UKRAINE WRAP | Ukraine war may prompt shortages of grain in poor countries: World Bank

March 16 2022 - 21:58

Canadian oilfield services company Calfrac says evaluating Russian operations

Canada's Calfrac Well Services Ltd said on Wednesday it is evaluating options for its operations in Russia, in contrast with many other western companies pulling out of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

Calgary-based Calfrac, which provides oilfield services like hydraulic fracturing, also has operations in Canada, the United States and Argentina.

Energy research firm Stifel FirstEnergy said it had previously estimated Calfrac's Russian business would contribute 11% of revenues in 2022.Calfrac said in a fourth-quarter earnings release it expects to have more information on Russian operations when it reports first quarter results in early May.

Dozens of companies including oil majors BP Plc and Shell have exited Russia in recent weeks, incurring billions of dollars in write-downs, although a number of oilfield services firms remain.

"It is worth highlighting that while multiple supermajor E&Ps (explorers and producers) have pulled out from Russia, North American oilfield service giants SLB (Schlumberger), HAL (Halliburton) and BKR (Baker Hughes) have yet to announce exits from the region," Stifel analyst Cole Pereira said in a note to clients.

-Reuters

March 16 2022 - 18:36

World court orders Russia to cease military operations in Ukraine

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday ordered Russia to cease military actions in Ukraine immediately, in a preliminary decision in a case brought by Kyiv.

"The Russian Federation shall immediately suspend the military operations that it commenced on Feb 24, 2022 on the territory of Ukraine," judges at the United Nations' highest court said in a 13-2 decision.

March 16 2022 - 16:31

Ukraine President Zelenskyy asks US Congress to help 'protect our skies'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday urged the US Congress to provide more weapons to help his country fight off Russian air strikes in an invasion that has brought death and destruction and unleashed a wave of refugees.

Reacting to concerns by President Joe Biden and many US lawmakers that imposing a no-fly zone could escalate the conflict with nuclear-armed Russia, Zelenskyy asked for more aircraft and air defence systems.

“Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death,” he told a meeting of the House of Representatives and Senate. “I need to protect our skies.”

March 16 2022 - 16:07

Ukraine war may prompt shortages of grain in poor countries: World Bank

The World Bank on Wednesday said a number of developing countries face near-term wheat supply shortages because of their high dependence on Ukrainian wheat exports that have been curtailed by Russia's invasion.

The World Bank said in its latest Trade Watch report that Gambia, Lebanon, Moldova, Djibouti, Libya, Tunisia and Pakistan are the most exposed to the disruptions of wheat exports from Ukraine, which make up about 40% or more of their wheat imports.

The trade disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine could challenge a strong trade recovery in 2021, with global goods and services trade returning to pre-pandemic levels, the World Bank said.

March 16 2022 - 12:57

Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy to seek more help in speech to US Congress

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set on Wednesday to make an urgent appeal to the US Congress for more help in fending off a Russian invasion that has brought death and destruction and seen a wave of refugees fleeing his country.

Zelenskyy’s virtual address to members of the House of Representatives and Senate, scheduled for 9am EDT (3pm SA time), comes a day after he made a plea to Canada’s parliament for more Western sanctions on Russia and the imposition of a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

A no-fly zone is a step US President Joe Biden and Nato allies have resisted out of a fear of escalating the war that began with Russia’s February 24 invasion. Biden on Tuesday signed into law $13.6bn (R204bn) in emergency aid to Ukraine to help it obtain more weaponry and for humanitarian assistance.

March 16 2022 - 12:55

RATE IT | SA politicians square off in Russia-Ukraine debate, but were their arguments any good?

While the debate about the Ukraine-Russia conflict rages on in parliament, the DA accused the ANC of appeasing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to world peace.

The party, which has been vocal about its support of Ukraine, condemned SA’s reluctance to vote in favour of a UN resolution to reprimand Russia for its attack on its neighbour.

Party leader John Steenhuisen said this, and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent phone call with Putin, demonstrated clearly where the ANC stands, even though it won’t explicitly say it.

March 16 2022 - 09:55

LISTEN | MPs share different views about Russia’s war on Ukraine

The National Assembly's debate on the effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on SA’s economy saw heated discussions among MPs on Tuesday afternoon. 

Various points were brought up, including the president's stance on the invasion and the long-term affect of the war on developing nations such as SA, especially as the country attempts to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.  

President Cyril Ramaphosa came under fire as some members highlighted the fact that he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin and not to Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, despite pushing for diplomacy, peaceful talks and mediation.  

March 16 2022 - 09:48

More talks planned as Russian shelling continues in Ukraine

Russia and Ukraine are scheduled for another round of negotiations on Wednesday, but Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine’s leadership was not “serious” about resolving the conflict.

Russian forces continue to strike infrastructure targets while the overall military situation remains largely unchanged, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Facebook.

The state emergency service said a shell hit a 12-story apartment building in Kyiv, causing a fire and injuries. There was no immediate update from Moscow.

March 16 2022 - 09:08

How will SA be affected if a nuclear war broke out in Europe? This simulation thinks it has the answer

While some people, including the Ukrainian ambassador to SA, warn of possible nuclear action in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a YouTube user has used public documents to run a nuclear war simulation.

The simulation seeks to predict the possible fallout from a nuclear attack in Europe on the rest of the world. It claims to use information from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations, public information from the US Central Intelligence Agency and “other declassified sources”.

While the sources may be reputable, the simulation is only a prediction and should be treated as such.

March 16 2022 - 07:24

Russia says US sanctions won’t impede Iran atomic business

Russia says the US has provided “written guarantees” that sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine won’t affect its nuclear supply agreements with Iran, potentially clearing the way for a resumption of talks to revive the 2015 atomic accord. Oil prices fell. 

World powers and Iran suspended their efforts to restore the nuclear landmark pact on Friday amid deepening tensions between the Kremlin and the White House. 

US officials confirmed they were considering sanctions against Russia’s Rosatom — the world’s biggest nuclear fuel maker — days after Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov demanded guarantees that such penalties wouldn’t be allowed to torpedo the Iran deal. 

March 16 2022 - 07:07

Stray Soviet-era drone from Ukraine raises Nato defence concerns

A six-ton unmanned reconnaissance drone that streaked across Eastern Europe from war-ravaged Ukraine and crashed in the Croatian capital last week has raised awkward questions about Nato’s readiness to protect European airspace. 

Startled authorities are asking how none of the three North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member states — Romania, Hungary and Croatia — reacted as the Soviet-era Tu-141 traversed their respective airspaces at as much as 700km/h on March 10. Officials pointed to a lack of co-ordination between the three governments and with Nato. 

“This was a clear and immediate threat to which we should have reacted,” Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, said on Saturday at the crash site in Zagreb, a park next to a student dormitory where it gouged a huge crater.

March 16 2022 - 06:55

Fuel price cap and rationing mulled by government to cut costs

SA may introduce a price cap and ration the amount of fuel sold to motorists to mitigate the impact of rising oil prices stemming from the war in Ukraine.

Adopting those measures would place SA on a growing list of nations trying to offset the impact of surging oil prices. Brazil has approved a bill to reduce taxes on fuels, Japan will increase subsidy caps on gasoline and South Korea will extend its 20% domestic tax cuts by three months to the end of July, according to BloombergNEF.

“We are part of the global energy supply chain and therefore we are affected by this international conflict,” department of mineral resources & energy and energy (DMRE) deputy director-general Tseliso Maqubela told lawmakers in Cape Town on Tuesday.

March 16 2022 - 06:50

Russia’s war in Ukraine may ‘fundamentally alter’ global economic order — IMF

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will affect the entire global economy by slowing growth and pushing up inflation, and could fundamentally reshape the global economic order in the longer term, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday.

Beyond the human suffering and historic refugee flows, the war is boosting prices for food and energy, fuelling inflation and eroding the value of incomes, while disrupting trade, supply chains and remittances in countries neighbouring Ukraine, the IMF said in a post on its website.

It is also eroding business confidence and triggering uncertainty among investors that will depress asset prices, tighten financial conditions and could trigger capital outflows from emerging markets, it said.

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