Europe

Former head of Italy's State Railway Company, 72 years old, has begun a 5-year prison term for a derailment in 2009 that killed 32 people. This case highlights the issue of managerial liability and the slow pace of Italian justice. Mauro Mauretti was CEO of Ferrovie dello Stato when a train carrying goods came off its track as it passed Viareggio station in Tuscany. The cargo of liquefied gases exploded and caused a massive fire to spread throughout the station. Moretti received a seven-year prison sentence in 2017 after a long initial trial. Moretti did not serve his sentence because...

The prices of Caspian crude oil grades such as Kazakhstan's CPC Blend and Azerbaijan Azeri BTC are falling despite the growing pressure on European barrels, traders said. The difference between Caspian crude oil and Brent has weakened in line with the global trend. As Gulf oil supplies increase, physical cargoes in many regions are now at discounts to Brent. Iran is expected to boost sales after a temporary easing of U.S. sanction. On Wednesday, oil prices fell further, continuing the declines that began earlier in the week. They are now hovering at four-month lows as more tankers, which have been...

The company's Press Office announced on Wednesday that Exxon's oil refinery in the 'Belgian Port' of Antwerp will stop production from June 29 until July 3, due to a striking action. ABVV Petroleum union stated on its website that workers at the refinery oppose a plan of cutting 35 jobs from a total of 735. According to the union, staff are also protesting about their deteriorating conditions of work and fewer options for early retirement despite ExxonMobil making higher profits because fuel prices have risen. The union stated that the job cuts were part of a wider reorganization, which will...

The?High Court of London ruled that Britain's approval for Gatwick Airport expansion was legal. This allows the country's 2nd busiest hub to proceed with its plan to add millions more passengers by 2030. Last year, the government approved the?opening? of a?second runway? at Gatwick Airport, located 30 miles (48km) south-east of London. However, two environmental groups brought a lawsuit over noise and air pollution. Both the Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign and Communities Against Gatwick Noise and Emissions said that they would appeal Tuesday's decision. GOVERNMENT HAS BACKED NEW RUNWAY The government said that the increased use of sustainable aviation fuel...

The grain freight rates in Ukraine are down despite the 'ongoing Russian attacks' on Black Sea ports, ASAP Agri said on Monday. They cited a seasonal decline in cargo flow. Last week, officials and industry executives told? Last week, industry executives and officials told? The Ukrainian Navy said Monday that a Russian drone?hit a Turkish dry cargo vessel, causing an extensive fire on board. Ukraine is a major grain exporter in the world, and its Black Sea port handles more than 90% of its exports. ASAP Agri stated that as Ukraine closes its 2025/26 summer-july export season, the historically low...

The Ukrainian economy ministry announced over the weekend that it would be increasing rail freight tariffs by 30% on August 1st to help stabilize the financial position of the state railway Ukrzaliznytsia. The war against Russia is now in its fifth and final year. Railways are still a crucial part of Ukraine's logistic network, transporting both passengers and freight. The government is under pressure to reduce its debt because of increased spending on infrastructure and security. Ukrzaliznytsia's CEO Oleksandr P. Pertsovskyi said?this month the firm had to increase their tariffs this year by at least 45% in order to help...

Aviation authorities confirmed that a technical problem in air 'traffic control', which was triggered by security precautions?for the peace talks between the U.S.A. and Iran?in Switzerland?, caused disruptions? at the Zurich airport?on Sunday. They added that the problem has been resolved. Skyguide, a Swiss air traffic control authority, said that the glitch was caused by the integration of the restricted zone above Buergenstock in radar display systems. This is the Swiss mountain resort, where the negotiations are taking place. According to a statement, the zone was decided only at the last minute as the decision to hold the most recent...

The executive board of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), announced late Friday, approved a EUR650.7m ($746.2m) loan to Uganda 'to help finance its standard gauge rail project. Uganda is raising money for the EUR2.7billion?project. It has already received backing from lenders such as the World Bank and?African Development Bank. Citibank has been appointed to assist in the mobilisation of?financing. Turkish company Yapi Merkezi is responsible for the construction of the railway. IsDB was one of Uganda's largest sources of external funding and had, as of the end May, projects in a country east of Africa worth $896.5 Million, according to...

The British Transport Police said on Friday that it was responding to media reports about a major collision between two trains, 60 miles north-east of London. Media reports claimed the incident resulted in'multiple injuries. The video was posted on Facebook and showed what appeared to be the front of a train intertwined with the?back of another train, both of which were still on the track. The East of England Ambulance Service sent multiple resources, including an air ambulance, to the accident on the rail south of Bedford and advised people to avoid that area. In a post to X, Heidi...

Adif, the rail operator in Spain, said that a wildfire near a section of the high-speed train between Madrid and Barcelona was responsible for Thursday's disruption. The national weather service warned that the fire risk will increase sharply in the northern interior zones of Spain from Sunday. Last summer, Spain & Portugal?suffered the worst heatwave on record for 16 days and?helped to stoke devastating fires in forests. Scientists claim that extreme weather events are becoming more common due to climate change. Firefighters asked Renfe to suspend services between Lleida-Pirineus station and Camp de Tarragona at the request from Adif and...

Chaiyaporn?Arunrasamee, hunched with his nets over the Andaman Sea, is a Thai government official proposing a "Land Bridge", which will ferry goods from ports on either side of the peninsula. Chaiyaporn stated that he did not want the project to be implemented. The Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul revived the project after the war with Iran and the closing of the Hormuz Strait revealed the countries' dependence on strategic maritime chokepoints. Plans envisage a '1 trillion baht logistics corridor ($30.45billion) to provide an alternative route through the Strait of Malacca, which is currently clogged with traffic. The corridor will connect...

The Russian crude oil exports were higher than expected in early June as drone attacks on refineries released a large amount of extra volumes for shipping, according to trade sources and port sources. Russia planned to reduce its crude oil exports to cover fuel shortages and boost refinery runs in June, but was unable to do so because Ukraine intensified its drone campaign, which targeted major?facilities such as the TANECO complex and the Moscow refining facility. According to three sources who are familiar with port operations, the average daily loadings of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk on the Black Sea and...

Around 1,000 Norwegian oil workers were 'locked out' on Saturday morning, in an escalation of a labour dispute. This is expected to disrupt drilling on the Norwegian continental shelf and some production. Offshore Norway, a group of industry representatives, announced on Friday that the lockout was declared in response to a strike by hundreds of members of Safe. The lockout will affect SLB, Halliburton and Subsea 7, DOF Subsea and Weatherford. Offshore Norway, a group representing the oil and gas industry in Norway, said that due to the strike and lockout next week, oil and natural gas production could fall...

The ongoing strike of oil service workers, and the lockout announced on Friday could cause Norway's oil and?gas?production to fall by about 12,000 barrels (of oil equivalent) per day next week. The industry group that represents employers said that four mobile rigs, 5 fixed installations, and?one intervening vessel had already stopped drilling and well operations due to the strike. A lockout that occurred on Saturday morning would force around 1,000 Safe 'union members who are covered by the 'well service agreement' to stop work. Safe had announced earlier on Friday that it would withdraw 63 more workers from the 500...

Maxim Timchenko, the CEO of Ukraine's biggest private power and coal company DTEK, said that it plans to upgrade its infrastructure to switch from coal to natural gas and nuclear energy in order to?phase out? its coal use by 2035. The global progress in phasing-out carbon-intensive coal is uneven. While many countries hesitate to invest in the energy transition, Ukraine was forced by Russia's conflict to upgrade its infrastructure. Timchenko stated that about 80% equipment at the coal-fired stations in Ukraine was damaged or destroyed last winter by Russian attacks. DTEK has announced its plans for energy transition to reach...

In recent months, Ukraine intensified its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. The war is now in its fifth year. Fuel shortages are worsened by drone attacks in Russia. People have reported rising prices and long lines at filling stations in most regions. Here is a list of recent attacks, starting with the newest. NORSI NORSI - Russia's fourth largest oil refinery owned by Lukoil, halted operations on Wednesday after a Ukrainian drone strike, which is likely to worsen fuel shortages across the country, according to two industry sources. NORSI is the second largest producer of gasoline in Russia. It can...

The?U.N. The?U.N. The repairs were carried out in two separate locations: the switchyard at the Zaporizhzhya thermal power plant, which supplies electricity to the ZNPP via the backup 330 kV Ferosplavna-1?line, according to the agency. The Dniprovska Line has not been brought back to operation yet due to?extensive damages at its connecting substation. The International Atomic Energy Agency's Rafael Mariano Grossi stated in a statement that the line had been repaired but still needed to be brought back into operation. The agency stated that repairs to the substation are ongoing but not expected to be completed in the near future....

Sevastopol has limited the power supply to homes in order to avoid overloading the network. This is according the the Russian-installed Governor of Crimea's biggest city, who spoke on Thursday. The Black Sea Peninsula is currently experiencing fuel and electricity shortages. Crimean authorities already have suspended fuel sales for private motorists. Sevastopol, on the other hand, has implemented restrictions to operating hours of public transport, shops and cafes. In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, despite the fact that most countries don't recognise Moscow's authority in the region. Kyiv, however, has stated it will never cede this territory. The fuel supply to...

As a result of the Ukrainian drone attacks, Russia will ship record volumes of crude oil from its western ports in June. Sources said that loadings at the Baltic ports Primorsk and Ust-Luga as well as the Black Sea port Novorossiysk are expected to be around 2.7 million barrels per day this month. One source said that shipments could reach as high as 2,8 million barrels per day. This would be a significant increase over the 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) exported in May, and about 1 million above the initial forecast for the month. As a result of...

Four industry sources said that Russia and Kazakhstan are in discussions to import 50,000 metric tons of AI92 to alleviate a 'domestic shortage' caused by refinery failures and unscheduled maintenance. As of late June, the shutdowns at several large refineries in central Russia following Ukrainian drone attacks had reduced gasoline production by about 25% on an annual basis. The Russian Energy Ministry declined to comment immediately. Erlan Akkenzhenov, Kazakhstan's energy minister, said earlier that Astana hadn't received a formal request for gasoline from Moscow. The Russian government is considering measures for stabilizing the market. These include fuel export restrictions and...

Local officials reported that Ukrainian drones targeted energy infrastructure in central and southern Russia and the largest city in Russian-held Crimea. This highlights the'reach' of Kyiv’s attacks. Ukraine intensified its strikes against Russian oil refineries and depots this year, driving up the price of gasoline in Russia where authorities have restricted sales in certain regions. The fuel shortages in the Crimean peninsula have been especially acute since Russia's annexation of the peninsula in 2014. Sevastopol's newly-installed Russian governor has ordered the early closure of cafes, public transport, and street lights to protect Sevastopol from overnight attacks. He said that the...

The authorities in northern France scrambled on Wednesday to restore power to thousands of homes that were affected by a 'power cut' amid a scorching heatwave which has been sweeping western Europe for days. In the effort to restore power, healthcare centres and critical sites are being prioritized. Generators have been?provided? for retirement homes after Tuesday's outages were blamed on an?incident with a transformer, they? added. Officials said that the incident was an accident and related to this heat wave. "Nobody was injured." According to Climate Monitor, record-breaking temperatures in Europe have caused disruptions to transport networks, and schools and...

A public document revealed that the owner of the Gazprom controlled Nord Stream 2 pipeline has filed a lawsuit against the European Union at the second highest court in the bloc, attempting to overturn the EU's phase-out of binding gas imports from Russia. In response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU passed a law requiring all Russian gas imports to cease by late 2027. This would cut off all ties with Europe’s former largest supplier. The ban prevented the revival of the Nord Stream System - two double pipes under the Baltic Sea built by Russia's Gazprom...

By America Hernandez PARIS, June 23. CEO Patrick Pouyanne told an energy conference held in Paris that TotalEnergies must 'prioritise' the construction of pipelines to?export gas and oil?from the Middle East without having to send ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Pouyanne was asked to share his lessons learned over the past three-months of the Iran crisis, as Total is the major oil company most exposed to the Middle East. The Iran war has crippled the waterway that carries a fifth of the world’s oil to global markets. "The Strait of Hormuz is a real threat. We must act." "There...