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Pertamina Indonesia is seeking up to 2.8 millions barrels of petrol for July-December. This excludes Singapore supplies
Documents released on Monday showed that Indonesia's Pertamina had issued five tenders to supply nearly 3 million barrels per month of gasoline for delivery between July-December. Two of the bids excluded Singapore from the source of supply. Indonesia may reduce fuel imports from Singapore in order to increase the supply of fuel from the United States, as part of negotiations regarding steep U.S. Tariffs. Documents reviewed by revealed that the state-owned refiner wants to purchase up to 1.6 millions barrels of 90 octane gas per month, for delivery between July-September or July-December this year. The company is also looking for another 1.2 millions barrels of gasoline with 92-octane per month during the same time period. Offers are valid until 30 May. The majority of cargoes are likely to be delivered in Tuban, Tanjung Uban Merak, Semarang Balongan Plumpang. Pertamina Patra Niaga's trading arm did not respond immediately to a comment request. Pertamina is seeking to cancel or delay at least 1,000,000 barrels of gasoline with June loading purchased through a term contract, according to two sources who were familiar with the situation late last week. The sources also said that it was unclear if any seller had accepted the request. LSEG Shiptracking data shows that Indonesia imported an average of 8.4 million barrels per month between January and April in this year.
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Australia's Mineral Resources names Malcolm Bundey the next chair; share prices slide
Mineral Resources, Australia's lithium miner, announced on Monday that it had appointed Malcolm Bundey to the position of non-executive chairman. McClements was replaced after 10 years in the role. The move sent the shares down 9% as part of a wider governance shake-up. Bundey currently serves as the deputy chair of brick manufacturer Brickworks. He previously served as managing director and executive head at packaging solutions provider Pact Group. The mining services provider fell 8.8% to A$24.08, its lowest trading session in almost five weeks. It had fallen as high as 10.2% in the previous session. This made it one of benchmark's worst performing stocks. Grady Wulff is a market analyst for Bell Direct. He said that the lack of mining expertise could have been a factor in today's sell-off. However, he was surrounded by an experienced board and management team. Wulff added, "His extensive management and leadership abilities are what give him his experience and the role he can play." The billionaire-founded company, founded by Chris Ellison, has been working to repair its damaged image after scandals last summer that were linked to its founder and led to the departure of a number of its board members. Wulff stated that the Onslow Iron Ore Project haulage road will be a top priority for the new management because of several incidents that have negatively impacted the performance and success of the project. The company resumed haulage services in March after a week of recovery from a road-train accident.
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Oil prices drop as US and China concerns weigh
The oil prices fell on Monday due to the downgrade by Moody's of the U.S. government's sovereign credit rating, and data from China that indicated a slowdown in industrial production and retail sales. Brent crude futures for the front-month fell 35 cents or 0.5% to $65.06 per barrel at 0440 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude dropped 26 cents or 0.4% to $62.23 per barrel. The front-month WTI contract expires Tuesday, and the more active July contract dropped 31 cents or 0.5% to $61.66 per barrel. Both contracts increased by more than 1% in the last week, after the U.S., China and other major oil-consuming countries agreed to a 90 day pause of their trade war, with dramatically lower import tariffs. Priyanka Sackdeva, a Phillip Nova senior analyst, says that Moody's downgrade has raised questions about the future of the U.S. economic outlook. China's data also indicates a bumpy path for any economic recovery. She said that the Moody's downgrade does not directly impact oil demand, but creates a more sobering market sentiment. Moody's has downgraded U.S. sovereign debt rating due to the growing amount of $36 trillion in the U.S. This could make President Donald Trump's tax-cutting efforts more difficult. China, which is the world's biggest crude oil importer has seen its industrial production growth slow in April. However, it was still better than what economists expected. Beijing and Washington agreed last week to reduce most of the tariffs they imposed on each others' goods. However, Trump's unpredictable attitude and the short-term truce continue to cast a dark shadow on China's export driven economy. It still faces 30% additional tariffs to existing duties. The outcome of the Iran-U.S. nucleus talks is still uncertain, which limits oil price losses. Steve Witkoff, the U.S. Special Envoy to Iran, said that any agreement between the United States of America and Iran should include an agreement that neither party will enrich uranium. This comment was quickly criticized by Tehran. Tony Sycamore, IG's market analyst, said that there was a great deal of hope in those discussions. "Realistically Iran is unlikely to agree to peacefully abandon its nuclear ambitions. It has always insisted that they are non-negotiable." "Iran is less likely to agree to peacefully give up its nuclear ambitions after Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis have collapsed," he said. In Europe, tensions have risen between Estonia and Russia after Moscow detained an oil tanker owned by Greece on Sunday as it left a Baltic Sea port in Estonia. Baker Hughes reported that in the U.S. producers reduced the number of oil rigs operating by one to 473, the lowest level since January. They continued to focus their efforts on cutting spending, which could slow the growth of U.S. crude oil production this year. (Reporting and editing by Florence Tan, Emily Chow and Muralikumar Aantharaman)
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China's crude oil surplus surged in April, as refinery output dipped. Russell
In April, the amount of crude oil that was available in China for storage grew for a second consecutive month. Imports were relatively high while refinery processing declined. According to calculations based upon official data, China's crude surplus amounted to 1,89 million barrels a day (bpd), the highest since June 2023, and an increase from 1,74 million bpd last March. China, which is the world's largest crude importer and has been a major buyer of oil, has bought large quantities of discounted oil, mainly from Iran and Russia, in countries that are under Western sanctions. China does not reveal the volume of crude oil flowing in or out of its strategic and commercial stockspiles. However, an estimate can still be made by subtracting the amount processed from the total crude available through imports and domestic production. According to data released by the government on Monday, refiners processed 14,12 million barrels per day in April. This is down from 14,85 million barrels per day in March, and 1.4% less than one year ago. Crude imports in April were down from a 19-month high (12.11 million bpd) in March. Last month, domestic production fell slightly from its 14-year high (4.48 million bpd) in March. After subtracting the refinery output of 14,12 million bpd, there is a surplus 1.89 million BPD. The surplus crude was 880,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the first four quarters of the year. This is up from the 580,000 barrels per day for the first three months. China's refiners used up their inventories for the first time since 18 months in the first two-month period of 2025. They processed 30,000 bpd per day more than they could get from crude imports or domestic production. The massive surpluses of March and April, however, have reversed this earlier trend. Not all this excess crude has likely been stored, as some is processed in plants that are not included in the official data. Even if you ignore the gaps in official data, there is no doubt that China imported crude oil at a rate far greater than what it needed to meet its domestic fuel needs in March and in April. Options What is the likely trajectory of China's crude oil imports and refinery production in the next few months? Refiners have more options with the large amount of crude oil surplus that has accumulated in recent months. China's refineries are known to buy surplus crude oil when prices are low and reduce imports when prices rise too fast or too high. The increase in imports between March and April is largely due to refiners purchasing Iranian and Russian crude. This was partly because these grades are cheaper than other grades but also partially due to fears that U.S. sanctions against vessels and buyers could be effective. According to commodity analysts Kpler, China's seaborne exports to Russia in April were 1,38 million bpd and in March they were 1,22 million bpd, the highest two months since October of last year when 1.51 million tonnes bpd was imported. Kpler estimated that imports from Iran fell to 743,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April. This was down from 1,39 million bpd, the highest monthly figure since October. If they can find a way to avoid the U.S. sanction, it's likely Chinese refiners would continue to purchase Russian and Iranian crude. It would appear that if the volume of crude they can import from these two suppliers is limited, they will have enough in stock to avoid the risk of driving prices up by importing other sources. These are the views of a columnist who writes for.
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Indonesia searches for 19 missing people following a landslide in a gold mine in Papua
Officials said that 19 Indonesians were missing after heavy rainfall caused a landslide in a gold mining area of Papua. Abdul Muhari said that torrential rains caused a landslide in a small mine operated by local residents on the Arfak Mountains in West Papua Province late Friday night. He added that the landslide killed one person, injured four others and still left 19 people missing. Officials said that at least 40 rescuers, including police and military personnel, had been dispatched to search for missing persons. In Indonesia, accidents caused by illegal and small-scale mining have often occurred in areas where minerals are found in remote locations with conditions that are difficult to regulate. Yefri Sabuddin, head of the local team, said on Monday that the rescuers began the search only on Sunday, because it takes at least 12 hour for teams to reach the site. Yefri stated that "the damaged roads, mountainous tracks and bad weather hindered the rescue efforts." He said that the number of casualties may rise. In September of last year, heavy rains caused a landslide that led to the collapsed illegal gold mine. In July of last year, another landslide at a gold-mining site on the island of Sulawesi killed 23 people. (Reporting and editing by Ananda Teresia)
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MORNING BID EUROPE - So, China should consume less and the US more?
Wayne Cole gives us a look at what the future holds for European and global markets. A miss in China's retail sales has been the biggest disappointment of the day for Asia. It shows how far China still needs to go to move away from export-driven economics to one that is driven by domestic demand. Beijing doesn't seem to want to change this. It's clear that consumers in China aren't buying. Donald Trump tells Americans that they will have to do without dolls and pencils while promoting trade policies which indirectly force Chinese consumers to purchase more. Treasury Secretary Bessent of the United States was on hand Sunday to warn potential trade partners that if they don't offer deals in "good faith", they will be sent a letter with a tariff rate. He implied that the U.S. has limited time to deal only with 18 of its top trading partners and that the rest may be swept away by the wind. The effective tariff on U.S. imported goods is still around 13%. This is the highest level since the 1930s, and equates to a tax increase of 1.2% GDP. Trump wants Walmart to absorb this tax in their margins, rather than pass it onto voting customers. This week, it will be interesting to hear what Target, Lowe's, and Home Depot say about this idea. It reminds me of the kind of price setting that would occur in a Soviet style command-control economic system. Trump is relying on the tariff revenue to help fund his tax-cut package. This package has been approved by a House of Representatives Committee and could be voted upon later this week. The bill could add up to $5 trillion in debt to the U.S. over the next decade. Moody's, which was among the other rating agencies to downgrade the U.S. last week, cited this as a reason. Since the financial crisis when the subprime scandal tarnished the reputation of certain agencies and funds abandoned mandates for triple-A, ratings have not been as important. The news has sparked a reaction among foreign investors who are already displeased with the unpredictable nature of U.S. policies. Wall Street futures have fallen by 1% to 2% today. The yields on ten-year bonds are up by around 5 basis points, and the dollar has fallen a little. Euro bulls are relieved that the unexpected victory of a pro-EU candidate at the Romanian election, as well as the victories by centrist parties from Poland and Portugal, will bring them relief. Market developments on Monday that may have a significant impact Final CPI data from the EU for April Bank of Dallas president Lorie Logan and Bank of Minneapolis president Neel Kahkari are among the Fed speakers.
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Goldman is cautious about oil prices, as the prospect of increased Iranian supply weighs.
Goldman Sachs stated on Sunday that it will maintain a cautious outlook for oil prices as the pressure of likely increased Iranian supply and higher OECD Commercial inventories will counteract support from stronger GDP growth globally. The bank stated that it would maintain its Brent/WTI oil forecasts at $60/56 ($4 less than the forwards), for the rest of 2025, and $56/52 dollars ($8 less than the forwards), in 2026. Goldman Sachs increased its Iran crude oil supply forecasts for the second half 2025-2026 from 3.6 million barrels to 3.6 millions barrels per day following media reports that progress was being made on a possible U.S. Iran nuclear deal. Donald Trump stated on Thursday that a nuclear agreement with Iran is very near. Goldman Sachs stated that if a U.S. Iran nuclear deal is achieved and implemented sustainably, Iran's crude oil supply may gradually increase by several hundreds of thousands barrels each day. The bank stated that "Incorporating lower taxes and higher GDP we are raising our Q4-Q4 global oil demand growth forecasts for 2025 and 2020 by 0.3mb/d (and 0.1mb/d) and respectively to 0.6mb/d (and 0.4mb/d)," the bank added. Goldman Sachs predicts that Brent will fall to $40 by the end of 2026 in a less extreme scenario, with both a global economic slowdown and a complete unwinding of OPEC's cuts. Brent crude futures traded at $65,24 per barrel at 0326 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI crude) was trading at $62,38 per barrel. (Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru)
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London Copper eases after weak data on China demand
After data showing a slowdown in industrial output in China, concerns about the demand outlook for copper in China led to a slight decline in London's copper prices on Monday. As of 0355 GMT, the benchmark copper price on London Metal Exchange (LME), was down 0.1% to $9,438 per metric tonne. China's industrial production and retail sales growth slowed down in April, according to official data released on Monday. A trade war was threatening to slow the momentum of the second largest economy in world. Official data revealed that the country's new house prices were flat for the second consecutive month in April compared to a month before. This extended the trend of no growth to almost two years, despite the efforts made by policymakers to stabilize the sector. Scott Bessent, the U.S. Treasury secretary, said in interviews broadcast on Sunday that Trump would impose tariffs on trading partners who do not negotiate "good faith" in deals at the same rate that he had threatened last month. BMI, an arm of Fitch Solutions, said that Trump's unpredictable policymaking poses a persistent risk to the metal price forecasts for the next few months. Other London metals include aluminium, which fell by 0.5% to $2468.5 per ton. Zinc slipped 0.3%, to $2684.5; lead rose 0.03%, to $2,000, and nickel, which dropped 0.3%, to $15,595. Tin rose 0.2% to $22,875. The Shanghai Futures Exchange's (SHFE) most traded copper contract fell by 0.9%, to 77 630 yuan per ton ($10 758,93). SHFE aluminium fell by 0.1%, to 20,130 yuan per ton. Zinc dropped by 0.2%, to 22,480 yuan. Lead was down 0.4%, to 16,870, while nickel slid 0.5%, to 124100, and tin was down 0.3%, to 264760. ($1 = 7.2144 yuan) (Reporting and editing by Sumana Niandy)
China exports push Nippon Steel to seek growth in United States, India after blocked offer
Nippon Steel is poised to broaden its operations in the U.S. and India as it searches for development and security from cheap Chinese exports after its bid for U.S. Steel was obstructed by the White Home, experts say.
Japan's top steelmaker, battling decreasing domestic need, made the $14.9 billion quote for the U.S. producer in an attempt to grow its footprint in a stronger market. Its hopes of salvaging the offer after President Joe Biden's rejection on national security premises are dependent on a claim that is viewed as a long-shot.
China, by far the world's largest steel producer, has flooded the marketplace with near-decade high export volumes as its struggling home sector weighs on domestic demand, upending the worldwide steel industry and leading Nippon Steel to invest more in basic materials and in production outside its home market.
China's over-capacity is likely to continue to location pressure on steel exporters ... and heighten the need for Nippon Steel to access jurisdictions with growing domestic demand, stated Kyle Lundin, principal specialist at Wood Mackenzie.
Nippon Steel, the world's fourth-largest steel producer, has a long-term plan of increasing crude steel production capacity to over 100 million metric tons a year from about 65 million loads at present and lifting revenues towards 1 trillion yen ($ 6.32. billion) a year from a 780 billion yen target in the monetary. year ending in March.
To be a 'really' international steel producer, greater production. capacity above current state is likely required, said Wood. Mackenzie's Lundin.
Greater production capacity gives flexibility to cut output. in one place and increase it in another where demand is more. solid in order to increase margins.
The United States is the most promising market among. developed countries with a big need for sophisticated steel. products like the ones utilized in electrical cars, Nippon Steel CEO. Eiji Hashimoto told reporters on Tuesday.
He said the company was not yet thinking about alternatives to. the U.S. Steel plan, including it would not quit on expanding in. the United States.
Thinking about the existing industrial and energy policies, the. demand for innovative steel will increase much more in the future. At any rate, the U.S. business is vital to our global. strategy, Hashimoto stated.
Nippon Steel has run in the nation since the 1980s and. has a variety of U.S. possessions, including its prime center, a. joint venture with ArcelorMittal in Calvert, Alabama,. acquired a years ago.
While domestic demand in the U.S. is increasing, its. production capacity is smaller than that of domestic demand,. making it a net importer, said Ryunosuke Shibata, an expert at. SBI Securities in Tokyo.
The Calvert plant produces steel sheets using semi-finished. products protected in the house and overseas and the joint endeavor is. investing nearly $800 million in an electric arc heating system of 1.5. million tons of annual capability to decrease dependence on. third-party supplies.
Wood Mackenzie's Lundin stated Nippon Steel might also take a look at. other U.S. investments and acquisitions that might not posture the. very same political and national security hurdles.
U.S. Steel, established in 1901 by organization icons Andrew. Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and Charles Schwab, has a greatly. unionised labor force and a brand as soon as viewed as a sign of the. nation's commercial may.
INDIA OPPORTUNITIES
Nippon Steel has actually been just recently strengthening its raw. product operations by buying mining properties internationally,. including purchases of iron ore and coking coal possessions in Canada. and Australia over the last year.
It has also asked the Japanese federal government to restrict. imports of steel from China to safeguard the local market where. production is shrinking due to slow demand from the. production and building and construction sectors.
Japan's domestic need is reducing, so they have to go. worldwide and India currently is doing well, said SBI's Shibata.
India is the world's second-biggest steel producer, but like. the U.S. it is a net importer as demand increases.
India's domestic steel demand is seen growing 8.5% this. year, according to the World Steel Association, versus a 1.2%. rise in worldwide usage.
China was India's top steel provider in April-November last. year, the latest data available, with imports reaching an. all-time high of almost 2 million heaps, a 23% boost. year-on-year, federal government information revealed.
With India thinking about an increase to import tariffs for. defense against Chinese steel, the market might use strong. development opportunities.
The foundation of our international technique is to run in. markets with growing need where we can utilize our. technological strengths, Hashimoto stated on Tuesday. In line. with this method, we are actively broadening our service in. India and ASEAN countries, especially Thailand.
In India, Nippon Steel has actually had a joint endeavor with. ArcelorMittal since 2019, but it is a smaller sized player compared to. Tata Steel and JSW Steel, according to. Lakshmanan R, senior research expert at CreditSights. Singapore.
To narrow the space, the joint endeavor, India's fourth-largest. steelmaker, prepares to increase steel production capacity to 15. million lots each year by the end of 2026 from 9 million tons. every year now.
The appearance of the Indian market depends on its development. of need, Nippon Steel Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori stated in. November. In this growing market, we are determined to steadily. expand and further raise our market share in accordance with our. plans.
(source: Reuters)