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• Sources say that Russian oil supplies to India recovered in March

  India's Russian crude oil imports rebounded in March after a three-month decline. Non-sanctioned ships were delivering the cargoes and some supplies were diverted to Turkey, according five trade sources. The return of Russian oil to the third largest oil importer/consumer in the world is helping to ease a supply shortage and cool prices for Middle East rival grades. The Russian oil supply to India and China dropped sharply in the first half of this year after U.S. sanctioned on January 10, which targeted producers, insurance companies, ships, and middlemen. Data from analytics firm Kpler shows that India's imports, mostly of Urals crude oil, have returned to 1.54 million barrels a day in March after dropping to between 1.1 and 1.2 million bpd over the past three months because of concerns about sanctions. Sources said that the freight rates for tankers travelling from western Russian ports to India reached a record high of $8,000,000 in the past 12 months, which attracted more ships to offer service, while also cutting into Russian oil sellers' profits. They added that the decision of Turkey's largest refiner Tupras, to stop Russian oil imports, also liberated more supplies for Asian market. Kpler data shows that the Turkish imports of Russian oil have fallen to 127,000 barrels per day (bpd) so far in march from around 300,000 before January's sanctions. Sources said that the discount for Russian oil has narrowed from $2.50 to $3 per barrel for cargoes loading March for delivery in April to Indian ports to $2.60 to 2.80 per barrel for dated Brent. Sources said that some traders told Indian refiners that they would use western vessels to deliver their cargoes in order to avoid sanctions. A second source stated that the price of Urals Oil has dropped below the $60 per barrel price cap established by the Group of Seven countries, allowing for access to shipping services in the west. India, the second largest importer of crude oil from Russia, has said it will only buy Russian oil if it is supplied by companies and ships that have not been sanctioned by the United States. India, the No.2 importer of Russian crude oil, said that it would only buy Russian oil if it was supplied by companies or ships not sanctioned by America. India has become the largest buyer of Russian oil shipped by sea at a discounted price after Western nations imposed sanction on Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine 2022. India does not follow individual country sanctions but rather follows the United Nations. However, the fear of secondary sanctions from the United States is a problem because Indian banks and companies are heavily exposed to the U.S. Financial System.

• Ukraine claims it has struck oil installations in Russia's Moscow and Oryol regions

  Ukraine announced on Tuesday that it had hit an oil refinery in the vicinity of Moscow, as well as a facility located in Russia's Oryol Region which is part of Druzhba Pipeline System exporting oil into Europe. Hungarian Foreign minister Peter Szijjarto stated on Tuesday that crude oils were no longer being shipped via the Druzhba pipeline system after an attack by a Ukrainian drone on a metering facility. "Explosions...were...recorded...in the area of? The Steel Horse linear production dispatch (Oryol Region, Russia) manages the technological processes for Druzhba Oil Pipeline," Kyiv General Staff stated in a press release. The facility is "an important component of supplying oil to Ust-Luga Seaport in Leningrad Region". Russian officials announced on Tuesday that Ukraine launched its largest drone attack ever on Moscow. At least three people were killed and the four airports of the Russian capital were briefly shut down. The Druzhba Pipeline, which transports Russian crude oil through Belarus, Ukraine and Hungary to Hungary and Slovakia. Reporting by Olena Hartmash, Editing by Andrew Heavens, Peter Graff

• Data shows that Russia is shipping diesel to Syria via tanker in violation of U.S. sanctions

  LSEG data revealed that Russia sent a diesel cargo on a tanker to Syria under U.S. sanction, marking the first direct supply of this kind to the Middle Eastern nation in over a decade. It is not clear where the cargo will end up. The final destination of the cargo is unclear. The control of Russia over these bases is in danger after the abrupt fall of Bashar Al-Assad last December. Moscow said that it wanted to maintain its control over the bases. According to LSEG, on February 8, the Barbados flagged vessel Prosperity (formerly known as the Gabon flagged NS Pride), was loaded with approximately 37,000 metric tonnes of ultra-low sulphur fuel at the Russian Baltic Port of Primorsk. LSEG shipping information shows that the tanker is anchored in the Syrian port Banias. It is managed by Fornax Ship Management based in Dubai. Fornax is also subject to U.S. Sanctions. The company did not respond to a request for comment. Since the beginning of the 2022 invasion in Ukraine, U.S. sanctions have included measures that aim to limit revenues from Russia's vast oil and gas industries and weaken its ability for funding military efforts. On January 10, the United States added the Prosperity tanker to the list sanctioned vessels. The list includes 180 tankers involved in the exportation of Russian oil after its war in Ukraine. On February 24, the EU and UK followed suit. In some cases, civil penalties and in others, criminal penalties may be imposed for violations of the U.S. sanction programs. In one case, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (OFAC), Last year, the State Street Bank settled for $7.45million with "apparent violations" related to the Russia and Ukraine sanctions. The U.S. also announced a six-month suspension of its Syria sanctions. This waiver focused on the energy industry and the financial transfers made to the Syrian government. Text messages sent to the Syrian Oil Ministry seeking comment were not responded to immediately. The Russian energy ministry has declined to comment. According to LSEG, this is the first direct shipment of diesel from Russia to Syria for at least 2013 According to Kpler, shipping analytics firm, Syria also offered to import 20,000 tons LPG. It was also looking to import oil, as its main supplier Iran has not sent any crude since November. Syria had two oil refineries located in Homs (in Homs) and Banias (in Banias), which ceased to operate after Assad's downfall. (Reporting from in Moscow, with additional reporting by Timour Azhari in Beirut. Guy Faulconbridge, Louise Heavens and Guy Faulconbridge edited the article.

• Treasury Dept. says US sanctions against Houthis have been increased.

  Treasury Department reported that the United States sanctioned seven top members of Yemen’s Houthi Movement, which is aligned with Iran. Treasury released a statement saying that the individuals had smuggled weapons and military equipment into areas controlled by Houthi in Yemen, and had also negotiated with Russia to buy weapons. Treasury also named Abdulwali Abdoh Hasan Al-Jabri and Al-Jabri General Trading and Investment Co. for recruiting Yemenis in Ukraine to fight on behalf of Russia and raising money to support Houthi Military Operations, it said. The U.S. Government is committed to holding Houthis accountable if they acquire weapons or weapons components from Russian, Chinese, and Iranian suppliers to threaten Red Sea Security, said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce in a press release. The State Department released its Tuesday report. It was implementing the designation as "foreign terror organization" of the Houthi Movement after President Donald Trump requested the move earlier in the year. This move has raised concerns that it could have a negative impact on regional security, and worsen Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, because importers are afraid of being hit by U.S. sanction if supplies end up in Houthi's hands. (Reporting and editing by Katharine Jackson and Susan Heavey; Doina Chiacu)

• Russia claims to have repelled a drone attack by Ukraine on Turkstream Pipeline compressor station

  The Russian Defence Ministry reported that on Saturday, Russian air defences repelled a drone attack from Ukraine on a Russian compressor station which is part of Turkstream's pipeline system that transports Russian gas into Europe. The statement stated that "Russian air defences, in repelling the attacks, downed three Ukrainian Drones at a distance safe from the compressor station," referring to "Russkaya", a station located in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar. The Turkstream pipeline is flowing normally now that the compressor station has been installed. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Sergei Lavrov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, asked Hakan Fidan to use every means available to him to prevent any future attacks. Fidan promised to do this, according to the website. Hungarian Foreign Ministry Peter Szijjarto said on Facebook, that Lavrov informed him by phone of the attack. Szijjarto said that the operation of Turkstream is critical for Hungary's energy safety and called on European Union to maintain guarantees that infrastructure connected to the 27-nation block would not be attacked. (Reporting and editing by Ron Popeski)

• Russian port operator in Syria denies losing contract

  STG Engineering is a Russian firm that operates the Tartous port in Syria. The company said that they were continuing their work as normal and that their contract was not cancelled as some Middle East media had reported. Three Syrian businessmen, as well as media reports in January, suggested that the new Syrian ruling administration had canceled the contract signed by former President Bashar Al-Assad. He fled to Moscow after a lightning rebel attack in December. The semi-official Syrian paper Al-Watan quoted Riad Jourdy at the time as saying that port investment contract was annulled because the Russian company had not met the terms of 2019 deal which stipulated infrastructure investment. Dmitry Trifonov is the CEO of STG Engineering in Moscow. He said that his company still manages the port, and no one had informed them that their contract was cancelled. This process, he said, would be long and bureaucratic. Trifonov said that it was impossible to end the agreement unilaterally because both the President and the Parliament have ratified it, but no one had notified him. "It must go through both the parliament and president." All statements are unfounded because the annulment of the presidential order and the ratification of the previous parliament constitute a complete procedure. "What someone says now is nothing but words." In previous media reports, the Russian operator was referred to as STG Stroytransgaz - a large construction company. Stroytransgaz, when asked about its role in the incident on Friday said that it would not be able to comment. It said: "JSC Stroytransgaz, a holding company for construction, had nothing to do, neither legally nor organisationally, with STG Engineering with whom the Tartous Port Management contract was signed." Separately Russia, whose troops backed Assad against Syrian rebels for years, is now in talks with Syria’s new authorities to keep its Tartous naval base and Hmeimim Air Base near Latakia. Tartous is Russia's sole Mediterranean repair and resupply hub. Moscow uses Syria as a staging point to fly military contractors into and out of Africa. (Reporting and writing by Gleb Stoliarov, Editing by Mark Trevelyan).

• Data shows that Gazprom's exports of gas via TurkStream from Europe reached a record high in February.

  Calculations showed that the Russian energy giant Gazprom's natural gas exports via the undersea TurkStream pipe to Europe reached a new record of over 55 million cubic meters (mcms) per day in this month. The 1,100 kilometres (684 miles), long trunk lying on the Black Sea bed remains Russia's only pipeline gas exporting routes to Europe. Gas transit via Ukraine has been closed on January 1, following the expiration of an agreement to transport Russian natural gas via its neighbour. The twin TurkStream pipeline has a capacity of 15,75 billion cubic meters (bcms) per annum. Entsog is a European gas transmission company. According to them, Russian gas exports through TurkStream increased by 30.7% in February to 55.8 million cubic meters compared to the same period a year earlier. They also grew by 10% compared to January. Gazprom has not responded to a comment request. The total Russian gas supply via TurkStream exporting line has increased from 1,24 bcm to 1.56 bcm for this month. In January, a month with three extra days, the gas supplies were 1.57 bcm. Gazprom's data and calculations show that Russia will supply 63.8 billion cubic meters of gas by different routes to Europe in 2022. This fell by 55.6% in 2023 to 28,3 bcm, but then recovered to around 32 bcm by 2024. Annual flows into Europe peaked between 175 and 180 billion cubic meters in 2018-2019. Reporting by

• LSEG data shows that Urals crude oil exports from Russia to Turkey fell by 2 percent in February, according to traders.

  LSEG data and traders' reports show that February Urals crude oil loadings to Turkey from Russia's western port ports fell to their lowest level since December 20,22, after Turkey's biggest oil refiner Tupras ceased buying Russian oil. Tupras announced last week that it had stopped purchasing Russian crude oil due to U.S. Sanctions announced on January 10, against Russian energy companies, and tankers transporting Russian oil. LSEG's data and calculations show that the average amount of oil delivered to Turkey by Russia, consisting solely of Urals crude, was around 110,000 barrels a day in February. This is down from about 370,000 bpd a month earlier. The data indicates that Turkey's seaborne crude imports from Russia, Urals, will average around 250,000 barrels per day in February, compared to the 290,000 barrels per day in January. This is because the country has continued to unload Urals cargoes under the lifting plan for January. Sources in the trade said that Russia diverted Urals cargoes to Asia in February, mostly to India. India is the biggest importer of Urals sea cargoes. LSEG shipping figures showed that Turkey also increased imports this month of Libyan Es Sider, Amna and Forcados Blend grades as well Nigerian Forcados Blend. Susan Fenton (Reporting and Editing)

• Sources claim that the US could restrict Ukraine's access Starlink internet services due to its mineral resources

  Three sources familiar with the situation said that U.S. negotiators, who are pressing Kyiv to give them access to Ukraine's essential minerals, have suggested cutting off the country's Starlink satellite internet access system. Sources said that after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected an initial proposal by U.S. Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent the issue of Ukraine's access to SpaceX owned Starlink came up in discussions between U.S. officials and Ukrainian officials. Starlink is a vital internet provider for the war-torn Ukraine, its military and other areas. One of the sources who attended the meeting said that the issue was brought up again during the meetings between Keith Kellogg and Zelenskiy. Source who asked to remain anonymous in order to discuss closed discussions said that Ukraine was warned it would lose its service if it didn't reach an agreement on key minerals. Starlink is the main transport system in Ukraine. "They consider it their North Star," the source said. Losing Starlink would be a huge blow. Musk responded to a query from X by posting on X, "This article is false" and "is lying." Musk didn't immediately provide any details when contacted for more information. The news agency's spokesperson stated that it stands behind its reporting. Zelenskiy rejected the demands of President Donald Trump’s administration that Ukraine repay Washington $500 billion in mineral resources to pay for its wartime assistance, claiming that the U.S. had not offered any specific security guarantees. On Friday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the U.S.-Ukrainian teams were working to reach an agreement. Trump stated that he expected a deal to be signed shortly. Musk sent thousands of Starlink terminals into Ukraine to replace the communications services that were destroyed by Russia following its invasion in February 2022. Musk, who was hailed as a hero at the time in Ukraine as Kyiv handled the war, later restricted access to the network at least one other time in the fall 2022. Poland's deputy premier said that Poland has paid for Ukraine's Starlink membership and will continue to pay. U.S. legislators are divided on Trump's attempts to end the Ukraine War quickly. Some have also raised questions regarding Musk's rapid-fire plans to eliminate thousands of federal employees and shut down Federal Agencies. Melinda Haring is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. She said that Starlink was crucial for Ukraine to operate drones as part of its military strategy. Losing Starlink "would be a game changer", Haring said. He noted that Ukraine is now on parity with Russia when it comes to drones and artillery shells. Ukraine has many different drone capabilities ranging from surveillance drones, sea drones, and long-range unmanned aircraft. The White House, the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington and the U.S. Department of Defense have not responded to a comment request. SpaceX, the company that operates Starlink, did not also respond to requests for comments. The Russian state news agency RIA reported that Russian and U.S. negotiating teams have scheduled a second meeting to end the conflict in the next two weeks. The first meeting was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. The idea was floated by Ukraine last fall to open its vital minerals for investment from allies. It was part of an "victory strategy" to force Moscow to negotiate and put Ukraine in a stronger position. Trump has accepted the idea. He says he wants Ukraine supplying the U.S. rare earths, and other minerals as a return for financial support of its war effort. Zelenskiy last week rejected a detailed U.S. offer that would have allowed Washington and U.S. companies to receive 50% of Ukraine’s critical minerals. These include graphite and uranium. Since then, a rift between the two leaders has developed. On Wednesday, Trump called Zelenskiy "a dictator without election" after Zelenskiy claimed that Trump was caught in a Russian propaganda bubble. This was a response to Trump's suggestion that Ukraine had started the war. (Reporting and editing by Don Durfee and Dave Gregorio; Additional reporting and editing by Marisa Taylo and Idrees Al; Reporting and editing by Andrea Shalal, Joey Roulette, Marisa Taylor, and Idrees Ail; and Daniel Wallis.

• Ship owner: Jet fuel cargo on Stena Immaculate mostly intact after collision with UK ship

  The majority of jet fuel onboard Stena Immaculate's cargo, which is US-flagged, was intact and did not leak, Stena Bulk, the vessel owner, said on Wednesday. On Monday, the Portuguese flagged Solong container vessel crashed into a tanker transporting jet fuel to the U.S. Military. The British police arrested Solong’s captain a day later on suspicion of gross negligent manslaughter. Stena Bulk Chief Executive Erik Hanell said, "There is no fire on the Stena Immaculate any more." In the next 24 to 48 hours, we will have a clearer picture of the entire salvage operation. Hannell stated that two of the vessel’s 18 fuel tanks leaked. This represents an estimated 10% volume. He said: "I guess the total amount of jet fuel onboard is about 50,000 cubic metres, so that's probably about the maximum... hopefully less." Hannell, a London-based mariner who had met the 23 American crewmembers of the vessel in the UK earlier, reported that the mariners are in good health. He said, "They were shaken up, of course." (Reporting and editing by Gareth Jones, Bernadettebaum, and Jonathan Saul)

• Russian Urals oil price falls to $6/barrel under the price cap. This is a 14-month-low

  Calculations showed that the Russian Urals crude price in Baltic ports dropped to $6 per barrel under the Western price cap, which is $60 per barrel. This was the lowest level since January 2024, as Brent prices continued to be weak and freight rates high. According to the cap, which was imposed by the Group of Seven and Australia in 2022 to reduce Russia's oil export revenue, buyers are only allowed access to Western services, such as insurance and shipping, when the price of Russian crude falls below $60 per barrel. LSEG data show that the price of uranus in Russian ports has remained above $60 for most of 2023. After dipping below the cap at Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Ust-Luga in February last year, they have remained there ever since. Calculations show that the recent drop in Brent oil, the global benchmark price, and an increase in freight costs have led to estimates for Urals oil to be loaded from Baltic ports on Tuesday at $53.95 a barrel. Estimates for Urals Crude from the Black Sea Port of Novorossiisk on Tuesday were $55.94 per barrel FBO. Trading and shipping sources, as well as calculations, showed that freight rates for shipments from Russian Urals oil to India via the Baltic and Black Sea ports rose to their highest level in a full year after U.S. sanctioned tankers involved with Moscow's energy imports. The calculations of the Urals Oil price are based upon the grade's current market price in Indian ports, delivered ex-ship, the transport costs, and the Brent benchmark for the previous day. Traders said that lowering the urals price cap could attract more Western shipping companies and insurance companies into the market. This may offset the high freight rates. Reporting by Kirsten Doovan; Editing by Kirsten donovan

• Ukraine reports four deaths in Russian attack on grain ship in Odesa port

  The Ukrainian authorities reported that a Russian missile strike on Tuesday destroyed a grain ship in the Black Sea Port of Odesa and killed four people. Oleksiy Kuleba, Ukraine's Deputy Premier, said that a ballistic missile hit the MJ Pinar Bulk Carrier, which was loading wheat to Algeria. The attack killed four Syrians, injured another Syrian, and also injured a Ukrainian. Kuleba stated that "Russia is attacking Ukraine’s infrastructure, including its ports, which play a role in ensuring food security around the world." The global grain merchant Louis Dreyfus Company stated in an email that the vessel was loading at Brooklyn-Kiev Terminal at Odesa Port, and terminal infrastructure had also been damaged. LDC reported that its terminal employees are safe. The dead were among the crew members of the chartered ship. Kuleba stated that another vessel had also been damaged without providing further details. Ukraine is also a major grain producer, just like Russia. It managed to restore large-scale shipping exports during wartime, despite Russian attacks on ports. Chicago wheat futures - a benchmark for global prices - were little changed Wednesday. Ukraine reported additional Russian strikes over night as the war continues to rage in parallel with U.S. efforts at negotiating a ceasefire. (Reporting and editing by Hugh Lawson, Yuliia Dysa, Pavel Polityuk, and Gus Trompiz)