Iranian oil is disappearing from the market just as its biggest buyer returns for more. China’s recovering crude demand is colliding with the loss of a supplier that sustained its independent refiners through the crisis, forcing them to compete for increasingly expensive alternatives. The consequences reach beyond China: every replacement barrel tightens supplies for other buyers, while Tehran faces a growing incentive to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz, which is now carrying an unexpectedly strong 13 million barrels a day (just 5 million below…
The Chinese market remains the largest one in terms of seaborne crude oil imports, after the first eight months of 2026. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “after a marginal decline in 2024, when global crude oil loadings decreased by -0.2% y-o-y, things picked up in 2025, with full-year volumes increasing ...
The VLCC market has reached levels that would have sounded absurd only months ago. Middle East-China earnings have pushed beyond $1m a day, Atlantic routes have surged into the hundreds of thousands and secondhand values have exploded to the point where rust-stained 15-year-old VLCCs are changing hands for more than newbuilds. The argument now dividing …
China’s diesel fuel and gasoline inventories are declining, which may eventually lead to the imposition of export curbs, Bloomberg has reported, citing recent fuel inventory data. Gasoline inventories at state-owned energy majors were down by 2.9% last week to their lowest level since 2022, according to Chinese commodity market research firm JLC International. Diesel inventories are sitting at the lowest in 15 months, booking a 2.4% dip last week, the publication noted. “With the domestic market tightening, we see an increasing risk…
Rates for shipping containers from east Asia and China to the US were mostly higher this week while rates for liquid chemical tankers ex-US Gulf were mostly softer, all while schedule reliability is decreasing because of congestion at Asia ports. PORT CONGESTION Global container vessel schedule reliability dropped to 56.4% in July 2026, a decline ...
China’s oil consumption fell 9% year over year in the second quarter as expensive crude accelerated the use of electric cars, trucks, rail and industrial equipment. The decline helped cut China’s carbon dioxide emissions by 1% during the quarter, according to an analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. It was the first quarterly emissions decline in China driven primarily by lower oil consumption. Power-sector emissions rose 3% during the same period as coal-fired generation increased. Electric vehicles displaced…
China-based provider of clean energy services Wison New Energies (WNE) has joined forces with the UK-headquartered energy giant Shell to bring the European firm’s liquefaction technology to the wider liquefied natural gas (LNG) market for the first time, strengthening Wison’s floating LNG (FLNG) offering and aiming to accelerate deployment of next-generation FLNG projects. The post Shell’s technology set to enter wider FLNG market through Wison deal appeared first on Offshore Energy .
There is always a winner in any major global oil crisis. In 1973/74, it was Saudi Arabia and its OPEC brothers who shifted the balance of power in the market away from the previous arrangement dominated by the West’s ‘Seven Sisters’ to the oil producers of the Middle East. After the 2014-2016 Oil Price War, it was the U.S. whose earlier nascent shale oil sector resisted the threat to its very existence from Saudi Arabia and OPEC, reorganising into a meaner, leaner, lower-cost oil production machine. The U.S. was the winner again…
The intra-Asia container freight market strengthened for a third consecutive week as unrest in the Middle East and typhoon-related disruption across China tightened capacity and pushed rates higher on most major trades. Drewry’s Intra-Asia Container Index (IACI), a benchmark widely monitored by procurement teams, rose 6% week on week on 20 August, to $1,091 per 40ft, and the consultant expects prices to continue increasing in the coming weeks, supported by persistent ... The post War and weather continue to limit intra-Asia capacity and keep rates high appeared first on The Loadstar .
Shanghai-listed Ningbo Marine is lining up another five bulk carrier newbuildings in China, expanding a fleet renewal programme that could see the owner add close to 600,000 dwt of fresh tonnage. The Zhejiang Energy-backed company has approved up to CNY980m ($136m) for four 65,000 dwt bulkers, while wholly owned Ningbo Marine Singapore has been cleared …
US sanctions experts say the Trump administration's new campaign to economically isolate Iran could be an effective escalation -- but only if Washington backs its threats with action. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled what he called “Operation Economic Outcast” on August 24, describing it as an unprecedented effort to force Iran's trading partners to choose between maintaining commercial ties with Tehran and access to the US financial system. Yet Bessent announced few immediate measures, leaving the central question unresolved:…
Global container port congestion has reached a new high as East Asia’s typhoon season continues to disrupt vessel schedules, with more than 4.3 million teu now waiting to berth. On Sunday, Typhoon Narra hit southern China, compounding cargo backlogs caused by typhoons Bavi, Noul, and Dolphin. And the situation is unlikely to be relieved any time soon, with Typhoon Saudel set to make landfall along the coast from central Zhejiang to central ... The post Global port congestion at new high as more typhoons hit China appeared first on The Loadstar .
The world’s biggest oil refiner, China’s state-held Sinopec, is looking to transform its business as domestic fuel sales crumble amid the electric vehicle boom. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, as Sinopec is officially known, will be allocating more capital to new energy and chemicals by the end of the decade to grow revenues and profits amid the lowest domestic fuel sales in China in nearly a decade. “As the company grows in scale, its ability to respond to market changes becomes inadequate, and the 'big company syndrome'…
China on Tuesday signaled it would not end its ties and trade relations with Iran following the U.S. sanctions unveiled on Monday that target Chinese and Hong Kong entities for helping Iran do business. On Monday, the U.S. Administration announced a series of new sanctions against individuals and entities linked with Iranian trade and economy, including the shipping and oil industry. However, “Operation Economic Outcast,” launched by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, stopped short of sanctioning any Chinese banks. The oil trade remains…
Kongsberg Maritime has secured a contract to deliver a fully integrated suite of technology and equipment for a new multi-purpose deepwater installation and construction vessel that will be owned and operated by Solstad Offshore and SBM Offshore. The vessel, which will be built in China, represents a new generation of offshore construction assets designed to ...
Klaus-Michael Kühne, the former CEO of family-owned global logistics powerhouse Kuehne+Nagel International AG, died Sunday at the age of 89, the company announced. Born in Hamburg, Germany, Klaus-Michael Kühne in 1958 joined the company co-founded by his grandfather 68 years earlier in Breman, Germany. In 1966, at age 29, he took over as chief executive officer of K+N Speditions-AG, as the company was called at the time. In 1974, with the internationalization of the business, both K+N and Klaus Michael moved to Switzerland. In 1979, he opened K+N’s first office in China. The company moved its
China just put the world's largest all-electric container ship into commercial service, a 419-foot vessel that carries 742 containers on the battery power of 300 electric cars and has no fuel tank at all Autonocion.com
