Author: Steven Sahiounie

The cost of passage through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles is set to increase by more than 8% The Turkish government has raised the fee for ships passing through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, the newspaper Aydinlik reports, citing a ruling by the General Directorate of Maritime Affairs of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. The key waterways are the only way to move cargoes between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. The fee increase of 8.3% comes into effect on July 1, and is projected to bring Ankara’s annual revenue from the straits to $900 million. Commercial ships will now…

AvtoVAZ says the St. Petersburg factory will become operational in June Car production at a St. Petersburg plant that formerly belonged to Nissan will resume this month, the CEO of Russia’s biggest automaker AvtoVAZ has announced. The Japanese manufacturer left the Russian market last year, transferring all its assets in the country to the state-owned research and development firm NAMI for a token sum of €1. The plant in Russia’s second-largest city was later bought by AvtoVAZ, which is best known for its Lada vehicles. “June 14, 2023 is the date when production at the Lada St. Petersburg plant will…

Meanwhile, imports from Saudi Arabia have reportedly dropped to their lowest level since 2021 India imported nearly 2 million barrels of crude oil per day from Russia in May, notching a new record, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing ship-tracking data. Flows of Russian oil to New Delhi surged by 15% last month compared to April, reaching 1.96 million barrels per day (bpd) and putting a dent in the share of imports from OPEC’s major oil producer, Saudi Arabia, data from Vortexa showed. Saudi crude exports to India have plunged to their lowest levels since 2021, according to Bloomberg. Analysts have…

Trade between BRICS and Iran has been growing as Iran seeks to become a member of the alliance, according to the country’s foreign minister. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was speaking at the ‘Friends’ of BRICS session as part of the bloc’s foreign ministers’ meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, on Friday. “Our bilateral political and economic relations with the BRICS countries remain at a very good level while our trade value exceeds $30 billion,” Amir-Abdollahian said, noting that the sides have important arrangements on multilateral cooperation. “We will soon expand our relations with three BRICS countries; namely Russia, China, and India within…

OPEC + announced that it had reached an agreement to set a new level of oil production at 40.46 million barrels per day, starting from the beginning of 2024. And a statement on the group said: “OPEC +” group took a decision to adjust the volume of oil production, with the aim of maintaining the stability of the oil market, and establishing conditions that allow predicting its movement in the long term.  And the statement continued: “Russia must control the volume of oil production at the level of 9.828 million barrels per day, as of 2024.” This article was originally…

Aydinlik newspaper quoted the Directorate of Maritime Affairs of the Turkish Ministry of Transport as saying that the Turkish authorities intend, as of July 1, to raise the fees for ships passing through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles by more than eight percent. In October last year, the Turkish authorities raised the fees for the passage of merchant ships through the Black Sea straits by 5 times. The amount is calculated on the basis of the gold franc approved since the signing in 1936 of the Montreux Convention, which regulates navigation in the straits. The newspaper added: “The Maritime Affairs Directorate…

Data from the Russian Ministry of Finance showed that the reserves of the Russian National Welfare Fund amounted to about 12.353 trillion rubles (approximately $154.4 billion) on June 1, 2023. According to the data of the Russian Ministry, the reserves accounted for 8.2% of the expected GDP for Russia for the year 2023. At the beginning of this month, the volume of liquid assets of the Russian Sovereign Fund amounted to 6.64 trillion rubles (about 82 billion dollars), which constitutes approximately 4.4% of the expected GDP. Moscow established the fund more than 10 years ago and accumulated part of the…

Oil prices rose, in trading today, Monday, by more than 1%, and this came after the “OPEC +” group, which includes Russia and Saudi Arabia, announced new production cuts. And by 09:08 Moscow time, US crude futures rose by 1.37% to $72.72 a barrel, while Brent crude futures rose by 1.22% to $77.06 a barrel, according to Bloomberg agency data. Yesterday, Sunday, the “OPEC +” group said that it had decided to reduce its crude oil production by 1.4 million barrels per day, during 2024, from October 2022 levels. According to the group’s statement, the level of total crude oil…

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today, Monday, that his country considers cooperation within the “OPEC +” framework important to ensure stability in global energy markets. “Of course, cooperation in this format is characterized by the importance and importance of ensuring stability in international energy markets,” Peskov told reporters on Monday. Yesterday, Sunday, the “OPEC +” group said that it had decided to reduce its crude oil production by 1.4 million barrels per day, during 2024, from October 2022 levels. According to the group’s statement, the level of total crude oil production for the member states of the coalition will…

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Sjärto said that the transition to the stage of direct construction of two new power units within the framework of the “Pax-2” nuclear power plant project should take place soon. After meeting with Rosatom General Director Alexei Likhachyov, who arrived on a working visit to Budapest, the minister added: “Soon, other large-scale preparatory works will begin in Pakse, and this is very important for the safe operation of the nuclear power plant and is a prerequisite for establishing a guaranteed base for the nuclear power plant.” Nuclear energy. These works will be carried out next July.…