North Asia

News agencies reported that Russia's deputy prime minister Alexander Novak stated on Wednesday that the global oil demand is expected to rise by between 1.0 and 1.5 million barrels of oil per day this year. This compares to the latest expectation from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries of a rise of 1,45 million bpd. Novak was quoted by Interfax as saying, "I am optimistic, because the rate of consumption increases every year. And judging from the fact that global economic growth will continue, demand for energy will increase." Experts and think tanks predict a possible oil surplus this year,...

Trafigura’s top executive for Mongolia has been suspended pending an investigation into a fraud scheme worth billions of dollars at the Swiss trading firm. The executive, however, lent more than $500 million from Trafigura to a company owned by his aunt. Lex Oil is Trafigura’s main counterparty in Mongolia. According to three sources and a document, it belonged to Erdenetuul who is the aunt of Trafigura’s suspended local boss Jononbayar Erdenesuren. Trafigura announced last October it had suffered a loss of $1.1 billion after an internal investigation found that employees within its Mongolian petroleum product supply business engaged "serious misconduct"....

Four sources said that OPEC+ would likely stick with its plan to increase oil production for a second month in a row in May. This is despite the steady price of oil and plans to make some members reduce their pumping to compensate past overproduction. OPEC+, a group consisting of OPEC producers and allies led by Russia and pumping over 40% of world oil. The group plans to increase its output by 135,000 barges per day in the month of May. This would be the second increase in a plan that aims to undo some of the millions barrels per...

Kherson, a Ukrainian city on the frontline of the conflict with Russia for three years, has more reasons than others to want to see an end to it. They are wary of talks because they have experienced occupation and constant attacks after Russian forces were pushed out. Serhiy (64), a security guard, is lying in a hospital with his foot bandaged. He claimed he was on his way to work as a security guard, when he was struck by a grenade that was dropped by a drone operated by Russian forces. He refused to reveal his family name, and asked...

U.S. Energy Sec. Chris Wright said that the United States would be willing to take over the running of Ukrainian power plants if it was necessary to bring about a ceasefire in the war-torn nation. According to a U.S. statement, U.S. president Donald Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that the U.S. might be able to help Ukraine run its nuclear power plants and even own them. Zelenskiy stated that Ukraine has started talks with the U.S. regarding its possible involvement in the restoration of Europe's biggest nuclear power plant in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Region, which has been closed since Russian...

Calculations show that the price of Russia's oil mix in roubles is currently on average 24% lower than the budgeted level for 2025, due to the strengthening currency and the weakening global oil prices. This drop in spending will put more pressure on the budget already under strain due to high military expenditure. Since the middle of January, the rouble has been rising amid hopes for a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine. The average rate of 87.4 roubles per $1 has been averaging 87.4 so far this year, down from 92.9 roubles last month. When calculating the average tax...

The U.S. Treasury confirmed on Thursday that the license for a winding down of energy transactions between Russian financial institutions and American companies expired this week as planned under strict sanctions imposed during Joe Biden's final days in office. A Treasury spokesperson confirmed that General License 8L expires at 12:01 am EDT on the morning of Wednesday. The Biden administration issued the license on 10 January to clear any remaining transactions, as it had banned energy financing deals between Russian banks including Sberbank and VTB, along with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. The Biden administration imposed the most...

After meeting her French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Moldovan President Maia Sandu announced that the French Development Agency and Moldova signed a deal worth 30 million euros ($32.5million) on Monday. The agreement aims to improve energy efficiency in the post-Soviet country. Sandu said at a joint press conference that the agreement with Agence Francaise de Developpement would help "reduce energy wastage, lower costs and increase our energy independence". The pro-European Moldovan government accused Russia of creating a fake energy crisis in order to destabilize the country before parliamentary elections. This came after Russian gas producer Gazprom halted exports of its product...

A court spokeswoman announced on Friday that Russian prosecutors had filed a lawsuit to recover assets of former Gazprom Manager Kirill Seleznyov. Interfax reported that Seleznyov, along with two other defendants, were suspected of diverting 150 billion roubles (about $1.75 billion) from Gazprom. Darya Lebedeva posted on Telegram, that the Frunzensky Court in St. Petersburg had registered the lawsuit but did not specify the value. Seleznyov has been a close ally to Alexei Miller, the CEO of Gazprom for many years. He served as a member of its management board for over 15 years. Seleznyov is the head of RusChemAlliance...

Nayara Energy is a private Indian refiner that is majority owned by Russian companies, including Rosneft. It will offer a $217.5-million share buyback to assist its minority shareholders in leaving the delisted company. Rosneft, along with its partners, closed the acquisition of Nayara Energy (formerly known as Essar oil) for nearly $13 billion in 2017. Before the closing of the deal, Essar Oil shares were delisted. Nayara announced that it has decided to make an offer of 731 rupees each ($8.39), totaling 18.94 billion rupees, to over 200,000 minority investors who have not participated in previous delisting or exit offers....

A schedule released on Wednesday showed that the European Commission had, for a third time, postponed its announcement about its plan to reduce the region's dependence on Russian energy imports. The original date was March 26, but it has now been pushed back to an unknown date. The Commission refused to comment on the new date. In November, Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen stated at a parliament hearing that the plan would be presented during his first hundred days as a commissioner. However, this date has been delayed twice. Originally, the plan was to be unveiled in February. After Russia's full-scale...

Sources said that as OPEC+ debated if they should keep oil production steady because of weak global demand, or increase it in response to pressure from the U.S. president Donald Trump and internal pressure, a record output from Kazakhstan helped sway their decision. OPEC, along with its allies, including Russia, a collective known as OPEC+ decided to increase production for the first since 2022. It stated that its decision was based on a healthy market and positive market prospects, without mentioning Kazakhstan. The group plans to increase production by 138,000 barrels a day starting in April. This is the first...

Maros Séfcovic, the European Union's Trade Commissioner, was scheduled to meet with Donald Trump's top officials in charge of trade on Tuesday. The goal is to avoid U.S. tariffs that could be imposed on EU products as soon as next week. Sefcovic has had two prior discussions with U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that have not altered Trump's plans for raising U.S. tariffs to match those charged by major trading partners, and to counter their non-tariff barriers. The USTR and Washington's EU delegation office did not immediately comment on the discussion. The meetings take place...

Steve Witkoff, the U.S. Special Envoy to the Ukraine war, expressed optimism ahead of the high-stakes negotiations in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. He said that he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin wished to end the conflict. Witkoff, a Fox News reporter, said: "I think he's looking for peace." Later on Sunday, a U.S. delegation will hold discussions in Saudi Arabia with Ukrainian officials about a possible partial truce between Ukraine and Russia. U.S. officials and Russian officials are scheduled to hold further talks Monday in Saudi Arabia. "I believe that on Monday you will see some real progress in Saudi...

Donald Trump, President of the United States, said that the United States would sign a mineral and natural resource deal with Ukraine soon and that his efforts in achieving a peace agreement for the country are going "pretty good" following his discussions this week with Russian and Ukrainian leaders. Trump made these comments during a White House reception after signing an executive order to increase U.S. mineral production. "We are doing well in regard to Ukraine and Russia." We are signing a rare earths deal with Ukraine very soon. Trump spoke of his recent discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin...

Donald Trump, President of the United States, said that the United States would sign a mineral and natural resource deal with Ukraine soon and that he was "pretty happy" with his efforts to reach a peace agreement for the country after his discussions this week with Russian and Ukrainian leaders. Trump made these comments during a White House reception after signing an executive order to increase U.S. mineral production. He said: "We are also signing agreements at various locations around the world to unlock rare minerals, earths and other resources." "But Ukraine in particular, we are doing well when it...

Kirill Dmitriev (CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, RDIF) said that the Russian sovereign wealth fund was interested in developing rare earth deposits within the country, and wanted to partner with U.S. firms. Dmitriev was a member of the Russian negotiating team in talks with U.S. officials at Saudi Arabia's Economic Cooperation Conference in February. He focused on economic matters. Dmitriev, a Russian reporter, said that "Russian reserves of rare-earth metals are several times greater than the amount found in Ukraine." In recent months, the U.S. president Donald Trump has been focusing on rare earths and critical metals that...

Vladimir Potanin is the CEO and majority shareholder of Nornickel. He said that he was considering rare earth projects, pointing out that there has been little research done on reserves in Russia and Russian controlled Eastern Ukraine. In recent months, the U.S. president Donald Trump's efforts against China's dominance of this sector have attracted global attention. Many deposits on our territory and in the new Russian territories have not been explored enough. Potanin, a reporter, said that many geological studies were lost and their results after the Soviet Union. All of this must be restored immediately. "We are thinking about...

Rusal, the Russian aluminium giant, announced on Friday that it has agreed to purchase a 26% share in an Indian alumina refining company for $243.75 millions and will acquire up to 50% over time. This move should help reduce Rusal's reliance on third party raw materials. Rusal is the largest aluminum producer in the world outside of China. Although the sanctions against Moscow for the conflict in Ukraine have not directly targeted Rusal, it has lost 40% of its alumina supply after Australia stopped exports to Russia, and Rusal closed its alumina refining plant in Ukraine. Rusal reduced its deficit...

Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, said that Russian air defences had repelled a drone attack flying towards Moscow. No injuries were reported in either the capital, or an earlier attack against an oil complex located in one region in southern Russia. Sobyanin, on his Telegram official channel, said that emergency services were working on the site of the debris fall. Sobyanin didn't mention Ukraine. But Kyiv has launched an ongoing series of drone attacks against Russia, since President Vladimir Putin dispatched tens-of-thousands of troops to Ukraine over three years ago. Most of these attacks have targeted energy and other...

Rusal, a Russian company, reported on Friday a nearly three-fold increase in its annual profits. This was due to higher prices of aluminium and aluminum alumina, as a result of a surge in demand. These products are crucial in the race towards decarbonisation. Hong Kong listed Rusal is the largest aluminium manufacturer outside China. It posted a net income of $803 millions for the period ended December 31. This was an increase of 184.8% compared to the $282 reported the previous year. Rusal has indicated that the transition to greener forms energy will accelerate in 2024 due to tighter emission...

Greenland's business-friendly opposition party, Demokraatit The Tuesday Parliament Election The debates about self-rule were dominated by the pledge of U.S. president Donald Trump to seize control of Greenland. Greenland was formally incorporated into the Kingdom of Denmark as a territory in 1953. Copenhagen controlled foreign affairs, defence, and monetary policies. In 2009, the island was granted the right to full independence by a referendum. However, it has not done so. WHAT WERE RESULTS OF THE VOTING? Around 40,500 of Greenland’s 57,000 residents were eligible to cast their vote. A little over 28600 people voted. Inatsisartut is the Greenland parliament. There...

The Ukrainian Steel Producers' Union reported on Saturday that despite the loss in eastern Ukraine of its key coking coal mining facility in Pokrovsk, the steel sector still maintained growth in 2025's first two months. Metinvest, the Ukrainian steelmaker, has suspended operations in Ukraine's sole coking coal mine. The company cited a deteriorating situation due to Russian advances. Data showed that the raw steel production rose 9.9% between January and February 2025, to 1,18 million metric tonnes. Since the Russian invasion of February 24, 2022 leading steel mills have been destroyed. Ukraine, once a major exporter and producer of steel,...

In a small workshop in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, goldsmith Nadja Kreutzmann polishes stones and metals mined on this vast island rich in minerals. Her jewellery is decorated with Inuit symbols for life and survival. Indigenous identity in Greenland is resurging ahead of the March 11 general elections called by U.S. president Donald Trump after he said he wanted Greenland to be his. Trump's interest in Greenland has shaken up the status quo. This, coupled with growing Inuit pride has led to some locals viewing the vote as an historic opportunity to free Greenland of Danish influence. Greenland is...