Reuters News

China is deploying a large number of naval and coast guard vessels across East Asian waters, at one point more than 100, in the largest maritime show of force to date, according to four sources and intelligence reports reviewed by Reuters.China is in the middle of what is traditionally a busy season for military exercises, though the People's Liberation Army has not made any announcements of large-scale officially named drills.Still, the rise in activity is happening as China…

There is no specific timeline for when the shipping industry will resume sailing through the Suez Canal, but any return would be gradual, the chief executive of Hapag-Lloyd, the world's fifth-largest container company, said on Thursday.Shipping companies have been sailing costly routes around Africa since November 2023 to avoid attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea by Yemen's Houthi militants, who said they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel's war in…

War insurance costs for ships sailing to the Black Sea have spiked again, with insurers reviewing policies daily as the conflict in Ukraine spills into sea lanes, five shipping and insurance sources said on Thursday.The Black Sea is crucial for the shipment of grain, oil and oil products. Its waters are shared by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania and Turkey, as well as Russia and Ukraine.Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday that attacks on Russia-linked tankers in…

A survey on Thursday showed that oil firms in Norway are planning to drill 18% less exploration wells next, as they focus on existing fields. This could undermine the government's aim of maintaining production from Europe's biggest petroleum producer.Offshore Norway's survey of its members shows that drilling and investment will decline next year.The survey revealed that oil companies on the Norwegian continental Shelf, such as Equinor Aker BP Vaar Energi, intend to drill 37 exploration wells by 2026.

The crew of the Greek-operated cargo ship Eternity C, which sank in the Red Sea in July after being attacked by Yemen's Houthis, have been released, an official with the ship's operator and a maritime security source told Reuters on Wednesday.The crew of the Liberia-flagged Eternity C abandoned the ship before it sank following repeated strikes by the Iran-aligned militants with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades.Rescuers pulled crew members alive from the Red Sea and Houthis later said they were holding a group of the seafarers…

The Romanian military blew up a maritime drone that was endangering navigation in the Black Sea, the Ministry of National Defence said on Wednesday, amid rising concerns about risks to shipping in the area linked to the war in Ukraine.The ministry said that the drone, which was found in an area 36 nautical miles (66 km) east of Constanta, was a Sea Baby. The Sea Baby is a maritime drone developed by Ukraine.A Romanian Defence Ministry spokesperson declined to specify the country that the drone came from, but confirmed it was a Sea Baby.

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will resume on December 30, Malaysia's transport ministry said on Wednesday, more than a decade after the Beijing-bound flight disappeared in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.Flight MH370, a Boeing 777, was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014. Multiple search operations for the plane have been conducted since then but all proved fruitless.More than…

China's military sometimes simulates attacks on foreign naval vessels in the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan shares intelligence with international partners when they operate in those waters, a senior Taiwan security official said on Wednesday.China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own, says it alone exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the strait, a major trade route for about half of global container ships.Both the United States and Taiwan say the strait is an international waterway, however.U.S.

The New Zealand Navy will return to service in the third quarter of 2026 one of two offshore patrol vessels idle since 2021, the chief of the defence force said on Tuesday, at a cost running into millions of dollars.Tony Davies told a select committee of parliament the decision to bring HMNZS Otago out of care and custody arrangements followed the sinking of a specialist dive and hydrographic vessel, the Manawanui."Before you put it back to sea, it has to have quite a bit of work and money spent on it," Davies added.

Germany has been putting import terminals for liquefied natural gas into operation as part of its efforts to replace piped Russian gas following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.The Brunsbuettel terminal received its floating storage regasification unit, the Hoegh Gannet, back on November 24 after upgrades, and Wilhelmshaven 2 has restarted its FSRU Excelsior ready for the coming winter months, state-appointed terminal company Deutsche Energy Terminal said.DET, which is in charge of three terminal locations…

A Russian-flagged tanker loaded with sunflower oil reported a drone attack off the Turkish coast on Tuesday, but its 13 crew members were unharmed, Turkey's maritime authority and the Tribeca shipping agency said.Ukrainian naval drones last week hit two tankers sanctioned by Kyiv and some of its Western allies in the Black Sea as they headed to a Russian port to load oil destined for foreign markets, as the country attempts to pile pressure on Russia's oil sector.Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said Ukraine was not involved in Tuesday's attack…

Oil majors operating in Brazil have closed ranks to oppose a proposed merger between energy contractors Subsea7 and Saipem, and antitrust agency Cade has asked the two firms to provide its probe with new data on Friday, public documents seen by Reuters show.The resulting new firm, to be called Saipem7, would have a strong enough position to impose additional costs, delay projects and pressure some clients into exclusive long-term contracts, Brazil oil industry group IBP said in a November filing to Cade.On Friday…

Some congressional Republicans expressed concern about U.S. military actions off Venezuela's coast and joined Democrats in pledging to look into multiple strikes on one boat, although there was no word on Monday of any briefings or hearings.White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt on Monday confirmed there had been two strikes on one boat in early September, saying they were within the law and authorized by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, days after some members of Congress said…

Turkey sharply reduced its imports of Russia's flagship Urals crude oil in November, shipping data from energy consultancy Kpler showed, as Western sanctions on Russian energy suppliers tightened and Turkish refineries shifted to alternative grades.Shipments of Urals to Turkey fell by 100,000 barrels per day from October levels, with total imports dropping to around 200,000 bpd last month, data from Kpler and LSEG showed.Turkey has become one of the largest buyers of Russian crude since 2022 when European buyers stopped purchases…

A Turkish-owned oil tanker that was damaged near Senegal's coast last week was hit by four external explosions but there were no injuries or pollution, its manager said on Monday.The vessel, Mersin, was at anchor near Dakar when the four explosions occurred at 2345 GMT on November 27, resulting in seawater entering the engine room, Istanbul-based Besiktas Shipping said in a written statement.The cause of the explosions was not clear."The situation was immediately brought under control, and we confirm that all crew members are safe; there are no injuries, no loss of life, and no pollution," the

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that attacks on commercial ships in the Black Sea were unacceptable, issuing a warning to "all related sides" after an unmanned vessel reportedly struck a tanker off Turkey's northern coast.“The war between Russia and Ukraine has clearly begun to threaten navigational safety in the Black Sea. The targeting of vessels in our Exclusive Economic Zone on Friday signals a worrying escalation," Erdogan told reporters."We cannot justify these attacks in any way.

Ukrainian naval drones hit two sanctioned tankers in the Black Sea as they headed to a Russian port to load up with oil destined for foreign markets, an official said on Saturday, as Kyiv tries to pile pressure on Russia's vast oil industry.The two oil tankers, identified as the Kairos and Virat, were empty and sailing to Novorossiysk, a major Russian Black Sea oil terminal, the official at the Security Service of Ukraine told Reuters.Naval drones could be seen speeding towards hulking tankers followed by powerful explosions that caused fires on the vessels…

One of Australia's biggest coal export ports will resume operations on Monday, the port operator said, after climate-change protesters disrupted shipping at the Port of Newcastle for a second day on Sunday.Climate activist group Rising Tide, which claimed responsibility for the latest protest, said hundreds of activists paddled kayaks into the shipping lane of Newcastle Harbour on Sunday morning, violating an exclusion zone.The port, 170 km (110 miles) north of New South Wales state capital Sydney…

Senegalese authorities are racing to prevent a potential oil spill after water entered the engine room of the Panamanian-flagged oil tanker Mersin near Dakar's coast, the port authority said on Sunday.The vessel is owned by Turkey's Mersin Shipping Inc and managed by Besiktas Shipping, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group.The incident, which led to the vessel issuing a distress signal, occurred overnight from November 27 to 28, prompting the deployment of tugboats and specialized teams from Senegal's navy and maritime authority…

South Korean police and Labour Ministry officials raided on Thursday the shipyard of Hanwha Ocean in Geoje in the southeast of the country after the death of a worker, the Yonhap News Agency reported.A spokesperson for Hanwha Ocean said in a text message that company officials were "cooperating with the investigation as much as possible."A spokesperson at the Labour Ministry was not immediately available for comment.(Reuters - Reporting by Heejin Kim; Editing by Ed Davies)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney signed an agreement with Alberta's premier on Thursday that rolls back certain climate rules to spur investment in energy production, while encouraging construction of a new oil pipeline to the West Coast.Under the agreement, the federal government will scrap a planned emissions cap on the oil and gas sector and drop rules on clean electricity in exchange for a commitment by Canada's top oil-producing province to strengthen industrial carbon…

Brazilian federal prosecutors in Para state have filed a lawsuit to demand the removal of the hull and oily residues from the Haidar ship, which sank 10 years ago near Vila do Conde port, Brazil's biggest for live cattle shipments.In a statement on Wednesday, Para federal prosecutors recalled the Haidar wreck caused the death of 5,000 cattle and a spill of 700,000 liters of oily residues.A subsequent spill from the Haidar wreck was reported in 2018, prosecutors said, showing that remaining residues inside the hull represent "a constant threat."Some 215,000 liters of oil, diesel, fuel, and lubr

Poland said on Wednesday it had chosen Sweden's Saab to supply it with three submarines, in a multi-billion-dollar deal that forms a key element of Warsaw's efforts to bolster its defences in the Baltic Sea.Warsaw has been ramping up investments in the armed forces to counter what it sees as a growing threat from Russia after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.The deal with Sweden under the "Orka" programme to boost Poland's military exemplifies Warsaw's efforts to build a Baltic alliance…