Shell and BP to Supply LNG to Kuwait

Kuwait's demand for LNG imports began in 2009 mainly to provide energy for air-conditioning during the summer months. The current deal is for Shell/BP to supply LNG for five to six summers hence, totalling around 2.5m tonnes a year. KPC has previously signed deals with Vitol as well.

"Always Keep Learning" - Useful Advice from Microsoft's new CEO

Microsoft's new CEO, Satya Nadella, hails from Hyderabad, India (the capital of Andhra Pradesh) and studied at the University of Mangalore (or Mangalapuram in Malayalam, which is close to the Arabian Sea) where he got his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering.

He has been at Microsoft since 1992. The full form of his first name is Satyanarayana.

As Microsoft's third CEO after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, he will be paid $1.2m a year, plus be eligible for a cash bonus of up to $3.6m. In an interview with the Deccan Chronicle, he shared some insights into his work philosophy: "You stop doing useful things if you don't learn".

How Should Commodities Be Regulated?

The recent takeover of JP Morgan's physical commodities business by Swiss trading house Mercuria (founded by two former Goldman Sachs traders, or more specifically Goldman Sachs J Aron unit, after spending time at Cargill) for $3.5 billion, is an ambitious move for the relatively new commodities trader, starting out as a ten-person team supplying oil to Polish refineries.  It now employs over a thousand people, with revenues topping over $100bn last year. Analysts remark that the remarkable fact about Mercuria is its aggressive efforts to scale the business. How would Mercuria be able to succeed where JP Morgan could not? One answer lies in regulation.

As Mercuria is not a bank in the sense that it does not take deposits from customers, regulation is different than for a deposit-taking institution. Further, it falls under Swiss regulation rather than North American legislation. JP Morgan's exit is prompted by capital constraints and increasing regulatory scrutiny, particularly on US banks that have been the subject of controversial bailouts. So uneven regulation is one source of competitive advantage that Mercuria has over JP Morgan.

It should be emphasised that the duo who built Mercuria, Marco Dunand and Daniel Jaeggi, came from a banking background, and it is remarkable that they have found a way to leverage that while succeeding in a way that banks have failed.

Goldman's Launches India Public Sector ETF

GS (specifically GSAM) is launching a Public Sector Enterprise ETF which will feature 10 Indian public sector companies (March 2014), including ONGC, Gail, Coal India, Bharat Electronics, Engineers India (EIL) and Container Corp.

Some tickers to watch (tickers are NSE unless otherwise stated): BEL, CONCOR, GAIL.

IBM's $1.2bn Data Centre Commitment

IBM is committing more than $1.2 billion to expand its data centres and support cloud computing initiatives, in anticipation of a $200 billion global market for cloud services by 2020.

In 2013, IBM acquired cloud services company SoftLayer (founded in 2005), which rents out servers starting at $159 a month for a dedicated machine, some of the rentals made via Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR).

IBM is also building out a Watson division at a cost $1bn. Watson is IBM's AI machine which has built-in natural language capabilities. It aims to use SoftLayer as a cloud distribution mechanism for services based off Watson.

Fireworks in Riga as Latvia Joins the Euro, not so for Lithuania

Valdis Dombrovskis, Prime Minister of Latvia (and a trained physicist), declared 1 January 2014 as a "big opportunity for Latvia's economic development". Some Latvian locals have expressed concerns over inflation, and indeed Latvia's central bank does expect a modest rise in prices, to bring inflation to 2%.

Two-thirds of the Baltic States are now Euro-enabled.

Amongst the other Baltic States, Estonia has already joined the euro in 2011, and Lithuania aims to do so in 2015. Ex-communist Poland has retained the zloty and is tight-lipped about the prospect of joining the Euro.

Say "Atta" to the Latvian lats, as another European currency hits the history books!

The World's Largest Oil Importer is China

In 2013, China overtook the United States as the world's biggest importer of oil, partly due to rising car sales. According to the EIA, oil demand in China exceeded supply by 6.3 million bpd vs. 6.1 million bpd in the US. Many analysts predict this trend will continue for some years e.g. Macquarie, Wood Mackenzie. There has also been speculation that oil may be priced in RMB although this raises questions over convertibility.

India is the world's fourth largest importer of crude oil. 30% of its refining capacity is concentrated in two refineries in Jamnagar, western Gujarat, owned and operated by Reliance Industries. However, in terms of raw crude oil production, the state of Rajasthan exceeds Gujarat.