Liquid Bulk News

A huge fire that erupted early on Tuesday at an oil tank in Venezuela's La Salina terminal operated by state company PDVSA was extinguished on Wednesday, authorities said.The fire broke out during a storm at the facility used by the state oil company near Venezuela's western city of Cabimas to store and ship crude between domestic ports.Large balls of fire left a plume of black smoke and released hot steam, leaving a total of 24 employees and neighbors with minor injuries. Two explosions and the hot temperatures affected the tank's structure…

U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas fell slightly in September as plant maintenance trimmed output, while Europe remained the leading destination, data from financial firm LSEG showed.Gulf Coast plants escaped any major impact from hurricanes last month, helping the U.S. to retain its status as the world's largest LNG exporter.Exports of the superchilled gas fell to 7.26 million metric tons in September, just down from August, when the U.S. sold 7.48 MT, LSEG data showed.U.S.

Imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia at the Netherlands' main terminal in Rotterdam have risen in recent months, underlining the need for further sanctions, the Dutch government said on Monday.Imports of Russian LNG at the GATE terminal in Europe's largest sea port have increased in the third quarter, as the average number of Russian carriers that arrived there doubled to two per month, the government said.This increase could be an effect of new sanctions that came into effect this summer…

Russia's seaborne oil product exports in August fell to 9.074 million metric tons, down 2.3% month on month, data from industry sources and Reuters calculations showed.Russia's offline primary oil refining capacity for August at 2.95 million tons was up from July's level by some 3%, according to Reuters calculations based on data from industry sources.Total oil product exports via the Baltic ports of Primorsk, Vysotsk, St.

Libyan crude exports reached about 550,000 barrels per day last week, a three-fold increase on the previous week, according to data from analytics firm Kpler and a shipping agent.Tankers carrying crude including Flavin, Pacific Pearl, Ghibli, and Delta Atlantica set sail to European destinations from various Libyan ports in the week starting Sept. 9, the data show.This comes as the OPEC producer remains in the throes of a political stand-off that has hampered its oil production.The standoff began last month when western Libyan factions moved to oust central bank governor Sadiq al-Kabir…

The fifth cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia's Arctic LNG 2 has been picked up by a vessel managed by a company under U.S. sanctions, according to ship tracking data.The Arctic LNG 2 project by Russia's Novatek is also subject to Western sanctions over Russia's war with Ukraine. Novatek has said media allegations the company was involved in establishing and managing a "shadow fleet" for the Arctic LNG 2 project were untrue.On Sept. 14, the Asya Energy vessel berthed at the plant, and departed fully loaded on Sept. 15, according to data from Kpler and LSEG.

Galveston LNG Bunker Port (GLBP) announced a gas supply agreement (GSA) with Energy Transfer’s Houston Pipeline Company (HPL), in a new milestone for the development of the region’s first dedicated liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker terminal.The newly signed agreement outlines the terms for the supply of natural gas and the construction of additional pipeline facilities needed for efficient delivery to the GLBP facility on Shoal Point in Texas City, Texas. This agreement is crucial for GLBP to provide LNG marine fuel to a broad range of customers within the Galveston Bay Port complex…

U.S. liquefied natural gas export terminals on the Louisiana coast may have escaped the brunt of Hurricane Francine and put off a major test of their ability to withstand a direct storm hit to another day.Francine was on track on Wednesday to lash south-central Louisiana, east of Cameron Parish that is home to several of the newly operating projects, with 90 mile-per-hour (145 kph) winds. Three of the four largest U.S. LNG export facilities are in Louisiana."This hurricane seems to be avoiding the majority of the LNG facility corridor…

Energy facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast have begun scaling back operations and evacuating some production sites as Tropical Storm Francine swept through the energy-rich region, and was poised to strengthen into a hurricane later Tuesday.Francine was advancing toward the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, set to become the fourth hurricane of the Atlantic season, which concludes on November 30. Francine could intensify into a Category 2 hurricane, ahead of its expected landfall along the Louisiana coast on Wednesday evening, the National Hurricane Center said.Offshore production in the U.S.

Federal regulators on Friday gave Venture Global LNG permission to begin preparations for the start-up of liquefied natural gas equipment at its Plaquemines export plant in Louisiana, taking a step closer to first LNG production for the facility, about 20 miles south of New Orleans.A tanker containing LNG has been docked at Plaquemines with a cargo of chilled gas since late August, according to Venture Global LNG and data from financial firm LSEG. The cargo is expected to be used…

Fuel oil exports bound for the U.S. Gulf Coast slumped to their lowest level since January 2019 last month, a sign of weakened refinery demand as margins have softened, analysts said.Feedstocks like high sulfur fuel oil and other heavy residues can be refined into higher value products such as gasoline and diesel using secondary units.But loadings of those products to the Gulf Coast, America's largest refining hub, fell by a third in August from the prior month to 260,000 barrels per day (bpd)…

Russia will increase oil exports via its western ports to 1.98 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, up by just 30,000 bpd from August, despite expected start of seasonal maintenance on Russian refineries, two trade sources said on Friday.Russia needs to supply its own market with enough crude oil to produce motor fuels essential to meet demand, but normally local refineries start large seasonal maintenance and cut runs, which leads to higher availability of crude oil for exports.Russia's August oil shipments from Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiisk will rise just 1.5% on a daily basis f

The United States has remained the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) so far in 2024, but a steep drop in selling prices and a sharp swing in export volumes to key markets is likely testing exporter appetite to stay on top.The United States shipped a record 56.9 million metric tons of LNG during the first eight months of 2024, according to Kpler.That surpassed the 54.3 million tons from Australia and 53.7 million tons from Qatar during that period, and marks only the second straight year that U.S.

Libyan oil exports remained largely halted on Thursday, shipping data showed, but some tankers were being allowed to load crude from storage, with output still curtailed amid a political standoff over the central bank and oil revenue.Oil tanker Kriti Samaria will be allowed to enter Libya's Zueitina port on Thursday evening or Friday to load 600,000 barrels of crude from storage and will head to Italy, engineers told Reuters. They did not give further details.Libyan crude exports have been largely shut for more than a week amid a political showdown over control of the central bank…

A backlog of liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers is waiting to load at Malaysia's Bintulu terminal this week after outages and maintenance work disrupted production, according to industry sources and shiptracking data.The Bintulu facility in Sarawak, controlled by state-owned Petronas, consists of nine LNG production trains run by four different operators with total capacity of nearly 30 million metric tons per year, making it the largest LNG-exporting complex in Asia.Petronas' MLNG joint venture completed planned maintenance on its train 7 in August…

Russia's seaborne diesel and gasoil exports are expected to fall in August to the lowest since September 2023 at 2.7 million-2.8 million metric tons due to refinery maintenance and domestic fuel demand, LSEG and market sources data show.Russia's refinery runs in August were steady or slightly higher than in July, but diesel production is seen declining due to the overhaul of secondary refining units at several refineries, according to traders' data and Reuters calculations.Russian seaborne diesel loadings to Brazil could fall this month to the lowest since February 2023 at around 450…

U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) company Freeport LNG's export plant in Texas was on track to return to service on Thursday after shutting on Wednesday, LSEG data showed.Freeport is one of the most-watched U.S. LNG export plants in the world because it has a history of swaying global gas prices when it shuts and restarts.Energy traders, however, noted that gas prices around the world were little changed on Wednesday because Freeport said it was "actively working towards reestablishing operations." That convinced the market the outage would be brief…

A tanker full of liquefied natural gas (LNG) docked at Venture Global LNG's Plaquemines export plant in Louisiana, according to shipping data from LSEG on Friday, in what energy analysts said was a sign the plant could start up in test mode soon.The vessel named Qogir came from Norway full of LNG, according to LSEG data and energy analysts.LNG plants under construction, like Plaquemines, use super-cooled fuel to test and cool equipment in preparation for startup.After Plaquemines started pulling in small amounts of natural gas from U.S.

Energy company GFI LNG and energy infrastructure developer Pilot LNG announced a partnership to develop, construct and operate a small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Salina Cruz, Mexico.The partners said they plan to commence front-end engineering and design (FEED) development for the project this quarter, followed by a 12-18 month development and permitting timeline and anticipated final investment decision (FID) in the second half of 2025.Scheduled to become fully operational between mid-to-late 2027…

U.S. maritime companies Crowley and SEACOR Holdings on Thursday announced the formal launch of their joint venture Fairwater Holdings LLC, an independent U.S. company integrating the firms’ petroleum and chemical transportation vessels, capabilities and personnel.Active in all major Jones Act coastwise tank vessel trades, Fairwater supports the transportation of petroleum products, chemical and specialty parcels, as well as Alaskan crude oil. The fleet consists of 31 owned vessels…

The Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) has appointed bp’s Senior Vice President Shipping Lambros Klaoudatos as its new Chair. Lambros takes over the position from Nick Potter, who has been involved with OCIMF at board level since 2014 and has been the organization’s Chair since 2022.Lambros has almost 30-years of industry experience across technical, commercial, project management and leadership roles both at sea and onshore. He began his career sailing on passenger vessels…

Russia has begun shipping oil and refined products to Bolivia, helping to tackle a fuel shortage in the country, and expanding its presence in Latin America as Western sanctions have forced Moscow to seek new markets, traders and shipping data show.After the full EU embargo on importing Russian oil products took effect in February 2023, Brazil has become one of the biggest importers of Russian fuel. Russia has also increased exports to Venezuela, Jamaica and Cuba.According to LSEG…

Italy's gas grid group Snam SRG.MI said on Friday it expected a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to become operational by March 2025, allowing the country to diversify further its energy supplies.The floating terminal in the Adriatic sea will have an annual regasification potential of 5 billion cubic metres (bcm), bringing Italy's total capacity to 28 bcm a year, or 45% of the country's gas demand in 2023.The set up of the regasification unit dubbed BW Singapore, which envisages the building of both a platform offshore the costal city of Ravenna and a breakwater, is part of Italy's eff