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Tanjug Agency reports that the US has postponed sanctions against Serbian NIS Oil Company for a fourth time.
Tanjug News Agency reported that the United States had postponed its sanctions against NIS, a Russian-owned Serbian Oil Company for a forth time. NIS has secured three waivers so far, with the last expiring later this Friday. NIS, which has a majority ownership by Russia's Gazprom and Gazprom in Pancevo (just outside Belgrade), operates Serbia's sole oil refinery. The plant has a capacity of 4.8 millions tons per year and can meet the majority of Serbia's oil needs. The sanctions could threaten its crude oil supplies. The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury placed initial sanctions on Russia's petroleum sector on 10 January, and gave Gazprom a 45-day deadline to sell its NIS holdings. Gazprom transferred to Gazprom a stake in NIS of approximately 5.15% on February 26 in an effort to avoid sanctions. Gazprom owns 11.3% of NIS while Gazprom holds 44.85%. The Serbian Government owns 29.87% of NIS, while the rest is held by small investors. NIS imports 80% of the oil it needs via Janaf, Croatia's pipeline operator. The rest is covered by the crude oil produced in Serbia. (Reporting and editing by Alex Richardson, Joe Bavier and Aleksandar Vaovic)
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Transneft reports that oil flow will continue to decline in 2025
Transneft, Russia's oil pipeline monopoly, has seen its oil flow continue to fall this year despite the OPEC+ agreement and technological challenges. This was confirmed by Maxim Grishanin on Friday. He also stated that due to the decline in turnover, the revenues would not reach the level typical of the last 10 years until 2030. Transneft, which operates 67,000-kilometre-long (42,000-mile) oil pipeline network, handles more than 80% of all the oil produced in Russia. Transneft CEO Nikolai Tokarev stated that the company will ship 447 million metric tonnes (around 8,94 million barrels of oil per day) in 2024. This includes 435 million tons from Russia and 12 million ton of oil from Kazakhstan. The total flow was down from 460 millions tons in 2023. Transneft earns most of its revenue from the tariffs it charges on oil and petroleum products shipped through its vast network of pipelines. (Reporting and editing by Jane Merriman, Joe Bavier and Vladimir Soldatkin)
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Heathrow Airport in the UK increases revenue forecast by nearly $5 billion due to a rebound in travel demand
Heathrow Airport in Britain raised its revenue expectations for the year on Friday, following better than expected demand for long-haul flight demand amid a rebounding leisure market. In 2025, the airport, which is Europe's busiest hub, will generate revenues of 4,96 billion pounds (3,61 billion pounds) - a significant increase over previous estimates of 3,57 billion pounds. The easing of inflation and rising living costs has stimulated an increase in travel demand. However, the geopolitical and economical uncertainties in the Middle East as well as the United States continue to make the market challenging for leisure providers. Heathrow has said that it is seeing some signs of slowing on routes with a high business traffic, but attributed it to economic uncertainties rather than geopolitical factors. The airline expects that increased passenger traffic and larger aircraft will lead to more capacity, and new direct routes for the remainder of the year. Heathrow's passenger traffic projection for 2025 is 84.2 million, which is a small improvement on last year's figures. Costs for airports are expected to rise this year due to rising security costs, increased service reductions, and higher contract costs from the national insurance. Heathrow anticipates that adjusted operating costs will rise to 1,63 billion pounds by 2025. This is an increase of 7.2% compared to 2024, and a 17-million-pound increase compared to its December investor report.
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Czech billionaire Kretinsky appointed Royal Mail chairman
His investment firm EP Group announced on Friday that Daniel Kretinsky, a Czech billionaire, will be the new chairman of Royal Mail in Britain. The EP Group, led by Kretinsky, completed its 4.90 billion pound (3.57 billion pound) acquisition of Royal Mail parent company International Distribution Services earlier this month. The British government was also given a 1 pound "golden share", as part of this deal, by the new owner of an old postal company. Royal Mail will continue to pay UK tax and retain its British headquarters with the "golden share". Royal Mail was privatised by the state in 2013, at a price of 330p per share in an initial public offer. Kretinsky already owned the largest share of IDS, which owns both Royal Mail as well as the international parcel network GLS. The deal was completed in December, after Britain obtained commitments from Kretinsky that it would protect the over 500-year-old firm and the futures of thousands of employees and customers.
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INDIA RUPEE - Rupee's appreciation is capped by dollar offers from state-run and foreign banks
The Indian rupee edged up on Friday, as the dollar struggled to deal with concerns about the future independence and the Federal Reserve. There were also increased expectations that the U.S. benchmark rate would be cut. Dollar bids by foreign and state-run bankers capped the rupee's gains, after it managed to climb above the 85.50 level in early trading. The currency last traded at 85.5375 against the US dollar, an increase of 0.2% for the day. Asian currencies traded in a mixed manner. The dollar index stood at 97.4, close to a three-year low. The benchmark Indian equity indexes BSE Sensex, and Nifty 50 registered slight gains. Bets have been placed on the Fed easing policy due to speculation that U.S. president Donald Trump could announce the new Federal Reserve Chair earlier than usual. The next chair is expected be more dovish. This has in turn put pressure on the dollar, which was already under pressure due to concerns over U.S. fiscal and trade policies this year. The dollar index has fallen over 10% in the past year and is set to have its largest first-half drop since the beginning of the free-floating currency era, which began in the early 1970s. BofA Global Research has a bearish outlook on the dollar in the medium-to-long term, due to the economic uncertainty in the U.S., the looming threat of Fed cuts and the push by global real money investors who are just beginning to increase FX hedging for U.S. assets. The dollar-rupee swap rate increased on Friday. Traders attributed the increase to foreign bank sell/buy swaps, which were likely sparked by dollar inflows associated with a large US IPO. The bids for the $1.5 billion IPO of Indian lender HDB Financial are set to close this Friday. As of 11:15 a.m., IST, the issue had been subscribed nearly twice as much. (Reporting and editing by Jaspreet K. Kalra)
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Data shows that the Arctic LNG 2 facility in Russia is home to a sanctioned LNG vessel.
Shiptracking data from LSEG/Kpler revealed that a liquefied gas vessel named Iris, sanctioned by America, was docked at Russia's Arctic Gas 2 plant on Friday. Kpler data shows that if the vessel takes gas, this would be the ninth LNG cargo offloaded from Arctic LNG 2 Project. The Arctic Metagaz vessel picked up the last shipment on October 5. The U.S. State Department imposed sanctions in October on owners and managers registered of several LNG ships, including Iris (formerly known as North Sky). According to Equasis, the shipping database, Iris changed its commercial or ship manager to Elegest OOO on April 25, which has an address in Moscow. LNG Gamma Shipping is listed as the vessel's owner. I was unable to locate contact information for LNG Gamma Shipping. Sanctions against the Arctic LNG 2 project, owned by Russia's Novatek, are also imposed on it because of Russia's conflict in Ukraine. In May, a source stated that the project has started production on its second train even though it was unable to sell LNG using its first train.
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Hawaiian Airlines cyber-attacked
Hawaiian Airlines announced on Thursday that a hacker had disrupted some of its IT system, but added that its flights continued to operate as planned. Hawaiian Airlines released a statement in which it said that "some of our systems" were affected by "a cybersecurity event". The event's nature was not revealed, but this kind of language is often used to describe ransomware attacks, when digital extortionists cripple a victim’s computer network until they receive a cryptocurrency ransom. Alaska Air Group owns the airline. It said that it has "taken measures to safeguard our operations and our flights operate safely and on schedule." Could not immediately determine the extent of disruption at Hawaiian. However, a representative who was contacted for further information responded by using a Gmail account. Hawaiian Airlines is in touch with the Federal Aviation Administration's safety office, which is responsible for airline supervision. The airline is continuing to operate in a safe manner. There has been no impact. The agency issued a statement saying that it was monitoring the situation. Reporting by Raphael Satter, David Shepardson and Chris Reese
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Satellite Chemical and Vinmar receive letters from the US government preventing ethane loading in China
Sources familiar with the situation said that ethane traders Satellite Chemical USA, Vinmar International and Vinmar International received letters from the U.S. Government allowing them to unload ethane without authorization in China. The U.S. Department of Commerce sent the letters on Wednesday in response to a requirement for licensing imposed a few weeks ago, which slowed down shipments to China and caused vessels to drift around the U.S. Gulf Coast or anchor. Analysts and industry sources said that the letter could be interpreted as an indication by the administration of its intention to lift the restrictions. Even though there may be some reluctance in loading ethane, which is extracted from U.S. shale and primarily used for petrochemicals, vessels bound for China could be caught up in limbo, depending on how the full-path restrictions play out. This depends on how long it takes to implement this restriction. Exclusively reported, the U.S. sent similar letters on Wednesday to Enterprise Products Partners (EPP) and Energy Transfer. Vinmar and China's Satellite Chemical Co Ltd (parent of Satellite Chemical USA) declined to comment. The halt of ethane flows in China has caused a drop in ethane price due to concerns about domestic oversupply. These restrictions will likely reduce the profits of ethane's top producers. Ship tracking data from LSEG/Kpler revealed that the supertanker Gas Bluebonnet, which was loaded at Energy Transfer’s Nederland facility near Texas on 12 June for China’s Satellite Chemicals, was in close proximity to the Panama Canal by Thursday. Nine other tankers drifted or were anchored in the U.S. Gulf while two moored to loading docks. Industry sources say that export terminal operators like Energy Transfer and Enterprise, which can encourage their customers to load at docks, could see a near-term benefit. O'Donnell, Tudor Pickering Holt & Co's O'Donnell, said that Enterprises Morgan Point Dock near Houston may still see lower volumes due to the ethane restriction. The U.S. oil industry needs China to purchase its natural gas liquids because the domestic supply is greater than demand. Reporting by Arathy S. Somasekhar, Houston; Trixie Yap, Singapore; and Stephen Coates.
Ukraine's drone strike restricts traffic on Don River Bridge in Russia's Volgograd
The Volgograd regional governor's office announced on Friday that traffic on the Don River was temporarily restricted in Kalachevsky to remove wreckage left by a "massive drone attack" from Ukraine.
Volgograd Governor Andrei Bocharov, cited by the administration of the region in a Telegram post, said: "Sappers at work."
He said that the attack had not resulted in any injuries.
The damage to the fifth-longest bridge in Europe, the Don River Bridge, was not immediately apparent.
In a Telegram post, the Russian Defence Ministry said that its air defense units had destroyed 39 Ukrainian drones over night over Russian territory and Crimea Peninsula. 13 of these drones were over Volgograd.
Rosaviatsia, the Russian civil aviation authority, said that Volgograd Airport was closed for over three hours. Flights were then restored shortly before 7 am local time (0400 GMT).
(source: Reuters)