2024-07-08 11:40

July 8 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) New Tab, opens new tab said on Monday changes in oil prices would increase the company's second-quarter upstream earnings by $300 million to $700 million compared with the first quarter. The oil major would be reporting its first earnings after closing the acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources for $60 billion, with the combined operations making it the largest oil producer in the Permian basin. Exxon, however, said it expects changes in gas prices to decrease its quarterly upstream earnings by $300 million to $700 million compared with the first quarter. The largest U.S. oil producer had posted $5.7 billion in upstream earnings for the first quarter ended March 31. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/exxon-mobil-expects-second-quarter-oil-earnings-increase-2024-07-08/

2024-07-08 11:37

July 8 (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Beryl brought howling winds and torrential rain to southeast Texas on Monday, killing at least three people, flooding highways, closing oil ports, canceling more than 1,300 flights and knocking out power to more than 2.7 million homes and businesses. Beryl, the season's earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, weakened from a hurricane after pounding the coastal Texas town of Matagorda with dangerous storm surges and heavy rain before moving across Houston, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. The agency said conditions could spawn tornadoes in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. The storm, which was expected to rapidly weaken as it moved inland, swept a destructive path through Jamaica, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines last week. It killed at least 11 in Mexico and the Caribbean and before reaching Texas, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick told reporters. In Texas, a 53-year-old man and a 74-year-old woman were killed in two incidents by trees that fell on their homes in the Houston area on Monday. A third person, a city of Houston employee going to work, drowned in an underpass, Patrick said. Oil refining activity slowed and some production sites were evacuated in the state that is the nation's biggest producer of U.S. oil and natural gas. "For those of you in northeast Texas, be aware. You will have tropical storm winds, maybe as late as midnight or 1 a.m. You will have flooding, you will have rain, and you need to stay off the roads," Patrick said. State officials had yet to assess the economic damage as officials remained on a rescue footing while powerful winds continued to blow. Restoring power would take several days, said Thomas Gleeson, chair of the Texas Public Utility Commission. More than 2,500 first responders were deployed statewide, said Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management. Following warnings that it could be a deadly storm for communities in its path, people rushed to board up windows and stock up on fuel and other essential supplies. Before daybreak, strong gusts and torrential rain lashed cities and towns such as Galveston, Sargent, Lake Jackson and Freeport, television video showed. By late morning, many fallen trees blocked roads in Houston as the worst of the storm passed, with persisting winds and some road flooding, rendering lanes on major freeways impassable. The city barricaded flooded areas. Crews using a life jacket and ladder fire truck rescued a man from a truck on a flooded stretch of freeway, video posted on social media by Houston's local ABC station showed. Patrick said there were several other rescues. Flood waters exceeded 10 inches (25 cm) across most of Houston, Mayor John Whitmire said. "We're literally getting calls across Houston right now asking for first responders to come rescue individuals in desperate life safety conditions," Whitmire said. The storm had strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane as it crossed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall. But the NHC said it was expected to weaken into a tropical depression overnight and a post-tropical cyclone on Tuesday. That was still enough to deliver more heavy rain as it moved northeastward from eastern Texas on Monday afternoon, across Arkansas on Tuesday, into the Lower Ohio Valley on Tuesday night, and finally into the Lower Great Lakes on Wednesday, the U.S. National Weather Service said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Coast Guard had positioned staff to assist with search and rescue efforts. FEMA also readied water, meals and generators to boost local response efforts, according to the Biden administration. Schools said they would close as the storm approached. Airlines canceled more than 1,300 flights, and officials ordered a smattering of evacuations in beach towns. Small businesses in Houston, including package delivery services and chiropractors, delayed openings or were closed on Monday. More than 2.7 million homes and businesses in Texas lost power, according to Patrick and and PowerOutage.us. Several counties in southeastern Texas - including Houston, where many U.S. energy companies are headquartered - are under a flash-flood warning as thunderstorms unleashed up to nearly 12 inches (30 cm) of rain in some areas. Closures of major oil-shipping ports around Corpus Christi, Galveston and Houston ahead of the storm could disrupt crude oil exports, along with shipments of crude to refineries and motor fuel from the plants. The Corpus Christi Ship Channel has re-opened, while the Port of Houston was projected to resume operations on Tuesday afternoon. Some oil producers, including Shell (SHEL.L) New Tab, opens new tab and Chevron (CVX.N) New Tab, opens new tab, evacuated personnel from their Gulf of Mexico offshore production platforms ahead of the storm. Marathon Petroleum Corp's (MPC.N) New Tab, opens new tab refinery in Texas City, Texas was hit by a power interruption on Monday amid the storm, the company said in a statement. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/hurricane-beryl-expected-weaken-quickly-it-churns-across-texas-2024-07-08/

2024-07-08 11:27

First female finance minister lays out planning reforms No quick fix for "dire inheritance", Reeves says Fiscal review ordered ahead of autumn budget LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) - Britain's finance minister Rachel Reeves set out plans on Monday to increase house building, unblock infrastructure projects and attract private investment as part of a new "national mission" to drive economic growth. After last week's landslide election win propelled the Labour Party to power after 14 years in opposition, Reeves and Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed at the weekend on first steps to show they were moving quickly to tackle deep-seated problems. "We know we can't turn things around overnight. We face a dire inheritance. But this is our down-payment," Britain's first female finance minister said in a speech in Westminster. Reeves said the government would restore mandatory house-building targets for local authorities, fund the hiring of more planning officers, speed up planning approval for infrastructure projects and prioritise unresolved planning decisions. To boost the green energy sector she said the government would accelerate the development of large projects by assessing them nationally and not locally, and end an effective ban on onshore wind farms. "There is no time to waste," she said. Reeves and Starmer face one of the toughest to-do lists of any incoming government, needing to drive growth to help finance increased spending on public services without breaking a pledge not to raise the main taxes paid by working people. That is a challenge given Britain's economy has been the second-weakest in the G7 since the COVID pandemic, with British economic growth this year set to be below 1%. Living standards have stagnated since 2010, public debt is at almost 100% of national economic output and tax as a share of GDP is on track to rise to the highest level since just after World War Two. DIFFICULT DECISIONS Reeves said she was willing to take difficult decisions to reignite growth even where there may be local opposition to projects. "We will not succumb to a status quo which responds to the existence of trade-offs by always saying no, and relegates the national interest below other priorities," she said. "Those difficult decisions have been ducked and dived and deferred for the last 14 years. I think you can see today that I mean business." Reeves said she had ordered a report on the state of the country's "spending inheritance" and would present the results before parliament's summer break, before holding a full tax-and-spend budget later in the year. Raoul Ruparel, who advised former Conservative prime minister Theresa May, said the report was likely to show the budget plans inherited by Labour were not credible, with their reliance on more spending cuts for stretched public services. "So (it) will pave the way for some more radical changes to tax and spending plans potentially," Ruparel - now director of the Boston Consulting Group's Centre for Growth - said. HONEYMOON PERIOD Reeves, a former Bank of England economist, said Britain would once again be able to offer business a sense of stability, after many international investors were put off by the 2016 vote to leave the European Union and the rapid succession of prime ministers that followed. According to official data, inward foreign direct investment was down in four out of the last five quarters. "What (the election) does is relieve that uncertainty - it allows overseas investors to invest with more security," said Toby Gibb, head of investment solutions at fund manager Artemis. Chief investment officer at BlueBay Asset Management, Mark Dowding, said while the speech held no surprises, "the general sense is that there will be a bit of a honeymoon period where investors will want to give Reeves the benefit of the doubt." "The focus will now be on the budget in the autumn," he added. For voters, a key concern has been the lack of housing for a population that has grown quickly in recent decades as a result of high immigration, pricing many people out of the market. Aynsley Lammin, an analyst at Investec, said the changes would support a greater supply of new homes, but added that local opposition and a shortage of construction workers needed to be fixed to open the way for more home-building. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-finance-minister-reeves-i-will-take-difficult-decisions-drive-growth-2024-07-07/

2024-07-08 11:27

COLOMBO, July 8 (Reuters) - Vitol Asia and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL.NS) New Tab, opens new tab are among eight bidders for Sri Lanka's state-run LPG company and terminal as the island nation looks to reduce losses incurred by government-owned enterprises under a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. The eight bidders can now submit proposals to the Sri Lankan government for the acquisition of shares in Litro Gas Lanka Limited and Litro Terminals (Private) Limited, a statement released by Sri Lanka's finance ministry said. The other shortlisted bidders are Siamgas and Petrochemicals Public Company Limited, Bgn Int Dmcc And Bayegan Dis Ticaret A.S, Confidence Petroleum India Limited, OQ Trading Limited, Tristar Transport LLC and Infinity Holdings, and Infinity Holdings Sidecar 1 and National Gas Company Saog (NGCI.OM) New Tab, opens new tab. Litro holds the largest market share in Sri Lanka's duopoly LPG market that is mostly focused on domestic gas supplies. Sri Lanka finalised an IMF program with the global lender last March, pledging to reform its economy to emerge from its worst financial crisis in decades. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/vitol-asia-bharat-petroleum-among-bidders-sri-lanka-lpg-terminal-2024-07-08/

2024-07-08 11:20

PARIS, July 8 (Reuters) - The Ugandan army has provided support to the M23 rebel group operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a United Nations report seen by Reuters on Monday said, as escalating clashes there fuel fears of a new all-out conflict. Uganda denied involvement, saying it is cooperating closely with the Congolese government forces. The U.N. has long accused Rwanda of backing the M23, which has repeatedly seized large parts of mineral-rich eastern Congo, allegations Rwanda denied. Congo has been riven by conflict for decades. Uganda and Rwanda invaded in 1996 and 1998 for what they said was defence against local militia groups. Uganda is still conducting joint operations with Congolese troops against a rebel Ugandan group. The Tutsi-led M23 rebels have been waging a fresh insurgency in Congo's militia-plagued east since 2022. Ugandan troops were part of a regional force deployed in November 2022 to monitor a ceasefire with the M23. Congolese authorities called for the force to withdraw last year, saying it was ineffective. "Since the resurgence of the M23 crisis, Uganda has not prevented the presence of M23 and Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) troops on its territory or passage through it," the U.N. Security Council's Group of Experts said in the report, which was sent to the U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee at the end of April and then to members of the Security Council in June. The U.N. group also said it had obtained evidence confirming active support for M23 by officials from the military and military intelligence, with M23 leaders, including the sanctioned Sultani Makenga, travelling to Uganda for meetings. Contacted by Reuters, deputy spokesman for Uganda's armed forces, Deo Akiiki, said such reports falsely accuse the east African country's army when its relationship with the Congolese forces (FARDC) is at its best. "It would be mad for us to destabilise the same area we are sacrificing it all to have it stable," Akiiki said. The U.N. report said some 3,000-4,000 Rwandan soldiers were fighting the Congolese army alongside the M23. The Rwandan army's "de facto control and direction over M23 operations also renders Rwanda liable for the actions of M23", the experts said. In response, Rwanda said Congo was financing and fighting alongside a Hutu rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), that has attacked Tutsis in both countries. "The DRC has all the power to deescalate the situation if they want to, but until then Rwanda will continue to defend itself," Rwanda government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told Reuters. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/uganda-provided-support-m23-rebels-congo-un-report-says-2024-07-08/

2024-07-08 11:15

BEIJING, July 8 (Reuters) - Chinese state media on Monday criticized the state grains stockpiler Sinograin after local media reported that its fuel tankers were allegedly also used to transport cooking oil, sparking food safety concerns. The Beijing News last week reported it was an “open secret” in the transportation industry that Sinograin was using tankers to transport both fuel and food products like cooking oil, soybean oil and syrup, without cleaning the tankers in between. The report sparked an uproar on social media over worries of food contamination. Chinese consumers have been increasingly sensitive over food safety, with consumers turning to foreign brands and Beijing stepping up controls, after a series of scandals, including the sale of baby formula containing lethal amounts of the industrial chemical melamine in 2008. Sinograin, in a Weibo post on Saturday, said it had ordered an investigation into whether transportation carriers leaving and entering its warehouses were compliant with food safety regulations. Transportation units and carrier vehicles found in violation of the regulations would be terminated immediately and any major problems found would be reported to the relevant regulatory authorities, Sinograin said. On Monday, state broadcaster CCTV called the operation a cost-saving measure that was “tantamount to poisoning”. “While Sinograin is trying to make up for its loss, consumers are still confused and stunned,” CCTV said in a post on WeChat. “Usually, we can avoid poor quality cooking oil by not cutting corners and choosing big brands and well-known manufacturers. But big brands can also have loopholes in the transportation chain where fuel and cooking oils are mixed, which is obviously beyond most people's knowledge,” it said. Such mixing of products was “not only a blatant provocation to the ‘Food Safety Law’, but also showed an extreme disregard for the life and health of consumers,” CCTV said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-state-media-slams-sinograin-over-alleged-use-fuel-tankers-transport-2024-07-08/