Latest News
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CERAWEEK: Agarwal, a billionaire oil industry investor, may expand Cairn production by investing in US oil service companies
Cairn India, India's largest private oil and gas company, said Tuesday that it could invest in U.S. engineering and service companies as part a plan of $5 billion to increase output by five times in the next few years. Anil Agarwal, a billionaire, said in an interview that he wanted to invest $5 billion to develop his project and reach 500,000 barrels of oil per day. Cairn Limited, a part of Vedanta, produces today 100,000 bpd. The company plans to drill several deepwater exploratory wells in the next year. Agarwal said, during a trip to Houston, where he attended CERAWeek, that Cairn is looking to buy five or six drilling rigs and work with seven or eight technical partners to explore and develop the offshore project. Agarwal stated, "We would like to have at least 20 drilling rigs working in our field." He said, "I can invest into the engineering company and the rig company because it will help me explore India better." I'd love to see American companies come together and work on this project. (Reporting and editing by Simon Webb, David Gregorio, and Ron Bousso)
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Trump rules out Australia's exemption from steel and aluminum tariffs
Australian media, citing an official at the White House, reported that Australia would not be exempted from U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum that President Donald Trump will impose Wednesday. In February, Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to exempt Australia from tariffs due to the U.S. surplus in trade with Australia. Australian Broadcasting Corp, citing White House spokesperson KarolineLeavitt, reported that Trump had decided against it. Leavitt said that if they wanted to be exempted they should move the steel manufacturing here. During his first term as president, Trump exempted Australia of U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs. On Wednesday morning, tariffs of up to 25% will be applied on all steel and aluminum products imported into the United States from other countries. On Tuesday, Trump sparked a trade war between his country and its northern neighbor by stating that Canada would pay 50% of the tariffs. Later, he said he'd likely lower the tariffs after Canadian officials agreed for talks. A spokesperson for the Australian government said that Albanese’s administration has been working at all levels within the U.S. Government to secure an exemption. The spokesperson stated by email that "We are still in discussions with the United States Administration and will have more information to say." Australia is an important U.S. ally and security partner in the Indo-Pacific region. However, it exports very little steel to the U.S.
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Kimmeridge wants to increase Canada oil and Gas activism in the face of trade war and underperformance
Kimmeridge Energy Management, according to a senior executive, will be more active in its efforts to improve the performance of Canadian oil and natural gas producers. The company is also looking for ways it can benefit from the current trade war between the United States and Canada. The U.S. President Donald Trump has increased tariffs against Canada's northern neighbor. However, Canadian oil and natural gas exports have received less penalties. Kimmeridge managing director Mark Viviano said that tensions could spur new thinking and increase Canadian energy exports to other countries. This is especially true for liquefied gas. Mark Viviano, managing partner at Kimmeridge, said the tensions would encourage new thinking to boost Canadian energy exports. Viviano, in an interview at the CERAWeek Conference, said that the tariffs and trade war would be long-term beneficial for the Canadian Industry, as it will force the industry to diversify its export markets to Asia. Kimmeridge reached a settlement last week with Advantage Energy after the Calgary-based oil and natural gas producer appointed two new independent directors. The company also set up a committee to examine the possibility of selling the company. Viviano stated that Kimmeridge is expecting to make additional investments in Canada, as the upstream industry there is ripe for activistism, even though it does not have any positions outside of Advantage. He said: "We believe that the industry needs to be consolidated because of its fragmentation. We also think there are a lot of poorly performing management teams and boards who are more concerned with increasing production than generating shareholder value." Kimmeridge, a leader in the oil and gas industry in the United States in recent years has targeted many of the issues Viviano believes are prevalent in Canada. The company has been largely absent from the U.S. market for the past year. It currently only owns one U.S. producer: Expand Energy. This is due to its legacy holdings in Chesapeake Energy (previously Southwestern Energy) and Chesapeake Energy before their merger into Expand. The combination of a slumping U.S. stock market and lower crude oil prices has pushed the valuations of small and medium-sized U.S. manufacturers down by more than 20 percent in the past month. Viviano stated that "clearly we are seeing a lot of volatility and a huge amount of underperformance" in some smaller and midsized exploration and production firms. We have some capital that we can put to good use, and we believe the market will be coming to us.
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Guyana is considering a plan to refine oil and import fuel in the US
Irfaan Ali, the Guyanese president, said that Guyana was considering a plan for exporting crude oil to America for refinement and bringing back fuel to supply domestically and perhaps to sell to other countries nearby. Guyana's economy is one of the fastest growing in the world thanks to the rapid increase in oil production at its prolific offshore oilfields. These fields are operated by an Exxon Mobil-led consortium. The government has a right to receive a certain percentage of the oil produced as profit, which is exported through trading companies that distribute cargoes on different markets, primarily Europe. Guyana doesn't have refineries but it is in talks with Dominican Republic and companies to build a small one. Ali, who was also asked by the CERAWeek conference if there were tensions with Venezuela, said that Guyana would do whatever it takes to maintain regional peace. A long-running dispute has erupted between the South American neighbors over which country is entitled to the area of Esequibo, measuring 160,000 square kilometers (62,000 square miles). The case before the International Court of Justice is still ongoing. He said: "We only ask that Venezuela respects the ICJ, and the rule law." (Reporting and editing by Simon Webb, Nia Williams, and Marianna Pararaga)
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Brazil wants to increase its sugar exports tax-free to the US
Two sources familiar with the situation said that Brazil would propose a boost in tax-free sugar imports to the United States during talks in Washington. The South American country is looking to protect its sector in the face of possible U.S. tariff increases on ethanol. Brazil's sugar sector has tried to increase the quota for tax-free exports of sugar to the United States in the past, but without success. It is not certain that existing tax-exempt export quotas will be renewed. The urgency of these discussions has increased as Brazil is facing a potential challenge on another front in its agricultural trade with America - ethanol. In February, just a few months after Donald Trump was elected, the White House announced reciprocal tariffs on countries that tax U.S. products. The U.S. Government has promised to announce a new tax package on April 2 that could include a potential tariff on ethanol. This renewable fuel is made in Brazil primarily from sugarcane. At present, 147,000 tons of Brazilian sugar may be exported to the United States without being subjected to import taxes. Exports exceeding this figure are subject to an average tax of 80 percent per ton. According to Brazilian government statistics, last year, 1.1 millions tons of Brazilian sugar was sent to the U.S. Sources claim that if tariffs were implemented, the increase in tax-free quotas would allow Brazilian sugar producers to increase production in case of a possible drop in demand for the ethanol. The sources reported that the first meetings were held between Brazil's Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week. This was followed by a meeting between Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, and U.S. Representative Jamieson Greer. Sources said that during the talks, officials agreed to have technical groups begin discussions on tariff issues. They also added that Brazil expects new products to be included in future talks. Brazil's corn-ethanol industry is expanding rapidly, and this has led to a focus on U.S. exports of sugar. Citi Investment Bank said that Brazil's corn ethanol annual production will nearly double by 2032 to 16 billion liters. One of the sources stated that there will be attempts to increase an additional U.S. Meat Export Quota. (Reporting and writing by Bernardo Caram, Lisandra Paraguassu and Oliver Griffin; editing by Roberto Samora, Lisa Shumaker and Lisa Shumaker).
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Stocks recover some of their losses as optimism about Ukraine counters tariff fears
Investors gained some ground Tuesday, despite their fears about the impact of U.S. Tariffs. They were encouraged by Ukraine's agreement with Russia to end hostilities. During talks in Saudi Arabia with U.S. officials, Ukraine agreed to a 30-day immediate ceasefire. U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio stated that this left it up to Russia to respond. The news came after President Donald Trump exacerbated economic worries by announcing that he had instructed his Commerce Secretary to impose an additional 25% on all U.S. imports of steel and aluminum from Canada. This would bring the total tariff for these products to 50%. Mona Mahajan is the head of investment strategy for Edward Jones. She cited Trump's recent tariff announcement as a reason why there was still uncertainty and volatility in this market. The slowdown in economic growth was already occurring before the uncertainty surrounding tariffs in the U.S. This is normal in the first quarter, but it is unusual to add policy uncertainty to the mix. The S&P 500 dropped the most on Monday after Trump refused to rule out recession due to his trade policies in an interview with Fox News over the weekend. He also spoke of a "period transition" and a "period that is changing." Adding to the concerns over tariffs, data released on Tuesday showed that U.S. small business confidence fell for a third consecutive month in February. This erased much of what had been gained after Trump's election win in November. Phil Blancato of Osaic Wealth, a New York-based chief market strategist, said that Delta Airlines' and Kohl's' guidance also suggested a softerening in consumer spending. Investors also awaited the latest inflation information from the U.S. Consumer Price Index reading for February due on Wednesday. The data for last month was hotter than expected, with the largest monthly price increase since August 2023. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 188.56, or 0.45% to 41,716.7, at 2:52 pm EDT (1852 GMT). The Nasdaq Composite was up 182.80 or 1.05% at 17,645.07. After spending the majority of the morning in the red and closing 10% below its previous record high, the S&P500 rose 11.45 points or 0.2% to 5,624.63. MSCI's global stock index fell 0.85 points or 0.1% to 831.88, having fallen as low as 822.44, which was over 7% below the most recent record closing on February 19. The STOXX 600 pan-European index closed earlier with a 1.7% decline. After dropping sharply on Monday the U.S. Treasury Yields have also stabilized and are pulling away from the five-month lows that were hit earlier in this session. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10 year notes increased 7.8 basis points from 4.213% on Monday to 4.291%. The yield on the 2-year bond, which is usually in line with expectations of interest rates for the Federal Reserve has risen 4.5 basis points, to 3.941%. The U.S. Dollar rose to an all-time high of one week against the Canadian Dollar, while the Euro reached a four-month-high against the Greenback amid hopes for a German defense spending agreement. The euro rose 0.9% to $1.0928, but the dollar gained 0.38% against the Japanese yen at 147.82. The Canadian dollar rose 0.26% against the greenback, to C$1.44 a dollar. After a sharp drop on Monday, oil prices increased, but gains were limited as worries about a U.S. economic slowdown and tariffs' impact on the global economy grew. U.S. crude oil settled up by 0.33% to $66.25 per barrel. Brent crude settled at $69.56 a barrel, an increase of 0.4%. After a day of selling, gold prices rose 1.01%, to $2,918.63 per ounce. U.S. Gold futures increased 0.85% to $2.915.50 per ounce. Reporting by Sinead carew in New York; Alun John, in London; Ankur Banerjee, in Singapore; Alun, in London; additional reporting by Dhara, Kirsten, and Rod Nickel.
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Angola's presidency has announced that it will try to broker direct negotiations between Congo and M23.
Angola announced on Tuesday that it will attempt to broker direct negotiations between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda-backed M23 M23 rebels within the next few days. The Congolese government has refused to engage in talks with M23 on numerous occasions and so far, there is no comment. The Southern African nation has been working to mediate for a long-lasting ceasefire, and deescalate tensions with Rwanda. Rwanda has been accused by the Congo of supporting the Tutsi rebel group. Rwanda denies that it has provided arms and troops to the M23 rebels and claims its forces are acting out of self-defence against the Congolese Army and militias hostile towards Kigali. Since January, M23 rebels have taken control of the two largest cities in east Congo. This is an intensification of a longstanding conflict that has its roots in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the struggle to control Congo's vast minerals resources. Angola’s presidency released a Facebook statement stating that Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi made a working trip to the capital of Angola, Luanda. He met with his counterpart Joao Louisco. The presidency said that "Angola will contact the M23 as a mediator in the conflict east of Democratic Republic of Congo so that Congo and M23 delegations can hold direct talks in Luanda within the next few days." (Reporting and writing by Congo Newsroom; Editing and editing by Sandra Maler).
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Al Shabaab gunmen attack hotel in central Somalia, seven dead
An elder reported that Al Shabaab gunmen murdered at least seven people during an attack Tuesday on a hotel located in the central Somali town of Mogadishu, where local elders were meeting with government officials to discuss ways to combat the Islamist militant group. Al Qaeda linked group claimed responsibility for Beledweyne attack and said that it killed more than 10 people. Ali Suleiman, a shopkeeper, claimed that the attackers forced entry by setting explosives off at the entrance. Al Shabaab regularly launches gun and bomb attacks in the fragile Horn of Africa country as it attempts to topple government and establish their own rule based upon its strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia Law. Seven people have died, including clan elders with their guards. All of these are my relatives. The hotel is on fire in some areas and it's not clear whether the operation has been completed or not," said clan elder Abdullahi Fidow. Some say that the fighters continue to fight in nearby buildings. He said that the death toll could rise due to the explosions and gunfire by the fighters. Dahir Amin Jesow is a federal legislator from Hiraan, the capital town of the region. He said that government forces tried to flush out Al Shabaab militants who had been killed nearby in alleyways. Ali Farah told the local military officer that a fighting incident in a village of the Middle Shabelle Region in southern Somalia resulted in at least ten deaths, including eight Al Shabaab members. The Somali National News Agency, a state-owned news agency, reported that Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had been at Mogadishu's airport to receive soldiers injured in the fighting. Reporting by Abdi sheikh and Fesal Omar, Writing by Elias Biryabarema, George Obulutsa and Sharon Singleton; Editing and editing by Ed Osmond, Howard Goller and Sharon Singleton
Greenland's election tests its independence as US interest looms
Greenland voters vote in an election on Tuesday that is being closely watched by the world after Donald Trump's promise to seize control of the island rich in minerals.
Since taking office in January, Trump has pledged to make Greenland - a semiautonomous Danish territory - part of the United States. He says it's vital for U.S. national security interests.
With a population of only 57,000 people, the island has become entangled in a geopolitical struggle for dominance in Arctic where melting icecaps are making its natural resources more accessible, and opening up new shipping routes.
Both Russia and China intensified their military activities in the region.
Greenland is three times larger than Texas. It was a Danish colony until 1953. In 1979, when the first parliament was created, it gained some autonomy. However, Copenhagen still controls the foreign affairs, defence, and monetary policies, and contributes just under $1 billion to its economy each year.
It won the right to full independence in 2009 through a referendum. However, it hasn't done so out of concern that living standards could drop without Denmark’s economic support.
Trump's interests have shaken the status quo, and combined with the growing pride in Inuit culture among the indigenous people, independence has become a major issue in the election.
Masaana Edde, editor of the local newspaper Sermitsiaq, said that Trump had pushed independence to its limit. It has brought a lid to everyday issues.
The polling stations will open at 11:10 GMT and close at 22:20 GMT. The final results are expected to be announced between 01:00 GMT and 03:00 GMT on Wednesday. There are no exit polls or polls.
A poll conducted in January showed that a majority of Greenlanders support independence but differ on the timing and impact it could have on their living standards.
More than a dozen Greenlanders were interviewed in Nuuk. All of them said that they supported independence. However, many also expressed concerns about the economic impact and the elimination of Nordic welfare programs like free healthcare and schooling.
The island is rich in natural resources including rare earths, which are used by high-tech industries from electric cars to missile systems.
Greenland, however, has not been able to produce them as quickly due to the environmental concerns and severe weather. China also controls this sector to a near-total extent, making it difficult for other companies to secure buyers or make a profit.
INVESTMENT PLEDGES
Trump refused to rule out the use of military force at first, which alarmed many Greenlanders. However, he softened his position later, saying he would "respect the will of local people" and that he was "ready to spend billions of dollars" on them if they decided to join the U.S.
Greenland Prime Minister Mute Ede stressed that the island was not for sale, and advocated a coalition government in order to resist pressure from outside. In a Monday interview with Danish broadcaster DR he called Trump's offer disrespectful and expressed his willingness to work with other countries.
The six major parties, including Ataqatigiit, the Inuit ruling party, and Siumut, the government coalition partner, all support independence, but have different views on when and how it can be achieved.
Naleraq, the main opposition party that supports independence, gained momentum in the run-up to the elections, thanks to the U.S.'s interest and new accusations about Denmark's historical exploitation of Greenland’s mineral wealth.
Qunanuk, a Naleraq Candidate, said: "This is our election for independence."
The party believes that U.S. interests strengthen Greenland's positions in secession negotiations with Denmark. It aims to put a deal to Copenhagen to a vote in time for the next four-year election.
Egede, Egede's editor, said that the party may be able to increase its five current seats but it is unlikely that they will secure a majority.
(source: Reuters)