Oil tanker

An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a merchant ship designed for the bulk transport of oil. There are two basic types of oil tankers: the crude tanker and the product tanker. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries. Product tankers, generally much smaller, are designed to move refined products from refineries to points near consuming markets.

Oil tankers are often classified by their size as well as their occupation. The size classes range from inland or coastal tankers of a few thousand metric tons of deadweight (DWT) to the mammoth ultra large crude carriers (ULCCs) of 550,000 DWT. Tankers move approximately 2,000,000,000 metric tons (2.2×109 short tons) of oil every year. Second only to pipelines in terms of efficiency, the average cost of oil transport by tanker amounts to only two or three United States cents per 1 US gallon (3.8 L).

Some specialized types of oil tankers have evolved. One of these is the naval replenishment oiler, a tanker which can fuel a moving vessel. Combination ore-bulk-oil carriers and permanently moored floating storage units are two other variations on the standard oil tanker design. Oil tankers have been involved in a number of damaging and high-profile oil spills. As a result, they are subject to stringent design and operational regulations.

Petroleum

Petroleum (L. petroleum, from early 15c. "petroleum, rock oil" (mid-14c. in Anglo-French), from Medieval Latin petroleum, from Latin: petra: "rock" + oleum: "oil".) is a naturally occurring, yellow-to-black liquid found in geological formations beneath the Earth's surface, which is commonly refined into various types of fuels.

It consists of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other organic compounds. The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil. A fossil fuel, petroleum is formed when large quantities of dead organisms, usually zooplankton and algae, are buried underneath sedimentary rock and subjected to intense heat and pressure.

Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling (natural petroleum springs are rare). This comes after the studies of structural geology (at the reservoir scale), sedimentary basin analysis, reservoir characterization (mainly in terms of the porosity and permeability of geologic reservoir structures). It is refined and separated, most easily by distillation, into a large number of consumer products, from gasoline (petrol) and kerosene to asphalt and chemical reagents used to make plastics and pharmaceuticals. Petroleum is used in manufacturing a wide variety of materials, and it is estimated that the world consumes about 90 million barrels each day.

Crude Oil (film)

Crude Oil (simplified Chinese: 采油日记; traditional Chinese: 採油日記; pinyin: Cǎi yóu rì jì) is a 2008 Chinese documentary film directed by Wang Bing. Filmed in the Inner Mongolian portion of the Gobi Desert, it follows a group of oil field workers as they go about their daily routine.

Like Wang's debut feature — the nine-hour Tie Xi Qu: West of the TracksCrude Oil is notable for its extreme length, running 840 minutes (14 hours). The original plan called for a 70-hour film, but Wang felt compelled to exert additional editorial control and reduced the work to its present length. The director himself came down with severe altitude sickness and left the location three days into the one-week shoot; his crew completed the remainder without him.

Crude Oil premiered (in a video installation setting) at the 2008 International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it received a "Special Mention" for "its dispassionate expose of the hardship of human labour which is the basis of economic progress." The project was commissioned by the IFFR, with additional support from the Hubert Bals Fund. It had its Asian premiere at the 2008 Hong Kong International Film Festival. Its North American premiere was at The Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2009, with screenings held in Gallery 6 at the Hammer Museum.

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Latest News for: crude oil tanker

Indian Port Bars Tanker Hauling Russian Crude

gCaptain 29 Mar 2025
Mar 28, 2025 (Bloomberg) –A tanker carrying Russian crude for state-run Indian Oil Corp ... Indian rules require tankers over 20 years old ... Aging Shadow Fleet Carrying Russian Oil Poses Disaster Risk.

Russian tanker sailings in English Channel nearly double despite UK sanctions

The Daily Telegraph 29 Mar 2025
The number of Russian oil tankers passing ... Ships such as the MV Vladimir Vinogradov, a 65,000-tonne crude oil tanker, passed through the Channel as often as half a dozen times in 2023, the data showed.

Report: India Turned Away Shadow Fleet Tanker Laden with Russian Oil

The Maritime Executive 28 Mar 2025
The crude oil tanker Andaman Skies (111,000 dwt) is currently loitering in the Arabian Sea between India and Oman after being turned away from the oil terminal at Vadinar reports Reuters.

Iran Oil-Filled Tankers Build Up Off Malaysia as Sanctions Mount

gCaptain 27 Mar 2025
More than 20 tankers are currently anchored empty near the country’s Kharg Island loading terminal, according to Tankertrackers.com Inc., a firm that uses satellite imagery and other tools to track crude oil shipments.

India Turns Away Russian Oil Tanker As Sanctions Evolve

Oil Price 27 Mar 2025
India moved on Thursday to deny entry to a Tanzanian-flagged tanker carrying Russian crude, signaling that ...

BRS Shipbrokers: Shipbuilding trends and numbers in 2024

SAFETY4SEA 27 Mar 2025
Demand was particularly strong for large crude oil tankers ... Tanker orderbook sees significant increase ... Strong demand for stainless steel chemical tankers. Demand for stainless steel chemical tankers mirrored the trend in the oil tanker sector.

The tanker hokey-cokey

Splash24/7 26 Mar 2025
As oil prices bottomed out earlier in March with WTI going as slow as $66.03 before recovering to over $68.20, crude oil and refined products tanker markets lifted shipowners’ sentiment via higher day rates.

Tankers with crude oil, gasoline arrive in Syria, state news reports

Middle East Monitor 26 Mar 2025
Two tankers, one carrying 100,000 metric tonnes of crude oil and another carrying 5,600 tonnes of gasoline have arrived at the Syrian port city of Baniyas, ...

SOFEC awarded third CALM Buoy at Barbers Point by PAR Hawaii

Hydrocarbon Engineering 26 Mar 2025
The CALM Buoy will be moored in a water depth of 31 m, designed to berth tankers up to 150 000 DWT and can transfer three separate products (crude oil, bunker fuel and white oil) to meet the energy ...

Second Sanctioned Tanker Offloads Russian Arctic Crude Oil in Syria

gCaptain 25 Mar 2025
Umba and another floating storage tanker located nearby, Kola, receive crude from three Russian Arctic oil projects Varandey, Prirazlomnoye, and Novy Port. They can each hold 300,000 tons of crude oil.

Exxon Valdez spill shaped history 36 years ago. What have we learned?

Usatoday 25 Mar 2025
The nearly 1,000-foot namesake tanker carrying tens ... Exxon Valdez, a 987-foot tanker loaded with 53 million gallons of crude oil, slammed into Alaska’s Bligh Reef just after midnight on March 24, 1989.

2 tankers deliver fuel shipments to Syria's Baniyas

Xinhua 25 Mar 2025
A tanker carrying 5,600 tons of gasoline and another with 100,000 tons of crude oil have docked at the terminal of Syrian Oil ...
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