East Asia

The Asian spot price of liquefied gas was flat for the second week in a row, due to steady supplies and weak demand throughout the region. Average LNG price for delivery to northeast Asia in December Industry sources estimate that the price per million British Thermal Units (mmBtu) is $11.10. Estimated price for January deliveries was $11.05/mmBtu. "Short-lived cold snaps in Asia may have triggered a little spot interest, but the overall picture of the market is still weak." The economic situation has not improved in the past weeks, said Klaas Dozeman of Brainchild Commodity Intelligence. He said that the...

One would not expect a CEO of a large oil company to brag that he is more confident than ever when warnings are abounding about an impending collapse in oil prices. Mike Wirth, CEO of Chevron, announced the updated strategy on Wednesday. He dismissed concerns about an oversupply of oil in the short term, and expressed confidence in the long-term outlook for the sector. Chevron, like its Big Oil counterparts, has benefited from the "energy dominance agenda" of U.S. president Donald Trump. Wirth said to investors, "Never before in my career have i seen a more confident outlook." "The best...

The latest International Energy Agency outlook indicates that oil demand could continue to rise into 2050. This is a dramatic shift from previous reports, and it serves as a reminder of the importance of black gold in the global economic system. The IEA published its annual World Energy Outlook on Wednesday. It outlines different paths for energy demand up to 2050. This is a fairly routine release, but this year it has become a political issue. The U.S. administration of President Donald Trump has accused the Paris-based energy watchdog of politicising its report that suggests fossil fuel demand could plateau...

The International Energy Agency’s latest outlook indicates that oil demand could continue to rise into 2050. This is a dramatic shift from previous reports, and it serves as a reminder of the importance of black gold in the global economic system. The IEA published its annual World Energy Outlook on Wednesday. It outlines different paths for energy demand up to 2050. This is a fairly routine release, but this year it has become a political issue. The U.S. administration of President Donald Trump has accused the Paris-based energy watchdog of politicising its report that suggests fossil fuel demand could plateau...

Venture Global announced on Tuesday that it had signed a long term agreement with Japanese trading company Mitsui for the supply of LNG at 1.0 million tons per year. Japan, which is the second largest LNG importer in the world after China, seeks stable and flexible energy sources to support its growing data center construction. Wood Mackenzie analysts estimate that these facilities will use the same amount of electricity as 15 to 18 million Japanese households by 2034. This is responsible for 60% of Japan's growth in power demand. Venture Global has now signed its third agreement with a Japanese...

In recent months, oil prices have fluctuated within a relatively small range between $60 and $70 per barrel. This reflects both concerns over rising supplies of oil as well as trade wars or geopolitical conflict. This may be a sweet corner for U.S. president Donald Trump but it's a "no-man's land" for oil producers. The low end of the range was reached in mid-October. This allowed Trump to carry out his promise to impose severe sanctions against Russia's two largest oil companies, Lukoil & Rosneft. These two giants account for 5% of world output. Trump calculated that escalating the economic...

In recent months, oil prices have fluctuated within a relatively small range between $60 and $70 per barrel. This reflects both warnings about rising oil supplies and concerns over trade wars or geopolitical conflict. This may be a'sweet spot' for U.S. president Donald Trump but it's a 'no-man's land" for oil producers. The low end of the range was reached in mid-October. This allowed Trump to carry out his threats to impose severe sanctions against Russia's two giant oil companies, Lukoil & Rosneft. These two firms account for 5% of world output. Trump calculated that the escalation in the economic...

The Asian spot price of liquefied gas was flat this week due to ample supplies and a soft demand. Average LNG price for delivery to northeast Asia in December Industry sources estimate that the price per million British Thermal Units (mmBtu) is $11.10. Martin Senior, head LNG pricing at Argus said that the spot demand in Northeast Asia was weak. There were ample inventories, and forecasts did not deviate too much from seasonal averages. He said that "Spot charter prices have continued to increase, which is the primary reason behind the wider spread between Asian-European prices. Asian prices must hold...

Western oil companies have seen their profits soar as a result of the increasing attacks on Russia's energy industry, both in terms of economics and literally. This has helped to alleviate concerns about a possible supply glut and boosted profit margins for global refiners. Since July, waves of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia's vast refinery and export terminal network have severely impacted the country's refined fuel exports such as fuel oil and diesel. According to Kpler, Russia's seaborne refinery product exports dropped by 500,000 barrels a day in September from their highs of 2025 to 2 million bpd. This is...

LSEG data on Saturday showed that Russia's liquefied gas exports in January-October decreased by 3.4% compared to a year ago to 25.2 millions metric tons (mmt), but jumped 21% in October to new records due to the start of Arctic LNG 2. U.S. sanctions against Ukraine have slowed down the export of LNG from Russia, particularly the new Arctic LNG 2 facility. These sanctions have also significantly reduced the use by the fleet of tankers for fuel transportation. Ship-tracking data provided by Kpler and LSEG revealed that China received its LNG cargo at the end August from the sanctioned Russian...

New sanctions by the West on Russia's oil sector have roiled diesel markets, sending margins for refining to soar. However, global supplies will not be disrupted severely for long. Donald Trump sanctioned last week Russia's largest oil companies Rosneft, and Lukoil. This followed a similar action by Britain. Trump has taken his first punitive steps against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine on a large scale in 2022. Russia has been the third largest crude oil exporter in the world and the second biggest diesel exporter. It has shipped over 800,000 barrels of transport fuel per day so far this...

New sanctions by the West on Russia's oil sector have roiled diesel markets, sending margins for refining to new heights. However, global supplies will not be disrupted severely for very long. Last week, Donald Trump sanctioned Russia’s two largest oil firms, Rosneft, and Lukoil. This followed a similar action by Britain. Trump has taken his first punitive steps against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine on a large scale in 2022. Russia has been the third largest crude oil exporter in the world and the second biggest diesel exporter. It has shipped over 800,000 barrels of transport fuel per day...

Siemens Energy, a German company, announced on Thursday that it would pay its first dividend for four years and also raise its outlook for the mid-term period due to strong demand in gas turbines, power transmission technologies, and services. Christian Bruch, CEO of the company's wind-turbine division, said that the success "was hard-earned" and not a result of chance. He was referring to the years of cost cutting and restructuring in response to a quality crisis. Siemens Energy, which is Germany's sixth-most valuable listed company, has since then benefited from an increase in demand for energy equipment. This was partly...

Taiwan evacuated over 8,300 people in advance of the arrival on Wednesday of Typhoon Fung Wong, a weaker version of which brought heavy rains and flooding to Taiwan's mountainous east coast. In the southernmost part of the island, businesses and schools were closed. 51 people were injured. Images on television showed that the waters were neck-deep in some parts of Yilan county, a largely rural area of eastern Taiwan. Soldiers were attempting to rescue those who had been stranded. The water came in quickly, said Hung Chun Yi, a fisherman who spent the evening clearing mud out of his home,...

Taiwan evacuated over 8,300 people in advance of the arrival on Wednesday of Typhoon Fung Wong, a weaker version of which brought heavy rains and flooding to Taiwan's mountainous east coast. In the southernmost part of the island, businesses and schools were closed. 51 people were injured. Images on television showed floods in the rural county of Yilan. The waters were neck-deep, and soldiers were attempting to rescue those who had been stranded. The water rushed in quickly, said Hung Chun Yi, a fisherman who spent the entire night cleaning mud out of his home, which was engulfed by 60-cm-deep...

A government official announced on Tuesday that China will increase policy support in order to attract private capital into the energy sector. This is the latest initiative by the government to boost sluggish investment. China's Cabinet announced new policies on Monday, including private capital investments for infrastructure projects, and the low-altitude economic system, which refers to low-altitude aviation services, whether manned or not. At a press briefing, Xu Xin said, "We will next strengthen our policy support to attract private capital into energy sector." The authorities will intensify their efforts to encourage private investment into major projects, including those involving...

Three sources familiar with this matter have confirmed that China's Luoyang Petrochemical (a subsidiary of the state-owned refinery giant Sinopec) has closed two crude oil units until the end November for maintenance. Two sources confirmed that the two crude units with a processing capacity of up to 200,000 barrels per day were closed at the end of October. The U.S. sanctions against a major terminal in eastern China, through which Sinopec imports a fifth its crude oil, forced cargo divertions and affected operations at subsidiary plants that were connected to the terminal by pipelines. Traders have reported that the Luoyang...

Sources in maritime security said that a liquefied gas tanker was able to outrun pirates who approached the vessel on a speedboat, off the coasts of Somalia, on Friday. This added to fears of a resurgence in piracy following years of calm. Recent armed attacks in the region, including the first in which suspected Somali pirates were involved in over a year, have reignited fears about the safety of the shipping lanes that transport vital energy and goods into global markets. An official from maritime security firm Diaplous confirmed that the incident on Friday occurred near the location of the...

The Trump Administration said on Thursday that it would continue negotiations with China about its dominance in shipbuilding and ocean logistic as it formalized its plans for a year-long pause on U.S. Port Fees on China-linked ships as part of an broader agreement to reduce trade tensions. In a Federal Register announcement, the U.S. Trade Representative announced that all punitive measures against China resulting in its "Section 301", unfair trade practices investigation would be halted for a period of one year beginning November 10. USTR also said that it would be accepting public comments about the matter between November 6...

Sources in maritime security said that pirates boarded the Malta-flagged tanker, off the coast of Somalia. The vessel's manager confirmed the safety of the 24 crew members. ttacks Armed assailants have attacked vessels in the past few days, raising concerns about shipping routes in a part of the world where vital energy and goods travel to global markets. A "security incident" occurred on the Hellas Aphodite Thursday morning as it was traveling from India to South Africa. Its Greek manager Latsco Marine Management did not provide any details. Ambrey, a maritime security company, said earlier that pirates in a skiff...

Gazprom, the Russian gas giant, announced on Thursday that its management board approved an investment program for 2026 in the amount of 1.1 trillion Russian roubles (approximately $13.53 billion), which is almost a third less than a revised figure of 1.615 trillion Russian roubles set for 2025. Gazprom did not include the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline from China to the list of priority projects for next year. The company announced last month that it had signed an agreement for the construction of a pipeline which would allow the delivery of 50 billion cubic meters of additional gas to China...

Industry officials claim that Australia's boom in renewable energy is wasting clean energy due to transmission bottlenecks, and the slow deployment of batteries. This signals challenges throughout Asia as the energy transition accelerates. OpenElectricity data showed that wind and solar curtailments have more than tripled over the past nine months to 3.9 Terawatt-hours, or 6.8% of renewable production. The amount of solar or wind power that was able to be produced, but was rejected preemptively because the grid reached its limit. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) warned in July that some solar farms in Southeast Australia could be curtailed...

According to LSEG and market sources, the new sanctions imposed by the U.S. and EU against Russia and its oil giants Rosneft Lukoil and Lukoil are yet to affect physical crude shipments out of Russia's western ports. LSEG data and sources indicate that despite weather-related restrictions and sanctions pressure, October exports of Primorsk and Novorossiisk ports in western Russia are expected to be around 2.33 million barrels a day (bpd), which is in line with Russia’s revised monthly program. Sources say that new U.S. restrictions are putting pressure on Russia's oil exports to the west. Urals oil is being purchased...

In an interview with The Toronto Star on Tuesday, Tim Hodgson, Minister of Natural Resources for Canada, said that the country will be focusing on securing critical minerals supplies when it hosts Group of Seven partners at a meeting of Energy and Environment ministers this week in Toronto. Except for Japan, all G7 countries are heavily or solely reliant upon China to supply a wide range of materials, from rare earth magnets and battery metals. Hodgson stated, "This week we will see many examples where we move beyond talking to firm commitments (to fund various types of tools to secure...