2024-08-09 19:57

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Petrobras (PETR4.SA) , opens new tab does not see the repurchase of the Mataripe refinery owned by Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala (MUDEV.UL) in Brazil as a priority, the state-run firm's Chief Executive Magda Chambriard said on Friday. The repurchase of the refinery, also known as RLAM, located in Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia was seen as important given that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva campaigned against the sale in 2021. "What I can tell you is that RLAM is not my priority," Chambriard told journalists during an earnings call, adding that the proposal by Mubadala for Petrobras to buy back the asset is "a deal like any other." The firm still needs to evaluate the asset further to see if reacquiring it would advantageous for Petrobras, she said. The two firms have been discussing the sale for several months. Discussion of a possible buyback surfaced last year when Mubadala proposed a joint investment in traditional refining and a new biorefinery sharing infrastructure with RLAM in Bahia state, a stronghold of Lula's Workers Party. This week the firm confirmed that its due diligence process to buy RLAM was wrapping up. Petrobras owns 11 refineries producing about 80% of domestic fuel production, after selling two plants under former President Jair Bolsonaro. Built in the 1950s, RLAM is Brazil's second largest refinery, with the highest capacity for production of gasoline, diesel and other oil derivatives in northern and northeastern Brazil, according to operator Acelen, which is controlled by Mubadala. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/brazils-petrobras-does-not-see-repurchase-refinery-mubadala-priority-2024-08-09/

2024-08-09 19:39

PARIS, Aug 9 (Reuters) - France detected two new outbreaks of a new variant of bluetongue virus circulating in ruminants in northern Europe, prompting it to speed up and extend a vaccination campaign in the region, the farm ministry said on Friday. France reported a first outbreak of the BTV3 bluetongue disease on a sheep farm near the Belgian border earlier this week. The virus, spread by insects and which can be deadly for sheep, cattle and goats, has been circulating in the Netherlands, northern Belgium and western Germany since late last year. France increased the number of vaccines that will be given for free to farmers to 6.4 million doses, including 1.1 million for sheep and 5.3 million doses for cattle, from a total of 4.6 million doses previously. The vaccines will be available from Monday. The ministry had initially mentioned Wednesday as the start of the campaign. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/france-extends-bluetongue-vaccination-after-new-outbreak-2024-08-09/

2024-08-09 19:27

Thyssenkrupp at odds with steel unit over funding needs Dispute is part of efforts to sell steel unit Billionaire Daniel Kretinsky took part in board meeting FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Thyssenkrupp's (TKAG.DE) , opens new tab steel division requires around 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in additional funds beyond what its parent is prepared to pay in a planned separation process, the division's supervisory board chairman said on Friday. Sigmar Gabriel, who spoke after a supervisory board meeting of Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (TKSE), said an external audit would now be carried out to determine the unit's restructuring and funding needs, adding that this could happen before year-end. The sale of TKSE, which is closely tied to Germany's history as an industrial heavyweight, has been fraught with difficulties for years, mostly due the fact that the business needs billions of euros to keep investing and regain competitiveness. Gabriel added that the board would reconvene on Aug. 29 to continue its discussions and that Friday's meeting only marked one step towards a separation of TKSE from Thyssenkrupp AG, efforts that have failed several times in recent years. The meeting was also attended by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, who last week closed a deal to buy 20% of TKSE and is in talks to buy a further 30% to eventually form a 50:50 steel joint venture with Thyssenkrupp. Gabriel said there has been no agreement between the steel unit's management and the division's owners about how the funding gap could be closed, and if it even was that big, adding the planned external audit was meant to bring clarity. DISAGREEMENTS "This will ... not be an official ruling that everyone will then have to abide by, but rather, if you like, a neutral assessment by auditors, on the basis of which we will hopefully come to an agreement," Gabriel said. A past review of consultancy Roland Berger had even arrived at a bigger funding gap than the 1.3 billion euros, he added. Gabriel said TKSE and Thyssenkrupp AG had agreed to strike an interim funding agreement for the next 24 months to ensure the steel division's operations beyond the end of September, which is when a domination agreement between both sides ends. That agreement is to be specified by Aug. 20 to make sure it can be approved at the board's meeting a week later, Gabriel said, adding the aim was to ensure the solvency of TKSE at all times. "This should put an end to the current public speculation about an alleged threat of insolvency," he told reporters. Overall, there is disagreement between TKSE and its owners over whether a business plan discussed on Friday and including plans for a sale of steel joint venture HKM, goes far enough. A sale of HKM, in which TKSE owns 50%, could help the unit achieve 2 million tonnes in annual capacity cuts. Gabriel said that if a sale should fail TKSE would enter talks with HKM's co-owners Salzgitter (SZGG.DE) , opens new tab (30%) and Vallourec (VLLP.PA) , opens new tab (20%) over a closure of the business. ($1 = 0.9158 euro) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/thyssenkrupp-steel-sees-14-bln-funding-gap-planned-divorce-parent-2024-08-09/

2024-08-09 19:20

Aug 9 (Reuters) - The remnants of storm Debby triggered flash flooding in northern Pennsylvania and southern New York state that left dozens of people stranded in their homes on Friday, authorities said. Several people were rescued by boat and by helicopters across the region as Debby sped through the area, dumping several inches of rain on land that was already soaked from earlier this week. "We've carried out upward of 30 rescues so far and we're continuing to search house to house," said Bill Goltz, the fire chief in Westfield, Pennsylvania, which has a population of 1,100. "We're evacuating the town. So far, we've had no deaths or injuries. But nearby towns have missing people." The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for the area. Debby, downgraded from a tropical storm to a depression on Thursday, spawned deadly twisters earlier in the week and was expected to continue doing so before it blows out to sea Saturday afternoon. The governors of Pennsylvania and New York issued disaster and emergency declarations to free up resources to assist the areas of northern Pennsylvania and southern New York where flash floods left people stranded and in need of rescue. The NWS issued flood warnings and tornado watches for parts of an area stretching from coastal Georgia to Vermont, as the storm moved northeast at 35 miles (56 km) an hour, considerably faster than earlier in the week. Debby, a slow-moving storm for most of the week, has dropped as much as 25 inches (63 cm) of rain on its march north and killed at least eight people. Since making its first landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Florida's Gulf Coast on Monday, Debby has submerged homes and roadways, and forced evacuations and water rescues as it slowly crawled up the Eastern Seaboard. The weather service fielded reports of a handful of tornadoes since Thursday. In Browns Summit, North Carolina, about 80 miles (130 km) northwest of Raleigh, a 78-year-old woman was killed when a tree fell on her mobile home, NBC affiliate WXII reported, citing law enforcement. Earlier, a twister killed a man when his house collapsed in Wilson County in eastern North Carolina. It damaged at least 10 houses, a church and a school. North and South Carolina have been hit hardest by Debby's prodigious rainfall. In the South Carolina town of Moncks Corner, swift-water rescue teams were mobilized on Friday as dangerous flash flooding forced evacuations and the closure of an interstate highway. Earlier in the week, a tornado buzzed through Moncks Corner, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Charleston, flipping cars and wrecking a fast-food restaurant. In Barre, Vermont, about 7 miles (11 km) southeast of the capital Montpelier, Rick Dente spent his morning securing plastic tarps over the roof and surrounding the doors with sandbags at his family-owned store, Dente's Market. Vermont, which is under a state of federal emergency, has already faced a slew of rainstorms from a separate system that has washed out roads, damaged homes and swollen rivers and creeks with floodwaters. The remnants of Debby could bring another 3 inches (7.6 cm)or more rain, the weather service said. "We're worried," said Dente, thinking about the store that has been in the family since 1907, and he has run since 1972. Once a grocery store, it now caters mostly to tourists seeking antiques and keepsakes. "Everytime it rains, it's worse," he said. "I worry every time it rains." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/debby-picks-up-speed-spreading-heavy-rain-along-us-east-coast-2024-08-09/

2024-08-09 19:20

Aug 9 (Reuters) - The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) said on Friday it had identified a human case of swine flu. The health agency said the source of the person's exposure is still under investigation. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/michigan-reports-human-case-swine-flu-2024-08-09/

2024-08-09 18:46

BEIJING, Aug 9 (Reuters) - China's central bank will seek to "enrich" its monetary policy toolbox and will gradually increase buying and selling of treasury bonds in its open market operations, its second-quarter monetary policy implementation report said on Friday. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) will also seek to steadily lower companies' financing and household credit costs, the report said, adding that prudent monetary policy should be "flexible, moderate, precise and effective." The PBOC will "guide credit to grow reasonably and balance the supply of credit while keeping liquidity reasonably ample," said the report. The central bank will pay attention to changes in long-term bond yields during economic recovery and said it will conduct stress tests on the risk exposures of bond assets held by financial institutions and prevent interest rate risks. "It's necessary to enrich the monetary policy toolbox, enrich and improve methods of monetary base injection, and gradually increase buying and selling of government bonds in the central bank's open market operations," the PBOC said. The central bank will pay close attention to changes in the monetary policies of major overseas central banks, it added. China's economic growth missed forecasts in the second quarter, depressed by a property downturn and sluggish domestic demand, while some July economic indicators showed a mixed and unbalanced recovery. The PBOC will also study plans to appropriately narrow its interest rate corridor and deliver clearer signals of interest rates adjustments to markets. The central bank last month launched temporary repo or reverse repos to make open market operations more efficient and keep the banking system liquidity ample. On the Chinese yuan, the PBOC vowed it will prevent the formation and self-reinforcement of unilateral expectations and will guard against risk of exchange rate overshooting. The yuan is up 0.7% against the dollar this month, in tandem with a surging Japanese yen, as an unwinding of short positions snowballed following a surprise rate hike by the Bank of Japan and weakness in U.S. economic indicators. To achieve a stable and sound development of the property sector, the PBOC said it will step up support to construction and seek to boost supplies of affordable housing. Keeping prices stable and ensuring moderate inflation will still be a significant consideration of the bank's monetary policy, the bank said, adding it will keep prices at a "reasonable level." China's consumer prices rose at a slightly faster-than-expected rate in July, partly due to weather disruptions in food supplies, while producer deflation persisted, official data showed on Friday. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/china-cbank-says-it-will-increase-treasury-bond-trading-2024-08-09/