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Valero Port Arthur refinery partially restarts after blast, according to sources
Two people familiar with the plant's operations said that Valero Energy Corp. has partially restarted their 380,000 barrels per day Port Arthur, Texas refinery after an explosion and fire on March 23. Valero repairs the heater on the 210,000 bpd crude distillation unit (CDU) while the production line of the 115,000 bpd CDU is running. This production line is closed. A Valero spokesperson failed to respond to a question for comment. During an inspection of the units of the refinery following the 23 March shutdown of the unit due to the fire, Valero found a damaged tube within the AVU-146?heater. Valero intends to restart the CDU once the heater tube is repaired. AVU 146 is a crude distillation unit that accounts for 2% or 9.62 million bpd of the crude oil refinery capacity of the U.S. Gulf Coast States of Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. This represents over half of 'the U.S. overall. AVU 146 is capable of 3.4% of Texas' total atmospheric crude distillation capability of 6.13 millions bpd. CDUs work at atmospheric pressure, converting crude oil to?feedstocks? for other refinery units. The March '23 explosion and fire at the diesel hydrotreater did not result in any injuries, but a?person filed a suit, claiming he was injured after being knocked down. Valero had previously refused to comment on the lawsuit. Due to the shutdown of the refinery, the price of diesel rose by 16 cents per barrel the day after the explosion. (Reporting and editing by Nathan Crooks, Nick Zieminski, and Erwin Seba)
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Oil rallies and stock market record highs follow the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon
The global stock market rose to a new record high on Thursday, as the announcement of the ceasefire between Israel & Lebanon lifted sentiment. However, oil prices also increased as the global supply buffers continue dwindling with the Strait of Hormuz still being blocked. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, announced that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a 10-day truce. He also said the next U.S.-Iran meeting could take place this weekend. Two Iranian sources said that the negotiations have scaled down their goals for the talks because the U.S. Navy has also stopped Iranian vessels from crossing the Strait. Israel is waging an parallel campaign in Lebanon against the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah. In a Thursday post on Truth Social, Trump said that Israeli leaders and Lebanese officials had agreed to a 10-day truce. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at record levels for the second session in a row, led by an increase of 1.6% in the S&P 500 Energy index. The Nasdaq is now up for a record?12 consecutive sessions, which is its longest winning streak ever since July 2009. MSCI's global stock index rose 0.3% or 3.26 points to 1,064.19, after reaching an intraday high of 1,065.59. The?pan-European STOXX 600 Index edged down by 0.05%. Is a PULLBACK in the Offing? Some investors believe that the market is due for a?retrenchment'. The war is still a major driver for the market. It would be unusual for us not to stall and go back to retest, even though we broke through to new highs yesterday, said Robert Phipps. He is a director of Per Stirling Capital Management, in Austin, Texas. The rubber band was stretched very far to the bottom. The rubber band has now snapped back, and it is no longer twisted to the bottom. Crude futures prices have been fluctuating wildly in recent days. This is often due to Trump's latest optimistic pronouncements about an imminent end to conflict, which would result in the Strait of Hormuz being reopened to allow for the movement of one-fifth of world oil and gas supplies. Oil prices rose on Thursday. U.S. crude settled up 3.7% at $94.69 per barrel while Brent settled up 4.7% at $99.39. The Dow Jones Industrial Average grew 115 points or 0.2% to 48,578.72. The S&P 500 rose 18.33 points or 0.3% to 7,041.28. And the Nasdaq Composite increased 86.69 or 0.4% to 24,102.70. U.S. beverage giant PepsiCo grew 2.3% as it exceeded quarterly profit expectations. Abbott Laboratories in the healthcare industry, Charles?Schwab brokerage and Travelers insurer all suffered losses after releasing results. After the U.S. weekly initial jobless claims came in lower than expected, the U.S. Dollar rose and retraced some of its recent loss. The index that measures the greenback versus a basket including the yen, the euro and other currencies rose by 0.22%. The index had fallen for eight consecutive sessions?throughout Wednesday. It had lost most of its gains?as war increased the appeal of the country as a haven. Gold prices were not much changed. Gold prices were little changed. Spot gold rose by 0.02%, to $4.790.79 per ounce, while U.S. futures rose by 0.08%, to $4.803.70 per ounce.
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US sanctions Nicaraguan officials involved in gold sector
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions Thursday on a number of individuals and companies operating?in Nicaragua’s gold sector. This included two sons?of?the co-presidents?of the country. The Treasury Department announced in a press release that Santiago Hernan Bermudez Tapia is also sanctioned. He is Nicaragua's vice-minister of energy and mining. The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against a number of companies that they said were complicit in helping Nicaragua's government to generate money through gold and maintain its political control. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the Nicaraguan Government, led by?Rosario Murillo, her husband Daniel Ortega and their family, sought to "confiscate American investments" by the country. He said: "The United States will not permit the illegal confiscation of American assets, and will continue to target the revenue streams that empower Murillo-Ortega's corrupt regime." Washington has used economic and diplomatic pressure on Managua to reform since April 2018, when a violent crackdown began following mass protests. Last year, the?United Nations accused dozens of officials in Ortega's Government of grave human rights violations and crimes. It described this as "a tightly coordinated system of repression", following protests. Treasury said that the sanctions imposed Thursday were a result of the occupation of 2025 and the forced seizure by BHMB Mine Nicaragua S.A. in Nicaragua, a Nicaraguan firm founded in 2019 using foreign investment from a U.S.-based company. The report said that high-ranking officials of the Murillo Ortega government had benefited from Nicaragua’s increased gold exports over the past few years, as well as state-owned Empresa Nicaraguense de Minas' actions to funnel profits to “private sector partners” and to give "kickbacks" to "regime?insiders." Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned two of the ruling family's sons: Maurice Facundo Ortega Murillo who is the Nicaraguan president's delegate for sport and Daniel Edmundo Ortega Murillo who leads the Communication and Citizenship Council of Nicaragua. Santa Rita Mining Co. was given land concessions to extract minerals. Exportadora de Metales Sociedad Anonima in Nicaragua sells gold 'to the U.S. Treasury also announced that Grupo Minero Xiloa S.A. was sanctioned. Treasury accused the company of using U.S. financial systems to legitimize illegal funds, and then using the proceeds to fund the political machinery of the government. The companies and individuals listed did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Kobe defeats Al-Sadd to advance to the Asian Champions League semifinals
After a thrilling 3-3 draw,?Vissel KOBE advanced to the Asian Champions League Elite semi-finals on Thursday?as they eliminated Roberto Mancini's Al Sadd on penalties?by a score of 5-4. Claudinho missed the third round penalty kicks, leaving substitute Jean Patric with the opportunity to score the winning spot-kick for the J-League team. The club advanced to the final four for the first time in its history. Michael Skibbe said that Japanese teams never give up. His team, Kobe, equalised in stoppage time through Yoshinori Muto to send the match into extra time. We tried to score until the very last second, and we did it even at the last moment. Al Sadd took the lead at the end of the sixth minute after a flowing counterattack that was sparked off by a clever backheel by Roberto Firmino towards Claudinho inside his own half. The Brazilian quickly moved the ball to Akram Afif, and his incisive?pass found Rafa mujica at the?edges of the penalty box. From?there the Spaniard?scored a clinical?first-time finish over Daiya maekawa. The Japanese team took 18 minutes to reply. Former Japan international Yuya Okasako found himself unmarked at 12 yards from the goal when he received Gotoku Sakai’s cross on the right. He powered a header past Meshaal Barrsham. Osako nearly added a second goal when he headed the ball against the crossbar ten minutes before the end of an entertaining first-half. Al Sadd won the game with two goals in just four minutes of the second half. Mujica scored his team's second goal in the 61st, after Firmino redirected Claudinho’s pass to the penalty area with his chest. Mujica, the former Las Palmas striker, then provided the third Al Sadd goal. He grabbed Afif's deep pass and set up Firmino when he was unmarked in the Kobe penalty zone. Yusuke?ideguchi gave Kobe a chance with?16 mins remaining, when he shot from 10 yards into the bottom right corner. Muto then?head in Rikuto?Hirose's?cross with the final touch of regulation time to send the game into extra-time. Maekawa's three saves kept Kobe in the match in extra time, and moved the game to a shootout. Vissel's penalty takers were perfect in the shootout. They set up a meeting in the last four with either Al Ahli champions or Malaysia's Johor Darul Ta'zim. (Reporting and editing by Christian Radnedge, Michael Church)
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Oil prices rise as doubts over a U.S. peace agreement with Iran lift stocks.
Oil prices rose on Thursday due to concerns about a possible deal to ease the grip of Middle Eastern energy supply. U.S. president Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a 10-day truce and that the next meeting between Iran and the United States could take place this weekend. Israel is waging an parallel campaign in Lebanon against the militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. In a Thursday post on Truth Social, U.S. president Donald Trump stated that Israeli and Lebanese officials had agreed to?start a 10-day truce at 5 pm EST (2200 GMT). Wall Street saw U.S. stock prices rise, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite achieving intraday records. The S&P 500 Energy index was the best-performing of the 11 major S&P sector indices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 80.75 points or 0.16% to?48.542.75, while the S&P 500 rose 869 points or 0.12% to 7,031.57, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 41.33 points or 0.17% to 24,057.35. The war remains the most significant?driver for the market. Robert Phipps is a director of Per Stirling Capital Management, in Austin, Texas. The rubber band was stretched very far to the bottom. The rubber band has snapped and is not longer stretched downward. The market should now trade on its own fundamentals. PepsiCo, the U.S. beverage giant, gained 1.5% as earnings season began to pick up. They beat their quarterly profit expectations. After reporting their results, Travelers, Charles Schwab Financial and Abbott Laboratories all dropped. MSCI's global stock index rose by 2.36 points or 0.22% to 1,063.29, while the pan-European STOXX 600 closed down by 0.05%. OIL MARKETS SKEPTIC Oil prices rose after falling earlier on the hope of a solution to the Middle East conflict. U.S. crude oil settled up by 3.72% at $94.69 per barrel and Brent settled for $99.39 per barrel, an increase of 4.7% in one day. After data showed that initial weekly jobless claims last week were lower than expected, the U.S. Dollar rose and retraced some of its recent declines. The index, which measures greenbacks against a basket including the yen, euro and yen, rose by?0.22% at 98.22. The index fell for eight consecutive sessions until Wednesday, losing most of its gains as the war increased the appeal of the greenback as a "safe haven". Investors were weighing whether any ease in tensions between?U.S. The Federal Reserve is expected to cut rates if tensions between the U.S. The spot price of gold rose 0.01%, to $4,790.57 per ounce, while U.S. futures gold prices advanced by 0.08%, to $4,803.70.
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US: Ten-day Israel/Lebanon ceasefire can be extended by mutual consent
Israel and Lebanon will implement a 10-day truce beginning at 5 pm EST (2100 GMT) Thursday in order to facilitate negotiations towards a permanent "security and peace" agreement. The U.S. State Department said that the ceasefire could be extended mutually. Israel's campaign against Lebanon is a major obstacle in achieving a peace agreement sought by U.S. president Donald Trump in order to end his war with Iran, which he began?with Israel late February. This has disrupted global energy trade and risen oil prices, risking further economic fallout. According to the U.S. State Department, once the ceasefire agreement is signed, the Lebanese Government will 'take steps to prevent Hezbollah, and other non-state groups on its territory, from launching any attacks against Israel. The agreement states that "All parties acknowledge Lebanon's Security Forces as the exclusive responsible for Lebanon's Sovereignty and National Defense; No other country or group can claim to be a guarantor Lebanon's Sovereignty." Israel may take the necessary self-defense measures against imminent or planned attacks during the ceasefire period. However, it has agreed to refrain from any offensive military actions in Lebanon during the 10 days. According to the 'ceasefire agreement,' the two countries asked the United States to facilitate "further direct" negotiations between them in order to resolve any remaining issues. This includes demarcating the international border. The U.S. State Department released a text that stated: "Israel and Lebanon affirm they are not at war, and commit to good-faith negotiations, facilitated through the United States, with the goal of reaching a comprehensive agreement which ensures "lasting security, peace, and stability between the two countries."
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Lescure: G7 finance leaders are ready to act on Iran war fallout.
French Finance Minister Roland Lescure announced on Thursday that the Group of Seven finance and central bank chiefs had agreed to be ready to "act" to reduce economic and inflation risk caused by Middle 'East war energy price and supply fluctuations. Lescure told reporters at the International Monetary Fund's and World Bank's spring meetings that the outcome of the global economy depends on the speed with which the conflict is resolved. The International Energy Agency, with the support of the G7, released last month a record-breaking amount of oil from its strategic reserves in order to counter the cuts of supplies from Gulf nations through the Strait of Hormuz. Lescure, after the G7 Finance Ministers' and Central Bank Governors' meetings on Wednesday and Thursday said: "We must ensure that we know where the balance of risks will be in the coming weeks." Lescure added, "We will be meeting again in Paris in one month and we'll make sure we monitor the situation, evaluate the impact, and if necessary, act as we did when we released inventories just a few weeks ago." France is the G7 president this year. The industrialized democracies includes the United States, Canada, Japan and Britain. Francois Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, added that the G7 central banks had also committed to taking steps to prevent Iran's war-related energy and commodities shocks from being embedded in core inflation second and third round price impacts. We will act without hesitation if necessary. But we're not in a hurry. We need more data about the impact on the prices of the shocks. Lescure stated that the G7 leaders met for the first time this year in person and also promised to continue aiding Ukraine. This includes helping Ukraine prepare for winter next year after a tough?winter? this year due to constant Russian attacks against Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Lescure stated that "Ukraine shouldn't be collateral damage of the war in Iran." "Russia can't benefit from what is happening in Iran." Scott Bessent of the U.S. Treasury Department, who missed Thursday's G7 summit on critical minerals, said on Wednesday that he wouldn't renew a temporary waiver for 30 days on sanctions against Russian oil stranded in the sea. The waiver expired on April 11 and was intended to relieve price pressures through the release of more oil onto global markets. G7 finance leaders discussed creating 'alternative supply chain' for rare earths, and other critical minerals. This would reduce the countries' dependence on China as the dominant supplier. He stated that the group will continue to work on "very tangible steps" which could be presented at a G7 meeting in Evian-les-Bains, a French Alpine spa city in June. (Reporting and editing by Andrea Ricci; David Lawder)
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Gold prices hold steady as market attention turns to Iran peace talks
Gold prices were stable on Thursday, after reaching a high of?one-month in the previous session. As of 1:36 pm, spot gold was little changed at $4.785.57 an ounce. ET (1736 GMT). U.S. Gold futures ended the day 0.3% lower, at $4.80830. Investors became concerned about inflation and the market's liquidity. The precious metal fell in March, after U.S. and Israel began a war against Iran in late-February. Gold is a?asset that yields nothing, so it tends to lose its appeal when interest rates rise. Gold has recovered on the back of hopes that the U.S. will?achieve a lasting peace with Iran and end the conflict - bringing down the energy prices and decreasing expectations for higher rates. Peace talks are expected to resume between the two nations after previous talks broke down over the weekend. U.S. president Donald Trump announced in a post on social media that a ceasefire will begin?at 5 pm EST (2100 GMT) to stop a conflict that has erupted between Israel and Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist group that is aligned with Iran. David Meger is the director of metals at High Ridge Futures. He said that if we see an easing in tensions between the U.S. and Iran or a war ending, the Federal Reserve will likely cut rates down the road. Current?traders believe that there is a 32% probability of a U.S. rate cut in this year. New applications for the?U.S. Last week, unemployment benefits dropped, indicating that labor market conditions are stable. However, employers remain cautious in hiring, as the war against?Iran is a cloud over the economy. Silver spot fell 1% to $78.29 an ounce on Thursday. Silver is headed for its sixth consecutive year of structural deficit. Since '2021, 762 million troy ounces have been drawn from stock, raising the risk of another 'liquidity squeeze, despite lower demand expectations. Palladium dropped 0.7% and platinum lost 0.6%, to $2,096.20. Ashitha Shivprasad reported from Bengaluru, and Emelia Sithole Matarise, Nia William and David Gaffen edited the article.
Eurogroup chief: EU must have energy union in order to compete with US, China
The European Union must have a European energy union before it can implement other reforms to remain competitive with the United States. Kyriakos pierrakakis, chairman of the eurozone's finance ministers group, said on Thursday that the European Union must create an energy union in order to remain competitive against the United States.
Pierrakakis, speaking at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington said that the EU needed to create a true energy union to allow energy to easily flow across borders and lower electricity prices on the 450 million-person single market.
European energy prices are between two and three times more expensive than those in the U.S., or China. This puts the EU 27 at a competitive disadvantage compared to other global competitors.
"Advancing the energy union in Europe ... will have a direct ... positive impact, both energy-wise, ?but I would say competitiveness-wise. "We need this... to be in a position to implement the entire vision of the Letta and Draghi reports," Pierrakakis said at a seminar held during the International Monetary Fund spring meetings.
Mario Draghi, former Italian prime minister, and Enrico Letta, former Italian prime ministers, prepared reports in 2024 on how to improve the EU's single market and boost Europe's competitiveness. They recommended dozens of reforms.
There are several initiatives, including efforts to consolidate 27 national capital markets of the EU into one. A special legal regime would also be introduced for pan-European firms that would apply across the entire bloc. And a digital Euro would be launched as a European controlled means of online payment.
Pierrakakis stated that without a "full-scale" energy union we would not be able create the conditions necessary to implement these elements of the policy.
Since 2015, the EU has been working on a project to coordinate energy policies and create an integrated, single market for gas and power. This allows electricity to be sold and moved easily from one region to another.
The plan will require large investments in modernizing and connecting the national European electricity grids, joint purchasing and storage as well as overcoming political obstacles and vested interests from national energy sectors. This plan is all the more important after the energy crisis of 2022, caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and more recently by the closing of the Strait of Hormuz - the gateway to a fifth of world oil and gas - as a result of U.S. and Israeli war against Iran. (Reporting and editing by Paul Simao; Jan Strupczewski)
(source: Reuters)