The precautionary closure of four South Korean nuclear reactors after last week's earthquakes could boost the country's need for imported fuel oil.
Following the two quakes near the city of Gyeongju last Monday night – the largest of which, registering 5.8, was the country’s biggest one measured to date – the state-owned nuclear operator, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, quickly shut the four Wolsong reactors, which are located on the coast.
The Wolsong complex has a combined capacity of about 2.8 gigawatts, or a little over 10 per cent of the country’s nuclear capacity, which accounts for nearly 30 per cent of South Korea’s electricity generating capacity.
The four precautionary shutdowns bring the total number of reactors offline to seven.
Three of the country’s liquefied natural gas plants likewise were temporarily shut down because of the quakes.
It is not clear how long damage assessment and restart will take, but the event could lead to a temporary boost in fuel oil demand, says Nevyn Nah, an analyst at Energy Aspects.
South Korea’s fuel demand has been soaring because of a summer heatwave and economic stimulus, with crude oil demand up 5.5 per cent year-on-year in July at 2.3 million barrels per day, according to the latest data.
The country is one of the world’s largest importers of oil and has no domestic resources of crude. Almost all of its imports come from Arabian Gulf countries, with the UAE accounting for about 15 per cent of its average daily consumption.
South Korea is one of the UAE’s best oil customers and the two countries have deep energy ties. Last year, GS Energy was one of the first to win a concession in Abu Dhabi’s prime onshore oilfields, taking a 3 per cent stake in the new Adco, which was financed by government-owned Korean National Oil Company.
South Korea is also designer and builder of the UAE’s nuclear complex at Barakah, in the western region, and will operate it.
Any demand boost from South Korea will be welcome as Asian markets for refined oil are amply supplied. The markets for middle distillates in particular – which include diesel, jet fuel and kerosene – have been flooded.
“Stubborn oversupply in the Asian diesel market seems no closer to ending,” according to BMI Research, a unit of Fitch.
“A dramatic upsurge in Chinese exports alongside brimming stockpiles at key storage hubs – particularly Singapore – maintain the oversupply in the regional market and hurt margins,” BMI reckons.
Diesel margins in Singapore dropped more than 14 per cent last week, to US$10.50, having peaked in July at $12.30.
amcauley@thenational.ae
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Results
6.30pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 Group 1 (PA) US$100,000 (Dirt) 2,000m, Winner Bandar, Fernando Jara (jockey), Majed Al Jahouri (trainer).
7.05pm Meydan Classic Listed (TB) $175,000 (Turf) 1,600m, Winner Well Of Wisdom, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
7.40pm Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 2,000m, Winner Star Safari, Mickael Barzalona, Charlie Appleby.
8.15pm Handicap (TB) $135,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner Moqarrar, Fabrice Veron, Erwan Charpy.
8.50pm Nad Al Sheba Trophy Group 2 (TB) $300,000 (T) 2,810m, Winner Secret Advisor, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
9.25pm Curlin Stakes Listed (TB) $175,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner Parsimony, William Buick, Doug O’Neill.
10pm Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 2,000m, Winner Simsir, Ronan Whelan, Michael Halford.
10.35pm Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,400m, Winner Velorum, Mickael Barzalona, Charlie Appleby.
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.