Latest News
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Chinese ship linked to Baltic Sea cable television breach resumes voyage
A Chinese bulk carrier that is under investigation following a breach of 2 fibreoptic cables in the Baltic Sea is once again moving after sitting still for more than a month in a close-by Danish shipping lane, The Swedish Coastguard stated on Saturday. China had on Thursday allowed representatives from Germany, Sweden, Finland and Denmark to board the Yi Peng 3 along with Chinese private investigators, breaking a month-long diplomatic standoff. It has started moving and has said it is going to Port Said in Egypt, a Swedish Coastguard representative told Reuters. We. are tracking the ship and are in close contact with other. concerned authorities, the representative added. No further details were offered and the representative did not. state whether any proof had actually been discovered relating to the cable. breaches. Jonas Backstrand, chair of Sweden's mishap. investigation authority, said on Friday: We are content with. the go to onboard, which was fairly open and transparent and. we had the possibility to see what we wanted to see and to talk. to the team members that we wished to talk with. The Baltic Sea cable televisions, one connecting Finland and Germany and. the other linking Sweden to Lithuania, were harmed on Nov. 17 and 18, triggering German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius to. say he assumed this was caused by sabotage. Private investigators rapidly zeroed in on the Chinese ship, which. left the Russian port of Ust-Luga on Nov. 15. A Reuters analysis. of MarineTraffic data showed the vessel's collaborates. represented the time and location of the breaches. Vessels in global waters gain from the liberty of. navigation concept, meaning a state can not interfere with. ships sailing under the flag of another state. Denmark, which helped broker a compromise permitting the. European nations to send representatives on board, on Thursday. said the Yi Peng 3 would be able to resume its journey following. the examination. Sweden's mishap investigation authority stated it had. inspected the vessel alongside a comparable Chinese agency, while. policeman from Finland, Germany, Sweden and Denmark were. present as observers.
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More than 20 dead in bus and truck accident in Brazil
A packed bus hit a truck and burst into flames early on Saturday in Brazil, eliminating at least 22 individuals, the fire department stated. The bus bring 45 guests had a tire blowout and the motorist lost control of the lorry, which crashed into an approaching truck loaded with tiles at 4 a.m. on a significant highway near the town of Teofilo Otoni, in Minas Gerais state. Firemens said they saved 13 passengers from the damaged bus. Three residents of an automobile that likewise clashed and was caught under the truck made it through the mishap. Firefighters have actually recuperated 22 bodies from the bus, and more victims are still to be gotten rid of, firefighter Alonso Vieira Junior said in a video launched by the fire department. He said a crane was needed to gain access to another section of the bus where additional victims are located.
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Two Russian airports briefly stop operations, air travel guard dog states
Russia's Kazan airport has temporarily stopped flight arrivals and departures, Russia's. aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said through the Telegram messaging. app on Saturday, following a Ukrainian drone attack on the city. Russian state news firms reported the drone attack on a. domestic complex in Kazan, a city some 500 miles (800 km). east of Moscow. The TASS firm stated eight drone strikes had. been tape-recorded including six on domestic structures. There were no casualties reported, companies stated, citing. regional authorities. The Baza Telegram channel, which is close to Russia's. security services, released unverified video footage revealing an. aerial things crashing into a skyscraper, producing a. big fireball. Rosaviatsia stated it was also presenting temporary. restrictions at the airport in Izhevsk, a smaller sized city northeast. of Kazan.
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Venture Global, a LNG producer, files an IPO at the NYSE
Venture Global, the United States' largest producer of liquefied gas, filed on Friday for what could become one of the world's largest initial public offering next year. According to the filing, the LNG producer intends to list its Class-A common shares on NYSE under the symbol "VG". In November, it was reported that Arlington, Virginia based company planned to raise approximately $3 billion through its New York IPO. LSEG data shows that the cold storage giant Lineage’s $4.44 billion New York IPO and Hyundai Motor India’s $3.33 trillion Mumbai IPO were the two largest listings in this year. The company intends to use a portion of the proceeds towards general business purposes including funding operations. The company stated in its filing that Venture Global Partners II, LLC, Robert Pender, and Michael Sabel, Venture's co-chairmen and founders, will continue to control more than half of the voting power after the IPO. Sabel is the CEO of the company. According to the filing, Goldman Sachs & Co. J.P. Morgan and BofA Securities are amongst the underwriters of the IPO. Venture Global, founded 11 years ago, has already risen to the top of U.S. Natural Gas exporters. It competes with larger rivals Cheniere Energy Freeport LNG, and Sempra. Venture Global operates two plants in Louisiana. Its second plant at Plaquemines achieved its first LNG production only last week. The company reported revenues for the nine-month period ended September 30, which was down from $6.27 billion a year ago. (Reporting from Ananya Marym Rajesh in Bengaluru, Leroy Leo, and Prakhar Shrivastava; editing by Vijay Kishore).
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United States government shutdown could cost travel sector $1 billion per week, interfere with vacation travel
A partial federal government shutdown could cost the U.S. travel industry $1 billion weekly and cause widespread disturbances for travelers, a trade group representing airline companies, hotels and other travel business stated on Friday. An extended government shutdown threatens holiday travel disturbances that Americans won't endure, stated U.S. Travel Association CEO Geoff Freeman. On Thursday, the head of the Transport Security Administration alerted an extended partial U.S. government shutdown could result in longer wait times at airports. TSA expects to evaluate a record 40 million guests over the vacations after setting records over the Thanksgiving vacation. Fitch Scores said on Friday that a shutdown could also cause non-material functional disruptions at airports with non-essential FAA and TSA worker furloughed. TSA, which manages airport security screening, said about 59,000 of its 62,000 employees are thought about vital and would continue working without pay in case of a shutdown that would begin on Saturday unless the government reaches a. funding deal. Air traffic controllers and TSA officers are amongst the. federal government workers who would be needed to keep working but. would not be paid. It's difficult to see how anybody in Congress wins if they force. TSA employees, air traffic controllers, and other necessary. employees to work without pay during among the busiest travel. durations of the year, stated Freeman of the travel association. whose members include United Airlines, Marriott,. American Airlines and Hertz The group said a study found 60% of Americans would. consider altering their travel plans if a government shutdown. occurs, with many picking to cancel or prevent flights. completely. Without a deal, the Federal Air Travel Administration. estimated it would need to furlough more than 17,000 workers. and halt training of air traffic controllers. In 2019, during a 35-day shutdown, the variety of. lacks by controllers and TSA officers increased as workers missed out on. paychecks, extending checkpoint wait times at some airports. The. FAA was forced to slow air traffic in New York, putting pressure. on lawmakers to lastly end the standoff.
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U.S. crude exports to Europe anticipated to fall in Jan as shipping economics weaken
U.S. crude oil exports to northwest Europe are most likely to slip early next year after hitting a record high in November, as the arbitrage for transatlantic shipments has knocked shut and freight rates have climbed, analysts stated today. The spread between U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude and Brent futures has actually narrowed to a discount rate of around $3.40 per barrel over the last couple of sessions, closing at its narrowest point on Wednesday since October 2023 at minus $3.37. per barrel. A narrower spread makes it less economic to deliver. barrels from the U.S. across the Atlantic. The spread last. traded at minus $3.44 per barrel throughout Friday's session. A discount of $4, in my opinion, is constantly the line in. the sand in between a big export number versus a small export. number, said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho. The tighter spread comes as freight rates have increased and. stocks in the U.S. have fallen. Crude stocks at the key storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma -. have dropped to 23 million barrels, their lowest mid-December. level in 17 years. The decrease in stockpiles indicates U.S. barrels are being. priced to stay at home. At the end of November, the WTI/Brent spread had broadened to. approximately $4.50 per barrel, motivating more flows throughout the. Atlantic Ocean to higher priced markets and driving U.S. crude. exports greater. But the spike in flows may be short lived. Freight rates for. moving barrels from the U.S. Gulf Coast to northwest Europe have. climbed roughly $1 from November to around $3.80 per barrel. this month, according to information from product prices company Argus. The constricting WTI/Brent spread contributed to those. higher freight rates which are being used to price shipments for. late January arrival, according to Sparta Commodities analyst. Neil Crosby. We would expect more minimal U.S. to. Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp streams in the short-term to emerge,. Crosby said. The addition of WTI Midland crude in the outdated Brent index. has actually suggested that the spread between the two is significantly. associated to freight rates, as the cost of Dated Brent is set. by WTI Midland on lots of trading days. U.S. exports bound for Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hit a. record high of 771,000 barrels daily
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United States firm proposes to improve self-driving vehicle exemption reviews
The National Highway Traffic Security Administration on Friday proposed a brand-new process to streamline evaluations of exemptions filed by car manufacturers seeking to release selfdriving vehicles without required human controls like steering wheels or brake pedals. NHTSA has authority to grant petitions to allow as much as 2,500 automobiles per maker to run on U.S. roads without needed human controls but the firm has actually invested years examining several petitions without doing something about it. Efforts in Congress to make it simpler to deploy lorries on U.S. roadways without human controls have been stymied for many years. Car manufacturers have expressed disappointment with the company's slow reviews of autonomous cars. Under the law, totally self-driving lorries do not need NHTSA approval if they have required human controls. The market faces scrutiny after a pedestrian was seriously injured in October 2023 by a General Motors system Cruise lorry. NHTSA has actually opened a variety of investigations into self-driving vehicles consisting of Cruise , Alphabet's Waymo and Amazon.com's Zoox . The Alliance for Automotive Development, representing GM, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai and other major automakers, said the proposal will provide a. path to significantly expand the variety of commercial AVs. operating in the U.S. We urgently require a regulative framework. for AVs in the U.S., so we do not deliver leadership to China and. other nations. Reuters and other outlets have actually reported that President-elect Donald Trump wishes to reduce implementation barriers for. self-driving automobiles. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a close adviser to. Trump, stated in October the car manufacturer would roll out driverless ride-hailing services in 2025. NHTSA in October opened an examination into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with full. self-driving (FSD) after four reported collisions, including a. 2023 deadly crash. In 2018, GM petitioned NHTSA to deploy approximately 2,500 cars. without steering wheels or brake pedals on U.S. roadways. In 2020,. GM withdrew the petition. GM in 2022 again looked for NHTSA approval to release automobiles without human controls. GM withdrew the petition in October. and revealed this month it would exit the Cruise robotaxi business. Ford last year withdrew its self-driving petition submitted in July 2021 with NHTSA, citing its decision to close. its self-driving venture Argo AI in 2022.
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Spire's sale of ship tracking arm raises antitrust concerns
French maritime data analytics platform Kpler wishes to buy ship tracking company Spire Maritime, whose satellite information is a crucial resource for oil traders and shipping business, but some Spire clients fear Kpler will cut them off and have raised antitrust issues to U.S. authorities, sources familiar with the matter say. The $241 million deal announced on Nov. 13 would provide Kpler control over Spire's satellites and maritime Automatic Recognition System (AIS) data stream, which tracks ships internationally, especially in the open ocean, with a refresh rate of every 15 minutes. This capability is unequaled by rivals, including Orbcomm, which has 7-10 satellites and takes about 36 hours to update. Spire's advanced innovation enables it to track tens of thousands more ships than its rivals, making it an attractive info source for various consumers consisting of freight trackers, the U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence agencies. The data is likewise used by business maritime companies and commodities and energy desks at Wall Street companies who utilize it to trade oil contracts. Other clients consist of Maxar Intelligence, Polestar Global, Lloyd's List Intelligence, Windward, Vortexa, MapLarge too as shipping and cruise business, the people said. Veson Nautical, which lists Cargill and Trafigura among its clients, and ShipTracks, which serves Chevron, are amongst the analytics business that use Spire information. If the deal goes through Spire will still service existing contracts with the U.S. government for maritime data. However, the acquisition has raised concerns that software application and analytics consumers who depend on Spire's AIS information, and might compete in some applications with Kpler, might lose access to that data if the deal moves forward. Kpler has actually been actively obtaining competitors to strengthen its marine traffic and fleet tracking capabilities. There is a. worry that this vertical integration could also affect prices. and suppress development, stated the sources. Spire's data is also used in items used by LSEG Data &&. Analytics. LSEG pays Reuters for news. Kpler's acquisition spree has actually currently raised eyebrows in the. industry. Over the last few years, the business has bought up a number of. competitors including UK-based maritime data supplier. MarineTraffic and Norwegian firm Nortek. These acquisitions have. expanded Kpler's abilities and market share but have also. raised concerns about the company's growing supremacy in the. maritime information market. Kpler's acquisition of MarineTraffic, which was formerly a. major rival in the AIS information market, resulted in a loss of data. access for some analytics business that were outside Kpler's. targeted consumer base, the sources said.
US keeps its LNG exports crown even as radiance fades: Maguire
U.S. melted gas exports are on track to reach brand-new highs in 2024, as record domestic gas production spurred the 10th straight year of volume growth in the lucrative LNG export sector.
U.S. LNG deliveries for 2024 look set to hit 86.9 million metric loads, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler.
That total is around 720,000 heaps or 0.8% more than in 2023, therefore sustains the growth trend of U.S. LNG exports in spite of quick blackouts at a variety of export terminals in 2024 and delays at brand-new jobs that are under building.
BUMPY TRIP
Despite the volume growth, it hasn't been an easy year for the U.S. LNG export sector, which became the world's biggest in 2015.
Record gas output in the house integrated with slowing gas need in crucial markets led to a roughly 21% fall in average U.S. LNG export costs up until now this year compared to 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Details Administration (EIA).
From January through September, LNG export rates averaged $ 6.15 per thousand cubic feet, according to EIA.
That compares to a $7.75 average over the exact same period in 2023 and a $12.20 average in 2022, which was when Russia's. invasion of Ukraine set off power sector chaos and a sharp. increase in LNG imports across Europe.
This year's fall in U.S. LNG export prices was greater than. the roughly 15% decrease over the exact same duration in Henry Hub. gas futures - the U.S. criteria gas rate - and so. helped capture LNG exporter earnings through much of 2024.
MARKET MOVERS
A 22% drop in purchases by leading market Europe from 2023's. levels likewise harmed U.S. LNG exporters by requiring them to discover. other purchasers, often in more distant and dispersed areas that. take longer and cost more to service.
For 2024 as a whole, Europe is on track to acquire 43.8. million lots of LNG from the U.S., which is 12.7 million lots. less than European buyers acquired in 2023 and the most affordable. full-year total because 2021, according to Kpler.
To balance out the lower orders from Europe, U.S. exporters had. to call up sales to Asia, where volumes climbed by 8 million. lots on the year to 31.6 million heaps this year.
However shifting those volumes to purchasers in Japan, South Korea,. India and China costs more than the equivalent freight loads to. Europe due to the far longer journey times.
The journey period from Sabine Pass LNG export terminal in. the U.S. Gulf to Sodegaura LNG import terminal in Japan is. roughly thirty days - two times as long as the journey to Rotterdam port in. the Netherlands, which is Europe's main gas center.
Longer journey times suggests greater freight expenses as well more. boil-off of the gas from storage tanks, which results in lower. volumes that can be released upon shipment.
RATE TRENDS
Rising worldwide natural gas costs look set to enhance incomes. for gas sellers heading into 2025, and must see LNG exporter. revenues get in the months ahead.
Forward gas rates in the TTF gas trading center in the. Netherlands are presently projected to climb by nearly 12% in. 2025 from the 2024 average, while Henry Hub futures are seen. climbing up by 32% from their 2024 average, according to LSEG.
However, higher gas costs might likewise serve to weaken the. appetite for LNG in cost-sensitive economies where coal and. other power sources are cheaper and more abundant.
Combined LNG purchases by India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are. on course to strike a record of nearly 40 million loads in 2024,. according to Kpler.
But power producers in those countries rank among the most. cost-sensitive in Asia, and are well versed in changing out gas. for other fuels when rate moves or other market forces determine.
In 2022, when worldwide LNG and gas prices soared in the wake. of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, combined purchases into South. Asia dropped by 16%, or 6 million loads, from the year before as. gas purchasers balked at the high gas expenses.
In 2025, gas buyers in that area could once again make a. retreat from world markets if rates climb to wasteful. levels and justify using coal or other fuels instead.
Even in wealthier Europe, gas purchasers might also slow purchases. if local commercial activity remains muted, or if renewables and. other clean energy sources enhance products enough to displace. fossil fuel output.
This level of LNG demand unpredictability indicates more development in. overall LNG export volumes is not ensured in 2025.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a market. analyst .
(source: Reuters)