Having one eye set to analytical insights and the other on industry events, Vortexa provides a brief outlook on the shipping industry’s future. It seems that the tanker sector will need to surf high and wild waves, both in the short and the long term.
Vortexa provides an assessment of the impacts of hurricanes Ida and Nicholas on PADD 3 product and crude flows. Crude imports appear to be in for the greatest impacts.
In this webinar, Vortexa’s Senior Freight Analyst Arthur Richier and Freight Analyst Ioannis Papadimitriou deep-dive into whether optimism for recovery is well-placed, or if market fundamentals are likely to falter and the carefully stacked house of cards is likely to topple.
West African crude exports fell to a record low in August, underlying the acceleration of a structural decline that can be traced back to back to early 2020.
On the 24th August, Vortexa's US Team discussed Vortexa’s proprietary data and utilising it to anticipate what’s next for time spreads, locational arbs and product differentials.
The WTI market is set for structural weakness as rising West of Suez demand is more than offset by drastic policy changes in China and rising Middle Eastern supplies.
China issued a third batch of crude import quotas last week, but limited quotas will keep crude imports subdued for the rest of the year, which is further reinforced by a soft domestic demand outlook and limited product export quotas.
China’s contribution to crude tonne-miles has dwindled year-to-date according to Vortexa freight data as the country continues to decrease crude imports. Other nations have stepped in to fill the void as our data shows.
Russian seaborne crude and clean products have undergone a significant decline in July. We examine the key factors driving this shift, including rising pipeline flows and a tightening domestic gasoline market.
Is the OPEC+ output increase considered glad tidings or a false hope for the VLCC market?
With OPEC+ going through a standoff concerning the future production policy, a spike in crude exports in early July raises eyebrows. We investigate how sustainable this development is likely to be.
A series of domestic policy changes and market headwinds in recent months has upended China’s refining industry, putting a tight lid on the country’s crude imports and product exports. Vortexa sheds light on evolving trends in the country's crude imports and product exports.
Vortexa summarises the trends and dynamics that prevailed in the crude and product tanker market throughout Q2 2021
Vortexa looks deeply into oil shipments with strong visibility especially into the more opaque corners of the market to evaluate at the status quo of the oil demand recovery and evaluate if there is good reason for OPEC+ to be hesitant in unleashing oil supply onto the market.
Oil prices are on the rise and a $100 barrel of crude doesn’t seem as far fetched as it did a few months ago. The implications of crude reaching this strong, symbolic price are wide-ranging, especially when it comes to freight markets. Will OPEC+ step in and will this fuel a tanker market rally?
Vortexa shows diverging trends for crude arrivals heading to key Atlantic Basin buyers.
A flood of diluted bitumen cargoes has rapidly filled up storage tanks in Shandong, as traders and refiners scrambled to offload the cargoes before the consumption tax on diluted bitumen imports kicked in on 12 June. With this new tax in place, independent refiners are expected to cut back on diluted bitumen and raise Malaysian crude blends and fuel oil imports to meet their feedstocks requirements.
The OPEC+ announcement to stick to an increase in supply of crude has to date failed to kickstart a morose market. Using Argus Media pricing and Vortexa flows and freight data, we explore whether the expected second half of the year rally is due to materialise.
On the 27th May, Product Specialist Amy Lees and Machine Learning Engineer Christos Hadjinikolis analysed the quality of crude imported into the ARA region, a key refining hub in Northwest Europe, using Vortexa’s Software Development Kit (SDK). This blog investigates further into their methodology.
Cheaper Suezmax freight rates led to increased employment for US - Europe flows. Will this trend continue amidst a positive environment for European crude imports?
Declining volumes towards the Far East limits tanker demand, but long-haul voyages to India keep VLCC and Suezmax tanker utilisation in balance.
Atlantic Basin crude/condensate departures (including intra-country movements) totaled 21.2 mn b/d in April, the highest, albeit marginally, since May 2020.
Vortexa data shows at least 12mn bbl of crude has been delayed in discharging into key ports along India’s west coast, following the arrival of Cyclone Tauktae.
An ailing crude market has driven charterers to employ newbuild crude tankers for East-to-West of Suez CPP cargo transits, adversely impacting LR2 demand.
China's crude imports have slowed in April. A rebound in Q3 is faced with headwinds as refiners look to draw down their stockpiles amid elevated crude prices.
Vortexa outlines how naphtha has had a strong demand recovery but increasing demand for road fuels gasoline and diesel could incentivise refiners to adjust their yields to make less naphtha.
Claims from top trading houses and research analysts that oil demand is set for a roaring comeback as soon as this summer has divided market experts. Vortexa weighs in.
Vortexa outlines how Latin American countries are increasing imports of crude and refined products whilst simultaneously exporting refined products into storage hubs, suggesting an oversupplied region.
Vortexa outlines how global crude imports show a slow recovery for refiners.
A breakdown of the impact on oil, freight and flows in the aftermath of the Suez Canal blockage.
Our 'On the road to recovery: Asia's crude and products trade flows in 2021' webinar was hosted by Vortexa Lead Market Analyst, Serena Huang and Product Specialist, Teo Rui Jie on 16 March, who together discussed the outlook for Asia's trade flows and freight markets.
The VLCC market share of Johan Sverdrup volumes continues to increase at the expense of Aframax and Suezmax tanker segments, highlighting the demand for longer-haul routes.
Vortexa CEO Fabio Kuhn joined Bloomberg's IP Week panel discussion to discuss what demand recovery might look like across the commodities ecosystem in 2021, alongside leaders from Vitol, VARO Energy, and JP Morgan.
Australia's Altona refinery closure is expected to raise the country's refined product imports, with supplies from Exxonmobil's Singapore refineries. MR tanker freight rates to receive support from additional demand for the route.
We put the spotlight on the key US crude and product net flows to watch.
From the 26-28 January, Vortexa partnered with Argus to present at the Argus Crude Live online conference, alongside industry leaders.
What are some of the key crude arbs to watch in 2021? We highlight three crucial flows that will influence global oil markets this year.
More CPC Blend could be sailing to Asia in Q1 2021 driven by demand weakness in Europe and tightening UAE crude supplies to Asian refiners
A cargo of Libyan crude is heading to PADD 5 for the first time in almost a year.
Floating storage told the story of the extraordinary moves in oil demand and supply in 2020.
Discover the key benefits of Vortexa's new net flows screen with an Infographic on US Gulf coast crude flows.
On 16th November, our Americas Analyst and Product Specialist team reviewed what the potential impact of the incoming Biden administration and 117th Congress will have on the global oil markets.
Australia’s refining sector has been dealt another blow by BP’s recent announcement to shut its Kwinana refinery in Western Australia, and convert it into an import terminal by early next year.
This report brings together Windward intelligence and Vortexa data on maritime risk factors, dark movements, vessel specifics and cargo flows in a case study examining the risk posed to the global maritime fleet of association with the Venezuelan oil trade.
Australia’s Lytton and Geelong refineries are being threatened with permanent shutdown as the compounding impact of the pandemic on oil demand drags on. We postulate the changes on crude and refined products flows if the refineries shut.
Crude tanker freight markets remain a prisoner of challenging circumstances, even as the seasonally strongest quarter of the year is upon them.
The effects of Hurricane Laura, which made landfall on the US Gulf coast on 27 August, continue to be felt in the flows of energy commodities out of facilities in or near the path of the storm.
Persistently lower Black Sea crude loadings over July-September, compared to more buoyant export levels in the first half of the year, continue to weigh on the regional tanker market rates.
US crude loadings to China are en course to reach a 4-month high in September, as more bookings emerge along the route for October.
US crude exports fell slightly month-on-month in August, but are still up 20% from last year.
Utilisation rates for Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) fell to 44% in August, their lowest level this year following stymied global demand recovery for crude and a significant loss of cargoes compared to 2019 levels, according to Vortexa data.
Tightness in global heavy-sour crude markets has led to narrowing differentials for these grades against Brent in recent months, despite weaker demand sentiment in the overall crude complex in the wake of the pandemic.
North Sea crude exports have proven resilient among global buyers in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, as firm demand in Asia has overcome freight rate spikes and weaker regional demand.
The failure of Opec and its non-Opec partners to extend joint production cuts from end-March, the subsequent deep reduction in Saudi Arabia’s official formula prices and pledges on the part of both Saudi Arabia and Russia to raise supply from April have kicked off a global battle for market share between the two nations.
Crude volumes heading to China in week 6 (w/e 9 February) held relatively steady amid limited on-the-water diversions. Vortexa also observed higher middle distillate and gasoline exports, as well as LPG diversions.
China’s seaborne crude imports are poised to maintain their momentum in November, Vortexa data show, after touching a multi-year high of over 10mn b/d in October.
Expected higher imports of Russian and US crude into Asia this month are set to provide a cushion against short-term disruption to Saudi Arabia’s light crude supply.
The rate of Saudi crude exports dropped sharply on 15-16 September compared with prior days, following the attack on the country’s Abqaiq crude processing facility and Khurais oil field on 14 September.
Australian heavy sweet crude grades, such as Pyrenees, Van Gigh and Wandoo, have been swooped up by the market ahead of IMO 2020.
A West African crude oil stream that will gain importance in the post-IMO-2020 world is Congolese Yombo crude.
China's crude imports from Saudi Arabia surges by nearly 45% year-on-year to 1.55mn b/d in the first seven months of this year, Vortexa data shows.
Liftings of the heavy sweet Doba crude from Chad, continue to be dominated by players who are processing the stream for use in the very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) bunker pool.