, but also South Korea and Japan. Asia's LNG market has been glutted since 2015, following massive development that began in the early 2000s.

DONG Energy said it has reached a settlement with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Technip over who bears responsibility for construction errors concerning an offshore platform for the idled Hejre field. The settlement clears a major hurdle for the Danish company's plans to divest its oil and gas unit to focus on its growing business of developing offshore wind farms. DONG said in a statement that the agreement will reduce the 2.5 billion Danish crowns ($367 million) of provisions it made in relation to the Hejre field ahead of its listing, which was one of the largest in the world last year. It will also have a positive impact of around 900 million crowns on operating profit in DONG's Discontinued Operations…

A closed arbitrage from other regions and refinery shutdowns have tightened the Mediterranean diesel market driving cargo premiums to ICE gasoil futures to their highest since August 2015. "It's almost impossible to find cargoes for the first half of May in the Mediterranean," one trader active in the region said. "Arbitrage from the U.S. (into the Mediterranean) is not really working, or just working on a 10-minute basis so nobody is able to fix cargoes," he added. As a result, delivered Mediterranean diesel cargo premiums to the ICE May gasoil low-sulphur futures contract <DL-CIF-MED> rose to $11 a tonne on Thursday, their highest since August 2015. "The Mediterranean is very strong, but very little is pointing towards the region arbitrage-wise," another trader said.

The LNG shipping market tightened throughout the third quarter, and rates increased sharply in October following gradual increases since May. This was due in part to strong LNG demand from China which helped to widen the arbitrage between spot LNG import prices in Europe, U.S. and Asia. This led to increased cargoes from the Atlantic basin and an associated increase of average sailing distances. The current market dynamic is supportive for a further increase in rates during a seasonally strong period of the year. It is also important to note that a relatively small portion of the global fleet of LNGC operates in the spot market (less than 10%), which can result in periods of increased volatility.