Latest News
-
Bloomberg News reports that Adani representatives meet Trump officials to try and end US bribery.
Bloomberg News reported that representatives of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, and his companies, met with officials in the U.S. administration under President Donald Trump to request dismissal of criminal charges brought against him as part of an overseas bribery investigation, according to people familiar with this matter. According to the report, the talks that began in January gained momentum over the past few weeks. If the pace continues, they could result in a resolution within the next month. In November, U.S. officials indicted Adani along with his nephew Sagar Adani. They alleged that the two men paid bribes for Indian power supply contracts and misled U.S. Investors during fund raisings. The SEC summoned Adani, his nephew and others on the grounds that they had paid millions of dollars in bribes for Indian officials. They also allegedly misrepresented anti-bribery compliance when a $750,000,000 Adani Green Energy bond was issued. Bloomberg News reported that Adani's representative is trying to convince Trump that the prosecution of his case does not align with Trump priorities and should therefore be reconsidered. Bloomberg declined to comment on the report from an Adani Group representative and spokespeople at the Justice Department, White House or White House. The Adani Group and the U.S. DOJ have not responded to requests for comment. Adani Green announced late last month that its review of the U.S. Indictment had found no irregularities or non-compliance. (Reporting and editing by Mrigank Dahaniwala in Bengaluru, Bipasha Dey)
-
South Africa's Gold Fields will buy Australia's Gold Road for $2.4 billion in a deal
Gold Road Resources announced on Monday that South Africa's Gold Fields would acquire Gold Road Resources as part of a sweetened agreement, valuing Gold Road's Australian equity at A$3.7billion ($2.39billion), Gold Road. This comes amid a surge in mergers and acquisitions due to the sky-high gold prices. Gold Road's share price rose as much as 12 percent on the offer. The offer was made at a premium of 14.5% to the last closing price. The purchase will allow Gold Fields, a joint-venture partner with Gold Road, to consolidate its ownership of the low-cost and long-life Gruyere Gold Mine in Western Australia. The deal is the third major one in six months, in a sector that has become a hotbed for global mergers and purchases. Rising geopolitical uncertainty is driving soaring yellow metal prices to record highs. The Australian gold miner Northern Star Resources has agreed to purchase De Grey Mining (DEG.AX), in a deal that involves all shares worth A$5 Billion, while Ramelius Resources announced it would acquire smaller rival Spartan Resources in order to create a combined A$4.2 Billion group. Gold Road shareholders are entitled to receive A$2.52 in cash per share, and a variable cash component that is equal to the value of their stakes in Northern Star Resources. Gold Road had rejected Gold Fields' March offer of A$2.27 per share in cash plus the variable component, which Gold Fields offered. The deal was worth A$3.40 for each Gold Road share as of Friday's closing. Gold Fields announced on May 2, that it is in active talks with Gold Road. However, the company did not respond immediately to a comment request made outside normal office hours on Monday. (1 Australian dollar = 1.5504 dollars) (Reporting and editing by Kim Coghill, Sonali Paul and Melanie Burton from Melbourne and Bengaluru)
-
OPEC+’s 'healthy crude oil market' looks like catching a flu: Russell
The OPEC+ group's increased supply is not based on the reasons they claim. On May 3, the eight OPEC+ member countries who have agreed to voluntary production cuts decided to relax their curbs for June. This time, they added back 411,000 barrels a day (bpd). Calculations show that the June increase will bring the combined April, May, and June increases to 960,000 bpd. This represents a 44% reduction of the 2.2million bpd decrease. In a statement posted on the website of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the eight stated that the decision to increase output was made due to "the current healthy market fundamentals as reflected by the low oil inventory." OPEC+ has a problem because there is no evidence that the market is healthy. While crude inventories may be slightly lower than five-year averages, they are still far too high to cause any concern. The OPEC report for April shows that the commercial crude oil inventories of developed economies within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) were 2.746 million barrels as of the end February. This is down 16.1 millions barrels compared to the previous month and 71,000,000 barrels below their five-year average. Other words, OECD stock prices were only 2.5% lower than the average for the past five years. This seems reasonable, given the rise in crude oil prices between September and January, and the increased risk of a global slowdown following Donald Trump's return to the U.S. Presidency. China, as the world's largest oil importer does not disclose its strategic or commercial inventories. However, it is likely that the storage flow in March was significantly increased after a slight decrease in the first two month of the year. Based on official data, calculations based upon imports and domestic production as well as refinery throughput in March showed that China imported significantly more crude oil than it refined into fuels. What can we make of OPEC+ claiming "healthy" fundamentals? ASIA IMPORTS It is instructive to look at the situation in Asia. This region is the largest importer of crude oil and accounts for about 60% of all seaborne volumes. After a weak month of February, Asia's seaborne exports rebounded in March and April. According to commodity analysts Kpler, arrivals were 25,27 million bpd & 25.28 millions bpd. It was an increase from 23,31 million bpd and 23,94 million bpd for January and February. For the first four month of 2025, Asia's seaborne exports were still 280,000 bpd lower than the same period of 2024. This is hardly indicative of a healthy demand. The increase in March-April was largely due to the increased imports from China. These were temporary factors. Arrivals in March were boosted by an increase in imports of crude oil from Iran. Refiners bought cheaper crude as they feared increased U.S. restrictions on Iranian shipments. China's imports of Russian crude oil increased in April after a decline in March due to tighter U.S. sanctions on ships carrying Russian crude. In the coming months, there is also a mixed outlook for crude oil demand. The trade war started by Trump is likely to start reducing oil demand. The massive 145% import tariff from China has already reduced container shipping and is likely to affect air freight as well in the coming weeks. The decline in consumer confidence will likely affect air and road travel. Even if the trade tensions ease, the shipping slowdown is likely to continue for at least the next few months. It may even be longer because it will take some time for supply chain to recover or reworked. What is the real goal of OPEC+ in increasing output? All of the answers are valid. Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the group, may be trying to get other members to lower their prices in order to increase quote compliance. Saudi Arabia may also try to meet Trump's demands for lower prices. This would help him fulfill a campaign pledge to lower energy costs. However, it would come at the expense of the U.S. Oil Industry that he had promised to boost. OPEC+ could also try to limit oil production in other major producers such as the United States or Brazil due to their higher costs of production. It's difficult to argue anything but a negative case for oil, at least in the months ahead, as the likelihood of lower demand increases. Brent futures fell as much as 3.7% during early Asian trading to a low price of $58.50 a barrel, down from a close of $61.29 a barrel on May 2. These are the views of a columnist who writes for.
-
Former F1 racer Jochen Mass, winner of Le Mans and former Le Mans champion, has died at the age of 78
Jochen Mass died aged 78. He was the former Formula One driver who won the first grand prix where a woman finished in the top ten and also took part in the fatal 1982 accident of Canadian Gilles Villeneuve. His family announced his death on Instagram Sunday, citing complications from an aneurism he suffered in February. McLaren won the Spanish Grand Prix in 1975 at Barcelona's Montjuic Circuit. The race was cut short and half points were awarded when Rolf Stommelen, a compatriot from Belgium, crashed his Lola off the track killing four spectators. Lella Lombardi from Italy, the last woman to compete in F1, came sixth and earned half a F1 point. In 1982, during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix in Zolder, Mass's Ferrari collided with Villeneuve's Ferrari. Later that year, the German retired from Formula One. Jacques, Villeneuve's 1997 world champion son, assured him that "our family never held you responsible. It was a racing accident." Stefano Domenicali, the CEO of Formula One, said: "I'm deeply saddened by the news of my friend Jochen Mass's death." "He lived an incredible life in the heart of Formula One and was a wonderful, loving person who loved life and Formula One." Mass won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1989 with Swiss-based Sauber. He raced in 114 grand prix and later had a career as a television broadcaster. (Reporting Alan Baldwin, Editing Pritha Sakar)
-
Oil prices drop by more than $2/bbl after OPEC+ increases production
Oil prices dropped by more than $2 a barrel in the early Asian trading on Monday, as OPEC+ was set to increase oil production even more. This sparked concerns over more supply. Brent crude futures fell $2.04, or 3.33 percent, to $59.25 per barrel at 2240 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate was $56.19, down $2.10 or 3.60%. The two contracts reached their lowest levels since April 9 on Monday, after OPEC+ agreed that they would increase oil production for a second month in a row. They will raise output by 411,000 barrels / day (bpd) in June. Calculations show that the June increase will bring the combined April, May, and June increases to 960,000 bpd. This represents a 44% reduction of the 2.2 millions bpd in various cuts agreed upon since 2022. Tim Evans, the founder of Evans on Energy, said in a report that "the May 3 OPEC+'s decision to increase production quotas by another 411,000 bpd to June increases the market expectations that the global demand/supply balance is moving towards a surplus." The group can be divided into two or more groups. Fully unwind OPEC+ sources said that if member countries do not improve their compliance with production quotas by the end October, they will be forced to make voluntary cuts. OPEC+ sources claim that Saudi Arabia has pushed OPEC+ members to speed up the unwinding process of previous output cuts in order to punish Iraq and Kazakhstan, who have failed to meet their production quotas. Amarpreet Singh, an analyst at Barclays, said that the accelerated phase-out by OPEC+ had caused them to lower their Brent forecasts by $4 to $66 a barrel in 2025 and $2 to $60 a barrel in 2026. Tensions have risen in the Middle East since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to take retaliation against Iran over the Tehran-backed Houthi Group Fire a missile This plane landed in Israel's main airport. Aziz Nasirzadeh, Iran's defence minister, said on Sunday that Tehran will continue to defend itself. Strike back If the United States or Israel attack. (Reporting and editing by Diane Craft, Chris Reese and Florence Tan)
-
Four sources claim that OPEC+ will continue to increase oil production.
OPEC+ will increase oil production and may unwind the voluntary cuts of 2.2 million barrels a day by the end October if the members don't improve their compliance with their production quotas. OPEC+ surprised the oil market by releasing cuts faster than expected in April, despite low prices and weak demand. Sources have claimed that the move was intended by OPEC+'s leader Saudi Arabia as a punishment for some members who failed to meet their quotas. On Saturday, the group, including the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, such as Russia agreed to another major output increase for June, bringing the total of the production it plans to release between April, may and June to almost 1 million bpd. Four anonymous OPEC+ sources who were briefed about the situation said that OPEC+ would likely continue the trend, and in June will agree to release another 411,000 bpd for July. OPEC, Saudi Arabia's government communications office and Alexander Novak's office in Russia did not respond immediately to a comment request. Sources said that the group would likely approve accelerated increases for August, September, and October. The idea is to unwind the rest of the voluntary cuts in the event that Iraq, Kazakhstan, and other laggards fail to improve their compliance and deliver compensation reductions. One source said that if compliance did not improve by November, the voluntary reductions would be unwound. This was referring to OPEC+ voluntary cuts of 2.2 million bpd by eight members. OPEC+ continues to cut output by nearly 5 million bpd, and many of these cuts will remain in place through the end of 2026. In December, OPEC+ agreed that the voluntary portion of the total reductions would be phased out gradually by the end September 2026. However, they agreed to speed up this process in April. In April, oil prices dropped to a 4-year low below $60 per barrel due to accelerated OPEC+ increases and U.S. president Donald Trump's new tariffs. UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo stated that the market would take this news as a negative, so long as crude oil exports did not indicate an improved compliance with OPEC+. Reports this week stated that Saudi officials had informed allies and officials from the oil industry that they were unwilling to support oil markets by cutting further supply. Kazakhstan's energy minister defied OPEC+ by saying he would put national interests ahead of those of OPEC+ when deciding the level of oil production. Kazakhstan's oil production in April exceeded its OPEC+ quota despite a 3% drop. (Alex Lawler, Yousef Sabah and Dmitry Zhdannikov contributed additional reporting; Dmitry Zhdannikov wrote the article. Frances Kerry and Helen Popper edited it.)
-
Saudi chemical group SABIC reports a Q1 loss of $323 Million
SABIC, the Saudi chemicals giant, reported on Sunday a net loss for the first quarter of 1,21 billion Saudi Riyals ($323m), citing an increase in operating costs as well as high feedstock prices. This compares to a loss of 0.25 billion Riyals in the same time period last year. Chemicals industry is struggling with low demand and high input cost, which has led to lower prices and squeezed profit margins. SABIC announced in February that it would cut costs and look for new investment opportunities after reporting lower-than-expected fourth quarter results. On Sunday, CEO Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh pointed out the challenges facing the global economy, including the slowdown of global GDP. He said that the oversupply of production capacity in petrochemicals is still a problem. SABIC said in a press release that the results were affected by an increase in operational expenses due to a one-time cost of 1.7 billion Saudi Riyals ($453.22 millions) relating to a strategic reorganization initiative. Al-Fageeh stated that restructuring was ongoing but the last one had a larger scale and a greater impact. He added that he expects to complete the restructuring this year. SABIC reported that the losses were also affected by a decline of 1.05 billion riyals in gross profit due to higher feedstock costs. The company reported 34.59 billion Riyals in sales for the first quarter. This is a 5.8% rise from 32.69 riyals one year ago. Click here to view the source text More company coverage: (1 dollar = 3.7509 Riyals) (Reporting and editing by Conor Humphries; reporting by Pesha Magd)
-
Report: China's Ant Group will list its overseas unit in Hong Kong
Chinese media, citing anonymous sources, reported that Ant Group, a subsidiary of China's ecommerce giant Alibaba Group, plans to list Ant International on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Caixin reported, citing sources close to the company that Ant was in communication with regulators regarding the possible listing. The report didn't specify whether discussions took place with regulators from China or other countries. Ant International is a Singapore-based company. Alibaba controls 33% of Ant, which was founded by Jack Ma. It runs China's ubiquitous Alipay mobile payment app. Chinese authorities pulled Ant's $37-billion IPO in Shanghai & Hong Kong in 2020. They also cracked down on Ma’s business empire shortly after Ma’s speech in Shanghai, October of that year. He had accused financial watchdogs for stifling innovations. This led to the Chinese regulators fining Ant nearly $1 billion and forcing Ant into a forced restructure. Ant is currently pursuing a licence for a financial holdings company, which could help it achieve its IPO goals. (Writing and editing by Toby Chopra; Marius Zaharia)
After a selloff, the price of base metals in China has stabilised.
The base metal price in China stabilized on Tuesday, after the previous day’s drop, as the market took a wait-and see stance, amid an escalating trade war that has fueled recession fears.
As of 0348 GMT the most traded copper contract at the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped 1.4%, to 73290 yuan per metric ton ($10,000.82), hovering around a three-month-low since January 3. The market had opened in Asia with a 7% drop.
The benchmark 3-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.8% at $8,803 per ton. This is a rebound from its low of $8,105 that it reached on Monday, which was its lowest since November 2023.
China's Commerce Ministry stated on Tuesday that it would never accept "the blackmail nature" by the United States, after President Trump threatened on Monday to impose a 50% additional tariff on China if Beijing did not withdraw its retaliatory duties.
China, the world's largest consumer of metals, responded last Friday by imposing additional tariffs of 34% on all U.S. products from April 10 after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 34% on most Chinese items as part his sweeping tariff program.
Base metals traders said that prices have stabilized after yesterday's steep decline. People are waiting and watching as the retaliatory trade tariffs continue.
SHFE aluminium rose 0.7% to 19.675 yuan per ton. Zinc gained 0.1% at 22,280 yuan. Lead fell 0.8% at 16,585 Yuan. Nickel was up by 0.1%, to 119.460 Yuan. Tin fell 1.3%, to 267.410 Yuan.
The LME aluminium price rose 0.4%, to $2379 per ton. Lead increased 0.5%, to $1879; zinc 0.1%, to $2617. Tin was down 0.6%, at $33,725; and nickel rose 1.5%, to $14,580. $1 = 7.3284 Chinese Yuan Renminbi (Reporting and editing by Janane Vekatraman).
(source: Reuters)