2025-11-25 05:32

PERTH, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Australia's Woodside Energy (WDS.AX) , opens new tab and East Timor have agreed to study sending gas from the large, undeveloped Greater Sunrise fields to a new liquefied natural gas plant in the Southeast Asian nation that could start exporting in the next seven years. The agreement calls for the two sides to study the commercial and technical viability of a 5-million-metric-ton project, with a high-level plan to start producing LNG as early as 2032-2035, Woodside and East Timor's petroleum and mineral resources ministry said in a joint statement on Tuesday. Sign up here. That marks the first time the two sides, long at loggerheads over development of the fields which lie between East Timor and Australia, have outlined a potential start-up date. "The TLNG project presents the best economic, social, and strategic benefits for the people of Timor-Leste, and we are committed to working constructively with Woodside, the Greater Sunrise joint venture and other parties,” East Timor's petroleum and mineral resources minister, Francisco da Costa Monteiro, said. The project would include a domestic gas plant and a helium extraction plant. Helium commands a high premium owing to its scarcity and use in the semiconductor industry. Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill said the agreement would address remaining issues such as a downstream commercial structure to attract financing and to better understand "the preferred route of the gas export pipeline". The deep Timor Trough is seen as one of the hurdles for a gas pipeline from the Greater Sunrise fields to East Timor. Dili has long pressed for Sunrise gas to be sent to a new LNG export plant in East Timor and not to Darwin in northern Australia. Woodside has long resisted, arguing it is not cost effective, although O’Neill had suggested smaller "modular" LNG processing units could be built in East Timor to cut costs. Alongside the study, fiscal, regulatory and legal frameworks to support the upstream development of the fields need to be negotiated between the Sunrise Joint Venture, East Timor and Australian governments, the statement said. A maritime boundary was agreed by the two nations in 2018. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/woodside-east-timor-aim-first-lng-greater-sunrise-2032-2025-11-25/

2025-11-25 05:02

'Tremendous progress' toward Ukraine-Russia peace deal, White House says Zelenskiy could visit the US in next few days Russia stresses deal cannot stray too far from its objectives NEW YORK, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Oil prices settled over 1% lower on Tuesday after Ukraine hinted that an intense diplomatic push by the U.S. administration to end Russia's war against it could be yielding fruit. An end to the war in Ukraine could pave the way for the unwinding of Western sanctions against Moscow's energy trade, potentially adding more supply at a time when commodity prices have been battered by expectations of a glut next year. Sign up here. Brent crude futures fell 89 cents, or 1.4%, to $62.48 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures also fell 89 cents, or 1.5%, to $57.95 a barrel. Both benchmarks hit their lowest levels since October 22 during intraday trading. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy could visit the U.S. in the next few days to finalise a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump to end the war, Kyiv's national security chief Rustem Umerov said. Still, Russia stressed it would not let any deal stray too far from its objectives, which helped keep oil's losses in check as Russia's position raises doubts about whether a formal agreement will be reached, said Ed Hayden-Briffett, oil analyst at Onyx Capital Group. The uncertainty was underscored by Russia's barrage of missiles on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Tuesday, which killed six people, wounded 13, and disrupted electricity and heating systems. "It needs two to tango, and it remains unclear if Russia agrees as well," UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said. The difficult part of negotiations to end the war is yet to come, with major gaps between the parties needing to be filled, analysts at oil trading advisory firm Ritterbusch and Associates cautioned. WORSENING GLUT A growing consensus of experts forecasts that crude oil supply growth in 2026 will exceed gains in demand. Deutsche Bank sees a surplus of at least 2 million barrels per day next year and no clear path back to deficits even by 2027, it said in a note on Monday. A peace deal could help Russia raise oil production to its agreed OPEC+ volume, Commerzbank Research analysts said. Sanctions on Russian oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil and rules against selling oil products refined from Russian crude to Europe have pushed some Indian refiners to cut back their purchases of Russian oil. That has caused a decline in Russian oil exports and an increase in crude oil from Russia stored in tankers at sea, which would become available if a peace deal leads to lifting sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil, Commerzbank noted. Russia has also been discussing ways to expand exports to China, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday. U.S. crude stocks fell last week while fuel inventories rose, market sources said on Tuesday, citing American Petroleum Institute figures. U.S. crude stocks were previously estimated in a Reuters poll to have risen by 1.86 million barrels in the week ended November 21. Official stockpile data from the Energy Information Administration is due on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. ET (1530 GMT). https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-steadies-oversupply-concerns-vie-with-ukraine-talks-investor-focus-2025-11-25/

2025-11-25 04:51

MUMBAI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund is likely to reclassify India's foreign exchange rate management regime in the near future, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday citing people familiar with the matter. The reported shift comes two years after the international body had characterised India's FX management regime to "stabilized arrangement" from "floating" in December 2023. Sign up here. The Reserve Bank of India strongly believes that such a view is "incorrect" and "unjustified", the report had said at the time. The IMF had retained the tag for the period of December 2022 to November 2024 following its latest review last year. News of the potential reclassification by the IMF comes as the rupee's volatility has picked up under new chief Sanjay Malhotra who took charge of the central bank late last year. (This story has been refiled to say 'took charge,' not 'take charge,' in paragraph 4) https://www.reuters.com/world/india/imf-reclassify-indias-fx-management-framework-bloomberg-news-reports-2025-11-25/

2025-11-25 04:31

MUMBAI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee closed nearly flat on Tuesday, surrendering early gains as month-end dollar demand from importers offset broader strength in regional currencies. The rupee ended at 89.22 against the U.S. dollar, barely changed from its close of 89.23 in the previous session. Sign up here. The currency found its footing this week after slumping to an all-time low of 89.49 on November 21. While the central bank likely stepped in to shore up the currency on Monday, traders pointed to only intermittent signs of its presence in the market on Tuesday. It "seems like they (RBI) are active but largely in the non-deliverable forwards market," a senior trader at a state-run bank said. Persistent worries over a limbo in U.S.-India trade negotiations have weighed on the rupee this year and traders reckon that a recovery is unlikely in the absence of a breakthrough in talks between New Delhi and Washington. "We think the current elevated US tariffs on India exports are likely to be lowered, which will likely be positive for growth and equities, but we expect the RBI to replenish FX reserves on dips in USD/INR, therefore limiting INR appreciation," analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note. India's foreign exchange reserves stood at $692.6 billion as of the week ended November 14, per central bank data. The Reserve Bank of India's net short position in FX forwards and futures, meanwhile, stood at $59.4 billion at the end of September. Traders and analysts expect the position size to have risen further in October, the data for which is expected to be released on Friday. Elsewhere, the dollar index was a tad lower at 100.1, while Asian currencies firmed between 0.1% and 0.7% as investors deliberated over the chances of a U.S. rate reduction next month. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rupee-eyes-higher-open-with-fed-rate-cut-odds-rising-rbi-lurking-2025-11-25/

2025-11-25 03:33

DUBAI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Nigeria's Dangote has tapped Honeywell (HON.O) , opens new tab to provide services and help double its refining capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2028, in what is the clearest indication yet that its plans to become the world's largest petroleum refinery are bearing fruit. The agreement will allow Dangote to process a broader range of crude grades to help support the planned expansion in output with the help of Honeywell's catalysts and equipment, the companies said on Tuesday. Sign up here. Dangote will also look to increase its total production of polypropylene - an industrial material widely used to produce plastic containers and car parts - to 2.4 million metric tons per year by licensing Honeywell's Oleflex technology. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. While contracts of such nature tend to vary based on the project's complexity, a source familiar with the situation said it could be valued at over $250 million. Nigeria is Africa's largest crude oil producer, yet for decades it imported nearly all its refined fuel due to non-functional state-owned refineries, leading to chronic fuel shortages, subsidy scandals, and heavy pressure on foreign exchange reserves. The Dangote refinery, which is Africa's largest and the world's biggest single-train facility at 650,000 barrels per day, is designed to reverse this paradox by meeting all of Nigeria's domestic fuel needs and creating surplus for export. With $20 billion spent to build the refinery in Lekki, Lagos, Dangote last month laid out plans to double the plant capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day by adding a second single-train unit over the next three years. At that capacity, Dangote would be able to process nearly all of Nigeria's current crude production of around 1.5 million bpd. The agreement comes as Honeywell, once a conglomerate that is now in the process of splitting itself up, is shoring up revenues ahead of a planned carve-out of its aerospace business, which is currently its biggest cash cow. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/nigerias-dangote-picks-honeywell-help-fulfill-ambitious-capacity-expansion-2025-11-25/

2025-11-25 00:38

32 of 36 economists expect the BOK to hold rates at 2.50% on November 27 BENGALURU, Nov 25 (Reuters) - The Bank of Korea will keep its key interest rate unchanged at 2.50% on Thursday as policymakers grapple with a volatile currency and an overheated housing market, according to a majority of economists in a Reuters poll who have pushed the next predicted rate cut to early next year. Economists had previously expected a cut at the November 27 meeting, but elevated home prices due to a chronic housing shortage and the Korean won , which has weakened against the U.S. dollar for four consecutive months, have prompted most of them to push the reduction into the first quarter of 2026. Sign up here. South Korea’s economic growth and price pressures have also accelerated. Third-quarter gross domestic product grew 1.2%, the fastest in more than a year, while October inflation rose 2.4%, above the BOK’s 2% target. That combination has reinforced expectations among economists that the central bank will stay cautious for longer as it waits to see the impact on the economy of 100 basis points of easing since October 2024. REAL ESTATE AND CURRENCY CONCERNS Nearly 90% of economists, 32 of 36 polled from November 18-24, said the BOK would hold its base rate (KROCRT=ECI) , opens new tab at 2.50% on Thursday, where it has been since May. Four expected a 25-basis-point cut to 2.25%. "There has been a lack of material improvement in the two key constraints – real estate and currency concerns – that drove the October pause," said Krystal Tan, an economist at ANZ, who now predicts the next rate cut in the first three months of 2026. "At present, we think it is premature to declare an end to the BOK’s easing cycle. Growth remains below potential, and the prospect of Fed-led easing in 2026 could help ease currency constraints." The U.S. Federal Reserve has cut rates by a cumulative 150 basis points since September 2024 and is expected to reduce borrowing costs further. ONE MORE CUT SEEN BEFORE END OF Q1 Among economists with a longer-term view on rates, a majority of 60%, or 17 of 28, forecast at least one more rate cut by end-March 2026. Fourteen expected rates at 2.25% and three at 2.00%, while the remaining 11 saw no change from 2.50%. Some economists said such easing would support an economy growing below potential and aligned with the BOK’s signal at its last meeting that it intended to “maintain its rate cut stance to mitigate downside risks to economic growth”. Median forecasts showed rates at 2.25% through 2026, 25 basis points higher than the 2.00% expected in the October poll. "We do believe the direction of interest rates is still going to be down and the most likely question is more of when and the major reason for this is the output gap remains negative and the authorities are still keen on supporting growth," said Adam Samdin, economist at Oxford Economics. The BOK expects the economy to expand 0.9% this year, the weakest pace since a 0.7% contraction in 2020 during the pandemic. (Other stories from the Reuters global economic poll) https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/bank-korea-hold-rates-250-november-27-cut-pushed-next-quarter-2025-11-25/