Socar News

India stopped exporting diesel to the European Union this month due to the European Union's ban on fuel derived from Russian crude and instead sent a record amount to West Africa, shipping data from Kpler and Vortexa showed, while Turkey's diesel exports to the EU slowed in recent months.The developments highlight that the EU policy, aimed at punishing Russia over its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, is prompting a further reordering of intercontinental oil flows, forcing…

Saipem, in consortium with BOS Shelf LLC and BOS Shelf International FZCO, (both companies being affiliates to the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic, SOCAR) has been awarded three new offshore contracts for the Shah Deniz Compression project operated by bp in Azerbaijan.The overall value of the contracts is approximately $700 million, and Saipem’s share amounts to $600 million.Saipem’s scope of work encompasses the transportation and installation of a new 19,000-ton compression platform in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea…

Oil executives called on Thursday for a return to navigation through the Red Sea en route to the Suez Canal following a halt in attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, but said firms were cautiously monitoring shipping conditions and competitors.A Liberian-flagged oil tanker that was attacked last year sailed through the Red Sea this week, the Suez Canal said on Monday, in one of the first voyages since the Houthi rebels last month said they would limit attacks on commercial vessels to Israel-linked ships until the Gaza ceasefire is fully implemented.

Russia's seaborne diesel and gasoil exports are expected to fall in August to the lowest since September 2023 at 2.7 million-2.8 million metric tons due to refinery maintenance and domestic fuel demand, LSEG and market sources data show.Russia's refinery runs in August were steady or slightly higher than in July, but diesel production is seen declining due to the overhaul of secondary refining units at several refineries, according to traders' data and Reuters calculations.Russian seaborne diesel loadings to Brazil could fall this month to the lowest since February 2023 at around 450…

Esgian provides an update on semisub activities in Norway and Australia in its Week 23 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsTransocean has announced contract fixtures for three harsh environment (HE) semisubmersibles. Together, the fixtures represent approximately $161 million in firm contract backlog.Shelf Drilling has secured a 15-month award for the 357-ft jackup Shelf Drilling Tenacious for drilling operations offshore West Africa.Murphy Oil Corporation has exercised an option to extend the contract for the 12…

Azerbaijan’s state energy company, SOCAR, said on Sunday its offshore gas platforms in the Caspian Sea were safe after media reports of a large fire in the area.Videos and photos published online showed smoke rising above the sea off the coast. Russia’s RIA news agency cited SOCAR as saying that an eruption of mud was the most likely reason for that, although it did not explain how it could cause a fire.“No incidents have happened at the offshore fields and industrial structures controlled by SOCAR…

Mathieu Philippe has been appointed to the new position of Commercial Director – Marine at classification society Bureau Veritas. Returning to Paris, where he started his career in shipping, Philippe brings extensive experience in commercial ship operations, markets and management to Bureau Veritas. He reports to Marine & Offshore President Matthieu de Tugny, and leads the marine markets team, providing expertise and technology leadership across all major ship types, ship fuel and propulsion technology.With growing compliance requirements and demands for transparency…

More than 90 percent of the construction works of the Pirshagi Wastewater Treatment Plant, funded by the Government of Azerbaijan and the Korea Export-Import Bank, has been completed.According to Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company (ASCO), this facility is the first modern wastewater treatment plant in Azerbaijan developed on the basis of new technologies.Given that 400 m of the exhaust line of the Pirshagi Wastewater Treatment Plant was installed on land, and a part with a length of 1300 m – at the sea, a route along the sea bottom was determined in advance. ASCO specialized vessels carried out dredging operations and successfully completed their task.Dredging operations were carried out on the digging vessel “Muhandis B.

U.S. crude exports are gaining traction in Europe as even Ukraine turns into a significant consumer of American barrels at the expense of Russian supplies amid heightened U.S. political pressure on Moscow and problems over contaminated Russian oil.Ukraine this month received its first ever barrels from the United States, according to Refinitiv Eikon flows data, as the tanker Wisdom Venture unloaded 80,000 tonnes of Bakken crude in Odessa on July 6 for the Kremenchug refinery,…

An explosion at an LPG tanker killed one Italian crew member and injured 15 others at the port of Aliaga in Turkey's western Izmir province late on Monday, petrochemicals maker Petkim said.The vessel was anchored at a harbour at the Petkim petrochemical plant operated by the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR.Italian crew member Roberto Montegurdia died in the incident, Aliaga province's sub-Governor Erhan Gunay told reporters."At Petkim Pier 5 around 23:20 (2020 GMT), a fire broke out due to an unspecified reason during the connection to the Italian flagged Synzania for the filling of liquid hydrocarbons," Petkim said in a press statement."As a result of the immediate intervention of our teams…

A clash between trading house Vitol and Azerbaijan's SOCAR over Caspian Sea oil shipments is forcing Turkmenistan to slash exports of crude due to a lack of tankers.Turkmenistan typically exports about 200,000 tonnes of oil per month via the Caspian to world markets, mainly from fields operated by the UAE's ENOC and Italy's Eni, but flows have halved in recent weeks, six traders involved in operations said.That happened after Turkmen producers decided to export oil via Russia with the help of Swiss trader Vitol and ditch the previous Azeri route…

Oman Shipping Company (OSC) is reporting strong performance in domestic markets following long-term deals with local refineries and traders including ORPIC and OTI.OSC’s growth in the region is being driven by a 20-year contract to transport condensate for ORPIC (Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company) and a 15-year deal transporting methanol for OTI (Oman Trading International) from Salalah Methanol plant.The company is further supporting the export of LPG from Sohar Refinery to Yemen, Sudan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

APM Terminals have reached agreement to divest its container terminal in Izmir, Turkey to its current partner SOCAR.As part of the sales agreement, APM Terminals will continue managing the terminal, ensuring that needs from both shipping lines and landside customers are catered for, said a press release from the company.The sale is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to finalize in the coming months. In the new structure, operating company Petlim will be fully owned by SOCAR Turkey, and managed by APM Terminals.The terminal, to be named Petlim Container Terminal, located in Aliağa, is the largest container terminal in Turkey’s Aegean region with a capacity of 1.3 million TEU per year.Over the last two years…

Azeri state oil company SOCAR and Norway's Equinor on Wednesday signed a risk service contract for the development of the Karabakh offshore oil and natural gas field in the Caspian Sea.The two companies also signed a product-sharing agreement for Ashrafi, Dan-Ulduzu and Aypara exploration area."The agreements signed today represent a natural next step in the region. This will strengthen our position in a prolific basin and develop growth options," Equinor Chief Executive Eldar Saetre said in a statement.To operate the licences, Equinor and SOCAR will form a 50-50 joint operating company.

SOCAR, the the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic, and BP signed a new production sharing agreement (PSA) for the joint exploration and development of Block D230 in the North Absheron basin in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. The PSA was signed in London, in the presence of UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, by Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR, and BP group chief executive Bob Dudley. Speaking at the signing event  Abdullayev said: “We have a long tradition of successful cooperation with BP. I believe that the synergies between modern upstream technology and unique historical experience, embodied in both companies, create a solid basis for our continued success.

Vitol seen storing gasoline off Singapore as local onshore light distillates stocks at record levels. European trader Vitol is storing gasoline on tankers offshore Singapore, Asia's biggest oil trading centre, for the first time since 2016 amid oversupply and weak demand for the fuel, said four people that participate in the market on Wednesday. The sources said that Vitol was seen storing gasoline aboard more than one so-called Long-Range (LR) tanker. The company does not typically comment on its trading operations. At least one of the vessels is the tanker Glory Crescent, a so-called LR-2 tanker, said one of the four sources. The vessel is 105,000 deadweight tonnes and could carry the equivalent of about 800,000 barrels of gasoline.

The vessel was named Khankendi by the President of Azerbaijan, H.E. Ilham Aliyev, at a ceremony in Baku Shipyard and launched by the Shah Deniz consortium. Baku Shipyard LLC, a joint venture between Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC), has completed a Subsea Construction Vessel (SCV) for the Caspian region. The Khankendi will be deployed to the Shah Deniz field where it is expected to perform subsea installation and construction work over the next eleven years.

Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M) through its subsidiary in Azerbaijan, Caspian Shipyard Company (CSC), is on track to deliver a semisubmersible drilling rig to Caspian Drilling Company Ltd, a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). The rig was named Heydar Aliyev at a ceremony in Azerbaijan today by the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. Built to Keppel FELS' proprietary DSSTM 38M design, the rig has been customized for the Caspian Sea's harsh environment condition. It is the first modern semisubmersible to be almost completely built in Azerbaijan.

Turkish maritime authorities have reopened Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait to transiting tankers after shutting it earlier on Saturday for several hours following what the government said was an attempted coup by a faction in the military. The Bosphorus is one of world's most important chokepoints for the maritime transit of oil with over three percent of global supply - mainly from Russia and the Caspian Sea - passing through the 17-mile waterway that connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. It also ships vast amounts of grains from Russia and Kazakhstan to world markets. On Saturday, forces loyal to the Turkish government fought to crush the remnants of a military coup attempt, following violence and clashes in Ankara and Istanbul.

The bodies of six oil workers missing from an Azeri oil platform in the Caspian Sea that caught fire on Friday have been found, the state energy company SOCAR said on Monday. It said a helicopter search for the other missing would continue at daybreak. Out of the 62 people who were on the Guneshli oil rig when the fire started, one was confirmed dead on Sunday and 33 were rescued. Efforts were also continuing to try to put the fire out. "As of now, at least one well is on fire," said Balamirza Alirahimov, chief engineer at Azneft, SOCAR's production union. The fire started on Friday after a storm caused some of the platform's production equipment to collapse, damaging a natural gas pipeline. The platform had daily production of 920 tonnes of oil and 1.08 million cubic metres of gas.

Forty two workers have been rescued from an offshore oil platform that caught fire in Azerbaijan's sector of the Caspian Sea, Azeri independent TV ANS said on Friday. Azeri state energy company SOCAR was not immediately available to comment. SOCAR said earlier that the fire started after a gas pipeline on the platform was damaged in heavy wind. It said the rescue attempt was being complicated by a heavy storm. One of the workers called a Reuters correspondent from the platform and said there were 84 people trapped. The worker did not want to be named. SOCAR also said earlier that workers were missing after an accident at another offshore oil platform during the storm. A search-and-rescue operation was underway, it added.

Three workers are missing after an accident at an offshore oil platform in the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan, Azeri state energy company SOCAR said on Friday.   SOCAR said a small cabin, where workers were living, was washed into the sea from the platform during a heavy storm.   "The accident did not affect the oil production process," the SOCAR spokesman, Nizameddin Guliyev, told reporters.   He said that a search-and-rescue operation was underway.   Four workers were killed and one went missing after a fire broke out on SOCAR's other oil and gas platform in the Caspian Sea in Oct. 2014. (Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; writing by Margarita Antidze; editing by Jane Merriman)

Russian Urals crude differentials continued to slide in the Baltic on Thursday amid a flurry of activity with softer refining margins, pushed down by higher oil prices, still keeping buyers at bay. In the Platts window, Statoil bought a 100,000-tonne cargo from Glencore for loadings on Oct. 18-22 in the Baltic at dated Brent minus $2 a barrel, some 20 cents weaker than on Wednesday, traders said. Litasco, Total and Vitol have found no buyers with offers of minus $1.80, $1.75 and $1.85 to dated Brent correspondingly. In the south, Litasco increased its bids for 80,000 and 140,000 cargoes to minus 95 cents and minus $1.20 to dated Brent respectively, without success. The were no deals with both Azeri and CPC Blend in the Platts window.