Latest News
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Russian drone strikes hit two foreign vessels in Odesa region, Kyiv says
Ukraine officials reported on Friday that Russia had attacked two civilian boats with drones, one of which was flying a foreign flag, in the southern Odesa area, killing a Syrian citizen and injuring a second. In the last two month, Moscow has intensified its attacks on Ukraine's sea export routes in retaliation to attacks on tankers of Russia's "shadow fleet", which were heading there to export oil. Oleksiy Kuleba, Deputy Prime Minister, said in a press release that a ship was sailing along Ukraine's export route to pick up grain cargoes at the port Chornomorsk. The ship was flying the flag of St. Kitts and Nevis. One of them, near Odesa, was flying the Comoros Islands?flag and carrying soybeans. Deep-water ports in Odesa are vital for Ukraine's heavy-commodity economy to export their products. Kuleba wrote: "This is another indication that Russia deliberately targets civilian objects, international shipping and logistics for food." He shared images of ships with the names "Ladonna" and "Wael K" on their hulls. MarineTraffic is a website that tracks ships. According to the site, the Ladonna, a bulk carrier with a Comoros flag, measures 157 metres. The Wael K, on the other hand, is a general cargo vessel measuring 115 meters. The Ukrainian?seaport Authority told reporters on Wednesday that in 2025, the number of Russian attacks against?ports within the Odesa Region will almost triple from the previous year.
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Senalia, a grain terminal group, expects to double the number of shipments by 2025/26
Senalia, a grain export terminal operator, expects volumes to double in 2025/26 compared to last year due to a rebound in French harvest production and a brisk barley demand. Rouen, on the Seine River in Normandy, is France's main grain export hub. Rain-stricken 2024 reduced its export surplus, and port terminals were idle for part the season. Senalia, the cooperative-owned cereal exporter, has forecast that Senalia will load 3.8 millions metric tons in the current July-June period, up from just 1.8 million in 2020/25. This is exactly what it did two years ago. He said that 1.7 million tonnes of cargo were already loaded between July and December. Export activity has been boosted not only by increased harvest supplies, but also by a strong demand for animal-feed barley. Senalia is scheduled to load an unusual barley cargo to Iraq in the near future. This will help to offset a slump in Chinese demand that has been occurring since summer. He said barley was competitive in price and had a variety of destinations. MORE CHALLENGING MARKET FOR WHEAT Senalia is currently handling the same amount of?barley and wheat. However, it expects that wheat will retain its predominance over barley, with a volume split of 60%-40%. He said that the market situation for wheat was even more difficult, with France being shut out of Algerian due to "diplomatic tensions" and China not buying French wheat. This season, Morocco will be France's top destination for wheat exports. Charvillat stated that while Argentina is creating additional competition in the country, initial reports suggest milling quality of Argentina's new crop could be less appealing than French wheat. (Reporting and editing by Sybille De La Hamaide, Jane Merrill, and Gus Trompiz)
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Serbian NIS refiner purchases first crude oil since US sanctions are lifted
NIS, the Serbian oil company owned by Russia, announced on Friday it had imported 'first shipments' of crude oil to restart the country's only refinery, after securing an exemption from U.S. sanctions. Washington sanctioned NIS in October, as part of wider measures targeting Russia's oil sector in response to Moscow's conflict in Ukraine. It granted the company an operating licence that was valid until January 23. This gave the company just enough time to grab international cargoes before winter weather hit. NIS released a statement saying that "it is expected that... crude oil will?be delivered to the Pancevo Oil Refinery within the next week. The company also plans to import?additional quantities." As winter approaches, fuel shortages are a concern. NIS stated that the oil will be delivered through Croatia's?Adriatic Pipeline? (JANAF), which is the only route available for piped crude to reach landlocked Serbia. A source with first-hand knowledge said that the?first 85,000 metric ton cargo was Iraqi Kirkuk crude oil, which is already stored at the Omisalj Terminal in Croatia. The source also said that NIS had secured a smaller shipment of Es Sider crude from Libya for delivery in late January. Calculations showed that the two cargoes would allow Pancevo refinery run for a minimum of nine days if it is running at full capacity. NIS has declined to comment. JANAF stated that it is 'prepared to transport cargoes during the period of the operating license. Although the government of Serbia has stated that it has enough fuel in stock, the suspension of crude deliveries due to the sanctions has raised public concern about supplies. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said that the NIS refinery would be operational by?January 18 or 17. He said that production would start on January 25 or 26. The U.S. gave?NIS until the 24th of March to negotiate the divestment from Gazprom, Russia's largest oil company, and its sanctioned unit, Gazprom Nept. The Serbian government has said that it supports the ongoing sales talks between Russian owners and Hungary MOL.
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Official: US is in process of capturing Olina tanker from the Caribbean
Two U.S. officials confirmed on Friday that the U.S. was in the process to seize?the Olina oil tanker near Trinidad in the Caribbean. This is the fifth interdiction of ships in recent weeks, as part of Washington’s efforts in order to control Venezuelan crude exports. According to an industry source who has direct knowledge of the situation, the Olina had sailed previously from Venezuela, and returned to the area. The British maritime risk management company,?Vanguard, said that the vessel's AIS tracker (location) was last active 52days ago in the Venezuelan EEZ to Curacao's northeast. The seizure comes after a long pursuit of oil tankers associated with Venezuelan oil shipments that were sanctioned in the area. Sources in the oil industry said that the Olina, which left Venezuela fully loaded last week as part of a floating flotilla shortly after the U.S. had seized Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro's office on January 3, was returning to Venezuela fully loaded following the U.S. ban of Venezuelan oil exports. The U.S. sanctioned the tanker in January of last year when it was called the Minerva M. Washington claimed that it was part of the shadow fleet, a group of ships with no insurance or regulation. Reporting by Idrees, Phil Stewart and Jonathan Saul. Mark Potter and Hugh Lawson edited the report.
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Wang Yi, China's top diplomat, postpones his visit to Somalia
China's top diplomatic official has delayed what would have been an 'historic visit' to Somalia as part of a 'tour' 'of Africa' aimed at boosting strategic 'trade', the East African nation's Foreign Affairs Ministry announced on Friday. Wang Yi was to be the first Chinese Foreign Minister since the 1980s. Mogadishu was expected to receive a diplomatic boost after Israel became first country to formally recognize the breakaway Republic of Somaliland. This northern region declared its independence in 1991. Somalia's relationship with the U.S. is also at an all-time low after Washington announced this week that it would stop?further aid to the government over a dispute regarding the demolition of World Food Programme warehouse. Officials from the Somali Foreign Affairs Ministry said that they would provide the reason and future schedule of Wang's trip later. Wang began his annual New Years tour of Africa Wednesday. He focused on strategic trade in?East Africa and Southern Africa, as Beijing sought to secure vital shipping routes?and supply lines for resources. Wang will also travel to Tanzania and Lesotho on the trip that continues until January 12. He called for greater cooperation with Africa's fast-growing economy in areas such as infrastructure, green industries, and digital economy when he met Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmad on Thursday.
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Nvidia and car suppliers form partnerships to revive the self-driving drive
AI, a network of partnerships, and tech suppliers including Nvidia, are the key to accelerating progress in the self-driving industry. However, many automakers are still unsure. They are concerned about the high costs and scalability but also want to know whether there is enough demand from customers to justify an expensive bet. The advent of vehicles that can drive themselves would revolutionize the world of transportation. However, making this technology safe enough for public roads is proving to be more difficult and expensive than anticipated. While some companies, such as Alphabet Waymo or Tesla, have chosen to develop their own autonomous vehicles in-house, others such as General Motors or Ford Motors have given up on this. AWS and German supplier Aumovio made an announcement at the CES in Las Vegas, this week. Kodiak AI, a company that makes autonomous trucks, and Bosch announced a partnership to increase production of autonomous trucking sensors and hardware. Nvidia, a company that makes AI chips, has released its "next-generation" platform. This platform will be used by Lucid Group and Uber in their robotaxi alliance. Mercedes-Benz announced this week that it would launch an advanced driver-assistance program in the United States this year, powered by Nvidia chips. The system will allow its vehicles to operate autonomously within city streets while under driver supervision. Artificial intelligence, the driving force behind self-driving cars, is now proving to be a powerful tool for development. It could help reduce costs. AI and generative AI are a "big accelerator" for the industry, "because they allow... significant development and validation while using significantly less resources," Ozgur Tohumcu said. He is general manager of Amazon's cloud division Amazon Web Services. Western automakers also face pressure to keep up with China's drive to be the leader in autonomous driving development and adoption. Last month, China approved two cars that have Level 3 autonomy, which allows for hands-free driving. The auto industry has defined five levels for autonomous driving. From 'cruise control' at Level 1, to fully self-driving without the need of a human driver at Level 5, there are five levels. Jochen Hanebeck is the CEO of German chipmaker Infineon. He cautioned against "market fantasies" that fully autonomous cars would be commonplace in a few short years. He said that rather than invest in new investments for fully autonomous vehicles, automakers prefer to use driver assistance technologies, also known as Level 2 technology, which is already available, but requires constant attention from drivers. Hanebeck stated, "I do not see a tsunami moving towards Level 5." There have been a number of announcements of robotaxi deployments in China, Europe, and the Middle East. But Jeremy McClain of Aumovio’s autonomous mobility unit said that to expand the areas covered by these robotaxis, more data is needed, as well as fleets and logistics. "MAKES US FEELS LIKE WE ARE THERE" Self-driving cars are a hot topic. Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, promised that the electric car maker would have one million self-driving vehicles on the roads by the end of 2019. Tesla only launched its small robotaxi service last year, six long years after Musk made his bold prediction. It was a problem that self-driving cars are susceptible to a multitude of unexpected events, also known as "edge cases." These can be easily misunderstood by the vehicles. Experts often cite the example of a human driver slowing down when they see a ball roll into the street because a child might be chasing it. But a self driving car would only react if it saw the child. Ford and GM, among others, abandoned their money-losing auto-pilot units after the first bubble burst. The death of GM Cruise was accelerated after it dragged a pedestrian for 20 feet (6 meters) and struck him. Ali Kani is the general manager of Nvidia's automotive team. He said AI enabled advancements to address key flaws in self-driving technologies. Kani says that there are some pieces of foundational technology which make him feel as if he's in the field. Morgan Stanley analysts in a CES note said that Tesla was still years ahead, despite Nvidia’s new Alpamayo self-driving platform giving legacy carmakers a boost and helping them to pressure Tesla. Many in the industry believe that Nvidia's open-source platform, which is a good place for Tesla competitors to gather, will give them a leg up. Russell Ong said, "In a way, it was almost like Apple and Android," referring to Tesla’s proprietary system versus Nvidia’s decision to release Alpamayo, an open-source version. Reporting by Abhirup in Las Vegas, Akash in Bengaluru and Nick Carey. Editing and proofreading by Peter Henderson, Matthew Lewis and Matthew Lewis.
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Asia spot prices drop on tepid Demand
Asia spot prices for liquefied gas have been on the decline this week due to a tepid regional demand and ample supply. The average LNG price in February for delivery to?Northeast Asia Industry sources reported that the price of natural gas was $9.50/million British thermal units (mmBtu), which is a?slightly? lower than $9.60/mmBtu in the previous week. "Northeast Asian Demand continues to be weak despite a winter cold snap, with limited restocking on a spot-basis following weak demand in the power sector, with coal being preferred for most generation," Martin Senior, Argus' head of LNG pricing, said. He added that some diverted to South Korea after the record low temperatures recorded in Seoul last month. The demand is likely to have backfilled stocks. S&P Global Energy's daily Northwest Europe LNG Price Benchmark (NWM) for cargoes delivered by February was $9.112/mmBtu in?Europe on January 8th. This is a $0.515/mmBtu reduction from the price at the TTF Hub. The lower temperatures increased LNG consumption and Europe relied on spot cargoes as it had less gas storage. Argus estimated the price to be $8.98/mmBtu while Spark Commodities put it at $9.459/mmBtu. Hans Van Cleef is the head of EqoLibrium's energy research. He said that while temperatures are still lower than the long-term norm in many parts of Europe, it seems likely they will rise next week. He said that as a result of this, the expected gas demand related to temperature is decreasing. Commercial operators also exited their long positions due to the depletion of gas storage, which could lead to a harder time obtaining refills during injection season. According to independent gas analyst Seb K Kennedy, investment funds reduced net short positions on TTF futures as 'colder weather, low volume trading and colder weather pushed up prices for prompt'. Qasim Afghanistan, Spark Commodities analyst, reported that LNG freight rates in the Atlantic fell for the sixth consecutive week, to $48,000/day. Meanwhile, rates in Pacific dropped to $44,250/day. Afghan said that the U.S. front month arbitrage for Northeast Asia via Cape of Good Hope was more strongly pointing towards Europe due to a decline in the JKM/TTF spread.
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Dubai Airports website shows that nearly 20 flights between Dubai, Iran and Iranian cities have been canceled.
The website of Dubai Airports shows that at least 17 flights scheduled by Flydubai for Friday between Dubai and Iranian Cities including Tehran, Shiraz, and Mashhad have been cancelled. The website didn't give a reason for the cancellations. However, a nationwide internet blackout in?Iran was reported on Thursday. It continued?into?Friday as authorities moved to stop growing protests. The protests began at the end December and have shook the nation. Flydubai did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Turkish media reported that Turkish Airlines had cancelled '17 flights and Turkey's Ajet had cancelled six flights. Budget carrier Pegasus Airlines also cancelled flights on Friday to Iranian cities. Hamad International Airport's website shows that at least two flights between Doha, Qatar and Tehran were cancelled on Friday. Reporting by Jana Choukeir in Dubai, Federico Maccioni and Ezgi Erkoyun from Istanbul and Jan Harvey in Dubai.
CANADA-CRUDE-Discount on Western Canada Select hits $15 as Venezuela concerns continue
Western Canada Select futures are now trading at a discount to the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate Futures for a third consecutive session. The market is still roiled by Venezuelan developments.
CalRock reported that WCS in Hardisty for February delivery settled at $15 per barrel less than the U.S. benchmark WTI. This compares to $14.45 a barrel on Wednesday. Rory Johnston, founder of Commodity Context, says that Thursday's settlement represents the "steepest discount Canadian Heavy Crude has traded at since July 2024." The weakness is primarily due to U.S. Gulf Coast Pressure.
The widening of the spread is partly due to seasonal patterns. However, it has also coincided both with the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro by the U.S. and Donald Trump's announcement that the U.S. would import Venezuelan crude worth up to $2 billion.
Over the long term, an increase in Venezuelan barrels may compete with Canadian heavy crude oil that is of similar?quality in the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Analysts believe that if Venezuela can rapidly increase oil production, the WCS could continue to weaken in the coming months. Canada is partially protected due to its size, infrastructure and rule of law advantage.
After?two consecutive days of declines in oil prices, global oil prices rose over 3% Thursday, reaching a new two-week high. Investors assessed the developments in Venezuela, and were worried about supply from Russia, Iraq, and Iran.
(source: Reuters)