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Three police officers killed in Dagestan, Russia
Authorities in Dagestan, a southern Russian region, reported that three police officers were shot dead in a shootout on Monday after unknown gunmen opened up on their vehicle. The local interior ministry reported that the attack on the officers who were members of a traffic unit occurred at around 12:30 local time (1120 GMT). The ministry confirmed that one of the attackers had been killed. In a video that was not verified and published on Telegram, the bodies of police officers were seen lying in a street next to a police car. While passersby inspected the bodies, they heard more gunshots down the street. Another video showed a man dressed in black shooting on the street before fleeing. Unverified images of two men lying in pools blood were published by Telegram channels. Dagestan is a predominantly Muslim region that has been the victim of several deadly attacks over the past few years. Counter-terrorism forces in March killed Four militants associated with the Islamic State were allegedly plotting an attack on a regional branch office of the Interior Ministry. (Reporting and Writing by Lucy Papachristou, Gleb Stolyarov and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge).
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Gold increases by more than 2% due to dollar weakness and safe-haven demand
Gold prices increased by more than 2% Monday. This was due to a weaker US dollar and a surge in safe-haven investments after President Donald Trump's new tariffs reignited fears about a global trade conflict. As of 1144 GMT, spot gold was up 2.3% to $3,313.21 per ounce. U.S. Gold Futures rose 2.4% to $3322. Gold is more appealing to other currency holders because the dollar index has fallen by 0.4%. Trump announced on Sunday a tariff of 100% on films produced outside the U.S., but provided little detail on how it would be implemented. Carlo Alberto De Casa is an external analyst for Swissquote. He said: "The U.S. Dollar is slowing down, and that's a positive thing for gold. More investors are betting the Fed will reduce rates fairly soon, after last week's U.S. Gross Domestic Product data was below expectations and now, with what's happening with oil." The U.S. Federal Reserve will likely keep rates unchanged on Wednesday. However, the market's focus will be on Jerome Powell, his remarks, and economic projections. Trump reiterated his call to the central bank for interest rate cuts, saying he would not remove Powell from his position as Fed Board Chair before Powell's term expires in May 2026. Gold that does not yield acts as a hedge to inflation and global uncertainty. It tends thrive in an environment of low interest rates. Trump said on Sunday that the U.S. met with many countries including China on trade deals and that his priority for China was to achieve a fair deal. Goldman Sachs stated in a report that "We expect gold to continue to outglitter silver, with Chinese solar production slowing due a high U.S. risk of recession and central bank gold purchases remaining strong through 2025." Other metals rose in price, with spot silver up 1.3% at $32.38 per ounce. Platinum was up by 0.1%, to $961.41, and palladium by 0.7%, to $960.13.
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Eskom's outlook for power has lifted the rand to a five-week high.
The South African rand strengthened Monday, reaching its highest level in five weeks. State utility Eskom stated that it was optimistic regarding the power outlook for the winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and aimed to avoid any electricity cuts within the next four month. Since more than a century, power outages have plagued Africa's industrialised nation. This has hampered economic growth. Investor confidence is still shaky despite Eskom's attempts to reduce power outages to the levels recorded in 2023. This is due to 14 consecutive days of blackouts in January-April Chief Executive Dan Marokane called this year's setback a temporary one. At 1110 GMT the rand was trading at 18,2850 per dollar, which is 0.7% higher than the Friday close. The dollar last traded slightly lower against a basket currency as investors awaited more details about U.S. China trade relations and the Federal Reserve policy meeting this week. Citigroup expects South Africa's currency to gain against the U.S. Dollar, as the premium on the real rate in Africa's most developed economy and the firmer commodity exports are expected to outweigh the domestic political uncertainty. Bhumika Gupta, a strategist from South Africa, and Luis Costa, a foreign exchange specialist from Brazil said that they expected the rand to weaken to less than 18 dollars per rand. Societe Generale's strategists, on the other hand, said that South Africa is still facing domestic and geopolitical uncertainty, so they predict the rand will reach 20 rand per dollar by the end of June. The S&P Global Purchasing Managers' Index will be released on Tuesday. Manufacturing and foreign reserve data are due on Thursday. Early deals showed that the benchmark South African 2030 government bond had a lower yield, which was up by 2 basis points at 8.845%. Reporting by Sfundo parakozov and Colleen GOKO. Mark Potter and Sharon Singleton edited the article.
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OPEC+’s 'healthy crude oil market' looks like catching a flu: Russell
The OPEC+ group's increased supply is not the reason for which they claim it is. 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 which are reflected in the low levels of oil inventories." While crude inventories may be slightly lower than the five-year average, 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+'s claim of "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 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 recovery or reworking. 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 a 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 the columnist, an author for.
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Sunoco will buy Parkland for $9 billion in a deal that consolidates the fuel suppliers in America
Sunoco LP announced on Monday that it would buy Parkland, a Canadian fuel distributor, for a total of $9.1 billion including debt. The companies claimed this deal would make Sunoco the largest independent fuel retailer in the Americas. The deal is the result of Parkland’s strategic review that was initiated in March. This followed persistent pressure by Simpson Oil, Parkland’s largest shareholder, with nearly 20%, and Engine Capital, an activist investor. Simpson Oil has not responded to our request for comment. Parkland shareholders receive C$19.80 and 0.290 Sunoco shares for every Parkland share they hold. Sunoco shares, which are involved in both wholesale fuel distribution as well as retail convenience, fell 1% on premarket following the announcement. The company stated that the deal would close in the second quarter and will generate run-rate synergies of more than $250,000,000 by the third calendar year. Sunoco is committed to investing in Parkland’s Burnaby Refinery to produce cleaner fuels with low carbon emissions. The refinery will be run for the long-term to supply fuel in the Lower Mainland of Canada. (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
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Saudi Arabia increases Arab Light June OSP in Asia
Saudi Arabia, which is the largest oil exporter in the world, has increased its prices to Asian buyers despite the fact that crude prices fell on Monday, after the producer group OPEC+ agreed over the weekend to another accelerated increase in output. Saudi Aramco, the state oil company, raised its official June selling price of its flagship Arab Light crude from $0.20 to $1.40 per barrel over the average Oman and Dubai price. The increase in price follows two consecutive months of decreases, and is despite the downward pressure on crude oil prices due to concerns over more supply entering a market that's clouded by uncertain demand. OPEC+ members, which include allies such as Russia and the de facto Saudi Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, agreed to increase oil production for a second month in a row, increasing output by 411,000 barrels / day (bpd) in June. The combined increases from the eight OPEC+ members for April, may and June will total 960,000 bpd. This represents a 44% reduction of the 2.2 millions bpd in voluntary cuts that the group agreed to phase out between December 2026.
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Fortuna eyes Guinea investments after Burkina Faso exit, CEO says
Fortuna Mining, a Canadian company, is looking to expand into Guinea, after leaving Burkina Faso where it was plagued by regulatory instabilities and high security costs due to jihadist threats. Ganoza stated that Fortuna is currently not established in Guinea but is actively looking for gold-mining opportunities. They are conducting site visits, meeting with the authorities and visiting mining sites. Jorge Ganoza, in a video call, said: "We would consider investing in Guinea today." He said that a portion of the growing exploration budget of the mining firm will be allocated to Guinea, where there is "a lot of space for discovery". These comments show how mining companies respond to the changing landscape of West Africa where governments run by military forces are revising their mining codes and trying to reduce the threat from jihadists. Since 2020, military coups have taken place in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The new leaders introduced new mining codes in order to increase the local control of the sector, while at times using hardball tactics. Malian authorities arrested foreign executives in recent months and seized gold stocks during negotiations with mining firms. Niger seized an uranium mine run by France in December, and Burkina Faso’s junta promised to seize more foreign-owned industrial mining companies last month. Guinea, which borders Mali on the southwest side, has a military-led government as well - Mamady doumbouya, who seized power 2021, but it does not face the same threat from jihadists. The government of the country has not changed its mining code but it has placed pressure on foreign companies, including by threatening to revoke their licenses if they do not meet a strict construction deadline for a giant iron ore deposit in Simandou. Ganoza stated that "we don't have the same situation as we do today in Mali, Burkina Faso, or Niger." BURKINA EXIT Fortuna announced its exit from Burkina Faso last month with the sale to a local private company of the Yaramoko Gold Mine for $130 Million. Ganoza said that despite the fact that Fortuna will lose approximately 70,000 gold ounces from the sale of the mine, the deal is "a very compelling one" due to the mine's limited reserves. Ganoza stated that the annual security costs of the company had risen to $7 million due to jihadist attacks. He said that in other jurisdictions, such costs range between $200,000 to $300,000. Ganoza stated that Fortuna was forced to "completely fly in, fly out" for all staff, as ground transportation is too dangerous. He said that Burkina Faso was "pricing itself out of the market", by demanding a 30% state share in mining companies in the revised code for mining adopted in July 2024. Fortuna has left Burkina Faso, following Endeavour who left last year. Ganoza stated that Fortuna will invest $51 million globally in exploration and development projects this year, compared to $41 million by 2024. He said that in addition to Guinea, Fortuna will also be expanding its operations in Ivory Coast where the flagship Seguela mine is located. Maxwell Akalaare Adombila (Reporting and Editing by Portia Corey-Boulet, Robbie Corey Boulet and Jan Harvey).
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Data shows that Russia's LNG imports fell 4.6% year-on-year in January to April.
LSEG released preliminary data on Monday showing that Russia's LNG exports in the first quarter of this year fell by 4.6% compared to a year ago, reaching 10.4 million metric tonnes. Due to U.S. sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine, Russia has been unable to increase LNG exports. The new Arctic LNG 2 facility has effectively been frozen due to the Western sanctions. U.S. president Donald Trump said that he wants the EU to purchase more U.S. LNG, and he will make it more available. According to LSEG, Russia's exports of LNG fell by 9% in April, from 2.75 to 2.5 million tonnes compared to the same month a previous year. In April, supplies to Europe fell 14.3%, to 1.2 millions tons, due to sanctions on transshipment that took effect in March. Around 19% (or more) of Europe's natural gas is still imported from Russia via the TurkStream pipeline or LNG shipments. The European Union also has a nonbinding target to stop Russian fossil fuel imports before 2027. Novatek's Yamal plant reduced total exports by 1.8% on an annual basis in April, to 1.64 millions tons. The plant's supply has been stable at 6.6 millions tons in the first four month of the year. Sakhalin-2 (controlled by Gazprom) exported 880,000 tonnes from the Pacific Island in April. This was also fairly steady compared to the same period a year earlier. The project's exports have increased to 3.6 millions tons from 3.5 in January-April of 2024. (Reporting and writing by Oksana Kobieva; editing by David Evans.)
Eni could raise more than 8 billion euros from disposals, CEO says
Eni might pocket more than 8 billion euros ($ 8.7 billion) in net profits from disposals by 2027, CEO Claudio Descalzi stated on Friday after the Italian energy group reported secondquarter outcomes ahead of agreement.
We have been performing our disposal plan much faster than anticipated, Descalzi stated, speaking with analysts on a. post-result teleconference.
In its updated company strategy to 2027, the group stated it. intended to gather around 4 billion euros from the sale of oil and. gas assets and a similar quantity from minority stake sales and. initial public offerings of its low-carbon systems.
The potential customers of higher proceeds from disposals and better. return for financiers pressed Eni stock up more than 3% on Friday.
After reporting a smaller than expected drop in. second-quarter net revenue, Eni guaranteed to accelerate its share. buyback and hinted it might nudge it up in the coming months.
In the last few months, Eni accepted divest upstream possessions. in Alaska, created a service mix with Britain's Ithaca. spinning off its North Sea operations and progressed. in the sale of onshore possessions in Nigeria.
It also drew in the investment of Swiss fund Energy. Infrastructure Partners in retail and sustainable unit Plenitude.
Today, Eni said it was entering exclusive speak with offer. approximately 25% of its biofuel system Enilive to U.S. financial investment firm. KKR, including it might also dispose an additional 10% of. the system.
Can we exceed 8 billion? ... Possibly yes, Descalzi said,. adding that the group's upstream portfolio might be the most. intriguing area to take a look at to discover more prospective divestments. next year, when ongoing offers are concluded.
Sources told in May the group might spin off stakes. in high-potential oil and gas jobs, consisting of in Indonesia. and Ivory Coast, to help fund their advancement while. focusing more capital on low-carbon activities.
Such deals would broaden Descalzi's technique to divide some of. Eni's operations into separate entities, or satellites, to raise. cash and tap specialised investors.
So far Eni has actually created several satellites, including Norway. upstream group Var Energi, Angola's joint endeavor with. BP Azule, the mix with Ithaca and low-carbon. Plenitude and Enilive.
(source: Reuters)