Asia

According to three industry sources, and LSEG data, Russia's Black Sea Port of Tuapse resumed exports of oil?products last week following a?two -week suspension due to a Ukrainian??drone??? attack. The strike on December 31 damaged equipment at Rosneft and one berth in the port. According to the Krasnodar regional operational headquarters, there is a nearby export-oriented Tuapse refining plant. Since the beginning of the conflict, drones from Ukraine have repeatedly attacked the port and refinery. According to "market sources", at least five tankers have loaded diesel and fuel at Tuapse Port since last week. Cargoes from Rosneft refineries were delivered...

Ukraine's wheat imports were relatively low in the first half January, despite Russian attacks on Ukrainian seaports. The Ukraine is one of the largest European wheat producers and exporters. Since the end last year, Russia's attacks on Ukrainian ports have accelerated, not only targeting port terminals, warehouses, and civilian vessels, but also increasing their intensity. UGA reported that Ukraine exported 292,000 metric tons of grain in the first six months of the year, compared to 293,000 tons during the same period in December. This compares with 610,000 tons between November 1-15. The?economy minister said that wheat exports have totaled 8.2...

The largest airline in Japan announced on Tuesday that strong winds and heavy snowfall caused the cancellation of dozens of flights to and from the northwestern coast. This includes popular ski regions. As of 1 p.m. local (0400 GMT), ANA Holdings cancelled 56 flights, affecting approximately 3,900 passengers. Meanwhile, as?of 11:00 a.m. (0200 GMT), Japan Airlines cancelled 37?flights affecting 2,213?passengers. ANA has said that there will be a delay at some airports because of the continued adverse weather conditions. The New?Chitose Airport in Japan's northernmost Prefecture, Hokkaido, was the most affected. 49 of ANA’s 56 flights were cancelled. Airport is...

Malaysia's sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd plans to channel additional capital into strengthening the?power?system and supporting local semiconductor companies as AI drives next investment cycle. Khazanah's Managing Director Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir stated in an interview during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos that energy supply and grid reliability were central to competitiveness. "What is needed for it to work well, is computing power. And what does computing power mean? Energy. Amirul Feisal said at the Global Markets Forum that this is when we should think about how to capture some of this growth. Khazanah will instead concentrate...

According to weather stations and visuals, the biggest snowfall in 60 years occurred on 'Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula. This resulted in a metre-high sand drift that buried cars and blocked building entrances. According to weather monitoring stations, in some areas over 2 m of snow (6.5 feet) has fallen during the first half January. This is after December's?3.7 m. Pictures showed four-wheel drive vehicles struggling to 'traction or being blocked by huge drifts of snow. Locals had to dig paths up to apartment building entrances. "I plan to go on a walk around ?the city tomorrow, though unfortunately the...

Libya will sign on Sunday a strategic partnership to develop and expand the Misurata Free Zone with international firms, attracting estimated $2.7 billion in investment. The project would generate an estimated $500 million in operating revenue annually if the agreements were signed with Qatari companies and Italian, Swiss, and Swiss firms. Dbeibah stated that "this project will not only boost Libya's ranking among the?largest port in terms of capacity and size, but also relies on direct foreign investments within a comprehensive partnership". Dbeibah stated that this partnership reflects "the government's commitment to attracting a productive external financing in order to...

Indonesian authorities announced on Sunday that they have located the wreckage from a missing fisheries-surveillance plane in South Sulawesi Province near a foggy mountain. They are still searching for 11 people who were on board. The ATR42-500 turboprop owned by Indonesia Air Transport lost touch with air traffic control on Saturday around 1:30 pm local time (0530 GMT), in the Maros area of South Sulawesi. The plane was chartered by Indonesia’s Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry for air surveillance of fisheries. The passengers were staff from the ministry. The head of South Sulawesi’s rescue agency, Muhammad Arif Anwar said on...

Officials?said that Indonesian rescuers searched on Saturday for a missing ATR 42500 fisheries monitoring aircraft with 11 people aboard. Andi Sultan, a local rescue official, said that the Indonesia Air Transport plane had lost contact with air traffic control at around 1:30 pm (0530 GMT), in the Maros area of South Sulawesi Province. Sultan stated that the aircraft was heading towards Makassar (the capital of South Sulawesi) after leaving?Yogyakarta Province before contact was lost. He added that there were eight crew members and three passengers aboard. Sultan stated that around 400 personnel including military and law enforcement units were deployed...

Industry sources said that the freight rates for tankers shipping Urals crude to India from Russia's western port have risen in this month. This is because bad weather has made fewer vessels and disrupted loading and unloading, and increased costs of insurance. Two oil tankers were struck by drones in the Black Sea Tuesday, including a tanker chartered by the U.S. oil giant Chevron. After drone attacks this week on two Greek-operated oil tankers, Greece has instructed its shipping fleet to take the most stringent security measures when sailing into Russian Black Sea ports. The average freight?costs for transporting Urals...

Data from industry sources showed that Russia's seaborne petroleum products exports were up 17% in December compared to November, at 9.069 millions metric tons. This was due to a higher fuel output and seasonal decreases in domestic demand. According to data, the oil product exports from Russian Baltic Ports -- Primorsk Vysotsk St. Petersburg Ust-Luga -- grew 8.2% on a month-over-month basis, reaching 5.253 millions tons. Market sources reported that the rise in prices was due to higher diesel shipments from Primorsk. Data shows that the oil exports from Black Sea and Azov Sea port grew 42.6%, to 3.038 millions...

Thailand's Transport Ministry announced on Friday it has ordered a 15 day construction halt?on 14 contracts that involve Italian-Thai Development PCL, as well as other large-scale?projects overseen by the ministry. Two drivers died after their cars were crushed near Bangkok the day before, both caused by the collapse of cranes on Italian-Thai Development projects. The company has stated that it would compensate the affected. Chirapong Theppithuck said that the stoppage of Italian-Thai projects would allow for expert teams to carry out?detailed checks to ensure safety standards are being met. According to a press release, he also ordered that other major...

The U.S. State Department approved the sale of equipment and services worth $1.5 billion to Peru to help the country move its main naval base from Callao to a nearby seaport. The Peruvian Government plans to relocate the naval base in Callao on the coast, just a few kilometers west of Lima. This will allow the expansion of Peru's largest commercial port, Callao. It is a rival to the Chinese mega-port Chancay located 80 km north of Lima. The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency issued a statement about the proposal. It said that the "proposed sales will contribute to the...

The company reported that a senior executive of Ukraine's state-owned grid operator Ukrenergo was killed?while overseeing repairs to a damaged power facility,? caused by a Russian strike. The company didn't say how Oleksiy died. They only called it "tragic". Evropeiska Pravyda, an unnamed local media outlet, reported that Brekht died after receiving a shock from one of the substations. The company posted a statement on social media saying that "Death... caught up with him" where he felt it necessary to be in order to "restore light as quickly as possible to the people." Ukrenergo didn't immediately reply to a question...

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, said on Wednesday that more than half of Kyiv was still without electricity a day after Russian strikes against energy facilities. Ukrainians are enduring a bitter cold snap. Kyiv residents are a diverse group. Cold apartments Since a recent Russian attack on a grid that has been battered for nearly four years by missile and drone attacks, the grid is only getting a few hours or no electricity at all. Zelenskiy reported on X that "as of this morning about 4,000 buildings in Kyiv still lack heat and almost 60% of the capital is...

Grid monitors in Japan said that the demand for electricity is expected to increase by 5.3% in the next decade. This will be driven primarily by data centres and semiconductor factories. According to the Organisation for Cross-regional Coordination of Transmission Operators in Japan (OCCTO), power consumption is expected to increase to 846.13 billion Kilowatt-hours by March 2036. This compares to an estimated 803.37 billion kWh for fiscal 2025. This growth rate was slightly lower than the 5.8% predicted a year ago, due to delays in construction schedules, changes in design, and other data centre issues that pushed back planned start-up...

The spot premiums for Murban oil produced in the United Arab Emirates have reached their highest level in the past two months. This is due to the?strong demand of Asian buyers who are replacing U.S. supplies now that the arbitrage has closed. Indian refiners also use Murban as a substitute for Russian oil. This is what drives the price of Abu Dhabi's flagship Light Sour Grade despite abundant supply. Data showed that the spot premium for Murban March loading was $2.38 per barley to Dubai quotations on Tuesday. It had reached $2.53 per barrel last Wednesday, its highest level since...

Three industry sources have said that oil production in Kazakhstan's vast Tengiz field, which is one of the largest in the world, may be stopped for 7-10 days after it shut down on Sunday. This would cut crude exports through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. Tengizchevroil, the operator of Tengiz-Korolevskoye Field, announced on Monday that production had been halted due to problems with power supply. According to KazMunayGas, the state-owned KazMunayGas, a fire had broken out on January 18 at two turbine transformers located at GTES-4, the power station for this field. One source stated that "TCO's production is down until...

The lawyer of the Chinese captain who is accused of damaging undersea cables on a?ship registered in Hong Kong in the Baltic Sea, said that 18 witnesses will be called in to testify. According to a Hong Kong charging document, Wan Wenguo is accused of causing "criminal damages" on the underwater natural gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia in October 2023. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022, the Baltic Sea region is on high alert for sabotage. This follows a series outages of gas pipelines, power cables and telecoms. Wan, 43 years old, appeared before the...

These are the most popular stories from the Wall Street Journal. These?stories have not been verified and we cannot vouch for their accuracy. Mitsubishi Corp, a Japanese trading company, has agreed to buy Aethon’s shale-gas assets in Texas and Louisiana. This is its largest acquisition ever. Verizon Communications received the final approvals needed to purchase fiber-optic broadband service provider Frontier Communications, after agreeing to some concessions with California regulators. This included a commitment to small-business expenditure. After a period of?two? years,?Walmart Chief Executive Officer Kathryn McLay is stepping down. Ford Motors and BYD have begun discussions about a partnership where...

The Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp announced on Friday that it would "take over" the U.S. assets for shale oil production and pipelines of Aethon Energy management, including its debts. The deal, which is?the largest?acquisition by Mitsubishi to date - will give the company an extensive natural gas operation near the U.S. Gulf Coast and the energy export infrastructure being developed there. The company stated that the transaction included $5.2 billion for Aethon equity interests, and $2.33 billion of net interest-bearing loans. This is a 'latest example of Japan investing into the U.S. Energy Sector after Tokyo positioned Gas?as key...

State-run Xinhua reported on Thursday that China's State Grid would spend $4 trillion yuan (about $574 billion) to upgrade the country's electricity grid between 2026 and 2030. According to a report by Xinhua (China's official news agency), fixed asset investments have increased by 40% in the last five years. This is because China has been increasing its wind and solar -capacity as it strives to reach its goal of reducing carbon -emissions to zero by 2030. The average investment is 800 billion yuan per year, which is more than the 650 billion yuan record that was set by the main...

Kazakhstan called on Europe and the U.S. to secure oil transport after drone attacks on tankers headed to a Black Sea Terminal on the Russian coast that handles 1% of the global supply. Unidentified drones attacked at least two oil tankers in Tuesday's Black Sea, including a tanker chartered by U.S. major Chevron. They were sailing toward a terminal along the Russian coast that would load oil from Kazakhstan. In a press release, Kazakhstan's foreign ministry said that three tankers had been hit on their way to the Black Sea marine terminal for the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. Drones attacked CPC’s...

Oleksandr vilkul, the head of the military administration, said that Russian drones had struck Kryvyi rih in central Ukraine on Wednesday, forcing power outages for over?45,000 people and disrupting heat supply. If you can, please charge your mobile devices and fill up with water. Vilkul told Telegram users that it was going to be a difficult day. The water pumping stations in the system could have pressure problems. It was not possible to determine the exact scale of 'the attack immediately. Russia has not commented on the?strike. Russia repeatedly attacked Ukraine's power plants, substations, and transmission lines with drones and...

Five industry sources reported that the cost of war insurance for ships sailing into the Black Sea almost doubled after two Greek-managed tankers were struck by unidentified drones on their way to load crude oil at a terminal on 'Russian coast. Black Sea is vital for shipping grain, oil and petroleum products. Bulgaria, Georgia and Romania, as well Russia and Ukraine, share its waters. Sources said that the latest incidents raised concerns about the safety of ships heading to Russian and Ukrainian terminals. The cost of war insurance for Black Sea terminals has risen from 0.6% to 0.8% in late...