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Asia spot prices drop to a 20-month low due to weak demand
The price of Asian spot liquefied gas fell to a new 20-month low last week due to weak demand and abundant supplies in the region. The average LNG price for February deliveries into Northeast Asia Industry sources estimate that the price per million British thermal units was $9.50, down from $10 last week and its lowest level since April 2024. The decline was driven by the continued weakness in Northeast Asian gas consumption, said Nelson Xiong of data and analytics company Kpler. He added that strong Japanese renewable energy generation and firm Chinese pipeline gas supply contributed to LNG demand weakening. "We expect JKM to remain slightly lower. Heating demand is likely to be affected by warmer-than-seasonal temperatures in Northeast Asia, "while Pacific LNG supplies remain ample", he said. He was referring to the Japan-Korea Marker price assessment of spot physical cargoes across Asia. Last week, the?drop in prices had prompted some importers who were price-sensitive to buy LNG. The demand for LNG from China is not significant, and many are aiming to import LNG at a price of $8/mmBtu or lower, according to Martin Senior, Argus' head of LNG pricing. S&P Global Energy's daily Northwest Europe LNG Marker price benchmark (NWM) for cargoes to be delivered in February, on a de-ship basis (DES), was $8.881/mmBtu?on 18 December. This is a $0.54/mmBtu reduction from the price at TTF hub. Spark Commodities rated the January price as $9.009/mmBtu. The market is fundamentally well-supplied, thanks to robust pipeline gas flows, and an influx of U.S. spot LNG into Europe. The market has been cautious despite forecasts of colder weather in the first few months of 2019. Aly Blakeway is manager for Atlantic LNG at S&P. Blakeway said that as Europe's storage levels are lower than they were in the past, buyers could be forced to increase their LNG purchases in January and Febraury. The surge in offers has affected the pricing of gas, but there has been a strong increase in interest from buyers, especially for delivery early 2026, mainly due to lower renewable production and rapidly depleting gas stocks. Seb Kennedy, an independent gas analyst, says that hedge funds increased their net short positions in TTF futures last week but lowered the rate at which they bought short as cooler temperatures and supply disruptions curbed the bearish sentiment. He added that commercial operators have continued to buy the dip and their net long position has reached a new record high. Qasim Afghanistan, Spark Commodities analyst, stated that in LNG freight, Atlantic rates dropped for the third consecutive week to $92,000/day while Pacific rates decreased to $75,750/day. Both the U.S. front month arbitrage to Northeast Asia via Cape of Good Hope, and the arbitrage via Panama point towards Europe, he said.
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Black Sea CPC Blend oil exported at 1.65M bpd in January, according to sources
Two industry sources have confirmed that the Caspian Pipeline Consortium plans to reduce CPC Blend crude oil exports to 1.65 million barrels per day (bpd), from 1.7 millions bpd planned for?December. Calculations showed that the January plan represented a 3% decrease from this month's goal. The sources stated that the actual shipments are uncertain due to repairs being done on single-point docking (SPM). CPC currently loads oil from only one of three moorings, SPM-1. SPM-2 has been out of service due to a drone attack by Ukraine and SPM-3 needs maintenance. The two people said that CPC was working at about a half capacity. In December, exports may fall below initial expectations, but January volumes might increase if SPM-3 is brought back into service and allows roll-over cargoes. The traders say that supplies from Russia's Caspian oil fields could decline in January due to recent drone attacks by Ukraine. CPC refused to comment on operational shipment numbers. Exporters have been forced to find alternative routes due to the drop in CPC output, such as China and Germany. However, these options are limited. CPC is responsible for more than 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports. It links the Tengiz and other deposits to a marine terminal in Yuzhnaya Ozereevka, near Novorossiysk. The company's shareholders include Russia with a stake of 31%, Kazakhstan with 20,75%, Chevron at 15% and other companies. (Reporting and Editing by Tomaszjanowski)
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Israel accuses Russian of allegedly spying on Iran
Israel has accused a Russian national of spying for Iran. This included photographing Israeli ports and infrastructure at the direction of Iranian intelligence agencies. In a joint press release, both the police and the agency confirmed that they had paid out digital currency to the Russian. In June, a decades-long war of shadow between Israel and Iran escalated to a direct conflict when Israel struck various targets in Iran. This included operations that relied heavily on the?Mossad Commandos deployed deep within the country. Israel arrested dozens citizens who allegedly spied on behalf of Iran. This is the biggest attempt in decades by Tehran to infiltrate their arch enemy. Iranian intelligence agents have repeatedly attempted to recruit Israelis in the past to collect intelligence and to carry out attacks for money. In a 2024 statement to the media, following a wave arrests of Jewish citizens suspected to be spying for Iran by Israel, Iran's U.N. Mission did not confirm nor deny that it was seeking to recruit Israelis. It said "from a logic standpoint" such efforts would focus on non Iranian and non Muslim individuals to lessen suspicion. Iran has executed a number of individuals whom it believes had links to Israel's Mossad and were facilitating Mossad operations in the country. (Reporting and editing by William Maclean, Emily Rose)
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Ukraine accepts 90 billion euro EU loan despite the lack of agreement on Russian assets
The European Union was thanked by Ukraine on Friday, even though the bloc did not agree to an ambitious plan that would use frozen Russian assets as a means of financing. The stakes were high for 'Kyiv' to find money because, without EU financial support, Ukraine will run out of cash in the second quarter next year, and may lose the war. This would increase the risk of Russian aggression towards the EU. The 90 billion euro loan was approved by EU leaders at a summit in Brussels. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine's president, wrote the following on Telegram: "This is a significant support which strengthens our resilience." In the early morning hours of Friday, the EU leaders decided to borrow money?to finance Ukraine's defense against Russia instead of using the frozen Russian assets. After hours of discussion, the leaders decided to forgo a loan that would have been unprecedented if it was based on frozen Russian assets. However, this decision proved to be too difficult to make at this point due to its political implications. 'PERFECT IS AN ENEMY TO GOOD' The biggest challenge was to provide Belgium, where 185 Billion Euros of the total Russian assets in Europe is held, with enough guarantees against potential financial and legal risk from Russian retaliation if the money released to Ukraine. "There are times when it is important to remember that perfection is the enemy of goodness." The European leaders had a long and difficult night, but they managed to reach a 'workable result,' said Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergiy Kyslytsya. Giorgia Mello, the Italian Prime Minister, said that she was also "glad to see that common sense won out and that we were able to secure resources for a solution with a sound legal and financial foundation." RUSSIA APPRECIATES LACK OF DEAL OVER ASSETS Russia has welcomed the EU's inability to agree on how to use its frozen sovereign wealth. Kirill Dmitriev is the special envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin for economic and investment cooperation. He said that "lawfulness and sanity won." Dmitriev said on X that "voices of reason" in the EU had blocked the ILLEGAL usage of Russian reserves for funding Ukraine. He was referring to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. GERMANY FAILED CONVINCE The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that despite the fact that he had failed to secure a loan for reparations backed by frozen Russian assets, this was still a great deal. "This is good for Ukraine and bad for Russia, and this was our intent," he said. Merz and von der Leyen, who were addressing the?other main topic of the summit, expressed their confidence that the EU will be able sign a controversial free trade agreement in January with South American bloc Mercosur, despite the lack of support at the summit. The yields on German government bonds increased slightly on Friday. In early Friday trading, German 10-year yields - which are used as a benchmark in the eurozone - were up 1.5 basis points at 2.864%. The biggest risk is that using Russian assets for Ukraine's war effort will lead to a cheaper European government paper, and higher rates on sovereign bonds. "I would imagine that this increases the fiscal burden of Europe marginally," Kyle Rodda said, senior market analyst for Capital.com. "But I believe that this is a relatively low cost compared with what could be incurred by governments in certain countries around the world - China being the biggest one - deciding that it would not be worth buying European bonds, as it could expose them similar risks," he continued. (Reporting from Brussels, Kyiv, and Rome bureaus; Writing by Ingrid Melander ; Editing by Sharon Singleton).
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Adani, India's largest airport operator, wants to expand its operations as part of an $11 billion expansion plan.
Adani Enterprises, a company based in India, plans to bid aggressively for 11 airports the federal government intends to lease to private companies as part of its $11 billion expansion plan for 'airport infrastructure'. The billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate, which is led by him, has been on a massive expansion spree over the past few years. Its airport subsidiary became India's largest airport operator based on number of airports. GMR Group is India's second largest aviation company by number of passengers handled. Incentives are being offered to encourage the construction of new airports, while leasing government-owned ones for long terms. The Indian government plans to increase the number of airports to 350-400 by 2047, from the current 163. New Delhi announced plans earlier this year to lease 11 airports including those in Amritsar, Varanasi and Varanasi. In an interview with Adani Airports Holdings Limited in Mumbai, Jeet Adani said, "We will bid for all (11) of them." Adani Airports is responsible for seven airports in India. It will be operationalising the first airport that it built from scratch, a new airport located near Mumbai, this month. Adani and GMR rush to tap into the booming air travel industry in India. Data from the International Air Transport Association shows that in 2024, 174 million passengers flew from or within India by air, a 10% increase over the previous year. Indian airlines have ordered over 1,300 aircrafts since 2023. Jeet Adani stated that the company has no plans to get into the airline industry, citing the thin margins. You need a certain mentality to run a airline. I don't believe we have that mindset. He said that his comfort zone and core competency was in creating assets on the ground. "We are good at running long gestation assets. Reporting by Dhwani Pandya from Mumbai and Abhijith Gaapavaram from New Delhi, with editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala
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DOJ: Wanxiang will pay $53M to settle US probe of imported Chinese auto parts
The Justice Department announced on Thursday that it had reached an agreement with the U.S. branch of Chinese auto parts supplier Wanxiang regarding import tariffs on wheel hub assemblies, and other parts imported over a period of five years. The U.S. Government said that the settlement ended nearly 10 years litigation. It collected all the revenue lost it had sought, and more than $30 million in civil penalties. Wanxiang America has not admitted any wrongdoing. Wanxiang America did not admit wrongdoing. According to the government, some parts in question were subjected to tariffs of upto 93% as a result of the anti-dumping order. Wanxiang, as well as two U.S.-based Wanxiang lawyers, did not immediately respond to comments. Wanxiang Group Automotive Parts Unit was previously described as?China's largest automotive component company by revenue. Wanxiang America was approved in 2013 to buy A123 Systems, an American maker of electric vehicle batteries. After launching an audit, the U.S. Government demanded payment of almost $100 million in 'back tariffs and penalties in 2019. The U.S. government filed a lawsuit in 2022 for Wanxiang imports from 2007 to 2012. Justice Department stated that Wanxiang misclassified "multiple categories of automotive parts, accessories, and components under incorrect tariff provisions." Reporting by David Shepardson, Washington; editing by Lisa Shumaker and Jacqueline Wong
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Vietnam begins work on a rail link with China amid infrastructure spending spree
Vietnam started building several large infrastructure projects on Friday, including five stations for a railway system connecting it to China, according to the government. The 'Southeast Asian Manufacturing Hub has been 'increasing public?investments, as one of its main drivers of economic growth. It is aiming for above 8% this year and over 10% in 2026. The government announced that the 391 km (243 miles) railway will cost?203.2 trillion Dong ($7.72billion). It will start in the border city Lao Cai and pass through Hanoi, before arriving in Haiphong. Haiphong is home to the largest seaport in north Vietnam. The government announced that construction work on railway tracks will begin in late 2019. It added that the project will be completed in 2030. Vietnam announced in early 2018 that it will receive loans for the project from the Chinese government. It said that the railway project was part of a massive spending plan involving a total of 234 infrastructure projects, with a combined investment of $3,400 trillion dong (US$129.23 billion). 18% will be funded from the state, while the rest will come from private sources. The total investment includes projects that are already complete, such as the construction of two hospitals in Ninh Binh and the expansion?of Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi. The list also includes new projects such as the $33.6 billion revamp of the Red River banks, a sports facility in Hanoi, and a casino resort worth $2 billion in Quang Ninh. It also includes industrial parks and housing projects. (Reporting and editing by David Stanway; $1 = 26,310 dong).
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Sources say that Mexican airlines Volaris & Viva Aerobus are nearing a merger agreement
Sources familiar with the matter confirmed on Thursday that Volaris and Viva Aerobus were close to a'merger.' This would create a low cost champion for Mexico by combining two of the largest?airlines? in the country. The merger will be structured in a way that is fair to both parties. The sources said that both airlines would retain their brands and own 50% of the new holding company. Volaris closed Thursday at 14,89 pesos. This gives it a market cap of approximately 17,4?billion?pesos (roughly $967 million). Indigo Partners is the company's biggest shareholder. It also owns U.S. carrier?Frontier, and Chilean airline JetSMART. Viva is owned by the transportation group 'IAMSA', which is headed by Roberto Alcantara. Volaris and Viva have not responded to a request for comment. Both airlines fly Airbus aircraft and have similar routes. Aeromexico is their largest competitor in Mexico. This deal is a response to recent years of turmoil in Mexico's aviation industry, which has included disputes with U.S. regulatory bodies. The U.S. Department of Transportation, in October, rejected more than 12 flight routes proposed by Mexican carriers to the U.S. citing disagreements over Mexico's handling of the flight slots at its main capital airport, and?its decisions to move cargo flights into a more remote facility. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced in November that Mexican airlines would cede some slots at the capital airport to U.S. rivals. Mexican airlines are just below 30% of the market, while U.S. airlines hold over half.
Maersk has completed its first Red Sea voyage for nearly two years
Maersk, a Danish shipping company, announced on Friday that one of its vessels successfully navigated the Red Sea Strait and Bab El-Mandeb for the first time since nearly two years. However, the company currently does not have plans to fully reopen this route.
Maersk began diverting vessels from the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea in January 2024, after Yemeni Houthi militants attacked ships in the area to show solidarity with Palestinians living in Gaza.
Maersk announced in a Friday statement that Maersk Sebarok had completed the transit between Thursday and Friday.
It said: "While this is a significant'step?forward', it doesn't mean we are at a?point where we are evaluating a wider East West?network?change back to the trans-Suez?corridor."
However, it said that?it was considering a "stepwise" approach to resuming the passage. It added that there are no further sailings planned at this time. Stine Jacobsen reported, Jacob GronholtPedersen edited.
(source: Reuters)