Singapore

Trafigura, a trading house, sold a 'cargo' of Venezuelan oil, to a Spanish refiner. Vitol, a rival, was preparing to export Venezuelan fuel as shipments from the OPEC nation accelerated, according to oil industry sources. U.S. officials reported that Vitol, Trafigura and other companies obtained their first U.S. licensing to load and export Venezuelan crude oil earlier this month. Initial sales reached $500 million or approximately 11 million barrels last week, they said. U.S. officials said that other companies, such as U.S. giant Chevron, were waiting for Washington's exemptions from U.S. sanctions against Venezuela before expanding exports. According to industry...

Commodities trading houses Trafigura &?Vitol agreed to provide marketing and logistical services for the sale of Venezuelan oil, at the request of?U.S. A Trafigura spokesperson confirmed this via email. First reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the discussions, that both companies were in negotiations with the U.S. Government for such deals. They were in competition with U.S. producers of oil and other commodities traders for lucrative deals to export Venezuelan oil. U.S. officials have said that they want to control Venezuelan Oil Sales Indefinitely After the U.S. captured South American country's president Nicolas Maduro Saturday. Richard Holtum, the Chief...

Ampol, Australia's largest fuel retailer, recorded a lower third-quarter sales volume due to softer performance in its domestic convenience retailing business as a result of challenging weather conditions during August. The company's shares fell by as much as 3,1% Thursday, their lowest intraday performance since June. Stocks fell to their lowest level since October 23, 2009. The Australian convenience retail segment performed poorly compared to the previous year when it had enjoyed favorable market conditions due to the decline in fuel input costs. In August, New South Wales, Queensland, and other states experienced prolonged bad weather, which negatively affected sales....

Mark Carney, Canada's prime minister, will make his first official trip to Asia this Friday. He is hoping to strengthen trade and security links at a moment when North America struggles to reduce its dependence on the U.S. Canadian officials have said that Carney's trip could include a meeting between him and Chinese President Xi Jinping in an effort to restore a relationship previously strained by a trade war. Donald Trump, President of the United States Termination of trade talks Canada responded to a political ad in Ontario that featured Ronald Reagan, the Republican icon who said tariffs caused economic...

In late June, Indonesian soldiers wearing fatigues entered a palm oil plantation in Borneo and displayed a sign declaring that the estate was under government control. The Melati Hanjalipan Plantation is a perfect example of a military-backed takeover which has shocked the 16 million-strong workforce and the world's largest palm oil producer. Agrinas Palma Nusantara is the new state-owned palm oil firm that has a land area of 9.1 million acres. Nearly half was transferred to it, making it the largest palm oil company in terms of size. This crackdown, ordered by the President Prabowo Subianto, is the largest structural...

Documents viewed show that the Singapore Police Force has been reviewing a complaint filed by Viceroy Research, a short seller who alleged that Vedanta Ltd, a natural resources conglomerate had improperly funded Vedanta's 2024 dividend. Viceroy's accusations were "baseless" according to Vedanta Ltd, which said it had paid out all dividends in compliance with the applicable laws. The company stated that "we maintain that the allegations contained in the dubious reports of the short seller are malicious and uninformed and we reject them unequivocally." The statement added that there was no SPF investigation in progress and the Singapore Police had...

The Australian government announced on Tuesday that it would provide A$135 (US$87.4M) in financial assistance to two smelters in Australia's southern region owned by Nyrstar. Nyrstar is a subsidiary of commodity trader Trafigura. Trafigura placed its Port Pirie lead-smelting operations, in South Australia, and its zinc processing operation in Hobart in Tasmania under strategic review in early this year after high energy costs and lower processing fees rendered the businesses unprofitable. Nyrstar, as part of its review, assessed the potential of producing antimony, a critical mineral, at its Port Pirie facility, but it would require government assistance to do so....

A spokesperson for Mubadala Energy in the United Arab Emirates said that Mubadala Energy had signed an initial contract to supply gas to Indonesia's state fertiliser manufacturer Pupuk Indonesia. Paul Slinger, speaking at an industry conference organized by the Indonesia Petroleum Association, said that Mubadala Energy would supply 115 millions standard cubic feet of methanol per day to Pupuk and 85 mmscfd for its ammonia facility. Slinger stated that the gas will be delivered as soon as production starts at Mubadala Energy South Andaman Block. The Tangkulo-1 well is expected to begin producing by late 2028. Mubadala Energy reported last...

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"....

The Singapore-based Jadestone Energy PLC, an oil and gas company that develops offshore gas fields, has submitted to the state-controlled PetroVietnam a plan for a joint development of two offshore gasfields in southwest Vietnam. Jadestone stated in a press release that the proposal included drilling two wells at the Nam Du and U Minh field to support a plateau production rate of 80 millions standard cubic feet per day. Jadestone, a separate company, said that the development of Nam Du and U Minh's gas fields will reduce Vietnam's future dependency on expensive liquefied gas imports. Gas will be transported to...

Singapore's jet fuel imports most likely hit multiyear highs in December last year, with India being the top supplier as the arbitrage to Europe stayed shut, trade sources and shiptracking data show. Jet fuel imports into the small city state are closely followed by markets, as it is a major trading and storage hub for refined fuel in Asia. The strong supply to Singapore and expectations of greater exports from China after its refiners received recently their first batch of the 2025 export quota, might weigh on Asia's spot jet fuel prices, included the sources, who all sought anonymity. Singapore's...

India's Adani group is leaving its durable goods joint endeavor with Singapore's Wilmar International in a $2. billion offer as it aims to bolster its facilities service. The divestment marks the Indian conglomerate's very first. significant deal considering that the U.S. indictment of its billionaire. creator in November and will see Wilmar acquire the group's 31%. stake in Adani Wilmar at a per-share price not. surpassing 305 rupees. The cost is a 7.2% discount to Adani Wilmar since. Monday's close and values the part being sold to Wilmar at. $ 1.44 billion. Adani will sell its remaining 13% stake in...

Trafigura, a trading house, has sold its first shipment of Venezuelan crude oil, as part of an agreement between Caracas, Venezuela, and Washington for the supply of 50 million barrels of oil. The Spanish refiner Repsol is expected to receive a shipment of this quantity. Two sources stated that the cargo should be delivered to Repsol by mid-February. Trafigura and Repsol have declined to comment. The agreement would be one of the first to sell Venezuelan oil in Europe since the United States captured Venezuela's leader at the beginning of this month, and struck an agreement with Caracas for the...

Sources in the industry said that Trafigura had sold its first shipment of Venezuelan crude oil as part of a 50 million barrel supply agreement between Caracas, Venezuela, and Washington. The Spanish refiner Repsol is expected to receive the shipment. Two sources stated that the cargo will be delivered to Repsol by February. Trafigura and Repsol have declined to comment. The deal would be one of the first oil sales from Venezuela to Europe since the United States captured Venezuela's leader in early this month. Caracas then signed agreements to export oil up to 50 million barrels. Washington tapped Trafigura...

On Monday, several sources reported that Vitol and Trafigura had begun discussions with refiners from India?and China about the sale of Venezuelan crude oil for cargoes due to arrive in March. Global commodities traders confirmed Friday that they had reached agreements with the United States. The?government will help market Venezuelan oil that is stranded, just days after the interim Venezuelan government agreed to export 50 million barrels to the U.S. Their marketing efforts are expected to accelerate the sale and purchase of Venezuelan oil through the U.S. program, allowing OPEC producers to resume their exports that have been halted ever...

Friday, the premium for high-sulfur fuel oil in Asia over the West reached its highest level in eight months as traders expect more Venezuelan crude oil and fuel oil to be shipped to the United States than to Asia in the coming months. LSEG data show that the East-West 380cst HSFO swap for the first month of 2026, a measure used to compare HSFO prices in Asia, Europe and America, has risen above $27 a barrel, a price last seen in May 2025. This value has nearly doubled since the beginning of 2026. It is more profitable for traders to...

Profit margins for Asia's gas refining The rally reached its highest level since August 20, 2023, due to unplanned outages at refineries and falling inventories in key trading hubs, despite the typical low-demand season. This quarter, the crack gained nearly 55% to $17.71 a barrel over Brent crude due to refinery outages both planned and unplanned and the strong demand of Indonesia as the region's biggest importer. An increase in margins was caused by a string of refinery shutdowns in the past two months, according to a Singaporean trader. Sinochem, a Chinese oil company, has closed one of its crude...

The CEO of the trading house Trafigura stated on Monday that traditional applications of copper will continue as the largest part of the demand for the metal in the coming decade. This is not data centres or the defence industry. Richard Holtum, speaking at the LME Week in London, noted that artificial intelligence (AI), defence spending and metal demand are "buzzwords". He said that consumer demand will "dwarf three times" the AI demand for copper this year. Holtum, in a conversation with Matt Chamberlain, CEO of the London Metal Exchange said: "The amount that copper goes into air conditioning is...

The CEO of the trading house Trafigura stated on Monday that traditional applications of copper will continue as the largest part of the demand for the metal in the coming decade. This is not data centres or the defence industry. Richard Holtum, speaking at the LME Week in London, noted that artificial intelligence (AI), defence spending and metals demand are "buzzwords". He said that consumer demand will "dwarf three times" the AI demand for copper this year. Holtum, in a conversation with Matt Chamberlain, CEO of the London Metal Exchange said: "The amount that copper goes into air conditioning is...

Letters show that Hollywood and Bollywood groups lobby an Indian panel to increase copyright protection so that artificial intelligence companies cannot use their intellectual property for training AI models. AI companies are at odds with content owners around the world, and governments are developing rules to govern this new technology. While Japan allows AI firms to use copyrighted material, the European Union's rules are stricter and allow content owners to opt out. The film industry is especially concerned that AI could scrape copyrighted online videos, images and clippings like trailers and promotions - and even more importantly ingest pirated material...

Angola has a complex network of pipelines that snake along the Atlantic coast. They lead to a new refinery, which signals Angola's drive for energy independence. It also shows how private lenders are being used instead of banks to finance a large-scale project. "We are not the lender last resort," said Felipe Berliner. He is the co-founder and CEO of Gemcorp, a emerging markets asset management company that provided the majority of the funding for the refinery using private capital. "Sometimes, we are the sole lender." Veteran investors said that private credit for emerging market countries -- driven by investors’...

It was announced on Monday that the Indonesian Attorney General's Office had contacted a number trading firms in Singapore about a corruption probe involving Pertamina. In the first half of this year, a number of Pertamina subsidiaries executives were arrested for alleged corruption in relation to oil imports from 2018 through 2023. This allegedly caused state losses of $12 billion. Pertamina apologized publicly and promised to improve the transparency after the arrests. Harli Siregar, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office said that investigators want to speak with some Singapore trading firms about the case. Siregar stated that earlier attempts...

It was announced on Monday that the Indonesian Attorney General's Office had contacted a number trading firms in Singapore about a corruption probe involving Pertamina. In the first half of this year, a number of Pertamina subsidiaries executives were arrested for alleged corruption in relation to oil imports from 2018 through 2023. This allegedly caused state losses of $12 billion. Pertamina apologized publicly and promised to improve the transparency after the arrests. Harli Siregar, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office said that investigators want to speak with some Singapore trading firms about the case. Siregar stated that earlier attempts...

A court order shows that an Indian court denied requests by JSW Steel and Trafigura for certain shipments of steelmaking raw materials. This is the latest setback since New Delhi's new import policy rattled the industry. India has since January restricted imports of met coke (metalurgical coke with low ash), and set country-specific quotas for domestic suppliers. This move has upset steel giants like ArcelorMittal Nippon India who are worried about the quality and business impact of locally produced met-coke. JSW Steel challenged New Delhi’s decision to refuse imports worth $90 million, which were ordered before the restrictions in January...