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Commodity Traders Exploit Crude Crash to Make Oil Storage King

The key to surviving and thriving amid the carnage in global oil markets is having a place to store the stuff. Oil prices have dropped 60 percent since June as the U.S. pumped more shale crude and OPEC resisted calls to cut production, stoking a global supply glut. While the 28-company STOXX 600 Oil & Gas Index has fallen 4.9 percent this month, shares of Rotterdam-based Royal Vopak NV (VPK) , the world’s largest independent storage tank operator, have surged 15 percent. “We don’t know specifically about occupancy rates but we hear from companies that inquiries for tank storage are growing,” Ronald Backers, adviser for business intelligence at the Port of Rotterdam, said by phone Jan. 12. Europe ’s largest port has crude oil tank storage of 85.6 million barrels. Refiners, tankage firms and traders that invested in oil storage capacity are benefiting as the slump in crude to […]

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Traders take supertankers for likely crude storage of up to 45 mil barrels

Singapore (Platts)–14Jan2015/433 am EST/933 GMT Trading companies have taken at least 22 supertankers on time charter this month with an option to store crude as the contango in futures prices is expected to sustain in the medium term, market participants said Wednesday, January 14. This will translate into floating storage of almost 45 million barrels of crude. Crude oil prices have been sinking for six straight weeks, and traders want to store the commodity for the time being, hoping to sell it later at higher prices. Around eight more ships were taken on time charter in the last two-three days, according to interviews with brokers, owners and charterers tracking the developments. Article continues below… Real-time news service tailored for ship owners, tanker charterers, brokers and traders plus the only independent source of daily clean and dirty tanker rate assessments daily. "Many owners are still working [on giving out their […]

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Iran President Says Oil-Price Drop to Hurt Saudi Arabia, Kuwait

Oil’s price slump may hurt Saudi Arabia and Kuwait more than Iran, which depends less on crude exports than the other two nations, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said. Countries responsible for the drop in oil prices will “regret it,” Rouhani said in an address in Bushehr province, without identifying them. “If Iran suffers from declining oil prices, know that other oil-producing countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia will suffer more than Iran,” Rouhani said. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, and neighboring Kuwait opposed Iran’s unsuccessful effort to persuade the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output at their Nov. 27 meeting. Iran ’s crude exports have been curbed by international sanctions imposed because of the country’s nuclear program. It produced 2.77 million barrels a day of oil in December, down from an average of 3.58 million in 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Oil […]

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Iran Unlikely to Knuckle Under on Nukes Due to Oil’s Fall

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, elected on a pledge of prosperity and ending the country’s global isolation, is facing the largest fall in oil prices since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Officials are warning of further spending and investment cuts to next year’s budget, which Rouhani unveiled on Dec. 7 and is based on $72-a-barrel crude instead of the current year’s $100. Even that new, lower forecast is proving to be unrealistic, with Brent crude , the world benchmark, trading for less than $46 on Tuesday. The Islamic Republic’s leaders will prefer to absorb the blow in the form of reduced prosperity rather than let it affect nuclear policies, said Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an economics professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia , who specializes in Iranian affairs. “Iran will stumble along with less growth and development,” Salehi-Isfahani said. “The oil-price fall is not reason enough for Iran to […]

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Oil Recovery Seen by Kuwait to U.A.E. After Lower Prices

Oil oversupply that sent prices to a five-year low probably will persist until at least the second half when demand is set to recover, according to Kuwait ’s oil minister and the OPEC governor of the United Arab Emirates . Faster global economic growth will be needed to help absorb the oil surplus estimated at 1.8 million barrels a day, Kuwait Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair told reporters in parliament yesterday. A demand-led recovery is seen in the second half, the U.A.E.’s Governor to OPEC Ali Al Yabhouni told reporters in Abu Dhabi. Oil fell about 40 percent since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries chose to maintain its production target at a Nov. 27 meeting, seeking to defend market share rather than prices. The U.A.E. and Kuwait are OPEC members. Slowing economic growth has contributed to the drop in prices, Al-Omair said. “We are expecting that this situation will […]

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Venezuelan shortages, long lines spark violence, arrests

Print | Single Page [ – ] Text [ + ] (Adds comments from National Assembly leader, access limits.) By Alexandra Ulmer and Javier Farias CARACAS/ SAN CRISTOBAL Jan 12 (Reuters) – At least a dozen protesters arrested in Venezuela remained in jail on Monday and masked assailants burned a bus amid scattered unrest over swelling lines for basic goods, activists said. Police rounded up 16 people for protesting outside stores over the weekend, according to the opposition MUD coalition, which said four of them were released shortly after. Rights group Penal Forum said 18 protesters were still behind bars on Monday. The government did not confirm that. Venezuela is suffering from chronic shortages of goods ranging from diapers to flour that have worsened since an ebb in deliveries over Christmas. The scarcity has forced shoppers across Venezuela to line up in front of stores before dawn. The MUD […]

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China’s oil production increases

China says oil and natural gas production on a steady rise. (UPI/Shutterstock/project1photography) BEIJING, Jan. 13 (UPI) — Chinese data from Tuesday show crude oil production in 2014 increased nearly a full percentage point, staying above a threshold rate for five straight years. The Ministry of Land Resources reported total crude oil output increased 0.7 percent from 2013 to 1.53 billion barrels for full-year 2014. Data show it’s the fifth-straight year full-year output has stayed above the 1.5 billion barrel mark. Seven major oil fields contributed to the increase last year, with new facilities adding 73 million barrels for the full year. Natural gas production, meanwhile, increased 10.7 percent to 4.6 trillion cubic feet, with about 10 percent of that coming from shale reserves. China has the most technically recoverable shale natural gas reserves and the third highest shale oil reserves in the world, though complex geology makes it difficult […]

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‘Violent’ Piracy Seen in Southeast Asia as Global Attacks Slide

Pirates hijacked more oil tankers in Southeast Asia in 2014 even as attacks at sea declined globally to the lowest level in eight years, according to the International Maritime Bureau . Fifteen ships carrying mainly marine-fuel cargoes were attacked in Malaysia , Indonesia , Thailand and the Malacca Strait, the IMB said in its annual piracy report today. While that contributed to the global increase to 21 vessels from 12, the total number of “incidents” reported worldwide fell to 245, it said. That’s a 44 percent drop from when piracy in Somali waters peaked in 2011. “The global increase in hijackings is due to a rise in attacks against coastal tankers in Southeast Asia,” said Pottengal Mukundan, the director of the IMB. “Gangs of armed thieves have attacked small tankers in the region for their cargoes, many looking specifically for marine diesel and gasoil to steal and then sell.” […]

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China’s 2014 unconventional gas output soars 42% on year to 4.9 Bcm

Singapore (Platts)–14Jan2015/110 am EST/610 GMT China’s production of unconventional gas in 2014 totaled 4.9 Bcm, soaring 42% year on year, although this pace of increase will still fall short of official targets for 2015, data from the country’s Ministry of Land and Resources showed Monday. Coalbed methane output rose 23.3% year on year in 2014 to 3.6 Bcm while shale gas production was 1.3 Bcm, expanding by over five times from 2013, the ministry said. The shale gas output is just under the 1.5 Bcm that the ministry expected in September would be reached in 2014. China has targeted shale gas output to hit 6.5 Bcm/year by this year, the end of the current five-year economic plan. Article continues below… Platts Natural Gas Alert provides global coverage of the major natural gas and LNG markets, including real-time spot market transactions reported as deals are done and key end-of-day crude […]

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British economic slowdown dings oil prices

Low prices of oil starting to reflect trends in the global economy. (UPI/Shutterstock/Lilac Mountain) The price for Brent, the crude oil benchmark based on North Sea blends, was off close to 3 percent from the previous session to trade near the $46 per barrel mark, the second consecutive day below $50 per barrel and a 5 1/2-year low. Oil prices are off more than half their June value, falling as markets swing to the supply side in a weakened global economy. The British economy became the latest to show signs of a slowdown. The Office for National Statistics said Tuesday consumer price inflation in December was down 0.5 percent and 1 percent for November, some of the lowest rates on record . British economic data mirrors developments emerging elsewhere in the region. Inflation in an already struggling eurozone turned negative in December, driven in large part by falling energy […]

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