Europe’s oil refineries are increasingly missing out on Russian crude as the world’s biggest energy producer directs more and more barrels by pipeline to China. Russia will ship an average of 19 percent less crude through its main ports on the Baltic and Black Seas in the first five months of 2018 compared with a year earlier, according to loading plans obtained by Bloomberg. Meanwhile piped flows to China soared 43 percent in the first three months, the most recent data from state operator Transneft PJSC show. Source Bloomberg
Libya rejects a European Union’s plan to establish migrant centers there to stop asylum seekers arriving in western Europe and it will not be swayed by financial inducements, Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj said. Source: Reuters
The first families of Boers, descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa, could soon be moving to Russia to escape rising violence against farmers. Some 15,000 Boers want to leave South Africa and become farmers in Russia. Source: RT
Italian bonds fell on concern that Finance Minister Giovanni Tria, whose appointment brought a relative calm to the nation’s markets, may be forced to step down. Source: Bloomberg
