Transportation

Three people said this week that Calgary-based South Bow, a pipeline company, has reduced the size of the crude trading team in order to increase the volume of oil sold under contract via its pipeline systems while reducing the amount of crude traded. South Bow was spun off from Canadian pipeline company TC Energy as part of a strategy to reduce TC's debt in October 2024. South Bow fired two traders on 4 April, the people reported. TC Energy had already laid off a member of its team in June 2012, before the spin-off. The crude trading team has been...

South Bow said it plans to restart Keystone by Tuesday, April 15th, the company announced on Saturday. It shut down the main conduit for the flow Canadian oil into the U.S. because of an oil spillage in North Dakota. South Bow needs to receive written approval from U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, or PHMSA, must approve the restart of the pipeline before it can be done. Keystone will continue to operate in the U.S. at reduced rates even after it is restarted, according to the company. This is due to a Friday corrective action order from the PHMSA....

U.S. regulators have said that there may be structural problems with the Keystone Pipeline. They issued a corrective order to its operator South Bow Corp. after an oil spill occurred in North Dakota earlier this week. This shut down the main conduit for Canadian oil flowing to the U.S. South Bow must receive written approval from U.S. According to an order published on Friday, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration must approve the restart of the pipeline before it can proceed. The order states that even after Keystone restarts, it will still have to operate at a reduced rate...

Three people said this week that Calgary-based South Bow, a pipeline company, has reduced the size of the crude trading team in order to increase the volume of oil sold under contract via its pipeline systems while reducing the amount of crude traded. South Bow was spun off from Canadian pipeline company TC Energy as part of a strategy to reduce TC's debt in October 2024. South Bow fired two traders on 4 April, the people reported. TC Energy had already laid off a member of its team in June 2012, before the spin-off. The crude trading team has been...

Western Canada Select (WCS), a heavy crude from Canada, was trading at a discount to West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark North American futures contract. The discount narrowed Friday, despite the fact that the Keystone pipeline between Canada and the U.S.A. was still shut for the fourth day in a row. WCS for delivery in May at Hardisty, Alberta settled at $9.60 per barrel below WTI according to brokerage CalRock. It had settled at $9.85 below the U.S. benchmark Thursday. Keystone, the oil pipeline that connects Canada and the U.S., was closed on Tuesday following an oil spillage in North...

Chris Wright, the U.S. Energy secretary, said that President Donald Trump could increase pressure on Iran by stopping its oil exports. This would be part of his plan to put pressure on Tehran regarding its nuclear program. Trump's return to the White House in January, after his first term, when he rescinded the United States' 2015 power agreement with Tehran and imposed restrictions on its oil sales, has once again brought a more aggressive approach towards the Middle Eastern country over its nuclear activities. Wright said during a trip to Abu Dhabi that he believed Gulf allies were very concerned...

According to a bulletin published by the Panama Canal's administrative authority on Thursday, the number of ships transiting the canal, the second busiest waterway in the world, dropped to an average 33.7 vessels per day, or 1,045 total ships, during the month of March. In February, 34.8 vessels crossed the waterway on average per day, a slight increase over the 32.6 vessels that crossed per day in January but still well below the maximum number authorized. Despite lower fees, transits in Panama this year are still below the maximum 36 vessels per day allowed since the waterway lifted restrictions due...

The oil prices fell by more than two dollars per barrel on Thursday. This erased the previous session's gains as investors re-evaluated a planned pause of sweeping U.S. Tariffs, and shifted their focus to an intensifying trade war between Washington, D.C., and Beijing. U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude Futures dropped $2.28 or 3.7% to settle at 60.07 per barrel. Brent crude futures dropped $2.15 or 3.3% to $63.33 per barrel. Both contracts gained more than 2 dollars a barrel after U.S. president Donald Trump suspended the heavy tariffs that he announced against dozens U.S. trading partner a week earlier, marking...

Interfax reported Thursday that the Energy Ministry had been in contact with Kazakhstan's oil producers to reduce the output. The country was producing more than its OPEC+ quota. Kazakhstan has been pumping more oil than the limit set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, led by Russia, for several months. OPEC+ member countries have been pressuring Kazakhstan to reduce production to honor the agreed quotas. Interfax reported that Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry said Thursday the country had exceeded its OPEC+ quota for March, but would fulfill its commitments by April and compensate partially for its earlier...

U.S. Electric utilities are receiving massive requests for additional power capacity, as Big Tech searches the country to find viable locations for data centers that can keep up with AI's compute demands. In a survey of 13 U.S. major electric utility earnings transcripts, nearly half of the utilities received inquiries from data centers for power volumes that would exceed peak demand or their existing generation capacity. That's all they supply to businesses and homes. This metric reflects the sheer magnitude of oncoming needs for data centers. The power industry now faces a challenge that will affect billions in investment. How...

On Friday, the Panama Canal Authority announced that it had authorized the bidding for a new pipeline to transport liquefied gas (LPG), across the interoceanic watersway. The planning for projects to increase the capacity of the trans-shipment and storing of goods has increased since the Panama Supreme Court ruled last year that areas near the Canal should be returned to the Panamanian administration. The pipeline will allow LPG vessels discharge at one end while other tankers pick up cargo at the opposite end. This will reduce the traffic of vessels on the waterway. Japan's purchase The project will help to...

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium said that on Friday, a Russian court fined the consortium 200,000 roubles (2,370 dollars) for oil transhipment infractions. However, it was ruled by the court that its Black Sea Export Terminal facilities would not be suspended. This decision is likely to prevent a possible fall in Kazakhstan oil production via CPC. Around 80% of Kazakhstan's exports are oil. Sources in the industry told of a frenzy of diplomatic activity before the court's ruling regarding the pipeline operations between Russia and Kazakhstan. Transneft, the Russian oil pipeline monopoly, announced on Thursday that Nikolai Tokarev met with Askhat...

Calculations based on trader's data show that the Russian Urals oil price fell to its lowest level since 2023, as Brent international benchmark prices plummeted amid the escalating tensions in the U.S.-China following the tariff policy announced last weekend. Weaker Urals will have a negative impact on Russia's oil revenue - the mainstay of Moscow's budget. Oil and gas revenue is down at a time when Russia and the United States are negotiating a ceasefire in Ukraine. Brent futures fell $2.43 or 3.7% to $63.15 per barrel at 1009 GMT. They continue to drop from last week, and are now...

Russia has ordered Kazakhstan’s main oil terminal to shut down two of its three moorings. The terminal handles crude pumped from the U.S. by majors Chevron, Exxon Mobil and others. This comes amid a standoff with OPEC+ and Kazakhstan over excessive production. The operator of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which exports about 1% of the global oil supply through the Russian Black Sea Terminal, announced late on Monday that two moorings had been halted after a quick inspection by Russia's transportation watchdog. Trading sources said that if the stoppage lasts more than one week, it could more than half CPC...

The company reported on Thursday that the largest Ukrainian railway, Ukrzaliznytsia (state-owned), has partially restored its online services following a massive cyber attack which affected passenger and freight transportation systems. The first outage reported was on Sunday, when the rail company informed passengers of a problem with its IT system. They were told to purchase tickets at the station or on trains. Later, the company said that its online systems were subjected a targeted large-scale cyberattack. Ukrzaliznytsia announced on Telegram that the online sales system has been restored as a backup for the purchase of train tickets or their refund....

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Ukraine has already violated the proposed ceasefire in energy sites during the three-year war by attacking an oil depot. According to Russia's TASS News Agency, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on state television Channel One, that it was up the United States to confront Ukraine for its actions, as they had proposed the ceasefire. The Kremlin announced this week that Russian president Vladimir Putin agreed to a 30-day truce on energy targets during a phone call with Donald Trump, his U.S. counterpart. The agreement fell short of the wider agreement sought by the...

Anton Siluanov, Minister of Finance in Russia, said that the country intends to revive major privatisation plans in 2025. It also expects to raise over $1.2 billion through selling assets confiscated by courts. Moscow, shunned since the start of the conflict in Ukraine by Western capital, has sought ways to encourage more private investment at home, improve economic efficiency, and ultimately boost budget revenues, as Russia is spending heavily on the war. Siluanov told Rosimushchestvo (Russia's federal agency for property management) that "we had big privatisation proposals". "In our opinion, this is the right time to bring the issue back...

Robert Fico, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, said that the European Commission was in discussions about restarting transit through Ukraine and the possibility of shipping Azerbaijani natural gas. Fico, who had threatened to block any final statement if it didn't include the issue of Ukraine stopping gas transit, got the mention of the issue in the Thursday conclusions of the European Union summit. The Slovakian government stopped receiving Russian gas via Ukraine by the end of 2012 after Kyiv refused to renew a contract with Moscow in an attempt to deny Russia revenue for its invasion. Fico and Slovakia were...

LSEG data revealed that Russia sent a diesel cargo on a tanker to Syria under U.S. sanction, marking the first direct supply of this kind to the Middle Eastern nation in over a decade. It is not clear where the cargo will end up. The final destination of the cargo is unclear. The control of Russia over these bases is in danger after the abrupt fall of Bashar Al-Assad last December. Moscow said that it wanted to maintain its control over the bases. According to LSEG, on February 8, the Barbados flagged vessel Prosperity (formerly known as the Gabon flagged...

Calculations showed that the Russian energy giant Gazprom's natural gas exports via the undersea TurkStream pipe to Europe reached a new record of over 55 million cubic meters (mcms) per day in this month. The 1,100 kilometres (684 miles), long trunk lying on the Black Sea bed remains Russia's only pipeline gas exporting routes to Europe. Gas transit via Ukraine has been closed on January 1, following the expiration of an agreement to transport Russian natural gas via its neighbour. The twin TurkStream pipeline has a capacity of 15,75 billion cubic meters (bcms) per annum. Entsog is a European gas...

LSEG data and traders' reports show that February Urals crude oil loadings to Turkey from Russia's western port ports fell to their lowest level since December 20,22, after Turkey's biggest oil refiner Tupras ceased buying Russian oil. Tupras announced last week that it had stopped purchasing Russian crude oil due to U.S. Sanctions announced on January 10, against Russian energy companies, and tankers transporting Russian oil. LSEG's data and calculations show that the average amount of oil delivered to Turkey by Russia, consisting solely of Urals crude, was around 110,000 barrels a day in February. This is down from about...

Two sources familiar with the plan said that after Monday's drone attack, the Black Sea CPC blend oil loading plan will not change for February. The drone attack hit a pumping facility on an oil pipeline that runs through Russia. This reduced the flow of oil from Kazakhstan into world markets, which is pumped by western firms such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron. Two sources familiar with the situation said that the plan to ship crude oil via CPC remained the same on Monday, at 1.4-1.5 million barrels a day or 5.1 million tons. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which controls...

Two people familiar with this matter reported that oil exports from Russia’s Black Sea port, Novorossiisk, were revised upwards by 0.24 million metric tonnes for February. This amounts to approximately 590,000. barrels per day. Calculations showed that the daily oil loadings at the Black Sea port will increase by 12% compared to the previous plan. Sources said that the revision was made after the addition of two additional cargoes, each of 100,000 and 144,000 tons, for loading on February 14-15, 25-26 and respectively. Novorossiisk is the port from which three oil grades are loaded: Russian Urals, Siberian Light, and Kazakhstan's...

Russia may supply as much as 55 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas annually to Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, as Moscow diversifies its gas flows after a significant fall in exports to Europe. Since its full-scale intrusion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has lost its dominance of the European gas market, when a crucial source of earnings for Kremlin-controlled Gazprom. Putin, speaking at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian, stated Russia's gas materials to Iran might ultimately reach 55 bcm per year, but it would need to start with small volumes of...