Europe

The trial for a 2023 train crash in Greece that killed 57 people was adjourned shortly after it began owing to poor conditions in the courtroom and protests outside. Judges cited sound problems as the reason for the adjournment. Lawyers and family members complained about the size of the room, which was a converted hall from an old university. On February 28, 2023, a passenger train with students collided at Tempi (central Greece) with a freight. The accident was the worst of its kind to ever happen in Greece, and it sparked a year-long investigation. The fireball-producing crash revealed a...

The trial for a 2023 train crash in Greece that claimed 57 lives began on Monday amid strikes and protests against the role the state is perceived to have played in the accident. On February 28, 2023, a?passenger /train? carrying students from Athens up to Thessaloniki in northern Greece collided at Tempi (central Greece) with a freight?train?. This was the worst accident of its kind to ever happen in Greece. It triggered an investigation that lasted for years. The crash that caused a fireball, and explosion shed light on state failures including corruption, safety shortcomings, and years of neglecting the...

Russian ESPO blend crude loaded from Kozmino in April and 'early May' has surged at a premium to Brent in Chinese and Indian port, traders reported on Friday. This is due to supply shortages caused mainly by the Iran -war and a softerening of america sanctions. The easing of?U.S. sanctions and the supply'shortages caused by the Iran -war' have fueled demand. After the United States allowed Indians, who were affected by a reduced Middle East oil supply, to buy Russian crude, prices for Russian crude jumped in comparison to Brent. Four sources said that the 30-day waiver granted to Indian...

Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu stated that Turkey was looking to sell some operating rights of highways and bridges in order to reduce budget pressures. However, the country has no plans to sell these assets. Heavy maintenance on major highways and roads increases the cost to the state. Uraloglu added that Ankara was working to see if this work could be transferred?to private operators. "Highways are not sold. "We are examining the possibility of granting 'operating rights' for certain periods, and transferring the cost to the operator in order to avoid additional pressure on budgets," Uraloglu stated. "There has been no...

Data from industry sources and calculations revealed that Russia's seaborne?oil product -exports for February 2026 fell 3.3% from the previous month to 7.97?metric tons?. This was due to a combination of?unplanned?refinery _outages? and harsh weather conditions in key ports. According to the data, oil exports from Russia’s Baltic ports - Primorsk Vysotsk St. Petersburg Ust-Luga -- decreased by?11.4% on a month-to-month basis to 4.7 millions tons. Since mid-February, Russian Baltic ports have barred non-ice class tankers from entering. Ice1 and Ice2 vessels are allowed to enter with icebreakers. The data revealed that, in contrast to the Baltic Sea, oil products...

DP World, a global ports operator, expects higher volumes 'at its Red Sea Terminals 'as the Iran Conflict approaches the two-week mark, %its CEO stated on Thursday. The Strait of Hormuz is closed and spiraling tanker attacks are cutting traffic to Gulf ports. Conflict triggered by U.S., Israeli and other airstrikes against Iran has affected energy and transport markets, and closed the world's main oil artery. The narrow waterway of Hormuz is the only way to reach most major Gulf ports. Yuvraj 'Narayan, CEO of DP World, said that Jebel Ali, DP World’s flagship hub in?Dubai is still fully operational,...

The airline said that more than half of Lufthansa's flights to and from Germany were cancelled on Thursday. This was the first of two strike days by pilots over pensions. The VC union has called for strikes on Lufthansa cargo and passenger flights departing from German airports this Thursday and Friday. This will affect the German flag carrier as well as?passengers, who are trying to deal with the chaos created by the Iran War. Lufthansa announced on Wednesday that it would operate "more than half" of its scheduled flights during the two day 'walkout. This includes 60% of long haul...

According to three sources, the Black Sea port 'Novorossiysk is running 10 days behind schedule due to persistent storms, drone attacks and other factors. One of these forced a suspension in loadings at the beginning of this month. A source in the trade stated that "every time a danger warning is issued, tankers are demoored and sent to sea." According to LSEG, industry sources and estimates, shipments from Novorossiysk of Urals and KEBCO 'crude oil' in the first ten days of March averaged around 200,000 bpd, about half of them being carryovers from February. Another source from the oil industry...

John Healey, the UK's defence minister, said on Thursday that the UK is looking at additional options to deploy?to Gulf following the increase in attacks by Iran on vessels. He also noted that the UK already has autonomous mine-hunting systems in the area. Royal Navy (RN), said last week that its last minehunter HMS Middleton was based out of Bahrain and had returned to Britain in March?1. The vessel was over 40 years old and was "no longer certified for sailing", it stated. Healey stated that "we already have some autonomous mine hunting systems in the area." Healey said that...

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated on Thursday that global oil prices are unlikely to reach $200 per barrel, even though?crude?tankers remain stalled in Strait of Hormuz while the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has widened. Wright said that he thought it unlikely but was focused on the military operations and the solution of the problem when asked if oil prices would hit $200 per barrel. This is a price level which could be reached if the war escalates, according to an Iranian official on Wednesday. The spokesperson for Tehran's Khatam al-Anbiya Military Command HQ, Ebrahim Zolfaqari said, "Get ready for...

Analysts at GMK Center - Consultancy reported on Thursday that the?exports of iron ore from Ukraine in January and February fell by nearly?41% compared to last year, totaling 3.3 million metric??tons. GMK Center expects Ukraine's exports of iron ore to decline by 5% in this year, to 29 million tons. After grain, iron ore is the second-largest export of Ukraine. GMK stated in a'report' that the decline of exports is likely primarily attributed to internal production constraints versus external market conditions. GMK Center stated that the main cause of the shutdowns was the disruptions in power supply following the attacks...

The weather was a factor in the 10% increase in grain shipments from Ukraine to Black Sea ports for export. Ukraine is one of the world's largest grain producers and exporters. More than 90% of grain exported by Ukraine goes to Black Sea ports via rail. Ukrzaliznytsia reported that so far in the month of March,?0.9 metric?tons grain had been delivered to ports. This is 8% more than during the same period last year. Last week, the company reported that grain shipments from Ukraine to ports increased by?5.5% year-on-year in February to?2.3 metric tons. As of March 6, data from...

Sara Aagesen, Spain's energy minister, called on power companies on Monday to "make public" all information they had relating to the massive?"blackout" that struck?Spain and Portugal in April last year to ensure a transparent investigation into its root causes. The April 28 outage, which left parts of the Iberian Peninsula with no power for as long as 16 hours, prompted multiple investigations by both the government and grid operator. The reports all point out that a sudden surge in voltage is the immediate cause. However, there was no blame assigned and the information provided by the companies was anonymous. Aagesen...

Two El Feel engineers reported that the El Feel oilfield in Libya has been closed since Thursday because National Oil Corporation, the state-owned oil company, used its 'pipeline' to transport crude from Sharara after its pipeline had been damaged by fire. The engineers said that the flow of Sharara oil was redirected through the El Feel pipeline and the Hamada pipe to the storage tanks at Zawiya. An engineer at the Sharara oilfield said that Sharara's alternative pipelines can pump between 80,000 and 100,000 barrels of oil per day. El Feel is operated by Mellitah Oil and Gas. This joint...

Officials said that Russian attacks on Saturday killed four people and left much of the northern region of?Chernihiv with no power. Ivan Fedorov, the governor of Zaporizhzhia, said that the morning attack in the city had killed two people, a man, and a woman. Six others were injured, including two young children. Officials in the Dnipropetrovsk Region have confirmed that two people were killed southeast of Dnipro, the regional capital. In multiple attacks, five people were injured. In his evening video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy noted Russian strikes across several regions of eastern and southern Ukraine. He said that 'power...

The Iraqi 'oil ministry' said that the Kurdistan Regional Government?refused it to use a pipeline for an alternative route for crude shipments disrupted by?the Iran _conflict. It accused authorities in Kurdistan of placing irrelevant conditions. Senior Kurdish officials told authorities that they would welcome the Iraqi government using the pipeline. However, Baghdad must first lift its "dollar embargo", which he called on the region. "We want to make a deal." "We want to help Iraq, and bring relief? to the markets. But this embargo has got to end first," said the official. Sources told The Daily Mail on 8 March...

Iran has threatened to escalate tensions across the Middle East in retaliation for American airstrikes against its energy hub and the?U.S. Donald Trump called on friendly nations to send warships into the Strait of Hormuz to secure it, as there was no sign of a 'war' ending Sunday. The U.S. and its allies are facing high energy prices due to the fact that Iran can stop shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which is a major channel for shipping oil and gas. "Countries that receive oil through the Hormuz Strait are responsible for that passage and we will assist a...

After a Saturday drone attack and fire, some oil-loading activities have been suspended at the United Arab Emirates’?Fujairah Port, a global hub for refuelling vessels?aswell as crude fuel and exports. Why Does FUJAIRAH Matter Globally? According to Kpler, Fujairah exported a total of 1.7 million barrels of crude oil per day and refined fuels in average during the past year. This volume is equivalent to 1.7% of world daily demand. Fujairah is situated on the Gulf of Oman and is approximately 70 nautical mile from the Strait of Hormuz which is currently closed because of the Iran conflict. This increases...

Donald Trump, the U.S. president, threatened to?order attacks on the petroleum infrastructure of Iran’s Kharg Island oil center unless Tehran stopped targeting vessels in the Strait of?Hormuz. This warning could further roil the markets that are already dealing with a historic supply disruption. Trump's ultimatum was accompanied by a post on social media claiming that the United States "totally destroyed" military targets on the island. The island is the export terminal of 90% of Iran's oil, and lies approximately 300 miles (483 kilometers) northwest from the Strait. Trump wrote that U.S. strikes did not target Kharg’s oil infrastructure. However, "should...

Hungarian refiner MOL announced on Friday that it and its subsidiary Slovnaft filed a complaint to the European Commission over a Croatian pipeline operator JANAF's price policy. This follows a complaint MOL made last week to the EU's Competition Watchdog about JANAF refusing to deliver Russian crude oil to MOL and its Slovak subsidiary. A January outage on the Druzhba oil pipeline that delivers Russian oil via Ukraine left Hungary and Slovakia, which are landlocked countries, reliant on JANAF for oil supplies. MOL's latest complaint stated that "JANAF consistently applied abusive pricing practices" and added that its orders had increased...

Iran, following through on a long-standing threat, has closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation to U.S. and Israeli strikes. This waterway is vital, as it carries a fifth of all global oil supplies. The United States has said that it could consider escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which would be very difficult to secure, as the Houthis from Yemen proved last year when they disrupted Red Sea shipping. According to United Nations data, about a fifth of global oil and LNG normally passes through the Strait. Traffic has decreased by 97% since February 28 when the U.S./Israeli...

Data released on Friday showed that a barrage of Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia's Black Sea oil export facilities as well as severe storms and ice conditions in Baltic Sea affected Russian oil exports. The United States issued a waiver on Thursday for countries to purchase sanctioned Russian crude oil and petroleum products that were stranded in the sea. This was done to stabilize global energy markets, which had been roiled by war with Iran. The easing of U.S. sanctions may not have a major impact on Russia's oil production due to the drone attacks and the bad weather. The...

Two industry sources said that oil output at Kazakhstan's biggest Tengiz Field rose to 810,000 barrels of oil on March 11 but only averaged 495,000 barrels per day (bpd), lagging behind the capacity goal. Sources claim that the average production in Tengiz between March 1-10 was 16 % lower than it was in February when output was around 590 000 bpd. Tengizchevroil, a U.S. Chevron company that operates in Tengiz, is now restoring production after a January 18 emergency shutdown caused by an fire. The main export route, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium system (CPC), is constrained by adverse weather conditions...

Hayan Abdel-Ghani, the Oil Minister, was quoted on Thursday as saying that Iraq would keep crude 'oil' production at 1.4 million barrels a day. This is less than a third of the level before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. According to state news agency, according to the minister, 200,000 bpd are being transported via truck through Turkey Syria and Jordan, and that Iraq has implemented a plan to deal with the current disruptions. Sources told?that oil production in Iraq's southern oilfields has dropped 70%, to just 1.3m bpd. This is because the country cannot export via the Gulf due to...