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The agreement, reached during Modi’s official visit to Abu Dhabi on 15 May 2026, includes a strategic collaboration between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to expand the UAE’s participation in India’s strategic petroleum reserves to 30 million barrels. Both sides will also work on establishing strategic gas reserves, a move that signals a broader shift from emergency crude storage towards a more diversified energy security framework.

The pact places ADNOC at the centre of New Delhi’s stockpiling strategy. The UAE became the first country to partner with India in strategic petroleum storage when ADNOC stored crude in the Mangaluru cavern under an earlier arrangement. The new framework is substantially larger and comes as India seeks to reduce exposure to sudden disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, sanctions-driven shifts in trade flows, shipping risks, and sharp swings in spot fuel prices.

India, the world’s third-largest oil consumer, imports more than 85 per cent of its crude requirement and nearly half of its natural gas needs. Its existing strategic petroleum reserve system has underground rock caverns at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur, with a combined capacity of about 5.33 million tonnes, equivalent to roughly 39 million barrels. These reserves are separate from commercial inventories held by refiners and oil marketing companies.

The current reserve base covers only a limited number of consumption days, making expansion a long-standing policy priority. Phase-two plans have included additional capacity at Padur and a new facility at Chandikhol in Odisha, while officials have explored public-private partnership models to bring in foreign oil producers and trading firms. The UAE arrangement is likely to support that model by tying storage capacity to assured supply and commercial flexibility.

The energy package also includes a long-term LPG supply arrangement between Indian Oil Limited and ADNOC. The UAE is already the largest source of LPG for India, meeting about 40 per cent of its import requirement. A deeper supply contract is significant for household energy security, as LPG remains a politically sensitive fuel linked to cooking gas access, subsidy management and inflation expectations.

Gas cooperation is another important element. New Delhi has been trying to raise the share of natural gas in its energy mix, but price volatility and limited storage have slowed progress. Strategic gas reserves could help shield fertiliser plants, city gas distributors, power producers and industrial users from abrupt supply constraints. The concept remains more complex than crude storage because gas requires specialised infrastructure, including LNG terminals, underground storage or converted reservoirs, but the agreement shows that both governments see gas security as part of the next phase of their partnership.

The Abu Dhabi talks also build on a wider hydrocarbons relationship. The UAE was among India’s top crude suppliers last year and has become a central partner in LNG, LPG, upstream investment and petroleum product trade. State-backed companies from India hold stakes in Abu Dhabi oil assets, including the Lower Zakum concession and Onshore Block 1, marking a rare upstream footprint for New Delhi in the Gulf.

The timing gives the agreement strategic weight. West Asian tensions have renewed concern over maritime chokepoints and insurance costs for energy cargoes. Any prolonged disruption near the Gulf would affect Asia’s largest consuming economies first, particularly import-dependent buyers such as India, Japan, South Korea and China. Larger stockpiles do not remove that vulnerability, but they give policymakers more room to manage price spikes, refinery supply schedules and emergency releases.

For the UAE, the pact strengthens its role as a long-term energy partner beyond crude sales. ADNOC has been widening its international storage, trading, LNG and downstream footprint as Abu Dhabi positions itself as both a reliable supplier and a capital partner. Participation in overseas strategic reserves gives the company access to storage optionality while reinforcing diplomatic ties with major demand centres.

The Modi-Sheikh Mohamed meeting also covered defence, investment, infrastructure and regional security, underscoring the shift in bilateral ties from labour, remittances and trade towards a broader strategic partnership. The UAE hosts a large expatriate community from India and remains one of New Delhi’s most important Gulf economic partners, with strong links in logistics, ports, food security, renewable energy and financial services.

The Singapore flag carrier reported net profit of S$1.18 billion for the year ended March 31, down 57.4 per cent from the previous year. Operating profit, by contrast, rose 39 per cent to S$2.38 billion, helped by robust passenger demand, higher yields and stronger traffic across Singapore Airlines and Scoot. Group revenue reached a record S$20.52 billion, up 5 per cent, while the two carriers carried 42.4 million passengers, a 7.7 per cent increase from the year before.

The headline profit decline was driven largely by two accounting and investment factors. Singapore Airlines no longer benefited from the S$1.1 billion non-cash gain recognised after the completion of the Air India-Vistara merger in November 2024. At the same time, its share of associated-company results swung into a large loss as it accounted for a full year of Air India’s losses rather than only four months in the previous reporting period.

Air India recorded a US$2.8 billion loss for FY2025/26, its largest since Tata Group took control of the carrier in 2022. Singapore Airlines owns 25.1 per cent of the Air India Group after Vistara, its former joint venture with Tata Sons, was merged into Air India. The investment remains central to SIA’s wider multi-hub strategy, giving the carrier exposure to one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets.

The losses underline the scale of Air India’s turnaround challenge. The airline is renewing its fleet, refurbishing aircraft interiors, upgrading service standards and trying to rebuild operational reliability after years of under-investment. Those efforts are being tested by supply-chain constraints, limited aircraft availability, airspace restrictions, constraints on services to key Middle East markets and elevated fuel prices.

The Iran war has added another layer of pressure for long-haul operators. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz after the outbreak of the US-Israel war on Iran in late February pushed jet-fuel prices higher and widened the gap between aviation fuel and crude oil costs. Singapore Airlines said the impact was only partly reflected in March because fuel bills are priced with a lag, with the full effect expected to feed through in FY2026/27.

Higher fuel prices are particularly damaging for airlines because fuel is the sector’s largest variable cost and is difficult to offset quickly. SIA and Scoot have raised fares across their networks, but those increases do not fully cover the higher price of jet fuel. The group’s fuel hedging provided some protection during the year, while average full-year fuel prices were lower than the previous year, but the cost outlook has become more demanding.

Airspace restrictions have also reshaped competitive dynamics on routes linking South Asia, Europe and North America. Air India has been exposed because its network relies heavily on long-haul flights that are sensitive to rerouting, longer flying times and crew-scheduling limits. Foreign carriers including Lufthansa Group, Cathay Pacific, KLM and Swiss have gained room to expand India-linked international services as Air India manages disruption and cost pressure.

For Singapore Airlines, the underlying operating figures still show resilience. Passenger load factor rose to 87.7 per cent, with traffic growth of 4.7 per cent outpacing capacity expansion of 3.4 per cent. Passenger yields rose 1 per cent, while cargo revenue declined 2.1 per cent to S$2.17 billion as weaker yields offset higher loads.

HKUST Led Project Marks Hong Kong’s First Scientific Payload on the National Space Station

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 13 May 2026 – The world’s first lightweight, high‑resolution, high‑precision synergistic observatory for carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) emission point sources – named “MUSICO”, Multi‑Spectral Imaging Carbon Observatory, led by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) – was successfully launched aboard the Tianzhou‑10 cargo spacecraft on May 11 and has arrived at China’s Tiangong Space Station. This is not only Hong Kong’s first scientific payload deployed on the national space station, but also a historic breakthrough for the city in the development of high‑end aerospace instruments. The project fully demonstrates Hong Kong’s strong capability to build national‑level cutting-edge scientific payloads, to participate in long‑term space station missions, and to play a key role in addressing global climate change while serving the nation’s strategic “carbon peak and carbon neutrality” goals.

The project is led by an interdisciplinary research team from HKUST, comprising experts from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas, the Division of Environment and Sustainability, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the Division of Public Policy. In late 2024, the project received formal approval from the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CSU.CAS), the general research center for the Space Utilization System. It is jointly developed with the CAS Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, and funded by the Special Call (Aerospace Technology) of the Innovation and Technology Support Program under the Innovation and Technology Commission of the HKSAR Government.

MUSICO is a lightweight, high‑resolution, high‑precision greenhouse gas point‑source detection payload capable of accurately measuring CO₂ and CH₄ — two major greenhouse gases — from space. Smaller than a domestic washing machine, the instrument maintains extra-high spectral resolution and one hundred‑meter spatial resolution. By analyzing intensity changes of sunlight over specific spectral bands as it passes through the atmosphere and reflects off the Earth’s surface, MUSICO identifies gas‑specific absorption features to determine gas concentrations and pinpoint individual emission sources, enabling effective monitoring of key facilities such as power plants and landfills.

Prof. SUN Dong, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry of the HKSAR Government, remarked, “This HKUST led project represents Hong Kong’s first scientific payload aboard the Tiangong Space Station, a major milestone for Hong Kong in the nation’s space missions. The national 15th Five Year Plan identifies accelerating green and low carbon transition, building a space powerhouse, and achieving carbon peak as key priorities. The successful deployment of a payload autonomously developed by a Hong Kong research team on Tiangong powerfully demonstrates that Hong Kong scientists possess top tier research and technology translation capabilities in frontier fields such as aerospace technology and green low carbon science, providing the nation with high quality, verifiable scientific data to accelerate the realization of the dual carbon goals.”

Prof. Nancy IP, President of HKUST, said, “We are deeply honored that our HKUST research team can participate in scientific missions on the national space station, and we sincerely thank the nation and the HKSAR Government for their long‑standing trust and support. This project not only highlights HKUST’s accumulated strengths in aerospace engineering, satellite remote sensing, and environmental engineering, but also proves that Hong Kong’s research capabilities can make substantial contributions on the nation’s highest‑level aerospace platforms. As the world’s first lightweight high‑precision greenhouse gas point‑source detection payload, MUSICO will continue to operate on the national space station, providing autonomous, controllable, high‑reliability CO₂ and CH₄ emission monitoring data that directly support the nation’s dual‑carbon goals and provide scientific backing for the ‘Beautiful China’ initiative and global climate governance.”

President Ip added, “In recent years, HKUST has been deepening its efforts in deep‑space exploration and low‑orbit satellite technology — following the successful launch of Hong Kong’s first higher‑education satellite in 2023, we are now actively participating in the nation’s Chang’e‑8 lunar exploration mission. Looking ahead, HKUST will continue to leverage its strengths in artificial intelligence, robotics, and materials science to accelerate the translation of space‑related technologies and nurture high‑end talent, contributing to the nation’s accelerated drive to build a space powerhouse and achieve green, low‑carbon, high‑quality development.”

Prof. SU Hui, Project Lead, Chair Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Global STEM Professor at HKUST, said, “The development of MUSICO involved overcoming multiple critical technical challenges — namely, how to achieve high spectral resolution, fine spatial resolution, and synergistic multi‑gas observation under strict size and weight constraints. The team conducted extensive testing and optimization in optical design, precision manufacturing, and system integration to ensure the instrument can deliver reliable, accurate greenhouse gas data over long periods under high‑speed operation and extreme space environments. Successfully integrating these key technologies into a lightweight payload represents a landmark engineering and scientific achievement, demonstrating that the technology has reached internationally advanced standards.”

Prof. ZHANG Limin, Co‑Project Lead, National Engineer Awardee and Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at HKUST, emphasized, “MUSICO’s observational coverage spans most land and ocean areas across low‑to‑mid‑latitude regions, providing consistent and comparable greenhouse gas monitoring data for different regions. The project’s results will be shared with government agencies and research institutions, supporting scientific research and practical applications in the Guangdong‑Hong Kong‑Macao Greater Bay Area and in other parts of China. They will also provide a scientific basis for cross‑regional climate research and emission reduction efforts along the Belt and Road, contributing to the global response to climate change. This is both a vivid example of HKUST’s research strength serving national strategy and a concrete practice of Hong Kong’s research capabilities contributing to global climate governance.”

The research project is co‑led by Prof. SU Hui, Chair Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Global STEM Professor at HKUST, and Prof. ZHANG Limin, Chair Professor and Head of the same department. Prof. ZHAI Chengxing, Associate Professor of the Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas serves as the mission system engineer. Other team members include: Senior Scientific Officer Dr. RONG Pingping, Prof. ZHANG Jize, and Prof. WANG Zhe from HKUST’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Prof. NING Zhi, Prof. SHI Xiaoming, and Prof. GU Dasa from the Division of Environment and Sustainability; Prof. MA Xiaojuan from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Prof. ZHU Pengyu from the Division of Public Policy; Prof. GAO Meng from Hong Kong Baptist University; and Prof. LI Jia from Lingnan University.

The project has also garnered strong industry support, including funding from HKUST-incubated startup Stellerus Technology Limited. Meanwhile, CLP Power Hong Kong Limited will collaborate with the project team to explore leveraging the data collected by MUSICO to complement its relevant assessments.

Hashtag: #HKUST

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