North Asia

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...

Industry sources said that the freight rates for tankers shipping Urals crude to India from Russia's western port have risen in this month. This is because bad weather has made fewer vessels and disrupted loading and unloading, and increased costs of insurance. Two oil tankers were struck by drones in the Black Sea Tuesday, including a tanker chartered by the U.S. oil giant Chevron. After drone attacks this week on two Greek-operated oil tankers, Greece has instructed its shipping fleet to take the most stringent security measures when sailing into Russian Black Sea ports. The average freight?costs for transporting Urals...

Data from industry sources showed that Russia's seaborne petroleum products exports were up 17% in December compared to November, at 9.069 millions metric tons. This was due to a higher fuel output and seasonal decreases in domestic demand. According to data, the oil product exports from Russian Baltic Ports -- Primorsk Vysotsk St. Petersburg Ust-Luga -- grew 8.2% on a month-over-month basis, reaching 5.253 millions tons. Market sources reported that the rise in prices was due to higher diesel shipments from Primorsk. Data shows that the oil exports from Black Sea and Azov Sea port grew 42.6%, to 3.038 millions...

The 'Slovak Economy Ministry' said that the Druzhba oil pipeline has been interrupted in Slovakia. However, it expects the flow to resume within the next few days. The Ministry said that the interruption would not have any impact on Slovakia's energy supply and did not provide further details about the duration of the suspension. The Ukrainian foreign ministry announced on Thursday that the Russian oil transit via the Ukrainian portion of the Druzhba pipeline to Eastern Europe has been suspended since January 27 due to an attack by Russia. The suspension affects Hungary as well, since MOL's oil and gas...

Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine's foreign minister, said that the Russian attack on the Ukrainian branch of the?Soviet built Druzhba pipeline last month halted the flow of Russian oil into Eastern Europe. Ukraine transports Russian oil to Slovakia, Hungary and other countries despite its almost four-year war with Russia. Naftogaz, a Ukrainian oil and natural gas company, reported on 27 January that "Russia" had attacked one its facilities in the east of Ukraine. However, it did not say which facility. ?However city officials in Brody where Druzhba intersects the Brody-Odesa pipeline warned the populace about pollution caused by burning oil 'products. Sybiha...

Officials said that Russia bombarded?Ukraine overnight with ballistic missiles and drones, further damaging its energy system. Tens of thousands of people in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Odesa were left without heat, electricity, and water. Russia's winter campaign of strikes against Ukraine's electricity grid has intensified, forcing major cities to endure long periods of darkness and cold in freezing temperatures. Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, stated that the city's apartment buildings lacked heating Thursday, after the latest attack cut off the supply to 2,600 high rises. This is on top 1,100 apartments already affected by previous strikes. DTEK, a private energy...

The International Energy Agency reported on Thursday that Russia's revenue from crude oil and refined product exports increased in January as higher prices offset a drop in export volumes. The Paris-based IEA reported that exports revenues grew by $130 millions in January compared to December, reaching $11.1 billion. However, they were still down $4.6 billion year over year. The report also stated that the Russian crude oil and fuel exports decreased last month by?90,000. barrels per a day from December, to 7.5 millions barrels per a day. The international sanctions over Ukraine have put Russia under pressure, particularly by Washington's...

According to five people who are involved in the trade, registration data and interviews revealed that tens of thousands cars were being exported to Russia from China under gray-market schemes. These schemes often bypass Western and Asian government sanctions and the commitments made by automakers to leave the Russian market. In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in?2022, the sanctions and pledges were made. The trade of these cars, from Toyotas to Mazdas and German luxury models, continues to thrive partly because informal networks allow Russian dealers to order the vehicles through Chinese intermediaries. This is shown by interviews and...

Rosaviatsia, the aviation regulator in Russia, said that Russia will 'fly its tourists out of Cuba within the next few days and then suspend all flights till a jet-fuel shortage subsides. Both airlines have said that they will only operate passenger flights in order to bring tourists home from Cuba. The?administration of U.S. president Donald Trump has declared Cuba a "unusual and exceptional threat" to U.S. security, and announced that the communist-run Island will no longer be receiving oil from Venezuela. Washington has threatened?impose tariffs on other fuel suppliers like Mexico if they continue to supply fuel to the island....

Russian oil tankers increasingly list Singapore as their destination. This indicates a'shift in export flow from India to 'China and growing concern over Western sanctions. LSEG data indicates that tankers carrying approximately 1.4 million metric tonnes of Russian crude left for Singapore in January. This was the highest monthly volume seen in recent years. Singapore does not import Russian oil due to sanctions risks. However, its waters are used by traders for ship-to -ship transfers. Many'vessels' discharge their cargo in Malaysia or transfer oil into floating storage units. Singapore is often used to mask the final buyer. A Moscow-based oil...

Urals crude differentials are under pressure after Thursday's'sellers' faced weak demand from India following a?trade?deal? that New Delhi made with Washington, which will result in India cutting purchases of Russian oil. The Russian oil market is increasingly exposed to China, so traders were forced to offer greater discounts to China as the largest buyer of Russian crude oil. The discounts on Russian oil exported to China have reached a new record this week, as sellers reduced prices to attract demand from the world's largest crude importer. They also cut their prices to offset the loss of India sales. PLATTS WINDOW...

Data from LSEG and market sources showed that Russia's seaborne gasoil and diesel exports increased 19% over the previous month. This was due to a seasonal decline in domestic demand, which prompted traders to ship out more. The data shows that exports were 4,6% lower than in January 2025, as drone attacks, maintenance and other factors affected the output. Sources said that the shipment of ultra-low sulphur diesel through the Baltic port Primorsk - Russia's largest port for?diesel imports - jumped 32.4% in one month, to a new record of 2.256 million tonnes, supported by an increase in production. The...

The Russian captain of the container ship that collided with a 'U.S. The London court found the Russian captain of the container ship that crashed into a?U.S. Vladimir Motin was the captain of the Solong tanker when it struck the Stena Immaculate, which had been anchored with just over 220,000 gallons of aviation fuel. The crash on March 10 started a fire that spread to both ships. Mark Pernia was a crew member of the Solong, a Filipino national whose remains have never been located and are presumed to be dead. Tom Little, the prosecutor at Motin's first trial last...

Calculations on Monday showed that the average daily supply of natural gas to Europe via the TurkStream pipeline by Russian energy giant Gazprom rose 10.3% year-on-year in 'January. After Ukraine decided not to renew a five-year deal for transit with Moscow, which expired in January 2025, the only remaining transit route is through Turkey. Calculations show that the total Russian gas supplied to Europe through TurkStream was 1.73 billion cubic meters (bcm) during January, compared with 1.57 bcm in the same period last year. According to calculations based on data from the European Gas Transmission Group Entsog, Russian?gas exported via...

Officials said that Saturday, parts of Ukraine and Moldova - including the capitals of both countries - were plunged into a blackout due to a "malfunction" of high voltage power lines. Later in the day, power was restored. The accident was not linked directly to war damages, but Ukraine's electricity grid suffered as a result of the cumulative impact of Russian airstrikes. This led to severe restrictions in the supply of electricity over the past few weeks. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, blamed ice accumulation on power lines for a cyberattack and dismissed it. In his video nightly address,...