Significant demand for natural gas in mid-February led to the second-largest reported withdrawal of natural gas from storage in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report  (WNGSR). Weekly stocks fell by 338 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in the week ending February 19, 2021, nearly three times the average withdrawal for mid-February. A record amount of natural gas, 156 Bcf, was withdrawn during that week in the South Central region, which includes Texas. Colder-than-normal temperatures across much of the Lower 48 states, ...

The world’s largest economies should continue their rescue and support measures for workers and companies in the COVID-19 pandemic as the recovery is taking longer than initially thought, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Friday. “We must not scale back the support programs too early and too quickly,” Scholz said ahead of a virtual meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the world’s top 20 economies, adding he would campaign with his G20 colleagues for continued stimulus. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Paul Carrel)

China’s finance ministry said on Friday that it would extend tariff exemptions for 65 imported products from the United States, including logs and aircraft parts. The extension, effective on Feb. 28, will last until Sept. 16, 2021, the ministry said. The products received exemptions from retaliatory tariffs imposed by China on U.S. goods. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Lusha Zhang and Ryan Woo; Writing by Colin Qian; Editing by Alex Richardson)

The European Central Bank is monitoring the recent surge in government borrowing costs but will not target specific levels in bond yields or mechanically react to market moves, two ECB policymakers said on Friday. Government bond yields around the world have rebounded from some of their lowest levels in history in recent weeks, mostly reflecting expectations of faster price growth in the United States. Investors have been pondering at what point the ECB will increase the pace of its bond purchases to rein in yields, in keeping with its pledge ...

The world’s financial leaders agreed on Friday they would avoid a premature withdrawal of fiscal and monetary stimulus that they have been providing to the world economy to help it survive the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Italian presidency of the G20 told a news conference the financial leaders agreed to step up their cooperation to deal with the still fragile and uneven recovery and to explore additional ways of helping poorer economies deal with the coronavirus. Finance ministers and central bank governors of the world’s top 20 economies, ...

Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics, announced he would dedicate six liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered containerships to the U.S. market as part of the Group’s ongoing efforts to improve air quality and drive forward the energy transition of the shipping industry. Rodolphe Saadé made the announcement at the opening session of TPM, the premiere conference for the trans-Pacific and global container shipping and logistics community. Six 15,000-TEU LNG-powered vessels to call the U.S. The first of ...

Golar LNG Partners LP generated operating income of $32.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, exclusive of its interest in FLNG Hilli Episeyo. The Partnership reported net income attributable to unit holders of $20.7 million for the fourth quarter after accounting for $0.4 million of non-cash mark-to-market interest rate swap gains. The Partnership generated distributable cash flow1 of $31.6 million for the fourth quarter resulting in a distribution coverage ratio1 of 22.09. Golar Partners entered into an agreement and plan of merger (“the merger”, “the merger agreement”, or “the ...

International seafarer welfare charity, The Mission to Seafarers has today announced the launch of its new e-learning modules as an extension to its WeCare programme. In response to the added pressures on seafarers during COVID-19, the two face-to-face programmes are being moved online to provide greater accessibility. WeCare was launched by The Mission to Seafarers in January 2019. The goal of this ambitious new initiative was to address an issue at the very heart of seafarers’ mental health and wellbeing: relationships and emotions. Both courses are designed to help seafarers ...

KVH Industries, Inc., (Nasdaq: KVHI), announced yesterday that remote vessel and voyage management platform Smart Ship© Hub is now a KVH Watch® Solution Partner and will offer KVH Watch services as part of its wide range of remote technical and operational management solutions. The Smart Ship Hub platform provides performance advisory and predictive diagnostics for vessel performance optimization as well as remote video-based maintenance and surveys and a wide range of related services that rely on real-time data feeds. “The pillars of Smart Ship Hub’s services include remote tracking, monitoring, ...

Samudera Shipping Line has reported FY2020 revenue of US$347.9 million, down 6.9%. However, thanks to a combination of lower operating costs, mainly fuel, it was able to report 89% y-o-y jump in earnings to US$7.2 million. For the year ended Dec 31 2020, the shipping line based out of Indonesia handled a 7.5% jump in container volume. From 1.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units handled back in FY2019, the company handled 1.3 million TEUs last year, thanks to a “sharp turnaround” in container shipping activity in the second half of the ...

Rovco, leading provider of marine robotic and hydrographic services coupled with state-of-the-art technology, today announced an executive shift focus within the company. Simon Miller will take over as new Managing Director of Rovco, while newly appointed CFO and Director, Nick Boorman will lead the group alongside CEO, Brian Allen, who turns his attention to the development of a new start-up technology company, Vaarst. The news marks the continued expansion of the company during a period of sustained growth, as the number of Rovco employees reaches 57. Simon Miller, newly appointed ...

In a bid to improve Nigeria’s ranking on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and to promote transparency, eliminate bottlenecks and illegal demands at seaports and terminals, the Nigerian Government has launched its Nigerian Ports Process Manual (NPPM). This manual is a collation of various processes extracted from standard operating procedures of stakeholders in the port sector. The aim is to improve operations, service timelines, efficiency and accountability in the port sector. The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has been appointed as the implementation lead agency for NPPM, while all federal government ...

The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in Southern California’s San Pedro Bay are experiencing a massive spike in import-export activity, sourced primarily from Asia including China, which is taxing their usually efficient systems to their limit and slowing shipping traffic to a crawl. “We are seeing record-breaking container traffic through the Port of Long Beach,” Port of Long Beach (POLB) Executive Director Mario Cordero told Xinhua on Tuesday, confirming 21.9 percent growth in January 2021 over the year before, and a record fourth quarter 2020 that was ...

Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, is promoting the construction of a global transportation hub by increasing investment in the building or expansion of its airport, ports, high-speed railway lines and expressways. It will also enhance infrastructure connectivity with Hong Kong and Macao and other major cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to speed up construction of a world-class Bay Area, said Zhou Qingfeng, deputy director of Guangzhou’s development and reform commission. “As a national core city, Guangzhou will be able to play a leading role in coordinating and ...

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium has received bids for crude deliveries via its network in 2021 totaling 67.5 million mt, CPC General Director Nikolay Gorban told journalists Feb. 25. This is equivalent to around 1.44 million b/d, using a conversion rate of 7.8 barrels per metric ton. It would represent a 12.5% increase on deliveries of around 1.28 million b/d in 2020. “We don’t know if all of these bids will be fulfilled, everything depends on global market conditions, and the demand situation,” Gorban said, adding that CPC is prepared to ...