Latest news with #OilTraders
CNA
7 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Oil falls as OPEC+ output hike adds to oversupply concerns
NEW YORK/LONDON :Oil prices fell to their lowest in a week on Monday after OPEC+ agreed to another large output increase in September, adding to oversupply concerns after U.S. data showed lacklustre fuel demand in the top consuming nation. Brent crude futures fell 43 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $69.24 a barrel by 11:39 a.m. ET (1539 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude declined by 48 cents, or 0.7 per cent, to $66.85 a barrel. Both contracts were down more than 2 per cent earlier in the session and hit the lowest in a week, after declining close to 3 per cent on Friday. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, together known as OPEC+, agreed on Sunday to raise oil production by 547,000 barrels per day (bpd) for September. The latest in a series of accelerated output increases aimed at capturing market share was in line with market expectations and marks a full and early reversal of the group's largest tranche of output cuts, amounting to about 2.5 million bpd, or about 2.4 per cent of global demand. While the group cited healthy market fundamentals to back its decision, data released by the U.S. government last week showed the weakest gasoline demand in May, the start of the country's summer driving season, since the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. The data also showed U.S. oil production at a monthly record in May, adding to global oversupply concerns. Oil traders are now hedging for the possibility of further supply increases from OPEC+, with potential discussions to unwind a further 1.65 million bpd of cuts at the group's next meeting on September 7 adding pressure to oil prices. "OPEC+ retains a substantial amount of spare production capacity, and markets are now watching closely to see whether the group will tap into it," StoneX analyst Alex Hodes said. "So far, there are no clear signals that OPEC+ intends to deploy this additional capacity, but the possibility remains on the table," he added. Analysts at Goldman Sachs expect that the actual increase in supply from the eight OPEC+ countries that have raised output since March will be 1.7 million bpd because other members have cut output after overproducing. Investors also continued to digest the impact of the latest U.S. tariffs on exports from dozens of trading partners and remain wary of further U.S. sanctions on Russia. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 100 per cent secondary tariffs on Russian crude buyers as he seeks to pressure Moscow into halting its war in Ukraine. Trump on Monday said he will substantially raise tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian oil, after two Indian government sources told Reuters over the weekend that the country will keep buying oil from Moscow despite Trump's threats.
Bloomberg
31-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Markets React to Trump's Steeper 25% Tariff Threat on India
Oil traders -- as well as refiners in India -- are desperate for greater clarity about Trump's intentions toward the nation's energy purchases from Russia. In the post that announced the blanket 25% levy on Indian imports, the president also said there would be 'plus a penalty' in relation to the oil purchases, but gave no detail. Given that potential US moves in this regard could take a variety of forms (or may not be imposed at all) there's a mass of confusion about what's likely to happen and when.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Traders rebrand Venezuelan oil for China as Brazilian, sources and tanker trackers say
By Chen Aizhu SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Traders have rebranded more than $1 billion of Venezuelan oil shipments to China as Brazilian crude over the past year, according to two tanker tracking firms, company documents and four traders, helping buyers to cut logistics costs and circumvent U.S. sanctions. Independent refiners in China are the main buyers of seaborne oil shipments from countries sanctioned by the United States, with offshore Malaysia serving as a key trans-shipment hub for Venezuelan and Iranian crude. Since July 2024, however, traders have also rebranded Venezuelan oil as from Brazil. This has enabled tankers to sail directly from Venezuela to China, skipping the stop-over in waters off Malaysia and shortening the voyage by about four days. Washington has imposed sanctions on Venezuelan energy exports since 2019 to reduce the oil export revenue that funds the government of President Nicolas Maduro, who has held power for more than a decade with elections that observers say were fraudulent. Maduro and his government have rejected sanctions by the United States and others, saying they are illegitimate measures that amount to "economic war" and are designed to cripple Venezuela. Since sanctions have been in place, oil traders have transferred oil from one ship to another at sea to disguise the origin of Venezuelan crude before it is shipped to China, which is the world's biggest crude importer. More recently, shippers have tampered with the tankers' location signal to make it look like vessels are departing from Brazilian ports when they are actually sailing from Venezuela, according to maritime data, satellite imagery and shoreside photos compiled and analysed by monitoring service This practice is known as spoofing. According to Chinese customs data, China imported about 2.7 million metric tons, or 67,000 barrels per day (bpd), of mixed bitumen from Brazil between July 2024 and March 2025, worth $1.2 billion. Chinese refiners regularly buy Brazilian crude but Brazil rarely exports any bitumen blend, according to state oil company Petrobras. Brazilian customs data records no export of bitumen blend to China since at least 2023. Mixed bitumen, or bitumen blend, is a tar-like residue for processing into asphalt. However, Brazil's typical crude grades for export are classified as medium-sweet oil from its prolific offshore fields known as pre-salt. "What we export to China is mainly crude oil from the pre-salt, it's not bitumen," Petrobras CEO Magda Chambriard told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Houston last week. Many crude cargoes entering China branded as Brazilian bitumen actually contain Venezuela's Merey, the flagship heavy crude typically bought by China's independent refiners from Venezuela's state-run PDVSA through intermediaries, according to the trading sources, tanker tracker Vortexa Analytics and internal PDVSA documents reviewed by Reuters. Traders have long branded Merey as bitumen blend, Chinese traders have said, because refiners do not need government crude oil import quotas to bring in the tar-like oil. To effect the switch, dealers change the documentation of the shipments to Brazilian origin by providing a new certificate of origin for the oil, without sending vessels near Brazil or going through any ship-to-ship operations, three of the traders said. This year, several vessels chartered by an intermediary of Venezuelan crude, Hangzhou Energy, have "spoofed" their signals - artificially placing them in Brazil while loading in Venezuela, according to PDVSA documents and the data compiled by Reuters was unable to locate a contact for Hangzhou Energy, which according to the PDVSA documents has loaded crude from Venezuela as an intermediary since 2021. The Liberia-flagged tanker Karina loaded 1.8 million barrels of Venezuelan Merey 16 crude for Hangzhou Energy in February under the name "Katelyn", according to one of the documents and It spoofed its signal while in Venezuela, making it appear that it had departed from Brazil. It discharged at China's Yangpu port in early April, according to China's customs agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PDVSA, Venezuela's oil ministry and Brazil's government did not reply to requests for comment. COST SAVER Apart from shortening the voyage and saving the ship-to-ship costs, passing cargoes off as Brazilian helps to secure bank financing, said one of the traders, a regular dealer of Venezuelan oil. "The savings on the freight front are not much, but it helps securing financing, relieving traders' financing pressure throughout the two-month-long voyages," the person said. The traders declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject. China, like Venezuela, has repeatedly said it opposes unilateral sanctions. China is the main destination for Venezuela's crude exports. Venezuela sent some 351,000 bpd of oil and heavy fuel to China last year. Volumes increased to 463,000 bpd in the first four months of 2025, according to PDVSA documents and shipping data compiled by Reuters. Most of China's imports of Venezuelan oil are still declared as Malaysian, either as Malaysian crude or mixed bitumen, traders have said, with less than 10% officially reported as Venezuelan.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Traders rebrand Venezuelan oil for China as Brazilian, sources and tanker trackers say
By Chen Aizhu SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Traders have rebranded more than $1 billion of Venezuelan oil shipments to China as Brazilian crude over the past year, according to two tanker tracking firms, company documents and four traders, helping buyers to cut logistics costs and circumvent U.S. sanctions. Independent refiners in China are the main buyers of seaborne oil shipments from countries sanctioned by the United States, with offshore Malaysia serving as a key trans-shipment hub for Venezuelan and Iranian crude. Since July 2024, however, traders have also rebranded Venezuelan oil as from Brazil. This has enabled tankers to sail directly from Venezuela to China, skipping the stop-over in waters off Malaysia and shortening the voyage by about four days. Washington has imposed sanctions on Venezuelan energy exports since 2019 to reduce the oil export revenue that funds the government of President Nicolas Maduro, who has held power for more than a decade with elections that observers say were fraudulent. Maduro and his government have rejected sanctions by the United States and others, saying they are illegitimate measures that amount to "economic war" and are designed to cripple Venezuela. Since sanctions have been in place, oil traders have transferred oil from one ship to another at sea to disguise the origin of Venezuelan crude before it is shipped to China, which is the world's biggest crude importer. More recently, shippers have tampered with the tankers' location signal to make it look like vessels are departing from Brazilian ports when they are actually sailing from Venezuela, according to maritime data, satellite imagery and shoreside photos compiled and analysed by monitoring service This practice is known as spoofing. According to Chinese customs data, China imported about 2.7 million metric tons, or 67,000 barrels per day (bpd), of mixed bitumen from Brazil between July 2024 and March 2025, worth $1.2 billion. Chinese refiners regularly buy Brazilian crude but Brazil rarely exports any bitumen blend, according to state oil company Petrobras. Brazilian customs data records no export of bitumen blend to China since at least 2023. Mixed bitumen, or bitumen blend, is a tar-like residue for processing into asphalt. However, Brazil's typical crude grades for export are classified as medium-sweet oil from its prolific offshore fields known as pre-salt. "What we export to China is mainly crude oil from the pre-salt, it's not bitumen," Petrobras CEO Magda Chambriard told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Houston last week. Many crude cargoes entering China branded as Brazilian bitumen actually contain Venezuela's Merey, the flagship heavy crude typically bought by China's independent refiners from Venezuela's state-run PDVSA through intermediaries, according to the trading sources, tanker tracker Vortexa Analytics and internal PDVSA documents reviewed by Reuters. Traders have long branded Merey as bitumen blend, Chinese traders have said, because refiners do not need government crude oil import quotas to bring in the tar-like oil. To effect the switch, dealers change the documentation of the shipments to Brazilian origin by providing a new certificate of origin for the oil, without sending vessels near Brazil or going through any ship-to-ship operations, three of the traders said. This year, several vessels chartered by an intermediary of Venezuelan crude, Hangzhou Energy, have "spoofed" their signals - artificially placing them in Brazil while loading in Venezuela, according to PDVSA documents and the data compiled by Reuters was unable to locate a contact for Hangzhou Energy, which according to the PDVSA documents has loaded crude from Venezuela as an intermediary since 2021. The Liberia-flagged tanker Karina loaded 1.8 million barrels of Venezuelan Merey 16 crude for Hangzhou Energy in February under the name "Katelyn", according to one of the documents and It spoofed its signal while in Venezuela, making it appear that it had departed from Brazil. It discharged at China's Yangpu port in early April, according to China's customs agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PDVSA, Venezuela's oil ministry and Brazil's government did not reply to requests for comment. COST SAVER Apart from shortening the voyage and saving the ship-to-ship costs, passing cargoes off as Brazilian helps to secure bank financing, said one of the traders, a regular dealer of Venezuelan oil. "The savings on the freight front are not much, but it helps securing financing, relieving traders' financing pressure throughout the two-month-long voyages," the person said. The traders declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject. China, like Venezuela, has repeatedly said it opposes unilateral sanctions. China is the main destination for Venezuela's crude exports. Venezuela sent some 351,000 bpd of oil and heavy fuel to China last year. Volumes increased to 463,000 bpd in the first four months of 2025, according to PDVSA documents and shipping data compiled by Reuters. Most of China's imports of Venezuelan oil are still declared as Malaysian, either as Malaysian crude or mixed bitumen, traders have said, with less than 10% officially reported as Venezuelan. 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Reuters
12-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Traders rebrand Venezuelan oil for China as Brazilian, sources and tanker trackers say
SINGAPORE, May 12 (Reuters) - Traders have rebranded more than $1 billion of Venezuelan oil shipments to China as Brazilian crude over the past year, according to two tanker tracking firms, company documents and four traders, helping buyers to cut logistics costs and circumvent U.S. sanctions. Independent refiners in China are the main buyers of seaborne oil shipments from countries sanctioned by the United States, with offshore Malaysia serving as a key trans-shipment hub for Venezuelan and Iranian crude. Since July 2024, however, traders have also rebranded Venezuelan oil as from Brazil. This has enabled tankers to sail directly from Venezuela to China, skipping the stop-over in waters off Malaysia and shortening the voyage by about four days. Washington has imposed sanctions on Venezuelan energy exports since 2019 to reduce the oil export revenue that funds the government of President Nicolas Maduro, who has held power for more than a decade with elections that observers say were fraudulent. Maduro and his government have rejected sanctions by the United States and others, saying they are illegitimate measures that amount to "economic war" and are designed to cripple Venezuela. Since sanctions have been in place, oil traders have transferred oil from one ship to another at sea to disguise the origin of Venezuelan crude before it is shipped to China, which is the world's biggest crude importer. More recently, shippers have tampered with the tankers' location signal to make it look like vessels are departing from Brazilian ports when they are actually sailing from Venezuela, according to maritime data, satellite imagery and shoreside photos compiled and analysed by monitoring service This practice is known as spoofing. According to Chinese customs data, China imported about 2.7 million metric tons, or 67,000 barrels per day (bpd), of mixed bitumen from Brazil between July 2024 and March 2025, worth $1.2 billion. Chinese refiners regularly buy Brazilian crude but Brazil rarely exports any bitumen blend, according to state oil company Petrobras ( opens new tab. Brazilian customs data records no export of bitumen blend to China since at least 2023. Mixed bitumen, or bitumen blend, is a tar-like residue for processing into asphalt. However, Brazil's typical crude grades for export are classified as medium-sweet oil from its prolific offshore fields known as pre-salt. "What we export to China is mainly crude oil from the pre-salt, it's not bitumen," Petrobras CEO Magda Chambriard told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Houston last week. Many crude cargoes entering China branded as Brazilian bitumen actually contain Venezuela's Merey, the flagship heavy crude typically bought by China's independent refiners from Venezuela's state-run PDVSA through intermediaries, according to the trading sources, tanker tracker Vortexa Analytics and internal PDVSA documents reviewed by Reuters. Traders have long branded Merey as bitumen blend, Chinese traders have said, because refiners do not need government crude oil import quotas to bring in the tar-like oil. To effect the switch, dealers change the documentation of the shipments to Brazilian origin by providing a new certificate of origin for the oil, without sending vessels near Brazil or going through any ship-to-ship operations, three of the traders said. This year, several vessels chartered by an intermediary of Venezuelan crude, Hangzhou Energy, have "spoofed" their signals - artificially placing them in Brazil while loading in Venezuela, according to PDVSA documents and the data compiled by Reuters was unable to locate a contact for Hangzhou Energy, which according to the PDVSA documents has loaded crude from Venezuela as an intermediary since 2021. The Liberia-flagged tanker Karina loaded 1.8 million barrels of Venezuelan Merey 16 crude for Hangzhou Energy in February under the name "Katelyn", according to one of the documents and It spoofed its signal while in Venezuela, making it appear that it had departed from Brazil. It discharged at China's Yangpu port in early April, according to China's customs agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PDVSA, Venezuela's oil ministry and Brazil's government did not reply to requests for comment. Apart from shortening the voyage and saving the ship-to-ship costs, passing cargoes off as Brazilian helps to secure bank financing, said one of the traders, a regular dealer of Venezuelan oil. "The savings on the freight front are not much, but it helps securing financing, relieving traders' financing pressure throughout the two-month-long voyages," the person said. The traders declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject. China, like Venezuela, has repeatedly said it opposes unilateral sanctions. China is the main destination for Venezuela's crude exports. Venezuela sent some 351,000 bpd of oil and heavy fuel to China last year. Volumes increased to 463,000 bpd in the first four months of 2025, according to PDVSA documents and shipping data compiled by Reuters. Most of China's imports of Venezuelan oil are still declared as Malaysian, either as Malaysian crude or mixed bitumen, traders have said, with less than 10% officially reported as Venezuelan.
