2025-11-15 12:16

Gazprom Neft and Gazprom hold together majority stake in NIS US gives NIS owners three months to look for a buyer, says minister NIS operations threatened as banks halt payments BELGRADE, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Serbia secured a three-month licence from the U.S. to try to find a buyer for its Russian-owned oil company, NIS, which is under sanctions that threaten fuel supplies ahead of winter, energy minister Dubravka Djedovic-Handanovic said on Saturday. Serbia said this week that Russia's Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM) , opens new tab and Gazprom (GAZP.MM) , opens new tab - which together hold a controlling stake of 56% in the country's only oil refiner (NIIS.BEL) , opens new tab - had sent a request to the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), stating readiness to cede control of the company to a third party. Sign up here. OFAC initially placed sanctions on Russia's oil sector, including Gazprom (GAZP.MM) , opens new tab, in January, but for NIS they were postponed several times and finally came into effect on October 8. The U.S. Treasury Department has approved a three-month licence for NIS to give the company's owners time to look for a buyer, Djedovic-Handanovic said on live TV. The company and its oil refinery will not be allowed to operate in the meantime. "An approval for ownership negotiations has been received ... until February 13," she said. Banks have stopped processing NIS payments, and Croatia's JANAF (JANF.ZA) , opens new tab pipeline stopped delivering crude oil, with officials estimating that the refinery can only operate until November 25 without new crude supplies. The U.S. also wants to see the Russian owners entirely leave the company. Belgrade may also seek to take over NIS, she said. "As the energy minister, I believe we have tough decisions to make, whether to take over the company and compensate (Russian owners) for damages. I know the President (Aleksandar) Vucic is against it," she said, adding the government would discuss a potential solution at a session on Sunday. Russia's Gazprom Neft owns 44.9% and Gazprom has a 11.3% stake in NIS. The Serbian government owns 29.9% of the shares, while the remainder belongs to small shareholders and employees. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/serbia-secures-three-month-reprieve-us-sanctioned-oil-firm-nis-says-official-2025-11-15/

2025-11-15 10:58

Tanker seized in Gulf waters on Friday Incident is first Iranian vessel seizure since April 2024 DUBAI, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Iran confirmed on Saturday that its Revolutionary Guards had seized a tanker in Gulf waters carrying a cargo of petrochemicals bound for Singapore over alleged violations, Iranian state media reported. A U.S. official and maritime security sources had said on Friday that Iranian forces intercepted the oil products tanker and diverted it into Iranian territorial waters. It was the first report of Tehran seizing a tanker since Israeli-U.S. strikes on Iran in June. Sign up here. Iranian state-run television read a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stating that "the tanker was in violation for carrying unauthorized cargo". It did not provide further details of the alleged violations. The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, the Talara, had been sailing off the United Arab Emirates' coast, maritime sources said, and was carrying a cargo of high-sulphur gasoil through the Indian Ocean en route to Singapore from Sharjah in the UAE. The vessel's manager Columbia Shipmanagement said it lost contact with the Talara Friday morning around 20 nautical miles off the coast of Khor Fakkan, UAE. It added that it was working closely with relevant parties, including maritime security agencies and the vessel's owner, to restore contact. The ship is owned by Cyprus-based Pasha Finance. In a statement, the U.S. military said it was aware of the incident and was actively monitoring the situation. Iran's IRGC has periodically seized commercial vessels in Gulf waters in recent years, often citing maritime violations such as alleged smuggling, technical infractions or legal disputes. However, the U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the incident was surprising since Iran had not carried out any such operations in recent months. Iran has curbed its military activities in the region since the 12-day Israeli bombing campaign in June, which was joined by the United States. Its last reported seizure of a vessel was in April 2024. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/iran-confirms-seizure-tanker-carrying-petrochemical-cargo-2025-11-15/

2025-11-15 08:37

JAKARTA, Nov 15 (Reuters) - A landslide after heavy rains in Central Java killed 11 people, Indonesia's disaster management agency said on Saturday, adding that rescuers were searching for a dozen who are still missing. The landslide in the city of Cilacap on Thursday buried a dozen houses in Cibeunying village, Antara previously reported the agency as saying, adding that the rescue was challenging as people were buried 3 to 8 metres (10-25 feet) deep. Sign up here. "Eleven people have been found dead, three yesterday and eight more today. Twelve people are still missing," the agency's spokesperson Abdul Muhari told Reuters. The Southeast Asian country's wet season started in September and will last until April, the weather agency says, bringing a higher risk of floods and extreme rainfall. Another landslide in January triggered by torrential rain in the Central Java city of Pekalongan killed at least 25 people. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/indonesia-landslide-kills-6-central-java-17-missing-state-media-says-2025-11-15/

2025-11-15 06:10

China's renewable energy dominance boosts climate diplomacy role China fills US void in climate negotiations, aids COP30 agenda agreement COP30 leaders praise China for clean energy leadership BELEM, Brazil, Nov 15 (Reuters) - With the United States absent from the U.N. annual international climate summit for the first time in three decades, China is stepping into the limelight as a leader in the fight against global warming. Its country pavilion dominates the entrance hall of the sprawling COP30 conference grounds in Brazil's Amazon city of Belem, executives from its biggest clean energy companies are presenting their visions for a green future to large audiences in English, and its diplomats are working behind the scenes to ensure constructive talks. Sign up here. Those were Washington's roles, but they now reside with Beijing. "Water flows to where there is space, and diplomacy often does the same," Francesco La Camera, director general at the International Renewable Energy Agency, told Reuters. He said China's dominance in renewable energy and electric vehicles was bolstering its position in climate diplomacy. China’s transformation from a quiet presence at the U.N.’s Conference of the Parties summits to a more central player seeking the world’s attention reflects a shift in the fight against global warming since U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to office. Long a skeptic of climate change, Trump has again pulled the United States - the world's largest historic emitter - from the landmark international Paris Agreement to limit global warming. This year, for the first time ever, he declined to send an official high-level delegation to represent U.S. interests at the summit. "President Trump will not jeopardize our country’s economic and national security to pursue vague climate goals that are killing other countries," White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Reuters. But critics warn the U.S. withdrawal from the process cedes valuable ground in the climate negotiations, particularly as China, currently the world's top greenhouse gas emitter, rapidly expands its renewable and EV industries. "China gets it," said California Governor Gavin Newsom during a visit to the conference earlier this week. "America is toast competitively, if we don't wake up to what the hell they're doing in this space, on supply chains, how they're dominating manufacturing, how they’re flooding the zone." BEAUTIFUL WORLD Unlike previous years, when China had a modest pavilion with just a handful of seats available for mostly technical and academic panels, its COP30 pavilion occupies prime space near the entrance next to host country Brazil. Cups of sustainable Chinese single-origin coffee, panda toys and branded swag lure in passers-by who can watch presentations by Chinese officials and executives from the world's biggest renewable energy companies. "Let's honor the legacy and fulfill the Paris vision guided by the vision of shared future," Meng Xiangfeng, vice president of China's CATL, the world's largest battery maker, told an audience on Thursday. "Let's advance climate cooperation and build a clean, beautiful world together." The battery giant already supplies one-third of batteries for EV makers including Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab, Ford (F.N) , opens new tab and Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) , opens new tab. It was CATL's first time hosting an event at a COP, seeking to reach an audience of governments and NGOs. Earlier that afternoon, China's vice minister of ecology Li Gao told a packed audience that China's status as the world's leading producer of renewable energy "brings benefits to countries, particularly in the Global South". China's State Grid, the world's largest electric utility, and solar giants Trina and Longi also made presentations. Chinese electric auto giant BYD introduced a fleet of plug-in hybrid vehicles compatible with biofuel manufactured at its plant in Bahia, Brazil, for use at COP30. Both COP President Andre Correa do Lago and COP30 CEO Ana de Toni have praised China's role as a clean energy technology leader. "China has shown leadership not only by carrying out its own energy revolution, but with China's scale capacity, we can now also buy low-carbon... at competitive prices," de Toni told Reuters. "China is very determined not only to continue to be a very stable leader in the Paris Agreement, strengthening climate governance, but also to take very practical actions to support other countries." BEHIND THE SCENES China is playing a more subtle role behind the scenes in the negotiations by filling a void left by the United States, which was known for rallying governments toward agreement, according to current and former diplomats involved in negotiations. "Little by little, China is acting as a guarantor of the climate regime," said one senior diplomat from an emerging economy. "They invested a lot on the green economy. If there's any kind of involution, they will lose." One Brazilian diplomat said China played a key role in helping reach an agreement over the COP30 agenda before negotiations even began, whereas in previous years its diplomats would not get involved unless there was some key issue for them. Sue Biniaz, who served as U.S. deputy climate envoy under John Kerry and was a key architect of the Paris Agreement, said China had the ability to bring together the wide-ranging interests of the developing world, from major emerging economies like the BRICS to small developing nations. She worked closely with Chinese counterparts on four bilateral climate agreements, including the one that unlocked the Paris deal. "They tend to be very tough, take on tough positions like the U.S. did, but then be pragmatic towards the end," she told Reuters. "They have to come up with an outcome that nobody thinks is bad enough to block." Biniaz said she was not yet convinced that China was playing a leadership role beyond the pavilions. "If they had wanted to, they would have put in a more ambitious emission reduction target," she said, referring to China’s announcement in September that it would cut emissions at least 7% from their peak by 2035. Li Shuo, a veteran observer of China at U.N. climate talks who heads the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute, countered that China's technology position was already a show of political leadership because its companies were making U.N. pledges achievable. "The most powerful country isn’t the one with the loudest microphone at COP," he said, "but the one actually producing and investing in low-carbon technologies." https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/china-finds-bigger-role-us-sidesteps-brazil-climate-summit-2025-11-15/

2025-11-15 01:26

Nov 14 (Reuters) - Global private equity firms Warburg Pincus and Permira are in talks to buy investment and accounting software maker Clearwater Analytics (CWAN.N) , opens new tab, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. Boise, Idaho-based Clearwater makes software that helps companies manage their investment portfolios. Sign up here. A deal by the two buyout firms, which helped take Clearwater public in 2021, could take several weeks, the source said. Bloomberg News reported on the talks earlier on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Warburg Pincus, Permira, and Clearwater Analytics Holdings did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Clearwater, which went public in 2021 at a valuation of $5.5 billion, had a market capitalization of around $5.63 billion as of Friday's close, according to LSEG calculations. https://www.reuters.com/technology/warburg-permira-talks-buy-clearwater-analytics-source-says-2025-11-15/

2025-11-15 00:48

Nov 14 (Reuters) - Venture Global (VG.N) , opens new tab said on Friday that following Shell’s recent loss in arbitration over liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply claims, an International Chamber of Commerce panel has issued an award ordering Shell to pay its legal fees. "Venture Global looks forward to putting these proceeds toward our coastal restoration efforts along the Gulf of America," a company spokesperson said, referring to the Gulf of Mexico. Sign up here. Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Shell (SHEL.L) , opens new tab challenged its defeat in the New York Supreme Court, weeks after rival BP (BP.L) , opens new tab won a similar arbitration worth more than $1 billion. Both cases centered on Venture Global's failure to deliver LNG under long-term contracts while selling cargoes on the spot market as prices surged after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shell-ordered-pay-venture-globals-legal-fees-after-arbitration-loss-2025-11-15/