By Laura Hurst and Javier Blas (Bloomberg) -- If a single ship can capture the current state of the global oil, it’s the supertanker Saiq, floating idly about 850 kilometers (528 miles) south of the Canary Islands. Until a few days ago, the 330-meter-long tanker, chartered by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, was steaming at 13 knots toward the Chinese port of Tianjin after loading a … [Read more...]
Glut of Floating Crude Clears
The glut of crude oil stored in ships on the North Sea is finally starting to dissipate. Demand for the commodity has increased as traders take advantage of remaining discounts before maintenance begins at the U.K.’s largest oil field. The result: a whittling away at the backlog of floating storage that has persisted for months. The “timing is right” for … [Read more...]
Crude Carriers Cutting Speeds as World Swims in Oil
By Alaric Nightingale and Alex Longley (Bloomberg) -- The world’s biggest oil companies are asking tanker operators to slow down delivery of crude amid an ever- expanding supply glut on land, Europe’s largest owner of supertankers said. Tankers hauling 2 million-barrel cargoes are delivering them at speeds of about 13 knots, compared with a maximum of 15, Paddy Rodgers, … [Read more...]
China Offshore Driller CNOOC to Cut Output for First Time Since 1999
Aibing Guo and Rakteem Katakey (Bloomberg) -- China’s largest offshore oil company will cut output for the first time in more than a decade, prompting speculation the nation’s producers are succumbing to the global price war. Cnooc Ltd. will produce 470 million to 485 million barrels of oil equivalent this year, slipping from 495 million in 2015, it said in a statement to … [Read more...]
Norway’s Stacked Offshore Fleet Swells to 100 Vessels
By Mikael Holter (Bloomberg) -- The number of Norwegian offshore vessels with nothing to do has gone from zero to 100 in just a year. And the woes are far from over, the industry’s top lobbyist said. “The worst is still to come,” Sturla Henriksen, chief executive officer of the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, said in an interview in Oslo on Friday. “2016 and 2017 will … [Read more...]