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Canadian pipeline operator Trans Mountain expects dredging works at the port in Vancouver to be completed at the end of 2026 or early 2027, which will allow ships to load more oil than before, a senior executive said on Monday. "Right now, Aframaxes can only leave our dock 70% full," Jennifer Pierce, chief administrative officer, Trans Mountain said at the APPEC conference in Singapore. "When this dredging is completed at the end of '26, beginning of 2027, an Aframax would be able to move [Read more]

Chinese rating agency CSCI Pengyuan assigned its highest AAA rating to U.S.-blacklisted Russian oil and gas giant Gazprom on Friday, paving the way for any debt issuance in China's domestic bond market. Western rating agencies including Moody's, Fitch and S&P Global Ratings have withdrawn credit ratings for Gazprom and many other Russian companies due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Accessing China's bond market, the world's second-biggest, would be a boon for Russian companies cut off [Read more]

New sanctions on buyers of Russian oil could disrupt crude flows, energy trader Gunvor's global head of research and analysis, Frederic Lasserre, said on Monday. His comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump, who is seeking to broker an end to the Ukraine conflict, said he is ready to move to a second phase of sanctioning Russia to hit Moscow's oil revenue and bring President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that the U.S. and [Read more]

The shadow fleet of oil tankers has expanded following a slew of Western sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine, major trading house Trafigura's chief economist, Saad Rahim, said on Monday. The shadow fleet is playing a key role in keeping Russian crude flowing to buyers despite the sanctions, targeted at curbing Moscow's oil revenues. "As there are more sanctions and restrictions, the size of the (shadow fleet) has grown even larger," Rahim told the APPEC 2025 conference. The [Read more]

Goldman Sachs on Sunday forecast a slightly larger oil surplus in 2026, as supply upgrades in the Americas outweigh Russia's downgrade and any uptick in global demand outlook. The U.S. investment bank kept its 2025 Brent/WTI price forecasts unchanged, and projected 2026 averages at $56/$52 a barrel, saying, "Risks to our 2025-2026 price forecast are two-sided but skewed modestly to the upside." OPEC+, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus Russia and [Read more]

OPEC+’s surprise announcement that it will further accelerate oil production may seem like a threat to an already oversupplied market, but the actual market impact is likely to be limited. The same cannot be said of the political benefits for the group's leader Saudi Arabia, which is seeking to reassert group discipline while expanding its market share and solidifying its relationship with the United States. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus Russia and other allies, [Read more]

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he is ready to move to a second phase of sanctioning Russia, the closest he has come to suggesting he is on the verge of ramping up sanctions against Moscow or its oil buyers over the war in Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly threatened Moscow with further sanctions but withheld them as he pursued peace talks. The latest comments suggest an increasingly aggressive posture, but Trump stopped short of saying he was committed to such a decision or what a [Read more]