2024-09-27 07:25

BUCHAREST, Sept 27 (Reuters) - A Russian drone may have breached the national airspace of NATO member Romania for "a very brief period of under three minutes" overnight during an attack on neighbouring Ukraine, the Romanian defence ministry said on Friday. The drone attack on the southern Ukrainian town of Izmail, just across the Danube river from Romania, killed three people and injured 14, Odesa regional prosecutors said on Friday. The Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 24 of 32 drones. "Romania's radar system has identified the possibility that one of the drones involved in the attack on Ukraine intersected Romanian air space for a very brief period of under three minutes in... the border area," the Romanian ministry said. Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and two Spanish F-18s which are carrying out air policing missions in the country for the rest of the year. Residents of the southeastern Romanian county of Tulcea were warned to take cover. Romania shares a 650-km (400-mile) border with Ukraine. It has had Russian drone fragments fall onto its territory repeatedly over the past year, mostly after being destroyed by Ukrainian air defences, Romania's defence ministry has said. However, on Sept. 8, both Romania and Latvia had their airspace breached by Russian drones, prompting worries of escalation. Defence ministers from countries on NATO's eastern flank called this month for a robust coordinated response from the alliance to drone airspace breaches, including implementing a rotational integrated air and missile defence (IAMD) Model. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-drone-may-have-breached-romanian-air-space-during-overnight-attack-2024-09-27/

2024-09-27 07:18

NEW DELHI, Sept 27 (Reuters) - India will not buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced from Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project, which is sanctioned by Western countries, Oil Secretary Pankaj Jain said on Friday. "We will not buy (supply from) Arctic LNG 2. We are not buying any sanctioned commodity. Something which has broad-based sanctions, we are not touching it," Jain told reporters. The Arctic LNG 2 project by Russia's Novatek (NVTK.MM) , opens new tab is subject to Western sanctions over Russia's war with Ukraine. The United States has also imposed sanctions on hundreds of entities and individuals for supporting Russia's war effort including companies supporting the development of Arctic LNG 2 project and its shipment of LNG. Novatek has said media allegations the company was involved in establishing and managing a "shadow fleet" for the Arctic LNG 2 project were untrue. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-will-not-buy-russias-sanctioned-arctic-lng-2-project-oil-secretary-says-2024-09-27/

2024-09-27 07:02

TRIPOLI, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Representatives of Libya's rival eastern and western legislative bodies, in talks facilitated by the United Nations, signed an agreement on Thursday to end a crisis over leadership of the central bank, nominating an interim governor and deputy. The agreement could help to defuse a crisis over control of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) and oil revenues that has sharply reduced Libya's oil output and exports. The rival factions agreed on nominating Naji Mohamed Issa Belqasem, the CBL's director of banking and monetary control, as an interim governor. Mari Muftah Rahil Barrasi, who was appointed deputy governor in 2023, is nominated to continue in his position. The rival delegates agreed on allowing one week for the approval of the nominees. The interim governor Issa Belqasem would then form a board of directors within two weeks. The crisis began when the head of the Presidential Council based in Tripoli, Mohammed al-Menfi, moved to replace veteran central bank governor Sadiq al-Kabir last month. That led eastern factions to order a halt of output from Libya's oil fields in protest. "I want to emphasise the urgent need to end the closure of oil fields and disruption of oil production and export and I welcome the pledges from the east to address this issue shortly," the acting head of the U.N. Libya mission (UNSMIL), Stephanie Koury, said. The legislative bodies are the House of Representatives (HoR) in Benghazi and High State Council (HSC) in Tripoli. The HSC delegate, Jalil Al-Shawesh, described the talks as "long and difficult," while the HoR delegate Abdul Hadi Al-Sghayer said that "the agreement will not be completed except by the combined efforts of the members of the two councils and the approval of the governor and his deputy." Libya has been divided since 2014 into rival authorities in the west and east that emerged from the chaos following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011. "This crisis has shown the imperative for all parties to refrain from unilateral decisions. Such decisions not only escalate tensions, but they also deepen the institutional divisions," Koury added. Libya's National Oil Corporation said on Aug. 28 that oil production had dropped by more than half of typical levels. It has not made public any new production figures since then. The North African country's crude exports have averaged about 400,000 barrels per day in September, down from over 1 million bpd in August, shipping data show. (This story has been corrected to fix the attribution of quotes to the acting head of the U.N. Libya mission (UNSMIL) in paragraphs 6 and 10) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/libyas-rival-legislative-bodies-agree-end-central-bank-crisis-2024-09-26/

2024-09-27 06:58

Oil settles higher but falls on the week Investors weigh OPEC+ decision to ramp up production China's central bank lowers interest rates Gulf of Mexico operations resume after Hurricane Helene HOUSTON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Oil prices settled higher on Friday but fell on the week as investors weighed expectations for higher global supply against fresh stimulus from top crude importer China. Brent crude futures settled up 38 cents, or 0.53%, at $71.89 per barrel. Front-month U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled up 51 cents, or 0.75%, at $68.18. On a weekly basis, Brent settled down around 3%, while WTI fell by around 5%. China's central bank on Friday lowered interest rates and injected liquidity into the banking system, aiming to pull economic growth back toward this year's target of roughly 5%. More fiscal measures are expected to be announced before Chinese holidays starting on Oct. 1 after a meeting of the Communist Party's top leaders showed an increased sense of urgency about mounting economic headwinds. "Despite aggressive Chinese stimulus, concerns of oversupply from OPEC’s plan to bring production back have pushed prices lower," analysts at Aegis Hedging said in a note on Friday. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, together known as OPEC+, will go ahead with plans to increase production by 180,000 bpd each month starting from December, two OPEC+ sources said. A Financial Times report on Wednesday said the planned increase is due to Saudi Arabia's decision to abandon a $100 oil price target and gain market share. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied targeting a certain oil price, and sources at the wider group told Reuters that the plans to raise output from December do not represent any major change from existing policy. And more barrels can be expected to enter the global market, after rival factions staking claims for control of the Central Bank of Libya signed an agreement to end their dispute on Thursday. The row had seen crude exports fall to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) this month from more than 1 million last. In the U.S., some operators have begun to resume operations in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on Thursday night, with Chevron (CVX.N) , opens new tab on Friday redeploying personnel and restoring production at company-operated platforms. Meanwhile, the destruction of the hurricane, counted as the seventh most powerful to slam into Florida, could weigh on fuel demand in the state, which is the third-largest gasoline consumer in the U.S. "The aftermath of the hurricane is bearish really for demand, a large amount of the state got battered enough that demand should take a hit," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital in New York. Meanwhile, U.S. consumer spending edged higher in August in a sign that the world's largest economy carried on momentum in the third quarter, as inflation pressures steady. "U.S. inflation data opens the door for further Fed rate cuts," UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said. The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half of a percentage point last week, kicking off what was expected to be a steady easing of monetary policy. Putting a floor on prices, Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Israel's attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday show it "does not care" about efforts to bring about a ceasefire. Rising tensions in the Middle East could pose a threat to global crude supplies. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-prices-fall-expectations-higher-supplies-hammer-market-sentiment-2024-09-27/

2024-09-27 06:54

WARSAW, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Deaths from massive floods in southwest Poland this month have risen to nine, police said, reporting two more bodies found in the clean-up. At least 26 people died across central Europe in the worst floods to hit the region in at least two decades this month. The flooding left a trail of destruction from Romania to Poland, spreading mud and debris in towns, destroying bridges, submerging cars and leaving authorities and householders with a bill for damages that will run into billions of dollars. "In the Klodzko County and in the Nysa County, during clean-up operations after the flood, two bodies were discovered," Polish police said on social media platform X late on Thursday. "Identification activities are ongoing. The circumstances of death indicate that this may be the 8th and 9th victims whose death occurred in the areas affected by the flood." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/poland-reports-two-more-deaths-central-europe-floods-2024-09-27/

2024-09-27 06:43

PARIS, Sept 27 (Reuters) - France's TotalEnergies expands its natural gas footprint in the United States through a deal reached with Lewis Energy Group to acquire a 45% stake in some dry gas producing assets in the Eagle Ford basin in Texas, the company said on Friday. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TotalEnergies' is one of the top exporters of U.S.-made Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), facing particularly high demand as many countries in Europe and elsewhere shift away from coal and cheap Russian gas imports. KEY QUOTE(S) "This acquisition further strengthens our upstream gas position in the United States and contributes to our integrated LNG position with a low cost upstream gas supply," said Nicolas Terraz, President, Exploration and Production at TotalEnergies. CONTEXT The deal is the second acquisition of non-operated shale gas assets in Southwest Texas this year. BY THE NUMBERS The added assets have the potential to reach a gross production of around 400 million cubic feet per day (Mcf/d) by 2028. TotalEnergies' overall U.S. LNG export capacity is expected to reach 15 million tons per year (Mt/y) by 2030. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/totalenergies-buys-more-gas-assets-texas-boost-value-chain-2024-09-27/