The two naval companies intend to establish a joint collaboration framework for the production and commercialisation of selected submarine projects by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.

Aimed exclusively at future market opportunities, the proposed framework involves no merger or acquisition of assets or shares between the firms.

Existing contracts and ongoing programmes will remain independent, with cooperation tailored to specific customer needs and executed under applicable competition and export-control regulations.

“Europe's security requires a stronger and more resilient industrial base,” remarked Oliver Burkhard, Chief Executive Officer of TKMS. He noted that the agreement combines complementary industrial capabilities while maintaining the technological leadership and design standards of each builder.

Navantia Executive Chairman Ricardo Domínguez explained that the firms are working to build a scalable defence base capable of meeting growing global demand for submarine design, construction, and sustainment.

The European Union levied a transaction ban on Kulevi on Thursday in its 21st package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine. The ban will take effect in six months.

Located in western Georgia on the Black Sea coast, Kulevi came under scrutiny last October when Reuters reported that Russian company Russneft began shipping crude to the refinery.

Black Sea Petroleum (BSP), which owns and operates the refinery, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanctions listing.

The Georgian foreign ministry said it was concerned by Kulevi's inclusion on the sanctions list and was taking all measures to ensure Georgia was not being used to circumvent sanctions.

"Georgia remains ready to cooperate with the European Union institutions and share all necessary information with them," the ministry was cited as saying by the Interpress news agency.

Give them some credit

BSP said earlier this month that it would stop refining Russian crude from August-September, and instead source crude from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

A senior EU official said discussions with Kulevi were ongoing and the refinery had committed to diversifying away from Russian crude.

"We'll give them some credit, but we want to see...that they do what they promised, and then we can propose to the council to delist them," the official told reporters in Brussels.

Georgia and Russia have had no formal diplomatic ties since their brief 2008 war, but Tbilisi has drawn closer to Moscow under the ruling Georgian Dream party, government critics say, and has boosted its own imports of Russian oil.

Kulevi started operations in October 2025 with an initial processing capacity of 1.2 million tonnes (mmt) a year. It processed more than 650,000 tonnes in the first half of this year.

Research by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) think-tank showed Kulevi received six shipments of Russian crude oil between last October and May 2026. During that period, Spain and Bulgaria received shipments from Kulevi.

CREA's research showed the EU and the United States received 1.46 million tonnes of oil products worth €811 million ($922 million) from the Kulevi port between February 2023 and February 2026.

(Reporting by Lucy Papachristou in Tbilisi; Additional reporting by Julia Payne in Brussels; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis declared on Monday a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia, opening a potential new front against the US in the Iran war and expanding the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Persian Gulf.

"Given the security situation in the southern part of the Red Sea, the vessel is sailing via the Suez (Canal) and around the Cape to Asia. This reflects our cautious approach to crew safety, which remains our highest priority," a Torm spokesperson said.

Torm had suspended transits through the southern part of the Red Sea since January 2024, and, "only after careful case-by-case assessment we had a few vessels transiting this summer", the spokesperson said.

"We will continue to monitor the situation closely as it develops."

The Torm Innovation loaded a cargo of about 500,000 barrels of naphtha at the Saudi Red Sea port of Yanbu, with Japan as its destination, according to shipping data and trade sources.

The vessel was sailing through the northern Red Sea on Friday with its destination listed as the Suez Canal.

Critical fuel shipments to buyers in Asia through Suez are estimated to add another 30 days of journey time if voyages are unable to continue via the Bab el-Mandeb gateway in the southern Red Sea, which leads into the Gulf of Aden.

Closure of the Bab el-Mandeb would remove a critical alternative to the Strait of Hormuz for Saudi Arabia and heighten fears of shortages.

Red Sea traffic has not fully recovered since Houthi attacks off Yemen's coast began in November 2023 in what the group said was solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war. The group's attacks on merchant ships only ended with the Gaza ceasefire last October.

At least one Saudi tanker was attacked this week off the southern Saudi port of Jizan, near Yemen, and the Houthis claimed responsibility.

The earlier spate of Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping caused volumes transported through the Suez Canal to drop more than 50 per cent since 2023 and last year they hit their lowest levels in at least 50 years, Suez Canal Authority data showed.

(Reporting by Jonathan Saul and Ahmad Ghaddar; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Helen Popper)

It will instead pursue the expansion of a port in southern Ranong province and related rail links, the government said in a statement.

The original land bridge proposal envisioned THB1 trillion ($30.45 billion) logistics corridor offering an alternative route to the congested Strait of Malacca.

The proposal involved the connection of two new deep-sea ports: Chumphon, on the Gulf of Thailand in the east, and Ranong, along the country's western Andaman coast.

The updated review said the project could create future fiscal burdens and contingent liabilities for the government. It found the project's net present value had fallen from THB637.7 billion to negative THB10.3 billion.

The project is highly sensitive to changes in global economic conditions, trade volumes and shipping demand, it said. The project panel also raised concerns over the environmental impact of the project, including risks to Ranong's mangrove forests, marine ecosystems, fisheries, tourism and coastal communities.

The panel recommended upgrading the existing Ranong port and improving rail links to strengthen logistics connections.

There is no immediate need for a new Gulf of Thailand port due to limited commercial justification, and existing port capacity.

Environmental concerns remain unresolved and existing environmental impact assessments are outdated, the review said, adding that public consultation also needs to be strengthened, with more comprehensive engagement.

Thailand still needs to improve transport infrastructure, including increasing freight demand linked to the Thailand-Laos-China railway, it said.

(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Kitiphong Thaicharoen; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by David Stanway)

Under the agreement, Uforce will join US drone dominance initiatives to supply full-stack aerial, maritime, and ground unmanned systems alongside autonomy software and command-and-control technologies.

Uforce produces the Magura family of autonomous surface vessels. The company highlighted that these vessels contributed to the destruction of more than 12 Russian warships in the Black Sea. Its technology portfolio also includes the first autonomous surface vessel to down manned helicopters and fighter aircraft in combat.

Chief Executive Officer of Uforce Oleg Rogynskyy stated that current combat environments render autonomous warfighting capabilities essential.

Co-Founder of Reconcraft Joe Silkowski noted that combining manufacturing expertise with proven autonomy allows the companies to deliver capabilities faster than developing new platforms from the ground up.

Uforce operates by consolidating nine Ukrainian unmanned system developers and manufacturers into a single entity. The business is registered in London with primary operations based in Ukraine.

Frequent flare-ups in the war, now in its fifth month, have kept a crucial oil-producing region on edge, with Iran now seeking to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea after choking off shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Middle East is SLB's biggest market, accounting for 34 per cent of its revenue in 2025. It had warned of a 6-8 cents per share hit in the second quarter due to the disruptions.

"This quarter marked a return to year-on-year revenue growth outside the Middle East," CEO Olivier Le Peuch said.

Revenue from Middle East and Asia dropped 14 per cent to $2.57 billion during the quarter, driven by lower activity and operational disruptions associated with the conflict.

"While activity began to recover in certain countries during the second quarter, the timing of a full recovery remains uncertain and will depend on a durable resolution of the conflict," Le Peuch said, adding that a return to full production capacity is expected to take time.

Halliburton had also cautioned the pace of recovery in the Middle East remained dependent on day-to-day events, after the SLB rival beat expectations for quarterly profit earlier this week.

Still, total revenue during the quarter climbed to $8.97 billion, driven by a 36 per cent jump in North America and a 15 per cent rise in Latin America.

Growth in the region was supported by higher offshore activity, a rebound in US shale oil and gas drilling activity, as well as strong demand for production and recovery solutions, the company said.

In North America, oil and gas rig count rose to 704 during the second quarter, from 699 during the same period a year earlier, according to a survey by Baker Hughes.

SLB posted an adjusted profit of 55 cents per share for the quarter ended June 30, compared with analysts' estimate of 51 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG.

(Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

But it did not disclose the size of the content or the deposits, saying the data was insufficient due to the limited duration and geographic scope of sampling.

The Japanese scientific drilling vessel, Chikyu, completed a month-long mission in February near Minamitori Island, about 1,900 kilometres southeast of Tokyo, marking the world's first successful attempt to continuously lift rare-earth-bearing seabed mud from depths of around six kilometres.

The project comes as Japan seeks to diversify critical mineral supplies amid tightening Chinese export controls on heavy rare earths and related magnets, which are crucial for the defence and automotive industries.

About 50 tonnes of mud were recovered. The analysis identified yttrium, used in aerospace, energy and semiconductor applications; gadolinium, used in magnetic resonance imaging and other high-tech applications; and dysprosium, used in high-performance magnets for electric vehicles, according to the Cabinet Office's national platform for innovative ocean development.

Japan plans a month-long large-scale mining trial in the same waters from February 2027, aiming to dredge 350 tonnes of mud a day. The material will be dewatered at Minamitori Island and will be processed on the mainland to test separation, refining and smelting technologies.

The trial is expected to verify the feasibility of domestic rare earth production, with a comprehensive assessment of industrialisation prospects due by March 2028, said Kazushige Kikuchi, project manager at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, which operates the Chikyu.

Beijing imposed export controls on some heavy rare earths and related magnets in April 2025 and tightened restrictions on exports to Japan in January, and twice again the following month, targeting major conglomerates.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Additional reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

It said a Chinese vessel at the Scarborough Shoal, located in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ), came within about seven metres of a Philippine fisheries boat, creating "a serious risk of collision".

"The PCG strongly condemns the dangerous and unprofessional actions of the China Coast Guard," spokesperson Jay Tarriela said in a statement.

He said the shoal was a traditional fishing ground of Filipinos, "whose rights cannot be lawfully impeded by any foreign power".

Earlier on Friday, China's Coast Guard said it had imposed "control measures" on several Philippine vessels that it said were operating illegally in waters around Scarborough Shoal.

In a more detailed statement, the Chinese Coast Guard accused the Philippines of organising several government and Coast Guard vessels, along with a large number of fishing vessels, to, "illegally gather," in the waters.

It said it had taken legal measures to warn, block and deploy water cannon after the official vessels from the Philippines ignored those measures from the coast guard and, "insisted on intruding."

A similar incident took place on Thursday.

On Friday, China's foreign ministry said the Coast Guard's actions were "reasonable, lawful and beyond reproach."

"The Philippine side should immediately stop the infringement, provocation and hype," ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular briefing.

China has long occupied the shoal, part of an armada of coast guard ships deployed throughout the South China Sea. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire waterway, including parts of the EEZs of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

The incident came as Southeast Asian foreign ministers concluded regional meetings in Manila that were attended by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who called Beijing's actions in the South China Sea "disturbing" and reaffirmed support for defence treaty ally Philippines.

The two incidents at Scarborough Shoal, the South China Sea's most contested feature, followed a confrontation on Monday at the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, 650 kilometres away, where Manila said a Filipino sailor was injured after being struck with a baton by Chinese Coast Guard personnel.

China accused the Philippine Navy of ignoring warnings and of trying to ram a Chinese patrol boat and the countries summoned each other's ambassadors in protest.

Sovereignty over the Scarborough Shoal, which China calls Huangyan Island, has not been established.

A 2016 arbitration decision on a case lodged by the Philippines ruled largely in favour of Manila and said China's blockade of the shoal violated international law.

Beijing does not recognise the ruling.

(Reporting by Nestor Corrales in Manila, Liz Lee in Beijing and Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Martin Petty and Thomas Derpinghaus)

The vessel will commence a 10-year charter with a US oil major, featuring options that could extend employment up to 20 years.

According to TEN, the delivery advances its expansion in the Brazilian offshore market, where it has maintained a presence since 2012. Following the latest addition, the company operates seven shuttle tankers under long-term employment, with nine additional vessels currently on order.

Minimum gross revenues from the firm's backlog of long-term charters are estimated at approximately $3.5 billion.

“The company continues its tested strategy of divesting its first-generation tankers at very profitable levels while replacing them with high-end specialized tonnage backed by accretive long-term contracts,” stated TEN President and Chief Operating Officer George Saroglou.

TEN operates a fleet of 82 vessels totalling 10.1 million DWT, comprising crude tankers, product tankers and liquefied natural gas carriers. Its current newbuilding programme includes conventional tankers, shuttle tankers and gas carriers scheduled for delivery through 2029.

The attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis came after renewed US and Iran strikes in the Middle East and shipping blockades on traffic through the Strait of Hormuz again choked oil shipments through that crucial waterway, slowing crude oil and fuel exports to Asia.

Spot premiums for Middle East benchmark Dubai to swaps doubled on Thursday to $12.74 a barrel, while Oman's premium climbed to $12.62, Reuters data showed. Both premiums are the highest since end-May.

Consultancy Energy Aspects said in a note on Thursday that it expects premiums to rise further and the spread between Brent and Dubai to narrow as the ship attacks will prompt more cargo diversions and deter shipping through Bab el-Mandeb, the strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

Brent's premium to Dubai settled at $13.22 per barrel on Thursday, the highest since May 4, according to LSEG data.

The premium for Abu Dhabi's flagship Murban crude surged to $19.04, the highest since April 7, on tight supply for light-sour crude as ship attacks in the Black Sea compounded the supply problems in the Middle East.

Kazakhstan said on Thursday it had reduced oil production after suspected Ukrainian drone attacks forced its main export terminal for CPC Blend crude on the Black Sea to close.

Middle Eastern grades had traded at wide discounts earlier this month during the short-lived truce between the United States and Iran.

Saudi crude diversion

The rising security threat has already forced several oil tankers to change course in the Red Sea to head north towards the Suez Canal even as two Chinese supertankers exited on Thursday from Bab el-Mandeb into the Gulf of Aden.

Saudi Aramco has offered additional crude cargoes for loading from Egypt's Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir, according to five trading sources.

Several Asian refiners are looking for cargoes and vessels loading from the Egyptian port, two traders said.

South Korea's largest refiner SK Energy has chartered a very large crude carrier (VLCC) to load two million barrels of crude from Sidi Kerir to Ulsan on August 18-20 at a lump-sum freight rate of $18.5 million, shipping sources said. The Korean refiner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Buyers are now scrambling to secure supplies, with Japanese and South Korean refiners rushing into the market to buy cargoes," said one of the traders with a refiner, adding that the North Asia refiners are seeking Atlantic Basin crude.

Two major Chinese refiners bought most of the September-loading Russian ESPO Blend cargoes available from the Pacific port of Kozmino, and Indian refiners have also stepped up purchases of Russian oil.

(Reporting by Siyi Liu in Singapore; Editing by Florence Tan and Tom Hogue)

Three vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz each day from July 22 to July 24, data from analytics firm Kpler showed.

On Friday, one more laden very large crude carrier (VLCC) — Romania Prosperity — appeared off Fujairah outside the strait with Murban crude, though its destination is so far unknown, and two empty soft commodity bulk carriers exited the strait into the Persian Gulf.

On Thursday, VLCC New Giant, loaded with two million barrels of Iraqi Basrah crude, exited the strait and was due to arrive at China's Rizhao port by mid-August.

Another two ships — including empty VLCC Noble — also entered the gulf via the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday.

The US military said late on Thursday that it had completed a 13th consecutive night of strikes on Iran.

Bab el-Mandeb transits

Meanwhile, at the Bab el-Mandeb strait, commodity vessel transits totalled 32 on July 23, up from 26 the day before, Kpler data showed, with two crossings for July 24 so far.

Of the crossings on Thursday, 14 vessels were going into the Red Sea and 18 were exiting the strait into the Gulf of Aden.

Out of the 18 ships exiting Bab el-Mandeb, nine were carrying crude oil, including two loaded Chinese supertankers bound for China.

Separately, the clean tanker Torm Innovation — loaded with around 500,000 barrels of naphtha bound for Asia — has made a slight turn for the Suez Canal exit instead of a typical Bab el-Mandeb exit, Kpler and LSEG shiptracking data showed.

Rerouting ships via the Suez Canal to Asia instead of via the Bab el-Mandeb strait could make the voyage last nearly three times as long, regional trade sources said.

Saudi Aramco has started offering additional crude cargoes loading at Egypt's Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir as a workaround from loading at its Red Sea ports.

(Reporting by Trixie Yap; Editing by Tom Hogue)

The ship, the Asana, is a Tanzanian-flagged fuel and chemical tanker.

One of the residents who spoke to Reuters described himself as a former pirate. He said there were 20 crew members on board the Asana, including eight from Germany and 10 from the Philippines.

Germany's foreign ministry said it did not comment on abductions of German nationals overseas as a matter of principle.

The other resident of Caluula in Puntland saw pirates transporting food to the hijacked ship.

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said last week that a vessel boarded by unauthorised personnel in the Gulf of Aden had been manoeuvred into Somali waters, classifying it as a hijack.

Somali pirates caused havoc in the waters off the Horn of Africa nation's long coastline between 2008 and 2018. After a lull, pirate activity started to pick up again in late 2023.

(Reporting by Abdiqani Hassan; Miranda Murray in Berlin Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu and Writing by Elias Biryabarema and Ludwig Burger Editing by Alexander Winning and Kevin Liffey)

The transaction was executed through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary of the shipping company, which specialises in the ownership and bareboat charter-in of dry bulk vessels.

Under the terms of the agreement, the gross charter rate is $16,500 per day, minus a five per cent commission paid to third parties.

The new charter period is expected by the company to commence on August 5, 2026, and will run until a minimum of August 1, 2027, up to a maximum of September 30, 2027.

The Atalandi is currently chartered at a gross rate of $10,100 per day, also minus a five per cent commission paid to third parties. Built in 2014, the vessel has a deadweight tonnage of 77,529.

Diana Shipping stated that the employment extension is anticipated to generate approximately $5.89 million of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charter.

Russia's Defence Ministry said air-launched missiles and strike drones had struck the ports of Odessa, Izmail and Mykolaiv - part of what it said was a campaign of heavy strikes against Ukraine.

It said in a statement that storage tanks containing fuel and lubricants earmarked for the Ukrainian army had been hit in Odesa, and that unloading and storage facilities used for military cargo - including sea drones - had been struck in Izmail. A floating dry dock in Izmail had also been hit.

In Mykolaiv, the Defence Ministry said its forces had struck a cargo ship which had been unloading military shipment.

Reuters could not independently verify the ministry's assertions.

Geneva-based vegetable oil producer Allseeds said earlier on Friday that it was halting operations in the Odessa region due to intensifying Russian attacks on port infrastructure, the third company to announce such a move recently.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Four sources familiar with the matter, including two Iranian sources, Yemen's information minister and a regional security analyst, said Iran transferred the IRGC personnel and military-related equipment on a flight from Tehran to Yemen on July 13, a development that has not been previously reported.

The two Iranian sources told Reuters that between 10 and 21 IRGC personnel, including senior commanders, were on the Mahan Air flight.

The plane was originally bound for the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa, but diverted to the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah after the airport came under attack by the Saudi-backed Yemeni Government.

"The IRGC commanders travelled there to support Houthi operations and provide training on new missile systems," one of the sources said, adding that Iran also sent gold on the aircraft to fund Houthi activities.

The two Iranian sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

The deployment offers fresh evidence of Iran's efforts to bolster the Houthis, who have been in a civil war against the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised Yemeni Government for more than a decade and have attacked Persian Gulf neighbours with missiles and drones.

Iran's foreign ministry was not immediately available to comment. Tehran has repeatedly denied providing the Houthi movement in Yemen with missile capabilities.

Abdel Rahman al-Ahnomi, a Houthi media official who said he was aboard the plane, described the allegations that Iran sent military experts to Yemen as "lies and fabrications", adding that all passengers aboard the plane were civilians.

The Houthis have previously denied being an Iranian proxy and said they develop their own weapons.

Days after commanders arrived, Houthis launched Saudi blockade

Three days after the flight arrived in Yemen, Reuters reported that Tehran had asked the Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the US struck Iranian power infrastructure, posing a new threat to global energy supplies.

On Monday, the group, whose area of control in Yemen overlooks the waterway, announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia in response to the July 13 bombing of Sanaa airport, which they said was carried out by Saudi Arabia. The moves signalled the end of a four-year truce between Riyadh and the Houthis.

Their threat to one of the world's top maritime trade routes escalated further on Thursday when the group said it had attacked two Saudi oil tankers.

Moammar al-Iryani, information minister in Yemen's Saudi-backed government, confirmed the transfers of Guards personnel and equipment in a telephone interview with Reuters on Wednesday, citing intelligence.

"Their mission is to strengthen the militias' military capabilities and prepare them to threaten international maritime security in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait," he said.

Mzahem Alsaloum, a security and intelligence analyst who has tracked the Houthis and other Iranian-backed groups for years, also confirmed the IRGC experts' arrival on the July 13 flight.

Flight carried missile and drone components, analyst says

He said some of the cargo included components related to short- and medium-range missiles and drones, weapons systems similar to those previously used in attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

According to Alsaloum, Tehran also sent military advisers to Yemen during a war with Israel last year, routing them through Somalia, a claim that was denied by Tehran.

The Houthis had announced direct flights between Sanaa and Tehran earlier this month, saying the service would help break what they described as a Saudi-imposed blockade on Yemen.

At a press conference in Tehran on July 20, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the flight to Sanaa on July 13 was intended to take home a Houthi delegation that had gone to Tehran for the funeral of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Yemeni citizens who had received medical treatment in Iran.

On July 3, the aircraft flew the group of about 200 people, including senior officials, women and children, to Iran for the funeral. On July 13, the four sources said, the aircraft returned to Yemen carrying members of the delegation as well as the IRGC commanders and advisers. Before it could land in Sanaa, the Saudi-backed government struck the airport, forcing the aircraft to divert to Houthi-controlled Hodeidah.

The Houthi military said the Saudi warplanes that launched the airport attack were forced to leave Yemeni airspace.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by William Maclean)

Allseeds pointed to a worsening security situation and the escalation of Russian missile and drone attacks on port and logistics infrastructure in the region.

Continuing operations poses "extremely high risks" to the safety of its employees and its facilities, Allseeds said in a statement on social media on Thursday.

It added that the suspension will be carried out in accordance with Ukrainian law and it will ensure necessary resources and capabilities for a potential resumption once the security situation stabilises.

Shipping group Maersk said on Tuesday it had halted its service via Ukraine's Chornomorsk Fishing Port, while Ukraine's top grain exporter Kernel Holding suspended operations at Chornomorsk last week.

(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

Under the partnership, the firms will explore artificial intelligence-powered digital solutions, autonomous systems, and robotics-based process automation across Saronic shipyards.

The effort combines Saronic’s autonomous surface vessel manufacturing expertise with Samsung Heavy Industries’ experience in high-volume vessel design and construction.

“Rebuilding America’s maritime strength requires both world-class technology and the industrial muscle to produce it at scale here at home,” said Dino Mavrookas, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Saronic.

He added that the collaboration will focus on accelerating US shipbuilding manufacturing, training future workers, and delivering autonomy-capable vessels for government and commercial applications.

Samsung Heavy Industries Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sung An Choi noted that combining production automation with maritime autonomy aims to create a more competitive future.

Ahead of the partnership, Saronic announced plans to construct Port Alpha, a multi-billion dollar shipyard facility located in Brownsville, Texas. The firm is also investing an additional $300 million to expand capacity at its existing shipyard in Franklin, Louisiana.

The Red Sea blockade by the Iran-aligned Houthis is worsening global energy supply disruption, coming at the same time the key Strait of Hormuz has practically shut due to the resumption of fighting between the US and Iran.

The Singaporean-flagged VLCC Xin Long Yang, which made a U-turn and paused in the middle of the Red Sea on Tuesday, resumed its journey southward late on Wednesday, LSEG shipping data showed.

The Chinese-flagged VLCC Cosnew Lake followed and both tankers exited the Red Sea later on Thursday, the data showed.

The Xin Long Yang was heading to the port of Qinzhou in southern Guangxi province, while Cosnew Lake is expected to discharge its cargo at the port of Huizhou, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, the data showed.

Both vessels indicated through their automatic identification system transmitters that there were Chinese crew onboard and they loaded crude at Saudi Arabia's port of Yanbu earlier this week, the data showed.

While shipping data that Reuters reported on Thursday still shows that both vessels were chartered by Unipec, trading arm of Asia's largest refiner Sinopec, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Friday that PetroChina was the charterer for the Xin Long Yang.

It was not clear if that also implied a different charterer for Cosnew Lake.

COSCO Shipping, which manages both tankers, and Sinopec did not respond to requests for comment. PetroChina did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

At least two other VLCCs chartered by Unipec and scheduled to enter the Red Sea and load Saudi crude at the Yanbu port later this month slowed their advance towards Bab el-Mandeb and were making small circles in the Gulf of Aden, LSEG data showed.

Hormuz transits

Earlier on Thursday, the Houthis announced they had carried out a military operation targeting two Saudi oil tankers they said violated the blockade. Shipping data showed both tankers supply crude to Saudi power plants and local refineries.

The Saudi Arabian news agency SPA later said the Saudi vessel Encelia was attacked in the Red Sea and was on fire, though the crew was safe.

Because of the Middle East conflict, shipping traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb declined and movement through the Strait of Hormuz remained subdued on Wednesday, data from LSEG and data analytics firm Kpler showed.

27 vessels, including five oil tankers and a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrier, crossed the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Wednesday, LSEG data showed, down from 38 the previous day. Data from analytics firm Vortexa showed one VLCC exited Bab el-Mandeb with its transponder switched off on Wednesday.

Two VLCCs emerged from the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, LSEG data showed. The New Giant, carrying two million barrels of Iraqi crude, was headed for the eastern Chinese port of Rizhao, while the Rotterdam Energy, loaded with two million barrels of Upper Zakum crude from the United Arab Emirates, appeared off Fujairah, according to LSEG and Kpler data.

Three commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, down from four a day earlier and 18 the previous Wednesday, according to Kpler.

Two vessels entered the strait from the Gulf of Oman, including a tanker carrying dirty petroleum products that sailed through Iranian waters and a dry bulk carrier operating in dark mode, with its tracking signal switched off, Kpler data showed.

As of July 20, there were 253 laden tankers in the Persian Gulf, including 102 oil tankers, 64 liquefied natural gas carriers and 66 liquefied petroleum gas carriers, according to LSEG data.

(Reporting by Florence Tan and Siyi Liu; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Tom Hogue, Louise Heavens and Sanjeev Miglani)

ADNOC offered crude loading from August to October. The producer added that any bid from buyers at a discounted differential would be automatically rejected, the sources said.

Bid submission is due on July 27 and valid until at least July 29.

Buyers can load their cargoes from UAE ports inside the Persian Gulf such as Zirku and Das Island, the port of Fujairah outside the gulf or ship-to-ship transfers offshore Fujairah or Malaysia, said one of the trading sources.

ADNOC has sold more than 74 million barrels of crude to refiners and traders in its previous tenders, using a shuttle fleet service to quietly move crude out of the gulf and onto other tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

However, the viability of the shuttle fleet service is unclear as hostilities between the US and Iran have resumed with at least two Emirati tankers attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

The fighting has caused spot premiums for Middle Eastern crude to rally this week to more than one-month high because of the tightened supply availability.

(Reporting by Siyi Liu in Singapore; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Christian Schmollinger)

The company held a first steel cutting ceremony on Thursday to kickstart the construction of the floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which will be a processing hub for 16 wells from the Geng North and Gehem gas fields, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said.

The two gas fields make up Searah's North Hub project in Indonesia's Kutai Basin, off Borneo island. The project is targeted to start production in 2028, the ministry said in a statement late on Thursday.

Production is expected to reach one billion cubic feet of gas per day and 80,000 barrels of condensate per day by the fourth quarter of 2028.

Of the total $11.8 billion investment in the project, around $2.9 billion was allocated to develop the FPSO, Djoko Siswanto, head of the upstream oil and gas regulator SKK Migas, said in the same statement.

"Today's achievement demonstrates our continued confidence in Indonesia's energy sector, as well as our long-term commitment to continue investing, growing, and creating value in this country," Mirko Araldi, an executive of Eni North Ganal, was quoted as saying.

(Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by David Stanway)