Oil Prices News

IMF: Global Impact of COVID-19 will be Severe, but Temporary

As many markets struggle to find their footing in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic, a recent podcast with Martin Muhleisen, director of the IMF's Strategy, Policy, and Review department, helps to lend insight and perspective from the view of the International Monetary Fund.Muhleisen  said the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic will be “quite severe,” but temporary, saying that the overall good health of the world economy and high employment rates should help to provide buffers to blunt the impact“I would think that financial institutions more broadly are in a better shape than…

Shipping Not Immune to a Pandemic -BIMCO

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a pandemic. There is little doubt that this will have significant implications for the shipping industry. But to what extent? BIMCO expects that the strict containment measures imposed by governments around the world will result in substantially lower global economic growth and consequentially, lower demand for shipping. Container and dry bulk shipping are at the front line when it comes to feeling the fallout…

Most Bunker Sales in Singapore are Low-sulphur Fuels -BIMCO

Low-sulphur fuels accounted for 84% of total February sales in Singapore, slightly up from 83% in January. The sale of low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) made up the largest component at 71.5%, with marine gas oil (MGO) accounting for 12.5%, BIMCO reports.Total bunker sales in February fell 16% to 3.9 million metric tons compared with January, reflecting lower demand for shipping as the coronavirus paralyzed intra-Asian supply chains.Now that both the sulphur cap and the non-compliant fuel oil carriage ban have come into force…

BIMCO Revises 2020 Forecast

The coronavirus pandemic is impacting global shipping demand for 2020 negatively. The speed of the virus spread makes it difficult to assess the full consequences. Nevertheless, we see a need to update our 2020 forecast to make some of this massive uncertainty tangible.What is going on in addition to the coronavirus pandemic?Geopolitical tensions that made the OPEC+ alliance break down, has subsequently made the crude oil tanker spot freight market erupt. The events that followed the breakdown - and those that are likely to follow…

Hennigan Tapped as New Marathon CEO

Marathon Petroleum Corp.named  Michael Hennigan, the head of its midstream business, as its new chief executive officer effective immediately.Hennigan replaces Gary Heminger, whose departure was announced last year when the largest U.S.

Booking Frenzy Sends Tanker Rates Soaring

The cost to transport oil on supertankers soared on Thursday as major producers scrambled to secure vessels to ship more crude in a bid to regain market share and buyers took advantage of plunging oil prices.Freight charges to ship oil in very large crude carriers (VLCCs) from the Middle East, which is home to the largest OPEC producers, to China, the world's top crude oil importer, nearly doubled overnight.VLCC tanker rates along the busy Middle East Gulf to China route jumped to about $160…

Silk Roadblock: Coronavirus Exposes Nigeria's Reliance on China

Yetunde Oluyide has run a gift shop in bustling Lagos for nearly a decade, but with coronavirus curtailing imports of Chinese goods, she is losing more than 2 million naira ($5,555) a month.Oluyide's reliance on China to fill the shelves of Yetty-Jewel Ventures reflects the close ties between the world's second largest economy and Africa's most populous country."For the past two months, we have not been able to ship in anything," Oluyide said. "I'm anxious."China accounts for around a quarter of Nigerian imports…

Global Container Demand to Grow by 1-3% in 2020

For 2020, global container demand is projected to grow by 1-3%, as per forecast by A.P. Moller - Maersk.The continued weak global sentiment above all in the manufacturing sector reduces the likelihood of a material growth pick-up in 2020, although sentiment brightened a bit at the end of 2019, and some improvement can be expected on the back of stabilizing inventory dynamics, said the shipping giant.Aside from the cyclical slowing of the global economy, substantial risk to global container demand comes from the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policy in major economies…

Upstream Cuts 208 deals worth $156Bn in 2019

Upstream companies cut 208 deals worth $156 billion in 2019, with value up $26 billion year-on-year. However, the number of transactions was 40 percent below the five-year trend, pointed out latest report by Deloitte.That, combined with the fact that the Oxy/Anadarko transaction comprised more than a third of the total value, meant that 2019 proved sluggish, reflecting the overall weakness in the oil and gas sector.In fact, there were only $5.8 billion in deals in Q1, the lowest value seen in any quarter in more than a decade.

Coronavirus Places Shipping on High Alert

The Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has placed the shipping industry on high alert amid a rising death toll in China and reports that the fast-spreading illness is reaching new shores.The flu-like coronavirus, first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China on December 31, has killed more than two dozen people in China and is believed to have infected more than 900 worldwide, according to several media reports. Cases have been confirmed in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, and internationally in travelers returning from China to Japan…

Low-sulphur Fuel Oil Prices Drop

Prices for very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) in ports around the world have fallen within the first month since the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) new regulation for a 0.50% global sulphur cap for marine fuels has taken effect.Singapore has seen one of the largest drops in the price of VLSFO, which peaked on January 7, 2020 at $740 per metric ton (MT) and dropped $99 to $641 per MT on January 22, BIMCO points out.Prices rose in December as shipowners transitioned…

Saudi Aramco, Korea Shipbuilding Roll-out New JV

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KOSE), a manufacturer of oil tankers, cargo and passenger vessels, and warships, and Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) plans to set up a joint venture to build engines.According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency the JV will break ground for the plant in the King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries and Services in the kingdom’s eastern coast in September 2020, and the project is set to be completed in May 2022.The Korean company is working to build a shipyard at the complex through a separate JV with Saudi Aramco…

Antwerp Port Achieves Record for 7th Year

The Port of Antwerp has seen significant growth for the seventh year in a row, with freight volume up 1.3% to 238 million tonnes. Although some segments are under pressure, the port says it is making progress both economically and in sustainability and mobility.Container freight, in particular, gained market share (up from 27.5% to 28.2%), while the dry bulk segment for its part saw its total volume expand by 3.4%.In breakbulk on the other hand, with steel as the main product…

Stocks Nearing Record Highs on Trade Hopes

World shares made another push for an all-time high on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington and Beijing were in the final throes of inking an initial trade deal.European trading was restrained, with MSCI's all-country world index now within 0.4%, or 2 points, of its record high from January 2018.London, Frankfurt, Paris and Wall Street futures all rose, and though Shanghai had struggled after Chinese industrial company profits shrank, Australia had set its…

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…

Oil surges as China Pushes Tariff Rollbacks

Oil prices rose more than 1% on Tuesday on hopes for a U.S.-China trade agreement and optimism that Washington could roll back some tariffs on Chinese imports.Brent crude futures rose 74 cents, or 1.2%, to $62.87 a barrel by 12:56 p.m. EST (1756 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 68 cents, or 1.2%, to $57.22 a barrel.China is pushing U.S. President Donald Trump to remove more tariffs imposed in September as part of a so-called Phase 1 deal, which would…

Bullet Dodged? Markets Bet on Global Economy

World shares climbed back towards record highs and safe-haven bonds tumbled on Tuesday, as hopes that Washington may roll back some of the tariffs it has imposed on Chinese imports rekindled optimism about the global economic outlook.A year-end rally looked to be building. Wall Street's main markets were expected to add to their 20% gains and best year since 2013. MSCI's 49-country world index was just 1.4% shy its early 2018 peak.Europe had galloped to a 21-month high on Monday before retreating on Tuesday. Asia had raced to its highest since May.

Vessel Op Costs to Rise in 2019 and 2020

International accountant and shipping adviser BDO said total operating costs in the shipping industry are expected to rise by 2.5% in 2019 and by 2.7% in 2020.Responses to the firm’s latest annual Future Operating Costs Survey revealed that insurance is the cost category likely to increase most significantly in both 2019 and 2020. In the case of protection and indemnity insurance, the predicted increase is 2.0% for each of the years under review, while hull and machinery insurance…

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…

Venezuelan State Imports Surge Despite Sanctions

Venezuela's public-sector imports, which include subsidized food for the poor, surged in the first quarter of this year despite U.S. sanctions that President Nicolas Maduro describes as a full blockade, a recent release of central bank data shows.Government-linked entities handle the bulk of international trade in the crisis-stricken socialist country, and both imports and exports have declined dramatically since 2014, when a drop in oil prices sent the OPEC nation's economy into a tailspin marked by hyperinflation and shortages of food and medicine.But in the first three months of 2019…

Oil Stockpiling Builds Ahead of IMO 2020 Rules

S-Oil, South Korea's third-largest refiner, said on Wednesday that regional refining margins are expected to improve in the fourth quarter on the back of inventory build-up ahead of implementation of stricter rules on marine fuels in 2020.The refiner, whose top shareholder is Saudi Aramco, said in an earnings statement, strong demand for heating oil was also expected to support refining margins, along with the International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s stricter shipping fuel…

Iranian Tanker Hit by Missiles, Oil Rises

Oil prices jumped more than 2% on Friday, October 11, 2019, after Iranian media said a state-owned oil tanker had been struck by missiles in the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia, raising the prospect of supply disruptions weeks after attacks on Saudi oil plants.The Suezmax crude tanker Sabiti was ablaze and suffered heavy damage after being hit by two missiles, Iranian media reported.Both oil benchmarks recorded their biggest daily rise since Sept. 16, the first trading day after the…

Drewry Cuts Global Port Throughput Forecast

Drewry Shipping Consultants has revealed that it now expects global port throughput to rise by 2.6% in 2019, down from the previous 3.0% expectation.The mood-music surrounding the container market has deteriorated further in the last three months, resulting in Drewry downgrading its outlook for world container port throughput for the current year and the rest of the five-year horizon in the Container Market Annual Review and Forecast.The weight of risks pressing down on the container market seems to be getting heavier by the day…

Oil Prices: Chinese Data Eases Concerns

Oil prices rose today (Monday, September 30) after China’s factories unexpectedly increased production over the past month, easing concerns about demand amid the ongoing trade war with the U.S. Brent crude futures rose 9 cents to $62 a barrel by 0300 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 13 cents to $56.04 a barrel.The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for September increase for the second month in a row as Chinese factories increased production and new orders rose ahead of market expectations…

Trust and Independence:

Key metrics for a consolidating market of Multi-Purpose Vessels.The multipurpose sector has experienced a tough first half of 2019, following a trend of difficult market conditions spanning over a decade. Fallout from ongoing global political trade discussions is taking its toll on both project and commodity trades, cutting down volumes at a time when external competition from non-MPV carriers is at its most fierce and the MPV fleet is still struggling with overcapacity. Still…

Saudi Aramco, World’s Most Profitable Co, Again

Saudi Aramco announced that its net income was $46.9 billion for the first half 2019, compared to $53.0 billion for the same period last year. That easily outstripped corporate titans such as Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and other big oil producers, many of which suffered larger declines in profit as output and crude prices fell. Saudi Aramco President & CEO Amin H. Nasser, said: “Despite lower oil prices during the first half of 2019, we continued to deliver solid earnings and strong free cash flow underpinned by our consistent operational performance…