Transportation

NASA's X-59 quiet supersonic jet plane flew over the Southern California Desert on Tuesday, the first flight of a new experimental aircraft that is designed to break through the sound barrier while minimizing noise. The sleek aircraft measuring less than 100 feet (30 meters), from nose to tail took off an hour after sunrise at Plant 42, a Lockheed Martin Skunk Works facility located in Palmdale. Palmdale is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Los Angeles. After a steep ascent over fields of sod just east the runway, it was observed that the plane banked to the north, on...

The Hungarian oil company MOL announced on Tuesday that it has resumed production at its main Danube Refinery following an earlier fire at a distillation unit which processes more than 40% of the refinery’s crude intake. MOL's and Hungary’s energy supply was under pressure last week on two fronts due to the fire, and U.S. sanction against Russian oil companies Lukoil & Rosneft. According to MOL, the refinery processes a large amount of Russian crude that is delivered through the Druzhba Pipeline. International Energy Agency data show that it effectively covers Hungary's demand for oil and petroleum products. According to...

Two sources with knowledge of the matter said that Sable Offshore will need $1.7 billion to implement a floating-storage strategy as an alternative for marketing crude oil from the Santa Ynez Field off California via pipeline. Sable Offshore told investors last month that it would pursue an offshore storage strategy and treat vessels to market oil from the Santa Ynez Project, but it continued to fight California regulators who challenged its plan to restart an onshore pipeline to move crude from the Santa Ynez Project to regional refineries. It was not previously known what the estimated cost would be to...

Sean Duffy, U.S. Transportation secretary, warned late Thursday that his department may soon order a Pennsylvania transit agency not to use a fleet railcars because of fire risks. He also raised a number of safety and financial concerns. On October 1, the Federal Railroad Administration issued an emergency order that required the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) to fix fire risks from its Silverliner IV Railcars within 30 days after a safety recommendation made by the National Transportation Safety Board in response to a series five fires. Duffy wrote to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro that "SEPTA does not have the...

Slovnaft - a Slovak refiner that processes a large amount of Russian crude oil and belongs to Hungary's MOL Group - said Thursday it would be analyzing the impact of U.S. sanctions against Russian oil companies on its operations. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, imposed sanctions against Russia on Wednesday for the first times in his second term. He targeted Lukoil, and Rosneft in an effort to press Moscow into a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine. This move has pushed up the price of oil and raised questions for Hungary, Slovakia and other EU countries that are the largest buyers of...

Google announced on Thursday that it had entered into the nation's first corporate agreement for the purchase of electricity from a U.S. plant that uses carbon capture and storage. The deal is to fuel the company's data centers located in the Midwest. Big Tech's plans for expanding technologies such as generative artificial intelligence that will require huge amounts of electricity have clashed with the reality of a U.S. grid that is running out of supplies. In recent months, companies such as Google have made a number of announcements to fund the construction of new and expanded plants in the United...

Freeport LNG, a U.S. liquefied gas company, had planned to receive more natural gas at its Texas export plant on Thursday. This was a sign that a liquefaction track that was shut down on Wednesday would likely be back in operation, according to data provided by financial firm LSEG, and a filing made with the state's environmental regulators. Freeport LNG is closely monitored by the global market because its operation can cause large price fluctuations. Gas prices in the United States typically fall when flows to Freeport decrease due to a lower demand for fuels from the export facility. Prices...

Multiple sources confirmed on Thursday that Chinese state oil giants had suspended their purchases of Russian oil shipped by sea after the United States imposed new sanctions against Rosneft, one of Moscow's largest oil companies, and Lukoil. Refiners in India, which is the biggest buyer of Russian crude oil by sea, will be reducing their imports of the oil from Moscow to comply with U.S. sanction imposed on the Kremlin for its invasion of Ukraine. The sharp decline in demand for oil from Russia's largest two customers will strain Moscow's oil revenue and force top importers around the world to...

Google announced on Thursday that it had entered into the nation's first corporate agreement for the purchase of electricity from a U.S. plant that uses carbon capture and storage. The deal is to fuel the company's data centers located in the Midwest region. Big Tech's plans for expanding technologies such as generative artificial Intelligence, which require enormous amounts of electricity to operate, have clashed with the reality of a U.S. grid that is running out of supplies. In recent months, companies such as Google have made a number of announcements to fund the construction of new and expanded energy plants...

Kinder Morgan, a U.S.-based pipeline operator, posted an increase in its third quarter profit on Wednesday. This was largely due to higher volumes of gas being transported through the pipelines. Kinder Morgan, for example, is betting on the growing demand for natural gas from LNG export installations as well as an increase in electricity generation due to AI operations and cryptocurrency mining. Kim Dang, CEO of the company, said that "total demand for gas will grow by 20 percent through 2030. This growth is primarily due to LNG exports. We are exploring opportunities to supply more than 10 billion cubic...

Oil shippers and the operator of Canada’s Trans Mountain Pipeline are currently in negotiations to resolve a dispute over shipping costs that has hampered the use of Canada’s only east-west pipe and slowed down government plans to sell it. Trans Mountain Corp. and a group including Cenovus Energy and Canadian Natural Resources and ConocoPhillips Canada filed documents with the Canada Energy Regulator Tuesday stating that the parties were in "active commercial discussion." The talks could settle how much the companies pay to ship oil on the expanded 890,000-barrel-per-day pipeline, which offers direct access to China and other Asian markets at...

Officials said that Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine resulted in the deaths of six people including two children and caused nationwide power outages. Moscow was implementing a targeted campaign against Ukraine's energy system. Timur Tkachenko of the Kyiv military administration said that debris from weapons dropped caused fires to spread in several districts. Svitlana Svitlana said that "most regions of Ukraine" were targeted. This is the second attack of this kind in the last month. It indicates a systematic campaign by the enemy, to destroy Ukraine's power sector before winter. Hrynchuk stated that Russia is now targeting also...

The differential between dated Brent and Urals crude remained unchanged on Monday as buyers of both grades awaited clarity about the impact of new Western sanctions on Russian oil imports. Last week, the European Union (EU), Britain and the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia, including those affecting its two largest oil producers, Lukoil, and Rosneft. The U.S. gave companies until November 21, 2011 to end their transactions with Russian oil producers. Four sources familiar with the discussions said that OPEC+ is likely to increase output modestly in December as it continues with its monthly increases aimed at regaining market share....

Hayan Abdel Ghani, the Iraqi oil minister, said that Iraq was in negotiations with OPEC over its quota within the available capacity of 5.5 millions barrels per day. In April, the country, OPEC’s largest overproducer submitted plans to further reduce oil production to compensate for pumping beyond agreed quotas. Abdel-Ghani stated that Iraq was committed to its OPEC quota despite having a larger production capacity. Total oil exports are currently at 3.6 million bpd. Abdel-Ghani said that the fire which broke out in Zubair's southern oilfield on Sunday has not affected exports. Abdel-Ghani said that exports from Iraq's Kurdistan north...

Three industry sources confirmed on Wednesday that a Chevron-led group developing Kazakhstan's biggest oilfield Tengiz, will resume oil exports through the Baku-Tbilisi - Ceyhan pipeline by November. The pipeline connects Georgia with Turkey, and is primarily used to export oil produced by the Azeri Chirag and Guneshli fields, operated by BP. In July, organic chloride contamination was found in Azeri BTC crude shipments. This caused several days of delays in loadings at BTC Ceyhan in Turkey. The TCO consortium halted exports along the route in the month following. Tengiz did not return to the pipeline when Kazakhstan recommenced oil supply...

Transneft's pipeline network is not experiencing a reduction in supplies from Russian oil companies, according to a senior Transneft executive. Deliveries this year will be on par with those of 2024. Maxim Grishanin is the first vice president of the company. He told reporters that the company had enough capacity to handle a possible rise in supply. Russia will increase its output to meet the demands of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies. Transneft transports over 80% of the oil produced by the country. Grishanin stated that Transneft had a growing cash deficit due to an...

Three market sources reported that the Black Sea port in Russia, Novorossiisk, has reached its export capacity limit. This leaves traders scrambling to find a new route for crude oil, which it is unable to refine at home and can only produce because of increased OPEC+ quotas. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies have been easing up on output restrictions. In addition, Russia's refining facilities carried out record amounts of maintenance in August, and September. This was partly due to damage caused by Ukrainian drones. As a result, its ability to process crude oil domestically has...

On Tuesday, major Chinese airlines urged the Trump Administration to abandon its plan to ban them from flying above Russia on U.S. flight routes, claiming that it would increase flight times, increase air fares, and disrupt some routes. The U.S. Transportation Department last week proposed that Chinese airlines be banned from flying over Russia in routes between the United States and China, claiming the shorter flight times put American carriers at an unfair disadvantage. China Eastern, which was one of the six Chinese airlines to send a letter, stated in a USDOT filing that this move could increase flight times...

Azerbaijani Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov announced on Tuesday that Azerbaijani and Kazakhstan were considering a 7 million metric ton increase in oil transit through the Baku, Tbilisi, Ceyhan pipeline by 2027. Since 2023, BTC has transported 3.4 million tonnes of Kazakh crude oil to the global market. Opportunities are being considered to raise annual transit volumes to 7 million tons by 2027," Shahbazov told the 21st meeting of the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation. Azerbaijan exported 18.4 million tonnes of oil via the Baku, Tbilisi and Ceyhan pipeline in January-August. This is a 5.3% decline from...

Local officials reported that Russian forces had attacked Kharkiv on Monday with guided bombs, knocking out electricity to 30,000 people in three districts. In a Telegram message, Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote that Russian forces had used guided bombs against the Nemyshlianskyi, Slobidskyi, and Shevchenkivskyi districts to the south and north of the city. Interviewed on local TV, Mayor Ihorterekhov said that the three bombs had damaged a hospital as well as power transmission lines. Nearly 30,000 people were affected by power outages. Four people were injured by glass that was flying, he said. Some patients had to be transferred...

Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia's president, said that Serbia would do all it could to protect its own interests if the U.S. imposed sanctions on Serbian-based NIS oil company, which is owned by Russia. Washington announced sanctions against NIS in January, Serbia's largest oil importer, and one of Russia’s last remaining energy assets within Europe, for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. NIS announced last week that there would be no further delays. "Our Russian Friends have understood our message." We knew their interests. We will do all we can, both tactically and strategically, to serve the interests of Serbia", said Vucic...

The differential between Brent and Urals crudes dated on Wednesday remained unchanged, but the Azeri BTC plan for exports from Turkey's Ceyhan Port in November was set at 15,3 million barrels compared to the 15.4 million barrels exported in October. Calculations showed that Azeri BTC crude exports would increase by approximately 3% per day in November compared to October. Alexander Novak, Deputy Premier of Russia, said that the country has gradually increased its oil production. It was very close to achieving the output quota set by OPEC+ last month. PLATTS WINDOW There were no bids or offerings reported on the...

A government official said that there is sufficient supply of Russian crude oil on the market for Indian refiners, as Ukraine's attack on Russia's energy infrastructure has reduced its refining capability and made more crude readily available. When India refused to comply, Washington imposed tariffs of up to 50% on U.S. imported goods from India. The official who declined to be named due to the sensitive nature of the matter said that Indian refiners still buy Russian oil. India is the largest buyer of Russian oil sold by sea. The oil was discounted after certain Western nations refused to buy...

Poland announced on Friday that the cost of its plan to connect to a NATO pipe-line network designed to provide fuel to troops in case of war will be 20 billion zlotys (about $5 billion). The ministry and the Polish pipeline operator PERN had signed an agreement earlier in the day to connect the pipelines of the country to the NATO network. Cezary Cezary Tomczyk, Deputy Minister of Defence said: "We're talking about...construction pipelines covering a distance up to 300 km...we're talking about one the largest investments made in the security and safety of the Polish State in the past...