2025-01-08 07:54
LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Shell (SHEL.L) , opens new tab trimmed its liquefied natural gas production outlook for the fourth quarter on Wednesday and said oil and gas trading results are expected to be significantly lower than in the previous three months. In a trading update ahead of Jan. 30 full-year results, Shell also said it would take $1.5 billion to $3 billion of non-cash, post-tax impairments, including up to $1.2 billion in its renewables division, linked to European and North American assets. Shell last month said it was stepping back from new offshore wind investments and splitting its power division following an extensive review of the business, part of CEO Wael Sawan's drive to focus on the most profitable parts. Shell shares were down 1.5% by 1125 GMT. The world's top oil and gas companies have seen profits decline throughout 2024 following record earnings in the previous two years as energy prices steadied and global oil demand faltered. U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) , opens new tab on Tuesday signalled that sharply lower oil refining profits and weakness across all its businesses would reduce its fourth-quarter earnings by about $1.75 billion from the prior quarter. Shell, the world's largest LNG trader, said trading results for the division in the fourth quarter would be significantly lower than in the previous three months due to the expiry of hedging contracts Shell took in 2022 to protect itself against a potential loss of Russian production following the invasion of Ukraine. Trading in its chemicals and oil products division was also expected to be significantly lower quarter-on-quarter due to lower seasonal demand. Shell does not provide earnings figures for its trading operations. The British company trimmed its LNG production forecast for the quarter to 6.8-7.2 million metric tons, from a previous forecast , opens new tab of 6.9-7.5 million tons, citing lower feedgas deliveries into liquefaction facilities and fewer cargo deliveries. "We see the release as negative, with weakness across a number of divisions and weaker trading across oil, gas and power," RBC Capital Markets analyst Biraj Borkhataria said in a note, adding that this was not expected to impact shareholder returns. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shell-trims-q4-lng-production-outlook-2025-01-08/
2025-01-08 07:30
MUMBAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee hit a lifetime low on Thursday, pressured by a rise in U.S. bond yields and strong dollar bids in the non-deliverable forwards (NDF) market while the central bank likely stepped in to cap losses, traders said. The rupee declined to 85.93 per U.S. dollar, weakening past its previous record low of 85.8575 hit in the last session. The currency was at 85.92 as of 9:45 a.m. IST. State-run banks were spotted offering dollars, most likely on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India, which helped limit the rupee's losses, four traders told Reuters. The RBI is "active as usual", which should help the rupee stay above the 86 handle in the near-term, a trader at a private bank said. The dollar index was at 109 after rising 0.3% on Wednesday while Asian currencies were mixed. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield hit a peak of 4.73% on Wednesday, its highest since April 2024, before edging lower in Asia trading. Expectations of cautious rate cuts by the Federal Reserve amid the potential inflationary impact of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump's policies have pushed up the dollar and U.S. bond yields over recent weeks. Uncertainty about Trump's policies has clouded the economic outlook with U.S. central bank officials raising new inflation concerns, the minutes of the Fed's December meeting released on Wednesday showed. "With Trump's tariffs arriving at the outset of his second term in less than two weeks, amid a resilient U.S. economy compared to a lacklustre Chinese economy and stagnation in the Eurozone, the FOMC minutes should support the case for the USD to extend its Trump Trade rally into this year," DBS Bank said. Meanwhile, dollar-rupee forward premiums surged with the 1-year implied yield rising to 2.74%, its highest level since October 2022. The rise in forward premiums came on the back of a persistent arbitrage between dollar-rupee outright and non-deliverable forwards, traders said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/rupee-hits-lifetime-low-dollars-bounce-hurts-asian-currencies-2025-01-08/
2025-01-08 07:28
Jan 8 (Reuters) - India's top explorer Oil And Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.NS) , opens new tab on Wednesday said energy major BP (BP.L) , opens new tab will act as technical service provider to help boost oil and gas output from the country's largest producing field, off India's west coast. BP has promised an increase of up to 60% in production of oil and gas output from the Mumbai High field, discovered in 1974, ONGC said in a stock exchange filing. The field reached a peak production level of 471,000 barrels per day of oil in March 1985, and its output had declined to about 134,000 bpd in April 2024, according to the tender document floated last year. India, the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer, wants to quickly raise its oil and gas output, which has been stagnant for years. In June, the government said that ONGC was seeking a technical tie-up with a global oil major to boost production and BP's board had met India's Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in September 2024. The country has been asking foreign companies to participate in India's exploration programmes, Puri had said last year. BP will act as a technical service provider for the field. "We look forward to bringing our long experience of optimising performance and recovery from major mature fields around the world to help unlock and enhance production from Mumbai High," BP said in a statement. BP, in a tie-up with Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) , opens new tab, operates 1,900 fuel retail stations across India and produces oil and gas from a deepwater block in the Krishna-Godavari basin, off the country's east coast. The Reliance-BP tie-up has teamed up with ONGC to bid for exploration rights for an offshore block in India. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/indias-ongc-engages-bp-boost-production-largest-oil-field-2025-01-08/
2025-01-08 07:24
Gold import revision reduces trade deficit by $5 billion Imports still a record $47 billion in first 11 months of 2024 Gold outperforms stocks for Indian investors, boosting demand for coins and bars MUMBAI, Jan 8 (Reuters) - India has cut its November gold import estimates by an unprecedented $5 billion, the largest revision for any commodity in history, after errors in preliminary calculations inflated the figure to a record, government data showed on Wednesday. New Delhi said last month its gold imports hit a record high of $14.8 billion in November, more than doubling from $7.13 billion in October. The spike widened the country's merchandise trade deficit (INTRD=ECI) , opens new tab to a record $37.84 billion in November, exceeding economists' forecast of $23.9 billion and spooking financial markets. The country's gold imports in November were $9.84 billion, compared with a preliminary estimate of $14.8 billion published last month, data compiled by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) showed. The downward revision in gold imports by $5 billion would reduce the trade deficit by a similar amount, said a government official, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak publicly. India is the world's second-largest consumer of gold and relies on imports to meet most of its demand, which typically increases during the festival and wedding season in the December quarter. Despite the revision of November numbers, the country spent a record $47 billion on gold imports in the first 11 months of 2024, surpassing the $42.6 billion spent during the whole of 2023, as gold prices jumped to a record high , the data showed. Gold delivered better returns than stocks for Indian investors in 2024, driving increased demand for coins and bars, according to the World Gold Council. India imports gold from countries including African countries, Peru, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. Its gold imports rose sharply after India, in July, cut import duties on gold to 6% from 15%. Higher November imports raised concerns among the bullion industry of import duty hikes to curb consumption, but revised data shows no unusual demand rise, a Mumbai-based dealer with a gold importing bank said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/india-slashes-nov-gold-imports-by-5-bln-record-commodity-revision-2025-01-08/
2025-01-08 07:19
Oil stuck in two Chinese ports since 2018 Urgency grows to recoup oil as Trump could tighten sanctions Iran under pressure to pay storage fees to gain oil's release Iran has been selling oil under sanctions for decades LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Iran is pushing to recoup 25 million barrels of oil from China that has been stuck for six years in Chinese ports due to sanctions imposed by then-U.S. President Donald Trump, three Iranian and one Chinese source familiar with the matter said. Trump is returning to power on Jan. 20, and analysts say he is expected to tighten sanctions again on Iranian oil exports to limit Tehran's income, as he did during his first term as president. China, which says it does not recognise unilateral sanctions, has been buying about 90% of Tehran's oil exports in recent years at discounts that have saved its refiners billions of dollars. But the stranded oil, worth $1.75 billion at today's prices, highlights the challenges Iran is facing with selling oil even in China. Iran's Oil Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Asked about the stranded oil, China's foreign ministry said China's cooperation with Iran was legitimate but declined further comment. Despite some of the West's toughest sanctions, Iran has built a roaring global trade for its oil, relying on a shadow fleet of tankers that conceal their activity. Most Iranian oil sold to China is redocumented as non-Iranian en route to Chinese ports. The stranded oil, however, was documented as Iranian oil when Iran's national oil company NIOC delivered it to Chinese ports around October 2018 using waivers granted by Trump, two of the four sources familiar with the shipments said. NIOC stored the oil in the ports of Dalian and Zhoushan in east China, where it had been leasing tanks, the sources said. Leasing tanks gave NIOC flexibility to sell oil in China or ship it to other buyers in the region. But in early 2019, Trump scrapped the waivers, and the oil never found buyers or cleared Chinese customs and remained trapped in the tanks, according to three of the four sources. Oil tanks in Dalian are run by PDA Energy, which is asking Iran to pay more than $450 million in storage fees accumulated since 2018, one of the three Iranian sources said. In Zhoushan, the tanks are operated by private storage operator CGPC. Liaoning Port Co (601880.SS) , opens new tab, which controls PDA Energy in Dalian, did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters was unable to reach CGPC for comment as calls to the company went unanswered. The talks between Iranian officials and the Chinese storage operators on payment of storage fees and other conditions for releasing the oil took on added urgency in recent weeks due to Tehran's concerns that Trump could again tighten sanctions, one of the Iranian sources familiar with the discussions said. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Beijing in December and made some progress on the issue of stranded oil, the Iranian source said but gave no further detail. Iran would have to reload oil from tanks into ships, make a ship-to-ship transfer at sea and redocument it in order to be able to sell it, one of the Iranian sources said, citing his experience with Iranian oil exports and Chinese customs proceedings. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iran-pushes-china-let-it-sell-17-billion-worth-stranded-oil-sources-say-2025-01-08/
2025-01-08 07:02
MANILA, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The Philippines is encouraging importers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to voluntarily aggregate purchases of the super-chilled fuel in efforts to lower prices and improve market efficiencies, government officials said on Wednesday. "If there is a voluntary effort, then we encourage the industry to aggregate their supply of importation of LNG," said energy secretary Raphael Lotilla, speaking to reporters at a press event. He added that the government is studying options to appoint a state entity to lead aggregate buying efforts, but that non-government entities could do so as well. While the government does not want to influence the market, Energy Undersecretary Alessandro Sales said "there are efficiencies in aggregation that can be very beneficial to the consumer." "All of this has to be worked out in the market framework," Sales said. "We have to consider all of that, because there are also considerations in terms of energy security that have to be factored in when we move forward in finalising any plans on this aggregation." Currently with two import terminals, the Philippines began shipping in LNG in mid-2023 to replace gas from its depleting Malampaya field. Imported gas costs however are higher than domestic production, and are passed on to consumers in the form of higher power prices. The country's debut LNG cargo arrived in April 2023 to supply San Miguel Global Power Holdings. Power producer First Gen Corp then sought its commissioning cargo in the following month before buying its first cargo in July 2023. The Southeast Asian nation received 19 cargoes of LNG last year, all on a spot basis, according to data from analytics firm Kpler. None of the importers have signed long-term deals to import LNG, which helps hedge against volatility in the spot market and provide security of supply. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/philippines-encourages-lng-importers-aggregate-buying-2025-01-08/
