Venezuela is shipping jet fuel to Iran in return for vital gasoline imports for the South American nation as part of a swap deal agreed by the two state-run oil firms, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Iran has ramped up assistance to Venezuela since last year as the United States tightened sanctions on both countries, hitting oil exports by state-run firms Petroleos de Venezuela and National Iranian oil Company (NIOC). Iran has sent flotillas of state-operated tankers carrying gasoline and feedstock for motor fuel to Venezuela, ...

The Asian LNG buyers’ club is conservative by nature. A flicker of geopolitical risk, supply disruption or price volatility can cause sleepless nights from Tokyo to Singapore as the region’s buyers assess the potential impact. So, when freezing conditions hit the southern US last week, resulting in feedgas into LNG plants collapsing from above 10 bcfd to just below 2 bcfd, and with some Texas price markers soaring north of US$400/mmbtu, anxiety levels should have been rising. But Asian buyers barely blinked, with Northeast Asia spot prices, which had been ...

The value of Saudi Arabia’s oil exports in December dropped nearly 30%, or 19.5 billion riyals ($5.2 billion), compared with the year before, official data showed on Wednesday. The value of non-oil exports fell 7.7% in December to 18.4 billion riyals versus 20 billion riyals in December 2019. Oil’s share of total exports fell to 71.6% in December from 76.7% the year previously. China remained Saudi Arabia’s main trading partner in December, accounting for 13.5 billion riyals out of its 64.8 billion riyals of total exports. In December 2019, the ...

Qatar Petroleum has entered into a long term Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Vitol for the supply of 1.25 million tons per annum (MTPA) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Vitol’s final customers in Bangladesh. Under the agreement, LNG deliveries will commence later this year, further demonstrating the State of Qatar’s continued commitment to meeting the growing needs of its customers for reliable LNG supplies. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum, said: “We are pleased to sign this ...

U.S. coal shipments to some of the country’s top importers increased significantly in the fourth quarter of 2020, with China recording a triple-digit uptick amid its escalating trade dispute with Australia. Total U.S. coal exports during the three-month period fell 7.3% year over year to 17.4 million tonnes from 18.8 Mt, according to an analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Compared to the previous quarter, the U.S. shipped 25.1% more of the commodity from October through December 2020. Despite the year-on-year slowdown, the quarterly exports figure “slightly” exceeded Moody’s projection ...

Feedgas deliveries to U.S. LNG export facilities rebounded sharply after the polar blast in Texas and other parts of the Southern U.S. that had disrupted flows to the Gulf Coast facilities. Total U.S. deliveries had bottomed out at about 2.2 Bcf/d on Feb. 16, but by Feb. 21, the flows had reached about 7.9 Bcf/d, according to pipeline flow data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The volume of deliveries Feb. 21 was the greatest in more than a week but remained below earlier flow levels that had exceeded 10 Bcf/d ...

New data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has reported a A$3-billion, or 9%, decline in exports for the month of January, driven by a A$1.5-billion, or 10%, decline in the export of metalliferous ores. “The decline in metalliferous ores was driven by a decline in the quantity of iron-ore exported in January. Despite the decline, exports of metalliferous ores are the second highest on record behind December 2020,” said ABS head of international statistics Andrew Tomadini. Advertisement Iron-ore exports in January were down by 7%, or A$963-million, with ...

India is planning to resume the import of energy from countries such as Iran and Venezuela to counter the high crude prices by some producers, local media reported. India may make diplomatic efforts to organize oil-consuming countries against the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) as producers keep crude prices artificially high by restricting supply, and also plans to resume import of cheaper energy from countries such as Iran and Venezuela to counter the oil cartel, Hindustan Times quoted two officials as saying. India’s domestic fuel ...

China’s iron ore imports hit a record 1.17 billion metric tons in 2020, with the average import price up 7.3 percent year-on-year to $101.7 per ton, which analysts say reflects robust demand in the downstream steel market and a continued and stable recovery of the Chinese economy. The amount exceeded the previous record of 1.08 billion tons in 2017, said the General Administration of Customs. The corresponding value of imported iron ore also hit a record 822.87 billion yuan ($127 billion) last year, an increase of 17.4 percent year-on-year, also ...

Iranian crude oil exports have fallen in February by about 250,000 barrels per day, tanker tracker Petro-Logistics said Tuesday, suggesting a jump in shipments has run out of steam. The OPEC member’s oil exports climbed in January after a boost in the fourth quarter, despite U.S. sanctions, in a sign that the end of Donald Trump’s term as U.S. President may be changing buyer behaviour. But Geneva-based Petro-Logistics, which assesses the exports by tracking tanker shipments, told Reuters that shipments had fallen to levels seen in November and December, “before ...

Agricultural exports from the US have huge possibilities in markets beyond the top importing countries, according to a senior US Department of Agriculture trade official. Nearly 40% of agriculture exports from the US are sent to markets outside the top six importing regions, and those are the markets of interest and growth, Jason Hafemeister, the USDA’s acting deputy under secretary for trade and foreign agriculture affairs, said during the USDA’s Agriculture Outlook Forum. The top six markets for US agriculture exports are China, Canada, Japan, Mexico, EU+UK and South Korea. ...

Iraq, the top oil supplier to India, is not cutting volumes to the South Asian country in February amid a focus to maintain its market share in Asia, which consumes at least 70% of its crude exports, the deputy director general of Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization told S&P Global Platts. “We haven’t cut [in January and February],” Ali al-Shatari said in a recent interview. “Actually, the Indian market is a very important market for us and our customers there are really relying on Iraqi crude oil heavily, so we ...

Natural disasters along the Texas Gulf Coast in the US that have disrupted many sectors may mean lagging liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases by China under the phase one trade deal, Chinese experts have warned, citing the deep freeze’s ripple effect on the natural gas supply/demand chain and commodity prices. In the aftermath of a winter storm that claimed the lives of at least two dozen people with lingering blackouts and water shortages, US President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for the US state of Texas on Saturday. ...

Jordan’s state grain buyer is tendering to buy 120,000 tonnes of milling wheat which can be sourced from optional origins, European traders said on Monday. The deadline for price offers in the tender is Feb. 24. Shipment in the new tender is sought in a series of possible combinations in 60,000 tonne consignments. Possible shipment combinations are between Oct. 1-15, Oct. 16-31, Nov. 1-15 and Nov. 16-30. A new tender had been expected after Jordan bought just 60,000 tonnes in its previous tender for 120,000 tonnes of wheat which closed ...

The share of Canada and the United States of America in India’s January oil imports surged to a record 11% while that of the Middle East and South America declined, data obtained from sources showed. Asia’s third-largest economy imported about 4.8 million barrels per day (bpd) oil in January, a decline of 6% from the previous month and marginally higher than a year earlier. India’s imports from Canada and the United States almost doubled from December to 142,000 bpd and 367,000 bpd, respectively. The United States emerged as the fourth-biggest ...