Divers sealed two tank vents that leaked fuel from a bulk carrier that was damaged and beached after a collision off the British enclave of Gibraltar on the southern tip of Spain, local authorities said on Thursday.

The hull of the bulk carrier OS 35 broke after the collision with an LNG tanker and started leaking fuel oil on Wednesday, but the vessel has not broken into two parts.

“The Captain of the Port confirmed that the leak of low sulphur fuel oil from the tank vents is fully under control,” the Gibraltar government said in a statement.

The LNG tanker was not significantly affected by the collision, according to local authorities.

The Gibraltar Port Authority is working with a Spanish marine rescue crew to collect a small amount of fuel oil that escaped the perimeter of a boom installed soon after Tuesday’s collision, as well as to skim the fuel that has remained inside the boom.

At the same time the authority is ramping up efforts to start pumping the fuel oil, diesel and lube oil from the vessel.

Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo told Spanish broadcaster TVE earlier on Thursday the operation to remove around 500 tonnes of the fuel from the ship’s tanks should take around 50 hours using the ship’s own pumps.

The Gibraltar Port was partly closed to focus its resources on dealing with the emergency, but some operations, such as the arrival of a cruise ship on Thursday, have been allowed to proceed.

Source: https://www.marinelink.com/news/divers-seal-tank-vents-leaking-oil-bulk-499180

By Sharon Cho (Bloomberg) –Progress toward an Iranian nuclear deal has thrown the spotlight onto a sizeable cache of crude held by Tehran that could be swiftly dispatched to buyers in the event an agreement gets hammered out.

About 93 million barrels of Iranian crude and condensate are currently stored on vessels in the Persian Gulf, off Singapore and near China, according to ship-tracking firm Kpler, while Vortexa estimates the holdings at 60 to 70 million barrels. In addition, there are smaller volumes in onshore tanks.

“Iran has built up a sizable flotilla of cargoes that could hit the market fairly soon,” said John Driscoll, chief strategist at JTD Energy Services. Still, he said it may take “a bit of time” to iron out insurance and shipping issues, as well as spot and term sales post-sanctions.

The possible full readmittance of Iran to the global crude market, with the potential lifting of US sanctions, comes at a complex moment for oil traders. Investors are juggling the countdown toward far tighter European Union curbs on Russian crude flows from December as part of the bloc’s pushback against the war in Ukraine. In addition, the Biden administration’s mammoth sale from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will end in October.

The potential return of Iranian barrels into global oil markets — both from the volumes in floating storage and over the longer term — has weighed on futures prices in recent weeks, offsetting signs of tightness elsewhere.

The focus for diplomats is the revival of a multinational accord that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of related sanctions, including on oil flows. The original deal collapsed after then-President Donald Trump abandoned it. Last week, the US sent its response to the latest proposal, boosting speculation an agreement may soon be struck, although Tehran said Sunday that exchanges will now drag on into September.

Iran’s offshore crude hoard compares with the average daily global supply this year of about 100 million barrels a day, according to an estimate from the International Energy Agency. In the US, President Joe Biden has been releasing about 180 million barrels from the SPR over a six-month period.

Since former President Trump stopped granting waivers to import Iranian oil following American sanctions, Iran’s daily shipments have held at about 1 million barrels, according to Emma Li, an analyst at Vortexa. China has remained among the top buyers, as other nations backed away.

The current volume of crude and condensate in onshore storages within Iran is estimated at about 48 million barrels, Kpler data showed, adding that the producer could be holding even more oil in some land storages around China.

Longer term after any deal is struck and the offshore cache is drained, Iran would seek to rebuild production and step up overseas sales. Goldman Sachs Group, which is skeptical about a breakthrough in the near term, said even if a deal is reached, these won’t begin until 2023, according to a note.

While Iran may aim to fill the void left by Russia in Europe, namely in Spain, Italy, Greece, and even Turkey, Tehran would also attempt to reclaim its share in the prized Asian market, even if it takes a sweetening of terms, Driscoll said.

In 2017 and 2018, Europe consumed an average of 748,000 barrels and 528,000 barrels a day of Iranian oil, respectively, while Asia took 1.2 million and close to 1 million barrels a day, Kpler data showed.

“It’s natural for Iran to want to supply Europe first to fill in the hole left by post-invasion sanctions against Russia,” Driscoll said. “But in the longer run, they will be looking to place their barrels under long-term deals in Asia.”

New York gasoline inventories are so low that suppliers are resorting to expensive US vessels to move fuel into the region and allay the potential for shortages.

Vessels Oregon and Sunshine State are en route to deliver fuel from Texas and Louisiana to New York by the end of the week, according to Bloomberg vessel tracking. The cargoes are likely to be gasoline, according to energy consultancy Kpler.

These movements underscore the need to refill gasoline and diesel tanks in the New York Harbor region, which stand at their emptiest levels in nearly three decades of government recordkeeping. Supply is shrinking at a time when falling pump prices have lifted the country’s gasoline demand to a year-to-date high. Diesel demand usually begins to rise this time of year with annual crop harvests and distributors trying to stock up ahead of the upcoming heating season.

It’s rare, but not unheard of, for Jones Act vessels to move Gulf Coast fuel into New York, said Reid I’Anson, senior commodity analyst at Kpler. The East Coast relies on the Colonial Pipeline to deliver fuel from the US’s Gulf Coast refining belt and exports from Europe. However, European exports have fallen this month, forcing the market to seek shipping alternatives.

A century-old shipping law known as the Jones Act requires all goods moved between US ports to be transported on ships that are built domestically. Jones Act freight rates typically command a hefty premium over rates for similar routes in the international market, and currently stands at $4.54 a barrel, according to price reporting agency Argus Media.

Shippers are only willing to pay these rates when fuel prices in New York rise to significant premiums over the Gulf Coast, as they are now at 44 cents a gallon, according to Bloomberg data. The Colonial pipeline has been operating at maximum capacity for the past few months.

New York also drew several gasoline cargoes from the Bahamas this month for the first time since May, Vortexa data show. Bahamas’ storage terminals can function as a transshipment hub for fuel coming out of the Gulf Coast.

Source: https://gcaptain.com/new-york-draws-rare-jones-act-cargoes-as-fuel-stocks-drop/