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L&T Joins Hitachi Energy to Support TenneT’s 2GW Offshore Wind Grid Scheme
India’s EPC contractor Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has been hired to deliver High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) converters in support of the Dutch-German transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT’s 2GW offshore wind grid program in the North Sea.Collaborating with Hitachi Energy, a global technology leader in electrification, L&T has been nominated by TenneT to deliver HVDC converter stations, as part of the initiative that aims to accelerate the integration of large-scale renewable energy into the European power grid, particularly across the German and Dutch sectors of the North Sea.The collaboration brings together complementary strengths in advanced technology, engineering excellence, and end-to-end project execution.“Partnering with TenneT and Hitachi Energy for this pioneering program underscores the confidence our customers place in L&T’s growing capability to execute complex, technology-intensive infrastructure projects,” said S N Subrahmanyan, Chairman & Managing Director - L&T.To remind, TenneT recently terminated Petrofac’s cope for the 2 GW offshore wind grid project, that was supposed to be delivered in collaboration with Hitachi Energy.Petrofac’s scope included the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) of offshore platforms and elements of the onshore converter stations.Shortly after, Petrofac filed for administration.Petrofac Goes into Administration after TenneT’s OW Contract Termination
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FLOWRA, ClassNK to Collaborate on Floating Offshore Wind Technology Development
The Floating Offshore Wind Power Technology Research Association (FLOWRA) of Japan and Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore technology development cooperation in the field of floating offshore wind. FLOWRA is a technical research association that works with overseas organizations to research and develop common basic technologies for floating offshore wind to reduce costs and risks.ClassNK is an independent, non-profit international classification society, ensuring maritime safety and environmental protection through comprehensive inspection and certification services across a global network.
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Dollar to rise for third consecutive month as Fed caution on rate increases boosts gold
Gold prices fell Friday as the dollar strengthened on fears of further Federal Reserve rate reductions, but bullion is still on course for its third consecutive monthly gain. As of 0240 GMT, spot gold was down 0.5%, at $4,004 an ounce. Bullion is up 3.9% this month. U.S. Gold Futures for December Delivery remained unchanged at $4,016.70 an ounce. Tim Waterer, Chief Market Analyst at KCM Trade, said that the Fed Chairman's hawkish stance this week did not do gold any favors. The prospect of a December rate cut is now much less certain than previously believed, which has helped boost the dollar and made things more difficult for gold in terms of yield. Dollar index nears its highest level for three months compared to its rivals. This makes bullion expensive for holders of other currencies. The U.S. Central Bank cut interest rates on Wednesday by a quarter percentage point, for the second consecutive time in this year. This brings the benchmark overnight rate down to a range of target of 3.75%-4.00%. After comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, traders reduced their bets on the Fed cutting rates again in December at its next policy gathering. According to CME Group's FedWatch, the markets now price in a probability of 74.8% for a 25 basis-point reduction from the Fed by December. This compares with a chance of 91.1% a week earlier. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to reduce tariffs against China in exchange for Beijing crackingdown on illicit fentanyl trafficking. He also stated that the U.S. would resume its soybean purchases as well as continue exporting rare earths. SPDR Gold Trust is the largest gold-backed ETF in the world. Its holdings increased 0.42% on Thursday to 1,040.35 tonnes from 1,036.05 on Wednesday. Spot silver remained at $48.94 an ounce. Platinum rose 0.2% to 1,614.53, and palladium increased 1.7% to $1469.63. (Reporting and editing by Subhranshu sahu, Mrigank dhaniwala in Bengaluru)
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Sources say that Indian Oil purchases Russian crude oil from entities not sanctioned by the United Nations.
Indian Oil Corp, the top refiner in India, has purchased five cargoes from non-sanctioned companies for delivery in December. Traders said that India had resumed purchases despite Washington's pressure to stop purchasing Russian oil. Washington imposed sanctions last week on Rosneft, and Lukoil - the two largest Russian oil companies - in an effort to increase pressure on President Vladimir Putin for the end of the war in Ukraine. Since then, Indian refiners, including the state-run Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd., HPCL Mittal Energy Ltd. and Reliance Industries (the operator of the largest refining facility in the world) have stopped buying Russian oil. Anuj Jain is the head of finance at IOC. He has stated that his company will buy Russian oil as long as it is in compliance with the sanctions. The European Union (EU), the United Kingdom (UK) and the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia, including those that affect shipping, for its involvement in the Ukraine conflict. The sanctions forced Russia to offer its oil at steep discounts. India is now the largest buyer of Russian crude oil by sea. One of the sources in the trade said that IOC had purchased about 3.5 millions barrels of ESPO for delivery to an eastern Indian port by December at a price similar to Dubai's. One of the sources said that they did not know who the sellers were. IOC didn't immediately respond to an outside-of-working hours request for comment. The majority of Russian ESPO crude oil exports from Kozmino, a port on the Pacific coast, are usually shipped to China. The demand for ESPO crude from China has decreased after U.S. sanctioned state refiners stopped purchasing, and independent Chinese refineries have used up their import quotas. The price of ESPO has dropped, which makes it more attractive to Indian buyers.
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Iron ore prices fall on rising stocks and falling demand; weekly and monthly gains are expected
Iron ore futures fell on Friday due to dwindling Chinese demand and increasing inventories. However, hopes for a trade agreement between the two largest economies in the world kept prices on course for weekly and month gains. As of 0148 GMT on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange, the most traded January iron ore contract fell 0.93% and was trading at 797 yuan (111.89 dollars) per metric ton. This is a rise of 3.3% for this week. As of 13.8 GMT, the benchmark December iron ore price on the Singapore Exchange dropped 0.61% to $100.8 per ton. This is a 2% increase for this week. Both benchmarks saw a gain of around 2% in the month of March on optimism for a trade agreement during a Thursday meeting between U.S. president Donald Trump and his Chinese equivalent, Xi Jinping. After the meeting, Trump stated that he and Xi had agreed to lower tariffs against China in exchange for Beijing crackingdown on the illicit fentanyl traffic, resuming U.S. soya bean purchases, and maintaining rare earths exports. First Futures analysts said that the macro-driven driving forces have receded since the Trump-Xi summit. Investors shifted their focus to the weakening fundamentals in the steel-making ingredient, as the macro boost was fully priced. Data from Mysteel revealed that the average daily hot metal production, which is a measure of iron ore consumption, dropped 1.5% on a week-on-week basis to 2,36 million tons by October 30. Portside inventories increased 0.8% during this period. A Friday official survey revealed that the decline in China's manufacturing activity for the seventh consecutive month, October, was also pushing up prices. Coke and coking coal, which are used to make steel, both rose by 1.04% apiece. The Shanghai Futures Exchange saw a decline in most steel benchmarks. Rebar fell 0.19%, while hot-rolled coils dropped 0.21%. Stainless steel dropped 0.43%. Wire rod gained 0.12%.
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Australian shares snap a three-day losing streak as Banks and miners drive the Australian share price upwards
Australian shares rose Friday, ending three consecutive sessions of losses. Banks and miners saw gains, while Origin Energy shares fell to a new two-month-low after the company reported a sequential decline in its first quarter revenue. By 0004 GMT, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had risen 0.5% to 8,930.80. The benchmark closed Thursday 0.5% lower. Origin, a power producer, was one of the biggest losers in the benchmark index after it reported a 12% decline in revenue from its stakes in the Australia Pacific LNG Project. This was due to lower LNG prices and volumes. The firm's shares fell 6.3% to A$11.81 in their lowest trading session since April 7. Separately shares of insurance broker Steadfast Group were the biggest losers on the benchmark index, dropping up to 18.9% to A$5.03, their lowest level since November 16, 2022. After the company's bell rang on Thursday, Robert Kelly, its CEO and managing director, announced that he would temporarily step down from his position while an investigation was conducted by an outside party into a complaint lodged against him. On the local stock exchange, the banks rose 0.8% while the "Big Four", which includes the four largest banks, rose between 0.1% to 1.3%. Gold miners rose on the backs of higher gold prices, which boosted their gains by 1.2%. The shares of gold miners Evolution Mining (up 3.5%) and Northern Star Resources (up 3.8%) rose respectively. JB Hi Fi continued to fall for the second consecutive session. The firm had posted on Wednesday a dramatic sequential decline in sales growth for its Australia and New Zealand segment in the first quarter. Shares of Mayne Pharma, a potential acquirer, fell to their lowest intraday performance ever after it was revealed that Australia's Treasurer would block the A$672 ($436.67$) takeover. The benchmark S&P/NZX50 index in New Zealand rose 0.4% to 13,509.0.
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Hastings, Australia, to negotiate an offtake agreement with Ucore on Yangibana Project
Hastings Technology Metals, an Australian company, announced on Friday that its Yangibana joint-venture project in Western Australia had agreed to negotiate a possible offtake agreement with Ucore Rare Metals Inc. of North America. The Yangibana project for rare-earths, niobium, and other metals is a joint-venture with Wyloo Metals of Andrew Forrest, who holds 60%, and Hastings Rare-Earths, which has the remaining 40% via its subsidiary Yangibana Jubilee. Hastings CEO Vince Catania said, "The joint assessment of a downstream Hydromet facility in the U.S. shows the efforts made by Wyloo Ucore and Hastings for accessing the financing and commercial opportunity arising from a rare-earths agreement recently announced by the U.S. government and Australian government to support jointly "ready to go "projects." The deal could cover up to 37,000 tonnes of high-grade rare earth concentrate per year, while both parties evaluate the feasibility of building an downstream hydrometallurgy facility in Louisiana. Hastings stated in a press release that the parties would work to execute a definitive agreement. This is expected be finalised by June 2026. If the current momentum continues, shares of the Australian developer of rare-earths could rise as high as 19.3% and reach A$0.68. This would be their best session in over a week.
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SK Innovation expects Q4 margins to be resilient
SK Innovation Co Ltd, the owner of South Korea’s largest refiner SK Energy said on Friday that it expects the refining margins to remain stable in the fourth-quarter amid global supply disruptions as well as the onset winter peak demand. The company reported an operating loss of 423 billion won in the period July-September, but a profit of 573 trillion won for that same period. This compares to an analyst's average forecast of 304 billion dollars in profit. The third-quarter revenue increased 16.3%, to 20.5 trillion won, from the same period last year. SK On, a battery supplier to Ford Motor Co., Volkswagen and Hyundai Motor, among others, increased its operating loss from 66.4 billion won to 124.8 billion in the third quarter. This was due to a slowdown in EV batteries shipments. SK Innovation stated in a press release that the performance of its battery unit in the third quarter was affected by lower sales of batteries, which were affected by the phase out subsidies for battery powered vehicles in the United States. In September, SK On entered into a contract with U.S. based Flatiron Energy Development for the supply of lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP) for energy storage systems. This was its first order to use LFP batteries in ESS. SK's agreement echoes a growing trend of EV battery manufacturers expanding into energy storage to hedge against the slowdown in EV batteries demand. On Thursday, LG Energy Solution, SK On’s rival across the street from it in South Korea said that they expect U.S. EV batteries sales to decrease this year compared to a year earlier. After the earnings announcement, shares of SK Innovation rose 0.2%, compared to the benchmark KOSPI which grew by 0.3%.
CORRECTED-BHP's Anglo buyout makes business sense if the price is ideal: Russell
BHP Group's. proposed takeover of rival miner Anglo American is one of those. uncommon circumstances where a megamerger in fact makes strong. service sense, but it will be challenging to pull off to the. satisfaction of all celebrations.
BHP, the world's biggest mining company, offered. $ 39 billion last week to buy Anglo, a move the. London-listed miner that grew out of South Africa rejected as. significantly undervalued.
The expectation now is that BHP might increase its deal, or. other purchasers for Anglo, or parts of its diversified portfolio,. may emerge.
Much of the limelights has actually concentrated on Anglo's copper. assets as the lure for BHP, with a combined business ending up being the. world's largest producer of the industrial metal with a share of. around 10%.
In effect, BHP's quote is largely seen as a massive vote of. confidence in the future of copper, which is essential to the. energy transition offered its residential or commercial properties as a conductor and its. resistance to rust.
The bid might also be an implied admission on BHP's part that. buying copper assets is far easier than searching for them and. establish brand-new mines.
Anglo has interests in 3 copper mines in Chile and its. production in the 2023 financial year was 507,000 metric heaps,. which led to underlying profits before interest, taxes,. devaluation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $1.452 billion.
The London-listed miner likewise has a 60% share in the. Quellaveco mine in Peru, which gave it production of 319,000. lots and EBITDA of $1.781 billion.
This offered Anglo total copper output of 826,000 heaps and. EBITDA of $3.233 billion, or 32% of the group's overall for 2023.
BHP's copper organization is more varied, with operations. in Chile, Peru, Australia and the United States, and in the 2023. financial year production was 1.717 million tons for an. underlying EBITDA of $6.65 billion.
For the sake of argument, assume Anglo's copper incomes can. be preserved and the copper rate stays steady, it would take. about 6 years for the earnings to settle half of BHP's. current offer price for Anglo.
Naturally, it's most likely that there would be some cost. synergies, and it's likewise probably the case that copper costs. rally, particularly if the energy shift begins to speed up.
That would make Anglo's copper possessions more valuable to BHP. as the return would be over a shorter time period.
Naturally, this presumes that BHP's view of Anglo's possessions is. that copper is efficiently half of the worth of the overall. company.
The concern for investors looking at BHP's proposed. takeover of Anglo is how much are Anglo's non-copper properties. worth, can they be disposed of successfully, or incorporated into. the broader group.
COAL, IRON ORE
The asset that fits finest with BHP's existing portfolio is. Anglo's metallurgical coal mines in Australia's Queensland. state.
BHP, through its alliance with Japan's Mitsubishi, is the. world's biggest exporter of the coal utilized mostly to make. steel, while Anglo ranks third.
Integrating their possessions would produce a dominant metallurgical. coal gamer, so much so that the deal is most likely to bring in. examination from regulators, especially in countries like Japan,. which source the large bulk of their coal from Australia.
The present BHP proposal predicts Anglo's South African iron. ore possessions, held through Kumba Iron Ore, and the. platinum mines of Anglo American Platinum, being. divested and distributed to investors.
This may present issues for the South African authorities,. but it's also a sad reflection of how worldwide business. are no longer keen on possessions in the country that was when. renowned as a centre of mining quality.
Iron ore is BHP's most significant earner, and the high-grade. material produced by Kumba would work in the portfolio, however. South Africa's political risk and crumbling facilities make. it unsightly.
Anglo's Brazilian iron ore operations likewise offer high-grade. ore, which BHP could integrate or seek to sell.
Platinum is a commodity that may have a hard time in the energy. shift, offered its use in catalytic converters for internal. combustion engine automobiles.
Anglo's other interests, such as diamonds through De Beers,. and manganese through Samancor, might most probably be sold to. existing partners: the Botswana government for De Beers and. South 32 for the manganese.
Overall, the mechanics of the deal seem to make great sense. for BHP.
They can be made to make good sense for Anglo's investors if. the offer is lifted enough so that they can't say no.
Winning over numerous regulators across several nations may. be much more tricky, and compromises may be needed, and that. might end up undermining the very logic of the deal in the first. location.
Disclosure: At the time of publication Clyde Russell owned. shares in BHP Group as an investor in a fund.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a writer. .
(source: Reuters)