Venezuela News

International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) Offshore Energy Committee reported a further reduction in global offshore energy premiums.Global premiums in this sector were reported to be USD 3.4 billion which represented a 3% reduction from 2017. This continued the downward trend: premiums in 2017 were down 5% on the previous year and premiums in 2016 were down 21% on 2015.James McDonald, Chair of the IUMI Offshore Energy Committee said: "The drop in premium income has largely followed the oil price which has dipped by around 20% over the past year.

McQuilling Services Announces the Release of the 2019 Mid-Year Tanker Market Outlook Update.The Mid-Year Tanker Market Outlook Update provides an outlook on the global tanker market in the context of global economic growth and oil fundamentals influencing tanker demand and vessel supply. The outlook includes a view on future asset values, time charter rates, market freight rates and TCE revenues for 24 major tanker trades and four triangulated routes across eight vessel segments for the second half of 2019 through the remaining four years of the forecast period 2019-2023.

A fire swept through the engine room of a tanker owned by Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA on Monday while it was anchored at Amuay Bay near the country's largest refinery, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.The extent of the damage to the Panama-flagged Aframax tanker Proteo was not immediately clear. But it highlighted the poor state of much of the fleet belonging to PDV Marina, PDVSA's shipping subsidiary, at a time when U.S. sanctions are complicating its ability to lease vessels from third parties.Even before this fire…

The Panama Canal will allow vessels coming from Venezuela to transit the waterway provided they present the necessary paperwork, the canal authority's chief said on Wednesday, suggesting a new round of U.S. sanctions on the South American country may not make any difference to canal traffic.President Donald Trump's administration last week issued an executive order freezing all Venezuelan government assets in the United States. Shortly thereafter, U.S. officials ratcheted up threats against companies that do business with Venezuela.The measure did not explicitly place sanctions on non-U.S.

International Maritime Organization (IMO) treaties need to be implemented into national law so that they can be applied on ships flying the flag of a particular country and so that those countries can implement effective port State control and comply with other obligations under the specified IMO instruments.According to the UN body, an IMO course provides lawyers and legislative drafters with the tools they need to understand IMO treaties, how they are developed and adopted…

Panama's Canal Authority said on Wednesday that the canal was operating normally and without delays, adding that no ships had been detained in the trade waterway.The entity posted the statement on Twitter in response to a tweet from Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who said a ship carrying 25,000 tonnes of soy had been detained in the canal.Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon

Marco Segato has been appointed CEO of Sanlorenzo Americas, the division that has aided in the Italian superyacht-builder’s expansion in North, Central and South America for the last 10 years.The  Italian shipbuilding company company said that Marco Segato, formerly Vice President of Sales of Sanlorenzo Americas since 2014, held important positions in the field of strategic consulting and business development Having developed a great wealth of experience in the boating sector…

A U.S. court will decide whether a board of directors appointed by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro or one backed by his rival, opposition leader Juan Guaido, runs the eighth-largest U.S. refiner, Citgo Petroleum Corp.A lawsuit filed by Maduro's representatives on Tuesday in Delaware Chancery Court seeks to reassert control over Citgo , along with other U.S. subsidiaries of PDVSA , the Venezuelan state-run oil company.Citgo, Venezuela's most important foreign asset, has been caught in a tug-of-war as U.S.

The United States has a world-leading 293 billion barrels of recoverable oil resources, which is 20Bbbl more than Saudi Arabia and 100Bbbl more than Russia, with the Permian Basin leading that charge.Rystad Energy’s estimate of US recoverable oil is also five times more than officially reported proven reserves as published in the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2019.Tight oil plays in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico now hold 100 billion barrels of recoverable oil resources, according to Rystad Energy’s analysis.

U.S. total oil production, which is already off to an amazing start in 2019,  is on track to set another record for this year.New records are expected both when the final numbers for May emerge and at the end of the year, said Rystad Energy.The energy research and business intelligence company is raising its forecast for US crude output to 13.4 million barrels per day (bpd) by December 2019. For May 2019, our research and calculations point to crude oil production averaging 12.5 million bpd. Both are new all-time highs.“Our US supply projections have been revised up yet again.

Medium-sour crudes from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico are being snapped up by overseas buyers, paving way for a record six supertankers to load at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) in a matter of weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.The six scheduled loadings in late May and early June would double the record of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) reached in December. An unusual influx of Gulf of Mexico crudes to the U.S. deepwater export port and weakening prices are contributing to the exports…

One million barrels of Alaskan crude is due in China next week, the first such shipment in almost a year, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon and vessel-tracking firm Kpler.China's imports of U.S. crude have fallen amid the two countries' trade dispute to 41,600 barrels per day (bpd) in the six months ended February, from 377,000 bpd in the first half of 2018, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.Tanker Sonangol Cabinda departed last week from Alaska's Valdez terminal carrying Alaska North Slope (ANS) crude and is projected to arrive June 6 in Qingdao…

Average crude tanker spot rates moderately increased during the first quarter of 2019, as some of the positive drivers from late 2018 continued into early 2019, said Teekay Tankers."These included high seasonal oil demand, the impact of winter weather delays, and relatively high global oil production prior to the full implementation of OPEC supply cuts," it said.However, spot tanker rates weakened as the quarter went on, and the market faces a number of near-term headwinds during the second quarter of 2019.The largest operator of mid-sized tankers including suezmax…

On top of production declines in Iran and Venezuela, ongoing OPEC cuts, Urals contamination outages in Russia and maintenance in Kazakhstan, North Sea production is also struggling, Rystad Energy said."Currently we see unplanned outages at Oseberg and Flotta with combined impact of 160,000 bpd. Furthermore, the North Sea is heading into maintenance season," said the energy research and business intelligence company."We forecast North Sea oil production to drop next month to the lowest level since August 2014 as Ekofisk goes into maintenance…

The middle of the first quarter in 2019 saw tanker rates firming significantly, driven mainly by an increase in US exports, said Frontline Ltd. is the world's largest oil tanker shipping company.The tanker market pulled back in January due to OPEC production cuts and a high level of newbuilding deliveries after a strong end to 2018, it said.The market then came off primarily due to extended refinery maintenance in preparations for IMO 2020 and both new and persistent supply disruptions.Atlantic…

Supply disruptions in the Middle East on top of an already tight crude market could send oil prices violently upward, said the energy research firm Rystad Energy.Two Saudi Arabian oil tankers were reportedly attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates this weekend, sending crude futures up sharply May 13.Bjørnar Tonhaugen, Head of Oil Market Research at Rystad Energy, says: “In the short term, the perceived risk of supply disruptions from the area will only add to the premium of short-dated oil contracts compared to deferred contracts on the futures curve…

The United States has imposed sanctions on two shipping companies and two tankers involved in trade with Venezuela, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday.The two companies are based in Marshall Islands and Liberia, and both tankers have Panama flags, the Treasury said in a statement on its website.Reporting by Makini Brice

U.S. refiners had a plan for 2020: use their complex operations to maximize profits by making products that would comply with new international laws capping sulfur content in shipping fuels.But after a series of unexpected market moves, heavy, sour crude oil processed by U.S. refiners has become more expensive, eating up hoped-for profit windfalls before they even materialized, forcing refiners to rethink plans to invest more in heavy crude processing units.New regulations by…

As tensions with Venezuela mount, the United States is planning to announce on Tuesday the deployment of a military hospital ship to the region, U.S. officials say, in the latest sign of the Pentagon's limited, and targeted, involvement in the crisis.The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not specify where in the region the ship would travel to. Last year, a hospital ship -- the USNS Comfort -- cared for Venezuelan refugees and others as it stopped in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Honduras.The U.S. military's Southern Command, which oversees U.S.

At least 21 Venezuelans were missing after their boat sank on the way to the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday, citing information from that country's coast guard.The boat, the “Jhonnaly Jose”, was carrying at least 25 people from the Venezuelan coastal town of Guiria when it capsized in the early hours of Wednesday, UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva."This tragic incident highlights the extreme risks of sea journeys and other irregular cross-border movements undertaken by refugees and migrants.

The decision by the US government not to extend sanctions wavers for eight countries importing crude oil from Iran could remove around 1.1 million b/d from the market. But Saudi Arabia and several allies can replace the lost barrels, says a report.According to Rystad Energy, the production will drop to 2.27 million bpd for the second half of 2019, reaching this level by July 2019, which equates to a drop of 0.43 million barrels per day (bpd) from current March 2019 levels.The net effect for the oil market is bullish…

The United States on Friday announced more sanctions on shipping companies transporting oil from Venezuela, blacklisting four shipping companies and nine vessels, some of which the U.S. Treasury Department said carried oil to Cuba.The U.S. Treasury identified the firms as Liberia-based Jennifer Navigation Ltd, Lima Shipping Corp and Large Range Ltd, and Italy-based PB Tankers S.P.A.It blacklisted one tanker belonging to each of the Liberian firms and six owned by the Italian firm.A Treasury statement said Venezuela’s oil sector continued "to provide a lifeline to the illegitimate regime" of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.“We continue to target companies that transport Venezuelan oil to Cuba…

Venezuela's main oil export port of Jose and the country's four crude upgraders have been unable to resume operations following a massive power blackout on Monday, according to industry workers and a union leader close to the facilities.The most recent oil shipment for export, on the carrier Dragon chartered by Russia's Rosneft, left Jose, which is owned by state-run PDVSA, on March 24, according to Refinitiv Eikon vessel-tracking data and PDVSA's trade documents."There is no electricity, everything is paralyzed," oil workers' union leader Jose Bodas told Reuters on Tuesday.The blackout, Venezuela's second major power outage in a month…