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Sources say that India BPCL has bought 10 million barrels US oil through a five-month tender.
Two people familiar with the matter have confirmed that India's Bharat Oil Corp, a state-run company, has awarded a 5-month tender to European trader Glencore for 10 million barrels U.S. crude oil. This is helping India to strengthen its energy relations with Washington. India, which is the third largest oil importer in the world, has increased its imports of US crude oil as the negotiations for a bilateral agreement continue. Sources said that Glencore would deliver 2,000,000 barrels of WTI Midland Crude per month to the Indian refiner from November through March. This is double the volume BPCL had imported in its previous tender. Indian refiners, traders and oil companies do not comment on issues related to the oil trade citing confidentiality. Increased imports will help India reduce its $45.7 billion trade surplus with the U.S. The trade tensions between India, the United States and other countries have risen sharply over the past few weeks. U.S. president Donald Trump has imposed a 25% tariff starting on August 7, and threatened similar measures due to the Asian nation's continued purchase of Russian oil. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Washington in February and pledged to increase U.S. purchases of energy from $10 billion up to $25 billion. Both nations aim to reach $500 billion in bilateral trade in 2030. Indian refiners are increasing their imports of U.S. crude oil on the spot market due to improved arbitrage economies of sending Atlantic Basin grades into Asia. The federal government also plans to eliminate import taxes on propane and liquefied gas purchased from the U.S.
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Copper prices fall amid uncertainty over tariffs, interest rate, and Ukraine
Copper prices fell on Thursday, as investors waited for clarity on various issues including tariffs and the Ukraine conflict, Chinese demand, and U.S. Interest Rates. The benchmark three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange dropped 0.5% in open-outcry official trading to $9751 per ton, after having fallen from its highest level in more than two weeks, which was reached on Tuesday at $9865. LME copper is up 11% so far this year. Ole Hansen is the head of commodity strategy for Saxo Bank, Copenhagen. "We are looking at not only the Friday negotiations (on Ukraine), but also Jackson Hole, and we will continue to focus on the central banks and FOMC," he said. The Federal Open Market Committee will release its minutes for the July meeting and next week the U.S. Central Bank's annual Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming takes place. The market is still looking for big-picture answers, and until that happens, we will probably continue to see the range-bound behavior that we are seeing now. Hansen said that the market is ripe for upside, but it needs a catalyst to break through its current range between $9,500 and $9,900. The news that Chile, the largest copper producer in the world, has lowered its production growth estimate for 2025 to 1.5% per year. This is down from the 3% estimate made in May. The most actively traded copper contract at the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 0.5%, to 78950 yuan (11,008.39 dollars) per ton. A recent increase in the premium that traders pay to purchase copper on the spot market over the SHFE price also helped to support the market. The price of a ton has doubled in the last week, to 200 yuan. Analysts at ANZ expect the market to be watching for critical China data this Friday. Retail sales, industrial output and fixed asset investments are expected to improve despite concerns over trade. LME aluminium fell by 0.3% during official activity, to $2608 per ton. Zinc also eased to $2822, Nickel dropped 1.2%, to $15075, Lead lost 0.2%, to $1985, and Tin fell 0.4%, to $33,590. Click here to see the latest news in metals.
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Kuwait's health ministry reports that tainted alcohol has killed 13 Asians and blinded 21 others in Kuwait.
Kuwait's Health Ministry reported that 63 people suffered from methanol poisoning due to contaminated alcohol drinks over the past five days, with 13 deaths and 20 cases of blindness. In a late-night statement broadcast on X, the ministry stated that all of those affected were Asians. It added that 51 needed urgent kidney dialysis while 31 required mechanical ventilation. Kuwait has banned the importation or production of alcohol, but it is still illegally produced in secret locations without any safety or oversight standards. This exposes consumers to poisoning. The Embassy of India, Kuwait's largest expatriate country, reported that around 40 Indians were hospitalized over the past few days. However, the Embassy did not specify the reason. In a statement posted on X it said that "there have been some deaths, some are in critical condition, while others are recovering." It added that it was seeking more details.
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Equinix signs multiple advanced nuclear power deals with data centers
The company announced on Thursday that it has signed several deals for advanced nuclear energy, including power purchase agreement for fission and microreactors pre-ordered for its operations. The race by Big Tech to develop technologies such as generative artificial intelligence that require warehouse-like data centres and can use city-sized quantities of electricity on a single location is increasing global energy consumption, raising concerns about depleted supplies. Data centers have a voracious appetite for energy, which has prompted a growing number of power deals that will fuel them with advanced nuclear technology. The United States, which is the hub of the world's largest data centers, does not have commercially available small modular reactors or other next-generation power. The Equinix announcement comes after the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it had earlier selected 11 initial projects for a program to develop high-tech nuclear test reactors. Three of these projects were expected to be operational in less than one year. Equinix has signed deals with advanced nuclear suppliers that will supply the company's data centres with more than 1 gigawatts of electricity. Equinix will procure 500 Megawatts of electricity from Oklo, a California-based company that manufactures nuclear fission powerhouses. Radiant Nuclear in California also signed a preorder contract for 20 transportable nuclear microreactors. Equinix has signed agreements in Europe to purchase electricity from ULC-Energy, Stellaria, and other nuclear developers. Equinix has also signed advanced fuel cell agreements in Silicon Valley with Bloom Energy. Raouf Aboud, Equinix executive vice president for global operations, said that the agreements were part of Equinix’s long-term plan for electricity use in its data centers and not a quick fix.
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Sources say that Indian refiners are looking at Russian oil, as the discounts on it have increased.
Three people familiar with the matter confirmed on Thursday that Indian state refiners are now contacting trading firms to inquire about purchasing Urals crude oil from Russia as the discounts have increased. This comes ahead of Friday's high-profile summit between U.S. leaders and Russian counterparts. Indian refiners, including Indian Oil Corp., Hindustan Petroleum Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd., halted their Russian oil purchases in the last month, as discounts shrank. State refiners in India, who account for 60% of the country's refining capacity of 5.2 million barrels of oil per day, purchase Russian oil delivered. Sources said that spot discounts for Russian Urals crude oil delivered to India in the month of October had increased to $2.70 per barrel from $1.50 to $1.50 per barrel in late July. The larger discount means that Urals is cheaper to deliver than in July. India was the biggest customer of Russian oil shipped by sea from 2022 onwards, after Western nations shunned Russian crude and imposed sanctions against Moscow due to its invasion of Ukraine. Last month, U.S. president Donald Trump threatened to sanction buyers of Russian products unless Russia agreed to a peace agreement with Ukraine. Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin will discuss an possible deal to end Ukraine's war when they meet in Alaska on Friday. One of the sources stated that they would wait to see the results of the Trump-Putin negotiations, which will give them some indications. Vetsa Gupta (the finance director of Bharat Oil Corp) told an analyst conference call on Thursday that the company will continue to use Russian oil for up to 35% its processing requirements if new sanctions are not imposed. BPCL’s Russian oil purchase slowed down in July, as discounts decreased, he said. In order to replace the lower Russian oil supply, Indian refiners are now buying on-demand from Brazil, West Africa and the United States. Russian Urals crude oil is sold at a lower price than Brent crude oil. Brent crude oil is a widely-used benchmark for oil pricing. More than a third (35%) of India's total oil purchases are Russian. Private companies such as Reliance Industries, Nayara Energy and others have contracts for a certain period of time to purchase Russian oil.
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FTSE 100 pauses following three-day rally, GDP data is in focus
The FTSE 100 index was almost flat in Britain on Thursday, as gains in defence stocks were offset by declines in mining and energy shares. Investors also assessed the latest GDP figures. The blue-chip index fell 0.06% at 1018 GMT after three consecutive days of gains. The domestically focused midcaps index also dropped 0.1%. Investors analyzed Wednesday's British GDP for the second quarter. The data showed that the economy slowed down less than expected, despite U.S. tariffs on trade and a weaker job market. George Brown, Schroders' senior economist, believes that a large part of the slowdown can be attributed to the fact that manufacturers have frontloaded goods during the previous quarter in order to avoid tariffs. He said that the slowdown should be alleviated in the third quarter despite a more difficult global trade environment. We expect the Bank of England will keep rates at current levels for the rest of the year. Energy sector led the FTSE 100 down by 1.3% Harbour Energy, Shell, and BP all fell more than 1%. The industrial metals sector also fell 1% due to the weakness of copper and iron ore. Aerospace and Defence Index led the gains with a 2.2% increase. Centrica, British Gas's owner, rose 2.5% among individual stocks after it announced that it would jointly purchase National Grid Grain LNG Terminal with U.S. based Energy Capital Partners at a cost of about 1.5 billion pounds (2.04 billion dollars). The insurer Aviva's stock rose 3.5%, reaching a record high of 17 years after it raised its interim dividend. It also reported a 22% increase in the half-year operating profits. This boosted the index for life insurance by 1.6%. Admiral Group rose 4.8%, after reporting a 67% increase in its half-year profit before tax. Diploma, a distributor of technical products, fell by 3.4% when finance chief Chris Davies quit over personal conduct concerns. Ragini Mathur, Rashika Singh and Sahal Muhammed in Bengaluru reported the story. Additional reporting was by Rashika Sing.
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VEGOILS - Palm ends lower due to profit taking; Indonesian Group pushes for B50 delay
Malaysian palm futures ended lower on Thursday after four sessions of gains. Investors booked profits while an Indonesian industry group reportedly lobbied the government to postpone the B50 biofuel mandate. The benchmark contract for palm oil delivery in October on the Bursa Derivatives exchange lost 30 ringgit or 0.68% to 4,405 Ringgit ($1,046.32) per metric ton. A local news website quoted Eddy Martono, the chairman of the palm oil industry GAPKI as saying that the plan could lead to a decrease in palm oil exports. GAPKI was told that it did not submit a written request, but a government official denied having received such a proposal. Anilkumar bagani, the head of research for Mumbai-based Sunvin Group's vegetable oil broker Sunvin Group, said that futures were trading lower on the back of profit taking amid talks of a (GAPKI), which requested officials to delay (B50) as the industry was not ready. Dalian's palm oil contract, which is the most active contract, fell by 1.09%. Chicago Board of Trade soyoil prices were also down by 0.9%. As palm oil competes to gain a share in the global vegetable oils industry, it tracks price changes of competing edible oils. A leading trade group reported that India's palm-oil imports fell in July due to cancellations of import contracts. Meanwhile, soyoil exports soared by a third year, boosted by the arrival of June consignments and competitive prices. A circular posted on the Malaysian Palm Oil Board's website on Wednesday showed that Malaysia increased its crude palm oil price reference for September, which increases the export duty to 10%. The palm's trade currency, the ringgit, fell 0.12% in value against the dollar. This made the commodity more affordable for foreign-currency buyers. $1 = 4.2100 Ringgit (Reporting and editing by Harikrishnan Nair, Vijay Kishore).
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Indian miner IREL looks for partnerships with Japan and South Korea to produce rare earth magnets
A source familiar with this matter has confirmed that India's state owned miner IREL wants to work with Japanese and South Korean firms to begin commercial production of rare-earth magnets as part of its efforts to reduce reliance upon China. The company is looking at both Japan and South Korea for rare earth processing technology, potentially through government-to-government channels, the source said, declining to be named as the discussions are not public. Source: The miner plans to formalise discussions with other countries about rare earth mining and technologies partnerships, and seek IREL approval for commercial magnet production in this year. IREL, as well as the Department of Atomic Energy that oversees the firm, has not responded to any requests for comments. India lacks the commercial scale facilities required to refine and separate all rare earth elements into high purity levels. China, which controls most of the global rare earth mining industry, suspended the export of a variety of rare earths, including magnets, in April. This disrupted the supply chain for automakers, semiconductor manufacturers, and aerospace companies, among others, who use these materials. Source: IREL also approached Toyotsu Rare Earths India - a unit of Japanese trading company Toyota Tsusho - to ask for help in reaching companies in Japan that process rare earth materials. Sources said that IREL met with Toyotsu in order to determine whether or not it could work with Japanese magnet manufacturers. One proposal involved the possibility of a Japanese firm setting up a factory in India. Toyota Tsusho India and Toyotsu Rare Earths India have not yet commented. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, which is responsible for rare earths, has not responded to an email seeking comment. Reports in June stated that India had asked IREL, the rare earth exporter to Japan for 13 years to suspend an agreement to conserve supplies at home. The source stated that IREL was willing to supply neodymium oxid, a rare earth element, to a technology partner who would produce magnets, and then send them to India. Sources said that the state miner has the ability to produce 400-500 tons of neodymium per year, and noted that production could increase based on the terms of collaboration. IREL plans to expand its domestic mining and processing of rare earths. In India, the mining of rare earths is limited to IREL. This company supplies materials for nuclear energy and defence applications. Source: The company is also looking at potential rare earth mining in Argentina, Australia and Malawi, as well as Myanmar.
The Russian rouble is weakening towards 80 dollars per rouble, with the Putin-Trump summit in focus
The Russian rouble weakened from a week-high on Thursday, falling to 80 per dollar. This was aided by the hope of positive U.S. - Russia talks this coming week. However, it was held back by reduced FX intervention by government and declining export revenue.
Since U.S. president Donald Trump gave Russia until August 8 to reach a peace agreement in Ukraine, or else face increased sanctions, the Russian markets are tense. The attention is now focused on the meeting between Trump, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Alaska on August 15.
Maxim Timoshenko, of Russian Standard Bank, said that it was impossible to predict what would happen at this meeting. This means that the rouble's rate may be volatile in the days ahead.
According to LSEG, based on quotes obtained over the counter, at 0930 GMT the rouble had fallen 0.5% to 79.85 dollars and was 0.3% weaker against the Chinese yuan (the most traded currency in Russia).
Brent crude oil, the global benchmark for Russia’s main export, rose 0.4% to $65.87 per barrel.
This month, Russia's net sales of foreign currencies decreased, which reduced support for the rouble.
Timoshenko said that the deferred demand of imports, declining export revenue and budget issues were also factors in the decline of the rouble.
(source: Reuters)