Page 14 - MEOG Week 04 2021

MEOG NEWS IN BRIEF MEOG

to a violation of international navigation
regulations.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Saeed Khatibzadeh
said at his daily press conference that Tehran
has asked Jakarta for the reasoning behind
the seizure of the vessels. He added that the
seizures were over a “a technical issue and it
happened in a shipping field”.
“Our Ports Organisation and the ship
owner company are looking to find the cause
of the issue and to resolve it,” Khatibzadeh
told a televised weekly news conference.
the dollar is set at 1,450 dinars. Iraq’s Central primarily through a combination of raising Indonesian Coast Guard spokesman
Bank announced on December 19 that it domestic and external indebtedness, to Wisnu Pramandita said the tankers, seized
would sell the dinar to the country’s finance the extent necessary,” according to a bond in waters off Kalimantan province, would
ministry at 1,450 IQD per 1 USD. The public prospectus seen by Reuters. be escorted to Batam Island in Riau Island
can purchase the dollar at 1,470 IQD. Its fiscal balance programme foresees the Province for further investigation.
News of the devaluation enraged public ratio of public debt to nominal GDP reaching “The tankers, first detected at 5:30 a.m.
sector workers, who said their salaries would up to 30% by 2023, the prospectus said. local time (2130 GMT on January 23)
be “worthless” in a country that lacks a Saudi Arabia hired Goldman Sachs obscured their identification by not revealing
developed manufacturing sector and is heavily International, HSBC and JPMorgan as global their flags, and turning off automatic
reliant on imported goods. coordinators for the debt sale. BNP Paribas, identification systems (AIS), and did not
RUDAW Citi, NCB Capital and Standard Chartered respond to a radio calls,” Wisnu said.
joined them as book runners and were also He added that they were “caught red-
Saudi raises $5.5bn via passive joint lead managers. handed” transferring oil from MT Horse
Last year, Saudi Arabia raised $12 billion
to MT Freya and that there was an oil spill
dual-tranche bonds via two international bond sales. Its oil giant around the receiving tanker.
Aramco raised $8 billion from a five-part
Claiming a chemical pollution incident,
Saudi Arabia launched $5.5 billion in a dual- bond sale in November, in part to pay out Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
tranche bond sale on Tuesday with tenors of dividends - the bulk of which goes to the (IRGC) naval personnel recently seized a
12 and 40 years, a document showed, as it Saudi government. South Korean tanker that was heading from
seeks to plug a large fiscal deficit. REUTERS Saudi Arabia to its home country. It remains
The world’s top oil exporter has taken a anchored outside Bandar Abbas on Iran’s
severe blow from the pandemic, which, along Iran chases up Indonesia Persian Gulf coast. It is widely believed Tehran
with an oil price war between Saudi Arabia is using the tanker as leverage in negotiations
and Russia last year, sent oil prices tumbling. over seized tanker to obtain funds in South Korean bank
The kingdom sold the 12-year bonds at 130 accounts which Seoul insists are frozen by US
basis points (bps) over 10-year U.S. Treasuries Iran’s Minister of Oil Bijan Namdar Zanganeh sanctions.
and the 40-year notes at 3.45%, the document on January 24 said his ministry was chasing Two Indonesian merchant sailors were
from one of the banks on the deal showed. up Indonesian authorities that seized an among the crew aboard the tanker, the MT
It tightened the 12-year tranche by 35 bps Iranian tanker, IRNA reported. Hankuk Chemi. It is not known whether
and the 40-year by 30 bps from initial price The Indonesian Coast Guard grabbed both those sailors remain in Iranian custody.
guidance. an Iranian tanker and a Panamanian-flagged On January 6, “officers of the Indonesian
It drew more than $13 billion in orders tanker, claiming the former was making an Embassy in Iran visited the ship and its crew.
for the 12-year bonds and over $9 billion in illegal ship-to-ship (STS) transfer to the latter The [Indonesian] crew members were safe”,
orders for the 40-year paper. and that the ship-identification transponders Judha Nugraha, an embassy official, told The
“The final pricing is in line with the of the vessels were switched off, Jakarta Jakarta Post.
sovereign curve and the high order book announced earlier in the day. BNE
shows robust investor appetite for the region’s Local reports referred to officials alleging
debt markets. This is sure to be the first of gas condensate was being transferred by
many deals by the kingdom this year,” a fixed- the Iranian ship, the MT Horse, to the COMPANIES
income strategist said. Panamanian-flagged MT Freya while they
The government expects to post a fiscal were illegally anchored in Indonesian Saudi Aramco may sell
deficit of 141 billion riyals ($37.59 billion), or territorial waters.
4.9% of gross domestic product, this year after The Horse, which is known to have more shares if market is
an expected deficit of 298 billion riyals ($79.45 previously supplied 2mn barrels of gas
billion), or 12% of GDP, in 2020. condensate to Venezuela, was believed to be right
Saudi Arabia expects public debt to once again heading in the direction of the
increase to 937 billion riyals this year from South American country, officials in Jakarta Saudi Aramco may consider selling more
854 billion riyals last year. said. shares if market conditions are right, the head
“The Government expects to finance It is believed that both ships had their flags of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund told a
the budgeted deficit for the fiscal year 2021 lowered while making the STS. That amounts news briefing on Tuesday.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 04 27•January•2021