Russia is shipping record oil volumes to Asia just months after inaugurating an eastbound pipeline to carry crude from newly developed Siberian oilfields. The rising crude exports to Asia-Pacific states are eroding the regional market share of Gulf oil suppliers such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia. This is happening while those states remain obliged by their OPEC commitments to curb production.
In May, South Korean and Japanese imports of Russian crude each climbed to records of 179,000 barrels per day (bpd) and 241,000 bpd, respectively, according to government data. Japan's ministry of economy, trade and industry indicated that Japanese imports were 61 per cent higher in May than in the same month a year earlier. The first stage of the US$26 billion (Dh95.49bn) East Siberian-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline, which was opened last December, was boosting competition between Russian and Middle East suppliers, analysts said.
"More people are buying ESPO [crude] because it's very handy and it's very near, only two or three days," Osamu Fujisawa, an independent oil economist in Tokyo, told Bloomberg. "You have to consider ESPO a competitive crude to Arabian oil." Lower transport costs give the Russian oil a price advantage over Gulf crudes. The ESPO blend costs Asian customers about $1 per barrel less than Dubai crude, Bloomberg has calculated. It also contains less sulphur than Middle East crudes, which means lower refining costs.
Russia unexpectedly emerged last year as the world's biggest oil producer and exporter, surpassing Saudi Arabia on both counts. It pumped crude at a record pace averaging more than 10 million bpd during the year, compared with 9.7 million bpd for the OPEC kingpin. Early this year, analysts forecast that Russian crude output would continue to rise as new fields in eastern Siberia compensated for production declines from mature fields further west.
More Russian crude would be shipped eastwards, they predicted, driven partly by Moscow's policies aimed at lessening the country's dependence on the stagnant European energy market. "This is a strategic project because it allows us to enter completely new, growing, promising markets of the Asia-Pacific region," Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, said at ESPO's inauguration in December. The first 2,694km section of the pipeline links Taishet in eastern Siberia with Skovorodino in Russia's Amur region. The project's first phase also included the construction of the Kozmino oil port on Russia's Pacific coast, which receives oil deliveries from Skovorodino by rail to be loaded into tankers. Eventually, the main pipeline will be extended to the port, while a branch to northern China is also planned.
Transneft, the Russian oil pipeline monopoly, and the state-controlled China National Petroleum Company signed an agreement in 2008 on construction of the 67km branch line. It will carry up to 300,000 bpd per day of oil when it becomes operational. Despite the new pipeline, Russia still has a long way to go to catch up with Middle East exports to the Asia-Pacific region. Last year, 11.3 million bpd of Middle Eastern oil reached that market, against 1.1 million bpd from the former Soviet Union.
Moreover, Gulf exporters are fighting hard to bolster relations with their most important oil customers. One strategy employed by the UAE and Saudi Arabia has been to put millions of barrels of crude into storage in Japan and South Korea as the basis for regional oil marketing operations. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are in joint ventures to build oil refineries in China, configured to process Gulf crudes.
Russia, meanwhile, has done little to mend its rocky relationship with European energy importers, putting further pressure on Moscow to its expand eastbound exports. Last month, it briefly cut gas supplies to the eastern European transit state Belarus over a price dispute, jeopardising gas flows to the EU.
tcarlisle@thenational
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Disability on screen
Empire — neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis; bipolar disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Rosewood and Transparent — heart issues
24: Legacy — PTSD;
Superstore and NCIS: New Orleans — wheelchair-bound
Taken and This Is Us — cancer
Trial & Error — cognitive disorder prosopagnosia (facial blindness and dyslexia)
Grey’s Anatomy — prosthetic leg
Scorpion — obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety
Switched at Birth — deafness
One Mississippi, Wentworth and Transparent — double mastectomy
Dragons — double amputee
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
THE SPECS
Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre
Transmission: Seven-speed auto
Power: 165hp
Torque: 241Nm
Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000
On sale: now
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
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