The head of Ilam Customs reported that more than two million tons of goods, valued at over $1.169 billion, were exported from Mehran Border Crossing in the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year. Miragha Abdi conveyed in an interview with Mehr News Agency that over 500 truck …
Read More »Russia’s LNG Export Plans Suffer Setbacks due to Sanctions
Potential contract cancellations for the construction of ice-class LNG carriers and U.S. sanctions on the latest Russian LNG export project could hamper Russia’s plans to boost LNG sales now that its pipeline route to Europe is largely cut off. There aren’t enough ice-class LNG tankers built to carry LNG from …
Read More »China Steps up Shale Gas Exploration, Production
China’s natural gas consumption hit an all-time high this weekend amid a cold wave that froze parts of the country. One of the biggest gas importers in the world, China must have felt its dependency on external supply particularly acutely this weekend. But it is working to change things, boosting …
Read More »LNG Shipping Rates Slump on Lower Demand despite Red Sea Chaos
It’s getting cheaper — at least for now — to rent a liquefied natural gas tanker, despite turmoil in the Red Sea that is forcing some vessels to take longer and more costly routes. The slump in LNG shipping rates started in late November but accelerated this week, with prices …
Read More »Challenging New Discoveries could Slow China’s Oil Production Growth
China could see its oil production growth taper off in the coming years as the recent new discoveries could prove challenging to develop while output at mature fields declines, according to analysts and forecasters. Since 2019, China has boosted its crude oil production every year, by around 2% per year, …
Read More »5 Million Barrels of Russian Oil Stuck En Route to India
Nearly five million barrels of Sokol grade crude oil from Russia is languishing en route to Indian refiners, caught in a sanctions trap for a month, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. According to Bloomberg, citing tanker tracker data, one tanker, the NS Century, remains stuck near Sri Lanka due to …
Read More »Chinese Banks Lead $120 Billion Global Financing for Coal Projects
Chinese lenders arranged three-fourths of all the $120 billion in global financing for coal projects last year, new research from BloombergNEF showed on Wednesday. Chinese banks accounted for a massive 76%, or $93 billion, of the arranged financing for coal projects last year, followed by U.S. banks, which were at …
Read More »EIA Reports Significant Build in Oil and Fuel Stocks
Crude oil prices moved lower today after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an estimated inventory increase of 2.9 million barrels for the week to December 15. This followed a weekly inventory decline of 4.3 million barrels for the previous week. The estimate also came out a day after the …
Read More »The Remarkable Rise of Qatar as a Diplomatic Powerhouse
Qatar remains by far the biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the Middle East, and one of the top three in the world, together with the U.S. and Australia. Alongside this, though, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, it has accomplished something of a geopolitical …
Read More »Red Sea Attacks could Spark Spike in Gasoline Prices
Oil prices have spiked and could remain elevated as companies try and find alternative cargo routes following vessel attacks in the Red Sea. International benchmark Brent crude has shot up to $79.35/bbl as of this morning, having opened on Monday at $77.24/bbl. The attacks, which have been occurring daily since …
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