Crude Oil Tanker News

Tanker owner Performance Shipping entered into a sale and leaseback agreement with an unaffiliated third party for a previously announced newbuild LR2 Aframax tanker vessel. This concludes the financing for all three newbuilding LNG-ready, scrubber-fitted LR2 product/crude oil tanker vessels of approximately 114,000 dwt each, expected to be delivered in August and September 2025, and January 2026.The bareboat financing amount totals $45 million. As part of this agreement, the vessel will be sold and then chartered back to Performance Shipping Inc.

Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (OSG) extended its adoption of GIT Coatings’ graphene-based propeller coating, XGIT-PROP, across seven additional crude oil tankers. Previously, OSG applied graphene-based propeller coating to one of its crude oil tanker vessels in October of 2023. The first application of XGIT-PROP on an OSG tanker has seen performance gains and fuel savings proven beyond expectations. A third party has further validated this with the vessel tracked along its trade route covering the Pacific Ocean.

Liberian-flagged crude oil tanker Chrysalis, which was attacked by Yemen's Houthis last year, sailed through the Red Sea this week, the Suez Canal said on Monday, in one of the first voyages since the militia announced a halt in attacks on ships not linked to Israel.Shipping companies, many of which have suspended Red Sea voyages and rerouted vessels around southern Africa to avoid potential Houthi attacks, have been anxiously waiting for confirmation of safe voyages through the Red Sea since the Gaza ceasefire.The Iran-aligned Houthis…

“In 2024, new crude oil tanker deliveries dropped to a 36-year low as only 17 new tankers, with a capacity of 2.5m deadweight tonnes (DWT), joined the fleet. Compared to 2023, the capacity delivered dropped by 74%,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.During the year, the recycling of crude tankers increased to 1.7m DWT wherefore the fleet ended only 0.2% larger in 2024 than at the end of 2023, the slowest growth in 23 years.The Aframax and Suezmax segments saw capacity growth of 0.5% and 1.1% respectively.

A tanker subject to the new U.S. sanctions is discharging Russian oil at a port operated by Shandong Port Group in east China, shipping data on LSEG Eikon showed on Thursday.The tanker is the first since last week's sanctions announcement to discharge in Shandong province where many of China's independent refineries that have been big importers of Russian crude are based.It will be monitored closely by those in the industry anxious to know how strictly the measures will be implemented.The sanctions include a grace period exempting cargoes loaded before Jan.

Spoiler Alert: we already know what to do. Some of it just isn’t physically possible. Help isn’t going to come from South Korea.Just two days following Donald Trump’s historic election victory, positioning him to become just the second U.S. President to be elected twice, in separate, non-following terms, the headlines curiously turned to shipbuilding. Which is a nice thing, since the average American thinks very little about that industry on a daily basis. Digging deeper, it seems that America’s once dominant shipbuilding industry needs help…

Yemen's Houthi group has agreed to allow tugboats and rescue ships to reach a damaged crude oil tanker in the Red Sea, Iran's mission to the United Nations said on Wednesday, after the Iran-aligned militants attacked the Greek-flagged vessel last week.The Sounion tanker is carrying 150,000 tonnes, or 1 million barrels, of crude oil and poses an environmental hazard, shipping officials said. Any spill has the potential to be among the largest from a ship in recorded history."Several countries have reached out to ask Ansarullah (the Houthis)…

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group has agreed to a temporary truce to allow tugboats and rescue ships to reach the damaged Greek-flagged crude oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea, Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York said on Wednesday."Several countries have reached out to ask Ansarullah (the Houthis), requesting a temporary truce for the entry of tugboats and rescue ships into the incident area," Iran's U.N. mission said. "In consideration of humanitarian and environmental concerns…

The Greek-flagged crude oil tanker Sounion that was recently attacked by Yemen's Houthis is still on fire in the Red Sea and now appears to be leaking oil, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday.The Sounion was targeted last week by multiple projectiles off Yemen's port city of Hodeidah. The Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous regions, said they attacked it in the Red Sea, as the Iran-aligned group has been attacking ships in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between…

Two crude oil tanker ships reported coming under attack in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen on Tuesday, although neither reported damage, maritime security agencies said.The attempted assaults on those vessels, identified as the Liberia-flagged Delta Atlantica and the Panama-flagged On Phoenix, bear the hallmarks of Iran-aligned Houthi militant attacks on international cargo shipping in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attacks.

A crude oil tanker has reported four attacks off Yemen's port of Mokha during the last 24 hours, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said on Friday, and the vessel's manager said the ship and its crew were safe.Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea region since November in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.On Thursday, the captain of the Delta Blue tanker reported that…

The captain of the Delta Blue crude oil tanker reported an attack from two small craft 45 nautical miles south of Yemen's Mokha, with a rocket-propelled grenade exploding near the vessel, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Thursday.Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since November in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.The Liberia-flagged Delta Blue and its crew are safe…

NYK and ENEOS Ocean Corporation have agreed to NYK’s acquisition of 80% of the shares of a new company to be established by ENEOS Ocean Corporation. The new company will take over ENEOS Ocean's shipping business through an absorption-type company split that will include the company’s LPG carriers, chemical tankers, product tankers, and dry bulk carriers.The demerger will not include ENEOS Ocean’s crude oil tanker business.The new company will operate 49 vessels, including 18 LPG carriers, 19 chemical and product tankers, and 12 dry bulk carriers.

The crude oil tanker market is grappling with an ageing fleet of vessels which need to be replaced, posing a challenge as shipyards are focused on building other types of ships, a top executive with commodity trader Trafigura said on Tuesday.The crude tanker market, including VLCC supertankers, has remained strong in recent months partly due to longer voyages made by some vessels sailing via southern Africa amid Red Sea attacks by the Houthis, which has tightened availability.In addition, up to 850 tankers are estimated to have left conventional trading to transport sanctioned oil including fr

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and Brazil’s state-owned energy giant Petrobras have signed a charter contract for cargo transfer vessel (CTV) SeaLoader 2, and agreed to start negotiations for a new CTV shipbuilding contract by the end of 2024.MOL signed the deal through its wholly owned subsidiary, SeaLoading Holding, which owns and operates CTVs.SeaLoading started a CTV agreement with Petrobras for SeaLoader 2 on a trial period in January 2022, and successfully completed more than 30 crude oil offloading operations from Petrobras' FPSOs located in the Santos Basin…

Belgian tanker operator Euronav has concluded the acquisition of 100% shares in cleantech maritime group CMB.TECH for $1.15 billion in cash.The transaction is part of Euronav’s renewed strategy of diversification, decarbonization and accelerated optimization of the its current crude oil tanker fleet, driven by CMB.TECH’s ‘future-proof’ fleet of 106 low carbon vessels, of which 46 are under construction.It was first announced in December 2023, and also entails Euronav’s proposal change its corporate name to CMB.TECH following completion of the transaction and the offer.

Freight going through the Suez Canal has dropped by 45% in the two months since attacks by Yemen's Houthis led shipping groups to divert freight, disrupting already strained maritime trading routes, according to UN agency UNCTAD.UNCTAD, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which supports developing countries in global trade, warned of risks of higher inflation, uncertainty of food security and increased greenhouse gas emissions.Shipping companies have diverted ships from the Red Sea since the Iran-aligned Houthi movement…

Greek shipowner Performance Shipping Inc. announced it has signed two shipbuilding contracts with China Shipbuilding Trading Co. Ltd. (CSTC) and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. (SWS) for the construction of two 114,000 DWT LNG-ready LR2 Aframax product/crude oil tanker vessels.The newbuilds, expected to be delivered in January and April of 2026, were ordered at a purchase price of US$64,845,000 per vessel, net of third-party commission. 15% of the purchase price is payable upon receipt of a refund guarantee…

An oil tanker runs aground off eastern China, leaking fuel into the water. Another is caught in a collision near Cuba. A third is seized in Spain for drifting out of control.These vessels were part of a "shadow" fleet of tankers carrying oil last year from countries hit by Western sanctions, according to a Reuters analysis of ship tracking and accident data and interviews with more than a dozen industry specialists.Hundreds of extra ships have joined this opaque parallel trade…

Ships sailing for Israel face a 10-fold jump in war risk premiums as the conflict in Gaza intensifies, prompting industry calls for the government to help ensure vital imports keep coming.Israel has vowed to annihilate Islamist group Hamas after its fighters stormed through Israeli towns from Gaza on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people and seizing more than 220 hostages.Israeli forces have hit back with deadly air strikes and now a ground offensive on the narrow coastal strip, with growing fears the conflict could escalate and pull in the whole region.Israel…

On October 23, NYK held its annual roundtable discussion on current conditions and issues on board vessels, highlighting the role of communications in ship safety.The meeting was held at the NYK head office in Tokyo in a hybrid format and attended by more than 150 participants, including three captains and three chief engineers on leave, the captain and chief engineer on board the car carrier Iris Leader, the captain aboard the crude oil tanker Tensho, 22 executive officers, and…

U.S. shipping company Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (OSG) on Thursday announced it has reached an agreement with BP Oil Shipping Company to purchase the Jones Act compliant crude oil tanker Alaskan Frontier.Built by General Dynamics NASSCO in 2004, the 1.3-million-barrel capacity tanker is a sister to three other Alaskan Class vessels operated by OSG’s wholly owned subsidiary, Alaskan Tanker Company. It was part of Alaska Tanker Company's active fleet  until 2019 when the vessel was placed in cold lay-up in Labuan, Malaysia.OSG said it expects the transaction will be completed in early November. Afterward, the company intends to reactivate the tanker…

Belgian tanker operator Euronav and its controlling shareholder CMB have entered into a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of 100% of the shares in cleantech maritime group CMB.TECH for $1.15 billion in cash.Euronav said the transaction is part of its renewed strategy of diversification, decarbonization and accelerated optimization of the its current crude oil tanker fleet, driven by CMB.TECH’s ‘future-proof’ fleet of 106 low carbon vessels, of which 46 are under construction.CMB.TECH builds…