Crude closes above $54 for first time this year

Oil prices hit a new high for the year Thursday and retail gasoline rose above $2 per gallon for the first time since November as investors wagered that there would be a new run on crude stocks.

Benchmark crude for May delivery rose $1.57 to settle at $54.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent prices rose $1.71 to settle at $53.46 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Gas prices rose 2.3 cents a gallon overnight to a new national average of $2.009 per gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Pump prices are 10.9 cents higher than a month ago, but $1.252 lower than the same period last year. Gas prices last hit $2 on Nov. 20. Analysts have struggled to explain the recent surge in energy prices, especially as reports continue to pour out from the federal government showing that the U.S. economy is shrinking and its oil inventories are bloated with surplus crude.

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Delays but not defaults at Bharati

The Bharati Shipyard has reported that though there have been some delays to contracts, there have been no cancellations of its greenfield expansion projects.

The second largest privately-owned shipyard in India has plans to set up three shipyards, in West Bengal, Orissa and Gujarat. Bharati’s Managing Director, Vijay Kumar said that while there was some slow down and delay in payments from clients there have been no defaults. He said that no client has asked for a renegotiation of rates either. Bharati said that some projects were delayed due to procedural issues and unavailability of land.

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300 percent profit gain for Euronav

Euronav has posted a huge 300 percent profit gain for the year ended December 31, 2008.

The result after taxation for 2008 was US$402,469, compared with US$101,055 in 2007. As of March 24, Euronav holds 1,750,000 own shares. Euronav said that given the current uncertainties linked to the economic crisis and its potential impact on the tanker market, the company’s board of directors has balanced rewarding shareholders with preservation of cash and will propose at the annual general meeting of shareholders on April 28 to pay a further Eur 1.60 (US$2.16) as dividend, bringing the total gross dividend for the financial year 2008 of US$3.52, compared with US$1.08 in 2007 per share. US$1.35 gross per share has already been paid as interim dividend on September 5, 2008. The balance in the amount of US$2.16 will be payable as from May 5, 2009. The share will trade ex-dividend as from April 28, 2009 (record date: May 4, 2009). At the current Euro/dollar exchange rate, the total proposed dividend represents approximately a 46 percent payout ratio, compared with 64 percent in 2007. For the first quarter of 2009, the estimated average VLCC time charter equivalent rates of the Tankers International pool is US$48,000 per day. This estimate is based on 86 percent of available spot days already fixed in the first quarter. The average Suezmax rate of the Euronav fleet for the first quarter is about US$38,000 per day.

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Recession catches up with Hellas' ports

The management of the country’s largest port in Piraeus has reasons to be wary of the port’s future, at least for the container handling Pier I, which will remain under the current management, even after Cosco’s assuming control of the remaining two piers.

Under the $1.1 billion deal due to start in November, Cosco will invest a further $300 million to expand the port's annual capacity to 3.7 million TEUs. In a recent speech towards dockworkers, the Port Authority’s CEO, Mr. Nikos Anastasopoulos highlighted the risks in stall, should the Union’s work stoppages continue. “I urge you to prove yourselves worthy of the circumstances, especially during this difficult period, by actively stopping any form of action and return to normal working rhythm, in order for the port to regain its credibility” he said, indicating that anything turning against OLP (Port Authority of Piraeus) ultimately is in favor of the “neighbor”, i.e. Cosco. His remarks came after the concession agreement was recently voted by the Parliament to become law, which according to Mr. Anastasopoulos is the best argument against any form of mobilizations.

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Petrovietnam to join Nicaragua in offshore oil search

HANOI: The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) said it has signed an overall oil and gas cooperation agreement and a deal with Petroleum of Nicaragua, or Petronic, to jointly assess some oil fields located offshore Nicaragua.

Once reserves are discovered, the two companies will negotiate and sign oil production contracts, PetroVietnam said. The inked agreement is an important foundation for the two sides to step up bilateral cooperation in energy, particularly in oil and gas, and other related services, the group added. PetroVietnam has pursued a strategy to explore investment opportunities in America, where it already signed a number of oil and gas contracts with its partners from Cuba, Venezuela and Peru.

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