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Saudi Aramco unit in talks to invest $1 billion in US software application maker Mavenir, sources say
Saudi Aramco's. digital arm is in talks to take a considerable minority stake in. Mavenir, in an offer that is most likely to value the U.S. telecommunications software application maker at about $3 billion, people. familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. Aramco Digital remains in talks to invest about $1 billion in. Mavenir and a deal is likely to be signed before completion of the. year, the sources stated, warning that a transaction is not. guaranteed. Mavenir is working with financial investment bank Evercore on. its talks with Aramco Digital, the sources stated, asking for. anonymity as the discussions are confidential. The offer by Aramco Digital, the wholly-owned technology. subsidiary of the oil giant, would be its very first significant. deal in the telecommunications industry as part of Saudi. Arabia's Vision 2030 strategy, which concentrates on technological. developments and financial diversification. Aramco and Evercore did not right away respond to demands. for comment. Mavenir decreased to comment. The telecom equipment market, which has actually long been. controlled by suppliers such as Sweden's Ericsson,. Finland's Nokia and China's Huawei, is among the few. vital areas where U.S. companies do not have a considerable. existence. Richardson, Texas-based Mavenir is a leader in an innovation. called Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) that promises to. drastically cut expenses for telecom operators developing a mobile. network. It uses cloud-based software and enables usage of gear. from many suppliers instead of relying on a handful of. companies. The company has up until now raised a minimum of $800 million in. numerous funding rounds. As the Trump administration took actions to prevent Huawei's. U.S. service, it also pushed for more adoption of Open RAN. innovations, which might put more American business in the. mix. The push to promote Open RAN continued under the Biden. administration, but it was not commonly adopted as the emerging. innovation could not always match all the features that. conventional telecom suppliers might provide. Last year, AT&T signed a $14 billion Open RAN deal. with Ericsson for 70% of its wireless network traffic by late. 2026, giving a renewed increase to the sector. Sources said the. inbound Trump administration may also prioritize advancement of. the innovation. US-SAUDI TIES While an offer between Aramco and Mavenir is likely to go. through a U.S. nationwide security review, the Biden. administration signed a deal with the Saudis in 2022 to. cooperate on the technology to build 5G and 6G networks in Saudi. Arabia. As part of the deal with Mavenir, Aramco Digital remains in talks. to independently invest $200 million in a joint endeavor with the. company for innovation development in the region. Aramco Digital in January announced its intent to build. Saudi Arabia's very first Open RAN development center in partnership. with Intel, which has been dealing with telecom firms. such as Vodafone and Dependence Jio to establish the. innovation. Aramco Digital last week got a license to. supply wireless services in Saudi Arabia. A money infusion from the Saudis would enable Mavenir to. upgrade its 5G innovation and better get ready for the 6G network. rollout in the latter half of the years, at a time when the. entire telecom industry is going through a recession.
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Northvolt crisis may be make or break for Europe's EV battery ambitions
Northvolt's. monetary collapse deals a blow to Europe's strategy to establish its. own battery market to power electrical vehicles, stirring a debate. about whether it needs to do more to bring in financial investment as. startups struggle to catch up with Chinese competitors. Europe's greatest wish for an electrical car battery. champion filed for U.S. Chapter 11 insolvency defense on. Thursday after talks with investors and financial institutions consisting of. Volkswagen and Goldman Sachs for funding failed. The Swedish business, whose motto is make oil history, has. received more than $10 billion in equity, debt and public. financing since its 2016 start-up. Volkswagen and Goldman Sachs. each own about one fifth of its shares. Northvolt said on Friday it required $1.0-$ 1.2 billion in brand-new. funds under the restructuring process, which it hopes will end. by the end of March. In recent months, it has shrunk business and cut jobs in. a quote to support its finances. But it has had a hard time to produce. enough volumes of top quality batteries, and lost a 2. billion euro ($ 2.1 billion) contract from BMW in June. That has actually left Europe's aspirations to build its own battery. industry looking a remote dream. Over the last few years, Northvolt led a wave of European startups. investing tens of billions of dollars to serve the continent's. car manufacturers as they switch from internal combustion engines to. electrical lorries. But development in EV need is moving at a slower rate than many. in the industry predicted, and China has actually taken a huge lead in. powering EVs, controlling 85% of global battery cell production,. International Energy Agency information programs. Making batteries and cells, the units that keep and convert. chemical energy into electricity, is a fragile procedure and. doing so at scale is a difficulty for any battery maker. Northvolt has actually missed some internal targets and cut. production at its battery cells plant in northern Sweden,. highlighting the problems, Reuters reported on Monday. The greatest problem is that batteries are challenging to make. and Northvolt have not pleased the supply demands of their. consumers - that is a management problem, stated Andy Palmer,. creator of consultancy Palmer Automotive said. The Chinese are technically ten years ahead of the West. in batteries. That's a reality, he said. At least eight companies have delayed or deserted EV. battery projects in Europe this year, including China's Svolt. and joint endeavor ACC, led by Stellantis and. Mercedes-Benz. In 2024, Europe's battery pipeline capability out to 2030 has. fallen by 176 gigawatt-hours, according to data company Benchmark. Minerals. That's comparable to practically all the present installed. capability in Europe, according to Reuters computations. RECONSIDER Some executives state Europe must do more to attract and. support home-grown jobs so they can compete with Chinese. rivals such as CATL and BYD. Europe requires to reassess how it supports a nascent sector. before China eats up the entire value chain, which is due to. wise planning, stated James Frith, European head of Volta Energy. Technologies, which specialises in battery and energy storage. innovation. Among its $5.8 billion in financial obligations, Northvolt owes the European. Investment Bank (EIB) some $313 million. EIB vice president Thomas Östros stated it had been a. positive partner to Northvolt, but it needed to safeguard. the EIB and EU's interests. It stays the case that Europe has a tactical interest in. a European battery market for electrical cars and we will follow. developments extremely carefully. However it is much to early to say what. the result will be, he stated. The Swedish government has actually repeatedly stated it does not strategy. to take a stake in Northvolt. On Friday, Northvolt's outbound CEO and co-founder Peter. Carlsson said he was a little worried Europe is giving up on. its imagine competing with China. He said Europe would regret it in twenty years time if it. retreated. It's not a straight journey and today, we're all in a. bit of a down because journey where there's more doubts,. there's more concerns on the speed of the transition from the. carmakers, from policymakers, from the financier neighborhood, he. told reporters in a call.
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BHP bets billions on Chile mines to deal with international copper crunch
BHP Group anticipates an international copper deficit of 10 million metric lots a decade from now, a deficiency that is driving its strategies to invest a minimum of $11. billion at the world's biggest copper mine, Escondida, and other. tasks in Chile. BHP detailed to investors today prepares to invest $10.7. billion to $14.7 billion within about ten years to extract more. copper from Escondida and the smaller Spence mine, and reboot. the Cerro Colorado mine. The world's most significant listed miner's yearly production is set. to fall by around 300,000 tons to 1.6 million lots by the end of. the years, mainly driven by a slump at Escondida that is. anticipated to peak in 2025. Other top copper miners are facing similar difficulties to. increase output at aging mines. Those problems are striking just as need for copper, an. important metal for production of electric-vehicle batteries and. construction of information centers, is expected to grow. We think the deficit is going to be around 10 million tons. by 2035, BHP Americas President Brandon Craig informed Reuters in. an interview on Thursday, approximating a $250-billion cost to. develop enough mines to match demand. That's rather a challenging task for mining business. The quantity represents a little under half of existing international. production, with copper mine output at 22.4 million lots last. year. BHP is competing with diminishing ore grades at Escondida,. which it intends to balance out through expanded and brand-new processing. centers, plus leaching technologies to draw out copper from. sulphide, rather than oxide where copper is more typically mined. BHP's heaviest spending is expected around fiscal years. 2030 and 2031, Craig said, referring to a schedule that lays out. 4 Escondida jobs and three at the Pampa Norte division,. that includes Spence and Cerro Colorado. The earliest projects are set for first production between. 2027 and 2028, and the current ones between 2031 and 2032. BHP sought this year to boost its copper portfolio in a. $ 49-billion bid for Anglo American, however was rebuffed. BHP has not dismissed a restored bid. Inquired about organic growth versus acquisitions, Craig stated. BHP is keen on making the most of Escondida, Spence and Cerro Colorado. Our default is to take that resource and establish it ... We. constantly have a set of investable development alternatives. BHP aims to stagger the timing of Chile jobs to keep. them from ending up being too extreme to be able to execute. successfully, he added. BHP is likewise working with industry associations to press the. Chilean federal government to settle reforms for faster permitting,. but for now prepares for the standard timeline. The legal amount of time that they set out for how long it. ought to take are often surpassed, so it creates a high degree of. unpredictability, he said. Although the business previously checked out an underground. expansion for Escondida, Craig said the concept was not practical at. existing copper rates for a minimum of another decade. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange is. down around 20% from its 2024 peak in May, at around $8,995 per. metric lot. He likewise stated the miner reserve previous interest in selling. Cerro Colorado, which was taken into temporary care and. maintenance late in 2015 amidst problems over water use. The miner. is now trying to find a leaching solution using seawater.
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Adanis knew of US probe when they sold bribe-linked properties to TotalEnergies, prosecutors say
Gautam and Sagar Adani knew their renewable energy business was under U.S. investigation for presumed bribery when they sold part of India's largest solar park to France's TotalEnergies, prosecutors declare in legal documents reviewed . TotalEnergies did not right away react to an ask for talk about Friday on whether it knew the Adanis were being penetrated by U.S authorities over an alleged bribery and scams scheme when it bought the Khavda solar stake. U.S. prosecutors on Thursday charged eight individuals - consisting of Indian magnate Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and the former CEO of Adani Green Energy Limited-- with appealing and after that making improper payments to Indian officials in between July 2021 and 2024 to ensure the solar job's success. In September 2024, TotalEneriges paid $444 million into a. joint venture with Adani Green Energy for a 50% stake in 1.15. gigawatts of solar setups at the Khavda solar park-- the. job at the heart of the bribery charges. The French oil and gas company is not called in the criminal. case. The Adani Group has called the claims unwarranted. It. did not immediately respond to an email looking for comment about. this story. According to the U.S. indictment, FBI unique agents served. Adani Green Energy Executive Director Sagar Adani with a search. warrant and grand jury subpoena in March 2023 - more than a year. before the sale to TotalEnergies. These documents recognized. Adani Green Energy, its former CEO Vneet Jaain, and chairman. Gautam Adani as under investigation for alleged bribery to. get business benefits for the firm. TotalEnergies bought a 20% stake in Adani Green Energy in. January 2021 - after the Indian company won what was then the. world's largest solar order, and simply months before the declared. payments to officials began. Sangkaran Ratnam, TotalEnergies' country chair for India and. the French firm's candidate to the board of directors of Adani. Green Energy, did not react to an ask for discuss. whether he had know the examination at the time. TotalEnergies bought the stake in the Khavda assets.
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ADVISORY-Holiday schedule for significant United States economic, other data
The Thanksgiving Day federal holiday on Thursday, Nov. 28 will impact the release schedule of some significant economic, energy and products reports stemming from and/or submitted from Washington during the latter half of the Nov. 24 week. Below is the schedule for the week. Times in EST/GMT. Some Treasury statements are subject to change. Monday, Nov. 25 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago problems National Activity Index for October, 0830/1330 Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas concerns Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey for November, 1030/1530 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) launches weekly U.S. export assessments for grains, oilseeds, 1100/1600 Treasury Department holds weekly sale of 3- and 6-month expenses, 1130/1630 Treasury Department sells 2-year notes, 1300/1800 USDA issues month-to-month Cold Storage, 1500/2000 USDA problems weekly Crop Progress, 1600/2100. KEEP IN MIND: last arranged report for 2024 Tuesday, Nov. 26 Commerce Department issues Structure Permit Revisions for October, no set time Redbook issues weekly retail sales index, 0855/1355 Federal Housing Financing Agency problems U.S. House Cost Index for September, 0900/1400 Commerce Department issues Single-Family Home Sales for October, 1000/1500 Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond problems November Study of Production Activity, November Survey of Service Sector Activity, 1000/1500 Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas problems Texas Service Sector Outlook Study for November, 1030/1530 Treasury Department announces weekly sales of 4-, 8- and 17-week expenses, 1100/1600 Treasury Department sells 52-week costs, 1130/1630 Treasury Department sells 2-year floating rate notes, 5-year notes, 1300/1800 Federal Free market Committee concerns minutes from its Nov. 6-7 conference, 1400/1900 American Petroleum Institute issues weekly national petroleum report, 1630/2130 Wednesday, November 27 Mortgage Bankers Association problems weekly Mortgage Applications Study, 0700/1200 Labor Department issues weekly Jobless Claims, 0830/1330. KEEP IN MIND: issued one day in advance due to vacation Commerce Department problems Advance Economic Indicators for October; Durable Goods for October; initial (2nd. quote) U.S. Q3 Gdp and (very first quote). U.S. Q3 Corporate Profits, 0830/1330 Commerce Department provides Personal Earnings for October,. 1000/1500 National Association of Realtors problems Pending Home Sales. for October, 1000/1500 Treasury Department holds weekly sales of 4- and 8-week. bills, 1000/1500 Energy Information Administration (EIA) problems weekly. petroleum stocks and output data, 1030/1530 Treasury Department's weekly statement of 3- and 6-month. costs sale offerings, 1100/1600 Treasury Department sells 17-week expenses, 7-year notes,. 1130/1630 EIA problems weekly U.S. underground gas stocks,. 1200/1700. KEEP IN MIND: provided one day ahead of time, time modification due to. vacation Freddie Mac issues weekly U.S. home mortgage rates, 1200/1700. NOTE: released one day in advance due to holiday Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas concerns Cut Mean PCE Price. Index for October, no set time Thursday, Nov. 28 Thanksgiving Day vacation. Federal federal government offices, stock. and bond markets, International Monetary Fund, Federal Reserve. closed. Friday, November 29 IMF closed. USDA launches weekly Export Sales, 0830/1330. KEEP IN MIND: postponed. from Thursday due to holiday Federal Reserve weekly balance sheet, 1630/2130. NOTE:. postponed from Thursday due to holiday
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Gold rallies on safe-haven need, set for best week in over a year
Gold rates breached the $2,700. limit for the first time in 2 weeks on Friday, on track. for their greatest weekly gain in over a year, as safehaven. demand outweighed dollar strength and lower expectations of a. U.S. rate cut next month. Spot gold was up 1% at $2,696.77 per ounce by 10:14. a.m. ET (1514 GMT), having earlier hit its highest since Nov. 8. at $2709.99. U.S. gold futures increased 0.9% to $2,698.90. The escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict seems like. it's broadening to a Russia-U.S. war, which's definitely. increasing short-term safe house appeal, stated Alex Ebkarian,. chief running officer at Loyalty Gold. Bullion has actually gained over 5% this week, poised for its finest. weekly performance because last October, when the Middle East. conflict initially fired up, triggering a rally that pushed gold to. multiple record highs. Gold's surge today has been moved by the. magnifying Russia-Ukraine crisis, raising costs more than. $ 173 from last Thursday's two-month low of $2536.71. Bullion tends to shine throughout periods of geopolitical. tension, economic dangers, and in a low rates of interest environment. Gold's increase continued Friday even as the U.S. dollar. strike a over 13-month high and bitcoin reached an. all-time peak. Expectations for a December rate cut from the U.S. Federal. Reserve have reduced, with the possibility now at 56%, a sharp. drop from 82.5% just a week previously. Some Fed policymakers this week expressed issue that. inflation progress may have stalled, advocating for care,. while others stressed the requirement for ongoing rate cuts. With continuous policy shifts, and inflation threats from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's proposed trade tariffs, gold's. outlook remains strong, with a test of $2,750 anticipated by. mid-December, Ebkarian said. Area silver increased 1.4% to $31.22 per ounce, palladium. fell 1.5% to $1,014.25, while platinum got 0.9%. to $969.25. All 3 metals were on track for a weekly rise. In our view, the price of platinum in particular should. increase considerably, as the market is likely to be in deficit for. the 3rd year in a row in 2025, Commerzbank experts noted.
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Satellite imagery shows North Korea oil imports from Russia top U.N. limits, report states
North Korea has likely received more than 1 million barrels of oil from Russia over an eightmonth duration this year in breach of U.N. sanctions, according to an analysis of satellite images published on Friday by the Britishbased Open Source Centre and the BBC. North Korean oil tankers have made more than 40 visits to Russia's Far Eastern port of Vostochny considering that March, the report on the research group Open Source Centre's site said. Dozens of high-resolution satellite images, AIS (Automatic. Recognition System) data and images launched by maritime. patrol missions entrusted with keeping track of North Korea's. U.N.-sanctions busting activities show North Korean tankers. consistently filling at an oil terminal at the Russian port of. Vostochny, the report stated, adding that Russia's foreign. ministry did not respond to a request for remark. A U.N. spokesperson did not instantly react to a request. for comment. North Korea has continued to illicitly import improved. petroleum products in violation of U.N. Security Council. resolutions, according to the UNSC. Previously this year, the United States and South Korea. introduced a new task force targeted at avoiding North Korea from. obtaining illicit oil as a deadlock at the UNSC cast doubts over. the future of worldwide sanctions. Under UNSC restrictions enforced over North Korea's nuclear. weapons and rocket advancement, Pyongyang is restricted to. importing 500,000 barrels of fine-tuned products a year. Pyongyang and Moscow have actually increase diplomatic and financial. incorporate recent years, culminating in Russian President Vladimir. Putin's see to North Korea in June when the nations' leaders. concurred a mutual defence pact. The military cooperation in between the 2 nations has been. fulfilled by worldwide alarm, with Washington, Kyiv and Seoul. condemning the North for sending out military devices and more. than 10,000 troops to Russia to support its war versus Ukraine. Russia's envoy to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia stated. last month Russia's military interaction with North Korea did. not breach worldwide law. North Korea has not acknowledged the release of troops to. Russia, but said any such move would remain in compliance with. worldwide law.
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Sony India secures $170 mln Asian cricket media rights; Reliance-Disney skips bidding
Sony's India unit said on Friday it had actually protected the media rights for all Asian Cricket Council (ACC) competitions until 2031, which a source with direct understanding of the matter put the worth at $170. million. Disney and Dependence, viewed as frontrunners,. did not bid for the rights, another source said on condition of. anonymity. The offer comes at a crucial time for the nation's media. industry, which is going through a debt consolidation stage after the. $ 8.5 billion merger of Reliance and Walt Disney's India media. possessions. Earlier this year, India's antitrust body raised some. issues about the merged entity's grip over the broadcast of. the world's most populous nation's favourite sport, Reuters had. reported. The entity presently holds the rights to the matches of the. Indian Premier League and International Cricket Council. The media rights of the ACC were with Disney-owned Star. India up until 2023, before they were temporarily extended,. according to media reports. The latest deal guarantees the coverage of Asian cricket's. marquee tournaments throughout tv, digital and audio. platforms, Sony India stated in a statement. The offer will be a substantial increase for Sony to reinforce its. foothold in India after it took out of a $10 billion merger. with Zee Home entertainment previously this year. Disney, Dependence and Sony India did not immediately react. to Reuters' requests for remark.
Woodside goes all-in on LNG with brave Tellurian buy: Russell
Australia's. Woodside Energy wishes to turn into one of the world's biggest. independent producers of melted natural gas (LNG).
In itself this is not a bad ambition. However choosing to do so. by taking control of a distressed U.S. LNG task is certainly a brave. way of tackling it. Woodside stated on Monday it has accepted obtain all of. Tellurian for an overall worth of $1.2 billion, consisting of. a cash payment of some $900 million, or $1 per share, a premium. of 75% to the U.S. business's last closing price.
The purchase price is largely irrelevant. What's important. is whether Woodside can take Tellurian's Driftwood LNG task. in Louisiana from its early stages of advancement to its complete. potential of producing 27 million metric heaps a year of the. super-chilled fuel.
Woodside Chief Executive Meg O'Neill told a financier. rundown on Monday the transaction positions Woodside to be a. international LNG powerhouse.
That is true, since if Woodside does successfully establish. the Driftwood job it possibly will end up being the. second-biggest independent LNG producer on the planet, overtaking. incredibly majors such as Shell and Exxon Mobil.
Woodside's present LNG capability - run, equity share and. off-take - stands at about 12.05 million loads per year.
While Driftwood is allowed for 27.6 million lots a year,. Woodside's initial aim will be to quickly advance Phases 1 and. 2, which are awaiting Final Financial investment Choices (FIDs) and have. a combined yearly capability of about 16.5 million lots.
There are numerous engaging factors for Woodside to handle. the Driftwood job. Becoming world-scale is just among. them.
Having a strong existence in the Atlantic basin would permit. Woodside to make the most of arbitrage opportunities between. customers in Europe and in Asia, the two most significant need centres. for LNG.
Woodside likewise has a strong performance history of developing LNG. tasks, consisting of the North West Shelf and Pluto plants in. Western Australia state.
The business no doubt has the technical proficiency to develop. Driftwood, something that Tellurian potentially lacked.
DIFFERENT MODEL
Woodside likewise brings a strong balance sheet and prepares a. somewhat different design of offering LNG from the traditional. U.S. operation.
U.S. LNG plants tend to be tolling operations, where their. earnings is largely originated from a repaired cost for converting. natural gas into LNG, which is then marketed by off-takers.
This frequently indicates long-term off-take offers are needed. before tasks can get sufficient funding to be developed.
This was mainly the problem Tellurian dealt with ahead of time. Driftwood, with preliminary handle buyers such as Shell,. TotalEnergies, Vitol and others stopping working to. be converted into firm agreements.
Woodside intends to improve the value of the Driftwood project by. accessing cheap feedstock from the U.S. gas market,. putting the LNG into its own marketing portfolio, while still. retaining the option for some tolling volumes.
Woodside also intends to bring in what it called top quality. partners, and will target to offer down its equity stake to. around 50%.
To do this, Woodside is going to need to show it can develop. Driftwood in a prompt and affordable manner.
The Perth-based business stated it anticipates development expenses. for Driftwood to be around $900-$ 915 a ton, which would be. around $14.9 billion for the initial capacity of 16.5 million. heaps a year.
Spot LNG prices for delivery to North Asia << LNG-AS > ended at. $ 12.20 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in the week to. July 19, which is comparable to about $631 a load.
This would indicate a relatively fast recoupment of development. expenses, even accounting for purchasing feedstock and operating. expenditures.
In addition to the threats involved in handling a project. that at finest can be described as having a troubled history,. Woodside is likewise making a massive bet on the future of LNG as. the world transitions far from fossil fuels.
Woodside's view has actually consistently been that LNG is required for. the shift given it is less polluting than coal and. functions well as a peaking fuel to backup variable sustainable. generation from sources such as wind and solar.
Much will depend on what paths are taken by governments,. with the threat that European nations go harder on storage. options such as batteries rather than gas-peaking plants.
LNG can likely remain a force in Asia's energy mix, however this. will mostly be dependent on the fuel being cost-competitive. against coal while not weakening the profitability of LNG. producers.
Disclosure: At the time of publication Clyde Russell owned. Woodside shares as an investor in a fund.
The viewpoints revealed here are those of the author, a. writer .
(source: Reuters)