UKMTO reports two attacks northwest of Yemen's Mokha, triggering minor damage to vessel

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• Turkish Airlines restarts flights to Beirut, Anadolu reports

  Turkish Airlines has actually resumed flights from Istanbul to Beirut after a more than twomonth suspension prompted by dispute in the Middle East, Turkey's stateowned Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday. The airline company, Turkey's flag carrier, suspended flights to Beirut on Sept. 21 amidst the conflict between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group. The 2 sides concurred a. ceasefire recently, though both accuse the other of infractions. Anadolu said the airline prepared one flight daily in the. first stage, rising to two daily flights on Friday. It stated. there would then be 4 everyday flights from Dec. 11 onwards. Turkish Airlines did not right away respond to Reuters'. ask for comment on the Anadolu report and its details, but. its site showed Istanbul-Beirut flights on sale.

• United States deepens sanctions on Iran's 'shadow' oil fleet

  The Biden administration on Tuesday ramped up its sanctions on Iran, targeting 35 entities and vessels that it stated transferred illegal Iranian petroleum to foreign markets as part of what the U.S. Treasury Department called Tehran's shadow fleet. The sanctions construct on those formerly troubled Oct. 11 and be available in reaction to Iran's Oct. 1 attack on Israel and to its announced nuclear escalations, the U.S. Department of Treasury stated in a declaration. Iran continues to funnel profits from its petroleum trade toward the development of its nuclear program, proliferation of its ballistic missile and unmanned aerial lorry technology, and sponsorship of its regional terrorist proxies, running the risk of more destabilizing the region, Performing Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith stated in a declaration. The United States stays committed to interrupting the shadow fleet of vessels and operators that assist in these illicit activities, utilizing the full variety of our tools and authorities, Smith included. Such sanctions target key sectors of Iran's economy with the aim of rejecting the government funds to support its nuclear and missile programs. The relocation generally restricts any U.S. people or entities from conducting any service with the targets and freezes any U.S.-held possessions.

• Jordan has 6 bidders in the 120,000 T wheat auction, traders claim

  Initial assessments indicate that six trading companies have participated in the international bid on Tuesday by Jordan's state grain buyer for 120,000 metric tonnes of wheat. Participants included CHS, Viterra Al Dahra Cereal Crops Olam. Traders said that no purchase had yet been reported, but results were expected on Tuesday. The tender seeks to ship a number of combinations between 50,000 and 60,000 tons. The possible shipment combinations in 2025 are between Feb. 15-28 and March 1-15. March 16-31, and April 1-15. Jordan bought 60,000 tons of wheat from Cargill on November 26 at $268.90 per ton, cost and freight included. (c&f). The shipment is scheduled for the second half January 2025. Jordan has also released a separate tender for the purchase of 120,000 tons animal feed barley that closes on Wednesday. Michael Hogan is reporting.

• Flights resume in between Iran's Mashhad and Saudi's Dammam as tensions ease

  Iran Air on Tuesday resumed flights in between Mashhad in the northeast of the nation and Dammam in Saudi Arabia after a 9 year hiatus, the Iranian Trainee News Agency (ISNA) reported, in a sign of enhancing relations in between the Middle Eastern competitors. The resumption breaks the ice for Saudi Arabia's Shi'ite minority to go to the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, Iran's second most populous city. A deputy from Iran's embassy, the representative of Iran Air and representatives from Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Air travel invited getting here travelers in Dammam and stressed the need to help with the motion of people between the two countries, ISNA said. The round flight, which is meant to occur two times a week, comes after the first group of Iranian pilgrims flew to Capital in Saudi Arabia in April to do umrah, or small pilgrimage, likewise after a 9 year hiatus. In March 2023, Riyadh and Tehran accepted re-establish relations after Chinese intermediation, following years of hostility that threatened stability and security in the Gulf and helped fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in 2016 after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was stormed throughout a disagreement over Riyadh's. execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric. Dammam is the capital of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, a. region with a substantial Shi'ite minority.

• Russian ESPO oil premiums struck 2-year highs in China on robust winter season demand

  (This material was partly produced in Russia where the law restricts protection of Russian military operations in Ukraine.). Spot premiums for Russia's Far East ESPO Blend petroleum. deliveries to China rose to their highest given that the Ukraine war. broke out in 2022 on robust winter season need and as prices for. rival grades from Iran firmed, three trade sources said on. Tuesday. ESPO Blend cargoes loading in January traded at. premiums of about $1.30 to $1.50 per barrel against ICE Brent on. provided ex-ship (DES) China basis, the sources informed Reuters,. rising from premiums of $1 per barrel for freights loading in. November and December. It is the highest premium level for ESPO Blend to ICE Brent. at Chinese ports on DES basis considering that 2022, when prices of Russian. oil collapsed due to western sanctions on Moscow over the war in. Ukraine, Reuters data revealed. Demand for ESPO Blend firmed amid fresh buying from Chinese. independent refiners, called teapots, which got a brand-new. batch of import quotas for use by the end of 2024. China has provided an additional petroleum import quota of at. least 5.84 million metric lots (116,800 barrels daily) to. independent refiners. ESPO is likewise favoured by Chinese refiners in the cold months. as it produces winter-grade diesel used for transport,. particularly in cold regions like northern China, a trader at an. independent refiner said. The sources declined to be called as they were not authorised. to talk to the media. Rising costs for Iranian oil, of which Chinese independent. refiners are the most significant buyer, fuelled premiums for ESPO Blend. also, traders stated. ESPO prices were also supported by Chinese oil majors'. purchases for stockpiling, leaving fewer offered freights in. the market, Vortexa experts stated in a current report. Beijing asked state oil business this year to include about 60. million barrels of crude to the country's emergency stockpiles. to boost supply security. The tightness of Russian and Iranian products will last for. months, according to Vortexa analysts.

• Freight ship sinking off Egypt's Red Sea coast

  Egyptian authorities are scrambling to restore the VSG Splendor, a cargo ship that started sinking on Monday near the coral reefs off Quseir in the Red Sea Governorate after being stranded for 10 days, maritime sources informed Reuters. The vessel, bring 21 crew, 4,000 metric lots of bran, 70 lots of fuel oil and 50 lots of diesel, sustained a. 60-centimeter (23.6 inch) hull breach, allowing seawater to. flood its engine space. Its crew has actually given that been rescued. Efforts to support the ship have been hampered by. weakening weather condition, causing the vessel to tilt further. Emergency groups have deployed additional pumps in a quote to. extract the increasing water. The VSG Magnificence, en path from Yemen to Egypt's Port Tawfik,. heeled amidst intensifying conditions. Restore operations led by the Red Sea Governorate and the. Ministry of Environment have so far drawn out 250 tons of. contaminated water and fuel, but the sources state some fuel. remains on board, posing a severe risk to the area's delicate. reef environment. This marks the second maritime catastrophe in the Red Sea in. less than a month. On Nov. 25, a tourist boat capsized near. Marsa Alam, south of Quseir, leaving a minimum of 4 dead and. 7 missing out on, with 33 passengers saved.

• Azerbaijan check Kazakh drive to reduce oil transit by means of Russia

  Azerbaijan said it would just be able to receive 2.2 million metric tons of Kazakhstan's oil into its pipeline each year as it has a high sulphur content, curbing Astana's efforts to decrease reliance on a Russian crude transit path. Azerbaijan's state energy business SOCAR and Kazakhstan's. KazMunayGas signed a contract in March to slowly. increase the volume of Kazakh oil carried through the. Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline system to Turkey's Ceyhan. port to 2.2 million lots a year, from 1.5 million currently. But Kazakhstan's energy minister, Almasadam Satkaliyev, this. week stated, without providing a time frame, that this could increase to. as much as 20 million metric lots a year as the nation. increases its output. It presently sends more than 80% of its. oil exports by means of Russia. SOCAR, in an interview with Reuters, stated Kazakhstan's. exports by means of Azerbaijan might only rise to the formerly agreed. level due to continuous discussions concerning an issue with oil. quality. Presently we can take no greater than 2.2 million lots from. Kazakhstan for the BTC, so as not to ruin the quality, Elshad. Nasirov, SOCAR's vice president stated. Buyers appreciate the low. sulphur content of Azeri Light oil at the BTC outlet. Kazakhstan's primary CPC Blend grade is a light, sour crude. sold at a considerable discount rate to Azerbaijan's flagship BTC. grade that is an easier-to-refine medium, sweet grade. Oil exports from Kazakhstan, the world's largest landlocked. nation, represent more than 1.4% of world supply, or roughly. 1.4 million barrels daily (bpd). For 20 years, the nation has routed its oil through the CPC. pipeline - the most cost efficient existing route - to Russia's. Novorossiisk port, but circulations have actually frequently been disrupted by. malfunctioning equipment at the Black Sea terminal. Kazakhstan pursues a multi-vector foreign policy that. balances its ties to Russia with other countries, such as China. and European nations. There have likewise been speak about potentially transporting 5. million lots of Kazakh oil via the Baku-Supsa pipeline, which. runs from the Sangachal terminal near Baku to Georgia's Black. Sea port of Supsa. Nevertheless, SOCAR's Nasirov said there were currently no. continuous negotiations with Kazakhstan on the matter. Baku-Supsa flows were suspended in 2022 as BTC oil exports. are considered to be more logistically appealing for Azeri oil. exports.

• Omani and Turkish fund to invest new port at Iskenderun

  The very first financial investment of a. fund set up by the Oman Financial Investment Authority (OIA) and Turkish. army pension fund Oyak will be a brand-new port in Iskenderun in. southern Turkey. Oyak and the OIA signed an offer on Thursday to set up a joint. endeavor worth around $500 million, the OIA stated. Increasing our country's ratio of exports is among our. concerns, OYAK Suleyman General Manager Savas Erdem said in a. declaration on Friday. The agreement was announced at a joint news conference with. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Oman's Sultan Haitham bin. Tariq al-Said in Ankara. The very first investment of OIA-OYAK fund will be South. Container Port. The new port to be integrated in Iskenderun will satisfy. the needs of the entire area, OIA Chief Investment Officer. Ibrahim Al Eisri informed Reuters.

• Virgin Australia gets interim nod to start selling brand-new Qatar paths

  Virgin Australia can start offering tickets for brand-new Qatar Airwaysoperated flights between Doha and four Australian capital cities following an interim approval by the nation's competition guard dog on Friday. The interim approval by the Australian Competition and Customer Commission (ACCC) enables Virgin Australia to market and sell 28 weekly scheduled return flights between Doha and Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. The approval comes as Qatar Airways waits for Australian approval to purchase a 25% stake in Virgin Australia from U.S. private equity Bain Capital ahead of Virgin's expected return to public ownership after more than four years. We consider that approving interim authorisation now will allow Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia the lead time to carry out the needed preparation ... for Virgin Australia to commence flying the new services by June 2025, ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh stated. Solutions between Doha and Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane can start from June 2025, with Perth flights to follow in November. Virgin Australia will utilize Qatar Airways' airplane and crew to run the service under a wet-lease arrangement. The brand-new routes are still based on last approval by the ACCC and nods from other authorities, the ACCC stated. Needs to the ACCC not authorise the brand-new services, consumers will be refunded or provided alternative flights at no extra charge, the ACCC and Virgin Australia said in declarations. Australia's federal government in 2015 denied Qatar Airways' requests to fly extra services to the four capital cities, which raised questions about its relationship with Qantas Airways. Qantas, which holds 65% of Australia's domestic market share, lobbied versus more access for the Qatari carrier. Qantas has a collaboration with Dubai-based Emirates, a competitor of Qatar Airways. In action to queries from Reuters, Qantas referred to its remarks in October that it was not opposed to Qatar's. investment in Virgin Australia however was concerned some elements of. their partnership might lead to a public hinderance that. was worthy of further analysis. The direct financial advantage of these brand-new services to the. Australian economy is estimated to be around A$ 3 billion ($ 1.96. billion) over the proposed five-year authorisation period,. Alistair Hartley, Virgin Australia's chief method and. improvement officer said in a statement. Qantas' shares ended mainly flat on Friday but had gotten. around 9% over the month.

• Australia provides interim approval for Virgin-Qatar Airways alliance

  Australia's competitors watchdog said on Friday it had actually offered Qatar Airways interim approval to take a. 25% stake in Virgin Australia and for the duo to. start selling return flights between the countries beginning in. June of next year. The tie-up will give Qatar, which plans to purchase the stake. from U.S. personal equity firm Bain Capital, a backdoor channel. to increase flights into Australia after being rejected by the. Albanese federal government last year. The federal government still needs to. sign off on the latest proposition. Qantas Airways had been fighting to keep Qatar away. from Australia and had actually gotten help from a Labor. government. The rejection last year raised concerns about the. federal government's relationship with Qantas, which has a collaboration. with Dubai-based Emirates, a competitor of Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia can begin marketing and. offering 28 weekly scheduled return flights in between Doha and. Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, in June, the Australian. Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) stated in a declaration. Flights from Perth are set up to start in November. The ACCC's interim authorisation guarantees that customers who. have pre-booked these flights would be safeguarded, even if the. last regulatory approval is not given. Virgin Australia will utilize Qatar Airways' craft and crew to. operate the service under a wet-lease plan. Virgin Australia, Qantas and Qatar Airways did not. instantly respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

• India banks are evaluating Adani Group direct exposure after US charges, sources say

  Indian loan providers, consisting of State Bank of India, are reviewing their direct exposure to Adani Group and taking a look at whether they require to tighten their due diligence when providing brand-new loans to them, after the U.S. accused Chairman Gautam Adani of bribery, eight lenders said. Bank of India, Union Bank, ICICI Bank, Canara Bank, IDBI Bank and RBL Bank, which have a relatively smaller direct exposure to the group, are also carrying out a comparable exercise. An evaluation would not necessarily entail any modification in the lenders' credit technique with concerns to the group. A regulatory source aware of the advancement said from a. banking system perspective there is no requirement to panic as no. entity at this moment is over exposed to the group. The Reserve Bank of India did not reply to an email. looking for remark. SBI has the largest direct exposure to the Adani Group amongst Indian. banks, with approved loans of 338 billion rupees ($ 4 billion),. according to IIFL Securities, a brokerage. SBI will not stop lending to continuous Adani tasks that are. nearing conclusion, sources said, but included the bank will. workout caution while disbursing loans to ensure all terms and. conditions are being fulfilled by the group. None of the bankers wished to be identified since they. were not authorised to speak to the media. SBI, named lenders. and the Adani Group did not immediately respond to an email. seeking remark.

• Turkey provisionally sells 150,000 T barley in export tender, traders say

  Turkish state grain board TMO is believed to have actually provisionally offered an estimated 150,000 metric tons of barley in an export tender for the same volume on Thursday, European traders said. The sale depends upon last approval in coming days. Tender volumes can be altered or cancelled entirely. Traders said the sale was anticipated to be made to trading home Mir Agro at an approximated $225.60 a load FOB, slightly up from the preliminary of cost deals. Barley ship filling should be carried out in between Dec. 18, 2024, and Jan. 13, 2025, in the port of Iskenderun and Mersin. Turkey banned wheat imports this fall after a great harvest, partially to secure farmers from low rates. Some traders said Turkey has much better domestic grain products and requires to maximize some storage capability with the barley export tender.