Asia

Turkish Airlines announced that it held a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday at eight locations. The total investment value is more than 100 billion lira (2.32 billion dollars). It said that the projects included investments in Europe's biggest wide-body aircraft engine maintenance facility, world's biggest aircraft catering facility, second phase of SmartIST, which will be the 'largest cargo facility' in the world, additional aircraft maintenance hangars and an ecommerce complex. When all phases are completed, these investments will create over 36,000 jobs. Turkish Airlines Chairman Ahmet Bolat stated that while our company's contribution is currently $65 Billion, it will reach $144...

Officials from Ukraine said that Russia had attacked two'seaports' in the Odesa region of Ukraine on Wednesday. One person was killed and eight injured. In recent weeks, Russia has attacked Ukraine's port and foreign-flagged ships sailing from it. This is after Vladimir Putin promised to cut Ukraine from the sea as a retaliation for Kyiv's attacks on unregulated oil tanks sailing to Russia. The Ukrainian'seaport' administration stated that the ports attacked were Chornomorsk & Pivdennyi. Both are 'key export arteries' for Ukraine's commodities-heavy economy. Oleksiy Kulba, deputy prime minister of Ukraine, said: "This is another attack on port infrastructure by...

Saudi Arabia led Gulf stocks higher in the early trade of Wednesday after the kingdom announced that it would open its capital market to all categories foreign investors next month. Saudi Arabia's benchmark index of stocks rose by as much as 2,5% intraday, the biggest intraday gain it has seen in over three months. All constituents also advanced. Gains were led by the consumer discretionary, healthcare and finance sectors. Al Rajhi Bank, a heavyweight, climbed by 2.1% while Saudi Aramco, a major oil company, gained 1.1%. Saudi Tadawul Group, an exchange operator, jumped up to?7%. This is the sharpest increase...

Shipping data revealed that Venezuela only loaded crude?for U.S. Chevron on February 2, while the state-run PDVSA halted operations to?load?cargoes destined for its principal customers in China for a fifth consecutive day. U.S. Forces captured President Nicolas Maduro and brought him to New York for drug charges. Delcy Rodriguez, the interim president of the Venezuelan government is now in charge. The U.S. says it will supervise the administration. Last month, the United States placed a blockade against sanctioned oil tanks sailing into Venezuelan waters and out of them. This halted all exports except those that were destined for Chevron. Chevron,...

By Robert Harvey LONDON - On Monday, January 6, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal, near the Russian Black Sea Port of Novorossiysk, resumed loading crude oil after several days?of weather-related interruptions that also delayed maintenance?work.?Two industry sources said on Tuesday. The poor weather conditions and Ukrainian attacks against infrastructure caused a drop in Kazakhstan's oil production and exports. About 80% of Kazakhstan’s crude oil exports are handled by the CPC Terminal. One of the sources claimed that crude oil loadings began again from the 'one single point docking' (SPM-1), in the afternoon of 5 January. CPC Terminal stopped oil exports...

Shipping data shows that Venezuela's main oil port on Tuesday became the fifth day without delivering crude to the state-run PDVSA customers in Asia – the OPEC country's major buyers – as the U.S. pressed the nation with an oil embargo. Chevron, the main joint venture partner of PDVSA, resumed Monday exports of Venezuelan crude oil to the U.S., after a four day pause. It also called its?workers overseas back to their Venezuela offices, as flights into?the country re-started. In recent weeks, the U.S. company has become 'the only firm fluidly exporting Venezuelan crude. In early January, a dozen vessels...

Shipping data revealed that tankers carrying Venezuelan crude oil and fuel sailed?in international waters?without a flag or safety documentation. Since they left Venezuelan water, the location of these vessels is unknown. To comply with safety and environmental regulations, all?commercial vessels must be registered or flagged with a particular country. Ship classification societies provide safety services, such as ensuring that ships are seaworthy. This certification is crucial for insurance and entry to ports. U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a ban on all tankers sanctioned for Venezuela in mid-December. This was before U.S. forces captured 'Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro early Saturday morning....

The Gulf's major stock exchanges were mixed on Monday morning amid lower oil prices, as investors weighed geopolitical risk against concerns about a possible oversupply. Brent crude 'futures' fell 52 cents or 0.8% to $60.23 per barrel at 0801 GMT as global supplies were adequate, reducing concerns over supply disruptions following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by the U.S. in an audacious raid on the weekend. Saudi Arabia's benchmark?index?dropped by 0.2%. This is a continuation of the 1.8% drop from the previous session. ?Oil giant Saudi Aramco slipped 0.6%. According to a Monday survey, the non-oil sector of...

Flights in Greece were grounded Sunday after a 'collapse of radio frequency crippled the air traffic communication. This left thousands of travellers stranded and brought airport operations to an end. The cause of the disruption was not clear. It began early on Sunday morning and rapidly escalated. The civil aviation authority of Greece said that some overflights in Greek and regional airspace are still being serviced. However, airport operations have been restricted for safety purposes. Dozens were affected. Panagiotis Psarros of the Association of Greek Air Traffic Controllers told ERT that "for some reason, all frequencies were suddenly gone.. we...

On 'Thursday, air traffic was stopped at the international airport in Aden as tensions between Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates continued. The two Gulf countries are reshaping Yemen through their rivalry. Saudi Arabia, which is internationally recognized as the government of Yemen, has ordered new restrictions for flights into and out of the UAE to try to reduce tensions. The move was met with a defiant reaction: Yemen's Transport Minister, who is 'aligned' with Yemen's separatists in the south, instead of 'complying', ordered an immediate shutdown of all air traffic. The Southern Transitional Council (STC), the Yemeni separatist force...

The regional administration reported that a Ukrainian drone attacked the port infrastructure and a gas pipe in a residential area in Russia's Black Sea Port of Tuapse on Wednesday. No injuries were reported. The operational headquarters of Krasnodar Region said via the Telegram messaging application that emergency crews had been dispatched to repair damage. The port's dock had been damaged. A Telegram news channel with Russian security service sources said that a series of explosions were heard late Tuesday over Tuapse and residents in one area reported a fire. On?Telegram, several Ukrainian media outlets, including RBC-Ukraine, published photos that appeared...

Two oil tankers?have made their way to Venezuela recently and other are navigating to the country. This is a sign that?state-run PDVSA has been trying to increase floating storage to keep selling crude despite a U.S. Blockade which has?reduced to a minimal exports. As part of a campaign to put pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, U.S. president Donald Trump announced this month a blockade against all vessels sanctioned by the U.S. government that enter or leave Venezuelan waters. This U.S. action has reduced oil exports to half their level in November. The U.S. seized two full cargoes Venezuelan oil,...

On 'Thursday, Ukrainian officials raced to restore power after Russian strikes plunged the two regions in the south-east into a?near total blackout overnight. Critical infrastructure was forced to rely on reserves. Moscow has intensified attacks on Ukraine's power system, as Ukrainian forces fight off Russian advances in the battlefield and Kyiv is under U.S. pressure for a peace agreement. The Deputy Premier of Ukraine,?Oleksiy?Kuleba, said that repairs are still being carried out to restore heat and water supply to over 1 million customers in the industrialised area of Dnipropetrovsk. Energy ministry reported that nearly 800,000 customers in the affected region...

Ukraine's largest?private energy company said on Sunday that it had restored power to more than one million households around Kyiv, a day after an air strike by Russia had caused emergency outages. Two people were killed and power was knocked out in large areas of the capital area and surrounding region by a combined?missile-and drone attack? that occurred early Saturday morning. DTEK announced in a statement that it restored electricity to 748, 000?households?in Kyiv as well as 347,000?outside the city. The report said that the situation on Kyiv’s left bank was "more difficult", as emergency power outages were still in...

State media reported that Iran had seized an oil tanker from a foreign country near the Iranian island of 'Qeshm, in the Gulf. The tanker was said to be carrying 4,000,000 litres of fuel smuggled, the report stated. The authorities did not name the vessel nor disclose its nationality. The authorities alleged that 16 foreign crew were?detained for criminal charges. State TV reported that the tanker had been seized on Wednesday. Iranian news sites published photos and video footage of the tanker they claimed to have seized. Iran announced last week that it had seized a foreign tanker carrying smuggled...

State media reported that Iran had seized an oil tanker from a foreign country near the Iranian island of Qeshm, in 'the Gulf. It said it was carrying smuggled fuel of 4 million litres. The authorities did not disclose the name of the vessel, its nationality or when it was seized. The authorities said that 16 foreign crew members had been arrested on criminal charges. Iranian news sites?published video and photos?of the tanker they claimed to have seized. Last week, Iran announced that it had intercepted another foreign tanker in the Gulf of Oman carrying 6,000,000 litres of diesel it...

Alexei Miller said that Gazprom, the Russian gas corporation, supplied 38.8 billion cubic meters of gas to China through the Power 'of Siberia' pipeline this year. This is an increase of nearly a fifth compared to the previous year. Miller stated that by the end of 2025, the company will have exceeded its contractual obligations to China in terms of gas supply. Sources familiar with data said on Monday that Russia’s pipeline exports to China of?natural?gas were expected to hit around 38.6-38.7 bcm this year. This is up from 31 bcm by 2024 and exceed the pipeline's annual capacity of...

The Russian government has delayed by "several" years its plan to achieve a 100 million-ton annual target for liquefied gas production, Alexander Novak, deputy prime minister, told state television on Thursday. He cited the impact of Western sanctions on Russia's energy industry. Sanctions imposed by the United States over the conflict with Ukraine have impacted Russia's plans to increase its share of the global LNG industry from 8% today to a fifth by 2030-2035. This includes the new Arctic LNG 2 facility. According to a recently updated government strategy, Russia will produce 90-105 millions tons of LNG in 2030 and...

Vingroup, Vietnam's largest conglomerate said it would withdraw its proposal to invest $67 billion in the North-South high speed railway project of Vietnam, and instead focus on other projects. Vingroup said that the decision to register, which was "submitted" in May, was made after a reassessment was done of the company's resources following the awarding of major national projects including a stadium with Olympic standards and rail lines linking key locations. Vingroup shares and those of its units (including?developers Vinhomes, Vincom Retail and Vinpearl) fell by 7%, while hospitality company Vinpearl dropped 3%. This announcement dragged the benchmark index to...

According to Serbia's RTS TV, the U.S. granted Serbian oil refiner NIS until March 24th to 'negotiate' the sale of their 'Russian owner's' stake. RTS stated that NIS did not have an operating license which would allow it to purchase and process crude oil. After a series waivers granted since January, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions against NIS as part of broader measures taken against?Russian energy sector. The sanctions have stopped crude oil supplies through Croatia's JANAF pipe, which has shut down production at?Pancevo. Gazprom, the sanctioned oil unit of Russia's Gazprom,...

A Ukrainian farmer's association said that the Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports have already harmed food exports. This could result in a significant drop?in trade, despite attempts to divert shipments by rail. Ukraine is the largest exporter of corn and wheat in the world, as well as sunflower oil. Early in the nearly four-year war, a de facto Russian blocade worsened global food shortages. Since 2023, the majority of Ukrainian food exports has resumed. This month, Russian drones and missiles have been attacking the Odesa region's ports almost daily. Export capacity has decreased. The UAC union reported that some wheat...

Petroliam Nasional, the Malaysian state-owned energy company On Wednesday,?it said that it would supply Chinese offshore oil company CNOOC 1 million metric tonnes of?liquefied gas (LNG) per year. Petronas stated in a press release that the agreement between Petronas 'LNG and CNOOC Gas and Power Singapore 'Trading & Marketing' builds on existing cooperation between both?companies. Petronas will sign a 10-year contract for LNG supply with a CNOOC subsidiary in?2021. The deal is valued at $7 billion. CNOOC and Petronas have not responded to our requests for details, including the duration of the deal. Petronas and Canadian oil company Pembina Pipeline...

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic revealed on Tuesday that Russian energy giant Gazprom has been in discussions with Hungary's MOL about a possible sale of its majority stakes in 'NIS' - Serbia's only oil refiner. In January, the United States announced sanctions against Russia's oil industry in response to Moscow's conflict in Ukraine. But, NIS's application was repeatedly delayed before finally coming into force on October 8th. "We have no problem with it. We have information that Gazprom representatives have been talking to MOL in Hungary, and we don't have anything against them." Vucic said to reporters on Tuesday that the...

The Polish company announced on Tuesday that Poland's oil pipe operator PERN had signed an agreement with Kaztransoil regarding technical cooperation in relation to shipments of Kazakh oil? to Germany. PERN stated in a press release that the agreement includes delivery scheduling, information exchange, inspections, and certification of meters used during the handling process. Since the suspension of Russian shipments?after Moscow invaded Ukraine, PERN has been supplying?oil from Kazakhstan to Germany's PCK Schwedt Refinery. The refinery also relies on seaborne supplies via Gdansk. The state-controlled Russian energy firm Rosneft holds a majority stake of PCK which supplies much of Berlin's...