Asia

Ship tracking data revealed that the first naphtha shipment for Venezuela, as part of an oil deal reached between Caracas & Washington in this'month', arrived Friday on Venezuelan waters aboard a tanker chartered a trading house Vitol. Caracas, Washington and Venezuela agreed on a $2 billion oil deal this month after the U.S. captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. The agreement covers up to 50,000,000?barrels Venezuelan oil that is in storage. The agreement gives traders Vitol &?Trafigura first access to Venezuelan oil to resell to refineries worldwide. It also includes a?supply? of heavy naphtha, needed to dilute Venezuela's extra-heavy output. According...

India's Adani Group firms lost $12.5 billion on Friday after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked a court to?help? in serving summonses against founder Gautam Adani, and group executive Sagar Adani for an alleged $265 million bribery and fraud scheme. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requested procedural information in its civil case against Adanis on Thursday, after Indian markets had closed. Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the Adani Group, fell the most on Friday against India's Nifty 50 benchmark. The Nifty fell 0.95% as the shares of the company dropped 10.65% to 1,864.2 Rupees. The group shares...

The U.S. has warned Tehran to stop killing protesters and not restart its nuclear program in the face of Iran's most violent unrest for years. Analysts warn of a further escalation that could lead?Tehran, or any other country involved in oil exports, to try to close the Strait of Hormuz. Here are some details on the?strait What is the Strait of Hormuz? The Strait is located between Oman, Iran and the Gulf of Oman. It connects the Gulf of Oman in the north with the Arabian Sea to the south. The shipping lane is only 2 miles (3km) wide either...

India's Adani group firms lost $12.5 billion on Friday after the U.S. market regulator requested permission to email personal summonses to group executive Sagar Adani and founder Gautam Adani regarding alleged fraud and $265 million in bribery. The SEC filed the filing Thursday, after the Indian markets had closed. Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the Adani Group, was the biggest loser in India's benchmark Nifty 50 on?Friday. The Nifty fell 0.95% at close, while the shares of the company dropped 10.65% to 1,864.2 rupies. The group shares dropped between 3.4% to 14.54%. The U.S. Indictment, unsealed on November 20,...

Adani Green Energy, a company in India, reported a 99% decline in its third-quarter profits on Friday. Higher finance costs increased?its expenses while offsetting gains from?strong power sales and improved capacity utilization. Adani Group’s green arm shares were down 13.8%. Stocks of the Adani Group fell between 2% and 11%, after the U.S. SEC requested court approval to email summons to Gautam and Sagar in a $265 million fraud and bribery case. Adani Green's profit consolidated fell to 50 million rupees (544,051.88) in the quarter ending December 31 from 4.74 billion rupees one year earlier. The company's earnings were largely...

Bloomberg News, citing sources familiar with the situation, reported that CK Hutchison was considering a restructured'sale' of dozens ports to a global consortium. This would involve breaking 'the transaction up into smaller parcels, each with a different ownership structure. CK Hutchison - based in the 'Chinese controlled territory' of Hong Kong - has been heavily criticized by Beijing after it announced plans last year to'sell 43 ports across the 23 countries including two near the Panama Canal, to a consortium headed by BlackRock - and Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte’s family-controlled MSC shipping group. The report stated that under the proposed...

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...

Kyiv’s grid operator said that Ukraine’s energy situation “significantly” worsened Friday following recent Russian air attacks. This triggered emergency power outages across most regions. This grim assessment came after a statement made by Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, who said on Thursday that Ukraine’s energy system has experienced its worst day since the November 2022 blackout when Russia started bombing Ukraine’s power grid. Moscow has intensified airstrikes over the past few weeks, further damaging infrastructure that was already badly damaged and leaving many people without heat and power during this subzero cold spell. Ukrenergo announced on Telegram that several power plants...

The staff at Kyiv Zoo work around the clock in freezing temperatures to keep Tony, the 'gorilla' and other animals warm. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reiterated his call to citizens on Friday, urging them to find temporary shelter outside of the city due to fears about further strikes. Tony, 51, and the other residents of the zoo who have suffered for so long are not able to leave. Kyrylo Trantin, the zoo's chief, said that he could not tell Tony to go to rural Ukraine. "He does not have a grandmother in the country... where he can stay." Five times...

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...