2024-02-22 21:03

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD.N) , opens new tab on Thursday reported 2023 production that exceeded its prior forecast, as the U.S. shale producer works to close its about $60 billion purchase by oil major Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) , opens new tab later this year. The company said full-year total production averaged 715,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), ahead of its prior guidance of between 708,000 and 713,000 boepd. Pioneer attributed the strong production to longer lateral wells, and said more than 125 wells with lateral lengths of 15,000 feet or greater were placed on production last year. Exxon agreed in October to buy Pioneer in an all-stock deal to bolster the largest U.S. oil company's production in the Permian Basin. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter. "We view Pioneer's Q4 results as a non-event, given the pending acquisition by Exxon. While we expect the deal to ultimately close, as of yesterday's close, shares trade at a 4.1% discount to the deal terms with risk/delays from regulatory approval," Gabriele Sorbara of Siebert Williams Shank & Co said in a note. Still, Pioneer's fourth-quarter profit missed estimates, partly due to lower oil and gas prices as well as higher production costs. Average realized prices fell about 6% to $78.47 per barrel of oil in the quarter, the company said, while costs associated with oil and gas production rose about 16%. Excluding items, the company earned $5.26 per share, missing analysts' estimates of $5.48, according to LSEG data. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/pioneer-natural-reports-strong-fy-production-exxon-takeover-looms-2024-02-22/

2024-02-22 21:01

Feb 22 (Reuters) - The Biden administration is examining Nippon Steel's (5401.T) , opens new tab China connection, in relation to the Japanese company's planned acquisition of American rival U.S. Steel (X.N) , opens new tab, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The administration sees protecting the U.S. industry as its priority and is worried about Nippon Steel's exposure to China, the report said. It is not clear whether the China assets of Nippon Steel will be an explicit part of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review, the report said. The world's fourth-largest steelmaker's $14.9 billion deal to buy U.S. Steel has drawn criticism from some of the Democratic and Republican lawmakers and the powerful United Steelworkers union. The White House has also promised "serious scrutiny" of the deal given the company's role in U.S. steel production, which the government regards as critical to national security. When contacted by Reuters, Nippon Steel said its operations in China are very limited – representing less than 5% of the company's global production capacity. "Our goal is to enhance U.S. Steel's competitiveness in the global steel market and address the industry's overproduction and overcapacity issues – largely driven from China," it added. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/japans-nippon-steel-china-assets-under-scrutiny-over-us-steel-deal-bloomberg-2024-02-22/

2024-02-22 20:45

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Reddit disclosed on Thursday that its net loss narrowed to $90.8 million and revenue growth was roughly 21% in 2023, as the social media company made its IPO filing public in the run-up to its highly anticipated planned U.S. stock market debut in March. The initial public offering (IPO) filing comes almost two decades after Reddit's launch and will be a major test for the platform that still lags the commercial success of social media contemporaries such as Facebook and Twitter, now known as X. Reddit said it had an average of 73.1 million daily active users and 267.5 million weekly active users in the three months ended Dec. 31, 2023. The company said over 100,000 active communities used its platform, which had 1 billion cumulative posts. In the IPO filing, Reddit reported a narrower net loss of $90.8 million for the year ended Dec. 31 and logged revenue growth of $804 million, up from $666.7 million a year earlier. Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing sources, that San Francisco-based Reddit has struck a deal with Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab to make its content available to train the search engine giant's artificial intelligence models. The contract is worth about $60 million each year, according to one of the sources. Reddit was valued at $10 billion in a funding round in 2021 and it is unclear what valuation the company will aim for during its share sale in the coming weeks. It is expected to seek a sale of nearly 10% of its shares in the IPO, Reuters reported earlier. The IPO filing showed CEO Steven Huffman holds Class B common stock that is issuable upon achieving a vesting condition - that Reddit attains $5-billion market capitalization valuation after the offering. The social media firm is reportedly expected to hit the valuation target from the get-go. GROWTH PROSPECTS While Reddit was launched around the same time as other social media pioneers like Meta, which operates Facebook, and Twitter, its user base is far smaller than its contemporaries. Reddit's growth numbers also pale in comparison to larger social media peers as the company has struggled to successfully monetize its platform over the years. There have also been questions about the company's approach to content moderation, which has been a sticking point with advertisers. It already faces stiff competition for advertising dollars from TikTok and Facebook. Reddit has, however, built a loyal base among its users. Its message boards have powered several "meme-stock" rallies in the last few years, most notably in 2021, when retail traders teamed up to spark a meteoric surge in shares of highly shorted companies like GameStop (GME.N) , opens new tab and AMC Entertainment Holdings (AMC.N) , opens new tab. Founded in 2005 by web developer Steve Huffman and entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian, husband of tennis champion Serena Williams, Reddit has been backed by several marquee investors, from venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz to China's tech behemoth, Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) , opens new tab. Rapper Snoop Dogg is also an investor in the company. Since being spun off from magazine conglomerate Conde Nast in 2011, Reddit became best known for its niche discussion groups and its users voting "up" or "down" for content other members posted. It has made efforts in recent years to freshen its appeal among younger users through its acquisition of TikTok competitor Dubsmash in 2020. The company, which generates its revenue primarily through advertising and also offers premium access for a monthly fee, has yet to turn a profit, Huffman said in a Reddit post last June. It had confidentially filed for the U.S. IPO in late 2021, but tough economic conditions and the poor performance of listed technology stocks compelled it to delay the offering. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have been tapped as the lead underwriters for Reddit's IPO, which includes more than a dozen other banks. https://www.reuters.com/technology/reddit-makes-us-ipo-filing-public-2024-02-22/

2024-02-22 20:40

NEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Braya Renewable Fuels said Thursday it has begun renewable diesel production at Canada's Come-by-Chance refinery, completing its conversion of the plant which once had an output of 135,000 barrels per day (bpd) of fuels. Dallas-based private equity firm Cresta Fund Management acquired a controlling interest in the refinery in Newfoundland and Labrador in November 2021, renaming it Braya, after it was shuttered for more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Braya said it expects initial production capacity of 18,000 bpd of renewable diesel. It plans to increase the capacity and add production of sustainable aviation fuel in the future, while also exploring green hydrogen production. "The on-site production of renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel, and green hydrogen offers proven alternatives to fossil fuels and significantly decreases the carbon emissions linked to hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy-duty transport, aviation, and heavy industry," Braya said in a statement. Renewable diesel is made from animal fats, food waste and plant oils. It is chemically equivalent to petroleum-based diesel and can be produced in existing refinery equipment, but the yields are lower than with conventional diesel. Come-by-Chance had originally tried to sell itself as a refinery, but talks with Canada's Irving Oil fell apart in October 2020, forcing its owners to idle operations. A number of North American refineries have undertaken conversions to renewable diesel since the pandemic slashed fuel demand and environmental pressure mounted to decarbonize. More could be converted as investor interest in U.S. refineries has waned, leaving ageing plants with few options. The Rodeo refinery in California, owned by Phillips 66 (PSX.N) , opens new tab is expected to complete its conversion and start producing renewable fuels by the end of next month. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/braya-starts-making-renewable-diesel-converted-come-by-chance-plant-2024-02-22/

2024-02-22 20:33

Biden calls Putin a 'crazy SOB' Putin smiles and says he favours Biden over Trump Putin says such a remark by Biden shows why Kremlin hits back at failed 'Hollywood cowboy' act MOSCOW, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Joe Biden on Thursday for calling him a "crazy SOB", saying with an ironic smile that the remark showed why the Kremlin felt Biden was a preferable future U.S. president to Donald Trump. The U.S. president made the "crazy SOB" remark as part of a sentence about threats to the world - including "that guy Putin and others," the risk of nuclear conflict and the existential threat to humanity from climate change. Asked by Russian state television about Biden's "crude" remark, Putin smiled sarcastically and bit his lip before looking at the ground. "We are ready to work with any president. But I believe that for us, Biden is a more preferable president for Russia, and judging by what he has just said, I am absolutely right," Putin told state television, with a slight smile. Putin, 71, said that his previous comments saying that Biden, 81, was Russia's preferred candidate had triggered Biden's "adequate reaction". "It's not like he can say to me, 'Volodya, thank you, well done, you've helped me a lot'," Putin said. "You asked me which is better for us. I said it then that, and I still think I can repeat it: Biden." Russia's ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said his embassy had sent the U.S. State Department "a strong note of protest about the outrageous nature and unacceptability" of Biden's comments. Antonov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said Moscow was not anticipating an "appropriate reaction. As the November U.S. election approaches such escapades will become routine." For Putin, the remarks show the difficulty of navigating the upcoming U.S. presidential election which is likely to bring to power either Biden, who has publicly insulted Putin, or Trump, 77, who has promised to end the war in Ukraine swiftly. The war in Ukraine, the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and U.S. assertions that Russia plans to put a nuclear weapon in space have led to the biggest crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the Cold War. Top Russian and U.S. diplomats say they do not remember a time when relations between the world's two biggest nuclear powers were worse, including during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Putin casts the United States and its allies as a crumbling empire that wants to destroy Russia and steal its natural resources. The West casts Putin as a dictator and a killer, and Putin's Russia as an enemy. But never has a serving U.S. president previously used such insulting words in public to describe a serving Kremlin chief. U.S. President Ronald Reagan offended the Kremlin in 1983 by calling the Soviet Union an "evil empire", though personal insults against leaders were rare in the Cold War. 'COWBOY ACT' OR 'OLD GEEZER'? The Kremlin had earlier said that Biden had debased the United States with his comment, casting the U.S. president's remark as part of a failed "Hollywood cowboy" act. "The use of such language against the head of another state by the president of the United States is unlikely to infringe on our president, President Putin," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters. "But it debases those who use such vocabulary." Peskov said the remark was "probably some kind of attempt to look like a Hollywood cowboy. But honestly I don't think it's possible." Others in Moscow were less restrained. Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev, who served as president from 2008-2012, said the existential threat to the world came from "useless old geezers, like Biden himself". Medvedev said Biden was "senile" and "ready to start a war with Russia". Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the next time Biden used the phrase "crazy son of a bitch" he should "try to remember that Americans associate it best with his own offspring, Hunter Biden". Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets said "Biden insulted Putin" while Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, said the Biden remark shows the West was intensifying its attempt to demonise Putin ahead of Russia's March presidential election. Biden said last week after prison officers announced Navalny's death in a Russian penal colony that it was "a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did." Navalny had previously accused Putin of trying to kill him, an allegation the Kremlin denied. Russian officials say the West rushed to blame Putin without waiting for evidence. The Kremlin says the West's reaction to Navalny's death is unacceptable and unjustified. Biden said in a speech in Warsaw in 2022 that Putin "cannot remain in power". The White House played down the remark, while hardliners in Russia saw it as evidence that the U.S. wanted to topple Putin. In 2021, Biden said he thought Putin a killer. Putin said Biden phoned him later to give an explanation of why he used such words. https://www.reuters.com/world/kremlin-says-biden-remarks-about-putin-debase-united-states-2024-02-22/

2024-02-22 20:20

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker said on Thursday a rate cut is the next step for monetary policy and the timing of that action is getting closer, although he declined to say when the central bank will be able to lower the cost of short-term borrowing. “I believe that we may be in the position to see the rate decrease this year,” Harker said in a speech given before the 2024 Lyons Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship event, hosted by the University of Delaware. “But I would caution anyone from looking for it right now and right away,” he said. "We have time to get this right, as we must.” In comments after his formal remarks, Harker said a May rate cut was possible but not likely, as he's eyeing the start of action some time in the second half of the year. Harker said he needs a couple more months to gain confidence the economy will support an easing. Whatever the Fed does will be driven by incoming data, he said, adding when it comes to a cut, "I think we're close, give us a couple of meetings." Harker, who does not hold a voting role on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) this year, spoke on a day in which a number of Fed officials were also weighing in on the outlook for the economy and monetary policy. On Wednesday the Fed released minutes from its January FOMC meeting that showed officials eying rate cuts, albeit cautiously. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has already taken the Fed’s March meeting out of the running for action, and markets are currently expecting an easing to come some time in the summer. Harker drove home the point that when the Fed does cut rates it must act at the right time. “I find our greatest economic risk comes from acting to lower the rate too early, lest we reignite inflation and see the work of the past two years unwind before our eyes,” he said. The bank president said that inflation is moving back to the 2% target but he still wants more evidence it is doing so durably. He noted the so-called last mile of hitting the target could be challenging. Recent higher-than-expected consumer price level inflation was a reminder that progress on lowering price pressures can be bumpy and uneven, he said. When it comes to gaining confidence inflation is on track for 2%, he said he was not looking for much more data. "I just wanted to get a couple more months" of news to be sure. Harker also said U.S. growth continues to be strong, and the robust labor markets are coming into better balance. Harker also said news of job layoffs doesn't look to be a recessionary signal to him, adding that he views the consumer sector as strong. Harker also weighed in on the Fed’s balance sheet drawdown effort, which sees the central bank trimming its bond holdings to withdraw liquidity from the financial system. He said market liquidity levels remained strong, and echoing the meeting minutes, he expressed support for slowing the pace of the drawdown before stopping it. Harker said that was important because there is great uncertainty about the point where liquidity will grow too tight in markets. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/feds-harker-central-bank-likely-track-rate-cut-this-year-2024-02-22/