Oil Price News

Marine Scrubbers: Yara Marine Plots the Path Forward, Post-COVID-19

Yara Marine Technologies COO Ina Reksten and Research and Development Manager Shyam Bahadur Thapa reflect on the effects of the coronavirus crisis and share their vision for a future beyond the pandemic.2020 will go down in history as the year that changed everything for many industries, not least the marine exhaust gas cleaning segment. “The coronavirus turned our world upside down virtually overnight,” confirms Ina Reksten, Yara Marine Technologies COO. Driven by the impending IMO 2020 sulfur cap…

Spring Oil Flood Causes Summer Queues in Chinese Ports

Chinese ports are struggling to unload record volumes of crude with storage tanks full after the country rushed to buy extra barrels during April's oil price crash, according to traders and shipping data seen by Reuters.More than 80 million barrels of crude oil are currently waiting to be discharged from tankers in Chinese ports, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.Half of those are at the Qingdao port area in Shandong province, where the waiting time is two-three weeks or sometimes even longer…

Geopolitics Dominate the Oil Tanker Market -BIMCO

Developments in the oil tanker market in the past decade dominated by geopolitics, says shipping association BIMCO.Crude oil and product tanker markets alike have faced high volatility in recent weeks and months, largely due to geopolitics and the constantly evolving situation in the global oil markets. The first major disturbance since the fall in the oil price between the fourth quarter of 2104 and first quarter of 2016 came in the fourth quarter of 2019, after which freight rates have bounced back despite a collapse in demand.In these extraordinary times…

Suez Canal Ship Transits Rise Amid COVID-19

Transits through the Suez Canal, the beating heart of the Egyptian economy, have stayed remarkably resilient to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic if judging by total transits of the three commercial shipping sectors which are up 8% year-on-year. This is despite bleak economic growth prospects world-wide following the pandemic, and highlights that shipping remains the backbone of the global economy.It is often said that a picture says more than 1,000 words, but 6,166 ship transits in the Suez Canal can certainly also tell an interesting tale.

Pandemic Forces Ship Owners to Shelve Scrubber Installs

Ship owners are postponing or canceling the installation of “scrubbers” that extract harmful sulphur emissions from their vessels as the coronavirus pandemic tightens finances.Regulations from United Nations agency the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which took effect in January, were viewed by the oil and shipping industries as one of the first worldwide efforts to enforce environmental change.The rules aimed to make ships use fuel with a sulphur content of 0.5%, compared with 3.5% previously.

BIMCO Tanker Rate Analysis: Reality Kicks In, Rates Fall

Tanker shipping: sky high freight rates replaced by reality of falling global oil demandGeopolitical tensions have now eased, leaving freight rates to feel the full effects of the weak underlying market and falling demand. Tanker shipping looks set to be under pressure for the rest of the year.Demand drivers and freight ratesThe tanker shipping industry was once again caught in a whirlwind, as freight rates skyrocketed with little regard to the poor market fundamentals before the latter once again caught up with rates.

LR’s Nick Brown: Climate Emergency is “same magnitude, different time domain" to COVID-19

As the maritime industry settles in on a COVID-19 induced ‘new norm,’ and long-range planning is dramatically shortened,, Nick Brown, Marine and Offshore Director, Lloyd’s Register, said that while much deserved focus must be paid to the current crisis, the industry cannot lose sight of another one looming just as large: climate change. “We strongly maintain that the climate emergency is an event of the same magnitude, just with a different time domain to COVID-19," Brown told Maritime Reporter & Engineering News recently.

Sailing Beyond Coronavirus

A new reality demands a new approach. Asbjørn Halsebakke, Product Manager, Yaskawa Environmental Energy / The Switch, argues that we can’t afford to let the greatest opportunity within the current crisis slip away.We can’t celebrate a pandemic. People are dying. Economies are crashing. Unemployment rates are rocketing. We are distanced – from those we love, but also from our immediate past. Life as we know it has been turned upside down. So, we can’t celebrate. But nature can.Instant impactAs we have retreated into our homes, the natural world has come out to play.

BIMCO: 2020 and the Collapse of Bunker Fuel Markets

The sulfur regulation from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that came into force on 1 January 2020 took the center stage in the shipping industry at outset of the new decade. Four months on, the spotlights have turned to the coronavirus and the OPEC+ oil price war.The outlook for global economic growth remains bleak as the world is faced with the largest recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s.Commodity prices have declined across the board and most recently…

US Says No Requests Yet to Waive Jones Act to Help Oil Companies

The U.S. government said on Monday it has not yet received requests to waive a 100-year-old law on shipping goods between domestic ports, despite some interested parties who say temporarily lifting the regulation would help energy companies hurt by the oil price plunge.Kelly Cahalan, a spokesperson at the U.S Customs and Border Protection agency of the Department of Homeland Security, said no requests to waive the Merchant Marine Act, better known as the Jones Act, have been received.U.S.

While Oil Prices Plummets, Tanker Rates Fly High

If one ever needed proof that, no matter how dire the situation, there is always a silver lining, look no further than the crude tanker market, which has seen it day rates skyrocket in the face of a global pandemic that has effectively ground world commerce to a crawl.As is the case with other gravity defying business phenomena, geopolitics is a central factor, in this case a battle between Russia and Saudi Arabia to flood the world with oil in the face of declining demand and…

Oil Economics: Freight Rate Surge Cuts into Trader's Profits

A jump in freight rates has shaved profits for oil traders seeking to store crude for sale towards the end of the year, even as the contango in the first six months for Brent futures stretched to its widest ever, trade sources said.While a sharp rebound in spot crude differentials could lift traders' profits, a broadening slump in global demand is stretching out the time that markets will need to digest bulging inventories and spark a price recovery, traders said.Unlike in previous contango plays -- where low oil prices eventually prompted major producers to tighten supplies…

Performance Shipping Delivers Aframax Tanker

Performance Shipping Inc. (NASDAQ: PSHG) has taken delivery of the M/T P. Kikuma (formerly FSL Shanghai), a 2007-built Aframax tanker of 115,915 dwt that the company entered into an agreement to purchase in February 2020."M/T P. Kikuma marks an additional step in becoming a pure tanker owning company," said Andreas Michalopoulos, the company’s Deputy CEO.

BIMCO: US-China “Phase One” Fails to Boost Trade Volumes

Even before the effects of the coronavirus, the ‘Phase One’ agreement between China and the US failed to boost volumes of the implicated goods in January. In fact, exports of the manufactured, agricultural and energy goods included in the deal were down 26% from January 2017, which serves as the base year for the agreement.The ‘Phase One’ agreement which was signed on 15 January 2020 to lowered some US tariffs on imports from China, which in return has committed to increase its imports from the US.

Asian LPG Market to Cross $109Bln by 2024

The Asian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) market stood at over $81.4 billion in 2018 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 5% to cross $109 billion by 2024, as increasing demand for LPG  as a fuel for power generation in remote and off-grid locations in comparison to its less environment-friendly alternatives like coal, diesel and fuel oil.Increasing demand for LPG used to run vehicles (Autogas)  is being witnessed as it is a comparatively cheaper automotive fuel and can be used in vast applications related to transportation…

IMO2020: Market Uncertainty Brings More Fuel Oil Price Volatility

The oil market has recently been shaken up by geopolitical events, but volatility in the price difference between low and high sulphur fuel cannot be explained by that alone – the uncertainty is the chaos factor.The uncertainty of the upcoming IMO 2020 Sulphur cap regulation (IMO2020) is having a big impact on the bunker market. Whereas, the price for Marine Gas Oil Low Sulphur (MGO LS) has largely remained stable, the price for High Sulphur Fuel oil (HSFO) has been become increasingly more volatile in recent months.

E&P Companies Struggle on RoI

International  exploration & production (E&P) are struggling to make money from offshore investments made during the latest investment upturn, according to a new study by Rystad Energy.Rystad Energy has evaluated all offshore oil fields sanctioned since 2010 and ranked them by estimated value per barrel of oil (boe) under various oil price scenarios. The return on investment (RoI) figures were not up to the mark.The sanctioning activity was record-high during the strong investment cycle from 2010 to 2014…

Brazil Okays BW Offshore's Oilfield Buy

Norwegean provider of floating production services to the oil and gas industry BW Offshore has won approval from Brazilian oil regulator ANP for the purchase of the Maromba oilfield, part of the Oslo-listed company's plan to become an operator and not just a supplier of oil services, platforms and ships.The purchase, from Chevron Corp and Petrobras, extends BW's operations in Brazil, where it already has two floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) units.“We are proud to announce that our subsidiary BW Energy has been approved by the razilian National Agency of Petroleum…

UAE Presence Grows in the Maritime World

Over recent years the United Arab Emirates has emerged as an important maritime hub with grand ambitions. Mark Venables visited the region to discover what is driving that growth.When the UAE was elected to the IMO Council as a Category B member, it immediately raised its profile within the maritime community. The Emirates have taken a significant step forward in the maritime world.Despite this success, the region remains a challenging market for shipping and logistics. One of…

Tillerson Applauds U.S. Trade Goals, Not Tactics

Rex Tillerson, the former U.S. secretary of state and Exxon Mobil Corp chairman who has clashed with President Donald Trump since leaving the administration, said on Wednesday he supports the president's trade objectives "but may not support the tactical moves."Speaking to a group of energy executives in Houston, Tillerson said he was concerned that pursuing bilateral trade talks around the globe could weaken Washington's network of allies, which he called "that very strong alliance…

One-on-One with Martin McDonald, SVP, ROV Division, Oceaneering

Martin McDonald, an industry veteran with more than 35 years under his belt, is responsible for Oceaneering’s global ROV business. With a broad based of ROV experience – from operation to repair to maintenance to management – McDonald shares with MTR his insights on the historical development and future prospects of this high-profile subsea sector.How and when did you know that your career would be in the maritime/subsea industry?I grew up in Fraserburgh, Scotland, a small town 40 miles north of the oilfield city of Aberdeen. Fraserburgh is best known for commercial fishing.

Brent Hits 2019 High on U.S.-China trade Hopes

U.S. crude stocks rise to 454.5 mln barrels as crude exports from U.S. hit record 3.6 mln bpd.Oil prices rose on Friday, supported by OPEC's ongoing supply cuts and hopes that Washington and Beijing may soon end their trade dispute.International Brent crude futures hit a new 2019 high of $67.60 a barrel, up 53 cents from Thursday's close.Further gains were tempered by U.S. crude oil production hitting a record 12 million barrels per day (bpd) and a surge in exports from the country.By 1125 GMT, U.S.

AsiaPac Oil and Gas Industry Looks Up

Confidence in the outlook for Asia Pacific’s oil and gas industry has more than doubled in the past two years, according to new research published by DNV GL, the technical advisor to the oil and gas industry.According to a new research from DNV GL, three quarters (76%) of senior oil and gas professionals in Asia Pacific are optimistic about the industry’s growth in 2019, compared with 58% in 2018 and 30% in 2017. The proportion of industry leaders who are confident in their own organizations’ prospects has also risen from 59% last year to 74% in 2019.

Argus Adds New Marine Fuel Price Assessments

Oil price reporting agency Argus has launched five new price assessments for low-sulphur marine fuels, ahead of new global rules capping the amount of sulphur in marine fuels, also known as bunkers.International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations will cut the limit for sulphur in bunker fuels globally from 3.5 percent to 0.5 percent from the start of 2020."Argus is pleased to be taking the lead in bringing price transparency that enables this large and emerging oil market to advance trading in preparation for the IMO 2020 required fuels…

Big Oil Set to Cash in on IMO 2020 Rules

The world's biggest oil traders are gearing up to cash in on big disruptions that could hit the shipping fuel market in just over a year due to new U.N.-mandated environmental rules.International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations will cut the limit for sulphur in marine fuels globally from 3.5 percent to 0.5 percent from the start of 2020."We're going to hopefully facilitate the new rules in 2020 by helping out the industry and the participants in general to have a reasonably smooth transition…

Uniper Sees Merit in Building LNG Terminal at Wilhelmshaven

Germany's Uniper on Tuesday said it favors a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at the Wilhelmshaven deep sea port on the North Sea coast, less than a week after peer RWE said it secured access to capacity should a rival project at Brunsbuettel go ahead."Wilhelmshaven in particular can be a suitable location, there are many arguments in favour of it," spokesman Leif Erichsen said in a written statement.He cited the port's ability to offer infrastructure for LNG vessels of all sizes and its proximity to the German long-distance gas pipeline grids and underground storage caverns in the norther