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French maritime data analytics platform Kpler wants to buy ship tracking company Spire Maritime, whose satellite data is a vital resource for oil traders and shipping companies, but some Spire customers fear Kpler will cut them off and have raised antitrust concerns to U.S. authorities, sources familiar with the matter say.The $241 million deal announced on Nov. 13 would give Kpler control over Spire's satellites and maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS) data stream, which tracks ships globally…

China has allowed representatives from Germany, Sweden, Finland and Denmark to board a Chinese bulk carrier at the centre of an investigation into Baltic Sea cable breaches, the Danish foreign minister said on Thursday.The Yi Peng 3 vessel is wanted in Sweden for questioning over a breach of two undersea fibre-optic cables in November, and has been stationary in waters nearby for a month while diplomats in Stockholm and Beijing discussed the matter.Investigators quickly zeroed in on the ship, which left the Russian port of Ust-Luga on Nov.

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Israel launched strikes against ports and energy infrastructure in Houthi-held parts of Yemen on Thursday and threatened more attacks against the Iran-aligned militant group, which has launched hundreds of missiles at Israel over the past year.As Israeli jets were in the air, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile headed towards central Israel which destroyed a school building in Ramat Efal in the western part of Tel Aviv with what a military spokesperson described as falling shrapnel.The Houthis - who have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since November 2023…

Denmark released anti-whaling activist Paul Watson from detention on Tuesday and said it had rejected a Japanese request to extradite him over criminal charges dating back more than a decade.U.S.-Canadian Watson, 74, founder of the Sea Shepherd conservationist group and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, was released in Greenland's capital Nuuk, police in the autonomous Danish territory said.Watson was apprehended when his ship docked in Greenland in July."I'm certainly relieved…

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden released a long-awaited study on the economic and environmental impacts of liquefied natural gas exports on Tuesday, saying the results underscored the need for a cautious approach to new permits.Biden in January had paused the Department of Energy's approvals of U.S. LNG exports to big consumers in Asia and Europe so that his administration could conduct the review, triggering complaints from the oil and gas industry."The main takeaway is that a business-as-usual approach is neither sustainable nor advisable…

Wind parks operating in the Spanish region of Galicia will be obliged to replace ageing turbines after 25 years under a package of measures approved by the regional parliament on Tuesday, sparking an outcry from the renewables industry.Under the rules which come into force on Jan. 1, developers risk losing their operating permits unless they begin replacing 25-year-old turbines with new, more efficient and taller wind mills.Critics say the measure - the first of its kind to be approved in Europe - jeopardises the development of essential renewable projects and increases legal uncertainty.

Spilled oil has washed up along "tens of kilometres" of the Russian Black Sea coast after two tankers were badly damaged in a storm at the weekend, a regional official said on Tuesday, and state media said a third vessel was now in trouble.TASS news agency said the third ship, also a tanker, had issued a distress signal off the port of Kavkaz, but its hull was still intact, there was no oil spillage and the crew was safe.The first ship, the Volgoneft 212, split in half on Sunday in the Kerch Strait, between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

The United States hit North Korea and Russia on Monday with new sanctions that the Treasury Department said targeted Pyongyang's financial activities and military support to Moscow.The sanctions, which list North Korean banks, generals and other officials as well as Russian oil shipping companies, are the latest U.S. measure aimed at disrupting North Korea's support to Russia's war in Ukraine.The North Korean banks targeted include Golden Triangle Bank and Korea Mandal Credit Bank…

Russia is disrupting mobile communications and ship-tracking data across the Baltic Sea, endangering vessels and energy supplies to test how Western powers will respond, a Polish admiral overseeing the area said.Vice Admiral Krzysztof Jaworski said Moscow was systematically using such tactics to hide the movements of its own vessels and disrupt the operations of others in the sea which is bordered by eight NATO countries and Russia."Hybrid war in the Baltic is the biggest challenge we are facing…

Twelve Western countries have agreed measures to "disrupt and deter" Russia's so-called shadow fleet of vessels in order to prevent sanctions breaches and increase the cost to Moscow of the war in Ukraine, Estonia's government said on Monday.The measures were agreed by Germany, Britain, Poland, the Netherlands, the five Nordic nations and the three Baltic states, said Estonia, where leaders of the 10-nation Joint Expeditionary Force were due to meet on Tuesday.Western nations…

A rush to replenish scarce supply of high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) pushed Northwest European imports of residual fuel oil to their highest in three years in November, analysts told Reuters.The Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) area, Europe's main trading and refining hub, received around 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of all types of fuel oil in November, the highest monthly volume since November 2021.That compared with an average of 332,000 bpd over January-October this year, according…

Ukraine said on Monday Russia was to blame for a major oil spill in the Kerch Strait that leads into the Black Sea, accusing Moscow of breaking navigation safety rules by using old tankers and keeping two vessels at sea during a storm.A Russian oil tanker split apart during a storm on Sunday, while another one ended up in distress in the strait that separates Russia from the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow's troops seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014.Russia did not say how much fuel was leaked but its state news agency TASS reported the two vessels had been carrying 9,200 metric tons of oil products."The Russians have a rather complicated situation... in the Azov and the Black Sea region.

Alexander Dyukov said that the high interest rates in the oil industry could have a negative impact on firms providing support services. This raised "serious concern".According to a recent poll, the Russian central bank will likely increase its key rate this week by 200 basis points, to 23%, due to the high inflation caused by a weaker ruble.Dyukov told reporters that his company is strong enough to withstand high borrowing costs, and plans to increase investments in the next year."As far as the partner companies are concerned, such as oil services, they do not all have a margin of safety." Dyukov stated that this raises grave concerns.

Norway said on Monday it would provide 2.7 billion crowns ($242 million) to strengthen the Ukrainian navy and help it deter Russian naval forces in the Black Sea.Much of the funding will go towards innovation and autonomy under the Maritime Capability Coalition, which Norway and Britain launched last year to make Ukraine's navy more compatible with Western allies, the government said."It is essential to protect the Ukrainian population and Ukrainian infrastructure from attacks by Russia's Black Sea Fleet," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said in a statement."It is also important to protect ex

Sales of marine bunker fuel at Singapore retreated to a two-month low in November after soaring in October, data from Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) showed.Bunker sales at the world's biggest ship refueling hub totaled 4.46 million metric tons in November, down 8.5% month-on-month but higher by 4.6% from a year ago, the data showed.Total vessel calls for bunkering fell 4.5% from the prior month to 3,296 in November, while container throughput dipped 4.7% to 3.34…

A Russian oil tanker carrying thousands of tonnes of oil products split apart during a heavy storm on Sunday, spilling oil into the Kerch Strait, while another tanker was also in distress after sustaining damage, Russian officials said.The vessels were in the Kerch Strait between mainland Russia and Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, when they issued distress signals.Russian investigators opened two criminal cases to look into possible safety violations after at least one person was killed when the 136-metre Volgoneft 212 tanker…

Maersk expects global trade growth rising as much as 7% next year, bolstered by strong demand from the United States where a potential port strike and tariffs on foreign-made goods loom, an executive at the global carrier said on Wednesday."We predict anywhere between 5 and 7% (growth) overall," Charles van der Steene, regional president for North America at Maersk, told Reuters. "And at this stage, there's nothing that would indicate that it could not be the case," he said on the sidelines of the Reuters NEXT conference.Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and "resilient" demand from U.S.

British oil and gas major Shell on Tuesday settled a London lawsuit it brought against environmental group Greenpeace after activists boarded a Shell oil production vessel last year.Greenpeace said it had agreed to pay 300,000 pounds ($382,650) to the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI), a charity that runs a search and rescue service.The group also said it would stop protesting for a period at four Shell sites in the northern North Sea, which Greenpeace referred to as "mostly declining fields", though Shell described them as "key oil and gas platforms".Shell said Greenpeace's agreement t

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has launched an expression of interest (EOI) to gather proposals for scaling up liquefied natural gas (LNG) for bunkering or ship refueling, it said in a statement on Thursday.The EOI seeks solutions for sea-based LNG reloading to complement existing onshore LNG bunkering storage and jetty capacities, as well as the supply of e-methane or bio-methane as a marine fuel in Singapore, the world's largest bunker hub.Proposals will be gathered on three areas including the scale-up of sea-based reloading operations…

The lush river valleys of El Zaino y La Arenosa in western Panama, home to hundreds of families that eke out a living farming, fishing and raising cattle, could soon be submerged by a massive man-made reservoir designed to ensure the viability of the Panama Canal in the face of a changing climate.Tres Hermanas, with its farms, two schools, churches and a medical clinic, is one of dozens of towns that would disappear in the next six years if the state-owned Panama Canal's ambitious $1.6 billion project goes ahead.

Taiwan's defense ministry on Thursday closed an emergency response center opened earlier this week in response to what it said were stepped up Chinese military activities nearby, likely signaling an end to Beijing's maneuvers.Taiwan's defense ministry on Monday went on the alert and activated the center after reporting a large rise in Chinese military activity, both around the island and more broadly in the East and South China Seas.China's military has made no announcement about any drills taking place.

India's Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd  said on Tuesday it would finance its Colombo port terminal project through internal accruals and a capital management plan, withdrawing its request for funding from the U.S. International Development Finance Corp (DFC).DFC last year said it would provide $553 million in financing for the port terminal project, which is partly owned by the Adani Group. The company, however, said the Colombo West International Terminal project is progressing well and is on track for commissioning by early 2025.DFC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Ports-to-edible oils Adani Group…