Asia

BHP Australia and the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation in Singapore have refueled a cargo ship with biofuel that is made from waste cooking oil and animal fat as part of a pilot project. As the shipping industry looks for alternatives to conventional marine diesel to reduce emissions, it is necessary to investigate novel blends. Due to a lack of supply, companies are now looking at other waste-based feedstocks, such as animal fats. The Berge Lyngor owned and operated Berge Bulk, a BHP chartered bulk carrier, used the blend to transport iron ore from Western Australia to China. The ship...

The price of Asia's naphtha fell to its lowest level since early March, as the Abu Dhabi Oil Company (ADNOC), resumed exports via the Omani port in Sohar. This could provide an alternative supply route, which would ease the supply shortage caused by the U.S./Israeli war against Iran. ADNOC stopped exports of around 1 million metric tonnes per month of petrochemical feedstock to its Ruwais Refinery in April, after the war curtailed shipping via the Strait?Hormuz. Last month, the United Arab Emirates producer resumed its exports by using tankers to transport cargoes to the?refinery within the Gulf and then transferring...

Salam Studio & Stores, a distributor based in Qatar, had gone weeks without receiving its Red 'Bull shipments. This prompted it to try a 'little-used route. In the fourth month of conflict, and despite the effective closure of 'the Strait of Hormuz', its products were scattered across India and Sri Lanka ports, and Gulf hubs that it usually relies on were hit by Iranian fire, and faced capacity constraints. Salam, fearful of losing market shares, chose an untested option: shipping cargo via the Port of NEOM in Saudi Arabia, a Red Sea facility that is now promoting itself as a...

The price of Asia's naphtha has fallen to its lowest level since early March, as Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC), resumed exports via the Omani Port of Sohar in May, according to traders. This could provide an alternative supply route, which would ease the supply crisis caused by the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran. ADNOC stopped exports of petrochemical feedstock of around 1 million metric tonnes per month from its Ruwais Refinery in April, after the war curtailed shipping via the Strait of Hormuz. Last month, the United Arab Emirates producer resumed exports by using tankers to transport...

MSC, the world's largest shipping company, announced on Tuesday that its Sariska V vessel was struck by two projectiles in Iraq's Umm Qasr Port on Monday. All crew members were uninjured and safe. The company claimed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard had taken responsibility. MSC said the incident was an unprovoked attack against a neutral commercial airline?with no affiliation with the United States or Israel. In a press release, the group stated that it was "deeply concerned" by the unprovoked attacks. It also expressed concern about the danger they pose to innocent seafarers in the region and maritime trade. Iran's...

Two industry sources reported on Monday that the Volgograd oil refinery, owned by Lukoil, in Russia's south, had suspended oil processing after a sabotage attack from Ukraine, which resulted in fires and damage. Peace talks to end the Ukraine war have stagnated. Last week, the local governor reported that at least two people were injured and one killed in an 'Ukrainian drone strike' on the Volgograd area. Sources claim that the crude distillation unit CDU-1 was shut down. This unit accounts for 40% capacity of the plant. CDU-6 and CDU-5 were also shut down. Lukoil has not responded to our...

Saudi Arabian state oil producer Saudi Aramco raised its official selling price for liquefied gas by 1% to 3% between June and July, while Algerian Sonatrach cut it from 18% to 31% because of a higher supply on the Mediterranean market. Saudi Aramco increased its June OSPs by $10 per metric ton, to $760 for propane And?by $20 per ton up to $820 for butane . LPG comes in two types: Propane and Butane. They have different boiling points. LPG is used primarily as fuel for cars and heating, as well as as a feedstock for other chemicals. Sonatrach has...

Early trade on Monday saw most Gulf stock exchanges retreat after Iran and the U.S. traded strikes. Israel also ordered its troops to advance further into Lebanon in its battle with Tehran-backed Hezbollah. The U.S. said it had struck Iranian military sites at the weekend. Iran's Revolutionary Guards responded by saying they had attacked a U.S.-based base. This is the latest exchange in negotiations to end a three-month old?war. The fighting that followed the Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington on Friday tempered hopes that U.S. officials and Iranians would soon announce an extension of their ceasefire. Saudi Arabia's benchmark Index fell...

During a meeting between the Panamanian Foreign Ministry Javier Martinez-Acha and China's foreign minister Wang Yi, Xinhua's official news service reported that Beijing was prepared to 'deepen practical collaboration with Panama'. It also urged Central American countries?to protect Chinese firms' 'rights'. Wang, who met Acha at a United Nations Security Council Meeting in New York said 'China-Panama ties shouldn't be subjected to third-party intervention, Xinhua reports. This is a reference to U.S. pressuring over Chinese-linked facilities near the Panama Canal which handles 5% global maritime trade. The meeting follows months of tension about the future of the two major container...

China and Pakistan reached a new 'broad consensus' on strengthening strategic ties, including a plan to establish Gwadar port as a regional connectivity hub and further develop a joint economic route. The remarks were made in a joint press release as Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Shaif concluded a trip to Beijing. Islamabad, at the time, is looking for investment and balancing tensions with Afghanistan while mediating the Iran-Iraq war. In a statement issued after Sharif's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and others, they said that both sides "welcomed third?parties" to take part in the development the...

Officials?said Monday that more than 30 people were killed in a suicide attack on a train on Sunday in southwest Pakistan. This was the latest attack by separatist Balochistan militants. On Monday, two provincial officials who spoke 'under condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to divulge the information' said that the death toll was now over 30. On Sunday, a suicide car bomber who rammed a train with explosives killed at least 24 people. A car bomb exploded in Quetta, the provincial capital. It was aimed at a shuttle train carrying Pakistani security officers and their families. The...

The Ukrainian military said that it had attacked the Sheskharis Oil Terminal in Russia, one of the largest on the Black Sea. It also struck the nearby Grushova oil depot. On Telegram, the Ukraine General Staff reported that the overnight attack caused a fire to break out at the Sheskharis Terminal. The general staff of Ukraine also reported that a tanker called Chrysalis had been hit in the Black Sea. In recent months, Ukraine has increased its number and size of strikes on Russian oil refineries and transportation facilities, in an effort to reduce Russia's revenue from oil and natural...

Caleb Orr, Assistant Secretary of State for the United States, said that a U.S.-Azerbaijan delegation signed 'commercial agreements' worth more than $8 billion and Washington will invest in Azerbaijan's energy sector. Orr said that the United States wanted to play a bigger role in Azerbaijan’s energy infrastructure projects. Orr responded to a query by saying, "We plan concrete investments in the?energy?sector." He said ExxonMobil was still an important partner for Azerbaijan, after signing a Memorandum of Understanding on new exploration possibilities at the Baku Energy Week?last year. Washington also supports Chevron's new exploration agreement signed during this year’s event. Orr...

A senior executive of the Abu Dhabi state oil firm said that August could be a 'tipping point' for higher oil prices, if the demand increases and a supply crisis persists due to the Iran War. According to Philippe Khoury of ADNOC, executive vice president of sales and trading at the Middle East Petroleum and Gas Conference, London, transit through the Strait of Hormuz is likely to remain limited and below the pre-war level as long as peace uncertainty persists. Khoury added that it would take months to fully restore the supply chain, while others may only require a few...

As part of a contract, BP, the British energy'major' said that it is 'on track to... hand over?the _running of _the Baku-Tbilisi - Ceyhan (BTC ) oil pipeline. to Azerbaijani SOCAR on July 1. The pipeline, which has been in operation since 2006, is capable of moving more than 1 million barrels per day. The pipeline is designed to transport oil from the Caspian Sea, through Iran and Russia's Caucasus, to the Mediterranean. Giovanni Cristofoli is BP's regional 'president' for Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as Turkey. He announced the transfer via a press release, stressing it wasn't about BP...

Calculations showed that the average daily natural gas supply to Europe via the TurkStream pipeline by Russian energy giant Gazprom rose 3% from a year earlier to a total of '47.4 millions cubic metres in may, according to calculations released on Monday. The only remaining transit route for Russian gas into Europe is through Turkey after Ukraine decided not to extend the five-year agreement with Moscow that expired in January 2025. According to calculations based on data from the European Gas Transmission Group Entsog, total Russian gas supplies via TurkStream reached a record?1.47 billion cu ft last month. This is...

Erlan Akkenzhenov, the Energy Minister, said that Kazakhstan's oil production has been restored to 290 000 metric tons per a day after earlier production losses in Tengiz. Kazakhstan is responsible for 2% of global crude oil production. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium is the main exporter of crude oil to Russia's Novorossiysk port. According to calculations based on a barrels/tons of 7.5, the production of crude oil and condensate reached around 2.175 millions barrels per day. Two industry sources said on Friday that the oil production at Tengiz, a field owned by Chevron CVX.N, fell sharply on May 26, due to...

Kyiv intensified its attacks on Russian energy installations in recent months, as the peace talks that were supposed to end the Ukraine conflict failed to make any progress. The following is a list of recent attacks and their impact, in chronological order. YAROSLAVL According to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukrainian forces attacked the Russian oil refinery at Yaroslavl on May 25. This was about 700 km (435 mi) away from the Ukrainian border. The refinery can process 15 million metric tonnes per year or about 300,000 barrels a day. SYZRAN On May 21, the Ukrainian military and President Zelenskiy announced that Ukrainian...

SOCAR, TotalEnergies and ADNOC International have signed a gas purchase & sales agreement for?gas produced in Azerbaijan from the Absheron field. On the sidelines Baku Energy Week, SOCAR President Rovshan 'Najaf was joined by BOTAS Chairman Abdulvahit 'Fidan, TotalEnergies Senior Vice President for Exploration and?Production Europe Martino Panizzi and Mohammed Al Aryani President - International Gas of XRG. The final investment decision for the Absheron II project will be made this year. In 2029, annual gas production will begin and reach a level of over 4 billion cubic meters (bcm). A SOCAR official stated that around half of the production...

Alparslan bayraktar, Turkish Energy Minister said that Turkey and Azerbaijan will expand their energy partnership beyond oil and gas to include electricity transmission and green energy corridors. Bayraktar, speaking at the Baku Energy?Week opening, said that Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia,?Bulgaria, and Southeast European countries are working?to enhance regional energy connectivity. Bayraktar stated that "we are going to create a 'electricity version' of TANAP", referring to the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, which carries Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe via Turkey. The Turkish government plans to upgrade its transmission and distribution network by $30 billion over the next decade in order to...

Russian and Ukrainian authorities confirmed that Ukrainian drones struck energy targets in several Russian regions over the weekend, including an oil pipeline pumping station and an oil refinery. This was part of an intensifying campaign against Russian infrastructure. Ukraine's General Staff reported that it struck the Saratov refinery along the Volga River, causing an?large fire. Roman Busargin, the Saratov Regional Governor, said via Telegram that "civil Infrastructure" was damaged by the strike. He did not provide any further details. The Russian Defence Ministry said that it had shot down 216 drones over night. Kyiv also said it had struck the?Lazarevo...

Two sources confirmed on Tuesday that the U.S. and Thailand were in discussions on a 'new long-term supply' of U.S. produced liquefied?gas. Negotiations have intensified since the U.S./Israeli war against Iran caused damage to LNG production in Qatar, a key LNG exporter. Sources familiar with the talks, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussion, stated that the focus is on a long-term contract between Venture Global (an international energy company) and Thailand's PTT PCL (the state-controlled power company). Sources did not specify the volume or duration of any new LNG contract being discussed but typically they...

Bangladesh has launched an international bid for oil and gas exploration in 26 offshore blocks?in the Bay of Bengal. It is offering more attractive terms to foreign companies to combat worsening domestic shortages of gas and to reduce its reliance on expensive LNG imports. South Asia has been facing declining gas reserves, increasing dependence on LNG imports, and energy prices that are vulnerable to geopolitical tensions. Petrobangla, a state-owned company, published the tender documents for the Bangladesh Offshore Model Production Sharing Contract 2026 on its website. The deadline to submit bids was November 30, 2018. Energy Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood...

The Swiss government announced on Friday that it had expanded its sanctions against Russia and Belarus, adopting portions of the latest package of measures from the European Union in response to Moscow's conflict in Ukraine. The Federal Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA)?said that the new listings will take effect at 11 p.m. on May 22. Further 115 individuals and companies will be subject to asset freezing and a 'ban' on making funds available. Sanctioned individuals are also barred from entering Switzerland or transiting through it. The department stated that the newly listed targets included people and 'entities connected to Russia's...