Asia

Hennadiy Trunkanov, the mayor of Odesa in Ukraine, said that Russian forces had attacked Odesa's Black Sea Port City, leaving many of its residents without water, electricity or heating. Trukhanov, who uses the Telegram app to communicate, described the Odesa strike as "massive" by writing: "Hospitals were without heat, clinics, and sites of social infrastructure." Odesa, and especially the facilities at the three ports around the city, has been the target of Russian airstrikes in the war that has lasted for nearly three years. Trukhanov shared pictures of damaged buildings and windows on Telegram. He did not mention any casualties,...

Two people familiar with this matter reported that oil exports from Russia’s Black Sea port, Novorossiisk, were revised upwards by 0.24 million metric tonnes for February. This amounts to approximately 590,000. barrels per day. Calculations showed that the daily oil loadings at the Black Sea port will increase by 12% compared to the previous plan. Sources said that the revision was made after the addition of two additional cargoes, each of 100,000 and 144,000 tons, for loading on February 14-15, 25-26 and respectively. Novorossiisk is the port from which three oil grades are loaded: Russian Urals, Siberian Light, and Kazakhstan's...

Iron ore futures fell on Monday, as fears over supply disruptions due to cyclones in Australia eased following the reopening local ports. However, positive data from top consumer China helped limit losses. The May contract for iron ore on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange matched some losses earlier to finish daytime trading 0.92% lower, at 806.5 Yuan ($111.26). Earlier in the session, the contract reached its lowest level since 16 January at 790 Yuan per ton. By 0710 GMT the benchmark March iron ore traded on the Singapore Exchange had fallen 0.19% to $105.95 per ton, after having hit its lowest...

Iron ore futures prices fell on Monday as fears over supply disruptions due to cyclones in Australia, a major supplier, eased following the reopening local iron ore port. As of 0143 GMT, the most traded May iron ore contract at China's Dalian Commodity Exchange was trading 2.27% lower. It was 795.5 Yuan ($109.78), per metric ton. Earlier in the session, the contract reached its lowest level since 16 January at 790 Yuan per ton. The benchmark March ore price on the Singapore Exchange fell 1.46%, to $104.6 per ton. This is the lowest since the 6th of February. Port Hedland...

Calculations on Friday showed that the price of Urals crude oil in Primorsk, Russia and Ust-Luga, Russia fell below the Western price ceiling level of $60 a barrel on Thursday as global oil prices dropped and freight rates rose for Russian oil shipments. 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 indicates that the Urals price in Russian ports has...

According to trade and shipping sources, the freight rates for Urals crude to be shipped from Baltic ports to India increased by around 20% in February. The increase was due to U.S. Sanctions and an increase in exports which required more vessels. The Russian oil exporters who spend more on shipping will see their earnings for oil sales decrease. The Russian loading plan for February in western ports has been revised by 19%, to 1.9 millions barrels per day. This is due to lower refinery output. A source in the Russian oil trade said that booking a vessel to travel...

MOSCOW, February 12 () – Russia exported Urals crude oil to Cuba onboard a ship that was under U.S. sanction in January. This rare trade reflects Moscow’s increased search for buyers who would accept delivery by using its shadow tanker fleet, LSEG showed. On January 29, the vessel Akademik Gubkin loaded 100,000 metric tonnes of Urals at Ust-Luga, a Russian Baltic Sea port. The cargo will now cross the Atlantic to arrive at Cuba's Matanzas Terminal on February 19. According to market data and LSEG, the vessel is managed by Rosnefteflot - the marine transport arm of Russian oil company...

Three industry sources said on Wednesday that the Volgograd oil refining plant in Russia, which had temporarily halted its operations after a drone attack by Ukraine on February 3, partially resumed its processing. According to one source, the crude distillation unit CDU-5 was restarted on February 10 at the plant controlled by Lukoil, an oil major located in southern Russia. The primary units are slowly returning to operation. The capacity is growing. Another source stated that more than half the capacity was actually operational. Lukoil didn't respond to a comment request. Another source reported that the refinery's throughput on Monday...

On Tuesday, a group of nine Senators from the Environment and Public Works Committee claimed that the Trump Administration is illegally withholding funds previously granted to the states for charging electric vehicles. The U.S. Transportation Department announced on Thursday that it would suspend the electric vehicle charging programs and rescind approval of state EV charger plans pending a re-evaluation. The Democratic Senators in the Committee led by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse stated that the action was "in blatant disregard of law." Whitehouse requested any emails which would indicate if Elon Musk, Tesla CEO and advisor to President Donald Trump was involved...

According to industry sources, and LSEG ship-tracking information, Russia's Baltic Sea Port of Ust-Luga resumed fuel exports Tuesday following a tanker that ran aground after a weekend explosion in its engine-room. After the explosion, a Suezmax tanker named Koala that was carrying 130,000 metric tonnes of fuel oil ran into trouble near a berth in the Ust-Luga terminal. According to the Russian Ministry of Transport, no one from the crew was injured. On Tuesday, the ministry said that divers were inspecting the vessel and had not detected any fuel leaks. It added that the incident had been investigated. According to...

Energy costs continue to rise despite the closure of factories Solar energy could help the industry go green As mills struggle to transition to energy, jobs are lost Tahmid Zami Tahmid Zami Textile manufacturers are looking for new ways to produce cloth that is more affordable and has a stronger environmental credential. They risk bankruptcy. Bangladesh, the second-largest fashion exporter in the world, exported clothing worth $38.5 billion dollars last year. It supplied high-street giants like H&M and Zara. The company aims to increase its exports to $40 billion by the end of this year. Other apparel hubs have caught...

Jamal al-Ghurair said that Al Khaleej Sugar in Dubai is currently operating at 70% of its capacity, as Middle East sugar refineries struggle with overcapacity. This was revealed by the managing director of the company, Jamal al-Ghurair on Tuesday, during the Dubai Sugar Conference. "In the Middle East, there is 60-70% more capacity than the Middle East needs, so the refineries in the region are not operating at full capacity." He told reporters at the conference that some refineries were operating at 30%-40% capacity. Al Khaleej Sugar is the largest refinery in the world of sweeteners based at a port....

Two sources familiar with the plan said that after Monday's drone attack, the Black Sea CPC blend oil loading plan will not change for February. The drone attack hit a pumping facility on an oil pipeline that runs through Russia. This reduced the flow of oil from Kazakhstan into world markets, which is pumped by western firms such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron. Two sources familiar with the situation said that the plan to ship crude oil via CPC remained the same on Monday, at 1.4-1.5 million barrels a day or 5.1 million tons. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which controls...

Industry officials stated this week that India's plan for increasing the share of gas-fired power generation in its energy mix depends on lower LNG prices globally, which will make gas-fired electric generation more competitive. The fourth-largest LNG importer in the world aims to increase its natural gas share to 15% from 6.2% by 2030. Analysts and industry officials have said that this would require the annual gas consumption to almost quadruple. Natural gas is used to fuel vehicles and power cooking appliances, as well as for gas-fired electric plants. Sandeep Kumar Gupta is the chairman of GAIL (India), the largest...

Sri Lanka continued its power outages for a third consecutive day on Thursday, as it worked to restore the national grid's full capacity. A monkey had caused a blackout that affected 22 million islanders over the weekend. Kumara Jayakody blamed an outage that lasted six hours on Sunday on a monkey who disrupted a Grid Station in a Colombo suburban area. On Wednesday, a Sri Lankan holiday, there were no power cuts. The monkey had come into contact the transformer at the power station, disrupting the supply of electricity to the whole country. The monkey's fate is not known at...

A government spokesperson announced on Tuesday that Uganda would not start oil production in this year. This is a failure to meet a longstanding goal of beginning crude extraction from the western fields. Patricia Litho said, "Due unforeseen challenges we are not able to meet the target above," a spokesperson from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. She didn't give any reason why the country failed to reach the 2025 goal and stated that a new start date for production has yet to be announced. Uganda discovered commercial petroleum reserves in the Albertine Rift basin near its border to...

Turkey and Turkmenistan signed an agreement on Tuesday to facilitate the flow Turkmen natural gas into Turkey. This is a major step forward in the energy cooperation between both nations, said Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar. Turkmengaz and Turkey's BOTAS, the state-owned pipeline operator, have agreed to a deal that will see gas flowing on March 1. Turkey consumes over 50 billion cubic meters of gas each year. The country relies on a mixture of gas imported from Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran as well as LNG from different suppliers. Bayraktar stated in a press release that "this agreement, on which...

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania announced on Sunday that they successfully synchronised the electricity systems of their countries to the European continental grid. This comes one day after Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania severed decades-old energy links with Russia and Belarus. The complex switch from the grid that was used by their former Soviet Imperial overlord has been planned for many years. It is intended to bring the three Baltic countries closer to the European Union, and boost energy security in the region. In a social media post, Latvian President Edgars Rinkovics stated: "We did it!" The Baltic countries cut high-voltage cross-border...

Lithuania announced on Saturday that it had disconnected its power system from the Russian grid. This is part of a larger plan, which the Baltic states claim will help them integrate more closely with Europe and improve security. After operating independently, Latvia and Estonia will be expected to follow suit at 0700 GMT Saturday. Subject to any last-minute testing, they should synchronise their grids with the EU on Sunday. A spokesperson for Lithuanian grid operators Litgrid stated, "We have disconnected." After the annexation by Russia of Crimea, plans to decouple the Baltics from their former Soviet imperial master gained momentum....

Russia's gas exports via the TurkStream pipeline to Europe have actually reached a record high of more than 50 million cubic metres (mcm) each day this month after transit through Ukraine was shut, Reuters preliminary calculations revealed on Friday. Turkey has remained the only route for Russian gas to Europe after a five-year transit offer between Moscow and Kyiv was not extended when it ended on Jan. 1. Computations based upon data from European gas transmission group Entsog showed that Russian gas exports by means of the TurkStream have actually leapt this month by 26.8% year on year, increasing to...

A local governor reported that experts are working to restore gas supply to trunk pipelines coming from the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant in Russia, which had been damaged by Ukrainian drones just a day earlier. Ukraine launched drones on Monday to strike energy facilities in southern Russia. The drones caused fires at an oil refinery, and a gas processing plant. Igor Babushkin said that drones from Ukraine tried to attack energy facilities, and a fire broke out. He said that on Tuesday, the repairs, including commissioning, testing, and resuming natural gas supply to the trunk pipelines, from the Astrakhan Plant,...

According to a survey published on Tuesday, the stricter traffic regulations in place since the beginning of the year have caused disruptions and increased costs in the transport and logistics industry in Vietnam. New road safety regulations have increased the fines for serious traffic offences such as disregarding traffic lights. The new regulations are also more significant for the logistics industry in Southeast Asia's industrial and export hub because they require truck drivers to take a 15-minute break after every four hours driving. In a survey of more than 460 employees and executives, mainly from the logistics sector and distribution,...

Thailand's government announced on Tuesday that it would suspend electricity to certain border areas with Myanmar to combat scam centres. This comes amid increasing pressure against illegal compounds which have captured a large number of people from different nationalities. The United Nations claims that hundreds of thousands have been forced into scam centres, illegal online operations, and other criminal activities across Southeast Asia by criminal gangs. This includes along the Thai-Myanmar Border. According to a U.N. 2023 report, the operations are generating billions of dollars each year. Phumtham Wechayachai, Deputy prime minister of Thailand, told reporters that the authorities would...

Police in Norway said that a Norwegian cargo ship, with a crew made up entirely of Russians, suspected of damaging a Baltic Sea Telecoms Cable has been released after authorities found no connection to the incident. Tromsoe police, in northern Norway, said that the Silver Dania had been seized on the request of Latvian officials and with the assistance of the Norwegian coast guard. "The investigation is continuing, but there's no reason why the ship should remain in Tromsoe." The police stated that no evidence has been found to link the ship with the act of damaging the cable. Norwegian...