North Asia

Ukraine's emergency service and a government official confirmed that a Russian attack on Ukraine's southern Odesa area overnight killed two people and injured three, respectively. Two people were killed when a Russian Drone fell on a truck-stop, causing an fire, according to the Telegram messenger. Oleksiy Kuleba, Infrastructure Minister Oleksiy Kuleba, said on 'Telegram' that Russia has attacked the port infrastructure in Odesa?region. "This is another blow to port infrastructure and civilian logistics." Kuleba said that Russia is attacking non-military facilities to undermine the economy of the area and the country as a whole. He claimed that the storage area...

Officials said that Russian forces had pounded Ukrainian energy infrastructure in the days before a new round of peace talks, killing three workers and leaving tens thousands without heat or electricity. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, President of Ukraine, condemned the overnight attacks on 12 Ukrainian regions. The strikes occurred hours before scheduled trilateral talks in Geneva between Kyiv and Moscow. Zelenskiy, writing on?X and calling for "justice" and "strength", said that the combined strike was calculated to cause as much harm as possible to our sector of energy. This winter, Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian energy facilities, knocking out heating and power....

The governor of Russia's Krasnodar Region said that a Ukrainian drone had 'damaged' the 'Black Sea port' of Taman in Russia, which handles oil, grain, and coal, among other commodities. Veniamin kondratyev, in a Telegram post, said that two people were injured when an oil storage tank and warehouse, as well as terminals, suffered damage?in Volna Village, which is the site of Taman Port. Kondratyev stated that more than 100 people worked to extinguish several fires in the port. Separate attacks on the resort city of Sochi and the village of Yurovka near the seaside town Anapa had caused less...

The Chinese captain of an?Hong Kong registered cargo ship pleaded 'not guilty'?on a charge?of criminal damage on Wednesday, after allegations that his vessel had?damaged underwater cables in the Baltic Sea. According to a Hong Kong chargesheet reviewed by the. The charge sheet said that?Wan was "reckless", and had "damaged property belonging to others without lawful excuse". Investigators in Finland said that the container vessel had pulled its anchor so as to cut off the Balticconnector pipeline. The Finnish police retrieved an anchor that had broken from the seabed, near the Balticconnector gas pipeline. An attorney for Wan, Jerry Chung said...

A proposal document released on Monday showed that the European Union had proposed to extend its sanctions against Russia?to include ports located in Georgia and Indonesia which handle Russian oil. This would be the first time for the bloc to target ports in a third country. The EU proposal was reviewed by and would add Kulevi, in Georgia, and Karimun, in Indonesia, to the list of sanctions, barring EU individuals and companies from transacting with either port. These measures are part of 'EU's 20th package of sanctions over Russia's conflict in Ukraine. The package, which was jointly drafted and presented...

Estonia's Tax and Customs Board announced late Tuesday that it had detained in Estonian internal waters a container vessel sailing under the Bahamian Flag. The ship may have been involved in smuggling from Ecuador. The authority stated that there was "reason to believe" the vessel could have been used as a smuggling vessel. "The special police unit K-Commando boarded a ship. After?which?the vessel?was detained?under national supervision to carry out a Customs Inspection". They added that the ship, Baltic Spirit, is not a part of the Russian shadow fleet and it is also not subject to sanctions imposed by the European...

Due to a limited global supply of liquefied petroleum gas, Saudi Arabia's Aramco and Algeria's Sonatrach raised their official'selling prices' for the product in February between 1% and 5,3%. Saudi Aramco’s February OSP?increased $20 per metric ton, to $545?per ton For propane, the price has increased by $20 per ton. Butane LPG comes in two types: butane and propane. They have different boiling points. LPG is used primarily as a fuel for cars and heating, as well as a feedstock to make other petrochemicals. Sonatrach has increased its February OSP for propane from $500 to $25 per ton. For?butane, the...

A Russian state trading platform revealed on Thursday that Russia sold Domodedovo Airport, one of its largest and most modern airports in the country, to Sheremetyevo Airport, a subsidiary?of another Moscow-area airport. The sale price was?66 billion?roubles? ($869m) The auction was the 2nd attempt to sell the Airport, which was nationalised by the Prosecutor-General in June 2025. This was the latest in the series of seizures of state assets. The 'first auction, which was held on 20 January and set a price of 132.3 billion rubles as the starting point, failed because only one bidder was allowed to participate. The...

Three industry sources said that Russia's crude exports to its western ports will?decline? in February, compared with January, due to the increase of domestic refinery runs and the fewer scheduled maintenance visits to?plants?. According to?sources, the shipment of Russia's Urals crude, Siberian Light and KEBCO grades through the ports of Primorsk and Novorossiisk is expected to be around?2million barrels per daily (bpd) in the next month. This is down from about?2.2million bpd last January. The expected drop is due to the fact that Moscow intends to lift its ban on gasoline in February. This could spur refineries into producing more...

Ship tracking data revealed that the first naphtha shipment for Venezuela, as part of an oil deal reached between Caracas & Washington in this'month', arrived Friday on Venezuelan waters aboard a tanker chartered a trading house Vitol. Caracas, Washington and Venezuela agreed on a $2 billion oil deal this month after the U.S. captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. The agreement covers up to 50,000,000?barrels Venezuelan oil that is in storage. The agreement gives traders Vitol &?Trafigura first access to Venezuelan oil to resell to refineries worldwide. It also includes a?supply? of heavy naphtha, needed to dilute Venezuela's extra-heavy output. According...

Ukraine's wheat imports were relatively low in the first half January, despite Russian attacks on Ukrainian seaports. The Ukraine is one of the largest European wheat producers and exporters. Since the end last year, Russia's attacks on Ukrainian ports have accelerated, not only targeting port terminals, warehouses, and civilian vessels, but also increasing their intensity. UGA reported that Ukraine exported 292,000 metric tons of grain in the first six months of the year, compared to 293,000 tons during the same period in December. This compares with 610,000 tons between November 1-15. The?economy minister said that wheat exports have totaled 8.2...

According to weather stations and visuals, the biggest snowfall in 60 years occurred on 'Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula. This resulted in a metre-high sand drift that buried cars and blocked building entrances. According to weather monitoring stations, in some areas over 2 m of snow (6.5 feet) has fallen during the first half January. This is after December's?3.7 m. Pictures showed four-wheel drive vehicles struggling to 'traction or being blocked by huge drifts of snow. Locals had to dig paths up to apartment building entrances. "I plan to go on a walk around ?the city tomorrow, though unfortunately the...

In response to the Ukrainian 'attacks' that he claimed were carried out with the assistance of Western intelligence, President Vladimir Putin tasked the FSB to increase the protection of Russia’s energy & transport infrastructure. Putin said that Russia's enemies will regret pushing Moscow too far, as he spoke on the fourth anniversary. He told a group of FSB officials that the enemy was relying on individual and mass terror. This includes sabotaging the infrastructure and attempting to assassinate government and military officials. "It is absolutely necessary to defeat Russia. They will try anything. "They will push themselves too far and...

Ukraine's power plants, which have been severely damaged by Russian airstrikes, continue to import electricity from other countries, said the transmission system operator, Ukrainenergo, on Tuesday after Slovakia halted emergency supplies. Robert Fico, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, said on Monday that it would not accept any emergency requests from Ukraine until the Druzhba oil pipeline is restored. This runs through Ukraine and Russia to central Europe. Slovakia and Hungary are no longer able to access Russian crude oil through Druzhba due to damage caused by Ukraine last month. Ukrenergo announced on Telegram that "electricity is being imported by all...

According to the data released Tuesday, the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion by Moscow of Ukraine, the money Russia earned through oil and gas exports?decreased over the past 12 months, while the volume of oil exports increased. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Russia heavily relies on energy revenues to fund its war in Ukraine. This link has led Western nations to impose more and stricter sanctions on Russian fuel to try to weaken their military efforts. The Centre for Research on Clean 'Air and Energy, a non-profit organization, published an analysis that found Russia's revenue from oil, coal, and gas...

Ukraine's national electricity company stated on 'Monday' that any refusal from 'Slovakia' to extend emergency supplies of electricity to 'Ukraine would have no effect on the country's electrical system. Ukrenergo issued a statement saying that the likely stoppage of emergency electricity supplies from Slovakia would not affect Ukraine's unified?power?system. Robert Fico, the Slovak prime minister, said that his country's operator of its power grid would not supply any emergency electricity to Ukraine until oil flows resumed via the Druzhba pipe which runs from Russia through Ukraine and into Central Europe. Ukrenergo stated that Ukraine last requested emergency supplies from Slovakia...

A dispute over oil supplies led to Hungary's veto of new?EU sanction on Russia as well as a massive loan for Ukraine on Monday. This was a major blow to the pro-Ukrainian consensus in Europe on the eve the fourth anniversary of the 'war. In Ukraine, Kyiv has claimed a rare "frontline" advance. However, Moscow continues to target Ukrainian cities and two people were killed in 'drone' strikes in the south. The diplomatic spotlight was in Brussels, where European Foreign Ministers failed to convince Budapest to not punish Ukraine for the delays in restarting the flow Russian oil into Hungary...

The emergency crews restored power to most areas?affected?by the cuts?after a major Ukrainian assault on energy infrastructure?, said the Russia-installed Governor of the part of Zaporizhzhia?region controlled?by Moscow. Yevgeny Balatsky wrote on Telegram that power had been restored to all households except for 12,000 in a single district. He said that emergency crews were working to complete the task. Balitsky said earlier that two power outages occurred in the area in southeast Ukraine. Workers have already restored power in 50% of the region, and generators are supporting critical infrastructure. According to Leonid Pasechnik the?leader of Russia-controlled Luhansk, in Ukraine's north,...

The foreign minister of Hungary said that Hungary would block the next set of EU sanctions against Russia. This is the latest move to get Ukraine to resume a pipeline that supplies Hungarian refineries with Russian oil. Since January 27, Ukraine has said that a Russian drone attack on pipeline equipment in Western Ukraine was responsible for the interruption of shipments?of Russian crude oil to Hungary, Slovakia and other countries via the Druzhba Pipeline. Slovakia and Hungary blame Ukraine for the extended outage. The EU is preparing the 20th package of sanctions against Russia for?the conflict in Ukraine. Many member...

Robert Fico, Slovakia's prime minister, threatened to cut off electricity to Ukraine if Kyiv did not act within two days and resume the re-supply of Russian oil through Ukraine to Slovakia. This supply had been cut off for a little over a month. Slovakia and Hungary are the only two EU nations that still depend on large amounts of Russian crude oil transported via the Soviet Druzhba pipe over Ukraine. Both countries have leaders who have maintained close ties with Moscow bucking the largely pro Ukrainian European?consensus. Since January 27, the flow of Russian oil through Druzhba has been halted....

The data shows that the Russian Urals oil differentials were unchanged on Thursday compared to Brent, while the grade's price remained above the new EU price cap so far this month. LSEG data indicates that the Urals FOB prices at Primorsk Port have been higher than the new EU price cap since February 1. The cap allows European companies to provide shipping, insurance and?other?services in exchange for Russian cargoes as long as the oil is sold below the cap. Calculations showed that the Russian state's oil and gas revenues are expected to almost halve in February 2025 to 410 billion...

Officials said that the MOL group of Hungary has ordered tankers to deliver?Saudi oil, Norwegian oil, Kazakh, Libyan, and Russian to its?Hungarian refineries. It also halted diesel deliveries to Ukraine in an effort to fix a Druzhba pipe outage. MOL's refineries have been struggling since the supply halt, which Ukraine claims was caused by a Russian attack on the pipeline infrastructure that occurred on January 27, 2013. The Slovak Government approved a loan for 250,000 tons of oil on Wednesday. Both countries blame Ukraine for the delay in resuming the flow of funds for political reasons. Hungary and Ukraine are...

Karel Havilicek, Czech Economy Minister, said that the Czech Republic is now offering a small amount of oil to Slovakia via an eastward flow through 'the Druzhba Pipeline' after westward flows from Ukraine were stopped following an attack last month on the pipeline. After expanding a?alternative supply route, the Czech Republic stopped using Russian supplies through Druzhba in 2013. They have also mentioned the possibility of reversing flow from the Czech section of the pipeline into Slovakia. Havlicek said to? Havlicek told? Havlicek wrote in a message that he was ready to start immediately preparing technical and investment measures and...

Hungary and Slovakia asked Croatia for help in securing Russian oil. Hungarian firm?MOL released strategic crude reserves following disruptions to the flow of oil via Ukraine, which both countries blamed on Kyiv. Kyiv's Foreign Ministry?last week claimed that a Russian attack against a Ukrainian.pipeline is responsible for the halt of flows into Eastern Europe since?January 27. Andrii Sybiha, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, posted a picture on X showing firefighters and what he called Druzhba Pipeline infrastructure on fire. He accused Hungary of failing to comment publicly on the incident during two weeks due to its ally Russia being at fault. Hungary...