2024-06-19 04:35

OSLO, June 19 (Reuters) - Offshore oil service workers in Norway struck a deal with employers during state-sponsored mediation to avoid going on strike in Western Europe's largest oil and gas producing nation, the IE&FLT and Safe labour unions said on Wednesday. The government-appointed mediator separately confirmed that a deal had been reached. The two unions initially planned to withdraw nearly 140 workers employed at SLB (SLB.N) New Tab, opens new tab, Halliburton (HAL.N) New Tab, opens new tab, Baker Hughes (BKR.O) New Tab, opens new tab, Oceaneering (OII.N) New Tab, opens new tab and Weatherford (WFRD.O) New Tab, opens new tab. Overall, the wages talks covered over 6,000 members of IE&FLT and about 1,200 members of Safe. While any strike action would not have hit production in the initial phase, a longer-term conflict could have impacted output. The Norwegian oil and gas companies that operate offshore fields, including state-controlled Equinor (EQNR.OL) New Tab, opens new tab, agreed a wage deal with their workers earlier this month, preventing strike action. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/norway-oil-service-workers-agree-wage-deal-averting-strike-2024-06-19/

2024-06-18 23:13

MEXICO CITY, June 18 (Reuters) - A Mexican governor hopes halted shipments of avocados to the United States can resume shortly after the U.S. suspended health inspections due to a security incident late last week, he said on Tuesday, though U.S. authorities were more cautious. Michoacan state Governor Alfredo Ramirez said in an interview with Radio Formula he expected the inspection suspension, which has blocked exports of both avocados and mangoes, to be lifted between Tuesday and Thursday. The suspension was announced over the weekend after an incident late Friday night, involving two U.S. embassy inspectors of Mexican nationality during a protest in the small community of Aranza, Michoacan. Ramirez said the inspectors had been "improperly detained" in a vehicle during the protest, which a government source told Reuters was in support of local police. U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar however issued a statement shortly after, saying the inspectors had been "assaulted and detained while on duty in Michoacan inspecting avocados. They are no longer in captivity." Salazar said the suspension would remain in place until security concerns are resolved. He added that this was purely a safety issue and that there were no sanitary concerns. Michoacan state, which borders the Pacific Ocean, exports around $3.5 billion worth in avocados a year, exporting to more than thirty countries around the world - most notably to the U.S. which consumes around a million tons annually. "I hope that with the measures we are taking together with the U.S. embassy ... that the exports of this valuable product to the United States can be resumed in the next few hours," Ramirez said. "It could reopen Wednesday or Thursday, perhaps even today," he added. In 2022, U.S. officials temporarily suspended avocado shipments from Michoacan, a state that has suffered longstanding problems with gang violence, also citing security problems faced by inspectors. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/mexico-governor-flags-quick-resumption-us-avocado-exports-us-cautious-2024-06-18/

2024-06-18 22:52

CHICAGO, June 18 (Reuters) - Bayer's crop science division is increasingly turning to artificial intelligence in its battle against crop killing weeds, the company told Reuters. Weeds are growing resistant to the herbicides already on the market, and agribusiness companies like Bayer are in a desperate search for new modes of action to help farmers kill them. Bayer's Icafolin product will be its first new mode of action herbicide in some 30 years when it launches in Brazil in 2028. Frank Terhorst, executive vice president of strategy and sustainability at Bayer's Crop Science Division, told Reuters on Monday that AI could help speed up finding that next new mode of action. "You want to find the one where you have maximum performance on what you want to kill – weeds, and basically no impact on everything else. And that balance is extremely difficult," Terhorst told Reuters after an event in Chicago. AI, he said, helps the company match the protein structure of a weed with a molecule that targets that structure, and enables it to use huge amounts of data. It is a faster process, he said, and there are fewer dropouts. Bob Reiter, head of research and development, crop science, at Bayer, said in a statement that with AI tools, the timeline for the discovery of the next new mode of action could be much shorter. "If we take the example of early research only, we today have at least three times the number of new modes of action compared to ten years ago," he said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/bayer-looks-ai-combat-herbicide-resistance-faster-2024-06-18/

2024-06-18 22:34

U.S. retail sales rise less than expected in May Lennar drops as home delivery forecast disappoints Citigroup hikes S&P 500 year-end target to 5,600 points Indexes up: Dow 0.15%, S&P 0.25%, Nasdaq 0.03% June 18 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs on Tuesday, buoyed by Nvidia's continued surge to new peaks, while the Dow ended barely higher in subdued pre-holiday trading following softer-than-expected U.S. retail sales data. Nvidia (NVDA.O) New Tab, opens new tab overtook Microsoft (MSFT.O) New Tab, opens new tab to become the world's most valuable company, ending the day with a market capitalization of $3.22 trillion. Other chip stocks also extended their recent rallies, boosting the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index (.SOX) New Tab, opens new tab to a record high. Qualcomm (QCOM.O) New Tab, opens new tab, Arm Holdings and Micron (MU.O) New Tab, opens new tab advanced between 2.1% and 8.7%, with Micron hitting a record high. "It's really the AI story," said Ty Draper, financial advisor at Beacon Capital Management in Franklin, Tennessee. The Nasdaq notched a seventh record closing high in a row, as gains in many chip stocks offset losses in Alphabet (GOOGL.O) New Tab, opens new tab, Amazon (AMZN.O) New Tab, opens new tab and Meta Platforms (META.O) New Tab, opens new tab. Retail sales rose 0.1% in May, versus the 0.3% growth forecast by economists polled by Reuters, while another report showed surprisingly strong May industrial production and manufacturing output. Following the news, markets slightly increased bets on two Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this year, LSEG's FedWatch showed, despite U.S. central bankers' most recent projections for just one easing. Financial (.SPSY) New Tab, opens new tab and technology (.SPLRCT) New Tab, opens new tab led advances among the 11 S&P 500 sectors, up 0.64% and 0.61% respectively, while communication services (.SPLRCL) New Tab, opens new tab and consumer discretionary were the biggest losers. Fed officials' comments on Tuesday offered nothing compelling to trade on. New York Fed President John Williams said rates will gradually come down, while Richmond Fed's Thomas Barkin said he required more months of economic data before supporting a rate cut. Some market observers noted nothing surprising emerged. "That's why the markets stay unchanged today," said Jim Awad, senior managing director at Clearstead Advisors LLC in New York. U.S. markets will be closed on Wednesday for the Juneteenth holiday. Hopes for multiple rate cuts this year, excitement for AI-related companies and robust earnings from other tech firms have bolstered equities in recent months, with gains concentrated in a few heavily weighted stocks. Citigroup raised the year-end target for the S&P 500 (.SPX) New Tab, opens new tab to 5,600 points from 5,100. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) New Tab, opens new tab rose 56.76 points, or 0.15%, to 38,834.86. The S&P 500 (.SPX) New Tab, opens new tab climbed 13.80 points, or 0.25%, to 5,487.03 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) New Tab, opens new tab gained 5.21 points, or 0.03%, at 17,862.23. Shares of education technology provider Chegg (CHGG.N) New Tab, opens new tab rose 3.45% after announcing job cuts in a restructuring. Homebuilder Lennar (LEN.N) New Tab, opens new tab fell 4.98% after forecasting lower-than-expected third-quarter home deliveries. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.79-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, which had 259 new highs and 93 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.96 billion shares, compared with the 11.79 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/sp-500-nasdaq-futures-hover-near-record-highs-ahead-retail-sales-data-2024-06-18/

2024-06-18 22:10

HOUSTON, June 18 (Reuters) - Canadian government-owned oil pipeline operator Trans Mountain last week revised standards for accepting crude oil on its recently expanded system after buyers raised concerns about the crude oil arriving on the line, a regulatory filing showed. The U.S. West Coast refining market is expected to be a major outlet for the Canadian heavy oil shipped via the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, called TMX. But 10 companies and refiners including Chevron (CVX.N) New Tab, opens new tab and Valero Energy (VLO.N) New Tab, opens new tab told a pipeline regulator the line's crude quality specifications could deter their purchases. Trans Mountain last week said it would replace the existing pool of "Low TAN (Total acid number) Dilbit" with a pool of "Pacific Cold Lake," or bitumen diluted with crude having a density of less than 800 kilograms per cubic meter. Pacific Cold Lake's and Pacific Dilbit's acidity will be limited to a maximum of 1.1 milligrams of potassium hydroxide (KOH) per gram, compared with an earlier limit of 1.3 mg KOH/g, the filing showed. High levels of acidity can corrode processing equipment and cause damage. Trans Mountain also defined vapor pressure limits for its Pacific Cold Lake, Pacific Dilbit and Synthetic Bitumen crude pools, as less than or equal to 70 kilopascal (kPA) between May 1 and Nov. 30, and less than or equal to 76 kPa between Dec. 1 and April 30. High pressures cause more vapors to leak from tanks into the atmosphere. "Based on the consultations (with shippers), Trans Mountain is proposing changes to the heavy Crude Petroleum pool specifications," the company wrote in its regulatory filing. Trans Mountain added it will continue to engage with its shippers regarding changes to the light crude petroleum pools. "At this time, Trans Mountain is not aware of any Shipper that intends to oppose the revisions that Trans Mountain is making to the heavy crude pools in the Service Standards, the company also noted. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/trans-mountain-revises-heavy-crude-standards-pipeline-after-quality-concerns-2024-06-18/

2024-06-18 22:08

VIÑA DEL MAR, Chile, June 18 (Reuters) - Residents of the gleaming apartment buildings built atop sand dunes that dot Chile's Pacific coast are expressing mounting concerns for their safety after a series of sinkholes. Three sinkholes have opened up this year near or directly under the buildings following heavy rainfall. The affected area is just north of the Chilean city of Viña del Mar, one of the South American country's most popular tourist destinations famed for its picturesque rocky coastline. One of the sinkholes filled a building parking garage with mud and dirt, practically burying several cars. "As a family, we decided to leave," said former resident Gabriel, who declined to provide his surname, pointing to the building where he used to live. "Even if the view here is really pretty, there's an imminent risk." The most recent sinkholes struck near buildings erected on sand dunes near the town of Concon, located on a marine terrace more than 100 feet (30 meters) above sea level and rich in wildlife. Some buildings suffered significant damage. Local experts warn that Concon building projects are ill-advised. "There shouldn't be construction on the dunes because these are very fragile systems," said Luis Ribba, a University of Chile geologist, adding that even sound foundations can fail in this environment. Over the past three decades, a battle has played out over how much of the area should be off limits to development. Only 12 hectares of the dunes were protected after officials granted the area nature-sanctuary status in 1994, out of a total area that spans 45 hectares. The unprotected areas have seen some of the most heavily-criticized construction projects, even as new protections authorized in 2006 cover about 22 hectares. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chile-coastal-construction-sand-dunes-raises-alarm-sinkholes-multiply-2024-06-18/