Releases
Announcements, partnerships, and product updates from Blackwell.
Industry News
Headlines from across the maritime and offshore energy industry.
Panama Canal Congestion Fears Grow Ahead of June Lock Maintenance
Panama Canal waits are averaging 47.9 hours and priority slot auctions have hit a record $4m per vessel — and the June 9–17 Gatun Locks maintenance window will cut daily transits to 16.
Source: Splash247
Seapeak Grows LNG Orderbook With $756m Samsung Heavy Trio
Seapeak has ordered three Samsung Heavy LNG carriers for $756m, all pre-chartered for 10 years — pushing its Samsung orderbook to ten ships and underlining the scramble for 2029 Korean slots.
Source: Splash247
Aging LNG Carriers Become Hot Property as Hormuz Disruption Reshapes Supply
Seven mid-2000s LNG carriers have changed hands since the Strait of Hormuz disruption tightened supply, with brokers flagging classic shadow-fleet patterns — aging tonnage, opaque buyers, Russian reflaggings.
Source: Splash247
Oil Prices Jump 7% as IEA Warns Hormuz Disruptions Will Hit Europe in April
Brent crude surged 7.6% to $108.81 as Trump vowed to continue Iran strikes, while the IEA warned supply losses in April will double those in March, hitting Europe through inflation and fuel shortages.
Source: Times of Israel / Intelatus
US Gulf Coast Tanker Availability Drops 41% as Iran War Redirects Global Oil Flows
Tanker availability along the US Gulf Coast has fallen 41% in a month as Asian and European refiners, cut off from Middle Eastern supply by the Iran war, scramble to source crude from the US, Brazil, and West Africa.
Source: Marine Link (Reuters)
World's First Post-Combustion CCS Unit Begins Operation on FPSO Agogo
Malaysia's Yinson Production has activated the first post-combustion CO2 capture plant installed on an offshore facility, aboard FPSO Agogo off Angola, in collaboration with Azule Energy and Carbon Circle.
Source: Offshore Energy
Brent Crude Surges 51% in March as Iran War Closes Strait of Hormuz
Brent crude climbed 51% in March to $112.57 a barrel, its biggest monthly gain on record, after the US-Israeli war on Iran all but closed the Strait of Hormuz and knocked an estimated 9 million barrels per day off global supply.
Source: The Guardian
Strait of Hormuz Near-Shutdown Sends Brent Crude Past $113 Amid US-Iran Conflict
Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, cutting daily transits by 90 to 95 percent and sending Brent crude past $113 per barrel in the largest oil supply disruption in history.
Source: CBS News
Middle East War Damage to Gulf Energy Infrastructure Tops $25 Billion
Rystad Energy estimates at least $25 billion in damage to Gulf energy infrastructure, with Qatar's Ras Laffan LNG complex and Iran's South Pars field among the hardest hit, and full recovery potentially years away due to global equipment backlogs.
Source: Rystad Energy / Splash247 / Offshore Energy
Gulf Tensions Force Arabian Drilling and ADES to Suspend Offshore Rig Operations
Escalating Middle East conflict has forced Arabian Drilling and ADES to halt operations on multiple offshore rigs in the Gulf, as mines raise threat levels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Source: Splash247 / Rigzone
RWE Opens Thor O&M Base as Denmark's Largest Wind Farm Reaches Full Operations
RWE has officially opened the operations and maintenance base for Thor offshore wind farm, Denmark's largest at 1.1 GW, which will power one million Danish homes and is the first offshore wind farm globally to use steel turbine towers with a reduced carbon footprint.
Source: RWE Press Office
QatarEnergy Invokes Force Majeure on LNG Contracts
QatarEnergy has declared force majeure on long-term LNG supply contracts for up to five years, primarily affecting Asian and European buyers, as the Strait of Hormuz conflict reduces oil flows by 98% and traps 1,100 ships worth $30 billion inside the Gulf.
Source: Marine Link / Offshore Energy