GTT has received an order from a Korean shipyard concerning the tank design of two new 174,000 m3 LNG carriers, on behalf of a European ship-owner. The delivery of the ships is planned for the first semester of 2021. GTT’s membrane containment system Mark III Flex has been selected for the design of the tanks. The ship-owner’s and shipyard’s names are confidential. Source: GTT

The bulk carrier ADA left Santos, Brazil on October 2, laden with 23 tons of maize. The Cypriot ship was charted by Cofco, China’s largest agribusiness firm and a global leader in commodities trading, to deliver its cargo to Iran. On November 8, ADA arrived at the anchorage for Bandar Imam Khomeini, located about 75 kilometers offshore. It has spent the last 32 days anchored in the same position and has not yet unloaded its important cargo. ADA is just one of more than a dozen cargo ships carrying agricultural ...

The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, Odesa Maritime Merchant Port and Brooklyn-Kyiv Port LLC with the participation of the French company CMA CGM, the world’s third largest container carrier, have signed a memorandum of understanding in France, the Ministry of Infrastructure has reported. “The development of cooperation between the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, Brooklyn-Kyiv Port and CMA CGM is another example of effective public-private partnership. As part of this project, berths Nos. 13-z, 14-s will be reconstructed in Odesa,” Head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority Raivis Veckagans said. According to ...

Australia overtook Qatar as the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the first time in November, data from Refinitiv Eikon showed. The surge in Australian exports follows the start up of a number of export projects in the country over the past three years, most recently the Ichthys project offshore its northern coast. In November, Australia loaded 6.5 million tonnes of LNG for exports while Qatar exported over 6.2 million tonnes, the data showed. “It may have come later and at higher cost than originally envisaged, but ...

Swiss-based commodity trader Trafigura is seeking to grow its position in exporting crude oil in the US after its global traded volumes jumped by 7.5% this year. In the year to September 30 the company’s traded oil and refined product volumes climbed to 275.2 million mt, from 256 million mt a year earlier. Gross profit for the division sank by 10% to $1.022 billion. Backwardation in oil prices this year “prompted a major overhaul of our trading books to shrink inventories and storage commitments, and reduce costs,” the company said ...

ONGC has sold a cargo of Russian Sokol crude cargo at a similar premium from the previous month, trade sources said. The cargo, loading on Feb. 10 to 16, was sold to a European trading house at a premium of $4.80 a barrel above Dubai quotes, they said. The deal marked the first February Sokol cargo to trade this month. The premium surprised the sources as they were expecting Sokol premiums to fall in line with other light sour grades sold to Asia and to reflect weaker refining margins. Source: ...

The prospect of China quickly resuming purchases of American soybeans has fueled a rally in Chicago futures. But leading U.S. grain traders and lenders are skeptical. While a 90-day truce between the world’s two largest economies is seen as a good start, the wider trade dispute goes well beyond the humble bean. Sorting out issues including intellectual property rights and fair-trade practices may take longer to achieve, said William Secor, an economist at CoBank, a $125 billion lender to the agriculture industry. Even if the truce enticed Chinese buyers back ...

U.S. soybean futures fell for a second consecutive session on Tuesday to a five-day low as concerns over demand for North American supplies weighed on the market. FUNDAMENTALS * The most active soybean futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade were down 0.3 percent at $9.06-3/4 a bushel by 0119 GMT, near the session low of $9.06 a bushel – the lowest since Dec 6. Soybeans closed down 0.8 percent on Monday. * The most active corn futures were down 0.3 percent at $3.83 a bushel, having closed 0.4 percent ...

The last-minute deal by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and Russia to cut oil production is a pyrrhic victory. Opec knows it. The oil industry knows it. The deal, which will see oil production cut by 1.2 million barrels per day, has already had significant short-term consequences: it stopped yet another oil price crash, the fourth such drop in the past five years, and the deal will likely keep prices stable until the current glut eases. But the deal fails to address the single issue that has hampered ...

The meeting of the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna last week confirmed what some in the oil industry have been saying for a while: A new global energy dynamic is being created by the three-way relationship between Saudi Arabia, Russia and the US. After a first day of deadlock over the output reduction needed to stabilize global crude prices, it took a second-day intervention by Russia to back up Saudi calls for a substantial cut, which was duly delivered. That brought to a conclusion probably the most ...

Oil rose on Tuesday, recouping some of the previous day’s hefty losses as a modest show of strength in global stocks, a slightly weaker dollar and an unplanned supply outage in OPEC member Libya lent support. Brent crude oil futures were up 45 cents on the day at $60.42 a barrel at 1230 GMT, having fallen 3 percent the previous day, while U.S. futures rose 56 cents to $51.56 a barrel. “The dollar is a bit weaker, but other than that, I don’t see any reason why this market should ...

China’s overseas oil and gas acquisitions fell to their lowest level in a decade, as volatile oil prices and geopolitical headwinds made deal making harder for Beijing, but state-backed firms are undeterred in their plans. Some 14 deals worth US$2.36 billion have been recorded so far this year – a second year of declines, according to Refinitiv data. If there are no agreements in the next three weeks, this year will rank as the lowest in terms of number of deals in the last 10 years and the smallest by ...

Gas is in fashion in the Middle East. The region’s major national oil companies have announced ambitious plans to find, produce, transmute and export more. But for the fuel to complement and ultimately supplant oil, a roadmap is required for the evolution. Every one of the major Middle East producers’ gas reserves life at current production rates exceeds their oil reserves life. The UAE has 98 years of gas versus 68 years of oil; Iraq more than 120 years of gas compared to 90 years of oil. And as less ...

Qatar’s recent decision to withdraw its membership from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) is a business decision that supports the country’s development strategy for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector, industry experts agreed during the Euromoney Conference held in Doha on Sunday. Qatar is Opec’s 11th-biggest oil producer. Lesley Chavkin, the US Department of the Treasury financial attaché to Qatar and Kuwait, pointed out that Qatar’s total output accounts for “only 2%.” “Qatar is not a behemoth in Opec, and I think it (withdrawal from Opec) fits ...

Stocks rose tentatively on Tuesday as investors picked through the rubble of conflagrations in some of the world’s top economies amid heightened uncertainty over Brexit, a China-U.S. trade war and French protests. Contact between China and the United States boosted European stocks and U.S futures while sterling floundered near 20-month lows as the market sought clarity on the next steps for Brexit after Britain’s prime minister postponed a vote on her deal. China’s Vice Premier Liu He spoke with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, exchanging ...