Raisi demands urgent OIC meeting over Israeli attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to requisite an urgent meeting to discuss the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories after Israeli forces stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque violently overnight, fired stun grenades, and attacked Palestinian worshipers.

During a phone call with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo on Thursday, he demanded that the 57-member body call an emergency meeting to come to a consensus on how to defend the rights of defenseless Palestinians and confront the crimes of the Tel Aviv regime.

The Iranian president stressed that the support for the rights of the Palestinian nation and fight against the Zionist regime constitute an underlying principle of the Muslim Ummah, referring to Palestine as the beating heart of the Muslim world.

“The unity of the Muslim world remains essential in order to face down the aggression and crimes committed by the Zionist regime,” he continued.

The Iranian president stated that the Muslim world, as a powerful bloc in global politics, needs more unification.

Raisi declared that Iran supports any activity aimed at fostering better ties among Muslim nations as a result.

Widodo, for his part, supported his Iranian counterpart’s request for an urgent OIC conference on Palestine in the hopes that it would strengthen ties between Muslim-majority countries.

The OIC General Secretariat announced shortly after the call that an urgent, extended meeting of the Executive Committee at the level of Permanent Representatives would be held on Saturday at the OIC’s Jeddah headquarters to discuss the incursions and assaults committed by Israeli occupation forces against the al-Aqsa Mosque and its worshippers.

Israeli troops attempted to drive Palestinian worshipers from the holy site on Wednesday by firing rubber bullets and grenades during their second consecutive raid on the location. In reaction, worshipers flung items at the Israeli soldiers.

At least six individuals were hurt in the most recent flare-up, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

Concern and dismay about Israeli soldiers’ invasions inside the mosque have been voiced by the UN, Iran, Turkey, and several other nations and organizations.

Images showing Israeli security personnel abusing individuals at the Al-Aqsa Mosque surprised and disgusted UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, his spokesperson said on Wednesday.

According to Stephane Dujarric, Guterres found it particularly upsetting because the violence and beating took place during a time of a calendar which is holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims that should be a time for peace and nonviolence.

He said, “Places of worship should only be utilized for lawful religious practices.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian criticized Israel for defiling the Al-Aqsa Mosque and asserted that the tide of Islamic world unity has bewildered the Israelis.

In a tweet on Thursday, he said, “The desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli forces and their night raid on worshipers of the holy site created painful scenes that are the result of the behavior of human rights advocates who turn a blind eye to Zionism’s crimes.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finland to buy David's Sling system from Israel

Finland will purchase the David’s Sling air defense system from Israel, its Ministry of Defence said. This is the first time that David’s Sling has been sold abroad. The announcement came late Wednesday, a day after the Nordic country was accepted into NATO.

The treaty’s newest member said the plans were to buy the defense system for €316 million, with a possibility for expansion.

 “The procurement contract will include a separate clause between the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Defence of Finland to ensure the security of supply of the system,” a Finnish statement said.

“The arrangement will ensure the availability of critical system components in all security situations.”

It added, the system will extend the operational range of Finland’s ground-based air defense capabilities significantly.

This decision was one of Finland’s first moves after officially being accepted into the North Atlantic Alliance. The nation saw Israel’s defense system as a crucial need to meet its defense needs.

“This acquisition will create a new capability for the Finnish Defence Forces to intercept targets at high altitude. At the same time we are continuing the ambitious and long-term development of Finland’s defense capability in a new security environment,” Minister Antti Kaikkonen said. 

How does the David's Sling system compare to prices of other Israeli missile defense systems?

The David's Sling system is pricier among Israeli missile defense forces. Each interceptor launched by Israel’s David’s Sling system costs an estimated US$1 million, but the army insists that the cost is irrelevant when launched to defend the home front. 

Israel’s air defenses also include the Iron Dome, which is designed to shoot down short-range rockets; and the Arrow system which intercepts ballistic missiles outside of the Earth’s atmosphere. Compared to the David’s Sling costly interceptor, each Iron Dome Tamir interceptor has a reported price of between US$100,000 and US$150,000.

  

Asian LNG spot prices slip to 21 month low

Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices remained flat this week at the lowest level since July 2021 on muted demand and solid inventories in China, Japan and Korea.

The average LNG price for May delivery into northeast Asia was US$12.50 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), unchanged from the previous week, industry sources estimated.

Prices have fallen 55% year-to-date and more than 82% from the August 2022 peak of US$70.50/mmBtu.

"North Asian demand drivers are still errant, even for off- season speculative cargos. Pricing seems to be driven by sentiment correlated with euro hub markers," said Toby Copson, global head of trading at Trident LNG.

"I expect we will trade in this narrow range while we sit in shoulder season - until some impetus emerges for utilities as Chinese and Korean storage seems topped up," he added.

Tobias Davis, head of LNG Asia at brokerage Tullett Prebon, said the market has seen fresh bouts of demand from Thailand's PTT which lifted around 10 cargoes at US$12-US$13/mmBtu and is tendering for more volumes for May-September, while the Philippines secured its first LNG import cargo from Vitol and Indian end-users continue to pick prompt volumes.

"Prices below US$13/mmBtu continue to deter China, which remains quiet and on the sidelines with opportunistic bids, while healthy storage in Japan and Korea continue to keep that all important end-user demand at bay," Davis added.

Europe is still a favourable destination for cargoes, despite a series of strikes in France that have reduced the country's LNG imports by around one million tons in March, as cargoes have been diverted to neighbouring terminals.

Ken Kiat Lee, senior analyst at consultancy firm FGE, said that despite Europe's colder start to the shoulder season - the months after winter and ahead of summer - prices have continued to trade sideways with most markets sitting on above-average gas inventories.

S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed its daily north-west Europe LNG Marker (NWM) price benchmark for cargoes delivered in March on an ex-ship (DES) basis at US$12.374/mmBtu on April 5, a US$1.90/mmBtu discount to the May gas price at the Dutch gas TTF hub, according to Allen Reed, managing editor of Atlantic LNG.

Reed said that the spread between European gas and LNG prices hit a multi-month high on April 04, at a US$2.20 discount to Dutch gas prices for May - and was largely driven by strikes at French LNG terminals.

LNG spot freight rates have fallen amid softer gas prices and potential sub-charters entering the market, with Atlantic rates at US$42,000/day on Thursday and Pacific rates at US$62,750/day, according to Edward Armitage, an analyst at Spark Commodities.

 

Western curbs on Russian oil redraw global shipping map

Global fuel suppliers are turning to longer and costlier routes that produce more carbon emissions to move their diesel and other products as Western restrictions on Russian cargoes have reshuffled global energy shipping patterns.

As a result of the European Union ban on Russian fuel that started on February 05, tankers carrying clean oil products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and naphtha are travelling between 16 and 18 days to bring Russian supplies to Brazil or US cargoes to Europe, according to two shipping sources.

That is up from the four to six days a ship used to travel from Russia to Europe, said the two sources, a broker at a major shipbroking firm and a charterer involved in the Russian trade of naphtha, which is used to make plastics and petrochemicals.

Since the start of the ban, the Clean Tanker Index published by the Baltic Exchange, which measures average freight rates for shipping fuels like gasoline and diesel on some of the most common global routes, has more than doubled.

The redrawing of the shipping map underscores the knock-on effects of Western efforts to punish Russia over its invasion of Ukraine last year, adding to fuel supply insecurity and pushing up prices even as policymakers worry about inflation and the risk of a global economic downturn.

"Not only are voyages much longer, but vessel behavior has also changed, keeping vessels from operating in other CPP (clean petroleum product) markets," Dylan Simpson, freight analyst at oil analytics firm Vortexa, wrote in a March 31 note.

Russian cargoes of fuel are heading to far-flung buyers in Brazil, Turkey, Nigeria, and Morocco as Moscow compensates for the lost European business, while Europe is importing more fuels such as diesel from Asia and the Middle East, according to shipping data from Refinitiv and Kpler.

Asian cargoes, in turn, are being displaced by Russian fuels in Africa and the eastern Mediterranean, and redirected to the blending hub of Singapore for temporary storage, two northeast Asian refinery sources said.

European importers whose naphtha cargoes travelled from Russian ports to Antwerp in four days before Russia's invasion of Ukraine now must wait 18 days for alternative supplies from the United States, the shipbroking source said.

The US is also emerging as a top supplier of heavy naphtha to Europe amid the EU ban, while the Group of Seven Nations, EU and Australia have capped Russian naphtha prices at US$45 a barrel and diesel and gasoline at US$100 a barrel for trades that use Western ships and insurance. Meanwhile, Brazil, traditionally a US naphtha importer, is boosting purchases from Russia at more attractive prices.

However, the journey from Russia to Brazil can take 18 days or longer and, at up to US$7 million per voyage, the costs are nearly double that of a US shipment, the ship charterer involved in the Russian market said.

Brazil received around 240,000 tons of Russian diesel and gasoil in the first three weeks of March, accounting for a quarter of Brazilian imports, up from Russia's 12% share in February and less than 1% last year, said Benedict George, head of diesel pricing with energy and commodity data provider Argus.

"Until February, Europe had remained Russia's primary market for refined product exports; however, in the space of a month, a major pivot has been observed," tanker broker E A Gibson said in a recent report.

Measured in terms of cargo miles, which multiplies the cargo quantity in metric tons by the distance travelled in nautical miles, the amount of Russian oil product shipments to Brazil in March rose to 3.07 billion metric ton-nautical miles (MT-NM) from 941 million MT-NM in November, according to data from valuation company VesselsValue. Shipments from Russia to Nigeria rose to 1.88 billion MT-NM in March from zero in November, VesselsValue estimates showed.

Clean product cargoes to Saudi Arabia in March jumped to 1.75 billion MT-NM from 31 million MT-NM in November, while shipments to the United Arab Emirates were 4.43 billion MT-NM in March, up from 2.85 billion MT-NM in November, the data showed.

Also in March, Russian clean products shipped to Togo reached 973 million MT-NM, up from zero in November. In volume terms, Brazilian imports of oil products from Russia were about 284,000 tons in February, up from 73,300 tons in September, VesselsValue data showed. Conversely, Russian exports to the Netherlands dropped to 238,200 tons in February from 1.15 million tons in September.

Those longer distances are being done at higher costs for Russian products than for typical shipments from Europe.

According to market estimates, freight rates for the UK/European continent to West Africa are quoted at US$55.77 per ton for a product tanker with a standard 37,000-tonne load. This compares with an indicative rate of US$174.24 per ton for shipments from Russia's Baltic ports to Nigeria, US$103.84 for Morocco and around US$150 to Egypt.

With ships travelling further, that is also likely translating into greater emissions from smokestacks.

Based on pre-pandemic data, a 10% increase in mileage for all tankers travelling to and from the European economic area would increase their emissions by around 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, equal to the emissions of around 750,000 cars per year in Europe, said Valentin Simon, data analyst with the Transport & Environment think tank in Brussels.

Pakistani OMCs face doom and gloom

Sales of oil marketing companies in March 2023 dipped to 1.1 million tons, a fall of 9%MoM and 39%YoY basis. The decline was led by high speed diesel (HSD) and furnace oil (FO). This is the lowest monthly offtake number since April 2020 (1.068 million tons), when Government of Pakistan (GoP) resorted to lockdowns in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The decline can be mainly attributed to significant price hikes in motor spirit (MS) and HSD over the previous two months, taking prices during March to PkR272 and PKR293 per liter respectively.

The said fall to 35 month low can also be attributed to demand destruction, as POL sales volumes are correlated with an overall economic slowdown, depicted by falling industrial activity, falling power generation, shock in the auto sector and the unprecedented wave of inflation that has gripped the economy.

Overall, total POL sales remained down by 21%YoY during 9MFY23, to 12.8 million tons as compared to 16.2 million tons during the same period a year ago.

Product wise, HSD sales were down 43%YoY and FO offtake was down 70%YoY), as muted industrial activity and power generation. FO based generation declined 51%YoY during 8MFY23.

Analysts expect increased HSD offtakes in the upcoming Kharif season (April-June), although, with fuel prices on the rise, it is expected to be an expensive affair for farmers, and may even be riddled with fuel shortages like last year where diesel shortage hit sowing/harvesting farmers in Punjab as they queued up at filling stations, being wary in anticipation of monsoon season in May/June. The ongoing wave of inflationary pressures has also gripped the economy and has resulted in consumers choosing to avoid leisurely travel amidst reduced purchasing power.

It is worth mentioning that the prices of both MS and HSD have risen to PKR272 and PKR293 per liter, respectively.

These prices represent an increase, in line with the current government's plan to pass on the full cost of supply and levies to consumers.

Company wise, major players in the sector, PSO/APL/SHEL/GOPL, delivered throughput levels of 535,000/113,000/89,000/58,000 tons, taking total market share to 48.4%/10.2%/8.2%/5.3% for March 20223, respectively.

To note, PSO’s offtakes remained worse off, down 44%YoY, mainly due to dampened FO demand, down 92%YoY as compared to an industry-wide decline of 70%YoY.

More specifically, country’s largest OMC saw its retail volume fall by 12%MoM/36%YoY. Furthermore, HASCOL emerged the most resilient amidst the industry decline as total volumes for the month were reported at 43,000 tons, up by 60%MoM. This comes on the back of HASCOL’s approach to remobilize most of its retail depots by CY22 end, as most closed up due to company’s fallout back in CY20.

On the retail front, PSO and APL ended the 2QFY23 period with market share standing at 49.1%/8.5% as compared to 47.0%/8.3% during SPLY.

With only a quarter left during the year – the demand for petroleum products hasn't looked this bad in years since the Covid’19 pandemic struck. Overall, the broad based economic slowdown continues to haunt the sustainability of the sector as risen prices and dampened industrial/commercial activity have kept offtakes under pressure.

On a forward looking basis, rampant inflationary pressures in the coming quarters alongside a depressed GDP outlook during the year period compels us to assume negative volumetric growth for the industry, by approximately 20-21% for FY23 (previous 15%).

 

Business community slams hike in interest rate

While slamming another 100 basis points (bps) hike in the benchmark interest rate to a record 21%, the business community on Tuesday questioned the government’s approach of fighting inflation by jacking up lending rates saying the strategy has failed to produce desired results but slowed down economic activities.

“The entire business community has refused to accept the 100 bps hike in the policy rate to an all-time high at 21%,” announced Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh.

In a statement, he said the benchmark interest rate has risen by a whopping 1125 bps in the last 14 months but failed to check inflation. “If that is not the governance and regulatory failure, then what would the failure look like to move the government for a course correction? he asked.

The trimming of growth projections by both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to less than half a percent for FY23 is the direct outcome of the regressive, IMF-dictated and recessionary monetary policy which has dried out the access to finance for businesses, the FPCCI chief lamented.

The country’s exports have posted negative growth for the seventh month in a row and the two major industries like textile and IT have persistently been facing a decline.

He said the 21% interest rate is far higher compared to what is prevailing in China, India and Bangladesh at 2.75%, 6.5% and 6% respectively.

Inflation in Pakistan, however, appears to be deep-rooted and it mainly stems from substantial exchange rate depreciation, unprecedented hike in international commodity prices, multiple rounds of hikes in energy tariffs and other prescribed measures under the IMF program, he noted.

Despite raising the SBP policy rate to 21% in the current month, inflation remained stubbornly high and a further surge is a manifestation of an utter failure of the monetary policy, the FPCCI president observed.

Pakistan Business Council chief executive Ehsan Malik said the latest hike in the policy rate, much like other recent rises, would do nothing to control cost-push and devaluation-led inflation.

“Nor in this politically turbulent time will it buffer the value of the rupee,” he added. On the other hand, he said it would raise the cost of borrowing for the formal sector already suffering from low capacity utilization due to an import crunch.

“It is time that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) adopts a more differentiated stance on the use of monetary policy,” Ehsan said.

SITE Association of Industry President Riaz Uddin said the hike in the interest rate would further increase the cost of doing business which is already hit by rupee devaluation against the dollar, rising gas and power bills, dollar crisis, shutdowns of various industries due to raw material shortage, etc.

Courtesy: Dawn

Saudi Arabia to privatize airports and roads

Mohannad Basodan, CEO of the National Center for Privatization (NCP), unveiled the plans to privatize the airports of Abha, Taif, Hail and Qassim, as well as about 4,500 kilometers of modern roads in the Kingdom.

In an interview with Al-Arabiya, Basodan said that a series of privatization projects has been announced and these include around 200 approved projects, of which about 140 projects have been made available to local and international investors.

“The Kingdom has the largest series of privatization projects in the region, which include various qualitative investments, and these are made available in advance to give investors the opportunity to prepare well in advance before their offering,” he said while noting that the series of privatization projects in the Kingdom includes the airports of Abha, Taif, Hail and Qassim, and about 4,500 kilometers of modern roads.

Basodan said that privatization in the health sector includes general hospitals, university hospitals, health services, laboratories and radiology. “In the education sector, it includes school buildings, colleges of excellence, establishment of model institutions, in addition to water and wastewater treatment projects,” he said.

Basodan noted that these projects are scheduled, and 60 projects were launched in the last period, and there are projects in various phases of the preparation period. He stated that the NCP had succeeded, during the past five years, in awarding contracts for 43 projects, ranging from partnership, sale of assets, or institutional transformation.

“The first quarter of 2023 witnessed the signing of contracts for projects in the transport sector, including Spanish-Saudi, and Chinese-Saudi alliances. There is a diversity of operations to attract foreign investors and available projects.”

It is noteworthy that the National Center for Privatization has identified 200 projects available to local and international investors, with the aim of giving them sufficient period of time to learn about privatization projects in the Kingdom and their nature before officially offered to the market.

Earlier, Minister of Finance Muhammad Al-Jadaan urged to continue publishing details about projects for privatization so as to enhance partnership between the public and private sectors and attract new international investments. This is also aimed to enable the local private sector to benefit from the announced opportunities.