2025-01-17 11:07

Drone attacks on refineries caused outages, sources say Russian ban on gasoline exports also affected flows Traders say tough finances also prompted fuel export cuts MOSCOW, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Russia's seaborne oil product exports fell by 9.1% to 113.7 million metric tons last year as the country's oil refineries faced headwinds including Ukrainian drone attacks, an export ban, falling prices and higher input costs, industry data shows. Ukraine targeted several Russian refineries and fuel facilities, including Lukoil's (LKOH.MM) , opens new tab Volgograd refinery, Gazprom Neft's (SIBN.MM) , opens new tab Omsk oil refinery in western Siberia, the Slavyansk and Novoshakhtinsk refineries and Rosneft's (ROSN.MM) , opens new tab Black Sea oil refinery in Tuapse. Russian refineries also experienced financial pressures due to falling prices for oil products, rising raw material costs and Russia's ban on gasoline exports, market sources said. As a result, Russian oil processing fell to around 267 million metric tons in 2024, its lowest level since 2012, as unplanned outages and weaker margins took their toll, Reuters calculations based on data from market sources showed. Total oil product exports via the Baltic ports of Primorsk, Vysotsk, St. Petersburg and Ust-Luga fell by 9% in 2024 from the previous year to 61.96 million tons, the data showed. Fuel exports via Russia's Black Sea and Azov Sea ports fell to 42.75 million tons, down 10% from 2023. Oil products export loadings via the Russian Black Sea port of Tuapse fell by a third to 9.1 million tons due to outages after drone attacks, suspended processing and decreased refining at Rosneft's refinery, market sources told Reuters. At the same time, Russian fuel exports via the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk rose 4% to 19 million tons, data showed. Oil product export supplies from Russia's Arctic ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk fell to 1.01 million tons, down 14%, while fuel export loadings at Far East ports fell 3% from 2023 to 7.97 million tons. Russia's seaborne oil product exports rose 10.8% month on month in December to 10.37 million tons, including 4.17 million tons loaded via Russia's Black Sea and Azov Sea ports, 5.49 million tons through Baltic Sea ports and 637,100 tons via Russia`s Far East ports, data from sources and Reuters calculations showed. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russias-2024-seaborne-oil-product-exports-hit-by-headwinds-including-drone-2025-01-17/

2025-01-17 11:05

NEW YORK, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Investors will closely monitor stock markets on Tuesday, the day after Donald Trump is inaugurated for his second term in the White House, to see if U.S. equities can continue their recent trend of posting gains after a president is sworn in. Historically, the benchmark S&P 500 stock index has not performed well on average on inauguration day, or the day after if the inauguration falls on a market holiday. However, the last three inaugurations have all resulted in market gains. Trump's first inauguration in 2017 was met with a 0.34% gain for the index. The S&P 500 rose 1.39% on the day Joe Biden was sworn in as president, the largest inauguration gain for the index since Ronald Reagan's second inauguration in 1985. Longer term, the index has logged an average decline of 0.27%, according to data going back to 1949. For the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the average decline is 0.24%. The Nasdaq Composite, which was launched more recently, has logged an average decline of 0.35%. The following table shows percentage changes for inaugurations from President Harry Truman on. * Market closed, market reaction from first trading day after inauguration. ** The S&P 500 was launched in March 1957, but S&P Dow Jones Indices provides back-tested data for dates that precede its launch *** Performance for Gerald Ford, who was sworn in on Aug. 9, 1974, following Nixon's resignation, not included. **** Performance for initial swearing-in of Lyndon B Johnson, which occurred on Nov. 22, 1963, following Kennedy's death, not included. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-stock-performance-dates-presidential-inaugurations-2025-01-17/

2025-01-17 10:58

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - U.S. private equity firm TPG (TPG.O) , opens new tab and Russian state-owned firms Rosatom and Transneft (TRNF_p.MM) , opens new tab on Friday won their bid to block jailed tycoon Ziyavudin Magomedov's $14 billion London lawsuit over an alleged conspiracy to strip his assets. Magomedov sued the companies and several others at London's High Court, alleging his 2018 arrest on embezzlement charges prompted a Russian state-supported scheme to strip him of his holdings in valuable port operators. The defendants all denied the allegations and last year argued that the lawsuit should be thrown out, with TPG's lawyers accusing Magomedov of concocting "preposterous allegations". Judge Robert Bright ruled that the case should not continue, saying in a written ruling that there was "no serious issue to be tried" against TPG or Transneft and that any case against Rosatom should not be heard in London. Magomedov once controlled a port logistics to oil and gas empire through his Summa Group conglomerate, which he founded with his brother Magomed. But the brothers were arrested on embezzlement and organised crime charges in one of the most high-profile prosecutions of its kind in years. Magomedov was sentenced to 19 years in jail in 2022 and is held in a penal colony in Kirov, 900 kilometres (560 miles) east of Moscow, according to court filings for last year's hearing. Magomedov says the charges against him are unfounded and unsuccessfully appealed against his conviction. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/tpg-transneft-throw-out-jailed-russian-moguls-14-bln-uk-lawsuit-2025-01-17/

2025-01-17 10:56

RIYADH, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Chile's Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, is in talks with Saudi Arabia over potential joint investments in the metal, the company's chairman told Reuters in an interview on Friday. On Codelco's output, Chairman Maximo Pacheco said the company's own production for 2025 was expected to rise by about 70,000 metric tons to around 1.4 million tons. Pacheco said the state-owned company had been in discussions with Saudi Arabia as there was a clear need on both sides to add value. "We would be very open to considering joint investment opportunities," said Pacheco in an interview following a gathering of miners for the kingdom's annual Future Minerals Forum. Saudi Arabia has been pursuing critical minerals including copper and lithium, bidding to become a hub for battery and electric vehicle manufacturing as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plan to wean the economy off oil. Pacheco said he had met with the Saudi mining minister and representatives from Manara Minerals, a joint venture between Saudi Arabian Mining Company (1211.SE) , opens new tab and the kingdom's $925 billion Public Investment Fund. He said that he hoped that an announcement from the discussions could emerge in the coming months. "The markets move very fast. So obviously we need to move fast as well," said Pacheco. He said he had discussed technology transfers with Saudi Arabia, noting the kingdom's experience with desalination. The two sides also talked about introducing new technologies, such artificial intelligence, into mining. Saudi Arabia's mining minister Bandar al-Khorayaf previously told Reuters that Saudi Arabia was interested in Chile's lithium assets. Codelco has been seeking a partner on a major lithium project in the Maricunga salt flat. Pacheco said the company had short-listed potential investors and Saudi companies were not on that list. He suggested the board would vote on the project in March. Faced with declining ore grades, accidents and mistakes at major construction projects, Codelco has been struggling to lift production from 25-year lows and revved up output at the end of the year to hit its 2024 target of reaching 1.328 million metric tons. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/codelco-saudi-talks-copper-investment-2025-output-seen-up-2025-01-17/

2025-01-17 10:55

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - S&P Global called the recent jump in Britain's bond market borrowing costs a "concern" on Friday, though said it wasn't severe enough yet to have an immediate impact on the country's AA credit rating. S&P, which has a 'stable' outlook on its UK rating, said though the fiscal position was "constrained", it remained "manageable and the recent rise in cost of financing does not have immediate implications on our sovereign ratings". "The degree of volatility in interest expenditure for the UK is a concern", however, it added, highlighting that a 100 basis point rise in the cost of new financing increases the cost of interest payments for the government by 0.4-0.5 percentage points of GDP over a 12-month period. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/sp-calls-uk-borrowing-cost-jump-concern-no-immediate-hit-rating-2025-01-17/

2025-01-17 10:44

Jan 17 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack said in an interview published in the Wall Street Journal on Friday that inflation remained a problem. "We still have an inflation problem. We still have a rate-of-change problem that we need to address," Hammack told the Journal. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/feds-hammack-says-inflation-remains-problem-wsj-reports-2025-01-17/