U.S. Imports of Nigerian Crude Fall to 3-year Low
U.S. crude oil imports from Nigeria in July plunged to the lowest level in three years and are continuing to slip as Asian and European buyers increase purchases, trade flow data from Thomson Reuters and market intelligence firms Genscape and Kpler show.A narrowing spread between benchmark Brent and Oman crude futures <DUB-EFS-1M>, trading at less than $2 a barrel compared with more than $4 in May, has made Nigerian crude more attractive to Asian buyers than U.S. refiners. Nigerian crude exports to Asia hit 664…
US Oil Exports to India Soar Ahead of Iran Sanctions
U.S. crude oil exports to India hit a record in June and so far this year are almost double last year's total as the Asian nation's refiners move to replace supplies from Iran and Venezuela in a win for the Trump administration.U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has been pressuring its allies to cut imports of Iranian goods to zero by November and India's shift advances the U.S. administration efforts to use energy to further its political goals.The United States has become a major crude exporter, sending 1.76 million barrels per day (bpd) abroad in April…
North American Exodus at PetroChina Sparks Speculation
A flurry of departures across the U.S. and Canadian units of Chinese state energy firm PetroChina Co Ltd have sparked speculation that the oil trader is reducing its presence in North America, even though the company says it is committed to the region. More than 30 people in its Houston and Calgary offices have left PetroChina since 2016, including heads of desks in crude, financial, natural gas and chemical trading, the company confirmed to Reuters. Sources say that PetroChina had approximately 150 to 200 people at its peak two to three years ago, and now has between 100 and 150.
Canada Orders Seizure of Oil Tanker
The Federal Court of Canada has ordered the seizure of a 721,915-barrel cargo of crude from Kurdistan aboard the "Neverland" oil tanker on the request of the Iraq Oil Ministry, court documents show. The Iraq Oil Ministry has also filed a claim against commodity trading house Vitol S.A. and subsidiaries including Mansel Ltd, the charterer of the ship, and affiliate Finaval SpA di Navigazione, the owner of the ship, for $32.5 million. Iraq claims the cargo was unlawfully misappropriated by the Kurdistan Regional Government and sold to Vitol to be loaded onto the "Neverland." Vitol declined to comment.
Morgan Stanley Focuses on Smaller, Smarter Trades
Nancy King, global head of commodities trading at Morgan Stanley, has spent the last few years remodeling what used to be one of the most profitable units on Wall Street, by downsizing and focusing on smaller, smart trades for customers instead of the big, risky bets it used to make on its own account. The shift in strategy, which has cut the size of Morgan Stanley's commodities business by roughly two thirds, was largely forced on the bank by post-financial crisis regulations that banned banks from using their own money on potentially risky speculation, and increased capital requirements.
Unipec, Vitol Front-Runners in Bangladesh Fuel Tender
China International United Petroleum & Chemicals Co. (Unipec) and Vitol SA submitted the most competitively priced offers for Bangladesh Petroleum Corp's (BPC) tender to import oil products in the first half of 2017, according to an offer document. In October, state-owned BPC issued a tender to import 965,000 tonnes of gasoil with a maximum 0.05 percent sulphur content, 90,000 tonnes of jet fuel, and 120,000 tonnes of high sulphur fuel oil in the first half of 2017. Unipec, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp…
Vitol: Exxon Mobil Lacked 'transparency' During Torrance Outage
Swiss commodity trader Vitol SA criticized Exxon Mobil Corp this week for failing to be transparent about maintenance at its Los Angeles refinery following a February 2015 blast, which contributed to tighter gasoline supplies and higher prices. Speaking before a committee of the California Energy Commission on Tuesday, Brad Lucas, a West Coast trader for Vitol, said that lack of information from Exxon made it difficult to time cargo deliveries into the West Coast market. The explosion at Exxon Mobil's 149,500 barrel-per-day Torrance refinery…
Gunvor Exports Its First US Crude Cargo
Swiss trader Gunvor Group Ltd is joining a chorus of trading houses in exporting U.S. crude, marking the latest cargo to leave U.S. shores just months after Congress lifted its four-decade ban on exports. Gunvor will be lifting domestic sweet crude on an Aframax vessel from Freeport, Texas, in April, a company spokesman said on Thursday. It will be Gunvor's first U.S. export. He did not specify the exact date for the export, but said the cargo will go to Panama, where the company owns a stake in a storage facility. With crude stocks hovering at record levels both at the U.S.
Vitol to Lift 2nd Crude Cargo for U.S. Export
The world's largest oil trader Vitol SA has secured a second cargo of U.S.-produced crude for export, just weeks after the U.S. government lifted the ban on exporting domestic oil. Producer ConocPhillips said it will sell crude and condensate produced in the Eagle Ford shale of Texas to Vitol. The cargo will load out of NuStar's North Beach terminal in Corpus Christi on Dec. 31, NuStar said in a statement. Last week, Enterprise Products Partners said it would provide logistics and terminaling services for Vitol to load a 600,000 barrel cargo of domestic light crude in the first week of January. With U.S.
Vitol Purchases Shell's Australian Downstream
Vitol SA has completed the acquisition of Royal Dutch Shell PLC's Australian downstream businesses, a statement from Vitol said on Wednesday. The acquisition led to the launch of Viva Energy Australia, which comprises of Shell's Geelong Refinery and 870 service stations, its bulk fuels, bitumen and chemicals businesses and part of its lubricants businesses in Australia plus a brand licence arrangement and a distributor arrangement for Shell Lubricants. "We expect to invest $1 billion over the next five years so we can continue to meet more than a quarter of Australia's fuel needs efficiently and safely…
BP, Shell, Morgan Stanley Seek End of Oil Price-Fixing Lawsuit
BP Plc , Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Morgan Stanley and other companies urged a U.S. judge to dismiss nationwide litigation claiming they conspired for 12 years to fix prices of Brent crude oil, a benchmark for the cost of gasoline and heating oil. In papers filed on Monday night in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the defendants said there was no evidence they colluded to manipulate spot prices or intended to do so, in violation of U.S. commodity and antitrust laws. They also said that because the alleged manipulation took place outside the United States and was governed by foreign law, U.S.
