Commodity Corner: Crude Climbs on Equities, Mideast
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Rigzone Staff
by Saaniya Bangee
Crude futures advanced 0.8 percent Tuesday on stronger equities and doubts on whether Libyan rebels can resume crude exports within a week.
Tuesday's stock market rally helped oil prices snap out of a 3-day slump, settling at $104.79 a barrel. The 81-cent gain came in anticipation of increased oil demand in the U.S. As the first quarter for 2011 nears close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index both gained 0.7 percent in afternoon trading.
Earlier Tuesday, prices fell to $102.70 a barrel on Libyan rebels' promise to swiftly return crude exports to markets. Traders remain weary as to how quickly and capable Libya will be in resuming exports, along with the remaining uncertainty in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, natural gas futures for April delivery fell by 3.1 percent to settle at $4.24 per thousand cubic feet. The April contract expired at Tuesday's settlement, which traders seized as an opportunity to cash out previous profits.
The Energy Information Administration reported 66.67 billion cubic feet a day, 0.5 percent lower, for U.S. natural gas production in the lower 48 states. The drop was still 6.8 percent higher from year-earlier levels.
Natural gas prices fluctuated between $4.195 and $4.37 Tuesday.
Front-month gasoline ended up Tuesday, settling at a session high of $3.05 a gallon. The session bottomed out at $3.01 a gallon.
Showing posts with label traders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label traders. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Marex Group Reaches Agreement to Acquire Spectron Group
Tuesday, 22 March 2011 02:35 PR Newswire
Marex Group Limited ("Marex"), the international broker of commodity derivatives, financial futures and foreign exchange, which is majority-owned..
NEW YORK, March 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Marex Group Limited ("Marex"), the international broker of commodity derivatives, financial futures and foreign exchange, which is majority-owned by JRJ Group ("JRJ") and its partners, Trilantic Capital Partners and BXR Group, today announces that it has reached agreement with Imarex ASA to acquire its 100% holding of Spectron Group Limited ("Spectron") for approximately $154.1 million.
Operating from offices in London, Continental Europe, Asia and the US, Spectron is a leading global broker of wholesale energy and other commodity products. Spectron provides electronic and voice brokerage services for a diverse range of mainly Over-the-Counter ("OTC") markets, including gas, power, environmental products, freight, crude oil and related products, coal, weather and metals. Spectron's broad client base includes traders and risk managers within large oil and gas corporations, energy utilities, commodities firms, financial institutions and charterers. The transaction is subject to FSA approval in the UK and expected to close in the second quarter of 2011.
The combination of the two companies is highly complementary, with each firm a leader in its respective markets. As a leading intermediary in European power and gas markets, Spectron is well positioned for a continuation of the secular growth trend in energy-related financial market activity, with transaction levels expected to continue to respond positively to the processes of liberalisation and integration necessary to realize key EU objectives for competitive, secure and sustainable European energy markets. Marex is a leading broker of metals, agricultural, energy and financial products. Together, the companies will comprise the world's largest independent, privately-owned broker in power, gas, fuel oil, metals, agriculture and other high growth asset classes, able to service clients across both OTC and exchange-traded arenas.
Roger Nagioff, CEO of Marex and Co-Founding Partner of JRJ Group, said: "The partnership with Spectron is transformational for shareholders, clients and employees of both firms. It's a highly complementary combination given Marex's longstanding expertise in exchange-traded commodity derivatives, and Spectron's market-leading execution capabilities in a broad range of energy-related OTC derivatives. This transaction is entirely consistent with, and supportive of, Marex's strategy of growing the firm to become the preeminent independent global broker across the commodities and financial asset classes."
Gordon Bennett, Managing Director of Spectron, said: "The partnership with Marex provides new opportunities for the clients and employees of the combined group. Marex has a successful track record in growing its business and providing top quality service for its clients. I am excited about working with the Marex team to develop the enlarged group into a world-leader across the energy and commodities sectors."
About Spectron
Spectron operates one of the largest global marketplaces for energy, commodity, freight and environmental products from its offices in London, Frankfurt, Oslo, Singapore and several cities across the US. Spectron Group is regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the UK and the National Futures Association in the US. Its screen-based trading system, combined with specialist voice brokers, serves users who trade physical and financial products in a number of wholesale markets, including natural gas, electricity, emissions, coal, metals and weather. About $500bn worth of products and contracts are transacted via the Spectron Group annually. For further information, please visit http://www.spectrongroup.com/.
About Marex
Marex is amongst the world's largest independent, privately-owned, brokers, providing execution, direct market access and clearing services in the metals, energy, agriculture, financial futures and foreign exchange markets. Marex's client base includes commodity producers and consumers, banks, brokers, CTAs, hedge funds and professional traders. Marex is a member of the London Metal Exchange, the CME Group exchanges, ICE US, NYSE Liffe, ICE Futures and Eurex and offers access to all major exchanges in the US and Asia. Marex is headquartered in London with offices in New York, Hong Kong and Geneva. Marex subsidiaries are regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the UK, the National Futures Association in the US and the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong. For further information, please visit http://www.marex.com/.
J.P. Morgan plc acted as financial adviser to Marex on the acquisition and Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP and The Dontzin Law Firm LLP acted as legal counsel. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP provided additional advice.
About JRJ Group
JRJ is a private investment firm established in January 2009. JRJ focuses exclusively on the financial services sector, providing capital, operational expertise and strategic guidance to enhance the value of its investments. For further information, please visit http://www.jrjgroup.com/.
Gavin Prentice, Marex
Hong Kong
Ekaterina Alferova, Brunswick Group
New York
Michelle Lee, Brunswick Group
SOURCE Marex
Link
Marex Group Limited ("Marex"), the international broker of commodity derivatives, financial futures and foreign exchange, which is majority-owned..
NEW YORK, March 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Marex Group Limited ("Marex"), the international broker of commodity derivatives, financial futures and foreign exchange, which is majority-owned by JRJ Group ("JRJ") and its partners, Trilantic Capital Partners and BXR Group, today announces that it has reached agreement with Imarex ASA to acquire its 100% holding of Spectron Group Limited ("Spectron") for approximately $154.1 million.
Operating from offices in London, Continental Europe, Asia and the US, Spectron is a leading global broker of wholesale energy and other commodity products. Spectron provides electronic and voice brokerage services for a diverse range of mainly Over-the-Counter ("OTC") markets, including gas, power, environmental products, freight, crude oil and related products, coal, weather and metals. Spectron's broad client base includes traders and risk managers within large oil and gas corporations, energy utilities, commodities firms, financial institutions and charterers. The transaction is subject to FSA approval in the UK and expected to close in the second quarter of 2011.
The combination of the two companies is highly complementary, with each firm a leader in its respective markets. As a leading intermediary in European power and gas markets, Spectron is well positioned for a continuation of the secular growth trend in energy-related financial market activity, with transaction levels expected to continue to respond positively to the processes of liberalisation and integration necessary to realize key EU objectives for competitive, secure and sustainable European energy markets. Marex is a leading broker of metals, agricultural, energy and financial products. Together, the companies will comprise the world's largest independent, privately-owned broker in power, gas, fuel oil, metals, agriculture and other high growth asset classes, able to service clients across both OTC and exchange-traded arenas.
Roger Nagioff, CEO of Marex and Co-Founding Partner of JRJ Group, said: "The partnership with Spectron is transformational for shareholders, clients and employees of both firms. It's a highly complementary combination given Marex's longstanding expertise in exchange-traded commodity derivatives, and Spectron's market-leading execution capabilities in a broad range of energy-related OTC derivatives. This transaction is entirely consistent with, and supportive of, Marex's strategy of growing the firm to become the preeminent independent global broker across the commodities and financial asset classes."
Gordon Bennett, Managing Director of Spectron, said: "The partnership with Marex provides new opportunities for the clients and employees of the combined group. Marex has a successful track record in growing its business and providing top quality service for its clients. I am excited about working with the Marex team to develop the enlarged group into a world-leader across the energy and commodities sectors."
About Spectron
Spectron operates one of the largest global marketplaces for energy, commodity, freight and environmental products from its offices in London, Frankfurt, Oslo, Singapore and several cities across the US. Spectron Group is regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the UK and the National Futures Association in the US. Its screen-based trading system, combined with specialist voice brokers, serves users who trade physical and financial products in a number of wholesale markets, including natural gas, electricity, emissions, coal, metals and weather. About $500bn worth of products and contracts are transacted via the Spectron Group annually. For further information, please visit http://www.spectrongroup.com/.
About Marex
Marex is amongst the world's largest independent, privately-owned, brokers, providing execution, direct market access and clearing services in the metals, energy, agriculture, financial futures and foreign exchange markets. Marex's client base includes commodity producers and consumers, banks, brokers, CTAs, hedge funds and professional traders. Marex is a member of the London Metal Exchange, the CME Group exchanges, ICE US, NYSE Liffe, ICE Futures and Eurex and offers access to all major exchanges in the US and Asia. Marex is headquartered in London with offices in New York, Hong Kong and Geneva. Marex subsidiaries are regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the UK, the National Futures Association in the US and the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong. For further information, please visit http://www.marex.com/.
J.P. Morgan plc acted as financial adviser to Marex on the acquisition and Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP and The Dontzin Law Firm LLP acted as legal counsel. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP provided additional advice.
About JRJ Group
JRJ is a private investment firm established in January 2009. JRJ focuses exclusively on the financial services sector, providing capital, operational expertise and strategic guidance to enhance the value of its investments. For further information, please visit http://www.jrjgroup.com/.
Enquiries
LondonGavin Prentice, Marex
Tel: +44 (0)20 7650 4004
Ethan Levner, JRJ Group
Tel: +44 (0)20 7290 7050
Carole Cable, Brunswick Group
Tel: +44 (0)20 7404 5959
Jeremy Capstick, J.P. Morgan
Tel: +44 (0)20 7742 4000
Hong Kong
Ekaterina Alferova, Brunswick Group
Tel: +852 3512 5093
New York
Michelle Lee, Brunswick Group
Tel: +1 212 333 3810
SOURCE Marex
Link
[Oil and Gas Post] - Gasoline Shipping Profit Seen Rising 24% After Earthquake: Freight Markets
Gasoline Shipping Profit Seen Rising 24% After Earthquake: Freight Markets
By - Mar 22, 2011 4:28 PM GMT+0700
Profit from shipping gasoline to the U.S. from Europe in the second quarter will rise 24 percent as disruptions to Japanese imports divert cargoes across the Atlantic, increasing demand for vessels.
Forward freight agreements, traded by brokers and used to hedge or bet on future transport rates, will rise to $14,000 a day on the route, from $11,252 yesterday, said Erik Nikolai Stavseth, an analyst at Arctic Securities ASA in Oslo. His recommendations on stocks of shipping lines returned 24 percent in the past six months, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The March 11 earthquake and tsunami that battered Japan closed petrochemical plants that buy European naphtha, an oil product than can be converted into gasoline or used to make plastics. European refiners will need to find alternative markets while those plants remain shut, increasing demand and profit for vessels in the Atlantic Ocean at a time when earnings in most shipping markets are slumping.
“It’s highly likely that a surplus of gasoline or naphtha or both will develop in Europe,” Harry Tchilinguirian, the head of commodity markets strategy at BNP Paribas SA in London, said by e-mail March 18. “Refiners will want to export as much of that as possible to the U.S. to support domestic margins.”
Japanese petrochemical plants use naphtha to make ethylene, a material for plastics, and about 22 percent of capacity was curbed by the March 11 disaster, according to Purvin & Gertz Inc., an energy consultant based in Houston. Japan is the second-biggest ethylene producer in Asia after China, data compiled by Bloomberg show. European naphtha shipments to Asia will probably slump by 78 percent to 100,000 metric tons this month, a Bloomberg survey of five traders showed.
Energy Consultant
“The outlook for naphtha is very bearish as six petchem plants are offline and much of the manufacturing activity at Sony, Toyota, Toshiba, etc., has been halted,” Richard Gorry, a director at Vienna-based JBC Energy GmbH, a consultant and researcher, said by phone March 18.
For European refineries, that means a glut of naphtha and one way of dealing with the surplus is to blend it into gasoline and then ship it to the U.S., the largest fuel market, according to Tchilinguirian.
Gasoline at New York Harbor cost as much as 6 percent more than in Europe yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The spread is wide enough to allow traders to ship the fuel profitably across the Atlantic Ocean, according to RS Platou Markets AS and Pareto Securities AS, both Norwegian investment banks.
More Cargoes
More cargoes means more demand for the 590-foot tankers used on the route, operated by companies including Copenhagen- based Torm A/S, Europe’s biggest publicly traded oil-products shipping line. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., based in Tokyo, and A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, headquartered in Copenhagen, also own the vessels, known as medium-range tankers.
Traders of freight forwards are already anticipating the surge in demand in the Atlantic, with second-quarter contracts jumping 8.8 percent on March 18, according to Imarex ASA, an Oslo-based broker of the derivatives.
Rental income on the route jumped 79 percent this year as demand strengthened, according to the Baltic Exchange in London, which publishes rates for more than 50 maritime routes. That beat the 6.6 percent advance in the Baltic Clean Tanker Index, a gauge of six different routes. Returns in the spot, or single voyage, market rose 1.1 percent to $14,607 a day yesterday, Baltic Exchange data show.
Volatile Rates
Rates are volatile, moving 10 percent or more in all but six of the last 31 months. They doubled in four of those months.
The improving returns on medium-range tankers contrasts with a decline for other parts of the merchant fleet. Income on capesizes, used to haul coal and iron ore, slumped 54 percent this year while returns for supertankers carrying crude fell 18 percent, Baltic Exchange data show. Container shipping costs climbed 26 percent, according to a gauge from the Hamburg Shipbrokers’ Association.
Naphtha and gasoline are part of the so-called light-end products derived from crude, accounting for about 35 percent of the total depending on the type of crude and the refinery used to process it, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Refineries produce naphtha when they process crude oil. This in turn is split into heavy and light naphtha. While the light variety is more commonly used by the petrochemicals industry, it can be blended into gasoline, said Mike Lazer, vice president of KBC Market Services, an adviser to the energy industry based in Walton-on-Thames, England. Heavy naphtha can be made into gasoline with the addition of high octane components that make it more combustible, he said.
Premium Demanded
As refineries and factories in Japan shut down this month, the premium demanded for naphtha in Asia relative to Europe fell to $13.97 a barrel so far this month from $15.21 last month, according to data from PVM Oil Associates Ltd., a London-based broker. The premium allows traders in Europe to pay for shipping costs and profit from sending cargoes to Asian customers.
European refiners are losing about $8 for each barrel of naphtha they make and earn about $5 for every barrel of gasoline, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
More gasoline cargoes to the U.S. may mean more business for Torm, a company founded in 1889 that now operates a fleet of about 130 product tankers of various sizes, carrying everything from jet fuel to diesel. The shares slumped 21 percent this year and the company said March 10 it would probably report a third consecutive annual loss in 2011. Just three of the 12 analysts covering the company and tracked by Bloomberg rate it a “buy.”
Head of Tankers
Tina Revsbech, head of tankers at Torm, said it was too soon to say whether transatlantic cargoes would increase as a result of the events in Japan.
Global shipments of oil products, including naphtha, will advance 3 percent this year, according to data from Clarkson Research Services Ltd., part of the world’s largest shipbroker. The fleet will expand 9 percent to 114.9 million deadweight tons, a measure of carrying capacity, Clarkson estimates.
The prospects for earnings on at least one route may be better than that ratio suggests.
“The product tanker market is expected to move higher in the wake of the Japanese earthquake,” said Stavseth of Arctic Securities. “When Japan stops importing there’s an excess and it really shifts the trade volumes.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Alaric Nightingale in London at Anightingal1@bloomberg.net; Ann Koh in Singapore at akoh15@bloomberg.net
Link
http://www.bloomberg.com/
By - Mar 22, 2011 4:28 PM GMT+0700
Profit from shipping gasoline to the U.S. from Europe in the second quarter will rise 24 percent as disruptions to Japanese imports divert cargoes across the Atlantic, increasing demand for vessels.
Forward freight agreements, traded by brokers and used to hedge or bet on future transport rates, will rise to $14,000 a day on the route, from $11,252 yesterday, said Erik Nikolai Stavseth, an analyst at Arctic Securities ASA in Oslo. His recommendations on stocks of shipping lines returned 24 percent in the past six months, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The March 11 earthquake and tsunami that battered Japan closed petrochemical plants that buy European naphtha, an oil product than can be converted into gasoline or used to make plastics. European refiners will need to find alternative markets while those plants remain shut, increasing demand and profit for vessels in the Atlantic Ocean at a time when earnings in most shipping markets are slumping.
“It’s highly likely that a surplus of gasoline or naphtha or both will develop in Europe,” Harry Tchilinguirian, the head of commodity markets strategy at BNP Paribas SA in London, said by e-mail March 18. “Refiners will want to export as much of that as possible to the U.S. to support domestic margins.”
Japanese petrochemical plants use naphtha to make ethylene, a material for plastics, and about 22 percent of capacity was curbed by the March 11 disaster, according to Purvin & Gertz Inc., an energy consultant based in Houston. Japan is the second-biggest ethylene producer in Asia after China, data compiled by Bloomberg show. European naphtha shipments to Asia will probably slump by 78 percent to 100,000 metric tons this month, a Bloomberg survey of five traders showed.
Energy Consultant
“The outlook for naphtha is very bearish as six petchem plants are offline and much of the manufacturing activity at Sony, Toyota, Toshiba, etc., has been halted,” Richard Gorry, a director at Vienna-based JBC Energy GmbH, a consultant and researcher, said by phone March 18.
For European refineries, that means a glut of naphtha and one way of dealing with the surplus is to blend it into gasoline and then ship it to the U.S., the largest fuel market, according to Tchilinguirian.
Gasoline at New York Harbor cost as much as 6 percent more than in Europe yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The spread is wide enough to allow traders to ship the fuel profitably across the Atlantic Ocean, according to RS Platou Markets AS and Pareto Securities AS, both Norwegian investment banks.
More Cargoes
More cargoes means more demand for the 590-foot tankers used on the route, operated by companies including Copenhagen- based Torm A/S, Europe’s biggest publicly traded oil-products shipping line. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., based in Tokyo, and A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, headquartered in Copenhagen, also own the vessels, known as medium-range tankers.
Traders of freight forwards are already anticipating the surge in demand in the Atlantic, with second-quarter contracts jumping 8.8 percent on March 18, according to Imarex ASA, an Oslo-based broker of the derivatives.
Rental income on the route jumped 79 percent this year as demand strengthened, according to the Baltic Exchange in London, which publishes rates for more than 50 maritime routes. That beat the 6.6 percent advance in the Baltic Clean Tanker Index, a gauge of six different routes. Returns in the spot, or single voyage, market rose 1.1 percent to $14,607 a day yesterday, Baltic Exchange data show.
Volatile Rates
Rates are volatile, moving 10 percent or more in all but six of the last 31 months. They doubled in four of those months.
The improving returns on medium-range tankers contrasts with a decline for other parts of the merchant fleet. Income on capesizes, used to haul coal and iron ore, slumped 54 percent this year while returns for supertankers carrying crude fell 18 percent, Baltic Exchange data show. Container shipping costs climbed 26 percent, according to a gauge from the Hamburg Shipbrokers’ Association.
Naphtha and gasoline are part of the so-called light-end products derived from crude, accounting for about 35 percent of the total depending on the type of crude and the refinery used to process it, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Refineries produce naphtha when they process crude oil. This in turn is split into heavy and light naphtha. While the light variety is more commonly used by the petrochemicals industry, it can be blended into gasoline, said Mike Lazer, vice president of KBC Market Services, an adviser to the energy industry based in Walton-on-Thames, England. Heavy naphtha can be made into gasoline with the addition of high octane components that make it more combustible, he said.
Premium Demanded
As refineries and factories in Japan shut down this month, the premium demanded for naphtha in Asia relative to Europe fell to $13.97 a barrel so far this month from $15.21 last month, according to data from PVM Oil Associates Ltd., a London-based broker. The premium allows traders in Europe to pay for shipping costs and profit from sending cargoes to Asian customers.
European refiners are losing about $8 for each barrel of naphtha they make and earn about $5 for every barrel of gasoline, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
More gasoline cargoes to the U.S. may mean more business for Torm, a company founded in 1889 that now operates a fleet of about 130 product tankers of various sizes, carrying everything from jet fuel to diesel. The shares slumped 21 percent this year and the company said March 10 it would probably report a third consecutive annual loss in 2011. Just three of the 12 analysts covering the company and tracked by Bloomberg rate it a “buy.”
Head of Tankers
Tina Revsbech, head of tankers at Torm, said it was too soon to say whether transatlantic cargoes would increase as a result of the events in Japan.
Global shipments of oil products, including naphtha, will advance 3 percent this year, according to data from Clarkson Research Services Ltd., part of the world’s largest shipbroker. The fleet will expand 9 percent to 114.9 million deadweight tons, a measure of carrying capacity, Clarkson estimates.
The prospects for earnings on at least one route may be better than that ratio suggests.
“The product tanker market is expected to move higher in the wake of the Japanese earthquake,” said Stavseth of Arctic Securities. “When Japan stops importing there’s an excess and it really shifts the trade volumes.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Alaric Nightingale in London at Anightingal1@bloomberg.net; Ann Koh in Singapore at akoh15@bloomberg.net
Link
http://www.bloomberg.com/
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