Seng Li Peng News

The Philippine unit of Royal Dutch Shell said on Tuesday it will permanently shut one of the country's two oil refineries, blaming a pandemic-led slump in margins, with other regional closures likely to follow, according to analysts.Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp said its 110,000-barrel-per-day Tabangao facility in Batangas province, which began operations in 1962, was no longer economically viable and would be turned into an import terminal.Singapore's complex refining margin…

Two of six tankers used to store gasoline in Asia have arrived in Indonesia, with shipments into Asia's largest petrol importer expected to rise this month versus May as Pertamina replenishes stocks, according to industry sources and Refinitiv shipping data.Indonesia's fuel demand slumped in the second quarter and inventories rose after the government imposed measures to curb the coronavirus, prompting companies to store gasoline onboard ships off Singapore and Malaysia.The tankers - Aframax-sized Sloane Square, chartered by Equinor and carrying Norwegian gasoline - and Panamax-sized SCF Prudencia chartered by Pertamina, arrived at Indonesia's Merak and Tuban ports…

The founder and director of Singapore oil-trading company Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd (HLT) directed the firm not to disclose hundreds of millions of dollars in losses over several years, he said in a court filing reviewed by Reuters.The affidavit signed by Lim Oon Kuin, a Singaporean in his 70s widely known as O.K. Lim, is part of a Friday filing to the Singapore High Court by HLT and subsidiary Ocean Tankers (Pte) Ltd, seeking a six-month moratorium on debts of $3.85 billion to 23 banks.The filing cites a collapse in the oil price and the coronavirus pandemic…

Singapore oil trader Hin Leong held a call with banks on Tuesday after they failed to provide a letter of credit to the firm to purchase at least one cargo of oil products due to load this month, four sources said.The coronavirus pandemic has led to an unprecedented slump in fuel demand and hammered oil prices, making it difficult for trading firms to make a profit. Hin Leong is one of the largest fuel traders in Asia and an operator of a major tanker fleet.Several banks which offer credit facilities to Hin Leong held a call with the company and its advisers on Tuesday…

A fire broke out onboard the Panama-flagged tanker 'HOYU' within Singapore waters, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said in a statement on Thursday.Shipping data in Eikon showed that the tanker was fully laden with an unspecified oil cargo and was bound for the Philippines.The Singapore Civil Defense Force, Singapore Police Coast Guard and the Republic of Singapore Navy deployed vessels to render assistance to the HOYU crew, the statement added.All 18 crew members have been safely evacuated, and the fire has been put out, it said.There were no reports of injury or pollution and shipping traffic was unaffected.MPA is investigating the incident, it said.

Refineries at Port Dickson on Peninsular Malaysia's west coast are unable to receive crude oil after a port facility that carries crude from the ships to the plants broke down.A system known as a single point mooring (SPM) unit, a loading buoy anchored offshore that allows tankers to offload their crude via pipeline to the refineries, has been out of service, the refinery operators said.The SPM connects to a refinery operated by Hengyuan Refining Company Bhd (HRC), a subsidiary of China's Shandong Hengyuan Petrochemical Co…

High-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO), essentially the leftovers of an oil refiner's output, will still flow from refineries around the world even after new rules start up in 2020 curtailing its use in the global shipping fleet, a Reuters survey showed.Sixty percent of the 33 refineries contacted by Reuters in a global survey will still produce HSFO in 2020 although the supply will tighten as 70 percent of these refiners plan to reduce their output.Starting that year, ships will have to use marine fuel…

Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said it is investigating a collision between two tankers in Singapore waters on Tuesday that led to a leak of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from one of the ships.An estimated 1,796 tonnes of butane gas leaked from the LPG tanker involved but this posed no danger to shipping and measures had been taken by the ship's crew to stop the leak, MPA said in a statement."As liquefied butane has a high evaporation rate, MPA has assessed that any leaked butane would have been carried southward away from mainland Singapore, where most of it would have rapidly dissipated to below flammable levels within an hour and pose no risk to shipping…

Two oil products tankers had collided off Singapore coast but the impact of the accident was not immediately clear, industry sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The tankers were identified as Crystal Sunrise, chartered by Japanese liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) firm Gyxis, and Astro Saturn chartered by European trading house Trafigura. "We can confirm that the Astro Saturn is on TC (time charter) to Trafigura and is carrying fuel oil," said it's spokeswoman without elaborating further. According to data from Thomson Reuters Eikon, Crystal Sunrise is a Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC) with a deadweight tonne (DWT) of 54,070 tonnes carrying Middle Eastern origin LPG.

Harvey delays at least 300,000 T of U.S. LPG shipments. Shipments of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the United States have been held up by the havoc wrought by tropical storm Harvey since last Friday, but Asian buyers are betting the situation will improve before supplies are critically squeezed. At least 300,000 tonnes in LPG shipments to Asia have been delayed after U.S. Gulf ports were shut, based on the estimates from four sources who buy mainly U.S. cargoes. Asia is short of LPG, which in the form of butane or propane is used for transportation, heating, cooking and petrochemical production. Based on IHS Markit data, Asia imported close to 53 million tonnes of LPG in 2016, with about 66 percent coming from the Middle East and 22 percent from the United States.

Mideast demand especially strong due to refinery outages. Rates for tankers carrying refined fuels like gasoline and diesel have soared this month as trade activity picked up and caused a supply crunch in ships, several shipbrokers and traders said. The high rates indicate strong consumer fuel demand due to the persistently low crude oil prices that have resulted from years of oversupply, refiners said. "Our order books are pretty good. Whether it's gasoline for cars or diesel for industry, we're receiving calls to ship more fuel," said one shipper based in Singapore. Rates for medium-range (MR) tankers carrying about 30,000 tonnes of oil products like gasoline…

Record U.S. LPG exports to Asia flip market into a glut. Last year, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supplied to Asia was being snapped up by petrochemical makers. Now, after a flood of U.S. exports into the region, the market is awash with LPG and supplies are being stored in ships anchored off Singapore. At least four Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGCs) are parked off Singapore, including the "BW Carina" and "Berge Nantong", both of which have been there for at least a week, shipping data carried on Thomson Reuters Eikon showed. Some of the vessels are expected to stay until September, traders said. Middle East supply is also high with at least four other vessels…

South Korea, Asia's largest buyer of condensate, will step up purchases of the ultra light oil from Iran by more than 50 percent in June, two sources said, as competitive pricing squeezes out rival oil from Qatar. Expected June shipments of condensate from Iran may reach at least six million barrels, or 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), said the sources. This would be a record level of imports, four times that in January when sanctions on Tehran were lifted, according to data from Korea National Oil Corp. In contrast, condensate imports from Qatar in April have fallen to 5.32 million barrels, down 19 percent from January, KNOC data showed.

Gasoline shifted from tankers to landed storage or sold off; forward gasoline prices to flip to backwardation from July. The number of tankers storing gasoline in waters off Singapore and Malaysia is dwindling as the fuel is sold off or shifted to cheaper onshore storage because of changes in forward delivery terms, traders familiar with the matter said. With the economics of storing the fuel on tankers no longer viable due to a stronger forward market, there are now fewer than three long-range (LR) vessels holding gasoline in the area. The traders said by the end of this week all remaining tankers could be discharged as the fuel's owners seek to sell the gasoline or store it more cheaply onshore.

Aramco Trading, the trading arm of oil producer Saudi Aramco, has offered a rare gasoil cargo with a 1.5 percent sulphur content for June lifting from Rabigh, traders said on Thursday. The 500,000 barrel cargo was offered through a tender closing on May 29, with bids to stay valid until June 1. It was unclear what had led to the offer of the gasoil cargo but the 400,000 barrel Rabigh refinery is scheduled to undergo a 50-day maintenance starting Oct. 4. The offer came at a time when Saudi Aramco's gasoil consumption is about to peak as summer approaches. However, its gasoil imports are expected to be hit record low levels this year due to new refineries built in the last two years. Reporting by Seng Li Peng

Oil prices fell on Wednesday as concerns about demand for fuel kept worries about a global supply glut intact. Both Brent and U.S. crude significantly pared losses just before government data showed U.S. crude oil inventories fell 1.8 million barrels last week, a bigger drop than analyst expectations for a 100,000-barrel dip in stocks. After initially paring more losses, crude futures pushed lower. U.S. gasoline stocks rose 3.0 million barrels and distillate stocks were up 1.9 million barrels last week, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed, as refiners lifted capacity utilization 0.9 percentage point to 94.4 percent. The EIA data followed American Petroleum Institute data released on Tuesday that showed an increase in U.S. stockpiles.

China is set to import more than 335,000 tonnes of naphtha and diesel, rare moves for the world's no. 2 oil consumer given it has been self-sufficient at meeting domestic oil product demand, industry sources said on Friday. Unipec, the trading arm of top Chinese oil firm Sinopec, has bought more than 300,000 tonnes of naphtha for delivery into China. Traders said the firm rarely buys specifically for China. State-run Sinochem has bought at least 35,000 tonnes of diesel for October-to-November delivery and could import more, industry sources said. CNOOC and PetroChina have bought 105,000 tonnes of diesel and could buy more, they said, though volumes could not be confirmed. China became a net diesel exporter in 2013.

Brent crude fell for a third day on Wednesday, slipping further below $97 a barrel as inflated supplies and weak economic data from Europe outweighed rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. * U.S. The European economic data and a rise in oil exports from Iraq and Nigeria overshadowed a boost from China with Tuesday's release of a better-than-expected flash Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for September. U.S. air strikes on militants in Syria also failed to lift prices. Brent for November delivery slipped 1 cent to $96.84 a barrel by 0704 GMT, although U.S. crude rose 29 cents to $91.85 a barrel. "Oil prices did not really gather the support coming from China's manufacturing data from yesterday as softer European manufacturing data followed…

Traders Mercuria, Trafigura and SOCAR cut gasoline desks; new refining capacity slashes traditional profitability. U.S. refining boom weighs on global light products. Trading houses are shrinking their gasoline desks in response to a slump in activity, particularly in Europe, where overseas competition and rising global supplies have limited opportunities to make money. New and highly competitive refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, in Asia and the Middle East have increased global supplies of the motor fuel. That has made the most active and lucrative trading routes, such as the transatlantic arbitrage between Europe and the U.S. East Coast, less and less profitable for traders. "After a decent beginning to the year, the arbitrage to the U.S.

Asia petrochemicals firms are building tanks and retooling plants to store and process liquefied petroleum gas imported from the United States, counting on a flood of supply from the shale boom to replace costlier naphtha as a raw material. Samsung Total Petrochemical, LG Chem and Royal Vopak are among a number of companies in Asia expanding import terminals or retrofitting plants over the next one to two years as they buy more LPG. The gas is used by petrochemicals firms to make a broad range of consumer and industrial plastics. Asian petrochemicals firms have traditionally used naphtha as a raw material. They are now switching to LPG because rising U.S. supplies have pushed prices below those of both naphtha and LPG from their main supplier, the Middle East.

Brent crude fell below $104 a barrel on Thursday, after briefly bouncing off a 13-month low the previous day, on ample supplies and concerns about weak demand despite the ongoing political turmoil in Iraq and Ukraine. * Coming up: U.S. Oil exports from Libya's Ras Lanuf port have resumed after a year of blockades by armed protesters, while U.S. crude stocks unexpectedly rose last week. September Brent crude fell 48 cents to $103.80 a barrel by 0655 GMT. The contract, expiring on Thursday, fell to $102.37 on Wednesday, its weakest since July 2013. U.S. crude was down 46 cents at $97.13 a barrel. "The supply outlook has been pretty rosy. OPEC production has been pretty good. Supply in Iraq is unaffected," said Phin Ziebell, economist at the National Australia Bank (NAB).