Latest News
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Church leader: Nigerian abductors killed a priest after one month of captivity
The head of the Church of Nigeria confirmed that an Anglican priest who was kidnapped last month in the northwest of Nigeria has died in captivity. This comes as Nigeria is reeling from a wave of abductions and murders which has drawn the condemnation of Washington. Archbishop Henry Ndakuba stated that Venerable Edwin Achi was killed after spending a month as a captive. He had been taken with his wife, daughter and son from their Kaduna home on October 28. In a late-Friday statement, Ndakuba stated: "With deep sorrow, we announce that our beloved priest... was brutally killed after suffering a month long abduction." The church reported that gunmen demanded at first a ransom payment of 600 million Naira (416,00) to release Achi, but later reduced it to 200,000,000 Naira. His wife and his daughter are still in captivity. Police in Kaduna have not responded to any requests for comments. The killing occurs amid a wave kidnappings across northern Nigeria. Armed gangs kidnapped 25 schoolgirls from Kebbi State on November 17, and days later more than 300 students and staff from a Catholic School in Niger State, prompting the closure of schools in several states. Bola Tinubu, the president of Nigeria, ordered the recruitment and cancellation of foreign trips in order to deal with what he termed a "national crisis." These attacks have also caused international concern. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, called Nigeria's situation "a disgrace". He warned that Washington would halt its aid and even take military action against Nigerian authorities if they failed to stop violence against Christians. Ndakuba called on the government and security services to "identify the treacherous sponsors and financiers, and enablers" of the wave of terror and demanded the immediate release Achi's daughter and wife.
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Russian drones and missiles injure 11, kill 1 in Kyiv
Russian drones, missiles, and explosions caused fires in Kyiv's districts early Saturday morning, according to officials. One person was killed and 11 others injured. This was the second attack in four days on the Ukrainian capital. On Tuesday, seven people were killed when Russian forces fired a barrage with drones and missiles. Tymur Tkachenko said that six locations in Kyiv, a city of three million people, were struck by explosions on Saturday. Apartment buildings and other dwellings were also affected. The military administration reported that the remains of a resident were recovered from the rubble in an apartment building which had been set on fire. The same building was also the site of a child's rescue. Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of the city of Kiev, said that a strike also caused a fire to start in the lower levels of an apartment building west of the centre. A second fire was also quickly put out in the central district. After 5 am (0300 GMT), a new alert was sent out in the capital for drones approaching. Online pictures showed an apartment building on fire, and emergency crews working in the streets and alongside damaged buildings. (Reporting and editing by Ron Popeski, Diane Craft, Tom Hogue and Chris Reese)
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Rosneft, Russia's oil company reports 70% drop in nine-month net profit
Rosneft, Russia's biggest oil producer, reported a 70% drop in net income from January to September, falling by $3.57 billion or 277 billion Russian roubles. The company attributed the decline to high interest rates and cheaper oil, as well as a stronger rouble. Shell and TotalEnergies have seen their quarterly profits fall due to lower oil prices. Rosneft stated that the increased "anti-terror" security was putting additional pressure on its results. The company didn't elaborate on specific security measures. Ukraine has increased drone attacks against Russia's energy infrastructure. Rosneft reported that its revenues dropped 17.8% to 6.29 trillion rubles in the first nine-month period of the year. The high key interest rate of the Bank of Russia continues to negatively impact the profit. Rosneft also said that non-monetary factors and special events had a negative impact on the indicator's dynamic during the reporting period. EBITDA (earnings before taxes, depreciation, and amortization) decreased by 29.3% for the period to 1.6 trillion Russian roubles.
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Petrobras cost-cutting could affect new wells in the Equatorial Margin Region
Petrobras' CEO stated on Friday that the company could reconsider some of its 15 planned wells in the "Equatorial Margin" because Brent oil prices will likely remain low for the next few years. Petrobras has cut its investment plans for the period 2026-2030 by $500 million up to $2.5 billion. Magda Chambriard, Petrobras' Chief Executive Officer, said at a recent press conference that "we had a large number of wells in the Equatorial margin; some were prioritised, while others were, say, deprioritized based on the Brent crude oil price." She did not specify how many wells would be examined. Petrobras is drilling in an environmentally sensitive region off the coast Amapa, known as Foz do Amazonas. Fernando Melgarejo, the Chief Financial Officer of Petrobras, told journalists that the company's cuts would also affect the extraordinary dividends paid to shareholders. He said the likelihood of distributing extra cash is low in the future. Chambriard stated that despite the cuts, Petrobras will maintain its oil production around 2.6 or 2.7 millions barrels per day up until 2034, after ramping it back up in 2027. Petrobras' new business plan expects it to reach a peak oil production level in five years. Reporting by Fabio Téixeira and Marta Nogueira from Rio de Janeiro, writing by Andre Romani and editing by Kyrry Madry and Paul Simao
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Silver sets new record for silver; gold heads to fourth consecutive monthly gain
Gold spot rose 1% on Friday to a new two-week-high, amid expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would cut interest rates in the coming months. Silver also hit a record high. Gold spot was up by 1.3% at $4,210.94 an ounce as of 03:11 pm EST (20:11 GMT) after hitting its highest price in November 13 earlier this morning. Bullion is expected to rise 5.2% for the month and 3.6% for the week, marking a fourth consecutive increase. Silver reached a new record high at $56.78 an ounce. This is up 6.1% in the session, and 16.6% over the course of the month. After an outage that lasted for several hours at CME, trading in foreign exchange, commodities and futures, including Treasuries, stocks, and Treasuries, resumed around 8 a.m. U.S. Gold Futures for February Delivery settled 1.3% higher, at $4.254.9 an ounce. INVESTORS FOCUS ON FED Bart Melek is global head of commodity strategies at TD Securities. He said that some investors are returning to gold because they believe the Federal Reserve will cut rates. Gold is more likely to perform well when interest rates are low. The recent dovish comments from Fed Governor Christopher Waller, and New York Fed president John Williams, coupled with the softer economic data after the recent U.S. Government shutdown, has strengthened expectations that central bank rates will be cut next month. The traders now see 87% of a chance that the rate will be cut in December. This is up from 50% just last week. Jim Wyckoff is a senior analyst at Kitco Metals. He said that "the technical charts have become more bullish over the last week or two, which has encouraged chart-based investors to bet on the long side of silver." This week, gold demand in major Asian markets was muted as high prices slowed retail purchases despite the beginning of India's festive season. The removal of the tax exemption for gold purchases in China has slowed consumer demand. Palladium gained 0.8%, to $1450.16, and is set to gain 5.6% for the week. Platinum rose 4%, to $1672.50. (Reporting from Bengaluru by Pablo Sinha; Additional reporting by Sarah Qureshi, Editing by Rod Nickel and Paul Simao; Vijay Kishore).
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Silver sets new record for silver; gold heads to fourth consecutive monthly gain
Gold spot rose 1% on Friday to a new two-week-high, amid expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would cut interest rates in the coming months. Silver also hit a record high. Gold spot was up 1.6% at $4,222 an ounce as of 01:44 pm EST (18.44 GMT), the highest price since 11 November. It was also set to gain 3.9% per week. Bullion is on course to record a 5.5% increase this month and is set for its fourth monthly gain. Silver reached a new record high at $56.52 an ounce. This is a 5.5% increase for the session, and a 16% gain for the entire month. After an outage that lasted for several hours at CME, trading in foreign exchange, commodities and futures, including Treasuries, stocks, and Treasuries, resumed around 8 a.m. U.S. Gold Futures for February Delivery settled 1.3% higher, at $4.254.9 an ounce. INVESTORS ARE FOCUSED UPON THE FED Bart Melek is the global head of commodity strategies at TD Securities. He said that some investors are returning to gold because they believe rates will be cut by the Federal Reserve. Gold is more likely to perform well when interest rates are low. The recent dovish comments from Fed Governor Christopher Waller, and New York Fed president John Williams, coupled with the softer economic data after the recent U.S. Government shutdown, has strengthened expectations that central bank rates will be cut next month. The traders now see 87% of a chance that the rate will be cut in December. This is up from 50% just last week. Jim Wyckoff is a senior analyst at Kitco Metals. He said that "the technical charts have become more bullish over the last week or two, which has invited chart-based investors to be on the long side of silver." This week, gold demand in major Asian markets was muted as high prices curbed the retail buying of the precious metal despite India's wedding season. The removal of the tax exemption for gold purchases in China has slowed consumer demand. Palladium rose 0.5%, to $1.445.20, and is set to gain 5.2% for the week. Platinum was up 3.2% at $1,659.83. (Reporting from Pablo Sinha, Bengaluru Editing done by Rod Nickel and Paul Simao)
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Adani, an Indian company, wants to invest up to $5 billion in Google's data centers to take part in the AI boom
Adani Group, owned by Alphabet, plans to invest $5 billion into Google's India AI Data Centre Project, an executive revealed on Friday. The company is looking to capitalize on the booming demand in data capacity across the world's largest nation. Google announced in October that it would invest $15 Billion over five years in the state of Andhra Pradesh to build an artificial intelligence data center. This is its largest investment in India. AI demands enormous computing power. This is driving demand for data centres with thousands of chips linked together in clusters. Adani Group CFO Jugeshinder Singh stated that the Google project may mean an investment up to $5 billion in Adani Connex, a joint venture of Adani Enterprises with private data centre operator EdgeConneX. Singh told reporters Friday that "It is not only Google. There are many parties who would like to collaborate with us, particularly when the capacity of our data centres goes up to gigawatts and beyond." Google has committed to investing about $85 billion in expanding data centres capacity this year. Tech companies are investing heavily in infrastructure as they try to meet the demand for AI-based services. The Indian billionaires Mukesh and Gautam Ambani also announced investments to build data centres. The campus of the data centre in Visakhapatnam, a port city, will initially have a power capacity of one gigawatt. $1 = 89.3660 Indian Rupees (Reporting and editing by Kevin Liffey; Harshita Pandya, Dhwani Pandya)
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Silver sets new record for silver; gold heads to fourth consecutive monthly gain
Silver also hit a new record high. Spot gold rose by 1% on Friday to a 2-week high, amid expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates in the coming months. By 12:10 pm EST (1710 GMT), spot gold had risen 1.3% to $4210.49 an ounce, its highest price in two weeks. It was also set for a weekly gain of 3.4%. Bullion is on course to record a 5% increase this month and is set for a fourth consecutive monthly rise. Silver reached a new record high of 56.41 dollars per ounce. This is a 5.3% gain for the session, and a 15.2% increase for the month. After an outage that lasted for several hours at CME, trading in the currency platform, as well as futures covering foreign exchange, commodities and Treasuries, resumed around 8:15 a.m. U.S. Gold futures for delivery in February rose by 1%, to $4245.70 an ounce. INVESTORS FOCUSED UPON FED Bart Melek is global head of commodity strategies at TD Securities. He said that some investors are returning to gold because they believe the Federal Reserve will cut rates. Gold does well in environments with low interest rates. Recent dovish comments from Fed Governor Christopher Waller, New York Fed president John Williams and softer economic data after the recent U.S. Government shutdown have increased expectations that the central banks will reduce rates next month. The traders now see 87% of a chance that the rate will be cut in December. This is up from 50% just last week. Jim Wyckoff is a senior analyst with Kitco Metals. He said that "the technical charts of silver have become more bullish over the last week or two, which invites chart-based traders to be on the long side in the silver market." The demand for gold was muted across the major Asian markets during this week as high prices discouraged retail purchases despite India's wedding season. The removal of the tax exemption for gold purchases in China has slowed consumer demand. Platinum rose 3.2%, to $1659.02 and was up 10% on the week. Palladium rose 1.3%, to $1456.68, for a gain of 6%. (Reporting from Pablo Sinha, Bengaluru Editing done by Rod Nickel and Paul Simao.)
A mountain of asset sales loom after oil megamerger period
U.S. oil and gas companies could deal with an uphill struggle to sell about $27 billion of properties to fund investor payouts over the next few years as the greatest wave of energy megamergers in 25 years nears the end of regulative reviews.
The share buybacks and dividends are required to entice financiers back to an industry that lots of have actually avoided over volatile returns and pressure to decarbonize portfolios. Energy stocks represent simply 4.1% by weight of the S&P 500, a 3rd of their 2011 share as tech and healthcare financial investments took off.
But finding brand-new owners for these homes is unlikely to be quick or simple, bankers and analysts warn. There are less institutional and European oil purchasers interested, and a lack of all set cash to fund these deals. The personal equity companies that once purchased Big Oil's cast-offs have turned to energy transition, social effect and sustainable financial investments.
The scale of mergers has been extraordinary with $180. billion from six offers given that October. Driven by a rush to include. oil reserves that can be tapped in the future, most of these. offers are expected to finish up this year and will let loose a burst. of oil wells, pipelines, offshore fields and facilities. bundles onto the marketplace. The absence of ready buyers suggests. sales will require time and might develop into asset swaps, instead of. cash sales.
Three acquirers - Chevron, ConocoPhillips. and Occidental Petroleum - have actually vowed to raise between. $ 16 billion and $23 billion combined from post-closing sales. Exxon Mobil, the leading dealmaker, has not divulged a. divestiture target. But it has actually raised $4 billion each year in. sale earnings since 2021.
In addition to less private-equity and worldwide. buyers, more extensive regulative evaluations have actually slowed the. marketing kickoff. Some financial investment lenders believe the. divestitures might run well into next year.
STRIKING THE MARKET
Exxon, which bought Pioneer Natural Resources for $60. billion in May, wishes to offer a collection of standard oil. and gas residential or commercial properties across the Permian Basin, to focus on greater. development assets, a representative verified.
Conoco is primed to offer Western Oklahoma gas homes. gotten in its $22.5 billion offer for Marathon Oil, and. Chevron likely will put a few of Hess' Asia offshore possessions. along with its Canadian and U.S. gas bundles now on the block,. people acquainted with the matter stated on condition of anonymity. due to the fact that regulatory reviews are underway.
Occidental has actually readied a sale of West Texas shale possessions. that might fetch $1 billion, and could include offshore Gulf of. Mexico and Middle East assets when its CrownRock acquisition. closes, state experts.
Exxon confirmed it is exploring a sale of choose. conventional oil properties in West Texas and New Mexico consistent. with our strategy to continuously assess our portfolio. It has. not set a new property sale target because the Leader offer.
Conoco and Occidental decreased to discuss their possession. sales targets.
A Chevron representative stated after the Hess closing we're. going to add some properties that are going to be extremely appealing. to other business. It might produce $10 billion to $15 billion. in pre-tax profits through 2028.
HURDLES REMAIN
These are not the best assets in the market, stated Luis. Rhi, a portfolio supervisor at asset management firm Barrow Hanley. Global Investors, who believes the business can afford to sit. pat till the marketplace for assets improves.
There is a genuine disconnect between the possessions available and. the dollars raised to purchase those properties, David Krieger,. co-managing partner at Houston energy investment company Covalence. Investment Partners. Dry powder for oil and gas investing is a. fraction of what it used to be, he stated.
Europe's oil majors, burned by previous ventures into U.S. shale,. are not apt to return, said Brian Williams, handling director at. financial investment bank Carl Marks Advisors. They have actually finished their. education and have mainly exited U.S. shale, he stated.
Smaller sized private-equity backed firms lack the capital for. these offers, state energy consultants. In 2023, simply 78% of announced. oil deals were below $1 billion in expense, compared to 94% in. 2019, according to M&A advisory company Petrie Partners.
There are not a great deal of sub-$ 1 billion acquisitions. occurring, stated Todd Dittmann, who has actually invested in energy for. several years, mainly just recently for Angelo Gordon & & Co. There is an exit issue in energy personal equity and. partners are not happy about it, he said.
WHO'S LEFT?
Closely-held oil business including Hilcorp, which. specializes in purchasing mature fields, smaller publicly traded oil. manufacturers, and Asian and Middle East investors are best. positioned. Japanese companies just recently have revealed more interest. in U.S. gas, state bankers.
Hilcorp, founded by billionaire Jeffery Hildebrand, is. munching at the bit to get a take a look at Big Oil's cast-offs, stated. an individual familiar with the business.
Somewhere else, We continue to see interest from parts of. the globe outside Europe-- Asia, Middle East and other areas--. where there is cravings to be included and release capital, stated. Bruce On, a partner in Ernst & & Young's strategy and transactions. group.
Many residential or commercial properties in the leading U.S. shale field will be traded. away or kept for their capital, said Andrew Dittmar, director. of M&A at energy analytics firm Enverus.
There is going to be a great deal of ammo for swaps and. trades in West Texas and New Mexico, he said.
(source: Reuters)