Western Europe

Sources said that the differential between Russian Urals crude and Brent dated was stable on Wednesday. Kazakhstan also rerouted some oil exports to other destinations than the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which had been attacked by a drone over the weekend. Five industry sources have confirmed that Kazakhstan will divert additional crude oil through the Baku, Tbilisi, and Ceyhan pipelines in December, after the CPC, its main export route suffered damage following a drone attack by Ukraine. According to a source, Kazakh producers could add up to 140,000 tons KEBCO crude oil in December. Ukraine has struck the Druzhba pipeline...

According to the German road traffic agency KBA, on Wednesday, the number of new registrations from Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD exceeded that from Tesla. KBA reported that Tesla sold 1,763 vehicles in Germany in November. This is 20.2% lower than the same month last year. Tesla sold 17,358 cars in the period January-November, which is 48.4% less than the same period the previous year. The volume of Chinese electric vehicles manufacturer BYD sales increased by more than nine times year-on-year in November, to 4,026 unit, reaching 19,197 units from the start of the year. KBA reported that the number...

Germany is putting into operation import terminals for natural gas liquefied as part of efforts to replace Russian gas piped after Moscow's invasion in Ukraine in 2022. Deutsche Energy Terminal, a state-appointed terminal, said that the Brunsbuettel Terminal received its floating storage regasification units, the Hoegh Gannet and the FSRU Excelsior, back on 24 November after upgrades. Wilhelmshaven 2 restarted their FSRUs Excelsior in preparation for the upcoming winter months. DET, the company in charge of Wilhelmshaven 1 & 2, has announced that it will run a new auction for LNG landing capacities in December. It had so far been...

The difference between Brent and Russian Urals crudes was unchanged in quiet trading on Monday, while the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which is responsible for the oil loadings, said that the CPC has resumed oil loads after the drone attack at the weekend. The CPC, a consortium of Russian, Kazakh, and U.S. shareholders said that on Saturday, the attack had caused serious damage to Single-Point Mooring 2 (SPM2) at its Novorossiysk Terminal. SPM 1 has resumed oil loading, while SPM 2 is damaged and SPM 3 is idle for repairs since November 12. According to traders, one SPM is capable...

VTB CEO Andrei Kostin said in an interview that Russian banks were willing to restructure Russian Railways' debt, as long as their central bank did not increase the reserve requirements on these loans. The Russian government is examining different options to support Russian Railways. This company, which is the largest employer in the country, has accumulated a debt of 4 trillion roubles ($50.8 billion), according to a report on Nov. 25, VTB is the second largest Russian bank and Russian Railways' largest creditor. The bank's top managers participate in weekly government discussions on how to handle the debt. These meetings...

The Port of Newcastle, Australia's largest coal export port, will resume its operations on Monday after protesters against climate change disrupted shipping for the second day in a row on Sunday. The latest protest was organized by the climate activist group Rising Tide. They claimed that hundreds of activists violated an exclusion zone on Sunday, when they paddled their kayaks in the shipping lane at Newcastle Harbour. The port is located 170 km north of the state capital of New South Wales, Sydney. It is the largest bulk-shipping port on the east of Australia. Climate change is an issue that...

The Port of Newcastle was disrupted by a climate-change demonstration off Australia's East Coast on Sunday, resulting in 21 arrests. This is the second protest to occur within two days. The climate activist group Rising Tide claimed responsibility for the act, saying that hundreds of activists paddled in kayaks into the shipping lanes of Newcastle Harbour at local time on Sunday. The port is located 170 km north of Sydney, the capital of the state. It is Australia's largest bulk shipping port. Climate change is an issue that divides the nation. Port of Newcastle spokesperson: "General cargo movement is now...

Indian businessman Prateek gupta was accused of orchestrating a $600m metals fraud by commodity group Trafigura. He told a court in India on Friday that he didn't know who within his companies had allegedly made fake documents for selling the same cargo to multiple customers. The long-running trial concluded on Friday with the testimony. It will resume again on December 10, for closing arguments. Trafigura, a Geneva-based company, sued Gupta in more than two years. It claimed that he had orchestrated a ruse where he and his firms agreed to deliver pure nickel instead of steel or scrap. Trafigura's lawyers...

Kenya and two Chinese firms began construction on a $1.5billion highway expansion in East Africa Friday. This marked Beijing's return after years of absence to major infrastructure developments. The partners will finance the project in two phases using a combination of debt and equity, a model which is becoming more popular after China's traditional loan model raised concerns about borrowers' debt loads. Kenya chose to use the public-private model for funding the highway because it would have taken "a lifetime" to secure normal budgetary allocations, said President William Ruto. The next option, borrowing, was also unaffordable, given the debt load...

The Italian court ruled plans for the largest suspension bridge in the world between Italy's mainland and Sicily's island would violate EU environmental and procurement rules. However, the government has said that it will not abandon the flagship project. The government of Prime Minister Giorgia Melons says that the 3,666 metre bridge planned over the Strait of Messina, which is longer than the one in Turkey, will bring prosperity to the traditionally poorer areas and aid the movement of NATO troops. In a 33-page decision published late Thursday, the Court of Auditors stated that the government had failed to justify...

The German parliament will approve the budget for 2026 on Friday, with borrowing levels that are astronomical. This marks a radical departure from years of fiscal discipline. Highlights of the conference: The Key Numbers in Germany's Core Budget for 2026 The core budget for 2026, approved by Germany's Budget Committee, includes 58.3 Billion Euros in investments. The core budget includes borrowings of 97,9 billion euro. What happens to the Special Funds? The increase in investment is possible because of a 500 billion euro special infrastructure fund, and the exemption from debt regulations for defence expenditures approved in March. The German...

The African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank signed a $275 million financing package to assist Mauritania in upgrading its main rail corridor. The lenders announced that the AfDB would contribute $150 million, and the EIB, $125 million, towards modernising the railway connecting iron ore mining in Zouerate in northeastern Mauritania to the Atlantic Port of Nouadhibou. The statement said that the deal, which was guaranteed by the European Union and signed in Rabat on the sidelines the Africa Investment Forum, was also guaranteed by the European Union. It said that the financing would enable Mauritania’s National Industrial and...

In mid-July Iranian drones flew through the mountains of northern Iraq's Kurdistan Region, zeroing in on their target: American oilfields. One of the missiles was fired by a militia group in Iraq that is likely to be Iranian-backed, and probably as retaliation against the U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear facilities weeks earlier. It hit the Sarsang oil field, which is operated by HKN Energy. This company belongs to the son Ross Perot, a Texas billionaire. A second hit was reported in a field near Dallas, operated by Hunt Oil. Nearly half of Kurdistan's production was halted by the end of...

The oil price rose on Thursday, after Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure indicated potential supply restrictions. Stalled peace talks dampened expectations of a deal to restore Russian oil flow to global markets. However, weak fundamentals limited gains. Brent crude rose by 24 cents or 0.38% to $62.91 at 0349 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate gained 29 cents or 0.49% to $59.24. A Ukrainian military intelligence source confirmed that Ukraine had attacked the Druzhba pipeline in Russia's Tambov central region on Wednesday. This was the fifth attack against the pipeline, which sends Russian crude oil to Hungary or Slovakia. Later,...

The oil prices rose slightly on Thursday, after Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure indicated potential supply restrictions. Stalled peace talks dampened expectations of a deal to restore Russian oil flow to global markets. However, weak fundamentals limited gains. Brent crude rose by 14 cents or 0.22% to $62.81 at 0102 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate gained 16 cents or 0.27% to $59.11. A Ukrainian military intelligence source confirmed that Ukraine had attacked the Druzhba pipeline in Russia's Tambov central region on Wednesday. This was the fifth attack against the pipeline, which sends Russian crude oil to Hungary or Slovakia....

Britain announced on Wednesday that it will allow imports of pork from areas of Spain not affected by African swine flu (ASF). This is a reversal of a blanket prohibition imposed last weekend after the country reported the first cases of this disease in over three decades. This move aligns Britain's approach with that of the European Union, which restricts trading only in outbreak zones. Pork imports from other regions can resume, but those from Barcelona will remain suspended. In an emailed message, a Defra representative said that "all fresh pork and other impacted product from the affected region are...

Catalonia, a region in Spain, has pledged to reduce its wild boar populations, including through increased cullings, following the detection of African swine in several animals near Barcelona, in what is the first outbreak in Spain since 1994. This has put at risk the exports of pork from Spain, Europe's largest producer. The meat accounts for about a quarter (3.5 billion euros) of the EU's total output, with exports of around $4.05 billion per year. Two wild boars were first confirmed dead from the disease in the Collserola mountains outside Barcelona last week. Since then, seven other boars have been...

Potential investors see Uniper and Sefe as attractive assets, said Germany's Economy Minister on Wednesday. Her remarks were made during an investor conference in Frankfurt on German energy infrastructure, where more than 50 institutional investors representing over 10 trillion euros (11.6 trillion dollars) of global invested capital gathered. The second conference of its kind, organized by the state-backed lender KfW is aimed at generating investor interest in Europe’s largest economy. It has been contracting in the past two years and only modest growth is expected in 2025. Berlin spent approximately 20 billion euros in 2022 to stabilize both Sefe &...

By Adriana Barrera MEXICO CITY. Dec 2. Esentia's CEO announced on Tuesday that the company plans to increase its natural gas transportation capacity by 50% in the third phase of a five-year expansion program, betting on a growing demand. In late November, the company raised $457m in its initial public offering to finance expansion and reduce debt. Daniel Bustos, Esentia's CEO, said that the company will expand its interconnected system to 660 million cubic feet. * Esentia has more than 2,000 km (1,243 mi) of pipelines known as the Waha System or Wahalajara, that transport low-cost gas from Waha in...

Gasgrid, the operator of Finland's natural gas distribution system, said Tuesday that it was considering expanding its pipeline network in Western Finland to accommodate plans for building synthetic methane plants. The production of synthetic methane from electricity is part of Finland’s larger decarbonisation campaign to accelerate the use of renewable and low carbon gases in industry. In a press release, Gasgrid's Janne Gronlund stated that the expansion of the system would not only support reliable energy supplies but also Finland's supply security. Grid operator estimates that planned renewable gas production could increase supply in the region by 3-4 Terawatt Hours...

Data from market sources, LSEG and other sources showed that Russia's seaborne gasoil and diesel exports increased 3% from October to 2.37 million metric tonnes in November despite the recent U.S. Sanctions and infrastructure damages caused by drones. The market sources said that exports of ultra low-sulphur fuel via Primorsk - Russia's biggest outlet for diesel shipments - grew 39.3% on a month-to-month basis to 1.221 millions tons, as major producers carried out seasonal and unplanned maintenance. Exports from Russia's south ports, on the other hand, fell dramatically as a result of drone attacks against infrastructure and refineries in the...

Spain called on its military to contain an outbreak near Barcelona of African swine flu, in order to protect the multi-billion euro pork export industry. Officials believe the virus spread when a wild boar consumed contaminated food. It could have been a sandwich imported from another country. The authorities confirmed that the two dead wild boars had tested positive for this disease. Bellaterra is located on the other side of Collserola Mountain range, away from the coastal city. A 6-km exclusion area has been set up to exclude the affected area. Three hundred Catalan rural wardens and police were deployed...

BP announced on Friday that it has begun restarting its 400-mile Olympic Pipeline following repairs to a leak located east of Everett in Washington. Olympic Pipeline transports refined petroleum products, including gasoline and diesel from northern Washington into Oregon. It consists of two pipelines with a diameter of 16 inches and 20 inches. Olympic initiated restart procedures for the 20-inch pipe early on November 28, following a successful test to detect leaks," the company stated in an email statement. Its crews repaired the 16-inch section of the pipeline system earlier this week after finding no signs of a leak. On...

The protests and strikes in Italy against Giorgia's Meloni government on Friday caused dozens of flight cancellations and disruptions to train services throughout the country. The USB hardline union and smaller worker organizations called for the one-day strike against the government’s plans to increase military spending and support for Israel. In recent years, the USB has emerged as a grass-roots movement that is challenging the dominance of three major confederations: the CGIL (left-wing), the CISL (centrist) and UIL (right-wing). Bologna has cancelled 17 flights while Malpensa in Milan has cancelled 27. Milan Linate Airport, Naples and Venice are also affected....