Refinitiv News

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Sunday that it targeted a Liberia-flagged container vessel in the Gulf of Aden, claiming its first attack on shipping lanes since Israel carried out a retaliatory airstrike in Hodeidah port on July 20.Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised statement that the MV Groton was attacked by ballistic missiles.British maritime agency UKMTO and British security firm Ambrey said on Saturday that the vessel was targeted by a missile 125 nautical miles east of Yemen's port of Aden.

Yemen's Houthis said they targeted the MSC Darwin ship in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, as the Iran-aligned group resumed attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea region in solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in the Gaza war.The Houthis also fired a number of ballistic and winged missiles at several targets in Israel's port city of Eilat, the group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech on Thursday.The Liberian-flagged MSC Darwin VI ship was in the area of the attack…

A ship carrying 16,000 sheep and cows that turned back from the Red Sea due to the risk of attack off Yemen was stranded at an Australian port in a heatwave on Friday as the exporter sought to offload at least some of the animals into quarantine.Meanwhile, another vessel carrying an even larger cargo - tens of thousands of animals - from Australia sailed for a Red Sea port in Jordan, with a contingency plan to unload them in the Gulf if it fails to obtain permission to enter the…

Shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk reported a steep drop in third-quarter profit and revenue on Friday and said it would cut at least 10,000 jobs in the face of overcapacity, rising costs, and weaker prices.Maersk, which controls about one-sixth of global container trade, transporting goods for a host of major retailers and consumer goods companies such as Walmart and Nike, flagged a steeper downturn in demand than analysts and investors had expected."Our industry is facing a new normal with subdued demand…

Russia's seaborne diesel and gasoil exports in August rose by 2% from a month earlier to about 3.85 million metric tons on healthy fuel production, data from traders and LSEG showed.Idle primary oil refining capacity for August was estimated at 3.1 million metric tons versus 2.458 million metric tons in July, Refinitiv Eikon data and Reuters calculations showed.After the full EU embargo on Russian oil products took effect on Feb. 5, Turkey remains the main destination for Russian diesel and gasoil seaborne exports…

A liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from Russia's Gazprom being sent via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) for the first time is destined for the Chinese port of Jingtang, Refinitiv ship tracking data shows.The Velikiy Novgorod tanker was loaded at the Portovaya LNG plant on the Baltic Sea on Aug. 14, according to the data.As of Wednesday, it was moving in the Kara Sea in the Arctic with the data showing an estimated arrival at Jingtang on Sept. 12.Earlier this month, Russia also shipped a rare naphtha cargo via the North Sea route, according to traders and Refinitiv data.(Reuters - Reporting by Oksana Kobzeva; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Jason Neely)

Russia is shipping a naphtha cargo via the North Sea Route (NSR) as Moscow seeks to increase supplies using the route to major trade partner China, cutting its way through European waters, traders said and Refinitiv data showed.SCF Irtysh is loaded with with 37,000 tonnes of naphtha onboard, loaded at Ust-Luga port on August 5, 2023, for delivery to China. It is the first such loading since at least the late 2000s, according to two traders.The supplier of the cargo was Gazprom Neft, the traders said.

A cargo of Iranian crude oil that was seized by the United States was unloading on Sunday after waiting two-and-a-half months off the coast of Texas to discharge, ship tracking data showed.Suez Rajan, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, has been anchored off Galveston, about 50 miles (80 km) outside of Houston, since May 30, unable to unload because commercial agents fear any vessel that takes it will be shunned by customers.But on Sunday, the Liberia-flagged tanker MR Euphrates was lined up next to Suez Rajan to perform a ship-to-ship transfer and remove the crude oil, according to ship tracking data on Refinitiv Eikon.The U.S. Department of Justice…

A Russian warship on Sunday fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the southwestern Black Sea as it made its way northwards, the first time Russia has fired on merchant shipping beyond Ukraine since exiting a landmark UN-brokered grain deal last month.In July, Russia halted participation in the Black Sea grain deal that allowed Ukraine to export agricultural produce via the Black Sea. Moscow said that it deemed all ships heading to Ukrainian waters to be potentially carrying weapons.On Sunday, Russia said in a statement that its Vasily Bykov patrol ship had fired automatic weapons on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship's captain failed to respond to a request to halt for an inspection.Russia said the vessel was making its way toward the Ukrainian port of Izmail.

The drought-hit Panama Canal has temporarily limited the number of new reserved passage slots to help ease a bottleneck of ships that are waiting to transit without reservations, the waterway's authority said on Thursday.A logjam of commercial vessels seeking to pass through the canal, one of the world's busiest trade passages, has sent companies that typically use the waterway chasing alternative routes, according to executives and data.Any delay or disruption can put shippers on edge.

More than 100 firefighters fought a huge blaze at grain silos in the French Atlantic port of La Rochelle on Thursday, disrupting shipping activity at one of France's biggest grain export terminals.The fire started on a conveyor belt at around 8:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) in a grain silo complex operated by SICA Atlantique, the local prefecture said.Some 120 firefighters brought the blaze under control, helped by the use of a 72-metre (236.22 ft) high lift platform to access the conveyor belt above the grain silos…

Cuba has begun using its own tankers to ramp up crude imports from Mexico, which in the second quarter surpassed Russia as a key oil provider to the fuel-thirsty island, according to vessel monitoring data.Following days-long lines to fill drivers' tanks and power blackouts, the communist-run nation saddled with harsh U.S. economic sanctions has broadened its sources of oil imports in a move to ease fuel scarcity, replenish stocks and reduce dependence on its traditional and largest supplier, Venezuela. Washington has also sanctioned Venezuela's oil industry since 2019 over election-fraud claims.Mexico has emerged as a top provider, sending oil on a vessel owned by state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and ships managed by Cuba.

Shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk warned on Friday of a steeper decline in global demand for shipping containers by sea this year, prompted by muted economic growth and customers reducing inventories.The company, one of the world's biggest container shippers with a market share of around 17%, said it expects container volumes to fall by as much as 4%. It had previously forecast a decline of no more than 2.5%.Maersk transports goods for retailers and consumer companies such as Walmart…

A Liberian-flagged oil tanker set sail in May from Russia's Ust-Luga port carrying crude on behalf of a little-known trading company based in Hong Kong. Before the ship had even reached its destination in India, the cargo changed hands.The new owner of the 100,000 tonnes of Urals crude carried on the Leopard I was a similarly low-profile outfit, Guron Trading, also based in Hong Kong, according to two trading sources.The number of little-known trading firms relied on by Moscow to export large volumes of crude exports to Asia has mushroomed in recent months…

A tanker containing liquefied natural gas (LNG) that originated from a Russia supplier and was loaded onto a Gunvor Group-chartered vessel off the coast of France was turned away this week by Argentine energy firm Enarsa, according to officials.The tanker Flex Artemis was in the South Atlantic and heading northeast on Thursday, according to Refinitiv vessel tracking. It had carried LNG from Yamal in Russia, according to a trader familiar with the matter, and had arrived in Argentine waters about July 14.The rejection is one more sign of the energy market upheavals since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year and of a growing wariness of buyers involving even authorized deals with Russia-originated fuels.

Top LNG traders Shell and BP have separately filed for arbitration against U.S. exporter Venture Global LNG for failing to supply contracted cargoes, even as it sold to non-contract customers as prices soared, four people familiar with the matter said.A Venture Global LNG spokesperson did not comment on the Shell and BP claims. Last month, the company said it was in full compliance with terms of its long-term contracts and cited a need for extensive commissioning of its modular…

The U.S. Navy said it had intervened to prevent Iran from seizing two commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, in the latest in a series of attacks on ships in the area since 2019.In a statement, the U.S. Navy said that at 0100 local time (2100 GMT), an Iranian naval vessel had approached the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker TRF Moss in international waters in the Gulf of Oman."The Iranian vessel departed the scene when U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul arrived on station…

Russia's seaborne diesel and gasoil exports in June rose by 13% from a month earlier to about 3.6 million tonnes as seasonal refineries maintenance eased, data from traders and Refinitiv Eikon showed. Idle primary oil refining capacity for June was estimated at 4.029 million tonnes, down from May, and may fall to 1.683 million tonnes in July, Refinitiv data and Reuters calculations showed. In August, Russia will also cut its oil exports by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), potentially yielding more supply for domestic refining and fuel production. Since the full EU embargo on Russian oil products took effect on Feb. 5, Turkey remains the main destination for Russian diesel and gasoil seaborne exports…

Cheniere Energy Inc's Sabine Pass LNG export facility returned to full production this week after undergoing maintenance, data from Refinitiv showed.The increased production is expected to help third quarter exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) which fell in May to 7.66 million tonnes from a record 8.01 million tonnes in April, as plant maintenance curbed some output.The Louisiana-based export facility started reducing its natural gas consumption on June 1 when it fell to 3.77 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) from 4.56 bcfd on May 31…

The costs of chartering supertankers to move crude oil from the Middle East to Asia have jumped to the highest since April as more cargoes are being booked in June, according to industry sources and data on Refinitiv Eikon.The rate for a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) from the Middle East to China, Japan and Singapore is assessed at just above worldscale 80 on Thursday, according to shipbroking firm Meiwa International, the highest levels since April. Worldscale (W) is an industry…

-Monthly sales of marine fuel, also known as bunker fuel, hit over five-year highs at the world's largest refuelling hub Singapore in May as vessel arrivals spiked amid firm container throughput, official data showed on Wednesday.Singapore's bunker sales are an indicator of sentiment at one of the world's major ports and demand also affects fuel oil refining margins in Asia. Sales extended gains for a third consecutive month to 4.52 million tonnes, up 6.2% month-on-month, Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority data showed.

Ports in China's Shandong province are demanding more detailed information about oil tankers that are more than 15 years old that call at their terminals, sources with knowledge of the matter said, potentially delaying the unloading of crude shipments in the world's biggest oil importer.Last week, the maritime safety administrations at Qingdao and Rizhao, which covers the oil terminals at the port of Lanshan, notified shipping agencies to submit details on their ships' age, where a ship is flagged…

Russia's seaborne oil exports from Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiisk hit 4-year record of 2.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in May as domestic refineries maintenance season freed up extra barrels, Refinitiv Eikon data showed on Monday.Russia's oil exports have been growing steadily over the last couple of months even though the state pledged additional cuts in line with OPEC+ members. Saudi Arabia has recently announced a deep cut to its output in July on top of a broader OPEC+ deal.Russian refineries cut runs in May amid major seasonal maintenance on most plants…