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Beijing surprised oil markets with threats to levy tariffs on imports of U.S. crude oil, natural gas and other energy products on Friday, just as China has risen to the top of the list of importers of oil from the United States.China responded to $50 billion in tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump with a similar amount of levies on a variety of U.S. goods. But China also said it would impose tariffs on U.S. energy products, which analysts considered a surprise as previous tariff threats had centered on agricultural goods and automobiles."This is a big deal. China is essentially the largest customer for U.S.

Port officials on Tuesday are expected to consider $300 million in financing that would prepare the country's largest oil-export port - Corpus Christi, Texas - to handle a surge in U.S. shale production over the next five years.International buyers would like more U.S. crude but are unable to get it because of infrastructure constraints along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Terminals originally designed for imports only recently have revamped operations to handle exports including accepting larger tankers preferred by China and other oil buyers.

Shares of small Japanese shippers jumped this week after the historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sparked hopes of news business ties with the reclusive country.Japanese retail investors are snatching up shares of the firms that may benefit from a potential thaw between Tokyo and Pyongyang, even though the Japanese government has been a staunch supporter of "maximum pressure" on North Korea.Shares of Rinko Corp, a marine transportation company, jumped 17 percent this week with the heaviest trading volume in more than two years.

A Finnish engineering firm known for its ice-going vessel expertise says it is studying another area of ship technology: autonomous vessel operations.Aker Arctic says it recently successfully tested an autonomous ship model at its ice model test laboratory in Helsinki.The test, which was carried out in ice-free waters, demonstrated the ship model’s ability to detect obstacles in the tank utilizing onboard sensors, maneuver around them without operator input and moor itself automatically to a target pier.

Norway's energy minister will meet with companies on Wednesday to discuss the potential construction of offshore floating wind farms, he told Reuters on Friday.The meeting is the first concrete step to spur development of offshore floating power generation, after the government said last December it would seek to accommodate such plans."Wednesday next week I will have a meeting with different stakeholders in offshore wind and discuss both the opening process and the regulatory framework," Terje Soeviknes said.Unlike offshore wind turbines that are fixed to the seabed, floating wind parks are seen as potentially more feasible for use in deeper waters.