Latest news with #liquefied
New Straits Times
a day ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
Oil tanker market signals more energy disruption ahead
While global energy markets are not yet pricing in worst-case scenarios for the Israel-Iran war, oil tanker rates are providing a good real-time gauge of the escalating risks. Geopolitical risk has spiked following Israel's surprise bombardment of the Islamic republic last Friday and Iran's retaliatory ballistic missile strikes, leading to a rally in global energy prices, with Brent crude rising eight per cent to roughly US$75 a barrel. But markets and investors now appear to be in a holding pattern as the conflict unfolds, with possible scenarios spanning everything from an imminent ceasefire and strengthened nuclear deal to a joint United States-Israel effort to destroy Iran's nuclear programme and potentially bring about regime change. For oil markets, the central risk remains the blocking or disruption of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which one-fifth of the world's oil and gas consumption flows. Iranian strikes on energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates — both US allies — would represent another major escalation. Current oil prices suggest the market is still largely discounting such extreme scenarios, but trends in the oil tanker market show that oil shipping activity is being impacted even without direct action by Teheran. The benchmark daily rate for a "very large crude carrier" (VLCC) moving oil from the Middle East to China has risen by 40 per cent since June 13, reflecting the higher risk premium tanker owners are now charging to move through the strait. LSEG shipping market analysts anticipate further rate increases in the coming days. Tanker rates in other regions have also risen. For example, VLCC rates between West Africa and China have also jumped by over 40 per cent since Friday. This is partly due to an expectation that crude buyers will seek to secure supplies from regions outside the Middle East in order to reduce the risk of disruption to their refining or trading operations. In another sign of the conflict's indirect impact on shipping, Qatar's national energy company instructed liquefied natural gas and oil tankers to stay outside Hormuz and to enter the Gulf only the day before loading, Reuters reported. While no physical attacks have occurred in Hormuz, tensions in the Gulf were heightened on Tuesday after two oil tankers collided and caught fire near the Strait of Hormuz. One of the tankers, the Front Eagle, which was destined for China, was loaded with two million barrels of Iraqi crude oil, according to monitoring service The exact cause of the collision, which resulted in no injuries or spills, is still unclear. But it coincided with a surge in electronic interference among commercial ship navigation systems in recent days around Hormuz and the wider Gulf. This electronic disruption was affecting vessels' ability to accurately transmit positional data via automated identification systems (AIS), which posed operational and navigational challenges for maritime traffic, said the US-led Joint Maritime Information Centre in an advisory. The source of the interference, known as jamming, was unclear. LSEG analysts said more than 260 vessels in the Gulf had their AIS positions corrupted at one point in recent days, as they appeared to be "sailing" on the land around the South Pars Central Power Plant in southern Iran. Similar incidents have been recorded in other parts of the world in the past. For example, signal disruptions affecting AIS and GPS signals rose sharply in the Baltic Sea following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The physical oil market, where real-world trade activity overlaps with political and military activity, can often help investors assess risk levels at moments of heightened geopolitical tension. Amid the current fog of war, the tanker market in the Middle East is flashing warning lights.
Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Israel strikes Iran's gas fields: Why is South Pars indispensable for Tehran?
Tel Aviv and Tehran's military conflict escalated on Saturday as the Israeli army struck the world's biggest gas field in Iran, threatening the latter's energy security, which is highly dependent on the domestic oil and gas production sector. Iran's South Pars gas field, which it shares with Qatar, was on fire after Israel's precision strikes. The fire was extinguished. However, the attack shows that Israel will go for Iran's economic backbone if the conflict escalates further. The South Pars field is located offshore in Iran's southern Bushehr province. Iran is the world's third-largest gas producer after the US and Russia. It produces around 275 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year, or some 6.5% of global gas output. However, because of the US sanctions on exports, it is forced to consume the fuel domestically. It shares the field with Qatar, which produces 77 million tonnes of liquefied gas; it supplies the gas to several nations in Europe and Asia. The attack can potentially disturb the global oil pricing. The attack heightens the risk to oil infrastructure in Iran, OPEC's third-biggest producer, and to shipments from elsewhere in the region. South Pars provides roughly two-thirds of the country's supplies. 'It's going to be pretty significant,' Richard Bronze, head of geopolitics at consultant Energy Aspects Ltd., said of Saturday's attacks. 'We appear to be in an escalatory cycle,' and there will be 'questions about whether Israel is going to target more Iranian energy infrastructure,' he added. Iran has been facing an energy crisis for a long time, with some areas facing the worst power outages in decades. The Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture estimated that these blackouts cost the cippled economy about $250 million a day. 'This is a significant escalation,' said Jorge Leon, an analyst at Rystad Energy A/S who previously worked at the OPEC secretariat, said of the onslaught on Saturday.'This is probably the most important attack on oil and gas infrastructure since Abqaiq,' Leon said, referring to the 2019 strike that briefly crippled one of Saudi Arabia's key oil-processing plants. Also read: Iran Israel war news live updates: 'We can easily get a deal done, end this bloody conflict' says Trump amid strikes In the 1970s, Iran's oil production was at its peak, with the nation accounting for 10 per cent of the world's output at the time. However, after the 1979 revolution, the US crippled the Iranian economy by announcing sweeping sanctions on Tehran. The United States tightened sanctions in 2018 after Trump exited a nuclear accord during his first presidential term. Iran's oil exports fell to nearly zero for some months. China is the biggest importer of Iranian oil. It says it does not recognise sanctions against its trade partners. The main buyers of Iranian oil are Chinese private refiners, some of whom have recently been placed in the US Treasury sanctions list. If Israel attacks Iran's oil and gas production, it may also impact China, the United States' biggest strategic and economic rival. Analysts, however, say Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members could compensate for the drop of Iranian supply by using their spare capacity to pump more. With inputs from Bloomberg, Reuters
The Sun
30-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
No permit needed for usage of cooking gas not exceeding 42 kg
KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) has once again clarified that the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or cooking gas in a subsidised gas cylinder not exceeding 42 kilogrammes (kg) or three subsidised gas cylinders of 14 kg at one time does not require a Scheduled Controlled Goods Permit (PBKB). Its director-general of enforcement, Datuk Azman Adam said however, businesses that use LPG exceeding 42 kg at a time are advised to apply for a PBKB via the Business Licensing Electronic Support System (BLESS) 2.0. 'The existing legal provisions under the Control of Supplies Act (Amendment) 2021 which have been in effect since Oct 15, 2021, outline that the use of LPG exceeding 42 kg requires the application for a PBKB),' he said in a statement today. Accordingly, he said, throughout the KPDN's Cooking Gas Operation (Ops Gasak) from May 1 to Oct 31, no legal action will be taken against food and beverage (F&B) sales businesses regarding the requirement to have a PBKB for LPG. Instead, the inspection is only at the advocacy, review, and notification stage of compliance with the relevant laws and regulations. 'At the same time, throughout Ops Gasak, LPG suppliers are allowed to continue to supply subsidised LPG cylinders to existing customers including F&B service traders even though they do not yet have a PBKB,' he also said. Yesterday, Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said that any party who does not use LPG cylinders exceeding three 14-kg cylinders or more than 42 kg at any one time, does not need to worry as they are not subject to the regulations to apply for a scheduled goods permit. In this regard, based on the 2021 Regulation, he said that eateries or food shops that do not store or use subsidised LPG cylinders not exceeding three cylinders at any one time are not required to have a scheduled controlled goods permit.
Barnama
30-05-2025
- Business
- Barnama
No Permit Needed For Usage Of Cooking Gas Not Exceeding 42 Kg
KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) has once again clarified that the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or cooking gas in a subsidised gas cylinder not exceeding 42 kilogrammes (kg) or three subsidised gas cylinders of 14 kg at one time does not require a Scheduled Controlled Goods Permit (PBKB). Its director-general of enforcement, Datuk Azman Adam said however, businesses that use LPG exceeding 42 kg at a time are advised to apply for a PBKB via the Business Licensing Electronic Support System (BLESS) 2.0. "The existing legal provisions under the Control of Supplies Act (Amendment) 2021 which have been in effect since Oct 15, 2021, outline that the use of LPG exceeding 42 kg requires the application for a PBKB)," he said in a statement today. Accordingly, he said, throughout the KPDN's Cooking Gas Operation (Ops Gasak) from May 1 to Oct 31, no legal action will be taken against food and beverage (F&B) sales businesses regarding the requirement to have a PBKB for LPG. Instead, the inspection is only at the advocacy, review, and notification stage of compliance with the relevant laws and regulations. "At the same time, throughout Ops Gasak, LPG suppliers are allowed to continue to supply subsidised LPG cylinders to existing customers including F&B service traders even though they do not yet have a PBKB," he also said. Yesterday, Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said that any party who does not use LPG cylinders exceeding three 14-kg cylinders or more than 42 kg at any one time, does not need to worry as they are not subject to the regulations to apply for a scheduled goods permit. In this regard, based on the 2021 Regulation, he said that eateries or food shops that do not store or use subsidised LPG cylinders not exceeding three cylinders at any one time are not required to have a scheduled controlled goods permit. -- BERNAMA
The Star
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
MCA urges government to revise LPG pricing for SMEs
MCA strongly calls on the government to immediately review and reduce the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to prevent further hardship on consumers who are already struggling with the rising cost of living. Since the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry launched Ops Gasak on May 1, the MCA Economic and SME Affairs Committee has been inundated with complaints from business associations and local entrepreneurs.
