Latest News
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TotalEnergies Grows Stake in Two Blocks Offshore Namibia
Africa Oil has completed the farm down of its interests in blocks 2912 and 2913B offshore Namibia, containing the Venus field, to TotalEnergies EP Namibia.The farm down was conducted via Africa Oil’s investee company Impact Oil & Gas Limited, which has received a payment of $99 million, as reimbursement for its share of costs incurred on the blocks net to the farm down interests.Impact has retained a 9.5% interest in each of the blocks and will benefit from a carry loan for all its remaining development, appraisal and exploration costs on the blocks from the effective date, until the date on which Impact receives the first sales proceeds from oil production on the blocks.Block 2913B is located in Petroleum Exploration License (PEL) 56, offshore southern Namibia and covers approximately 8,215 km2 in water depths between 2,450 m and 3,250 m.Following the completion of the farm down, Impact now holds a 9.5% interest in this block.TotalEnergies, the operator, holds a 50.5% interest, QatarEnergy holds a 30.0% interest and NAMCOR, the Namibian state oil company, holds a 10.0% interest.Block 2913B contains the world class Venus light oil and associated gas field that was discovered by the Venus-1X well drilled in 2022, which encountered high-quality light oil-bearing sandstone reservoir of Lower Cretaceous age.The field has been appraised with the testing of the Venus-1X side-track well plus three additional appraisal wells that have also been flow tested. These wells are Venus-1A, Venus-2A, and Mangetti-1X.Block 2912 is located in PEL 91, adjacent and to the west of block 2913B. It covers an area of approximately 7,884 km2 in water depths between 3,000 m and 3,950 m.Following the completion of the farm down Impact now holds a 9.5% interest in this block, while TotalEnergies, the operator, holds a 47.2% interest, QatarEnergy holds a 28.3% stake and NAMCOR holds the remaining 15.0%.Following the 2022 Venus-1X discovery well, four further exploration and appraisal wells have been drilled on the blocks to date. Of the five wells drilled, four have, successfully penetrated and tested the Venus field. As a result, planning is currently progressing for the first development area, with a development scheme expected to be finalized by the end of 2025.During 2024, two additional 3D seismic acquisition programs were completed to facilitate further exploration over the southern and northern parts of the combined blocks. This has resulted in most of the licensed area now being covered by 3D seismic. This data is currently being processed and interpreted and will help further evaluate prospects and leads in the far northern and southern parts of the Blocks.On October 20, 2024, the DeepSea Mira spud the Tamboti-1X well, targeting significant additional resource in the north of Block 2913B. Beyond Tambotti-1X, there are a number of prospects in the southern part of the Blocks that are currently being matured by the recent 3D seismic data and create an opportunity for follow-on potential high impact exploration wells, according to Africa Oil.“The farm down allows Africa Oil to retain a funded interest in the Venus development project that is expected to add significant reserves and production to our portfolio. We also believe there is tremendous exploration upside on the Blocks starting with the recently spud Tamboti-1X well,” said Roger Tucker, Africa Oil President and CEO.TotalEnergies Extends DeepSea Mira’s Stay in West Africa
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Sweden Greenlights One, Rejects 13 Offshore Wind Farms
The Swedish government said on Monday it had rejected applications to build 13 offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea due to defense concerns, while it had given the go ahead to one on the country's west coast.Defense Minister Pal Jonson told a press conference that building wind farms in the Baltic Sea would damage defense interests, not least by making it harder to detect and shoot down missiles using Sweden's Patriot batteries in case of a conflict.The single wind farm given the go-ahead, Poseidon on the west coast, will produce around 5.5 Twh of electricity a year, the government said.A further 10 applications to build offshore wind farms are still waiting for a government decision.Sweden is planning to double electricity production over the next two decades to around 300 Twh to meet an expected surge in demand as industry and the transport sector phase out the use of fossil fuels.The right of center government has so far focused on nuclear power, aiming to build the equivalent of 10 full scale reactors by 2045. Sweden currently has 6 reactors in operation.Sweden produced 163 Twh of electricity in 2023. Wind power, almost exclusively land-based, made up around 21% of that, at around 34 Twh.(Reuters - Reporting by Simon Johnson, editing by Anna Ringstrom)
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UAE non-oil organization activity development gets in October, PMI shows
Development in the United Arab Emirates' nonoil private sector activity enhanced in October as output broadened more dramatically, however demand grew at the slowest rate in 20 months, a survey revealed on Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global UAE Getting Managers' Index increased to 54.1 in October from 53.8 in September, remaining above the 50.0 mark signifying development. Following September's three-year low, the speed of growth in output grew to the highest considering that April, with the subindex surging to 61.3 in October versus September's 57.9 reading, associated in part to higher sales and healthy pipelines. Nevertheless, the pace of growth in brand-new orders continued to soften, slipping to 55.9 in October from 56.7 in September, hitting the lowest level because February 2023, although much better global demand supported new sales. A softening of new company growth in October contributed to indications that the non-oil economy is losing strength after a robust growth duration in late-2023/ early-2024, David Owen, senior financial expert at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said. Participants indicated that market crowding was eating into sales and striking job production which slipped to a 30-month low, Owen said, adding that a long pipeline of work stockpiles and continuous agreements might still support future output. In Dubai, the country's industrial and tourist center, non-oil activity development slowed throughout October, with its headline PMI dipping to 53.2 from September's 54.1 reading, in contrast to an general pickup in growth in the UAE. Business self-confidence about the outlook over the next 12 months enhanced for the UAE as a whole in October from September's 18-month low, the survey revealed.
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Saudi non-oil service activity raised by faster brand-new order development in October, PMI shows
The speed of development in Saudi Arabia's. nonoil sector continued to speed up in October, lifted by the. fastest development in brand-new orders given that March, a survey revealed on. Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted Riyad Bank Saudi Arabia Acquiring. Supervisors' Index increased to 56.9 in October, the strongest reading. in six months, and up a little from 56.3 in September. The. heading PMI stayed well above the 50.0 mark signifying growth. The brand-new orders subindex rose to 62.5 in October from 59.3. the previous month, marking the greatest reading considering that March and. attributed in part to greater client need, new marketing. methods and higher infrastructure advancement. The significant increase in new orders this. month ... underscores the success of Vision 2030's tactical focus. on innovation and infrastructure advancement, stated Naif. Al-Ghaith, Riyad Bank's chief economist. The output subindex rose to 60.2 in October from 59.7 the. previous month. Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 technique depends upon hundreds of. billions of dollars in infrastructure investment and domestic. reforms to develop new sectors, diversify income streams,. expand the economic sector and develop jobs. Financing Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan recently said human. resources and application had actually been an obstacle for a few of. the targets, however non-oil GDP now represented about 52% of the. economy. The rate of job development in October remained modest total. Services' self-confidence about the 12-month outlook improved. from September.
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Oil sell tight range ahead of US election
Oil prices traded in a. narrow range on Tuesday ahead of what is anticipated to be an. remarkably close U.S. governmental election, after rising. more than 2% in the previous session as OPEC+ delayed strategies to. hike production in December. Brent crude futures ticked up 14 cents, or 0.19%, to. $ 75.22 a barrel by 0400 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate. crude was at $71.6 a barrel, up 13 cents, or 0.18%. We are now in the calm before the storm, IG market analyst. Tony Sycamore stated. Oil prices were supported by Sunday's announcement from the. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their. allies, a group known as OPEC+, to press back a production walking. by a month from December as weak need and rising non-OPEC. supply depress markets. Still, risk-taking stays restricted with a hectic week -. consisting of the U.S. election, the Federal Reserve's policy. meeting, and China's National People's Congress (NPC) meeting -. keeping numerous traders on the sidelines, stated Yeap Jun Rong,. market strategist at IG. In the meantime, surveys recommend the U.S. governmental race will be. closely contested, and any hold-up in election outcomes and even. conflicts might position near-term dangers for broader markets or drag. on them for longer, added Yeap. Eyes are likewise on China's NPC meeting for any clarity on. financial stimulus to boost the nation's need outlook, however we. are not likely to see any strong commitment before the U.S. presidential results, and that will continue to keep oil prices. in a near-term waiting video game, Yeap stated. On the other hand, OPEC oil output rebounded in October as Libya. resumed output, a Reuters study discovered, although a further Iraqi. effort to meet its cuts pledged to the wider OPEC+ alliance. restricted the gain. More oil might originate from OPEC manufacturer Iran as Tehran has. authorized a plan to increase output by 250,000 barrels each day,. the oil ministry's news site Shana reported on Monday. In the U.S., a late season tropical storm predicted to. heighten into a category 2 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico this. week could reduce oil production by about 4 million barrels,. researchers stated. Technically, crude oil requires to rebound above resistance at. $ 71.50/ 72.50 to negate the disadvantage threats, IG's Sycamore said,. referring to WTI costs. All of which suggests there won't be a scramble to chase it. higher in the short-term. Ahead of U.S. weekly oil data on Wednesday, a preliminary. Reuters poll revealed on Monday that U.S. crude stockpiles likely. rose recently, while extract and gasoline stocks fell.
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Harmful smog wreathes India's capital as winter season nears
A toxic smog shrouded the Indian capital on Tuesday, driving air quality in some areas into the serious range ahead of winter, when cold air traps pollutants and brings a spike in breathing health problems. The mix of smoke, emissions, and dust is a yearly issue for authorities in New Delhi, with cars, building dust, and smoke from farm fires in the adjacent northern states of Punjab and Haryana among the major contributors. The outlook for the subsequent 6 days: the air quality is likely to be in the 'extremely bad' to 'severe' classification, said the earth sciences ministry. The city's general rating on an air quality index kept by India's leading pollution authorities was 'extremely bad' at 384, the ministry added, and was most likely to remain there up until Thursday. An index series of 401 to 500 falls into the 'severe'. category, implying it impacts healthy individuals, however is more. severe for those currently fighting disease. Ministry data showed farm fires have actually increasingly swelled. the contamination over the last 3 days, for a share of more than. 23% on Monday, from about 15% on Saturday. About a 3rd of the city's 39 monitoring stations revealed a. ' serious' rating of more than 400 on Tuesday, stated the Central. Pollution Control Panel (CPCB), well except an air quality. score of absolutely no to 50 that it rates as 'great'. Swiss group IQAir likewise rated Delhi the world's second most. contaminated city on Tuesday, after Lahore in neighbouring Pakistan,. where authorities likewise took emergency steps in the wake of. Sunday's unprecedented contamination levels. The government in the eastern province of Punjab, home to. Lahore, has actually blamed degrading air quality on pollution. wafting in from India, a problem it has actually sworn to take up with its. neighbour through the foreign ministry.
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Australia scrapped satellite because brand-new tech could 'shoot it out of sky', states defence minister
Australia's defence minister said on Tuesday a defence satellite program was scrapped since of the threat of brand-new innovation that can shoot satellites out of the sky, and Canberra instead wants to use a mesh of micro satellites for defence communications. Australia's Department of Defence said on Monday it cancelled a multi-billion dollar Geostationary Earth Orbit satellite job with Lockheed Martin that was to provide Australia's first sovereign-controlled satellite interaction system over the Indo-Pacific ocean regions. Defence Minister Richard Marles stated on Tuesday the federal government had actually abandoned the plan to have two or 3 geosynchronous satellites above Australia to deliver defence communications since the system designed 8 years ago was out of date. Since then, we've seen technologies establish which can literally shoot satellites out of the sky. But we have actually also seen technologies develop where you have countless micro satellites in a much more distributed way supplying the same result, he said in a television interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Marles cited the use of Starlink above Ukraine and stated Australia needs to develop defence communications that are distributed, more durable and cost efficient. Russian and Ukrainian forces have actually utilized Starlink terminals sold by Elon Musk's SpaceX Aerospace business for communications during the Ukraine dispute. Defence workers minister Matt Keogh stated in a radio interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Australia wished to develop a mesh type plan of satellites, which offers higher strength.
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Toyota to publish first earnings drop in 2 years as need cools after huge run
Toyota Motor is expected to post its very first revenue drop in two years when it reports secondquarter earnings on Wednesday, signalling cooling demand after a run of robust revenues helped by a customer shift away from electrical automobiles. The world's biggest car manufacturer is nonetheless anticipated to deliver nearly $8 billion in quarterly operating revenue, benefiting as drivers in several significant markets opt instead for petrol-battery hybrids, which normally command higher revenue margins than basic gas cars and trucks. Still, recent sales and production figures have suggested a. modest slowdown for Toyota. It faced a shipment suspension of. 2 models in the United States and, like international rivals, is. handling fierce competitors in China, the world's most significant. automobile market and one where need for EVs has actually not cooled. The Japanese car manufacturer is expected to report a 14%. year-on-year operating profit decline in July-September, to 1.2. trillion yen ($ 7.9 billion), according to the average of 9. expert price quotes in an LSEG survey. That would mark its first profit decline because the exact same. quarter in 2022. It has currently stated quarterly international sales. diminished 4% from a year previously which output declined 7%. Toyota's strategy to expand its hybrid line-up in the U.S. might make it less exposed to any reduction in EV subsidies or. similar potential policy changes in Washington depending on the. outcome of this week's U.S. presidential election. Hybrids represented 41% of Toyota's global sales in. July-September, or 1.1 million cars, consisting of the luxury. Lexus brand, compared to 33% in the exact same duration last year,. according to business information. Amongst legacy car manufacturers, Toyota is widely considered one of. the slowest to embrace EVs. Battery-only electric cars made. up simply 1.5% of its international sales in the very first nine months of the. year. Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda argued last month that an. EV-only future would cause task losses across the car. industry. Toyota kept its full-year revenue estimate unchanged when it. reported incomes for the April-June quarter, anticipating a 20%. decrease compared to the previous fiscal year on expected. financial investment in both its technique and providers. Shares of Toyota are up 3% up until now this year. In U.S. dollar. terms, they are up 2%, compared to a 2% drop in EV rival Tesla. over the exact same duration.
Gold steady as markets brace for US election, likely Fed rate cut
Gold held steady on Monday as financiers got ready for a key week for the international economy ahead of the U.S. presidential election and the possibility of another rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
Spot gold edged up by 0.1% to $2,738.32 per ounce, as of 0227 GMT. Bullion hit a record high of $2,790.15 on Thursday.
U.S. gold futures were flat at $2,747.80.
Uncertainty this week could benefit gold, as delays in the election result or a split control of the House and Senate might drive safe-haven flows, pressing gold rates higher, stated Tim Waterer, chief market expert at KCM Trade.
The U.S. presidential election is on Tuesday, with opinion surveys too close to call a winner in between Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican Politician Donald Trump.
The U.S. dollar has actually lost some traction to begin the week, which has left the door open for gold to grind greater, Waterer said.
The dollar index was down 0.5%, holding near a. near 2-week low hit in the previous session. A weaker dollar. makes gold more attractive for other currency holders.
Market focus is also on the Fed's rate of interest choice and. Chair Jerome Powell's remarks on Thursday.
Presently, traders prepare for a 98% chance of a. quarter-point rate cut this week, the CME FedWatch tool showed.
Gold is thought about a safe financial investment during times of. financial and geopolitical chaos and it prospers in a low. rates of interest environment.
In China, the Standing Committee of the National Individuals's. Congress fulfills from Nov. 4-8, with markets extensively expecting the. approval of more fiscal stimulus steps. China is a crucial metals. customer.
Among other metals, spot silver rose 0.3% to $32.51. per ounce. It hit a more than 2-week low earlier in the session.
Platinum edged up 0.3% to $994.85 and palladium. climbed 0.8% to $1,106.75.
(source: Reuters)