Benelux

Two sources familiar with the matter said that TotalEnergies, the French oil giant, has acquired the remaining 45% of Lukoil's stake in the Zeeland Refinery, located in the Netherlands. Sources did not know whether Total paid for the shares, and if so, how much. Or if they engaged in another agreement, such as a swap of assets with Total's Russian projects, to gain full control. TotalEnergies declined comment. Lukoil didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment. In October, the U.S. Treasury issued sanctions against Lukoil to try to pressurize Russia to 'end its war with Ukraine.' This prompted the...

In a statement issued on Saturday, the UILM (Italian Metalworkers' Union) said that Stellantis-backed Automotive Cells Company told unions they had dropped?plans for building gigafactories both in Italy and Germany. ACC, a joint venture for battery manufacturing in which Stellantis was the largest shareholder, planned to build three gigafactories across Europe - in France, Germany, and Italy. UILM, however, said that ACC management informed them of the "definitely shelved" projects planned for Termoli in Italy and Kaiserslautern in Germany. In a statement released on?Saturday, ACC stated that projects in Germany and Italy have been in standby status since May '2024....

The Stellantis-backed Automotive Cells Company told unions that it had shelved its plans to build Gigafactories in 'both Italy and Germany', according to a statement released by the Italian Metalworkers Union UILM on Saturday. ACC, a?battery-joint venture? in which Stellantis was the largest investor, planned to build three gigafactories across Europe – in France, Germany, and Italy. UILM, however, said that ACC management informed them of the "definitely shelved" projects planned for?Termoli in Italy and Kaiserslautern in Germany. ACC stated in a statement released on Saturday that projects in Germany and 'Italy have been on hold since May 2024. They...

By America Hernandez PARIS, February 5, 2019 - French oil giant?TotalEnergies signed two agreements to supply Airbus with 3.3 terawatt hours of electricity. The companies stated that this amount would cover half the sites’ power needs in the next decade. Germany and Britain are key growth markets for Total. Total is focusing on markets that have deregulated electricity markets, where it can own and build renewable assets and sell directly to clients. The company has a'strategy' that includes owning gas-fired plants and signing supply deals to provide continuous power sourced both from renewables and gas assets. These contracts, which are...

The "Sell America' trade is back in the news, and even though it may quieten down after reports of U.S. president Donald Trump's possible Greenland deal it's safe to assume that it won't?go away. We've done this before. Last year, the term "de-dollarization", which was coined by Trump's tariffs-based trade war, became a buzzword. Investors were worried that they would reduce their exposure to U.S.-based assets. This?didn’t happen. U.S. Treasury official figures show that foreigners purchased a net of $1.27 trillion in U.S. Securities during the first eleven months of last year. This was primarily due to a flood of...

A person with knowledge of the matter said that Brazilian billionaire Joesley Batista had met with Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodriguez before and after he met with U.S. government officials. He reassured them, according to a source familiar with the situation, that she seemed ready to allow investment in her country's oil and natural gas industry. Source: The Batista's family energy firm Fluxus is evaluating Venezuelan business opportunities. They have consolidated South American assets ever since they acquired it in 2023. Fluxus, Batista and the holding company J&F have declined to comment. The billionaire's?shuttle diplomatics, whose meatpacker JBS is a...

The Netherlands should sharply increase technology ?investment and shake up its labour market to safeguard ?the EU ?country's long-term prosperity, a government-commissioned report said. Peter Wennink, former CEO of ASML, made recommendations Friday on how to boost the productivity growth that has been stagnant. These recommendations echo those in Draghi's report on competitiveness for 2024. Draghi has called for the spending of 150 billion euros (176 billion dollars) over the next decade to attract investment into projects ranging from AI data centres, drones, and small modular nuclear reactors. It is expected that the report of Wennink, in which he described...

By America Hernandez PARIS, December 2 - French oil giant TotalEnergies, along with its other partners in the $20 billion Mozambique Gas Project, have agreed to provide more equity to replace previous contributions from British and Dutch Export Credit Agencies, the company announced on Tuesday. Total reported that the UK and Dutch agencies accounted for about 10% of the initial $15.4 billion external funding obtained by the project. Total's 13 million tons per year liquefied gas project will turn Mozambique into a major exporter of gas when it starts production in 2029, but the project has been bogged down in...

The French antitrust authority fined TotalEnergies and Rubis a total of 187 million euro ($217.3) for an anticompetitive agreement that increased fuel prices in Corsica. The island's population is just over 350,000 and it relies heavily on automobiles for transport. All fuels are imported through DPLC depots, which are jointly owned by Rubis TotalEnergies, EG Retail, and TotalEnergies. The watchdog stated that between 2016 and 2023, no other company is allowed to use these depots. The watchdog stated that the agreement reserving the use of Corsican depots for DPLC shareholders only is anticompetitive, and will likely shut out competitors at...

The Stellantis-backed ACC Joint Venture is "definitely" giving up plans for a megafactory in eastern Italy. This was reported by the newspaper MF on Friday. MF said that a decision on the Termoli plant, which ACC had designated as one of three European hubs for electric vehicle batteries, should be made by the end of this year or early in 2026. Italian newspaper cites sources to report that the project "is not sustainable due to technical, strategic, and financial difficulties". ACC continues to assess its investment plans in Italy, as well as in Germany. The goal is to make a...

As early quarter results show businesses adapting to President Donald Trump's new tariffs, the outlook for European corporate health is slightly better, according to the latest earnings estimates released on Tuesday. According to data from LSEG, European companies will report an average growth of 0.4% for their third quarter earnings. This is higher than the 0.2% analysts expected just a week earlier. This would still be the lowest quarterly performance since the beginning of 2024. Early Results Beat Analyst Expectations So far, 96 companies in the index have reported their earnings. Of these, 56.3% exceeded analyst expectations. Volvo Cars is...

Wall Street's major indexes closed at record highs on Monday for the second consecutive day as investors were optimistic about the prospects of a U.S. China trade deal. They also looked forward to an exciting week that will include high-profile earnings from the technology sector and the widely anticipated U.S. rate cut. U.S. president Donald Trump and his Chinese equivalent Xi Jinping will meet on Thursday in order to decide on a plan that could pause the tougher U.S. duties and China's export restrictions on rare earths. This would ease market jitters about a possible trade war, and send Wall...

The Dutch state-owned financial institution Invest International will lend a total of $60 million to the chipmaker 'Nexperia, in order to finance a series of global investments at 'its production sites. The funds will be used to boost production, modernise the production lines and improve productivity. Nexperia in the Netherlands, a unit of China's Wingtech, was caught up in a corporate standoff with Europe after a Dutch state intervention installed an European management team last year. According to the Dutch newspaper FD, this move scared away investors and caused a global crisis in terms of chip supplies for the automotive...

Outokumpu, a Finnish stainless steel'maker, warned on Thursday that despite a core profit of over $500,000 for the fourth quarter 2025 which was above market expectations. At 1319 GMT, the shares were down about 5%. Last year, European Steelmakers were under pressure from a weak domestic market, high energy costs and cheap Asian imports. They welcomed EU protections such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism or the European Commission’s proposal to reduce import quotas. Marc-Simon Schaar, the finance chief at CBAM, told reporters that despite the fact that he expected a'significant recovery in volumes' and saw more activity on the...

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said that the EU must simplify its regulations to be more competitive with the United States and China. Over the last two decades, EU growth has consistently been lower than that of?the United States, with EU innovation and productivity, especially in fields such as AI, falling behind. "Let's take the U.S. as an example again." Von der Leyen stated on Wednesday that there is only one financial system and capital. "In Europe, we don't only have 27 different systems of financial supervision, each with their own supervisor. More than 300 trading...

ArcelorMittal reported a fourth-quarter core income that was above the?market?forecasts, on Thursday. The company expects lower imports of steel into Europe to help restore profitability for its mills in Europe. In the first hour of trading, its shares rose by more than 3% and reached their highest level since August 2011. Since the beginning of the year, they have gained about 25%. According to LSEG, the multinational group headquartered in Luxembourg posted earnings of $1.59bn for the quarter. This was higher than analysts' estimates of $1.51bn. EU MEASURES ARE A BONUS?FOR DOMESTIC INDUSTRIES Even though global trade volatility hurt visibility...

A Trump administration official who is familiar with the plan revealed that President Donald Trump will launch a?strategic critical minerals stockpile? with $12 billion of seed money from the U.S. Export-Import Bank. The investment is a 'last ditch effort by Washington to counter what they perceive as Chinese price manipulation for minerals such as lithium, nickel, and rare earths, which are vital to items like electric vehicles, high-tech weapons, and many other products. Bloomberg News reported that the project, Project Vault will combine private financing with a $10 Billion loan from the EXIM Bank in order to stockpile minerals for...

Mozambique President Daniel Chapo inaugurated a 200,000-metric-ton-per-year graphite-processing plant on Friday at a Chinese mine, as the country boosts its output of the battery mineral. The United States Geological Survey estimates that the annual global production of graphite is 1.6 millions metric tons. Mozambique, meanwhile, is one of world's leading producers of this mineral. It is an?excellent conductor of electricity and heat, and is used to make?batteries and mobile phones for electric cars. China is the largest graphite producer and miner in the world. Chapo said Mozambique was making the most of its resources, including a liquefied gas project worth...

ArcelorMittal is a multinational steelmaker that was the former owner Acciaierie d'Italia, an Italian steel company. On Thursday, it announced that it filed a 1.8 billion euro claim ($2.2 billion) against the Italian Government over losses?linked with its investment in ADI's factories. This filing is a 'tit-fortat' move after Italy's state appointed administrators of ADI (formerly known as ILVA) sought around 8 billion euros in damages from ArcelorMittal alleging it mismanaged ADI’s steelworks. Early in 2024, the government assumed control of ADI after ArcelorMittal. ADI has struggled to maintain its production due to high energy costs and low demand. In...

ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is Ukraine's biggest steelmaker. It announced on Monday that it will close one production unit?in the 2nd quarter. The company cited EU environmental policies and high local power prices due to Russian attacks on energy infrastructure. The plant in Ukraine's south-east, approximately 70 km from the frontline, will close its blooming mill. This mill produces?billets to be used by the small-gauge mills and wire mills of the enterprise. The company stated that the introduction of the Carbon Border adjustment Mechanism by the European Union on?January 1, effectively closed the market for a significant part of Ukrainian metallurgical...

Polish prosecutors announced on Wednesday that European investigators had uncovered a synthetic drugs international network operated from Poland. They have seized over 9.3 tonnes of narcotics as well as arrested more than 100 suspects. Operation 'Synthetic Drugs in More Than 20 Illegal Laboratories' targeted a criminal gang accused of importing chemical pre-cursors from China and India, and manufacturing them in over 20 illegal laboratories for distribution throughout the European Union. The prosecutors said that the 'group' operated a complex supply chain. They imported large quantities of chemicals legally, which were then repackaged to be sent illegally to drug labs in...

The European share market was subdued Friday due to weakness in mining and luxury stocks. This marked a gloomy end to a week that had been dominated by?the beginning of a busy earning season along with geopolitical concerns. The pan-European STOXX 600 index finished at 614.38, while the luxury index fell 3.2%. This was its largest daily drop since early October. Richemont, one of the biggest losers, fell 5.4%, after BofA Global Research cut its recommendation for the Swiss jewellery firm to neutral from buy, and advised investors to "wait", citing inflated valuations following a recent rally. "European stocks are...

Allegro, a Polish ecommerce company, announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to sell its operations in Slovenia and Croatia?to Mutares of Germany. Allegro is aiming to simplify?its global footprint. Allegro claimed that the sale was the last step to turning around Mall Group. The group bought the company in 2022 as a first move beyond its home market Poland. Allegro expanded its presence in Central Europe with the deal, but so far international operations have weighed on its profitability. Allegro announced in March that it would pause the rollout of its third-party market in other countries until it increased...

The Astana International Trade website reported that Kazakhstan's steelmaker Qarmet had placed bonds for seven years worth $500 million at a coupon of 10.2%. The company has issued 5 million bonds at a par of $100. This is the second issue of this kind since it placed $500 million in bonds priced at 11% annually back in September. Trading will start on December 5. Qarmet will use $150 million for refinancing existing loans, and $350 millions to finance investment projects. This includes reimbursement of capital expenditures and refinancing debts. Qarmet, owned by ArcelorMittal until 2023, was sold to Qazaqstan Investment...