2025-09-09 00:54

Sept 8 (Reuters) - Anglo American (AAL.L) , opens new tab is nearing a deal to acquire Canadian miner Teck Resources (TECKb.TO) , opens new tab that could value it at about $20 billion, Financial Times reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The London-listed global miner is considering paying mostly in stock, with an announcement potentially expected as early as this week, the report added. Sign up here. However, the timing and terms of the deal remain uncertain, and talks could still collapse without an agreement, according to Bloomberg News, which first reported on the potential deal. Teck Resources holds a market valuation of approximately C$23.69 billion (about $17.17 billion), while Anglo American is valued at around 26.82 billion pounds (roughly $36.35 billion), as per LSEG data. Both Anglo American and Teck have drawn interest from larger rivals in recent years. Anglo fended off a $49 billion takeover proposal from BHP Group last year, while Teck rejected a full buyout offer from Glencore in 2023 for $22.5 billion. Glencore, which later bought Teck's steelmaking coal business for $6.93 billion, has repeatedly said it remains interested in the Canadian miner, raising the prospect of a bidding battle if Anglo were to make an approach. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Teck, Anglo American and Glencore did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Anglo and Teck companies have also been streamlining their portfolios. Anglo has exited platinum mining and is seeking buyers for its coal mines and De Beers diamond unit. Last Wednesday, Teck said it is carrying out a company-wide review and would deferred approvals for major growth projects until its flagship Quebrada Blanca (QB) copper mine in Chile stabilizes output. The mine has been hit by tailings issues expected to weigh on production into 2026. Teck owns 60% of the QB mine, which sits near Anglo's Collahuasi mine, operated jointly with Glencore and a Japanese consortium. On an analyst call last week, Teck CEO Jonathan Price said the company was exploring possible synergies between QB and Collahuasi to boost efficiency and production. ($1 = 1.3797 Canadian dollars) ($1 = 0.7378 pounds) https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/anglo-american-nears-deal-acquire-teck-resources-20-billion-ft-reports-2025-09-08/

2025-09-09 00:43

Investors worry fiscal discipline could erode Analysts say rupiah could be vulnerable Spotlight will be on new finance minister's policies SINGAPORE, Sept 9 (Reuters) - The abrupt removal of Indonesia's influential finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has stunned markets, as investors fear the hard-fought fiscal credibility could be eroded by the populist spending plans under President Prabowo Subianto. Global investors have viewed Sri Mulyani, one of Indonesia's longest-serving finance ministers in three different stints, as crucial to their bets in Southeast Asia's biggest economy and her previous departures sent markets tumbling. Sign up here. The late news of Sri Mulyani's removal on Monday sent Indonesia stocks (.JKSE) , opens new tab down 1% while Indonesia's international bonds fell. The rupiah was set for a lower open on Tuesday. "Mulyani was the safeguard of prudent fiscal policy," said Hasnain Malik, EM equity and geopolitics strategist at Tellimer. "Her departure will stir up fears of widening deficits under an unconstrained and, after the protests, under-pressure Prabowo." The move to replace Sri Mulyani with Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, an economist who has promised accelerated growth, comes at a delicate time for Indonesia as it grapples with widespread protests and unrest that have raged for two weeks. Calls for a fairer taxation system have erupted as Prabowo faces the biggest challenge of his presidency so far while his flagship free meals programme that seeks to provide meals to over 80 million Indonesians has struggled in its first year. "The key question for markets is whether Prabowo can have his cake and eat it too," said Trinh Nguyen, senior economist for emerging Asia at Natixis. "To afford the lunch program, she (Mulyani) had to make the difficult decision of cutting expenditure very aggressively to maintain fiscal sustainability." Sri Mulyani has won plaudits for reforming the taxation system and is widely considered the lynchpin behind improving Indonesia's fiscal performance and winning investor approval. "The issue is how is the new FM going to afford the 1.5% of GDP lunch program and raise spending for sectors such as defense without punching a larger hole in the deficit. For investors, that will be a key concern," Nguyen said. Purbaya told reporters the president's target of 8% economic growth was "not impossible" and that he would find ways to quickly boost the economy and push for more involvement of both the private sector and the government. The immediate market reaction is likely to be in the rupiah , which could lead Bank Indonesia to aggressively defend the currency. The rupiah closed at 16,300 per U.S. dollar on Monday but could be set for a much weaker open. Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves were at $150.7 billion at the end of August, down from the $152 billion a month earlier, data from the central bank showed on Monday. "IDR may have to bear the brunt ... until greater confidence about what the cabinet reshuffle entails for any prospective shifts in budgetary outlays and funding sources," said Aninda Mitra, head of Asia macro strategy at BNY Investment Institute. "Market participants will want certainty about policy settings and a steady hand at the fiscal till." https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesian-finance-ministers-removal-unnerves-investors-bumpy-road-ahead-2025-09-09/

2025-09-09 00:40

Sept 9 (Reuters) - Oil prices gained on Tuesday after OPEC+ decided to increase production by less than what market participants had anticipated, while concerns over tighter supply due to potential new sanctions on Russia continued to lend support. Brent crude gained 22 cents, or 0.33%, to $66.24 a barrel by 0005 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 24 cents, or 0.39%, to $62.50 a barrel. Sign up here. Eight members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, collectively known as OPEC+, agreed on Sunday to raise production from October by 137,000 barrels per day. That is much lower than the monthly increases of about 555,000 bpd for September and August, and 411,000 bpd in July and June. It is also less than some analysts had expected. The October move "marks the reversal of cuts that were set to remain in place until the end of 2026, following the rapid return of the previous tranche of idled barrels over recent months," said Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ, in a client note on Tuesday. Prices were also supported by speculation of more sanctions on Russia after the country's biggest air attack on Ukraine set fire to a government building in Kyiv. U.S. President Donald Trump said he was ready to move to a second phase of restrictions. The European Union's top sanctions official was in Washington with a team of experts to discuss what would be the first coordinated transatlantic measures against Russia since Trump returned to office. Further sanctions on Russia would diminish its oil supply to global markets, which could support higher oil prices. The U.S. Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee meets next week, and traders see an 89.4% chance of a quarter-point interest rate cut. Lower rates reduce consumer borrowing costs and can boost economic growth and demand for oil. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-rises-modest-opec-output-hike-decision-russia-supply-woe-2025-09-09/

2025-09-09 00:33

Concerns in Tokyo over cost, logistics of long-sought project Developers in talks with five Japanese firms, source says Japan-US trade deal text references Alaska LNG, pipelines TOKYO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Japan has hired energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie to assess a proposed 800-mile Alaska gas pipeline and LNG plant in a sign it is weighing support for the $44 billion project touted by U.S. President Donald Trump, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. The assessment could help assuage lingering concerns among potential Japanese off-takers and investors about a project that has languished for decades due to cost and logistical challenges, said one of the sources, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. Sign up here. The scope and cost of the deal with Wood Mackenzie is unclear, as is whether any resulting report will be made public. Japan's Ministry for Economy, Trade and Industry declined to comment. Wood Mackenzie, project developers Glenfarne and the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Since returning to office, Trump has promised to push forward the mammoth project to move gas stranded in Alaska's remote north across the state before being chilled and shipped overseas as liquefied natural gas (LNG). As he wrapped up a trade deal with Japan in July, Trump said Tokyo and Washington will form a joint venture to develop an Alaskan LNG project. Japan has not confirmed such a plan. Yet final terms of that trade deal agreed last week included a commitment by Tokyo to explore a new off-take agreement for Alaskan LNG. Japan also pledged $550 billion of unspecified U.S.-bound investments in sectors such as energy and pipelines. "We are continuing to hold close discussions with U.S. officials on the economic viability, a forecast for starting production, and the form of cooperation, in order to realize offtake in a way that benefits both Japan and the U.S.," Japan's Trade Minister Yoji Muto told a press briefing in late July when asked about the Alaska LNG project. KEY CUSTOMER Despite Trump's optimism, several Japanese officials and energy industry leaders have voiced doubts about the proposed cost of the project that might make the gas supply expensive relative to other sources. Yet project developers have engaged in talks with at least five Japanese firms: JERA, Japan's biggest LNG buyer, Tokyo Gas (9531.T) , opens new tab, Osaka Gas (9532.T) , opens new tab, trading house Mitsubishi Corp (8508.T) , opens new tab and Inpex (1605.T) , opens new tab, an oil and gas explorer whose largest shareholder is the Japanese government, the source said. A spokesperson for JERA said it was "considering" the project. Tokyo Gas said it was "one of the candidates for procurement". Inpex said nothing had been decided on the project. Osaka Gas and Mitsubishi declined to comment. The Alaskan LNG developers have already penned non-binding offtake deals with state-owned Thai oil and gas company PTT Group (PTT.BK) , opens new tab and Taiwanese state energy firm CPC Corp. But securing a deal in Japan would bolster the project's chances of success. The country is the world's No. 2 LNG buyer, a major investor in energy infrastructure, and is developing into a trading hub that could be used to resell U.S. gas to new markets in Southeast Asia. Such a deal could also unlock financing from Japanese state banks such as the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). JBIC said earlier this year it would consider providing support, taking into account factors such as any involvement by Japanese companies. U.S. officials have pitched Tokyo on the security benefits of the Alaska project, stressing its proximity to Japan compared to the Middle East and the fact that shipments would avoid sensitive choke points such as the Straits of Hormuz and Malacca, and the South China Sea, Reuters has previously reported. Japan obtains about one-tenth of its LNG from the U.S., and similar proportions from Russia and the Middle East, according to Japan's finance ministry. Australia accounts for about 40%. Wood Mackenzie has conducted three studies on the Alaska LNG project over the last decade commissioned by AGDC and other stakeholders. A 2016 study ranked it poorly against other projects that could supply Asian markets like Japan, though a 2022 review that considered different financing structures and cost reductions deemed it to be competitive with U.S. Gulf Coast supply. Alaska LNG's developers have hired Australian engineering firm Worley to undertake a final cost estimate for the project, with the aim of reaching a final investment decision by the end of the year. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/japan-hires-wood-mackenzie-assess-trump-backed-alaska-lng-project-sources-say-2025-09-08/

2025-09-09 00:21

BUENOS AIRES, Sept 8 (Reuters) - TotalEnergies said Argentine natural gas must reach Brazil at a cost below $10 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) to remain competitive, Sergio Mengoni, the company's Argentina country chair, said on Monday. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale holds significant export potential, but infrastructure gaps and pricing could hinder competition with liquefied natural gas imports to Brazil. Sign up here. KEY QUOTE "We need infrastructure first – for Vaca Muerta gas to reach the north and be used for exports – and then for transportation tariffs in countries where the pipeline has been amortised to drop a bit," Mengoni, head of TotalEnergies Argentina, said during the Argentina Oil & Gas event in Buenos Aires. BY THE NUMBERS In April, TotalEnergies carried out a pilot test, exporting 500,000 cubic metres of gas per day from Vaca Muerta to Brazil's Matrix Energía for 10 days through a Bolivian pipeline. Mengoni said the final price needs to stay below $10/mmBtu to remain competitive in Brazil. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/totalenergies-says-argentine-gas-must-stay-under-10mmbtu-compete-brazil-2025-09-09/

2025-09-09 00:20

Sept 8 (Reuters) - Social platform Discord said its service has been restored for after a major outage in the U.S. earlier on Monday. The company's status page said that all systems were operational after it was down for over a hundred thousand users. Sign up here. The outage eased to about 1,300 users reporting issues with the platform as of 7:50 p.m. ET, from its peak of about 102,277 incidents as of 6:20 p.m. ET, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com. Downdetector's numbers are based on user-submitted reports. The actual number of affected users may vary. https://www.reuters.com/technology/discord-operational-after-major-outage-us-2025-09-08/