Latest News
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Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK assesses EU sanctions impact on its LNG ships
Mitsui O.S.K., Japan's second largest shipping company. Lines (MOL), said that it is carefully assessing how new sanctions imposed against Russia by the European Union will affect three of its LNG vessels. A company spokesperson said on Wednesday that the company would continue to cooperate fully with the relevant authorities including the European Union, the Japanese government and other international laws and regulations. We will take the appropriate steps as needed, in accordance with rights and obligations. The EU adopted four packages of sanctions on Tuesday against Russia for the war in Ukraine. One package targeted the shadow fleet. The package included MOL-owned and managed North Moon LNG, North Ocean LNG and North Light LNG ships. Kpler data showed that the three ships, built in 2024 and transferring cargoes to east Asia from the Yamal LNG project of Russia, were transferred via ship-to-ship with the ice-breaking vessel Nikolay Urvantsev. North Ocean delivered a Yamal LNG cargo to Taiwan on 19 April, while North Moon and North Light made previous shipments to Dalian Port in northern China and Jieyang Port in southern China respectively on 17 March and 1 April. According to Kpler, North Moon and North Light have both been loaded with Yamal LNG cargoes en route to Asia. (Reporting from Yuka Obayashi, Tokyo; Emily Chow, Singapore; editing by Topra Chopra).
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India's Russian crude oil imports reach 10-month high due to strong demand for ESPO
Ship tracking data from Kpler revealed that India's crude oil imports from Russia will reach close to 1.8 millions barrels per day by May, which is the highest level in 10 months. This was after refiners purchased more lighter grades, such as ESPO blend. Indian refiners purchased more than 10 cargoes last week of ESPO crude with June loading, traders reported. The purchases were made before the EU and Britain's latest sanctions against the "shadow fleet" (oil tankers, financial firms) of Moscow. India's strong demand led to a rise in spot premiums on ESPO cargoes shipped to China, which is the largest buyer of crude oil exported from Kozmino port. The shutdown of crude distillation units at India's largest refineries Reliance Industries (RI) and MRPL has increased the import requirement for feedstock to fluid catalytic crinkers at favorable margins. This was said by Jay Shah, a senior analyst at Rystad Energy. He said that some of the cargoes had been delivered as part of a long-term agreement between Reliance Industries, and Rosneft. Source at an Indian refiner who bought some volumes of light sweet crude recently said: "ESPO is available in large quantities on the market." The traders are charging about 50 cents more than the Dubai prices. A second source stated that ESPO sold to India currently trades at a premium between 50 cents to $1 per barrel over Dubai prices. Analysts said that more ESPO was offered by India to China, as state-owned Chinese companies continue to shun sanctioned crudes. Meanwhile, independent Chinese refiners have a limited number of crude quotas. Traders said that India's demand for ESPO has pushed ESPO prices in China up. The premium for cargoes loaded in July was around $2 per barrel for delivery to Chinese port, up from $1.50-1.70 per barrel for cargoes loaded in June, traders reported. Reporting by Siyi Liu, Nidhi verma and reporters in Moscow. Editing by Florence Tan & Jan Harvey.
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Iraq's Oil Minister has "reservations" about energy agreements signed with Kurdish Region
Iraq's Oil Minister said the federal government had reservations about the energy agreements signed by Iraqi Kurdistan, after Iraqi Kurdish Premier Masrour barzani oversaw two deals worth $110 billion in total over their lifetimes. Hayan Abdel Ghani, a reporter on Wednesday, said: "Agreements like these should be signed by federal government." The agreements concern the development of the Miran, Topkhana-Kurdamir and Kurdamir-Topkhana gas fields in northern Iraqi Sulaimaniya. On Tuesday, the federal oil minister that Abdel-Ghani heads called the deals “null and null”. In response, the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Ministry of Natural Resources issued a statement stating that these deals were based upon contracts signed "many decades ago" that were upheld by Iraqi courts as legal. The Kurdistan Regional Government and the Federal government have long had a tense relationship over the control of oil and gas. The main dispute concerns a pipeline that runs through Turkey. It has been stopped since March 2023, after the Paris based International Chamber of Commerce found that Turkey had violated provisions of 1973 treaty when it allowed Kurdish exports to Baghdad without Baghdad’s consent. The negotiations to resume Kurdish crude oil exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, which handled 0.5% of world oil supply at one time, have been stalled due to payment terms and contract specifics. Reporting by Muayad Kenany in Baghdad and Ahmed Rasheed Writing by Yousef Sabah Editing by Louise Heavens, Frances Kerry and Louise Heavens
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India's Russian crude oil imports reach 10-month high due to strong demand for ESPO
Ship tracking data from Kpler revealed that India's crude oil imports from Russia will reach close to 1.8 millions barrels per day by May, which is the highest level in 10 months. This was after refiners purchased more lighter grades, such as ESPO blend. Indian refiners purchased more than ten cargoes of June loading ESPO crude oil last week. India's strong demand led to a rise in spot premiums on ESPO cargoes shipped to China, which is the largest buyer of crude oil exported from Kozmino port. The shutdowns of crude distillation units at India's largest refineries Reliance Industries (RI) and MRPL (MRPL) have led to an increase in imports for feedstocks at fluid catalytic crinkers, with favorable margins. This was said by Jay Shah, a senior analyst at Rystad Energy. He said that some of these cargoes had been delivered as part of a long-term agreement between Reliance Industries, and Rosneft. Source at an Indian refiner who bought some volumes of light sweet crude recently said: "ESPO is available in large quantities on the market." The traders are charging about 50 cents more than the Dubai prices. A second source stated that ESPO sold to India currently trades at a premium between 50 cents to $1 per barrel over Dubai prices. Analysts said that more ESPO was offered by India to China, as state-owned Chinese companies continue to shun sanctioned crudes. Meanwhile, independent Chinese refiners have a limited number of crude quotas. Traders said that India's demand for ESPO has pushed up ESPO price in China. The premium for cargoes loaded in July was around $2 per barrel for delivery to Chinese port, up from $1.50-1.70 per barrel for cargoes loaded in June, traders reported. Reporting by Siyi Liu, Nidhi verma and reporters in Moscow. Editing by Florence Tan & Jan Harvey.
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Japan flexes defence ambitions at arms show
On Wednesday, Japan held one of its biggest-ever weapons shows. Defence Minister Gen Nakatani described the display as a sign that the pacifist country was intensifying its push for overseas defense cooperation and arms exports. The DSEI Japan show near Tokyo featured Japanese warships, lasers, and electromagnetic railguns. Clarion Defence & Security, the organizer of the event, said that it was twice the size as the 2023 show and attracted 471 companies from 33 countries. 169 were from Japan, which is double what they had two years ago. Nakatani, who spoke at the event, said: "I hope this exhibition provides a new chance for cooperation and exchange among national delegations, companies and to sustain defence industry, drive innovation, and promote peace and security." Japan has gradually moved away from the pacifism which was the cornerstone for decades of its defence planning following the defeat of World War Two. In 2014, it lifted its military export ban and has taken the first steps in global defence collaboration. This is encouraged by partners from the United States and Europe who are eager to share costs of development and tap Japan's industry base. "Strongerness comes from expanding and elevating alliance capabilities and capacities, which means leveraging both our skills and specialties, in codevelopment, coproduction, and cosustainability," U.S. As he opened the DSEI U.S. Pavilion, Ambassador to Japan George Glass stated. Japanese companies are more eager to secure military contracts in response to threats from China, North Korea, and Russia. "Our foundation dates back more than 70 years to the industry in this country. This is true for the large and heavy industry players. But we are seeing it at all levels now, from tier one to tier two, and even startups," said William Blair. He is the regional chief of Lockheed Martin in Asia and India, and the company supplies F-35 fighters, radars for air defence, and other equipment to Japan. Japan's partnership in Europe includes the Global Combat Air Programme with Britain and Italy. Katsuyuki Nabota, general manager of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' (MHI) defence and space division, which leads the Japanese component of the advanced fighter project, said: "With today’s increasingly uncertain security climate, I believe that we must respond with a wider international perspective." He added, "We're pleased to be able to reach out to a larger audience and showcase our technologies." The company was displaying a Mogami warship model that it wanted to sell in Australia. (Reporting and editing by Kate Mayberry; Reporting by Tim Kelly)
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German train company makes jokes about the small number of Bundesliga fans
Deutsche Bahn made fun of the low number of people expected to attend the playoff match between Heidenheim & Elversberg by posting a picture on social media with only one carriage, claiming that this was all the special service required. The playoff will determine whether Heidenheim, who finished 16th in the Bundesliga, will stay in the Bundesliga or whether Elversberg is promoted to the Bundesliga after finishing third in the Second Division. Heidenheim, Elversberg and their combined population is less than 70,000. This makes them two of the smaller towns to ever be involved in a relegation play-off. Heidenheim in southern Germany can hold 15,000 people in its stadium, while Elversberg in the west has a capacity of 10,000. Heidenheim hosts Elversberg Thursday, before the return leg is on Monday. Borussia Dortmund, with its 80,000 home fans, has the highest average attendance in the Bundesliga. (Reporting and editing by Kate Mayberry; Karolos Grohmann)
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Austrian gas hub records higher trading volumes despite end of Russian flows
Austria's central hub for gas has seen increased trading volumes this year on its platform, as a result of the Russian gas flow halt through Ukraine. Since the Russian gas supply was halted, the virtual Central European Gas Hub has increased its intraregional role and is now handling more gas through Germany and Italy. Steiner said that it was a surprise to him that the removal of Russian gas transit through Slovakia had led to a greater level of liquidity at the Austrian hub. "We are a resilient hub for trading and transshipment." "The past...months have shown this." Austria re-exports gas to Slovenia, Slovakia, and Hungary. The latter two are also transit points for gas going to Ukraine. CEGH, based in Vienna, was established in 2005 to serve as a market for Russian gas arriving from under the Baltic Sea via the Nord Stream Pipeline. It also served as a temporary storage facility using huge Austrian caverns. Ukraine, which will be invaded by Russia on February 20, 2022, has stopped transiting Russian gas since the beginning of this year. CEGH, which has 366 members, traded 67.1 TWh in spot gas and 76.2 TWh in gas futures during the year ending May 18. This was an increase of 0.3% and 12% respectively. Steiner stated that "we can be optimistic about the future of this improvement in liquidity." Importers have replaced Russian gas in large part with Norwegian pipeline gas, and LNG (liquefied natural gases) that arrives at European ports. REFILL INVENTORY Steiner stated that the gas market is beginning to experience a growth in inventories which is desirable for supply security. Since April, he stated that the price margins for winter feed-in for summer 2025/26 are positive. This is in line with comments made by Uniper's CEO just last week. Steiner noted a drop of 24% in the spot price of gas since March, as policymakers sought to discourage short term hoarding. Since April, the summer-winter differential, which is a guide for profit opportunities, reached 1 euro per megawatt, after being negative over the past six months. Vera Eckert (Reporting) Editing Madeline Chambers & David Goodman
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El Al, the Israeli airline, says it will continue benefiting from reduced competition
El Al Israel Airlines announced a 19% increase in its quarterly profit on Tuesday and said that it would continue benefiting from the fewer airlines flying to Tel Aviv as a result of Israel's war against Hamas and Houthis. Israel's flag airline expects that the supply of seats will remain limited in relation to demand during the second quarter. This will allow it to maintain high occupancy rates. In the first quarter of 2025 it made $96 million. This is up from $80.5 millions a year ago. Revenue grew 5% to $774 millions. The airline cited an increase in its load factor from 92.6% to 94.3%, as well as an increased capacity due to the expansion of leased planes and a decrease in jet fuel prices. Dina Ben-Tal Ganancia, CEO of Israel Air Bridge said: "This challenging time requires us to be creative and flexible to maintain Israel's vital bridge." "The company continues to work to increase flight capacity as much as possible." Tel Aviv's stock market saw a 3.5% increase in the company's share price. El Al posted a net profit of $545 million last year, a nearly five-fold increase. It was one of the only carriers to serve Tel Aviv following the suspension of flights by foreign airlines. This led to increased airfares and anger from customers. Many European and U.S. carriers had resumed flights to Israel earlier this year, but many of them suspended again after a Houthi rocket fired from Yemen evaded the air defences and fell near Ben Gurion Airport at the beginning of this month. El Al said that the demand for its flights has increased. Delta, Aegean, and Wizz have resumed flights since then but the situation is fluid. El Al, who took delivery last week of the 17th Boeing 787 Dreamliner said that the number of Ben Gurion passengers increased by 63% in the first three months. El Al's market share dropped to 44% in the first quarter from 62% last year due to foreign airlines returning. El Al said that it was also converting an older Boeing 777 to a Dreamliner-configuration and forming more code-share agreements.
AFR reports that Westpac will cut 1,500 jobs and simplify its operations.
The Australian Financial Review reported that Westpac Banking Corp plans to reduce its workforce by more than 1,500 employees to achieve its cost-reduction goals and streamline operations.
According to an AFR article, Westpac's job reductions are part of the 2023 UNITE program, which is designed to streamline technology by reducing core platforms and modernizing infrastructure while lowering operational and maintenance long-term costs.
Westpac had 35,240 employees worldwide as of September 30th 2024, according its annual report for 2024.
In an email response, the company said that it adjusts its workforce regularly based on changing investment priorities but did not confirm how many jobs were being cut.
Westpac stated that while it continues to invest in additional bankers and roles with customer contact, some programs and initiatives might require fewer resources.
The Finance Sector Union expressed concern on Wednesday about these reports. It added that it had reached out to Westpac to ask for an explanation, while calling for the immediate suspension of any plans for job cuts and for talks to take place.
The union stated that "Our members worked hard over the years to make massive profits for Westpac, and they deserve to receive a reward and not be brutally fired for the sakes of cost-savings or even greater profits."
(source: Reuters)