2024-09-17 22:38

ATHENS, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Three people were slightly injured on Tuesday in a fire inside Greece's second-biggest oil refinery west of Athens, the company said in a statement. The fire broke out on Tuesday in refining units, forcing workers to evacuate as a column of black smoke poured across the evening sky. Images in local media showed tall flames at the refinery, run by Greek company Motor Oil (MORr.AT) , opens new tab, about 70 km (44 miles) west of Athens. The refinery was evacuated. "The situation (in the refinery) has improved," the company said in the statement, adding that the cause of the fire was not yet known. It said that the three people who suffered light injuries have been taken to hospital. They all worked for a contractor company. Fire crews sent three helicopters and 11 fire engines to the scene, the fire brigade said. A general message was sent to residents to evacuate the area. Local authorities closed a highway near the refinery and the rail company said trains had been halted. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/fire-breaks-out-oil-refinery-west-athens-fire-brigade-says-2024-09-17/

2024-09-17 22:37

Sept 17 (Reuters) - Traders on Tuesday kept bets the Federal Reserve will start an expected series of interest rate cuts with a half-percentage-point move downward on Wednesday, an expectation that may itself put pressure on central bankers to deliver just that. Futures tied to the Fed policy rate as of Tuesday mid-morning implied about a two-in-three chance of a bigger cut, versus a one-in-three chance of the more moderate 25 basis-point reduction still penciled in by analysts at most major Wall Street firms. The Fed starts its two-day policy setting meeting today, and will meet again in early November and mid-December. Traders expect a total of two half-point rate cuts plus one quarter-point cut over the course of the three remaining meetings for 2024, rate-futures show. The Fed has kept its policy rate in the 5.25%-5.50% range for more than a year as it seeks to squeeze high inflation from the economy. Inflation is now down to 2.5% and most policymakers view it as well on the way toward the Fed's 2% target. Meanwhile the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% last month. Nearly all Fed policymakers agreed even in July that it would soon be time to start cutting rates to avoid slowing the economy too much. Until late last week, traders were betting on a quarter-point rate cut to begin the series, but flipped to favor a half-point cut after reports by the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times late Thursday suggested a bigger rate reduction was still an option. Since then, those market expectations have only firmed, barely budging Tuesday as government reports showed U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rose in August, and manufacturing rebounded, signs that the economy still has legs. Still, analysts have speculated that the news reports last week were based at least in part on guidance from the central bank. The lack of apparent pushback from the Fed since then has served only to fortify those assumptions. "As time passes with no apparent effort by the Fed to contest market pricing that has moved odds on for a 50 basis point cut at the September FOMC meeting we confirm we think the Fed likely will cut 50 though it is still not a slam dunk," wrote Evercore ISI's Krishna Guha, among the minority of economists who had called for a bigger rate cut even before last week's change of expectations in financial markets. With markets now leaning heavily into a bigger policy easing, he wrote, "it is much harder to surprise hawkish than to surprise dovish, and no way the Fed thinks this is a good moment to introduce more (volatility)." A half-point rate cut could draw a dissent or two from within the Fed, Guha predicted; but so, too, could a smaller quarter-point cut. Fed policymakers by mutual agreement do not make public statements on monetary policy or the economy during the 10 days leading up to a rate-setting meeting. "We think the Fed is trying to course correct at an unfortunate time," wrote SGH Macro Advisors' Tim Duy. "The blackout period prevents conventional communications, and the Fed is left with something clumsier." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/fed-go-big-first-rate-cut-traders-bet-2024-09-17/

2024-09-17 22:00

HOUSTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Energy executives and U.S. government officials on Tuesday clashed at an international energy conference over efforts by President Joe Biden's administration to globally advance clean fuels and geopolitical aims. Top energy executives took to the stage at the GasTech conference in Houston to blast the U.S., saying it lacked a clear policy for achieving its aims or supplying needed power for economic developments such as the rise of artificial intelligence. “It would appear we do not have a cohesive, collective decision on how policy should be rolled out and also the sustainability of that policy for sustainable energy development," said Lorenzo Simonelli, CEO of Baker Hughes (BKR.O) , opens new tab. "AI’s advance will depend not only on the design labs of Silicon Valley, but also on the gas fields of the Permian basin," Chevron CEO Michael Wirth said at the annual conference. ConocoPhillips (COP.N) , opens new tab CEO Ryan Lance also said the U.S. has been slow to approve needed energy export projects or address needed permitting improvements. "We absolutely need permitting reform, and we need more infrastructure," he said. But Brad Crabtree, an assistant secretary for fossil energy and carbon management at the U.S. Department of Energy, told the audience that the administration's Infrastructure Bill has made billions of dollars available for new energy projects. The DOE is moving to accelerate project reviews to get funding distributed for hydrogen, carbon storage and other clean energy efforts before the change of administrations in January, he said. "I'm thrilled by the scope and pace of what we're doing" to reduce carbon emissions, said Crabtree. He added he is "very concerned" about challenges to permitting for hydrogen and carbon storage projects. The U.S. is collaborating broadly with other nations and energy groups to achieve clean-energy goals and counter rivals, said U.S. State Department official Geoffrey Pyatt. A second thrust of U.S. energy policy is to "make sure that Russia pays a price on the extraordinary violence that it is inflicting on citizens," pointing to efforts to build an coalition on sanctions. Peter Clarke, an Exxon senior vice president, said developing nations should not be expected to adopt the same clean-energy strategies as advanced economies. “There is not a one-size-fits-all for Asia," Clarke said. “We need to be careful with taking policies in developed nations, and expecting developing countries to jump to that.” Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/natural-gas-executives-us-officials-clash-over-energy-policies-2024-09-17/

2024-09-17 21:58

CARACAS, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Venezuela has arrested a fourth American citizen since the start of this month, the country's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on Tuesday, without naming the person detained. The American was arrested after taking photos of military units, power stations, and state entities, Cabello said during a National Assembly session which was broadcast on state television. "Another citizen of North American origin was captured, an American we had been following was captured here in Caracas taking photos of electrical installations, oil installations, military units," Cabello said. On Saturday, Spain asked Venezuela for information regarding the arrest of two Spaniards, three US citizens and a Czech, following reports they were detained over an alleged plan to destabilize the country. The arrests came after the Venezuelan government recalled its ambassador to Spain this week for consultations and summoned the Spanish ambassador to appear at the foreign ministry, escalating diplomatic tensions following Venezuela's disputed presidential election. "Rest assured that this gentleman is part of the plan against Venezuela," Cabello said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-arrests-fourth-us-citizen-this-month-interior-minister-says-2024-09-17/

2024-09-17 21:51

Sept 18 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets. Investors in Asia will be forgiven for any reluctance to take on much risk on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later in the day, although rising expectations of a 50 basis point cut should provide some support to markets. As Asia's first opportunity to react to the Fed is Thursday, local events may move markets more on Wednesday. They include the Indonesian central bank's rate decision, Japanese machinery orders and trade data, and public comments from the Philippine central bank governor and Reserve Bank of Australia assistant governor Brad Jones. The backdrop to the day's trading, however, is the Fed. While rate futures market pricing suggests the Fed will begin its policy easing cycle with a half percentage point move, there are mounting reasons to believe a less market-friendly quarter point cut is more appropriate. Indeed, some might say the Fed doesn't need to be loosening policy at all right now. The S&P 500 and Dow on Tuesday rose to new all-time highs, after official figures earlier in the day showed U.S. retail sales in August were a lot stronger than expected. The upside surprise lifted the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow model estimate of real GDP growth in the third quarter to a new high of 3.0%. This suggests the U.S. economy is doing just fine. On top of that, U.S. financial conditions now are the loosest since April 2022, according to Goldman Sachs, or November 2021, according to the Chicago Fed. Fed figures published last week also showed U.S. household net worth rose to another record high in the second quarter, while household debt as a share of GDP fell to its lowest in 23 years. Again, while the labor market is clearly softening there is little sign that the U.S. consumer - and therefore, growth at large - is in immediate peril. In that context, the size and pace of rate cuts implied in the rate futures curve is extremely aggressive - nearly 120 bps over the three meetings left this year, and 245 bps in total by the end of next year. Could markets be setting themselves up for a fall? If signals from Chair Powell's press conference or the Fed's new economic projections suggest these lofty expectations might not be met, stocks, bonds and non-dollar currencies may retrace some of their recent gains. The yen certainly recoiled on Tuesday, slumping 1% against the dollar for its worst day in a month. If the U.S. economy appears to be humming along nicely, signals from elsewhere are less encouraging - German investor sentiment and Canadian inflation figures on Tuesday were soft, and the data from China at the weekend was alarmingly weak. Over to you, Jay Powell. Here are key developments that could provide more direction to Asian markets on Wednesday: - Indonesia central bank decision - Japan machinery orders (July) - Japan trade (August) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/global-markets-view-asia-graphic-pix-2024-09-17/

2024-09-17 21:49

QUITO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Ecuador's military began supporting operations at a major dam on Tuesday, following a government decision to implement a series of eight-hour nightly power cuts across the Andean country next week, amid a severe drought which has caused water levels to plunge, affecting hydroelectric plants. Ecuador is in the grip of a power crisis, which the government attributes to a lack of maintenance of existing dams and contracts to secure new power generation, as well as the country's worst drought in the last 61 years, according to the government. Power cuts will begin on Monday Sept. 23 from 10:00 p.m. local time and will last until 6 a.m. the next day, the government said in a post on X. The measure will be repeated on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, it added. It was not clear how many weeks the power cuts would be implemented for. "The established cut-off schedule has been chosen with the purpose of generating the least possible impact on productive activities and the development of working days," the post said. The measure is in addition to a scheduled power cut this Wednesday for preventive maintenance on all transmission facilities and distribution networks nationwide. The government has taken several measures to face the crisis, the statement added, including commissioning a power ship, seeking to build permanent generators on land, and improving abandoned infrastructure, among others. Ecuador needs an additional 1,000 megawatts - or one gigawatt - of power to cover national demand, according to authorities. On Tuesday, Ecuadorean military said personnel entered the Mazar dam - which supplies some 170 megawatts of power and has a large storage capacity - to protect the plant and support its operation. About 50 soldiers with technical knowledge will be trained in operating the country's hydroelectric system, the defense ministry said in a statement, without confirming how long soldiers will man the dams. Some 46,000 police officers will be mobilized nationwide during the nighttime power cuts and there will be increased patrols in at risk areas, such as roads and prisons, the national police said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ecuador-govt-orders-series-power-cuts-amid-severe-drought-2024-09-17/