News of the World

[kyonides]

Queen Elizabeth II has died

Queen Elizabeth II, the UK's longest-serving monarch, has died at Balmoral aged 96, after reigning for 70 years.

She died peacefully on Thursday afternoon at her Scottish estate, where she had spent much of the summer.

The Queen came to the throne in 1952 and witnessed enormous social change.

Her son King Charles III said the death of his beloved mother was a "moment of great sadness" for him and his family and that her loss would be "deeply felt" around the world.

The King and his wife, Camilla, now Queen Consort, will return to London on Friday, Buckingham Palace said. He is expected to address the nation on Friday.

Senior royals had gathered at Balmoral after the Queen's doctors became concerned about her health earlier in the day.

All the Queen's children travelled to Balmoral, near Aberdeen, after doctors placed the Queen under medical supervision.

Her grandson and now heir to the throne, Prince William, and his brother, Prince Harry, also gathered there.

Prime Minister Liz Truss, who was appointed by the Queen on Tuesday, said the monarch was the rock on which modern Britain was built, who had "provided us with the stability and strength that we needed".

Speaking about the new King, she said: "We offer him our loyalty and devotion, just as his mother devoted so much, to so many, for so long.
...
Queen Elizabeth II's tenure as head of state spanned post-war austerity, the transition from empire to Commonwealth, the end of the Cold War and the UK's entry into - and withdrawal from - the European Union.
...
On the Queen's death, Prince William and his wife, Catherine, became the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Cornwall.

Published back in 2021:

Venezuelan oil, masked as Malaysian,
rushes into China before fuel tax

Traders are racing to deliver record volumes of Venezuelan crude oil masked as Malaysian bitumen blend to China, ahead of new fuel taxes that look set to upend the lucrative flow of sanctioned oil to the world’s top crude importer.

China has over the past 12 months bought an estimated $3.5 billion worth of Venezuelan oil relabelled as Malaysian fuel, according to cargo tracking and industry sources, throwing Caracas a vital lifeline while it grapples with a collapsing economy amid tough U.S. sanctions.

Much of it has come in as bitumen blend, a mix of tar-like heavy crudes and refinery residue fuels that doesn't attract consumption tax like fuel oil and also isn't subject to China's quotas on oil imports.

Bitumen blend shipments to China have jumped 13-fold since May 2020 with cargo-tracking specialist Vortexa Analytics estimating that 90% of the cargoes over the past year to end-April were actually heavy oil from Venezuela. That's some 324,000 barrels per day (bpd), or nearly 61% of Venezuela's total oil exports.

New fuel taxes that kick in on June 12, however, will increase the cost of bitumen blend to importers by 40% to 50%, making it uneconomic and choking off flows.
...
Top Chinese state oil buyer CNPC stopped loading Venezuelan oil from August 2019 due to U.S. sanctions, but private traders and refiners have been willing buyers, re-certifying and blending the oil as Malaysian following transshipments in Malaysian waters, according to data and industry sources.

Some Venezuelan oil has been relabelled as Malaysian by branding it as Singma or Mal Blend crudes, while some smaller refiners, facing crude oil import quota restrictions, have looked for a feedstock that requires no import quotas, say industry sources.

Published in August 2022:

Chinese defence firm has taken over
lifting Venezuelan oil for debt offset

Since November 2020 China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) has been carrying Venezuelan crude on three tankers it acquired that year from PetroChina, CNPC's listed vehicle, the sources said. The oil is stored on a tank farm it also took over from PetroChina, the sources said.

The three CASIC tankers load in Venezuela with their transponders active, allowing third-party tracking, Eikon data showed.
...
The 13 shipments, worth about $1.5 billion at formula prices for Venezuela’s flagship-grade Merey crude, were declared "crude oil" at Chinese customs, without specifying origin, said one of the sources.
...
"These shipments are strictly under a government mandate, where CASIC was designated to move the oil as payment to offset Venezuelan debt (to China)," the person said.
...
Without commenting on debt offset, China's foreign ministry said on Friday the two nations are engaged in cooperation over "oil for humanitarian goods".
...
A second source said that although part of each cargo pays down debt, other goods, such as COVID-19 vaccines, are also being subtracted from the crude sales.
...
China has not officially reported any crude oil imports from Venezuela since October 2019.

Venezuela's debt dates to 2007, the era of then-President Hugo Chavez, when the country borrowed more than $50 billion from Beijing under loan-for-oil deals.