🇻🇪🛢Asia's Battle for Venezuela's Oil: The Complex Fallout of U.S. Sanctions Easing

Despite the recent lifting of the U.S. oil embargo on Venezuelan oil, Asian countries, especially China and India, face a challenging scenario, warn S&P Global analysts.

The competition for Venezuelan oil is intensifying, raising concerns for these nations. With U.S. companies now allowed to explore and directly purchase oil from Venezuela's PDVSA, there's a risk of reduced oil shipments to China, impacting debt repayments, while U.S. oil imports surge.

Furthermore, Venezuelan barrels might compete with other Latin American and Canadian heavy oil grades. China's independent refineries consumed 360,000 b/d and 110,000 b/d of fuel oil from Venezuela in September, against the country's oil production of 770,000 b/d. Post-sanctions, experts fear China might face competition from the U.S., Europe, and India.

In the pre-sanctions period (2017-2019), India imported 300,000 b/s of Venezuelan oil, mainly through private refining companies like Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy.
India's future oil imports from Venezuela hinge on the country's energy security policies.

Refiners in Northeast and Southeast Asia worry that reduced imports from Venezuela could inflate spot prices for Middle East crude, highlighting the complexities of the situation.

#Venezuela #PDVSA #sanctions #oil #Asia #India
@songofoil

$TSLA

BIDEN: HE SUPPORTS UAW EFFORTS TO UNIONIZE TESLA AND TOYOTA ...

🇪🇺 Final agreement on EU Digital Identity Wallets expands scope of regulations

The European Parliament and the Council of the EU have reached an agreement on a new framework for European digital identity, including regulation on digital ID wallets.

A news release from the European Commission says this concludes the two legislative bodies’ work to implement results of the provisional political agreement reached in June around a legal framework for a trusted and secure digital identity for all Europeans.

Under the new eIDAS 2.0 regulations, the EU Digital Identity Wallet will have extensive applications across public and private enterprise, supporting the EU in meeting its 2030 targets for the digitization of public services. With the full guarantee of EU law, wallet holders throughout Europe can use their linked digital ID to open bank accounts and make payments, store digital ID and biometric documents such as mobile driver’s licenses or professional certifications, and expedite services in travel, healthcare and other areas of life. Significantly, the regulation makes it mandatory for so-called Very Large Online Platforms (Facebook, Google, et al) to accept the EU Digital ID Wallet for login. The Commission’s release implies that this is a potential model for smaller companies, for which the features and specs of the wallet could boost both competitiveness and compliance.

Crucial to the wallet system is the user’s ability to choose whether or not to share personal data, and what data is shared in specific cases. In terms of UX, the wallet’s dashboard promises the ability to monitor transactions and report privacy violations, and to allow interaction between wallets with consent. E-signature capability will be free for personal use.

Several of these features mark an expanded scope for the regulation as a result of the trilogue discussions. Other newly finalized points include the wallet’s business model (free of charge to all Europeans), validation and authentication mechanisms for member states, and the status of the wallet’s code, components of which will be available open-source to try and prevent misuse.

Although the agreement between the European co-legislators is set, it still requires endorsement from member states and formal approval, after which it will be formally published in the EU’s Official Journal. Twenty days after that, the new EU Digital Identity framework will become law.

🔗 https://www.biometricupdate.com/202311/final-agreement-on-eu-digital-identity-wallets-expands-scope-of-regulations

NOW - Ransomware attack on the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China disrupts the U.S. Treasury market.

@disclosetv

⚠RANSOMWARE ATTACK ON ICBC DISRUPTS US TREASURY MARKET: FT

A RANSOMWARE ATTACK ON THE INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF CHINA HAS DISRUPTED THE US TREASURY MARKET, ACCORDING TO MARKET PARTICIPANTS.

THE SECURITIES INDUSTRY AND FINANCIAL MARKETS ASSOCIATION TOLD MEMBERS ON THURSDAY THAT ICBC, CHINA’S LARGEST BANK, HAD BEEN HIT BY RANSOMWARE SOFTWARE, WHICH PARALYSES COMPUTER SYSTEMS UNLESS A PAYMENT IS MADE, ACCORDING TO SEVERAL PEOPLE FAMILIAR WITH THE DISCUSSIONS.

THE ATTACK PREVENTED ICBC FROM SETTLING TREASURY TRADES ON BEHALF OF OTHER MARKET PARTICIPANTS, ACCORDING TO TRADERS AND BANKS.

ICBC WAS STARTING TO RESTORE SERVICES AS OF THURSDAY AFTERNOON, ACCORDING TO SOME OF THE PEOPLE BRIEFED ON THE INCIDENT.

ICBC DID NOT RESPOND TO A REQUEST FOR COMMENT. ...

JUST IN: BlackRock is confident the SEC will approve its Spot Bitcoin ETF by January, Fox News reports.

@WatcherGuru

⛏️A NATO for minerals & metals. The Minerals Security Partnership.

https://norgemining.com/2022/11/02/a-nato-for-critical-raw-materials/

https://www.state.gov/minerals-security-partnership/

JUST IN: Tron founder Justin Sun's crypto exchange Poloniex hacked for over $100 million.

@WatcherGuru

🚢 🇵🇦 🇺🇸 Panama Canal crisis forces US farm exports to detour through Suez - Sal Mercogliano

"Ship-position data reveals major shift away from Panama route

This is a serious issue, the highest level of Gatun Lake this year is below the average lowest level, and we will soon be heading into the dry season."

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/panama-canal-crisis-forces-us-farm-exports-to-detour-through-suez

NEW - Shares of "clean energy" producers are collapsing.

One example: Hydrogen producer Plug Power Inc.'s shares fell as much as 45% today, the biggest intraday decline since 2013.

https://www.disclose.tv/id/liv52xyeon/

@disclosetv

⚡🇮🇸 A state of emergency has been declared in Iceland, as the authorities and the Icelandic people are preparing themselves for a possible volcanic eruption.

Multiple quakes and volcanic activity has been detected through the past 10 hours, and we have no idea how bad this can escalate.

@themediterraneanman

GlobiancePay - Bank of the Future @Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2023-11-10/globiancepay-neobank-in-el-salvador

GLOBIANCEPAY SA
with a license from CNAD in EL SALVADOR
A digital assets or Neobank license allows us offer the following services: Accounts, Payments, Remittance, Card Acquiring, Processing, Asset Management, Digital Stock Exchange - Tokenization, Issuing, Trading

This means that our first Digital Stock Exchange in El Salvador can launch soon!

We should be ready with preparations to commence services by end of this year, so we can start full steam ahead in 2024.

💥 🇺🇦 Ukrainian military officer coordinated Nord Stream pipeline attack

⬛️ Roman Chervinsky, a colonel in Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, was integral to the brazen sabotage operation, say people familiar with planning

🔶️ The officer’s role provides the most direct evidence to date tying Ukraine’s military and security leadership to a controversial act of sabotage that has spawned multiple criminal investigations and that U.S. and Western officials have called a dangerous attack on Europe’s energy infrastructure.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/11/11/nordstream-bombing-ukraine-chervinsky/

https://archive.ph/QKaTp

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Largest US options exchange Cboe to launch margined Bitcoin and Ethereum futures.

@WatcherGuru

NOW - Large crack opens up in the center of the town of Grindavik in Iceland.

https://x.com/WxNB_/status/1724076210311791005

@disclosetv