Latest News
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The majority of Gulf shares gain as Gaza ceasefire hopes install
Most stock exchange in the Gulf were up in early trading on Tuesday as the expect a Gaza ceasefire rose after the arbitrators reported a midnight 'development' in Doha talks. Arbitrators will fulfill in Doha on Tuesday looking for to settle information of a strategy to end the war in Gaza that has upended the Middle East. The Qatari standard index snapped its three-session losing streak and jumped 1.2%, the greatest in over 2 months with practically all stocks publishing gains. Qatar Gas Transportation gained 2.9% and Qatar National Bank climbed 2.3%. QNB, the area's largest lending institution, published on Monday a 10%. increase in fourth-quarter net profit from a year earlier, beating. analysts' quotes, according to data compiled by LSEG. The Abu Dhabi benchmark index was up 0.3%. First. Abu Dhabi Bank, the UAE's biggest lending institution, rose 1.3% and. Abu Dhabi National Energy included 0.3%. TAQA's. majority-owned energy firm Masdar launched a renewable resource. facility that will produce 1 gigawatt of undisturbed tidy. power. Dubai's benchmark stock index was up 0.1%, pressed. up by communications, market and financing sectors. Aramex continued its rally to a 2nd day and. climbed up 7.2% to 2.84 dirhams per share, its highest level in. more than a year after the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ. stated on Monday it had actually prepared to introduce a cash takeover offer. for the carrier firm, bidding for the shares it does not currently. own. Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index edged up 0.1%,. assisted by gains in the majority of sectors. ACWA Power added 0.9%. and Saudi Industrial Investment Group climbed 4%.
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Baltic Sea countries look for to restrict further occurrences after cable breaches
European nations need to be prepared to deal with more events in the Baltic Sea following the current damage to undersea facilities, leaders of NATO nations in the area said on Tuesday ahead of a security meeting in Helsinki. Baltic Sea nations are on high alert after a string of power cable television, telecom link and gas pipeline outages in the wake of Russia's intrusion of Ukraine in February 2022, and are going over an increased NATO existence. Some 2,000 ships are crossing the Baltic Sea every day, making it challenging to monitor all of it, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said. Let's face it, we can't ensure 100% protection however if we are sending out a strong signal then I think that such occurrences are going to decrease or even to stop, Rinkevics informed press reporters. Finnish police last month seized a tanker carrying Russian oil and said they presumed the vessel had damaged the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 power line and 4 telecoms cable televisions by dragging its anchor across the seabed. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday that this and other current occurrences in the Baltic Sea should be assumed to be part of a hybrid strategy that is threatening European countries. It is essential that we come together here now and talk about how we can interact to ensure greater security in the Baltic Sea region, Scholz said.
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Oil shipping rates surge after US sanctions tighten up global fleet
Supertanker freight rates leapt after the U.S. broadened sanctions on Russia's oil industry, sending traders hurrying to book vessels to deliver supply from other countries to China and India, shipbrokers and traders said. Chinese and Indian refiners are looking for option fuel supplies as they adjust to extreme brand-new U.S. sanctions on Russian producers and tankers created to suppress the world No. 2 oil exporter's revenue. A number of the recently targeted vessels, part of a shadow. fleet, have been utilized to ship oil to India and China, which. snapped up cheap Russian supply that was banned in Europe. following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Some of the tankers have. also shipped oil from Iran, which is also under sanctions. The current U.S. action implies an estimated 35% of some 669. dark fleet tankers associated with shipping Russian, Venezuelan and. Iranian oil have been hit with sanctions by either the U.S., UK. or EU, according to analysis by Lloyd's List Intelligence. Freight rates for Huge Unrefined Providers (VLCCs) that can. bring 2 million barrels of crude throughout significant routes jumped. after Unipec, the trading arm of Asia's largest refiner Sinopec. , chartered a number of supertankers on Friday, the. sources said. Unipec also last week got several sweet crude freights. from Europe and Africa, consisting of 2 million barrels of Norwegian. Johan Sverdrup, 1 million barrels of Senegal's Sangomar crude,. Ghana's 10 Blend, Angolan Djeno and others, traders stated. They need to look for alternative crudes. That is the primary. motorist for the rally (in freight rates), stated Anoop Singh,. global head of shipping research at Oil Brokerage. Daily, a shipbroker stated, the rate on the Middle. East to China path, known as TD3C, has risen 39% considering that Friday. to $37,800, the highest considering that October. Delivering rates for Russian oil shipments to China have likewise. jumped following the sanctions. Freight rates for Aframax-sized tankers to ship ESPO mix. crude from Russia's Pacific port of Kozmino to North China more. than doubled on Monday to $3.5 million as shipowners requested. enormous premiums due to minimal tonnages readily available for that. route, S&P Global Commodity Insights information showed. Adding to tightness, approved tankers are stranded outside. China's eastern Shandong province, not able to discharge following. a ban imposed by Shandong Port Group before Washington's. statement on Friday. Tanker analytics firm Vortexa approximated that more than 85%. of Russian unrefined trips into Shandong were conducted by the. newly sanctioned tankers. Experts said tanker accessibility might tighten up further as. traders search for unsanctioned vessels to ship Russian and. Iranian crude. We expect new ships will be pulled into the shadow fleet. over the coming months, a lot of which will be new to this trade,. tightening supply in the non-sanctioned freight market, Kpler. experts stated in a note. The rate for VLCCs from the Middle East to Singapore has. got the most, up worldscale (WS) 11.15 from Friday to. WS61.35, another shipbroker stated. Worldscale is a market tool. to determine freight charges. On the Middle East to China path, freight jumped to. WS59.70, up WS10.40, while the rate for VLCCs bring West. African oil to China increased WS9.55 to WS61.44, the second. shipbroker said. Shipping crude from the U.S. Gulf to China will now cost. $ 6.82 million per voyage, up $360,000 since last week, he stated.
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Qantas delays South Africa flights due to risk from SpaceX rockets' re-entry
Australian flag provider Qantas has actually had to delay several flights on the SydneyJohannesburg path over the previous few weeks on the U.S. federal government's advice relating to the reentry of SpaceX rockets over a part of the southern Indian Ocean, the airline stated on Tuesday. The hold-ups of up to 6 hours were triggered due to last-minute modifications in coordinates for the location and timing of re-entry of rockets from Elon Musk's area innovation firm. While we attempt to make any changes to our schedule in advance, the timing of recent launches have actually moved at late notice which has actually implied we have actually needed to postpone some flights just prior to departure, stated Ben Holland, the head of Qantas's. operations centre. We touch with SpaceX to see if they can improve the. areas and time windows for the rocket re-entries to reduce. future disruption, Holland added. SpaceX did not right away respond to a request for comment.
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India's AM Green and DP World partner to build green fuel projects
The Indian company AM Green announced on Tuesday that it has partnered up with Dubai's global port and logistics firm DP World in order to build infrastructure for the export of 1 million tons per annum (MTPA), each, of green ammonia or methanol. In a press release, the company stated that the partnership will include building infrastructure in the European Union, Far East and the United Arab Emirates. Both companies will build port facilities in AM Green's clusters of industrial plants located throughout India, and they will set up green ammonia refueling stations and methanol refueling station in Dubai and Southeast Asia. India is increasing its investments in renewable energies to reach its 2030 clean energy targets. It plans to add 35 GW solar and wind power by March 2025, after failing to achieve its 2022 target. India, the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, aims to achieve net-zero emission by 2070. It also aims to reach a renewable energy target of 500 GW by 2030. AM Green has committed to a green ammonia plant of 1 MTPA capacity in Kakinada, in southern Andhra Pradesh. (Reporting and editing by Nidhi verma, Yagnoseni das)
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Ukraine introduces big strikes on Russian cities
Ukraine struck Russian regions with a major drone and missile attack overnight, destructive factories in a minimum of 3 cities, authorities and media said. The Shot Telegram channel said that Russia had actually downed more than 200 Ukrainian drones and 5 U.S.-made ATACMS ballistic rockets. The enemy has organized an enormous combined strike on the territory of the Russian areas, the Two Majors war blogger stated. Roman Busargin, guv of the Saratov area about 720 km ( 450 miles) southeast of Moscow, said the cities of Saratov and Engels, on opposite banks of the Volga River, had been subjected to a mass drone attack and there was damage to 2 industrial websites. Schools had actually moved to remote learning, he stated. Ukraine assaulted the same area recently and declared to have actually struck an oil depot serving an airbase for Russian nuclear bomber airplanes, causing a substantial fire that took five days to put out. The independent Astra news outlet reported a fire at an commercial website in the city of Kazan, east of Moscow, as a. outcome of a drone attack. Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region in. western Russia, stated Ukraine had actually launched a major rocket attack. but did not say which missiles had been used. Flight limitations were imposed at airports in Kazan,. Saratov, Penza, Ulyanovsk and Nizhnekamsk, Russia's aviation. watchdog said. Nizhnekamsk, in Russia's republic of Tatarstan, is home to. the major Taneco refinery. Shot stated attack sirens were sounded. at the refinery. Reuters was not able to right away validate the. report. ROCKET RISKS There was no instant comment from Russia's defence. ministry. Reuters could not confirm the use of U.S.-supplied. ATACMS rockets, as reported by Shot. Ukraine first fired ATACMS and British Storm Shadow. rockets into Russia on Nov. 21 in 2015, prompting Moscow to. respond by launching a brand-new intermediate-range hypersonic. ballistic missile called Oreshnik, or Hazel Tree, at. Ukraine. The Kremlin has actually said Russia will strike back, consisting of. potentially with more Oreshnik launches, every time Ukraine. strikes it with those weapons. President Vladimir Putin said in November that the. Ukraine war was intensifying towards a worldwide dispute after the. United States and Britain permitted Ukraine for the first time to. launch their missiles deep inside Russia. President-elect Donald Trump has actually pushed for a ceasefire and. negotiations to end the war quickly, leaving Washington's. long-lasting assistance for Ukraine in concern. Russia's 2022 intrusion of Ukraine has actually left tens of thousands. of dead, displaced millions and activated the biggest crisis in. relations in between Moscow and the West given that the 1962 Cuban. Missile Crisis.
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How is India handling its Maha Kumbh celebration, the world's largest event?
India's Maha Kumbh Mela, or Great Pitcher Festival, is set to be the world's biggest gathering of humankind, with 400 million visitors expected at the sixweek occasion that started today in the northern city of Prayagraj. Here is a take a look at how authorities are managing the massive crowds at the celebration. TENT CITY A temporary city has actually emerged across 4,000 hectares (9,990. acres) on the river banks, with 150,000 camping tents to accommodate. fans and practically an equivalent number of toilets. About 69,000 LED and solar lights illuminate the paths through. the settlement, kept tidy by 15,000 sanitation workers. SECURITY Short-term police headquarters and checkpoints in Prayagraj. consist of three floating 'water police headquarters' on the river,. while paramilitary troops and bomb disposal teams are likewise at. the all set. More than 50,000 workers are on guard to ensure the security. of visitors. INNOVATION Authorities are utilizing closed circuit television (CCTV). video cameras, drones, and connected drones to monitor the festival. location, in addition to anti-drone craft to find and eliminate. unauthorised drones. Likewise in use are underwater drones that can operate in a. depth of 100 metres (3,330 feet), geared up with innovative. innovation to operate in low-light conditions. FIRE SAFETY Every tent has actually been fitted with fire-fighting devices,. while more than 1.3 billion rupees ($ 15 million) has actually designated. for fire security in the celebration area, with 351 firefighting. automobiles and 2,000 experienced personnel on hand to instantly. stamp out any fires. LOST-AND-FOUND CENTRES To assist reunite households separated in the crowd, centres. with devoted sections for ladies and children have actually been established,. while speakers installed along the river banks will make. continuous announcements about those separated.
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Oil shipping rates surge after US sanctions tighten global fleet
Shipbrokers and traders reported that supertanker freight prices jumped after U.S. sanctions were expanded on Russian oil trade. This prompted traders to rush to book ships for the pickup of supply from other countries and to go to China or India. As they adjust to the severe new U.S. restrictions on Russian tankers and producers, Chinese and Indian refiners seek alternative fuel sources. The world's No. 2 oil exporter is reducing its revenue. Many of the newly-targeted vessels, which are part of a so-called "shadow fleet", were used to ship cheap Russian oil that was prohibited in Europe after Moscow's invasion. Some of these tankers also transported oil from Iran which is also subject to sanctions. Industry sources say that the freight rates for Very Large Crude Carriers, or VLCCs, which can transport 2 million barrels across major routes, soared after Unipec (the trading arm of Asia’s largest refiner Sinopec) chartered several supertankers last Friday. A shipbroker reported that the daily rate for the Middle East-China route (TD3C) has risen by 39%, since Friday, to $37.800. This is the highest price since October. The sanctions have also caused a rise in the shipping rates of Russian oil to China. According to S&P Global Commodity Insights, the freight rates for Aframax tankers shipping ESPO blend crude to North China from Russia's Pacific Port of Kozmino more than doubled to $3.5m on Monday as shipowners demanded massive premiums because there were limited tonnages for that route. The sanctions have exacerbated the situation, as sanctioned oil tankers are stuck outside China's Shandong Province, unable discharge after a Shandong Port Group ban, which was imposed before Washington's Friday announcement. Analysts say that the availability of tankers could be further restricted as traders search for vessels not sanctioned to ship Russian or Iranian crude. Kpler analysts wrote in a report that they expect to see new ships entering the shadow fleet in the months ahead, including many newcomers in this market. This will tighten supply on the un-sanctioned cargo market. Another shipbroker reported that the rate for VLCCs between Middle East and Singapore increased by worldscale (WS), 11.15, from Friday, to WS61.35. Worldscale is a tool used by the industry to calculate freight rates. The second shipbroker reported that the freight rate on the Middle East-China route rose to WS59.70 (up WS10.40), while VLCCs transporting West African oil to China increased WS9.55 (to WS61.44). He said that the cost to ship crude oil from the U.S. Gulf into China has increased by $360,000 in just one week. Reporting by Florence Tan and Siyi Liu; editing by Tony Munroe, Sonali Paul, and Chen Aizhu
Reactions to the new U.S. sanctions on Russian energy interests
The U.S. Treasury announced new sanctions on Friday against the Russian energy industry, including oil giants Gazprom and Surgutneftegaz, in an effort to hinder Moscow's war with Ukraine.
Sanctions also target 180 vessels, dozens of oil traders and oilfield service providers as well as insurance companies and officials in the energy sector.
Here are some reactions from the major brokerages and agencies.
GOLDMAN SACHS
The Friday announcement confirms that we are inclined to believe the risks associated with our forecast of a Brent price range between $70-85 are more favorable in the short-term.
We estimate that in 2024, the ships targeted by new sanctions will have transported 1.7mb/d or 25% of Russia’s oil exports. The vast majority of this oil is crude oil.
"Across scenarios, long-term prices are limited by lower sanctioned supplies because we assume OPEC+ will stabilize the market using its large spare capacity by increasing production longer than our base case.
The latest sanctions targeted Russian oil tankers, which account for 42% of the country's seaborne exports. These are mainly to China.
The reduction in Russian fleet supply will increase freight rates.
"We have seen a limited impact on Russian oil production for the moment, but we expect a drop of 150 kbd in late Q3. Crude exports are expected to remain stable as crude is prioritized over dirty product exports.
This latest round of sanctions would result in a loss of around 0.88 million barrels per day of crude oil.
JP MORGAN
The West has a price cap of $60 for crude oil, so Russia will need to offer it at or below that level to be able to use Western tankers and insurance.
The new measures will give the Trump Administration additional leverage when it comes to future negotiations with Russia. It will decide whether, when and under what conditions to lift Biden's sanctions.
RBC CAPITAL MARKETS
The new Russian sanctions imposed by the incoming administration add to the supply at risk, increasing uncertainty in the outlook for 1Q'25. Brent could reach $80/bbl in the near future, even with margin pressures. We've seen the same scenario in recent years and the supply chain has always outperformed.
"...(Russian oil industry's ability to ship oil is further compromised by the new U.S. sanction on its oil sector. In the first 10 month of 2024, the main targets of the sanctions were Gazprom, and Surgutneftegas. They handled around 970kb/d by sea of oil. Some Chinese ports have been urged to ban sanctioned oil tanks from docking or unloading their terminals. (Reporting by Rahul Paswan in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
(source: Reuters)