Energy desk · Coal, crude and refined products
Barrels and tonnes where they are needed.
Thermal and metallurgical coal alongside crude oil, fuel oil, middle distillates and LPG, traded across the Atlantic and East of Suez with storage and blending at key hubs.
- Annual volume
- 38M barrels
- Storage hubs
- 2
- Benchmarks
- Brent · Dubai · Platts
Overview
The energy book
The energy desk places crude with refiners against Brent and Dubai-linked structures, and moves refined products into bunker, power and industrial demand.
The same desk runs the coal book: thermal grades blended to a utility's specification, and metallurgical grades delivered into integrated mills in North Asia.
Storage positions at major hubs let us hold optionality on timing and blend to a buyer's specification, rather than being forced to sell a cargo as it arrives.
All product is certified to the contractual specification by an independent inspector at load and discharge.
Products
What we trade, and to what specification.
| Product | Specification | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Crude oil | Brent and Dubai-linked grades | Term and spot cargoes into refiners |
| VLSFO | 0.50% sulphur maximum, ISO 8217 | Bunker supply at major hubs |
| Gasoil | 10 ppm and 500 ppm sulphur | Into power generation and transport |
| High sulphur fuel oil | 3.5% sulphur | Into scrubber-fitted tonnage and utilities |
| LPG | Propane and butane | Pressurised and refrigerated cargoes |
| Thermal coal | 4,200 – 6,000 kcal/kg NAR | Indonesian and South African origin, blended to specification |
| Hard coking coal | CSR 62 – 70, ash 9.5% max | Premium and second-tier Australian brands |
| PCI coal | Volatile matter 12 – 20% | Delivered into integrated mills in North Asia |
| Semi-soft coking coal | CSN 4 – 6 | Blend component for cost-optimised coke batteries |
Trade routes
Origin to destination.
Origin
Arabian Gulf
Destination
East Africa, South Asia
MR and LR tankers on the clean and dirty market
Origin
West Africa
Destination
Northwest Europe, India
Crude on Suezmax and VLCC
Origin
US Gulf
Destination
Latin America, Mediterranean
Refined product on MR tonnage
Execution
How the cargo actually moves.
- Storage and blending at Fujairah and Rotterdam
- Independent inspection at load and discharge
- Freight on the clean and dirty tanker market
- Dry bulk freight from Supramax to Capesize for the coal book
- Draft survey and independent sampling on coal at both ends
- Paper hedging against ICE and CME benchmarks