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Shipping data reveals that Venezuela's PDVSA imports naphtha from Russia.
According to data from vessel tracking and a document that was seen on Wednesday, Venezuela's PDVSA, the state-owned oil firm, has received and unloaded a 700,000 barrel cargo of Russian-origin heavy naphtha. This is a crucial product for Venezuela's heavy crude production. PDVSA, a company sanctioned by the United States, needs to import light crude and condensate in order to dilute and export its heavy oil. In the past, Russia and Iran - both under U.S. sanction - have supplied the country with these products. The Russian import was the first of many diluents that the state company purchased ahead of Washington's May deadline for closing down all transactions in order to cancel U.S. licenses granted to its partners. According to TankerTrackers.com (a monitoring service), the Barbados flagged tanker Telesto left a ship-toship location near Russia's Taman Port, as identified by satellite photos. It added that the naphtha appears to have originated in Russia's Tuapse Port. According to the shipping documents and TankerTrackers.com, an Aframax oil tanker started unloading at PDVSA’s Jose port last week. The document states that PDVSA unloaded last month two cargoes containing imported light crude of unknown origin, which was also intended to be used for dilution of a total amount of 1,88 million barrels. PDVSA modified its crude blending operations and upgraded its Orinoco Belt production region earlier this year to reduce its naphtha needs and refine more at home. Since the cancellation of the licenses, the OPEC nation's oil exports are stable at around 800,000 barrels a day. PDVSA has sent more cargoes into Asia, after losing the U.S., and European markets. (Reporting and editing by Emelia Sithole Matarise; Staff Reporting)
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Israeli police investigate woman suspected of plotting to kill Netanyahu
Police said that a 70-year-old antigovernment activist was being investigated on suspicion of plotting the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Police said that the suspect was accused of expressing her intention to kill Netanyahu, and asking for help from other activists in order to get weapons and gather information on Prime Minister Netanyahu's security arrangements. The National Unit for Serious and International Crime Investigations and Shin Bet, the internal security agency of Israel's government, have handed their evidence to the State Attorneys Office pending formal charges. Haaretz, citing sources familiar with the situation, reported that the woman was recently ill and had told others she intended to "take Netanyahu along with her". A number of people who heard the remarks made by the woman contacted the police and the investigation was opened. She was arrested about six weeks ago, and released on house arrest. Haaretz reported that the woman who is not identified and comes from Tel Aviv was suspected of wanting Netanyahu to be targeted with an explosive device. Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Prime Minister at the time, was murdered by a right-wing radical who opposed his peace efforts with Palestinians. David Ben-Gurion narrowly avoided a grenade assault by a mentally-ill man in 1957. (Reporting and editing by Peter Graff, Crispian Balmer)
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Mozambique wants to prosecute an opposition leader for unrest after the election
A document that prosecutors presented to Venancio Mondlane showed the Mozambique's intention to prosecute Mondlane for civil unrest following a disputed vote last year. Mondlane was summoned on Tuesday by the prosecutors. Mondlane claims that President Daniel Chapo, of the long-ruling Frelimo Party, won the election via vote-rigging. The 40-page document, which lays out a number of allegations including that Mondlane incited unrest, was presented to him. A Mondlane adviser shared the document on Wednesday, stating that the opposition politician denies all the accusations of the prosecutors. The Southern African nation's resource-rich country's prosecutors declined to comment. The protests against Frelimo after the elections, which resulted in more than 300 deaths, were by far the most violent since 1975, when Portugal gained independence. Frelimo denies accusations of electoral fraud, although Western observers claim that the October vote was not fair. In March and May, the two politicians had met to discuss their differences. Chapo launched a national dialogue and invited Mondlane as a member of a presidential advisory group. Louw Nel is a political analyst with Oxford Economics Africa. He said that attempts to prosecute Mondlane "would weigh on the political compromis Mozambique’s political actors achieved in March". (Reporting and editing by Aidan Lewis; Additional reporting from Kopano Gumbi; Writing by Alexander Winning)
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FT reports that Botswana wants to control Anglo De Beers' diamond business.
The Financial Times reported Wednesday that Botswana was seeking to acquire a controlling interest in De Beers, as Anglo American prepared to divest itself from the diamond company. Citing the country's minister of mining, this report was based on information provided by the Minister. Bogolo Kenewendo, the Mining Minister of Botswana, told the Financial Times President Duma "remains resolute" in his pursuit to increase Botswana’s stake in De Beers in order to guarantee Botswana’s complete control over this national strategic asset and its entire value chain. This includes marketing. The report stated that Kenewendo said any De Beers sale "without our assistance will be difficult to accomplish." De Beers is owned by Botswana, who currently owns about 15%. This company produces roughly 70% of its annual rough diamond production. Anglo American announced the sale of De Beers in a restructuring that included a major overhaul. This was after it had resisted a BHP Group takeover attempt earlier this year. In June, it was reported that De Beers had attracted the interest of at least six consortiums, including those backed by commodities billionaire Anil Aggarwal, Indian diamond companies and Qatari investment funds. Anglo American has continued to communicate with the Botswana government on a regular and appropriate basis, and at all stages of its plan to sell or list its 85% De Beers shareholding. A company spokesperson stated this in an email to. (Reporting from Aatrayee chatterjee, Bengaluru. Additional reporting by Bageshri banerjee. Editing by Shilpimajumdar and Sahal Muhammad)
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GE Vernova raises annual forecasts, beats second-quarter profit estimates
GE Vernova, a maker of power equipment, raised its forecast for free cash flow and beat Wall Street expectations for the second quarter profit on Wednesday. Its shares rose more than 13% at an all-time record. GE Vernova became independent after a three way split from General Electric last year. It raised its target for free cash flow (FCF), which was previously forecast between $2 billion and $2.5 billion. They also expect 2025 revenues to be at the upper end of a range between $36 billion and $37 billion. The current tariff policy of U.S. president Donald Trump is expected to have an impact on the forecast in the range of $300-400 million. GE Vernova said that it also expects the tariff cost outlook for the remainder of the year to remain unchanged. The analysts at Jefferies said that the FCF target increase of more than 44% was a positive surprise. The positive forecasts are coming at a moment when the power sector is bracing itself for the impact of Trump's changing tariffs and policies. These have disrupted the supply chain, increased costs, and threatened the future offshore wind projects. GE Vernova reported a second-quarter adjusted net profit of $1.77 a share, exceeding analysts' estimates of $1.51. This was due to GE Vernova's strong performance in the power and electrification divisions. The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that power consumption in the United States will reach record levels in 2025 and in 2026. This is due to rapid expansions of AI and cryptocurrency datacenters, as well as an increase in demand from businesses and households. The core profit of GE Vernova’s power segment, which produces steam and gas turbines jumped 27%, to $778.8 million. Meanwhile, the electrification division's profit nearly doubled, to $332.8 million. (Reporting and editing by Shinjini Ganuli and Pooja Deai in Bengaluru)
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Silver's market is at its highest level since 2011.
Silver prices rose to their highest level in nearly 14 years on Tuesday, thanks to concerns about U.S. trade policy, tightness in spot markets and growing investor interest. As of 1354 GMT spot silver rose 0.3% to $39.40 an ounce, its highest price since September 2011. Silver, a precious metal and an industrial metal, has risen 36% in the past year. It is outpacing gold's growth of 31% and is just a few centimeters away from the $40 per ounce threshold. In 2011, the metal reached a record-high of $49. The U.S. tariffs on Mexico and President Donald Trump’s plan to impose a 50% tariff on copper imports from August 1, widened in July the premium for U.S. metal futures compared to the London benchmarks. This led to an increase in the lease rates for the spot market. Nicky Shiels is the head of metals strategies at MKS PAMP. She says that Trump's April tariffs did not include gold, silver, palladium, or platinum. "The broader market doesn't trade it this way, and is taking a leaf out of Comex's copper's book", she said. Shiels believes that spot silver prices could reach $42 an ounce in 2019. Analysts noted that the industrial demand for Silver, which is heading towards its fifth year of structural deficit on the market, remains strong, and investment demand has gained momentum as an affordable alternative to Gold. Silver's recent rise has improved its relationship with gold to the highest level in seven month. Currently, it takes 87 ounces to purchase an ounce gold The April figure was 105 ounces. The copper tariff is what sent some traders off on strange tangents, capturing the other metals. A precious metal trader in London added that lease rates should drop once the borrowing activity sparked by U.S. Tariff fears subsides. Nitesh Sha, commodity strategist at WisdomTree, believes that the current momentum may be strong enough to push silver above $40/oz within a short period of time. Shah continued, "But we wouldn't be surprised if the price fell to $35/oz before it started its march to $45/oz in next year."
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Dealmaking in US Upstream Oil and Gas Falls as Volatility Rages Investors
Enverus, an analytics firm, said that the volatility in energy and equity markets scared investors during the second quarter. This slowed the pace of mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures in the U.S. Upstream Oil and Gas sector. The decline in dealmaking comes after a string of massive takeovers of oil and gas companies in recent years. These deals culminated in $192 billion in 2023. There were $13.5 billion worth of deals disclosed in the quarter ended June 30, marking a 21% drop quarter-over-quarter, Enverus said. In the first half of 2025, a total of $30 billion was exchanged. This is a 60% drop compared to 2024. Andrew Dittmar is the principal analyst of Enverus Intelligence. He said that volatility in equity and commodity markets has raised a yellow flag, slowing down dealmaking. The oil prices dropped to multi-year lows during the last quarter, after U.S. president Donald Trump announced a list of trade tariffs, sparking fears of a possible recession and drop in fuel demand. In April, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced plans to reverse deep cuts in production. The price of oil also increased as traders' risk premiums rose due to the conflict in the Middle East. According to LSEG data, U.S. Crude Futures reached a low on May 5 of $57.13 a barrel before swinging up to a peak of $75.14 a barrel by June 18. Enverus reports that Houston-based EOG Resources, which is an exploration and production company, bought Encino Acquisition Partners in May for $5.6 billion. This deal was the largest of the second quarter. Viper Energy purchased Sitio Royalties in June for $4.1 billion. Enverus reported that these two transactions accounted over 75% for the second-quarter deal values. Dittmar stated that "the engine of M&A in the past few years has sputtered, stalling due to only a few targets remaining". He added that companies will need to look at buying assets overseas, whether in Canada or in other areas, such as Vaca Muerta in Argentina.
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Iberdrola does not expect any financial impact from blackout claims
Iberdrola, Spain's largest power utility, said that it does not expect to be affected financially by any potential compensation claims relating to the blackout which hit Spain and Portugal in April 28. The grid operator REE, owned by Redeia, has acknowledged that the blackout was caused by an increase in voltage. However it has blamed the power utilities and the grid for the chaos in the cities. The company stated that both internal and external experts had analysed the event. They concluded that the companies in the Iberdrola Group were not responsible for the blackout. "Nor did they play any role whatsoever", it said. The company's assets in power and distribution contributed to the restoration of the electricity supply. Iberdrola denied any responsibility for the outage but said any claims that may arise would be covered under civil liability policies. The group has not received any legal claims relating to the blackout. Iberdrola reported that the blackout had contributed to an one-off loss of 135 millions euros ($158) in the first six months of the year. The company cited higher costs for services that maintain grid stability. The company reported the same 25 million euro charge for Portugal. Reporting by Pietro Lombardi Editing David Goodman
National Australia Bank CEO: He just needs to endure media coverage about investor complaints
The chief executive of National Australia Bank said that on Wednesday he only had to "get past" the media coverage about investor complaints regarding his management style and drinking during customer events.
The Australian Financial Review reported, on July 15, that during an investor lunch held last month, major investors in the Bank questioned whether Andrew Irvine (CEO since April 2024) should improve his leadership skills and reduce his drinking at events.
AFR reported that the complaints led the board of Canada's largest business lender and third largest mortgage provider to provide more mentoring and leadership development.
The board of NAB has stated that it supports Irvine.
Irvine's first public comments since the report were a direct admission that the media coverage was personal and public. "It was difficult for me and my family," he said.
Irvine, who chairs the Australian Banking Association (an industry group he chairs), said that public figures can expect to be scrutinized.
He said that "a noble purpose" in his work, which is to help people manage their finances, energized him.
Over the last year, Australia has scrutinized CEO behavior in great detail.
Richard White, the CEO of Wisetech, a logistics software company, resigned after allegations regarding his personal life. He has since been promoted to executive chair of the company. Mineral Resources announced late last year that its billionaire founder Chris Ellison would be leaving the company within 18 months following an internal investigation which found he had used company resources to his personal advantage and evaded tax.
(source: Reuters)