Europe

The race to secure the critical minerals is opening up new opportunities for countries that have the fortune to possess the right deposits. The goal is to extract as much value from the metal?riches' in the earth as possible. The obvious answer is to process the ore. Smelters that convert ore to metal are not only more valuable, but also offer a path to economic and industrial development. It's a way for Western policymakers to loosen China's grip over midstream capacity in many critical metals. According to a joint study by the consultancy CRU, and the World Bank, the number...

Douala, the main port in Cameroon, has resumed its operations, said its transport minister?on a Tuesday. A collision between two cargo ships?at a weekend temporarily blocked?the navigational channel. The accident occurred early Sunday morning near buoy number 20. The collision occurred on 20 in the Douala - Bonaberi port canal when the cargo vessel MV Sea Honor, registered in Tuvalu, collided into the MV Black Rhino, flying the flag of Cyprus. The collision caused a temporary blockage of the channel and disrupted the maritime traffic in one of Central Africa’s busiest port. The impact of?disruption has not been disclosed. Port...

The Dutch court rejected Glencore’s bid to buy back Access World Group, its former logistics unit through a private transfer. Opponents said that the price proposed was too low. According to a ruling of the Amsterdam District Court dated July 2, which was released last week, Glencore, a London-listed company, could not transfer Access World Shares?to Tironimus. Hearing was held on 21 May. The court stated that Glencore did not demonstrate that a public auction was harmful. The court added that Tironimus might participate as a bidder at a public sale that could also identify other potential buyers. Glencore sought...

Andrea Cerulli was driving his car to work in the port of Voltri on the western edge of Genoa when the Morandi Motorway Bridge collapsed under him. He was one of 43 people who died in the worst infrastructure disaster in Italy in years. Cesare Cerulli, son of Cerulli, has spent the last eight years completing high school. He also passed his final exams, and will be starting university in the fall. When his father died, he was only 10 years old. He is now an adults. Cesare, along with dozens of relatives of victims, will return on July 16...

The container carrier, operated by CMA CGM, refuelled?with the ethanol during a port stop in Santos, Brazil. This is the first time this type of fuel has been used to move the engines of deep-sea vessels in Brazil. CMA CGM IRON received 650,000 liters anhydrous alcohol from Brazilian ethanol and Sugar merchant Copersucar in a refueling service provided by Danish marine services group Bunker One. The CMA vessel, one of the 12 vessels operated by the group, is equipped with a trifuel engine. This engine can run on any combination of bunker fuels or methanol. The CMA vessel is a...

Kernel Holding, a Ukrainian agricultural group, announced on Monday that it had halted?operations? at its port infrastructure?in Chornomorsk following the significant damage caused by Russian missiles and drones. The company said that the attacks from July 10 to 12, damaged the grain, sunflower oil, and meal storage, and the infrastructure for transshipment. It added that the timing of restoring operations was uncertain. The Russian defense ministry announced on Monday that its forces had struck infrastructure at the Chornomorsk Port, claiming?that it was being used to handle military cargo by the Ukrainian armed force. Kernel, in a regulatory filing described the...

Drones are cheap, mass-produced and have revolutionized modern warfare. They expose critical energy infrastructure to be the Achilles heel of modern economies. Unmanned aircraft have proven to be able to evade air defences on the battlefields in Ukraine, Russia, and?the Middle East. This has made oil refineries and power stations as well as export terminals, pipelines, and even power plants, prime targets. The implications for the energy sector are huge. Drones that cost a few hundred dollars or a few thousand dollars each can threaten facilities that have taken decades to build and billions to invest in. This shifts the...

Vinci Airports is a subsidiary of France’s VINCI Group. It expects the growth of air traffic to slow down through the end of the year, as high jet fuel prices, and geopolitical tensions, weigh on the aviation sector. However, it does not see major airline capacity reductions and is still open for expansion in Mexico and other places. Vinci Airports CEO Remi Mamon de Longevialle said during a trip to Mexico that there was "new volatility" in the markets, citing tensions between the Middle East and Asia. "Traffic may grow a bit slower than last year." Maumon de Longevialle, the...

The latest heatwave in Europe was a painful reminder that climate change is not just about cutting emissions. Temperatures in parts of Western Europe reached 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Roads buckled, rail tracks warped and traffic lights malfunctioned. Transport operators also imposed speed restrictions or cancelled services. According to the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe, transport infrastructure in the region is more exposed to thermal stress and deformation of rails as heat extremes increase. Decarbonisation has dominated Europe's narrative on infrastructure spending for years. Investors have focused on windmills, solar panels and electric vehicles. A different infrastructure...

The latest heatwave in Europe was a painful reminder that climate change is not just about cutting emissions. Temperatures in western Europe soared to over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Roads buckled, rails warped, traffic signals malfunctioned, and transport operators implemented speed limits or cancelled services. According to the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe, transport infrastructure in the region is more exposed to thermal stress and deformation of rails as heat extremes increase. Since years, Europe’s infrastructure spending has been dominated?decarbonisation. Investors have focused on windmills, solar panels and electric vehicles. A?different story? of infrastructure is emerging as it...

Three sources claim that discounts for Russian Urals crude have increased to more than $10 per barrel in Indian ports due to a weaker refinery demand and a large supply of alternative products. Between March and June, Urals traded at a higher price than Brent on its two main markets of India and China. This was due to supply disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict. Sources said that the support for Russian crude has waned, as Middle East producers and Iran have resumed exports. This leaves Asian refiners with a variety of options, as well a cooling in demand....

Georgia's economy minister announced on Monday that the country will be taking over full development of the country's first deep water port on the Black Sea. This is the first definite indication that the Chinese-Singaporean consortium has pulled out of the project. Anaklia Deep Sea Port, originally planned as an important infrastructure link connecting Asia with Europe a decade earlier, has been plagued by delays since the Georgian Government in 2020 canceled a contract awarded to a Western-led group?to build it. The port will be the most ambitious infrastructure project in the country to date. It aims to handle approximately...

At least two people were arrested on suspicion of starting the fire in a forest near Paris. Laurent Nunez, Interior Minister, said on Monday evening that "it is not under control." The main fire in Fontainebleau, and a second one that began nearby on Monday afternoon, had scorched over 1,300 hectares (3.212 acres). Nunez said the fire was only a few kilometers away from the Palace of "Fontainebleau", which explained the deployments of significant resources, such as water-carrying aircraft and helicopters. Canadair's aircraft skimmed across the River Seine on Monday to fill up their fuel tanks in an attempt to...

Drones are cheap, mass-produced and have revolutionized modern warfare. They expose critical energy infrastructures as the Achilles heel of modern economies. Unmanned aircraft are able to evade air defences on the battlefields in Ukraine, Russia, and the Middle East. This makes oil refineries and power stations as well as export terminals and pipelines prime targets. The energy industry is affected by the implications. Swarms of drones, which cost a few hundred dollars up to several thousand dollars each, can threaten facilities that have taken decades and billions to build. This will dramatically shift the balance of power between attackers and...

EU data revealed on Monday that the European Union imported record volumes of liquefied gas from Russia's Yamal facility during the first half of this year. This is ahead a ban which will come into effect in 2019. The EU banned Russian LNG imports from April, but imports of long-term contracts are allowed until January 1, 2027. According to data from commodities intelligence company Kpler, EU countries imported 136 loads containing 9.97 metric tons of LNG from Yamal between January and June, an increase of 16% over the same period in the previous year. Novatek, a private Russian company, controls...

According to three sources, the freight rates for tanker shipments from western ports of Russia's Urals crude to India have fallen in July compared to last month. This is because increased vessel availability and the summer season eased pressure on the market. The lower transportation costs are a relief for Russian oil exporters whose margins were under pressure due to the wider discounts on Urals crude, as a result of weak demand in Asia. Sources claim that the cost to ship a cargo of 100,000 metric tonnes of Aframax from the Baltic port of Primorsk, in the Baltic Sea, to...

Open-source analysis shows that Russia is using small drones to damage high-voltage substations of electricity in the frontline region of Sumy in northern Ukraine. The Centre for Information Resilience in London is an open-source investigative group that has verified the footage of a new wave of strikes posted on Russian social media. Throughout the war, Russia bombarded Ukrainian power plants, particularly in frontline regions. As a response, Ukrainian authorities covered high-voltage converters with concrete sarcophagis and anti-drone webs. Ukraine's frontline areas are also filled with electronic warfare systems, which aim to interfere with the radio signals that control drones. As...

Ukraine's Deputy Prosecutor-General denied Kyiv's role in the 2022 explosion of the Nord Stream Gas Pipelines and suggested forming a joint investigative team with Germany. Germany suspects Ukrainian state entities are behind the explosions. The explosions occurred months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. They damaged the Nord Stream 1 pipe, a crucial route for?Russian exports of gas to Europe. In a press release, the Prosecutor's Office said that, according to the findings of the investigation, there was no evidence that Ukraine or its officials or officials had been involved in the explosions that occurred in the Baltic Sea...

Offshore -Norway, an industry group, said on Thursday that a strike by oil service workers has resulted in historical and future production losses for operators worth 1.6 billion Norwegian crowns (approximately $163.62 million) this year. About?1,000 Norwegian Oil Service Workers were locked out in late June as a result of a?strike being carried out by several hundred members from Norway's Safe Union. Offshore Norway reported that five mobile drilling rigs and five fixed offshore installations, as well as?one well-intervention vessel, had suspended all drilling and well-operations. It also said that four inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR),?vessels, were affected. The production...

90% of Tulsans can expect to be able order deliveries by autonomous drones within the next 12 months, said Manna on Wednesday. The company has begun a push in the American Southwest it believes will "be the battleground" for this?fast-growing sector. Executive chairman Kenny Jacobs said that the Irish-founded startup, based in Oklahoma City, will begin flying orders for partners like DoorDash, McDonald's, and Uber Eats by mid-2027. It will operate 40 bases throughout Oklahoma's second largest city. Jacobs said at the launch of the first full-scale U.S. operations. The technology has been proven. It's now about commercial scalability, and...

Two?industry?sources? said that a drone attacked Chevron's Yasa Polaris?tanker used for Caspian Pipeline Consortium's shipments off Russia's?Black?Sea coast on Wednesday. Chevron said on Monday that it was aware of a ship incident near the Caspian?Pipeline Consortium loading facilities in Russia's Black Sea Port of Novorossiysk. The crew was unharmed, and exports from Kazakhstan weren't affected. Tengizchevroil, a company owned by Chevron and operating in Kazakhstan, is the largest exporter of CPC Blend Oil. It sources its oil from a massive Tengiz oilfield. According to LSEG, Yasa Polaris was built in 2022. It is a tanker capable of carrying?160,000 metric tonnes...

Ukrainian drones struck overnight three Russian oil refineries and Russian tankers on the Sea of Azov. The Ukrainian military and Russian local officials confirmed this on Wednesday. Kyiv is continuing its campaign against Russian energy infrastructure. As Ukraine intensifies its drone attacks against Russia's oil refineries, it is hitting targets further and farther from its territory. Kyiv has attacked the largest Russian refinery in Siberia located around 2,700 km (1 700 miles) away from Ukrainian-held territory. Separate statements from Ukraine's General Staff and Special Forces said that drones have hit the TANECO & TAIF NK oil refineries located in Tatarstan?Nizhnekamsk...

Kyiv’s military and local authorities in Russia confirmed that Ukrainian drones attacked Russia’s largest refinery, Omsk in Siberia this week. It was one of Ukraine’s longest-ranged attacks in the war. Fuel shortages are worsened by the drone attacks in Russia. People have reported higher prices and longer queues at filling stations throughout most regions. Here is a list of recent attacks and their impact. OMSK Ukrainian drones attacked the Omsk refinery 'on Monday causing a fire. There were no injuries. Governor Vitaly Khotsenko said that Russian air defences destroyed the majority of drones used in the attack. The extent of...

Prices of oil rose Tuesday after reports of an attack on vessels near the Strait of 'Hormuz rekindled fears that shipping along the vital energy transit route could be disrupted. Brent crude futures rose 89 cents or 1.24% to $72.88 per barrel while U.S. West Texas intermediate crude gained 71 cents or 1.04% to $69.26 per barrel at 0939 GMT. Ole Hansen, analyst at Saxo Bank, said: "This morning's dominant theme is the shooting of a ship in the Strait of Hormuz." This is bringing back some geopolitical risk premium into the price. It's not much compared to what we've...