LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Refiners in Asia, Europe and Russia are shipping around half a million tonnes of heating oil and diesel to the United States this month after bitterly cold weather sharply reduced oil stocks there.
At least a dozen tankers have been booked so far in January to ship gasoil and diesel to the U.S. East Coast, according to traders and shipping data.
The majority of the tankers, or around 300,000 tonnes of oil product, originated from the Baltic Sea and Black Sea.
One tanker, the 100,000-tonne Torm Valborg, was chartered by Reliance , which operates the world’s biggest refining complex in western India.
Around three medium-range tankers were booked from Europe on the west-bound transatlantic route, traders said.
Also, around five cargoes of jet fuel heading from the Middle East and Asia to Europe were diverted to the United States in recent days, with several likely to discharge in Florida, traders said.
“U.S. East Coast heating oil stocks are low at the commercial level and are being reduced at the consumer level. That market should remain tight and can’t get much incremental supply from the U.S. Gulf due to the Jones Act restricting transport between the two regions by vessel,” said Olivier Jakob, analyst at Zug, Switzerland-based Petromatrix.
“Russia will have to come to the rescue of the U.S. East Coast heating oil consumers since the Jones Act does not allow the U.S. Gulf to do it,” he added.
The Jones Act generally requires that the maritime transport of cargo between points in the United States be carried by U.S.-flagged vessels that are at least 75 percent owned and crewed by U.S. citizens, with U.S. officers and built in U.S. shipyards.
Only one tanker, at 40,000 tonnes, delivered gasoil to the U.S. East Coast in December, traders said.
A sharp decline in U.S. distillate stocks to below their five-year average last week and icy weather that swept across the U.S. East Coast have sent U.S. ultra-low-sulphur diesel futures higher this week.
The difference between the front-month February U.S. and European benchmark gasoil futures, known as the HOGO, widened to above $32 a tonne on Thursday, prompting the rare arbitrage.
“There are lots of barrels looking for a market and East Coast stocks are rather low, so it is only natural that some of these barrels try to find a home in the East Coast market,” said Andrew Reed, analyst at Massachusetts ESAI Energy.
Growth in global refinery production was expected to lead to a diesel glut in 2014, he added.
By Andy Sullivan, Joseph Campbell and Gabriella Borter BALTIMORE, March 26 (Reuters) – Six workers were missing and presumed dead from a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore Harbor early on Tuesday after a massive...
The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed early today after the large containerships Dali struck a primary support column. Two individuals were rescued, one is seriously injured, and authorities...
The most severe US bridge allision since the Tampa Skyway Bridge disaster in 1980 happened in the early hours of the morning while the ship was under pilotage. Here are...
The Unified Command continues to oversee the response operations following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Dive operations and vehicle recovery have currently been put on...
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge has brought navigation into and out of the Port of Baltimore to a standstill. Behind the collapsed bridge is located every terminal...
By Malte Humpert (gCaptain) – The Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority (NSIA) released its report on the loss of propulsion and near-grounding of cruise ship Viking Sky on 23 March 2019....
14 hours ago
Total Views: 2021
Why Join the gCaptain Club?
Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.