Singapore

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...

Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a private company spun off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, prepares what it calls the world's first gridscale combination power plant in Virginia, to generate power by the early 2030s, the company stated on Tuesday. The project, if successful, might revolutionize the worldwide energy market by tapping into an essentially endless power source, similar to that which fuels the stars. But it is a long-shot. CFS does not have regional and federal licenses, investors to money the majority of the plant's construction, and the answer to blend's leading technological question: how to get more energy out...

Iraq's fuel oil exports are on track to strike alltime highs this year after the country increase shipments in October, as domestic demand reduced while output rose, according to industry sources and shiptracking information. The increase in exports of the residue fuel will support oil earnings for the Company of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC's) second-largest producer despite stagnant crude deliveries this year, due to production caps under quotas set by OPEC and its allies, or OPEC+. Higher exports from Iraq will likewise contribute to international supply and ease elevated costs in Asia while lowering feedstock expenses at refineries. Exports...

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...

Nyrstar, owned by commodity traders Trafigura, announced on Wednesday that it will reduce production at its Hobart Zinc operations by 25% from April. This news sent prices up. A statement stated that "This decision is the result of a thorough, extensive review. It is a response to the deteriorating conditions on the market and financial losses suffered by Nyrstar Australia." In an email, Nyrstar said that the zinc smelter at Hobart is one of the largest in the world. It has a production capacity of 260,000 metric tonnes per year. However, it did not provide the most recent figures. Nyrstar...

Brava Energia, a Brazilian company, will add four wells to the Atlanta field by 2025. It will also begin shipping oil to Trafigura as part of a six-million barrel supply agreement. The head of Brava's offshore operations, Carlos Mastrangelo, told reporters during a Tuesday visit that the number of wells connected with the floating production storage unit and offloading (FPSO) will now be six. We currently have two wells. In a little more than a month we will be connecting two more, and by the end June, two more. Mastrangelo said that Atlanta produces about 26,000 barrels per day. Mastrangelo...

The parliament approved the creation of a state-owned investment vehicle that will oversee government investments in some the largest companies. It is similar to Singapore's Temasek investment arm. Soon after Prabowo Subito assumed office in October, the creation of Daya Anagata Nusantara Investment Management Agency (Danantara) was announced with the goal of improving performance and returns on state investments. Danantara will have an initial capital of at least 1,000 trillion Rupiah (61 billion dollars). Sufmi dasco Ahmad, deputy speaker to parliament, told reporters that it would take over the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry's holdings in all state-owned companies. State companies play...

Reliance Retail launched an app to sell fashionwear in India from China's Shein, under a license deal. This comes almost five years after Shein's App was banned in India following a diplomatic dispute. Reliance is owned by Mukesh Ambani. A person who has direct knowledge of Reliance’s launch plans said that the app was launched on Saturday morning. The launch was not announced by the firm. Shein nor its parent company Reliance Industries did not respond to any requests for comments made outside of normal business hours. Shein India Fast Fashion is a departure from Reliance’s strategy to add brands...