Author: Steven Sahiounie

Russia was the fourth-largest exporter of the super-chilled fuel to Spain last year, official data shows Spain’s imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia more than doubled this past February compared to the same month last year, data from Spanish energy major Enagas published on Friday showed. Purchases jumped 151.4% to the equivalent of 5.46 Terrawatt-hours (TWh) last month, up from 2.17 TWh in February 2022, according to Enagas. The US is currently the top LNG exporter to Spain with some 7.2 TWh, or about 22.8%, of total imports in February. However, US LNG supplies are down considerably from…

Oil giant Saudi Aramco reported record-high earnings for 2022, made off higher crude prices. According to a company press release issued on Sunday, Aramco’s profits surged to $161 billion last year, up 46% from the $110 billion it made in 2021. Aramco, the world’s second most valuable firm, said the numbers represented its “highest annual profits as a listed company.” Aramco’s earnings nearly matched the combined figure for the so-called Big Oil majors Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and TotalEnergies. The oil giants all reported record profits last year, but jointly beat Aramco only by around $30 billion. The record-setting earnings were…

Chinese private refineries are jostling with their Indian counterparts for April volumes of seaborne Russian ESPO blend oil, Reuters reported this week, citing industry sources. After Western customers opted to shun direct purchases of Russian energy exports, China and India have become major buyers of Russian crude. China, which commonly purchases the entire volumes of the ESPO crude shipped from the Pacific port of Kozmino due to its close proximity, is expected to import record volumes in March. As for April, Indian independent refiners Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy have reportedly swept up at least five of the roughly 33…

Bill Ackman says the government made “a-soon-to-be-irreversible mistake” in its treatment of the failed bank Billionaire US investor and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman on Saturday warned the US of dire consequences facing its banking sector and the broader economy following the implosion of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a major US lender focused on tech and startups. Ackman wrote on his Twitter account that US authorities should not have allowed SVB to collapse without protecting all depositors. Official figures showed that only 11% of SVB’s $175.4 billion in deposits were insured at the time of the bank’s failure. According to the investor,…

Regulators rushed Friday to seize the assets of one of Silicon Valley’s top banks, marking the largest failure of a US financial institution since the height of the financial crisis almost 15 years ago. Silicon Valley Bank, the nation’s 16th-largest bank, failed after depositors hurried to withdraw money this week amid anxiety over the bank’s health. It was the second biggest bank failure in US history after the collapse of Washington Mutual in 2008. The bank served mostly technology workers and venture capital-backed companies, including some of the industry’s best-known brands. “This is an extinction-level event for startups,” said Garry Tan, CEO…

On March 12, the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) announced that it had eliminated 22 ISIS terrorists, including senior leaders of the terrorist group, during a special operation in the western Iraqi province of al-Anbar. Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saedi, head of the service, told a press conference that the operation, codenamed Knights of Truth, was carried out upon direct orders from Iraqi Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani. “The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces ordered a special operation in the area south of al-Qaim, north of Al-Rutba, in al-Anbar,” . “After verifying the information obtained by the intelligence, the…

Announcing the achievement of an agreement on the exchange of prisoners between Iran and the US, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the swap will be done if everything goes well. In comments broadcast by the state TV on Sunday, Amirabdollahian said Iran and the US are exchanging messages in relation to the talks on the removal of sanctions against Tehran. “We have reached a deal (with the US) on the issue of exchange of prisoners. If everything goes well, we will see the swap of inmates,” the top Iranian diplomat added. He noted that Iran and the US signed…

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi described plans for stronger relations with neighboring countries as an essential element of his administration. In a meeting with Uzbekistani Acting Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov, held in Tehran on Sunday, Raisi said one of his administration’s main objectives is to strengthen convergence with neighboring countries. Hailing the good measures for the promotion of relations between Iran and Uzbekistan, the president said the two sides need to step up their efforts to broaden ties considering their mutual capacities. Raisi pointed to his visit to Uzbekistan in September 2022 for participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit,…

Iranian Oil Minister has said the country’s exports of crude oil have registered their highest level since 2018, after the US unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and re-imposed sanctions against Tehran to curb the exports and the associated revenue to Iran. Javad Owji said that the country exported 83 million more oil barrels in the current year (starting March 21, 2022) compared to the previous Iranian calendar year running March 2021-2022. He added that the figure represents 190 million more barrels than two years earlier, saying that gas exports increased by 15 percent in 2022-23 compared to the previous…

Protesters in Bilbao underline that they are against NATO’s strategy, against military support for Kiev, and against the increase of EU countries’ military budgets. More than 2,000 people took to the streets of the northern Spanish city of Bilbao as part of a march in support of Russia, a representative of an anti-NATO movement told RIA Novosti. “Russia has been striving for peace since 2014. But the West leaves Russia no other choice. For this reason, we express our solidarity with Moscow,” the representative said. The protest was held on Saturday, with the demonstrators marching to the Bilbao mayoral building, holding…