2025-04-02 12:53
April 2 (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips (COP.N) , opens new tab is exploring the sale of oil and gas assets in Oklahoma that it inherited from its $22.5 billion takeover of Marathon Oil last year, people familiar with the matter said. The energy producer has hired investment bank Moelis & Co (MC.N) , opens new tab to run the sale process for the assets, the sources said, adding that the talks are at an early stage and a deal is not guaranteed. Sign up here. The assets, which comprise operations in the Anadarko basin that spans about 300,000 net acres, are expected to fetch a price of more than $1 billion, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the deliberations are confidential. The Anadarko assets produce around 39,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, of which about half is natural gas, two of the sources said. Potential buyers include producers who are betting on a surge in demand for natural gas from power generation for data centers, another of the sources added. ConocoPhillips and Moelis declined to comment. A deal would help ConocoPhillips achieve its target of raising $2 billion by offloading non-core assets. Houston-based ConocoPhillips, which took on about $5.4 billion of Marathon's debt as part of the acquisition, has already disposed of assets worth more than $1 billion since it completed the Marathon deal in November. The Marathon acquisition boosted ConocoPhillips' presence in the Permian, Eagle Ford and Bakken basins, while also giving the energy company operations in the Anadarko shale formation and Equatorial Guinea. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/conocophillips-eyes-sale-oklahoma-assets-worth-over-1-billion-sources-say-2025-04-02/
2025-04-02 12:52
LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - The London Metal Exchange (LME) average daily volumes gained 5.9% in the first quarter of 2025, marking the second highest quarterly levels in the last 11 years, the exchange said on Wednesday. The exchange, the world's oldest and largest market for industrial metals, said ADV rose to 698,209 lots in the first three months of the year. Sign up here. (This story has been corrected to say second highest ADV in 11 years, not highest, in the headline and paragraph 1) https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/lme-first-quarter-volumes-jump-59-highest-11-years-2025-04-02/
2025-04-02 12:43
LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - Eight OPEC+ countries meeting on Thursday will focus debates on how to convince Kazakhstan to stop exceeding its output quota and its plans to compensate for overproduction as the group steps up gradual production hikes, two delegates told Reuters. Record Kazakh output has angered several other members of the group, including top producer Saudi Arabia, sources have told Reuters. OPEC+ is urging the Central Asian country, among other members, to make further cuts to compensate for excess production. Sign up here. "Tomorrow's meeting is just to make the new Kazakhstan minister aware of the importance of meeting his required production and compensating for the surplus," one of the delegates said. Both declined to be identified by name due to the sensitivity of the matter. The Kazakh energy ministry and OPEC did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment. Last month, Kazakhstan's president appointed Erlan Akkenzhenov as new minister of energy after his predecessor was named the head of the country's newly created atomic energy agency. Eight members of OPEC+, a group that includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, are scheduled to raise oil output by 135,000 barrels per day in May. The group is expected to proceed with this plan, both sources on Wednesday said, following similar comments on Tuesday from other OPEC+ delegates. The May hike is the next increment of a plan agreed by Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman to gradually unwind their most recent output cut of 2.2 million bpd, which came into effect this month. OPEC+ also has 3.65 million bpd of other output cuts in place until the end of next year. This week, Russia ordered the Black Sea terminal handling Kazakhstan's oil exports to close two of its three moorings, a move which is widely expected to slash the country's production as a result. An OPEC+ ministerial committee, with the power to recommend to the larger group changes in production policy, was initially scheduled to meet on April 5, although one source said this may also take place on Thursday. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/opec-discuss-kazakhstan-output-thursdays-meeting-sources-say-2025-04-02/
2025-04-02 12:35
Bond giant PIMCO turns a little more cautious on dollar Says U.S. could see a ratings downgrade this year Says high U.S. debt levels could cause more problems LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - PIMCO has turned a "little bit more cautious" on the dollar in recent months and was a touch underweight the U.S. currency across portfolios, the bond giant's group chief investment officer Daniel Ivascyn said on Wednesday. The dollar index has shed nearly 4% so far this year on growing concerns that U.S. tariff uncertainty raises recession risks for the world's biggest economy. Sign up here. U.S. President Donald Trump was set to impose sweeping new tariffs later in the day, escalating a trade war with global partners, risking cost increases and upending a decades-old trade order. "We have become a little bit more cautious on the dollar," Ivascyn told Reuters at the sidelines of a conference in London. "In fact we are, across portfolios, a little underweight the dollar," he said. The dollar was still likely to go up rather than down in the event of a global growth shock, he added. "However, if we keep running deficits at the levels we're running, if we continue to have increasing friction with our allies and global trading partners, that dollar exceptionalism will begin to wane over time," he added. A global trade war is also expected to exacerbate price pressures, complicating the outlook for the U.S. Federal Reserve. Speaking later at the same conference, Ivascyn said there was a "meaningful non-zero" probability that Fed rates would have to go higher in this economic cycle. "Any kind of uptick in inflation here today especially particular areas of the consumption basket has to be taken very seriously for implications for market expectations and central bank policy," he said. Ivascyn said he saw the probability of a hike as "10ish" percent, adding rates staying higher-for-longer was much more likely from here. DEBT WORRIES A downgrade to the U.S. credit rating could happen later this year, Ivascyn added. Fitch cut the U.S. sovereign rating by one notch to AA+ from AAA in 2023, citing fiscal deterioration and the repeated down-the-wire debt ceiling negotiations that have threatened the government’s ability to pay its bills. It was the second major rating agency to strip the United States of its top triple-A rating, after Standard & Poor's did so amid the 2011 debt ceiling crisis. Referring to the market reaction to any further ratings downgrade, Ivascyn said a lot will depend on how investors viewed the outlook for the U.S. deficit. "These types of debt levels... are going to cause more problems, create more volatility," he added. "We just think when we look at these debt levels, deficit levels, it does suggest the U.S. has time. But we also don't see yet a willingness to aggressively address deficits." Ratings agency Moody's said last month that U.S. fiscal strength is set for multi-year decline spurred by widening budget deficits and less affordable debt. Moody's projects debt to gross domestic product, a key ratio in assessing a country's finances, will rise to around 130% by 2035 from nearly 100% in 2025. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/pimco-says-has-turned-bit-more-cautious-dollar-2025-04-02/
2025-04-02 12:35
Dmitriev due to meet Witkoff in Washington Witkoff is key player in Ukraine peace efforts Dmitriev's spokeswoman declines immediate comment MOSCOW, April 2 (Reuters) - A visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin's investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, to the United States for talks with members of Donald Trump's administration is possible, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, but declined to give any further details. Reuters reported on Tuesday that Dmitriev is expected in Washington for talks this week, the most senior Russian official to visit since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022. The news was first reported by CNN. Sign up here. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked by reporters if Dmitriev would be visiting Washington for talks with Trump administration officials, including U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, said that such a visit was possible. "Yes, I confirm that such a visit may be possible," Peskov said. "We continue to communicate with the Americans through various channels. I can't tell you anything more specific." The Russian Direct Investment Fund, which Dmitriev heads, declined immediate comment. Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly said he wants the three-year war in Ukraine to end and has warned of the risks of it escalating into World War Three between the United States and Russia. But the U.S. president said on Sunday he was "pissed off" with Putin and spoke of the possibility of imposing sanctions on those who buy Russian crude. Russia is the world's second largest exporter of crude after Saudi Arabia. Trump has also expressed frustration with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who he said was trying to renegotiate a minerals deal. "Putin remains open to peace talks," the Kremlin's Peskov said. "President Putin remains open to seeking a political and diplomatic settlement in Ukraine." PUTIN'S INVESTMENT ENVOY It is not publicly known what Dmitriev would discuss in Washington but he could bring a message from Putin to Trump. The Stanford-educated former Goldman Sachs investment banker is one of the most U.S.-savvy members of Russia's elite with close relations to some key members of the Trump team. He may be key in repairing relations that were, until Trump's January inauguration, the worst between Moscow and Washington since the most dangerous junctures of the Cold War. Dmitriev, 49, played a role in early contacts with the U.S. when Trump was first elected president in 2016, as well as in building relations with Saudi Arabia, which led to an oil price agreement under the expanded OPEC+ producers' forum. He has regular meetings with Putin and U.S. sanctions statements cast Dmitriev as "a known Putin ally". Over recent weeks, Dmitriev has mentioned a host of initiatives in which Russia and the United States could work together, from investment, rare earths and energy to the Arctic, space and cooperation with Elon Musk. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putins-investment-envoy-dmitriev-may-visit-washington-kremlin-says-2025-04-02/
2025-04-02 12:27
ALMATY, Kazakhstan, April 2 (Reuters) - Kazakh geologists have discovered a rare earth metal deposit with estimated resources of more than 20 million metric tons at a depth of up to 300 metres, the country's industry and construction ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. Kazakhstan does not currently feature in the U.S. Geological Survey's list of countries by rare earth metal deposits. If confirmed, the deposit would place Kazakhstan behind only China and Brazil by size of reserves. Sign up here. In a statement on Telegram, the ministry said that the Zhana Kazakhstan site, which is 420 km (261 miles) from the country's capital, contained neodymium, cerium, lanthanum and yttrium, and that its average rare earth metal content is 700 grams per ton. It did not specify which companies may develop the site, or when. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/kazakhstan-says-it-has-discovered-20-million-ton-rare-earth-metals-deposit-2025-04-02/
