Singapore uncovers large oil heist at Shell biggest refinery

MOSCOW (MRC) - Eleven men were charged in a Singapore court on Tuesday in connection with a large-scale oil theft at Shell's biggest refinery, while police said they were investigating six other men arrested in a weekend raid, said Reuters.

Police in the island-state said on Tuesday they had detained 17 men, whose ages ranged from 30 to 63, and seized millions of dollars in cash and a small tanker during their investigations into theft at the Pulau Bukom industrial site, which sits just south of Singapore's main island.

Oil refining and shipping have contributed significantly to Singapore's rising wealth during the past decades. But the case underlines the challenges the industry faces in a region that has become a hot-spot for illegal oil trading.

The investigation began after Shell contacted the authorities in August 2017, police said in a news release. After "extensive investigations and probes," the Criminal Investigation Department, Police Intelligence Department and Police Coast Guard launched a series of simultaneous raids across Singapore, which led to the arrests.

Nine Singaporeans were immediately charged in the theft, of which eight were employees of the Singapore subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, court documents showed. Two Vietnamese nationals were charged with receiving stolen goods on a small tanker named Prime South (IMO: 9452804), the documents showed.

Shell confirmed on Tuesday that eight of the 11 men charged were current or former employees at Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte) Ltd.

Shipping data from Thomson Reuters Eikon showed the Prime South had been shipping fuel between Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Singapore for the past 30 days.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Japan's Showa Shell Sekiyu KK said late last week that its group refineries would refine 5 percent less crude for the local market in January-March than the same time a year ago, in line with the outlook for domestic demand, said Reuters.

Showa Shell said its four group refineries would refine 7.35 million kilolitres (513,700 barrels per day) of crude in the first quarter of the year. They have a total capacity of 588,000 bpd.

Refining volumes for export markets were not released. The four group refineries are: Showa Shell's 255,000-bpd Yokkaichi plant, unit Toa Oil's 70,000-bpd Keihin plant, affiliate Seibu Oil's 120,000-bpd Yamaguchi refinery and a 143,000-bpd Sodegaura refinery operated by Fuji Oil in which Showa Shell has a 6.6-percent stake.

There will be no group refinery maintenance during the three months, a Showa Shell spokeswoman said.

Idemitsu Kosan Co has completed the purchase of just under a third of Showa Shell, but its goals for full integration have been delayed indefinitely after opposition from Idemitsu's founding family.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Olivier Thorel has joined Saudi Aramco effective Jan. 1, 2018, as executive director for the company’s Chemicals business, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Thorel joined Shell in France in 1990 and held various positions in the Chemicals business in manufacturing, sales, marketing, supply chain, and as global general manage, based in France, the Netherlands, and London until 2006.

He then led the global base oil business and thereafter became vice president of supply, distribution and Shell pipelines for North America, based in Houston. Over the past four years, Olivier has led various parts of the Shell Chemicals business as vice president of Global intermediates, and then vice president of Chemicals Asia, Ventures and New Business Development, based in Singapore.

Thorel graduated in 1988 from Ecole Polytechnique (science and economics) and holds a master’s degree in Finance from Universite Paris-Dauphine. He completed an executive MBA at Insead in 2002. Olivier is French, married and father of four children. He originates from Corsica and is a passionate skier.

As MRC wrote previously, Saudi Arabia changed the status of its national oil giant Aramco to a joint-stock company as of Jan. 1, in a key step for an initial public offering (IPO) planned for later this year.

Saudi Aramco is an integrated oil and chemicals company, a global leader in hydrocarbon production, refining processes and distribution, as well as one of the largest global oil exporters. It manages proven reserves of crude oil and condensate estimated at 261.1bn barrels, and produces 9.54 million bbl daily. Headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, the company employs over 61,000 staff in 77 countries.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- A vessel that may be carrying liquefied natural gas from Russia's new Yamal LNG export terminal could be heading to the United States despite sanctions against the company that operates the Russian facility, according to a report by S&P Global Platts and Thomson Reuters shipping data.

The tanker Chris. De Margerie picked up a cargo from Novatek PAO's Yamal facility, Russia's second LNG export terminal, on Dec. 9 and dropped it off at National Grid Plc's Isle of Grain LNG facility near London on Dec. 28, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Since then, Engie SA's Gaselys LNG tanker picked up LNG from the UK facility on Dec. 30 and is expected to arrive in Boston on Jan. 22.

It is possible that some of the LNG on the Gaselys is from Yamal, according to a report by S&P Global Platts. Reuters has not independently verified that report, but the shipping data does show the routes the tankers are taking. The final destination could change.

Carol Churchill, a spokeswoman for Engie, which bought the cargo in the United Kingdom and loaded it onto one of its vessels, said: "This transaction is compliant with all U.S. trade laws."

"Given the exceptionally cold temperatures and resulting high gas demand in the U.S. Northeast, Engie purchased this spot cargo to supplement our other contracted supplies from Trinidad," Churchill said. Engie owns the Everett LNG import terminal near Boston.

Churchill did not answer a question about whether any of the gas came from Russia.

National Grid said customer confidentiality limited what information it could disclose.

"But I also believe we told people at the time that the gas from the Christophe de Margerie had not entered the UK grid," said Sean Kemp, said a spokesman for National Grid, directing further questions to the shippers and owners.

The U.S. Energy Department was not immediately available for comment.
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MOSCOW (MRC) - Oman’s government has signed to obtain 81 million Omani rials (USD210 million) of financing from Saudi Arabia for one of its key industrial projects, in a deal that could help to ease concern about the health of the sultanate’s finances, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The money will come from the Saudi Fund for Development, a state agency, to support work at Duqm, where Oman is building a multi-billion-dollar industrial zone on its southern coast, the official Oman News Agency (ONA) said late on Thursday.

Oman, whose debt is rated junk by Standard & Poor‘s, is running a state budget deficit of about $8 billion due to low oil prices. Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Gulf states promised in 2011 to provide $10 billion of aid to Oman, but the money has been slow to come and only a fraction has been disbursed. This week’s deal for aid to Duqm may reassure investors that Oman can continue to count on Saudi financial support, even though Muscat has taken different positions than Saudi Arabia on some major diplomatic issues.

For example, Oman maintained close ties with Iran as tensions between Tehran and Riyadh escalated last year, and the sultanate has expanded business ties with Qatar since Saudi Arabia imposed an economic boycott on Doha last June.

The 81 million rials of aid for Duqm is part of the USD10 billion regional programme, ONA said without giving financial details. Twenty million rials will go towards building a road and 61 million rials towards developing Duqm’s fishing harbour. Oman plans to make Duqm a major centre for its fishing and fish processing industries, in addition to building an oil refinery, a petrochemical complex and a wide range of manufacturing facilities in the zone.

ONA quoted Yousef bin Ibrahim al-Bassam, managing director of the Saudi fund, as saying it had also allocated USD150 million to finance the growth of smaller companies in Oman, and would extend the aid in cooperation with Oman Development Bank.
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