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Caspian Pipeline Consortium reports that two of the three Black Sea oil moorings have been operational
Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which handles around 1.5% of the global oil, announced on Monday that it has brought back one of its Black Sea docking points after maintenance following an accident at another loading point last week. CPC, which is mainly carrying oil from Kazakhstan, has confirmed that mooring point SPM 1 and SPM 3 are currently operational. This latter has been under maintenance since August 15 Last Friday, the consortium announced that it had halted operations at SPM 2 after an oil spill occurred during a loading process. CPC operates with two moorings and uses the third one as a backup. CPC's shareholders, including U.S. giants Chevron, Exxon Mobil and others, have been in the spotlight on several occasions during the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Due to storms, unplanned maintenance and oil spills the consortium had to close all of its moorings points except one several times by 2022. This severely reduced exports along this route. This year's operations were also disrupted by a Ukrainian Drone strike. (Reporting and editing by Mark Trevelyan; Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin)
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Ukraine will increase its gas imports Monday
The national gas transmission operator announced that Ukraine will increase its natural gas imports from 22 million cubic meters (mcm), which was the level on Sunday, to nearly 24 mcm by Monday. In recent weeks, Ukraine has imported about 22 mcm per day of gas. The country must store at least 13 billion cubic meters of gas underground for winter heating. Operator data indicated that Ukraine will increase its gas imports to Poland from 7,7 mcm Sunday, up to 10,4 mcm Monday. The country will also import gas in Hungary and Slovakia. Since Russian missile attacks this year, the domestic gas production in Ukraine has been severely reduced. In recent weeks, despite the efforts of U.S. president Donald Trump to resolve the conflict, Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure for gas import and production. Rustem Umerov, a senior Ukrainian official in charge of security, announced on Monday that the top military and security officials will meet this week to talk about the energy sector. Umerov told Telegram that the focus was on gas, fuel, and electricity supplies. He also stressed the importance of implementing relevant agreements with partners and ensuring critical infrastructure is ready. (Reporting and editing by David Goodman, Joe Bavier, and Pavel Polityuk)
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Since the Ukraine War, Russia has been increasing its energy ties to China
China has increased its purchases of Russian gas and oil since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine 2022. Moscow and Beijing declared a partnership "without limits" just days before war broke out. When Presidents Vladimir Putin & Xi Jinping met in China on February 2, the energy relationship between both countries was expected to be a major topic. The energy relations between the two countries are based on the following facts: Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, supplies natural gas to China via a 3,000 km pipeline (1.865 miles) called Power of Siberia, under a $400 billion, 30-year deal signed at the end of 2019 Exports in 2024 will be around 31 billion cubic meters. The supply is expected to reach the 38 bcm planned capacity this year. China agreed in February 2022 to purchase up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year by 2026-2027, via a pipeline that will run from Sakhalin Island to the Far East of Russia. Russia's annual gas exports to China still represent a tiny fraction of its record 177 billion cubic meters (bcm) to Europe. Russian gas is now only 18% of European imports. This is down from 45% by 2021. Oil imports to the EU from Russia are also down from 30% in that period to just 3%. The European Union intends to completely phase out Russian energy in 2027. Russia and China continue to discuss a new Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline that can deliver 50 billion cubic meters of gas annually from Russia to China through Mongolia. Gazprom started a feasibility study in 2020 for the pipeline, but now the project is more urgent as Russia looks to China as a replacement to Europe as the country's major gas consumer. Last year, Russia's exports of liquefied gas to China increased by 3.3%. They reached 8.3 million tons. After Australia and Qatar Russia was the third largest LNG supplier to China. China is the world's biggest buyer of seaborne gas. Since late 2022, China has ignored most of the sanctions imposed on Russian crude by Western nations. Due to its close proximity, China, the world's largest oil importer, and a major Russian oil buyer, primarily purchases East Siberia – Pacific Ocean (ESPO), crude oil exported from the Russian Far East Port of Kozmino. China's crude imports from Russia increased by 1% to a new record in 2024, compared with 2023. Purchases from Saudi Arabia fell 9%. According to China's General Administration of Customs (GAC), the volume of Russian oil - including seaborne and pipeline supplies - was 108.5 million tons last year, which is equivalent to 2,17 million barrels a day. China can also get Russian oil through the Skovorodino - Mohe pipeline spur on the 4,070-km (2.540-miles) ESPO pipe, bypassing all vessel and cargo restrictions. The pipeline has the capacity to ship 30 million metric tonnes annually. Russia is seeking to increase its oil exports via Kazakhstan to China by 2.5 million tonnes per year. (Reporting and editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Sharon Singleton and Vladimir Soldatkin)
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Data shows that Russian gas exports to Europe fell by 2% m/m during August.
Calculations show that the average daily supply of natural gas to Europe by Russian energy giant Gazprom via the TurkStream pipeline undersea decreased 2% from the previous months. The only remaining transit route for Russian gas into Europe is through Turkey after Ukraine decided not to renew a transit agreement with Moscow that expired in January. Calculations show that the total Russian gas supplied to Europe through TurkStream in the first eight month of this year was around 11.5 billion cubic meters (bcm), compared to 10.8bcm for the same period last year. Gazprom exported 21.1 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe between January and August last year. This figure included gas that was pumped through Ukraine. According to calculations based on data provided by the European Gas Transmission Group Entsog, Russian gas exports through the TurkStream pipeline decreased from 51.5 million cubic metres (mcm) per day per day during July to just 50.4 mcm/day in August. This was an increase from the 47.6 million cubic metres shipped through this route in August of 2024. The company did not reply to a comment request. It hasn't published its monthly statistics since 2023. Gazprom's data and calculations indicate that in 2022, Russia will have supplied 63.8 billion cubic meters of gas via various routes to Europe. This fell by 55.6% in 2023 to 28,3 bcm, but increased in 2024 to about 32 bcm. Gas flows into Europe peaked between 2018 and 2019. The annual flow was 175 to 180 bcm. (Reporting and editing by Mark Trevelyan; Oksana Kobizeva)
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Manager says that the tanker near Saudi Arabia's coast was not damaged and is under the captain's control, despite Houthis claiming attack.
The manager of a chemical tanker with Liberian flag said that the vessel was undamaged, and its captain is still in command, despite reports of an attack on the coast of Saudi Arabia by the Houthi militia of Yemen. Eastern Pacific Shipping, based in Singapore, said that it was aware of reports claiming that the vessel Scarlet Ray had been targeted by a suspected Houthi-inspired attack. We confirm that the vessel is not damaged and that it continues to be operated under the master's command. All crew members are safe and well. Yemen's Houthis claimed on Monday that they fired a missile at what they described as an Israeli-owned Scarlet Ray ship near the Saudi Arabian port city of Yanbu, located along the Red Sea. Eastern Pacific Shipping, owned by Israeli businessman Idan Ofer whose father Sami Ofer founded Israel's maritime industry, is owned and operated by Israeli magnate Idan Ofer. (Reporting and editing by Jonathan Saul)
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Ukraine will increase its gas imports Monday
The national gas transmission company said that Ukraine will increase its natural gas imports from 22 million cubic meters on Sunday to nearly 24 mcm by Monday. In recent weeks, Ukraine has imported about 22 mcm per day of gas. The country must store at least 13 billion cubic meters of gas underground for winter heating. Operator data indicated that Ukraine will increase its gas imports to Poland from 7,7 mcm Sunday, up to 10,4 mcm Monday. The country will also import gas in Hungary and Slovakia. Since Russian missile attacks this year, the domestic gas production in Ukraine has been severely reduced. In recent weeks, despite the efforts of U.S. president Donald Trump to resolve the conflict, Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure for gas imports and production. (Reporting and editing by David Goodman)
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Greece and Germany bust cocaine smuggling rings across Europe
Police said that Greek and German officers had dismantled an illegal ring smuggling drugs hidden in trucks coming from Spain to Greece and other European nations. In a police statement, they said that two suspected members of this gang had been arrested in Greece last week and three others in Germany. In Spain and Germany, more suspected gang members are still at large. The statement stated that the estimated profit for the gang is over 5 million euros (5,85 million dollars). Members hid the drugs in trucks that transported goods internationally, or they used trucks to legally enter Spain to obtain the drugs. The statement said that the vehicles were registered in Bulgaria primarily for Greek companies, and the drivers were Greeks and Bulgarians. During raids conducted in Greece and Germany, more than 300 kg cocaine were confiscated. Police officials confirmed that the two countries joined together following an investigation launched by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In recent years, Greece has intensified its fight against drugs trafficking as Europe has grown to be a major market for cocaine.
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InPost, a parcel locker company, acquires a stake in Bloq.it
InPost, a Polish company, announced on Monday that it will buy a majority stake in Bloq.it's parcel locker network along with over 20,000 locker units in order to enhance its last-mile service in Europe. Why it's important InPost has established a dominant position on its native market of Poland, and has increased its international expansion in recent years. Bloq.it follows the acquisitions of Spanish courier company Sending and Yodel, both in Britain. KEY QUOTES In a press release, InPost CEO Rafal Brzoska stated that "our strategic investment in Bloq.it will have a positive effect on our growth trajectory as well as our long-term profitability." CONTEXT InPost announced that it would install battery-operated locks in its key European market over the next five year. In July, the first units were installed in France and Britain. By the end of this year, new locations will be added in Italy, Portugal, and Spain. It has more than 88,000 points of delivery outside the home in nine European countries. This includes more than 54,000 automated parcel lockers (APMs) that let customers collect or drop-off packages at their convenience.
Royal Mail's first results after change of ownership show a profit for the operator
Royal Mail's International Distribution Services (IDS), a subsidiary of Royal Mail, reported its first profit in three year on Monday. The growth in parcel volume at its British operations and efforts to reduce costs were the main factors.
Royal Mail has tried to modernise their business by shifting its focus from letters to parcels. They have hinted at increased automation and price increases to reduce costs in the difficult UK market.
IDS reported an adjusted operating profit of 278 million pounds (375.55 millions dollars) for the fiscal year that ended on March 30, compared to 28 million pounds loss the prior year. Revenue increased 4.8% to 13,14 billion pounds.
The positive results are a great boost for one of the oldest postal groups in the world. The EP Group, owned by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, closed the acquisition of IDS in this year. They made commitments to safeguard the Royal Mail's more than 500 years of history and the futures of thousands of employees and customers.
IDS's international parcels network GLS - its cash cow - reported a slight drop in adjusted annual operating profit because of challenges in Germany, Italy and other countries.
IDS did not mention in its results report the ending of U.S. Tariff Exemptions for Low-Value Packages, which caused chaos in global postal services.
(source: Reuters)