16/03/2026

BIZ & FINANCE MONDAY | MAR 16, 2026

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Japan to release oil stocks as US says buy American

Iran to target US companies in region if energy facilities hit WASHINGTON: Iran will target American companies in the region if its energy facilities are attacked in the US-Israeli war against it, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday. The US military struck Kharg Island on Friday, from which nearly all of Iran’s oil is exported, with President Donald Trump saying every military target had been “obliterated” but its energy facilities had been spared. “Our Armed Forces have already answered that they would retaliate if our oil and energy infrastructure are attacked,“ Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told MS NOW. Iran “will attack any energy infrastructure in the region which belongs to an American company or an American company is a shareholder,“ he added. Araghchi said the US attacks on Kharg had used short-range rockets launched from two bases in the UAE, including one close to Dubai. “They are using the territory of our neighbours to attack us by these kind of rockets and this is absolutely unacceptable. “It is very dangerous that they use highly populated areas,“ he said. “We would certainly retaliate, but we try to be careful not to attack any populated area.” Trump on Friday threatened to bomb oil infrastructure in Kharg if Iran does not allow free passage of crude through the choked Hormuz Strait. – AFP Panama asks Cosco to return to Canal PANAMA CITY: Panama’s government last week asked Chinese shipping giant Cosco to reconsider its suspension of operations at a Panama Canal port, the latest fallout from an ongoing disagreement between the United States and China over the waterway’s oversight. Earlier this week state-owned Cosco, which owns one of the world’s largest tanker fleets, said it would suspend operations at the Balboa port after a court annulled a contract that had allowed a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings to operate both terminals since 1997. Panamanian authorities took back control of the trans-oceanic waterway on Feb 23, and Minister for Canal Affairs Jose Ramon Icaza told reporters “the Cosco issue really took us a bit by surprise”. China had threatened Panama with payback after the court’s decision. “Cosco’s cargo is certainly important for Panama and we hope they reconsider the decision not to use the port of Balboa,“ Icaza said. He added that Cosco’s cargo “accounts for four percent of the port’s throughput, it is a significant volume and we hope it will eventually return.” Almost 10 million containers passed through Panama’s ports last year. The Central American country has been swept up in broader tensions between Washington and Beijing, with US President Donald Trump last year claiming, without providing evidence, that China effectively runs the canal. Panama has always denied Chinese control over the 80km waterway, which is used mainly by the United States and China. – AFP praised its ability to generate cinematic storylines from a handful of prompts. ByteDance had been aiming to make the new video model available to customers worldwide in mid-March, but the company has since suspended those plans, The Information report said. ByteDance’s legal team is working to identify and resolve potential legal issues and engineers are adding safeguards to prevent the model from generating content that could lead to further intellectual property violations, the report added. – Reuters

private-sector oil on today and a month’s worth from the state reserves from late this month, according to METI. As private companies prepare to tap Japan’s stockpiles, METI Minister Ryosei Akazawa said they are also looking for supplies from the US, Central Asia, South America and Gulf nations that can bypass the Strait of Hormuz. Japan gets around 4% of its oil from the US after largely stopping purchases from Russia following Moscow’s 2022 Ukraine invasion - when Tokyo last tapped its reserves. “When you look at the conflict in the Middle East ... you’re reminded of all that crude oil that has gone from Alaska to Japan was never targeted with a successful terrorist attack,” US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin told Reuters. “This conflict ... is a reminder that along the Indo-Pacific, a lot of other nations can look to the United States, where we have the resources.” – Reuters

o Tokyo started reserves scheme in 1978 after Mideast shock

TOKYO: Japan plans to start releasing oil from its stockpiles today to soften the shock from the US-Israeli war on Iran, a stark reminder of the oil crisis half a century ago that prompted Tokyo to create reserves. As gasoline prices across Japan started to rise with the war disrupting supplies from the Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz, Tokyo pledged to release a record 80 million barrels of oil, about 45 days of supply for the resource-poor nation. The government has asked Japan’s refiners to use the released crude, which will reduce the national reserves by 17%, to secure domestic supplies. It is not known how much of the oil will go to a global release of 400 million barrels being coordinated by the International Energy Agency to address the war’s supply shock and price volatility.

Japan’s release shows how seriously Tokyo views the disruption, said Yuriy Humber, CEO of Tokyo-based consultancy Yuri Group. “The reserves can help stabilise supplies and prices in the short term but they mainly buy time. They can’t fully offset a prolonged disruption in the Strait of Hormuz,” he said. Any potential release from 12 million barrels jointly held in Japan by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait would be in addition to the announced 80 million barrels, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry says. Japan started its national oil reserve system in 1978, several years after the Arab oil embargo. The Group of Seven nation, reliant on the Middle East for around 90% of its oil, now stockpiles 254 days of consumption. It will start releasing 15 days’ worth of

A man cycles past a Cosmo Oil’s petrol station of Suzuka Circuit in Japan. – REUTERSPIC

ByteDance suspends launch of video AI model BEIJING: TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, has put on hold the global launch of its latest video-generation model, Seedance 2.0, after a series of copyright disputes with major Hollywood studios and streaming platforms, The Information reported on Saturday, citing two people with direct knowledge of the situation. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ByteDance said last month it would take steps to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property on its AI video generator Seedance 2.0, following threats of legal action from US studios, including Disney. Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Chinese firm last month, accusing it of using Disney characters to train and power Seedance 2.0 without permission, after videos generated by the model went viral in China, including one of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in a fight. Disney said ByteDance had pre-packaged Seedance with a pirated library of copyrighted characters from franchises including Star Wars

and Marvel, portraying them as public-domain clip art. ByteDance, which officially unveiled the model in February, has said the system is aimed at professional film, e-commerce and advertising use, highlighting its ability to process text, images, audio and video at once to reduce content production costs. Seedance 2.0 has drawn attention after earning comparisons with DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company that has built models rivaling those of Anthropic and OpenAI. Tech executives, including Elon Musk, have