Ms Thankappan Usha was paid about $2,600 a month when she re-joined Jamiyah Nursing Home in 2014 as a registered nurse after a stint in a hospital.

Since then, the 39-year-old has been promoted twice and given more responsibilities, after receiving training in such skills as handling dementia patients and controlling infection among elderly residents at the home. She earns almost $4,000 now as a nurse clinician who supervises nurses in the dementia ward and trains other colleagues.

The nursing home’s director, Mr Satyaprakash Tiwari, believes that providing his staff with training opportunities and rewarding them for their skills and work performance are more sustainable ways to boost the salaries of his 140 workers. Cost constraints make it very difficult to raise their pay overnight, he added.

Manpower costs form 70 per cent of the home’s operating costs, part of which are subsidised by the Government, he said. Generally, the average wages of its direct care workers are on a par with those reported in the Lien Foundation study.Their pay, Mr Tiwari said, can rise by up to 20 per cent yearly if they do well.

To keep a lid on costs, the home is investing in technology to raise productivity, he added, for example by using a hoist to move a paralysed resident. Otherwise, two workers would have to do the task.

Another measure is to get employees to multi-task. Senior care associate Sitti Nahida, 48, for instance, not only organises activities for the elderly, but also accompanies them in the minibus to and from Jamiyah for its daycare programmes.

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MELBOURNE/TOKYO, July 27 (Reuters) – Australia’s tropical city of Darwin wants to establish itself as a world-scale energy export hub, building on its closeness to demand centres in Asia and abundant nearby natural gas resources.

With the imminent start-up of Inpex Corp’s $40 billion Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, the capital of the Northern Territory will be home to two LNG exporting facilities, with a total capacity of 12.6 million tonnes a year, including ConocoPhillips’ Darwin LNG plant that opened in 2006.

Darwin is poised to become the nucleus of the Northern Territory’s push to expand LNG exports by tapping 30 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas offshore northern Australia. Perched at the top of the continent in a region known for saltwater crocodiles, Darwin is closer to Jakarta than Sydney.

The city will vie with projects from Alaska to Qatar that will beef up global LNG supply from 2022 onwards to meet growing demand in Asia, the world’s top consuming region.

“We have the gas, location and proximity to markets — whether it’s China, India, Japan or Indonesia,” said Paul Tyrrell, chairman of the Northern Territory Gas Taskforce, appointed to lead the region’s gas push.

Ichthys and Darwin LNG have the space to add five more LNG production units, know as trains, with a feasibility study at Darwin LNG suggesting another unit producing 4 million tonnes per year (tpy) of the fuel would be optimal.

Darwin LNG’s expansion would build off existing facilities, an advantage over the $200 billion of projects built from scratch in Australia over the past decade, said Graeme Bethune, chief executive of advisory firm EnergyQuest.

“There’s a reasonable chance an expansion decision could be made within the next five years,” Bethune said.

A second train at Darwin LNG would raise the Northern Territory’s LNG output to nearly 17 million tpy, equivalent to Indonesia, the world’s fifth-biggest exporter, according to data from the International Gas Union (IGU).

“We remain open to all options” for a potential expansion of Darwin LNG, a spokesman for ConocoPhillips Australia said, adding the company wanted to get the most out of the region’s reserves.

But first Conoco wants to secure gas to keep the original train filled when supply from its current source, the Bayu Undan field in the Timor Sea north of Darwin, runs out in 2023.

Infrastructure In Place

Conoco and its partners Santos and South Korea’s SK E&S have agreed to conduct preliminary design work to develop the Barossa field, 300 kilometres (188 miles) north of Darwin, to supply Darwin LNG.

“Darwin excites the heck out of me,” said Santos Chief Executive Kevin Gallagher at an industry conference in May.

Santos also has stakes in the Petrel Tern and Crown Lasseter fields that could also feed Darwin LNG.

Other reserves offshore Darwin are Evans Shoal, operated by Italy’s Eni, Greater Sunrise, operated by Woodside Petroleum, Cash Maple, operated by Thailand’s PTTEP , and ConocoPhillips’ Poseidon.

Inpex would only make a decision to expand exports after getting the initial Ichthys trains up and running after the project has missed several deadlines for first production.

“We have to produce 8.9 million tonnes first and then examine whether there is demand. At this stage, there is no concrete plan,” Inpex Chief Executive Officer Takayuki Ueda told Reuters earlier this month.

Still, Ueda said the infrastructure for an expansion is in place.

“We can develop new gas fields nearby and send gas through the current pipeline,” he said.

In addition to the offshore gas, the Northern Territory holds 200 Tcf of onshore shale gas resources that could fuel manufacturing around Darwin.

The territory lifted a ban on fracking in April and is developing strict environmental rule before exploration starts. However, environmental groups, farmers and indigenous communities are concerned about damage to water supplies.

“We don’t think the government here is up to the task of managing this high risk industry,” said Lauren Mellor, a spokeswoman for the Frack Free NT Alliance.

(Reporting by Sonali Paul and Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Henning Gloystein and Christian Schmollinger)

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Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly offered Sri Lanka a new grant of 2 billion yuan ($295 million). According to media reports, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena made the announcement on Saturday at a ceremony marking the construction of a Chinese-funded hospital.

China offering cash loans and other incentives to Sri Lanka isn’t anything new, but this grant comes with the provision that it can be used for whatever project Sri Lanka wants.

“When the Chinese ambassador visited my house to fix the date for this ceremony, he said that Chinese President Xi Jinping sent me another gift,” Sirisena said.

“He has gifted 2 billion yuan to be utilized for any project of my wish. I’m going to hand over a proposal to the Chinese ambassador to build houses in all the electorates in the country,” he added.

Latest drop in the bucket

China’s near-quarter of a billion dollar grant is the latest in a long line that Beijing has bestowed upon the 22 million person island nation.

In May, Sri Lanka approved a $500 million liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant by China Machinery Engineering Corp. near a Chinese-controlled port and industrial zone, the development strategies minister said at the time. The port deal, worth some $1.2 billion, in Hambantota comes with a 99-year lease. It’s also near the main shipping route from Asia to Europe and will likely play a major role in China’s push to gain more access for its navy and maritime fleet.

China has also invested in an international airport and a proposed economic zone in Sri Lanka. These investments are part of China’s ambitious One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

China’s OBOR began as a plan for infrastructure projects intended to boost trade along two already determined routes, the first one following the ancient Silk Road stretching from China to Central Asia and the Middle East and Europe. The second route links China to southeast Asia, Oceana and Africa by sea through several contiguous bodies of water – the South China Sea, South Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.

“With $900bn of planned investment ranging from ports in Pakistan and Sri Lanka to high-speed railways in east Africa to gas pipelines crossing central Asia, China’s OBOR is arguably the largest overseas investment drive ever launched by a single country,” the London-based Financial Times said last year.

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The higher oil prices and the subsequent higher oil revenues play a part in a significantly improved outlook for the state finances and trade balances of the Arab Gulf countries, but they are not boosting economic growth, a quarterly Reuters poll of 24 economists showed on Tuesday.

The Arab Gulf states have good reason to be happy about their budgets and government accounts this year, as the oil prices have been significantly higher and because they are now boosting their oil production to offset declines in Venezuela and Angola and an anticipated slump in Iran’s oil exports.

The Gulf states—Saudi Arabia and its close allies Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for example—are also some of the few OPEC countries theoretically capable of boosting their crude oil production.

So far this year, the Brent Crude price has averaged $71.60 a barrel, compared to an average of $55 per barrel last year.

Despite the double boon from higher oil prices and rising oil production, the Gulf economies are only modestly growing, and the higher oil revenues will have little impact on that growth, according to the economists polled by Reuters in this quarter’s survey.

The governments in the Gulf would rather use the higher oil income to cut budget deficits than to spur economic growth, economists say. The private sector in the Gulf oil-producing countries is still reeling from austerity measures that the governments introduced to try to keep budgets in check after the oil prices slumped.

“Higher-than-budgeted oil revenue will not result in higher government expenditure, but rather, it will contribute to lowering the fiscal deficit,” Saudi investment bank Jadwa said about Saudi Arabia.

In the previous Reuters quarterly poll, economists were of the same opinion—trade surpluses in the Arab Gulf will increase, but economies will grow only moderately because of the austerity measures.

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By Roslan Khasawneh SINGAPORE, July 27 (Reuters) – Contaminated marine fuel that clogs and damages ship engines has been found in Singapore, the world’s largest ship refuelling hub, according to sources and an alert sent to clients by a marine fuel surveying company.

Singapore-based marine fuel surveyor and consulting firm Maritec Pte Ltd warned clients this week that six samples of ship fuel sold in Singapore had “resulted in severe sludging at centrifuges, clogged pipelines, overwhelmed fuel filters”.

The Singapore findings follow reports of more than 100 vessels that loaded similarly contaminated fuel in the U.S. Gulf Coast, Panama and the Dutch Antilles earlier this year, said the alert notice, provided to Reuters by a Singapore-based bunker fuels trader.

Now the problem fuel has made its way to Asia.

“The test results of the Singapore samples seems to point to both “Estonian type oil shale” and “U.S. type fracked shale oil” being sold into Singapore, the surveyor said.

“Fuels from Singapore are exported to all ASEAN countries and even all the way to Hong Kong. It should be therefore be expected that the whole region will be affected,” Maritec said.

Contaminated marine fuels can cause costly damage to ship engines, and many of the vessels that took on the tainted batches earlier this year required extensive flushing and repair before being put back to work, four trade sources said.

Singapore-based traders of marine fuel, or bunker fuel, say the contaminated fuels are hard to detect because they pass industry standards but contain compounds not usually tested for.

Some U.S. fuel oil products have been coming into Singapore recently, and more should be arriving in August, said a Singapore-based bunker fuel trader.

The shipments had “high levels of styrene and phenols along with other plastic related compounds,” he said.

The Singapore Maritime and Port Authority said it could not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At least two cargoes of the contaminated fuel oil of to 270,000 tonnes each, were shipped into Singapore over the past month, and have contributed to a spike in bunker prices as the availability of on-specification fuels has tightened, the trade sources said.

The first problem sample in Asia emerged on April 13 in Port Kelang in Malaysia, and resulted in a “dead ship” that had to be towed back to port from off the coast of Vietnam with all fuel pumps damaged, said the Maritec alert.

“The problem fuel fully met the ISO8217:2005 specifications in all respects but was found to contain chemicals not from petroleum refining,” Maritec said. (Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh; Editing by Tom Hogue)

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There were a total of 220 ships sent for demolition in the second quarter of 2018, with 169 of those sold to South Asian shipbreakers where they are driven ashore and dismantled by hand within the tidal zone, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform said in its Q2 report.

Between April and June, the Platform tallied 6 deaths and 7 workers severely injured when breaking ships in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Another worker was reported dead after an accident at a shipbreaking yard in Alang, India.

So far this year, Platform sources have recorded 18 deaths and 9 injuries in South Asia.

In the second quarter of 2018, American ship owners sold the most ships to the South Asian yards with 26 vessels beached, followed by Greek and UAE owners, according to the Platform’s report.

American company Tidewater was branded the “the worst corporate dumper” during the second quarter with fifteen vessels beached.

At the end of April, Pakistan re-opened the market to the import of tankers. In two months alone, twenty-two tankers reached the shores of Gadani to be scrapped. Industry sources report that devaluing freight rates have contributed to the demolition of over 100 tankers in the first half of 2018, the Platform said.

Only three ships had a European flag – Greece, Malta and Norway – when they were beached last quarter, according to the Platform. All ships sold to the Chittagong, Alang and Gadani yards pass through the hands of scrap-dealers, also known as cash-buyers, that often re-register and re-flag the vessel on its final voyage.

“Grey- and black-listed flags of convenience are particularly popular with cash-buyers, and more than half of the ships sold to South Asia this quarter changed flag to the registries of Comoros, Niue, Palau and St. Kitts and Nevis just weeks before hitting the beach,” the Platform said in its report.

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform noted that this is the highest number of flag changes recorded since it started keeping records, raising serious concerns with regards to the effectiveness of legislation based on flag state jurisdiction.

“These flags are not typically used during the operational life of ships and offer ‘last voyage registration’ discounts. They are grey- and black-listed due to their poor implementation of international maritime law,” the Platform said.

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This will streamline the cross-border fund transfer process.

Thailand and Cambodia’s central banks are working together to roll out a QR code payment system will go public in 2019, reports Phnom Penh Post.

The system is expected to accelerate the cross-border fund transfer process which would significantly benefit overseas workers.

It would also enable users to avoid the hassle of converting their money into Cambodian riel or Thai baht before sending it to their planned destinations.

“This is another effort to promote the use of riel. [It] will allow Cambodians to use their own currency abroad and will prove to the public that it is internationally recognised,” National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) director-general of central banking Chea Serey told Phnom Penh Post.

The system will only work for users whose bank accounts utilise Cambodian riel, and aims to boost riel usage.

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Fitch believes that the possibility of disruption is higher in these markets.

Regulators in China and India are expected to intensify oversight over the fintech sector rather than encourage the adoption of emerging technologies amidst its larger perceived impact on stability, according to credit rating agency Fitch.

Developed markets like Singapore and Hong Kong, on the other hand, will continue to foster the development and integration of such technologies unlike emerging markets which are likely to strengthen regulatory practices first.

“[W]e expect most regulators in emerging markets, such as China and India, where financial inclusion is lower and as a result the potential for disruption is greater, to manage the pace of fintech adoption in the non-bank sector as to limit potential risks to financial stability.

China and India are the two main APAC markets where regulatory restrictions are likely to influence the pace of fintech development, Fitch added. Chinese regulation of online lending has strengthened amidst the country’s deleveraging campaign, with the provision of new micro-lending practices halted in November 2017.

Central banks are also expected to intensify cooperation in cross-border matters like trade finance with Singapore and Hong Kong already partnering up for a number of initiatives.

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SINGAPORE, July 12 (Reuters) – Long dominated by deals struck in secret, the $230 billion liquefied natural gas industry is slowly seeing light as global traders push for more transparency in the booming market.

Over the past two months, commodity price agency S&P Global Platts and Australia-headquartered LNG trading marketplace Global LNG Exchange (GLX) facilitated the first transparent physical trades in their platforms.

It was the first time in nearly a decade since Platts kicked off its Asian LNG derivative price assessment that it disclosed trading parties of a physical trade on its platform.

Pricing transparency is critical to boost liquidity in commodity markets but is often tough to do particularly in cash contracts with participants wary about exposing trading positions.

LNG producers also prefer fixed, long-term contracts because they provide steady revenues needed to fund multi-billion dollar projects.

But the LNG trading landscape is slowly changing, as more market participants push for transparency and Japan’s JERA, the world’s biggest LNG buyer, and leading merchants like Vitol expand their trading desks.

“These first few transparent bids or offers are the first steps to encourage greater market participation in using the (Platts) marker to price cargoes,” said Edmund Siau, analyst with energy consultancy FGE.

Platts started publishing a daily Asian LNG price assessment in 2009. But it was only in 2016 that volumes picked up, then more than tripled in 2017. Volumes in January-May this year have already surpassed last year’s, according to Platts data.

And for the first time, Platts last week published the counterparties of one LNG trade for its pricing process, three weeks after receiving its first transparent bid from commodity trader Trafigura.

“We have seen a significant number of market participants that have stated they would like to see a more transparent (price) process,” said Jonty Rushforth, senior director of energy pricing at Platts.

Platts has approved six other entities in the transparent bidding process including Britain’s BP, Japan’s Itochu, Swiss Vitol, Singapore’s Pavilion Gas and Diamond Gas International, a subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp.

Perth-headquartered Global LNG Exchange (GLX), an online platform for physical cargoes launched in April 2017, saw its first trade done in May this year as its members more than doubled to 44 from last December, most of them from Asia, which imports over 70 percent of the world’s LNG.

GLX Chief Executive Damien Criddle said the platform has received four tenders since its launch.

Long Way To Go

Petronas LNG, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas and a major producer of the fuel, completed the first GLX deal in late May.

“Traders spend a lot of time talking on a bilateral basis with other traders to see whether they can sell spot cargoes,” Ahmad Adly Alias, vice president of Petronas LNG marketing and trading division said at a conference in late May, adding that a platform like GLX was a more effective way for price discovery.

On Tuesday, CME Group Inc said it will develop the first physically deliverable U.S. LNG futures contract on its New York Mercantile Exchange.

Still, LNG has a long way to go before reaching the level of liquidity and transparency in oil – by far the world’s most traded commodity – but which only came after many years. Steelmaking raw material iron ore only shifted to transparent spot pricing after four decades of yearly-set contracts.

Majority of LNG in Asia remains under opaque long-term contracts linked to the price of oil, as producers opt for steady revenues to fund LNG export projects, some of which have cost $50 billion to develop, said FGE’s Siau.

“Until providers of project debt and equity are comfortable with the risks and rewards of using a spot LNG index, we expect the proportion of spot LNG available will be limited,” he said.

(Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr.)

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Oil fell toward $73/bbl in New York after U.S. President Donald Trump escalated a trade war with China, heightening fears that global economic growth could be caught in the cross-fire.

Futures dropped 1.2%, slipping in tandem with equities and metals, after the Trump administration unveiled a list of $200 billion in Chinese goods that could face 10% tariffs once public consultations end in August. Losses were deeper for Brent crude, the European benchmark, as Libya’s national oil company lifted supply restrictions after it regained control of key ports from a splinter faction.

“We have the dynamic for a pull back,” said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodities strategy at BNP Paribas in London. “This is reinforced today by the lifting of the force majeure at Libyan ports and the uncertainty around the economic outlook that an escalation in trade measures implies.”

Oil rose to a three-year high this month as disruptions from Canada to Venezuela, along with renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran, stoke fears of a supply crunch despite a pledge by OPEC and its allies to boost production. Risks are spreading with labor strikes in Norway and Gabon threatening output. Still, prices are about half of the record reached 10 years ago on this day.

Prices Slide

WTI for August delivery slid as much as $0.96 to $73.15/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $0.26 on Tuesday. Total volume traded Wednesday was about 29% above the 100-day average.

Brent for September settlement fell as much as $2.10, or 2.7%, to $76.76/bbl on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, after climbing $0.79 on Tuesday. The global benchmark traded at a premium of $5.55 to WTI for the same month.

Libya’s National Oil Corp. regained control of critical ports including Ras Lanuf and Es Sider which had fallen under the sway of a rival faction in the politically splintered country. NOC lifted force majeure at the terminals and shipments will resume within hours, according to a statement Wednesday.

If the U.S.’s proposed tariffs on Chinese goods go into effect, duties will cover nearly half of all American imports from the Asian nation. As well as consumer items including clothing, television components and refrigerators, the list includes petroleum products such as motor fuels, kerosene and naphtha.

Sanctions Wavers

Meanwhile, America signaled it may take a softer approach to buyers of Iranian crude. It’s likely that some countries will seek an exemption from sanctions on oil purchases from the Islamic Republic, and the U.S. will consider these applications, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. In June, the State Department had said it’s pressing allies to end all crude imports by Nov. 4 and won’t offer any waivers or extensions to that timeline.

“The loss of Iranian oil exports will be significant come early November,” said BNP’s Tchilinguirian. “By hinting at the possibility of wiggle room in terms of waivers for allies that import Iranian crude, it lowers the expectation of how much Iranian exports will be lost.”

Oil Market News

OPEC forecast the biggest increase in rival supplies in five years in 2019, with growth in the U.S. alone enough to meet additional consumption worldwide, according to a report Wednesday. Supply risks look to be worsening, with a strike curtailing oil production off Norway for the first time in six years. Royal Dutch Shell shut a North Sea field and workers threatened to escalate labor action at the weekend. Output was halted at several Total sites in Gabon after a strike started on Monday. In Venezuela, the oil-rig count declined for a sixth straight month to a 15-year low. U.S. crude stockpiles slid by 6.8 MMbbl last week and those at the key storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, fell by 1.93 MMbbl, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report. The American government sees oil production climbing further next year despite transportation logjams in the country’s most prolific shale play.

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