Latest News
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Exxon moves to smaller sized offices as it cuts down Nigerian operations
ExxonMobil is not renewing a 33yearold lease on its extensive offices in Lagos's. upscale Lekki district which ends on Friday, three sources. inside the company informed , as it aims to scale down. operations in Nigeria. Exxon, Shell, TotalEnergies and Eni. have all looked for to leave Nigeria's oil-rich Niger delta. recently, mentioning security concerns, however such relocations have. been stalled by regulative difficulties. ExxonMobil's strategy to offer its land and shallow-water possessions. to local oil firm Seplat Energy, agreed in 2022, is. nearing close as the local oil sector regulator told . that an agreement signed on Wednesday in between Nigerian state oil. firm NNPC and Exxon's regional unit is a precursor to regulative. approval. Exxon said it was maintaining a strong presence in. Nigeria. Our transfer to a brand-new modern, purpose-built office. shows our dedication to Nigeria, said Oge Udeagha, a. spokesperson for ExxonMobil's Nigerian unit. We remain. devoted to our workforce and our staffing remains the same. Yet Exxon's moving to smaller sized workplaces and an absence of. any brand-new financial investments highlight how severe it is about scaling. down its Nigerian operations, even as the nation's federal government. turns on the beauty for international oil firms. Exxon is transferring staff from the 12-floor Mobil House,. reportedly rented at the expense of $10 million every year, to a. six-floor office building 22 kilometers away in the upmarket. Ikoyi area, constructed to accommodate half the personnel operating at. the former workplaces. The brand-new office leaves no one in doubt about its future. plans for Nigeria, a staff member of the company told . Having actually agreed on the disposal to Seplat Energy, ExxonMobil. has stated it will concentrate on its deepwater assets in Nigeria,. through its regional units Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria. and Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Deepwater). Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who took workplace last year,. has made drawing in investment an essential concern and has directed. that divestment offers be fixed as rapidly as possible.
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Papua New Guinea leader sees community hit by landslide
Papua New Guinea (PNG) Prime Minister James Marape on Friday made his very first see to a remote town struck by a fatal landslide recently and thanked global help donors for their assistance. Officials are still trying to identify the number of people are buried under parts of a mountain which collapsed onto the Yambali town in the Enga area a week ago. More than 2,000 individuals might have been buried alive, according to the PNG government. A U.N. quote put the death toll at around 670. Marape apologised to homeowners for not visiting earlier, The Papua New Guinea Post Courier reported. I'm sorry, Marape was pointed out as stating. The nation is with you in your time of sorrow. He has actually vowed 20 million kina ($ 5.1 million) for emergency response and preliminary recovery measures. Marape likewise examined the disaster site by helicopter, the United Nations migration company said. Heavy equipment and help have actually been slow to get here because of treacherous terrain and tribal unrest in the area. As of Thursday, PNG federal government authorities had actually ruled out finding survivors under the rubble and said that they would move their focus onto recovering bodies. The concern now is twofold: safe search operations to be performed as quickly as possible while attending to the immediate needs of the impacted and displaced population, Richard Howard, the U.N. Local Organizer in Papua New Guinea, informed reporters via video link from Port Moresby. The U.N. migration agency stated the catastrophe website will be quarantined by PNG authorities after 2 week and gain access to will be limited in a quote to avoid the spread of diseases from decaying bodies. The United Nations has said water streaming under the particles had actually contaminated the town's water sources. Those who remain undiscovered will be stated missing out on, the agency stated.
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Malaysia's Petronas Q1 earnings falls on high expenses, low prices
Malaysia's state energy firm Petronas, or Petroliam Nasional Berhad , reported a. near 11% decrease in firstquarter net earnings on Friday due to. greater operating costs and lower realised costs across its. companies. Revenue after tax in the three months ended March 31 was 21.3. billion ringgit ($ 4.53 billion), down from 23.8 billion ringgit. a year ago. Profits was mainly flat at 89.7 billion ringgit compared to. 89.3 billion ringgit in the exact same quarter last year, and dropped. 2% from the 4th quarter of 2023. For the first quarter of 2024, the oil and gas market. continued to be affected by the instability of the. macroeconomics and geopolitical characteristics in the middle of the energy. shift that causes a prolonged unpredictable prices. landscape, the energy business said in a declaration. Petronas' upstream business, its leading profit-making segment,. saw a 9% decrease in post-tax earnings to 11.32 billion ringgit due. to greater item costs and operating costs, while the gas. service' revenue slipped 28% to 6.28 billion ringgit due to. lower melted gas (LNG) rates. Capital investments totaled up to 10.7 billion ringgit, generally. in gas and upstream projects, it said. Domestic capital expenditure was up by 20% from the same. duration last year, primarily for its floating LNG task in Sabah. state and the Kasawari gas field advancement in Sarawak state. Petronas will continue to carry out all efforts to deal with. the increasing market volatilities, while contending with. stakeholders' expectations, it stated.
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EUROPE GAS-Prices constant as Norwegian supply offsets global threats
May 31 - Dutch and British gas costs were little changed on Friday, with enhanced Norwegian gas streams next week offsetting concerns over future Russian gas products and strong Asian competition for melted natural gas (LNG). The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF center was down by 0.01 euros at 34.92 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0839 GMT, LSEG data showed. The July agreement was trading 0.09 euros firmer at 35 euros/MWh. The TTF day-ahead agreement was 0.15 euros down at 34.95 euros/MWh. In the British market, the day-ahead agreement was up 0.5 pence at 84.00 cent per therm. Present gas prices are considering a risk premium that lifts them above where essential drivers would suggest, one trader said. Such fundamentals include gas storage at 70% of capability, moderate weather and Norwegian gas flows of 300 million cubic metres ( mcm) per day, the last of which had dropped as low as 178 mcm/day due to the fact that of maintenance failures over the past 10 days. Extant dangers remain in play from a geopolitical front while OMV supply threat and Russian LNG issues will continue to loom over markets, LSEG expert Wayne Bryan said in a weekly market report. A ramp-up in Norwegian imports and stronger LNG send-out should lower rates, nevertheless, with LSEG forecasting Dutch day-ahead prices to typical 33 euros/MWh and their British equivalent at 82 p/th next week. Gas supply from Russia to Europe through Ukraine remains consistent at 42.4 mcm/day. On the other hand, extreme temperatures throughout Asia are increasing melted gas (LNG) demand in the area, increasing competition for the fuel with European purchasers. In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract rose by 0.37 euros to 75.85 euros a metric ton.
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Iron ore posts weekly decline on softening near-term China demand
Iron ore futures extended decreases on Friday to end the week lower, as softening nearterm need and bleak factory data from leading customer China weighed on belief. The most-traded September iron ore on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended afternoon session 1.7%. lower at 865 yuan per metric heap. It published a weekly decline of. 4.7%. The benchmark July iron ore on the Singapore. Exchange was 0.03% lower at $115.6 a load since 0838 GMT to mark. a 4.3% week-on-week drop. The average day-to-day hot metal output amongst steelmakers. surveyed dropped 0.4% week-on-week to about 2.36 million tons as. of May 31, data from consultancy Mysteel revealed. Some steel mills had opted for a wait-and-see technique, with. reduced purchasing interest for iron ore, info. service provider Shanghai Metals Market stated in a report on Thursday. China's manufacturing activity suddenly fell in May, an. main factory study revealed on Friday, keeping alive calls. for fresh stimulus as a protracted residential or commercial property crisis continued to. weigh on companies, consumers and investors. Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE fell, with coking. coal down 2.59% at 1,670.5 yuan ($ 230.61) a load, and. coke plummeting 3.99% to 2,273 yuan ($ 313.78). Steel criteria on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE). were mostly down. SHFE rebar slid 1.78% to 3,706 yuan
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India's Altmin in talks with Australia for lithium materials
Indian battery materials producer Altmin remains in talks with the Australian government to safe and secure lithium supplies, the company's handling director stated, as part of its growth plans to meet rising need for the vital mineral. We are talking to the Australian High Commission and the critical minerals office, Anjani Sri Mourya Sunkavalli told . Altmin, India's only cathode active materials producer, currently sources lithium carbonate from Brazil and Bolivia. In 2015, Altmin signed a deal with Bolivia's state-owned Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) to set up a plant to produce lithium iron phosphate products in the South American nation. Altmin later plans to bring in lithium carbonate from YLB's Bolivia plant for its operations in India. The business is likewise checking out the possibility of setting up lithium refineries in Brazil and Australia, Sunkavalli said. In the absence of lithium processing centers in India, New Delhi is using incentives to encourage personal companies to set them up locally, reported previously this month. Sunkavalli said he would also attempt to explore whether Altmin might secure supplies of spodumene, a mineral with a high concentration of lithium, from Brazil. The company prepares to establish a cathode active materials plant by 2025 in India's southern city of Hyderabad, and it would source lithium carbonate from both Brazil and Bolivia for the planned system, Sunkavalli stated. Altmin remains in the procedure of raising 3-4 billion rupees
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China suspends tariff concessions on 134 products under Taiwan trade offer
China will renew tariffs next month on 134 items it imports from Taiwan, after the Ministry of Finance said it would suspend concessions on the products under a trade offer since Taiwan had actually not reciprocated. China, which declares democratically governed Taiwan as its own area, has been ramping up its economic, political and military pressure versus the island over the past 4 years. China concerns Taiwan President Lai Ching-te as a. separatist, holding war games around the island last week to. express its anger at what it Beijing viewed as a provocative. inauguration speech. The Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Arrangement. ( ECFA) in between China and Taiwan was at first signed in 2010 and. Taiwanese authorities had formerly told that China was. likely to pressure Lai by ending a few of the preferential. trading terms within it. The Taiwan region has actually unilaterally embraced discriminatory. procedures such as prohibiting and limiting the export of. mainland products, which breaches the provisions of the. ( contract), China's financing ministry said. The suspension of the tariff concessions is because of take. location from June 15, the ministry said, and would apply to. items imported from Taiwan including base oils - utilized to. manufacture other items such as lubes. Taiwan's governmental office said the relocation was traditional. Chinese economic coercion which would not assist enhance. relations across the Taiwan Strait. China needs to abandon political intervention in the market. and distorting the normal operation of the international economy with. economic browbeating, it said in a statement. Taiwan's China policy-making Mainland Affairs Council said. the ECFA offer had actually benefited both sides' companies considering that it was. signed. We call on the mainland to handle distinctions through. positive discussion that does not include political. requirements, and stop financial and trade pressure, it said. In late December, China ditched tariff cuts on some 12. chemical products it imported from Taiwan - moves described by. Taipei officials as an attempt to interfere in January's. election, which Lai won. Taiwan's federal government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims. Chen Binhua, representative for China's Taiwan Affairs Office,. stated Taiwan had actually unilaterally embraced inequitable trade. constraints on the export of more than 2,500 mainland items. This violated the ECFA's provisions on minimizing or. eliminating tariffs, he said.
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Stocks and dollar idle ahead of Fed's preferred inflation figure
Worldwide shares were little altered on Friday in suppressed trading as financiers hunched down for crucial U.S inflation figures that will form the Federal Reserve's thinking on rate of interest when it fulfills midJune. The dollar was steady versus peer currencies ahead of the U.S. inflation information. Oil was somewhat weaker after Fed authorities stated it was too soon to begin considering rate cuts, and following a. surprise build in U.S. gas stocks. The MSCI All Country Stock index was flat at. 780.9 points, down almost 2% on the week, though still up more. than 7% for the year. In Europe, the STOXX index of 600 companies was. lower and headed for a second week of decreases, thought still. likely to reveal gains for May. The big driver in the market at the minute is the very same old. story of when is the Fed going to pivot and begin cutting. rates, said Mark Ellis, CEO of Nutshell Asset Management. The VIX index, called Wall Street's 'worry gauge', has. started rising once again, he noted. Although stock markets have performed highly in May, just. in the recently it seems extremely stressed. I'm expecting that to. diminish today, and seasonally the very first week of June is pretty. good for markets, Ellis added. Policymakers at the Fed who next satisfy on June 11-12, said on. Thursday that they continue to anticipate inflation to fall this. year even as the labor market stays strong, leaving them in no. hurry to cut loaning costs. There will get a fresh keep reading inflation's development at 1230. GMT with the Commerce Department's publication of the regular monthly. U.S. personal usage expenses rate index, widely. deemed the Fed's preferred inflation gauge. Economic experts estimate it rose 2.7% in April from a year ago;. the Fed targets a 2% pace. Euro zone inflation figures are due at 0900 GMT, though. analysts say the information is not likely to modify the European Central. Bank's commonly flagged objective to cut rates of interest by 25. basis points when it satisfies next Thursday, though the course of. further cuts remains unclear. Ellis stated expectation that the ECB will move before the Fed. in cutting rates, the opposite to what has traditionally. occurred, is mostly priced into markets. U.S. stock index futures were flat. to weaker ahead of Wall Street's open, where the opening tone. will be determined by the inflation data. Analysts said they expect little impact on Wall Street from. news that Donald Trump has ended up being the first U.S. president to be. convicted of a criminal activity ahead of a November vote when he will try. to win back the White House from Democratic President Joe Biden. ASIA WEAKER MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan. was down 0.5%. The index was set for a gain of. about 2.7% in May, rising for the fourth straight month. China stocks were down 0.4%, while Hong Kong's. Hang Seng index was off 0.6%. China's production activity suddenly fell in May, an. main factory study showed on Friday. The soft outcome kept. alive require fresh stimulus as a protracted residential or commercial property crisis. continues to weigh on organizations, consumers and investors. Traders are also examining their shoulders for any hints. of intervention from the Tokyo authorities as the Japanese yen. flirts with levels that resulted in thought bouts of. intervention late in April and early this month. The yen was last at 157.165 per dollar, having touched. four-week lows of 157.715 on Wednesday. The currency compromised to. its most affordable in 34 years at 160.245 on April 29, stimulating at least. 2 believed rounds of interventions. Information on Friday showed core customer rates in Japan's. capital increased 1.9% in May on rising electricity bills however price. growth excluding the effect of fuel relieved, heightening. uncertainty on the timing of the reserve bank's next interest. rate walking. The dollar index, which determines the U.S. currency. against 6 rivals, was trading at 104.84, on course for 1.4%. decrease in May, snapping a four-month winning streak. The euro was somewhat down at $1.0823 ahead of. euro zone inflation information for May. In products, oil costs alleviated after a surprise integrate in. U.S. gas stocks weighed on the marketplace. Brent. futures was down 0.2% at $81.70 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas. Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 0.2% at $77.69. Gold, set for a 4th straight regular monthly gains, was. trading at $2,339 per ounce.
PREVIEW-South African election could spell completion of ANC supremacy
South Africans will vote on Wednesday with prevalent anger over power cuts, joblessness and corruption threatening to end the supremacy of the African National Congress, thirty years after Nelson Mandela led it into power.
At no point considering that world media beamed renowned pictures of Black South African citizens queueing to cast ballots for the very first time following the end of white-minority rule has the ANC looked so likely to lose its parliamentary majority.
Polls suggest the ANC's share of the vote could fall as low as 40%, compared with 57.5% in 2019, which would force the celebration into a shaky union with rivals - and potentially expose President Cyril Ramaphosa to a management difficulty.
Yet a survey released earlier today by Afrobarometer suggested a 3rd of voters were unsure, making this survey the most unforeseeable in South Africa's democratic history. Nicole Beardsworth, politics researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand, sees the ANC getting a little a bump on the day, puzzling the worst predictions - particularly with Ramaphosa's intro this month of popular measures such as a national health insurance law and proposed standard income grant.
But I do not think we're visiting the ANC overcome 50%,. she stated. They're ... going to have work out a union. The. huge concern is: with whom?
Much will depend upon how well or terribly they do, she stated. A. small margin would allow them to do a handle a marginal. celebration with minimal take advantage of to make considerable needs.
Bigger losses might indicate a coalition with the Marxist. Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) - a prospect that makes company. leaders and South Africa's fortunate white minority shudder -. or with a number of little celebrations that might thwart decision-making.
Yet some think punishment at the polls could be a catalyst. for the ANC to clean itself up: A various party might come. out of it, independent expert Ralph Mathekga said.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND FAILURES. For 3 decades the ANC has traded off its tradition of releasing. the Black bulk from white rulers whose apartheid system took. their land, kept them poor and uneducated, and forbade them to. go to the majority of the country except to clean homes or dig gold. mines.
In its early years in federal government, it began reversing these. injustices - bringing electrical power, water and half-decent housing. to millions.
However corruption and incompetence have deteriorated some of those. gains. State power service provider Eskom's creaking coal-fired power. stations have not kept up with demand, causing frequent. blackouts, while roadways, sewage treatment plants and schools rot. from the within. A third of South Africans are unemployed.
I do not see what I'm voting for. We do not have roads (or. good) homes, Zinhle Nyakenye, 31 and out of work, told. in Mandela's home town of Qunu, as she brought water for. family use from a stream.
Corruption has spread out, although a strong rule of law - one. of the ANC's most enduring traditions - has resulted in legal. proceedings versus effective individuals such as ex-president Jacob. Zuma, while the parliamentary speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula. resigned last month. Both reject wrongdoing.
Zuma in December created a breakaway celebration called uMkhonto. we Sizwe (MK) that could take votes from the ANC in its eastern. Zulu heartlands. It may also stir up trouble if Zuma's. fans - who rioted and robbed for days when he was apprehended. for contempt of court in July 2021 - don't like the results.
However South Africa's robust legal system also indicates guidelines for. coalition building are clear, even if the gamers have never. done it, said Chatham House's Chris Vandome.
South Africa's system was developed so that political. parties in an extremely fractured country might collaborate,. Vandome said. It was never ever developed for a dominant party to. keep absolute control ... for 30 years.