Asia

Chief executive officer?Eric Martel stated on Thursday that?India's efforts to upgrade its aviation infrastructure?will give Canada’s Bombardier an opportunity to increase?sales?of business -jets?there. Martel told reporters at Montreal that Bombardier operates around 60 jets in India. He added that the lack of infrastructure is a challenge for the company. The good news is they are spending a great deal of money right now. As far as I'm aware, they are building at least a dozen airports. "The infrastructure (investment), which will be taking place in the next few decades, will certainly 'open doors for us to grow. Mark Carney, the...

The growing Australian pension system has helped fuel record issuances in the A$ bond market. Andrew Irvine, CEO of National Australia Bank (NAB), expects this trend to continue as global borrowers tap deeper pools of domestic liquidity. According to Dealogic, there have been A$52.74 Billion (or $36.21 Billion) of A$-denominated Bonds issued since the beginning of 2026. This is the best start for any year. In A$ terms, the issuance has increased by nearly 11% since last year. Irvine said A$ Bonds were becoming more appealing to Asian and European Issuers because?Australian Pension Funds, also known as Superannuation Funds locally,...

The Pentagon announced?on Tuesday that U.S. forces had intercepted a sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean, after tracing it from Caribbean waters. This was the third interception in this region. Washington has stepped up its blockade of vessels going to or from Venezuela, a South American member of OPEC, after capturing 'Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro during a military savage last month. The U.S. Department of Defense announced in a post to X that its forces had boarded Bertha over night. The crude oil tanker was accused of trying to defy Iran sanctions. According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control...

Singapore Airlines reported a 69% drop in its third-quarter profit, which was distorted by a gain of a single dollar a year ago and losses at Air India. However, strong passenger demand helped to boost operating revenue. Singapore Airlines owns a 25,1% stake in Air India. The airline began to account for Air India's earnings after December 2024, when the joint venture Vistara of Singapore Airlines was integrated into Air India. Singapore Airlines reported a net loss of $398.6m (S$505m) during the period October-December, down from S$1.63bn a year ago. This was boosted by an?S$1.1bn gain from the Air India/Vistara...

Industry sources claim that the cost of shipping crude oil has risen?to its highest level in six years. This is due to a surge of crude exports out of the Middle East, as traders rush to book charters before a possible conflict between the U.S. The cost to hire a very 'large 'crude carrier to transport up to 2,000,000 barrels of crude oil from the Middle East into China has tripled since the beginning of the year, reaching over $170,000 a daily on Tuesday. This is the highest price ever recorded, according to LSEG. Data from shipping analytics company Kpler...

Reynold Hoover, CEO of Los Angeles 2028, gave his?full support to Casey Wasserman on Monday. He said his support is unwavering despite the increased scrutiny after the recent release by U.S.?Justice Department documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Hoover made his first comments on the issue since Wasserman was mentioned in the documents released late last month. They were also the first remarks since Mayor Los Angeles asked him to resign. The documents contained flirty emails between Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxiwell, a convicted sex-trafficker who is a close Epstein affiliate. Hoover, retired three-star U.S. Army Lieutenant General, said, "The board took...

A company document shows that technical incidents, such as fuel and engine oil leaks, on Air?India flights, reached their highest rate for at least 14 month in January. This highlights the growing pressures placed on the carrier to revamp its operations. Since a fatal crash in which 260 people were killed, India's second-largest carrier has been under the scrutiny of India's safety regulator. Since then, it has reported many safety lapses, and admitted in December that there is a need for "urgent improvements in process discipline and communication as well as compliance culture". Air India reported 1,09 incidents technical per...

Etihad Airways announced a nearly 50% increase in 'net profit' to $698m last year. The 'carrier' said this on Tuesday. Increased capacity supported strong demand throughout markets and lifted the load factor. "We have invested a lot in our product and customer satisfaction. We've grown a lot and added capacity, ?...So, I'd say that it's the combination of all our efforts," CEO Antonoaldo Neves said. The Abu Dhabi airline reported that passenger numbers would increase by 21%, to 22.4 millions in 2025. Its fleet will grow to 127 aircraft, after 29 new jets have been added to the fleet during...

A company document shows that technical incidents, such as fuel and engine oil leaks, on Air India flights, reached the highest rate for at least 14 consecutive months in January. This highlights the growing pressures placed on the carrier to revamp its operations. Since a fatal crash in which 260 people were killed last year, India's second largest?airline is under the scrutiny of India's safety regulator. Since then, it has reported many safety lapses, and admitted in December that there is a need for "urgent improvements in process discipline and communication as well as compliance culture". Air India reported 1,09...

Reynold Hoover, CEO of Los Angeles 2028, gave his full support to?Casey Wasserman on Monday. He said his support is unwavering in spite of increased scrutiny after the recent release by the U.S. Justice Department documents?related? to Jeffrey Epstein. Hoover made his 'first' comments on the issue since Wasserman was named in the documents published late last month and since Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for him to resign. The documents contained flirty emails from over two decades ago, between Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxiwell, a convicted sex-trafficker who is a close Epstein affiliate. Hoover, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General,...

Israel's Competition Authority may sanction El Al Israel Airlines, the country's flag carrier, for "breaching its obligations as a monopoly", for aircraft maintenance. This is after El Al Israel Airlines allegedly refused Arkia access to their hangars. El Al could face a fine of up to 110 million shekels (about $35.24 million). Two senior executives may be fined 449,900 shekels each. Anti-trust agency stated that El Al violated a "long-standing" agreement with Arkia, which allowed Arkia to lease El 'Al hangars for aircraft maintenance. This was a vital input for Arkia operations. According to the authority, El Al has consistently...

Two industry sources have confirmed that DAE Capital, a Dubai-based aircraft lessor, is "closing" in on a deal to buy Macquarie AirFinance's leasing platform. Two firms declined to comment on a request. DAE, along with Saudi Arabia's AviLease and Qatar’s Lesha Bank, was reported to be a final contender for the Macquarie aircraft lease?assets in?January. The sale of aircraft follows a round of competitive bidding, as the demand for planes soars. Commercial planesmakers Boeing & Airbus are unable to meet demand. This has created a 'great opportunity for lessors who can sell their aircraft at premium multiples. In 2017, ?Dubai...

Russia will increase its Urals crude exports to China in March to compensate for the reduction of purchases by India, which is a major buyer following a recent trade agreement with the U.S. India is expected to drastically reduce its intake of Urals cargoes next month. China is the top crude importer in the world, and suppliers are looking to China to fill the gap as Turkey, the third largest Urals buyer, lacks the processing capacity to handle more Russian barrels. Russia's main options on the current market are to either increase discounts or reduce production. One trader stated that...

The blocking of new EU sanctions against Russia, and funding for Ukraine, due to the stoppage in the last Russian oil flow into Europe via the Soviet-era Druzhba Pipeline, has caused a geopolitical conflict. What you should know What is DRUZHBA and what does it mean? Druzhba is an oil pipeline that transports crude oil via Ukraine from Russia to Eastern Europe. The Soviet-era connection was one of the'most important Russian oil arteries', transporting crude from West Siberia into Europe, including Belarus, Germany and other industrial countries such as Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Hungary, Germany. According to...

Ukraine's president?Volodymyr?Zelenskiy stated on Wednesday that despite the requests of the?European Union? and the protests from Hungary, repairs to the Druzhba Pipeline, which transports Russian oil to Eastern Europe?cannot be completed quickly. Since January 27, Ukraine has said that a Russian strike on pipeline equipment in western Ukraine was responsible for the suspension of Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia. Slovakia and Hungary blame Ukraine for the extended outage. Zelenskiy, a reporter, said that the Russians had destroyed the pipeline connecting the Black Sea port Odesa to Druzhba. "This isn't their first strike. They continue to attack the energy...

Two industry sources have confirmed that the Tengiz oilfield in Kazakhstan is recovering more slowly than expected due to a disruption of loading at the marine terminal operated by?Caspian Pipeline Consortium near Novorossiysk (Russia) caused by bad weather conditions and 'drone alerts. Kazakhstan is experiencing a perfect storm in its oil sector, due to Ukrainian drone attacks on CPC, the company that pumps 80% of?its exports. A power outage also halted Tengiz production, which accounted for 40% of Kazakhstan’s output. Kazakhstan is restoring production in the supergiant oil fields, the deepest oil field producing oil in the world. However, the...

Two sources with knowledge of the situation on Tuesday said that Russia's monopoly oil pipeline Transneft has cut crude intake by around 250,000 barrels every day following a drone attack from Ukraine on a pumping station servicing major oil hubs and ports on Monday. This reduction in oil exports could worsen Russia's problems, as it struggles with lower shipments of its key products to India and Turkey due to stricter Western sanctions designed to force Moscow to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine. Since the end of January, Russia has also suspended its remaining oil exports to Europe. These include...

In an email response to questions, the National Bank of Hungary said that it had launched a probe to determine if certain transactions involving shares in oil group MOL violated 'rules against insider trading. The central bank is investigating whether the provisions on prohibited insider trading have been violated in connection with certain capital market transactions linked to MOL Plc. The central bank is investigating whether certain capital market transactions involving the issuer have violated the prohibitions on insider trading. The NBH added, "As the official process is still ongoing, it cannot provide any further details." MOL stated in an...

In response to the Ukrainian 'attacks' that he claimed were carried out with the assistance of Western intelligence, President Vladimir Putin tasked the FSB to increase the protection of Russia’s energy & transport infrastructure. Putin said that Russia's enemies will regret pushing Moscow too far, as he spoke on the fourth anniversary. He told a group of FSB officials that the enemy was relying on individual and mass terror. This includes sabotaging the infrastructure and attempting to assassinate government and military officials. "It is absolutely necessary to defeat Russia. They will try anything. "They will push themselves too far and...

Sources and data indicate that trading houses and buyers of Venezuelan oil chartered the very large crude carriers to export from the South American nation since the Caracas-Washington deal was signed. This is expected to increase shipments to India and speed up the process starting in March. Trading firms Vitol & Trafigura export Venezuelan crude oil & fuels since January. This is part of the $2 billion deal that the U.S. & Venezuela signed after the capture of President Nicolas Maduro. According to data on vessel movements, the 'lion's share' of exports has been made by Panamax and Aframax tanks...

Ukraine's power plants, which have been severely damaged by Russian airstrikes, continue to import electricity from other countries, said the transmission system operator, Ukrainenergo, on Tuesday after Slovakia halted emergency supplies. Robert Fico, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, said on Monday that it would not accept any emergency requests from Ukraine until the Druzhba oil pipeline is restored. This runs through Ukraine and Russia to central Europe. Slovakia and Hungary are no longer able to access Russian crude oil through Druzhba due to damage caused by Ukraine last month. Ukrenergo announced on Telegram that "electricity is being imported by all...

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, the national oil company, has begun early talks with potential investors about a $7 billion stake in its crude oil pipelines. This follows similar actions by Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Sources said that BlackRock, Brookfield Asset Management and EIG Partners, as well as buyout group KKR, have all shown an interest. Sources said that Chinese state-owned enterprises China Silk Road Fund, China Merchants Capital as well as I Squared Capital, Macquarie Infrastructure Partners and Macquarie Infrastructure Partners are also showing interest. Three sources confirmed that the?transaction was structured so that around $1.5 billion...

According to the data released Tuesday, the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion by Moscow of Ukraine, the money Russia earned through oil and gas exports?decreased over the past 12 months, while the volume of oil exports increased. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Russia heavily relies on energy revenues to fund its war in Ukraine. This link has led Western nations to impose more and stricter sanctions on Russian fuel to try to weaken their military efforts. The Centre for Research on Clean 'Air and Energy, a non-profit organization, published an analysis that found Russia's revenue from oil, coal, and gas...

Ukraine's national electricity company stated on 'Monday' that any refusal from 'Slovakia' to extend emergency supplies of electricity to 'Ukraine would have no effect on the country's electrical system. Ukrenergo issued a statement saying that the likely stoppage of emergency electricity supplies from Slovakia would not affect Ukraine's unified?power?system. Robert Fico, the Slovak prime minister, said that his country's operator of its power grid would not supply any emergency electricity to Ukraine until oil flows resumed via the Druzhba pipe which runs from Russia through Ukraine and into Central Europe. Ukrenergo stated that Ukraine last requested emergency supplies from Slovakia...