Member Info for chilting

Its the fallout from the attacks that is more significant - as Reuters report -

"Industry sources said Friday’s incident off the Saudi coast could drive up shipping costs, which have already surged.

“War risk insurance premiums for the Red Sea will now likely go up significantly, as will likely the freight (rates),” said Ashok Sharma, managing director of shipbroker BRS Baxi in Singapore.
Tanker rates have soared to multi-year highs in recent weeks after U.S. sanctions on units of Chinese shipping giant COSCO and after the Saudi attacks.
Disruption to shipping through Red Sea would affect oil passing through the Suez Canal or SUMED crude pipeline, which has capacity for 2.34 million bpd and which runs parallel to the canal. It is used by tankers that cannot navigate the waterway. "

More here

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/explosion-sets-iranian-oil-tanker-ablaze-red-sea-report-191011053301991.html

Yes, it is the Sinopa - her last AIS was just south of Jeddah on the Red Sea 13 hours ago - so I guess she must turned off her AIS and slowed down. This BBC report gives more info.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-50011218

One good thing at the moment - for the last couple of weeks the SP has been more or less following the FSE250 index - even todays gain - on the run up to expected news at the end of the month hopefully this trend will continue.

gkb
No it isn't the Sinopa - she was heading north towards Suez just 11 hours ago.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:768495/zoom:10

Both tankers are about the same size - probably sister ships.

That's a big tanker - about the same size as the largest Teekay shuttle tanker - Heather Knutsen.

If it has oil on board and it is released it could cause massive pollution.

casual - exactly - Johnson will do and say anything for popularity and votes and loan guarantees wont even cost him anything.

Lets hope - Trump has had a bad week so far - impeachment woes at the beginning of the week and starting a war yesterday.

There is always a chance that the Government is holding back an announcement on SM until the expected election for maximum political gain - it would fit into their "commitment" to the Northern Powerhouse.

One thing to add to that - the US loads are easy to calculate because of the size of the tankers that will fit into the US ports - generally in the 500-525K range.

But these loads going to other destinations could be significantly larger - as is the case with load 47 which could be around 600k judging by NO draught of 13.7 metres - she is one of the larger shuttle tankers.

We could get a nice surprise when the actual production figures are released.

Ever since load 1 most of Kraken's crude has been exported to the US but now that trend seems to have been well and truly broken.

Load 42 went to the Far East on the super-super tanker Sapphira.
Load 43 went to the US
Loads 44 and 45 went on the same tanker to Rotterdam.
Load 46 went to the Caribbean - there was a refinery at the destination port.
Load 47 is scheduled to go to Malta.

It would be interesting to know why and if by selling to different markets Enquest is getting a premium price - is some of the crude being used for bunker fuel for example.

Persumably the US still needs Kraken crude - probably more than ever - to mix with its poor grade light crude - so there must still be a market there.

The magma is beginning to stir in the chamber now!!!

I think is clear from the comments that using one TBM isn't feasible - especially as the second is on order.

But going with two TBM's would be a major saving not just for the cost of the TBM but because work at Lockwood Beck would need only be for a ventilation shaft.

No other major savings seem to feasible - especially as the project has been fashioned to operate in the National Park.

To me the best way forward would be with ICL as a partner - merge operations with Boulby - revenue from the sale of Polyhalite from day one - build the new mine - transfer the miners from Boulby and close Boulby.

Moving on - Raw polyhalite could be sold to ICL for their Polysulphate product - Product could be processed and marketed by SM as Poly4 - Product could be sold into the rest of the market as raw polyhalite - #beyondwoodsmith could develop seed coatings with the patent SM own.

On a more serious note - has anyone factored in the implications of using just one TBM for the whole project?

DGR
That's actually irrelevant - I am quite sure that TC would have followed a new path with new management if they had been rescued.

The simple fact is that our Government have more of a fear of failure than they do of being objective - also their political dogma stops them from being objective.

I am quite sure that this is why they haven't given SM the support they deserve - we can only hope that political pressure will be enough to overturn their decision and that they will commit to the project in some way - after all SM isn't asking for bucket loads of cash.

Exactly!!!

At the time the Government said that Thomas Cook was a basket case and couldn't be saved - since then the German Government has saved TC Airlines operating out of Germany - and the news today that Hayes Travel has brought all 555 TC high street shops - saving 2,500 jobs - simply underlines the absolute incompetence of the way our Government interacts in supporting business.

Trials and prospects for Poly4 are not at all misleading - we now have solid confirmation that the product will be exceptionally well received by the end user - ICL are having excellent results all round with application and sales of their polyhalite product.

Totally agree bobster - I always feel stupid when the losses go eye wateringly high but I have a feeling that CF will pull through - this is his project and he has far more to loose than anyone else - also he comes from the tough world of Aussie business - he sure is a fighter - as we have seen this week with some of the flack aimed at this board.