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☆ Nickel prices tumble as LME scrutinises volatile trading
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Marianna Parraga | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The London Metal Exchange (LME) said on Wednesday it was conducting enhanced monitoring of nickel trading after prices fell as much as 12% in volatile and illiquid conditions. The London Metal Exchange (LME) on March 8 cancelled all nickel trades and suspended the market for more than a week after prices doubled in a matter of hours. "The LME notes the current volatility in nickel," the exchange said in a statement. "The price limits in place are functioning as expected and the LME is undertaking enhanced monitoring to ensure that participants' trading activities are being conducted appropriately." Benchmark LME nickel racked up six consecutive days of gains between Nov. 8 and Nov. 15, starting the first at $23,330 a tonne and reaching as high as $31,275 on the last.

REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File PhotoHOUSTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - A grounded oil supertanker under U.S. Treasury Department sanctions being refloated in Indonesia is filled with Venezuelan fuel, according to vessel monitoring services. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control last week imposed sanctions on the stranded tanker, Young Yong, for its part in an international oil smuggling network that Washington said supports Hezbollah and Iran's Quds Force. Both tankers had departed between late July and early August carrying fuel oil supplied by Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA, according to internal company documents seen by Reuters and TankerTrackers.com, which confirmed the vessels' identities. The Panama-flagged Eagle Brenda, identified on PDVSA shipping schedules as "Eagle I," also carried some 1 million barrels of Venezuelan fuel oil, the documents showed. The tanker was in Venezuelan waters at least twice since last year, where it loaded Venezuelan crude and fuel for exports, according to PDVSA's schedules and TankerTrackers.com.

☆ Russian weekly consumer prices edge up slightly
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Marianna Parraga | Brendan O'Boyle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MOSCOW, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Consumer prices in Russia rose slightly for the seventh consecutive week at the start of November, data published on Wednesday showed, as the central bank tries to balance competing inflationary pressures across the economy. Russia's consumer price index rose 0.01% in the week to Nov. 7, the Rosstat federal statistics service said. That was down from a 0.07% rise in prices recorded a week earlier, a trend some analysts said was signs of weakening consumer demand. The central bank targets inflation at 4%. "The main reason behind the downward trend of inflation is the weakening of consumer demand," said analysts at Alfa Bank.

☆ Mexico not buying U.S. yellow corn as GM ban looms, Lopez Obrador says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Marianna Parraga | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The United States wanted to sell Mexico more yellow corn and Mexico declined, Lopez Obrador said in a regular news conference. "There is a market for it, but the government cannot make a purchase because we do not want GM," Lopez Obrador said, citing a lack of scientific investigation into its effects. Lopez Obrador did not specify who made the request to sell more corn, the amount of the requested sale or the time frame. Mexico is ready to halve its U.S. imports of yellow corn when the decree goes into effect and is considering direct agreements with farmers to secure non-GM yellow corn imports, the country's deputy agriculture minister said in October. Chicago Board of Trade corn futures fell on Wednesday after the news, with the benchmark December contract down 6 cents a bushel at a two-month low of $6.61-1/2 a bushel.

HOUSTON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - A unit of Italian oil company Eni (ENI.MI) has been assigned two 1-million-barrel cargoes of Venezuelan diluted crude oil for November loading, according to a document from state-run PDVSA seen by Reuters on Monday. The cargoes mark the resumption of an oil-for-debt deal authorized by the U.S. government earlier this year as an exception to sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector. Eni plans to take the Venezuelan crude onboard the Suezmax tankers Africa and Gladiator. Africa was in Venezuelan waters on Monday waiting to load, while Gladiator is scheduled to depart from U.S. waters to Venezuela after discharging a previous cargo, according to Refinitiv Eikon vessel monitoring data. Between June and July, Eni received a total of 3.6 million barrels of DCO.

If approved, its gas could restart an idled liquefaction train with a 500 million cubic feet per day (cf/d) capacity at Trinidad's flagship Atlantic LNG project. The facility is a venture mainly including Shell (SHEL.L), BP and state-owned National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago (NGC). YEARS OF WORK AHEADTrinidad is Latin America's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, with installed capacity to process 4.2 billion cf/d into LNG, petrochemicals and power. Even if Washington granted Trinidad's request, it could take years of investment and development to bring Venezuelan gas to Trinidad and boost LNG to Europe. That project follows an amended production sharing contract for the Manatee gas field in Trinidad, which extends to Venezuela's Loran field.

[1/2] Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks at the meeting with Colombia's President Gustavo Petro (not pictured) at Miraflores Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela November 1, 2022. "We are working on resuming the dialogue process in November," said one of the people familiar with the arrangements. Maduro and Colombia President Gustavo Petro said in a joint statement on Tuesday they hoped for "a successful return" to the dialogues. This makes resumption of talks crucial for the opposition coalition, which has been diminished by exile, imprisonment of leaders, internal fractures and lack of funds. The talks were abandoned by Maduro's envoys a year ago after disagreements over the extradition of an ally of the Venezuelan president who faces money laundering charges.

LNG prices recently have cooled with Europe's gas storage levels rising to over 90% of target capacity and a slow start to winter. In Asia, however, a declaration of force majeure on gas supplies by Malaysian state-energy company Petronas (PETR.KL) has LNG customers in Japan scrambling for alternative cargoes. A total of 88 tankers carrying 6.27 million tonnes of LNG departed in October from U.S. ports, mostly heading to Europe, the data showed. LNG shipments from U.S. ports fell slightly to 6.27 million tonnes in October, with more cargoes going to Asia, where customers of Malaysian liquefied gas scramble to source alternative supplies. The shutdown of the second-largest U.S. LNG export plant has hit many customers, including Japan's biggest LNG buyer, JERA, which last week said it will book a $751-million loss mostly due to higher purchase costs.

[1/5] An oil pump jack is seen in an oil field near Lake Maracaibo, in Cabimas, Venezuela October 14, 2022. "Among those remaining in the partnerships, few hope to ever recoup pending dividends or commercial debts from PDVSA." Since TotalEnergies and Equinor in 2021 exited one of Venezuela's flagship oil upgrading projects, Petrocedeno, smaller firms have followed. With companies and workers leaving almost en masse, the abandonment of oilfields is visible near Maracaibo Lake, among Venezuela's oldest producing region. Between 2019 and 2021, PDVSA delivered oil cargoes to partners to reduce outstanding debt.

Migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border are prompting U.S. President Joe Biden's administration to call for unfreezing Venezuelan funds held in foreign banks that would provide needed food and medicine, the sources told Reuters. It also has some in Venezuela's opposition parties worried about the political impact of releasing funds that Maduro could claim credit for ahead of a potential 2024 presidential election. The United Nations drafted a first proposal to oversee the fund in mid-October, the sources told Reuters. Opposition envoys discussed the aid package with U.S. officials during their meetings last week in Washington, four of the sources said. For the United Nations, it could become one of the largest funds ever handled, even though the total amount that could be legally released is not clear.

But most opposition representatives visiting Washington this week told U.S. officials they would not continue backing him or anyone else as their leader for another year of interim government. Venezuelan opposition representatives who attended the meetings in Washington and a spokesperson for Citgo did not immediately provide a comment. The U.S. State Department said it recognized Guaido and coordinates with his administration "on the steps needed to move forward on a negotiated solution that leads to the restoration of democracy to Venezuela." Five of six opposition-party representatives told State Department officials on Tuesday they would not support Guaido or any other interim leader, the four sources said. read moreUnder U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, the United States recognized Guaido as rightful leader in January 2019, and dozens of other countries followed suit.

☆ Venezuela's largest refining complex halted after blackout -sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MARACAY, Venezuela, Oct 20 (Reuters) - A small fire at a vacuum tower and a power blackout halted Venezuela's 955,000-barrel-per-day Paraguana Refining Center early on Thursday, according to six sources close to operations. The blackout affected the entire complex, which ties together the Amuay and Cardon oil refineries, essential for supplying fuel for domestic use. "Everything is stopped, there's not even electricity in the offices," said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe fire, which began in a vacuum tower at Amuay, was controlled hours later, one of the sources said. State oil company PDVSA, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, was attempting to restore power in the refineries, which remained halted later in the morning.

☆ Venezuela objects to U.S. court's calendar to sell Citgo parent's shares
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CARACAS, Oct 12 (Reuters) - The Venezuelan government on Wednesday objected to what it called an "arbitrary decision" by a U.S. court that approved a calendar for auctioning shares in the parent of Houston-based refiner Citgo Petroleum, which is owned by Venezuela. Venezuela "categorically rejects this reckless decision," the government said in a statement on Wednesday. "All objections... are hereby overruled and denied on the merits with prejudice," Judge Stark ruled on the objections to the calendar, including Venezuela's. Venezuela said it will take action before international bodies and mechanisms to defend the asset, without providing details. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Deisy Buitrago; Written by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. judge approves sales process for shares in Citgo Petroleum's parent
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterDelaware District court judge Stark last year approved the sale of shares in PDV Holding, whose only asset is Citgo shares, to pay Canadian miner Crystallex $970 million. Citgo is the crown jewel of Venezuela's overseas assets, and has split from its Caracas-based ultimate parent, Venezuelan state-run oil firm PDVSA. Judge Stark's process sets a nine-month calendar after the official launch date before he reviews a high bid. The number of shares sold would only be enough to cover the Crystallex judgment and any others the court attaches to the case. Koch Minerals and Koch Nitrogen last week applied to the Delaware District Court to link their $387 million judgment.

REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin (RUSSIA)HOUSTON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - India maintains a "healthy dialogue" with Russia and will look at what is offered following an announced ownership revamp to the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Reuters. "We’ll look at what is the state of play and what’s on offer," Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Reuters in an interview on Monday following meetings with U.S. oil executives in Houston. On the proposed European Union price cap on Russian oil purchases, he suggested it is not yet firm. "At no stage have we ever been told not to buy Russian oil," he said, referring to talks with officials on global energy supplies. India is interested in the U.S companies' technical expertise in offshore production, ethanol and sulfur recovery in oil refineries, Puri added.

☆ Exxon Mobil in talks to buy oil & gas producer Denbury -Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Marianna Parraga | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 10 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) is considering a takeover of oil and gas producer Denbury Inc (DEN.N) and the talks are at a preliminary stage, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Denbury is expected to be fetch a significant premium if it proceeds with the sale, making it a potentially sizable transaction. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterDenbury has been exploring options and is working with an advisor on a potential sale, sources familiar with the matter have previously told Reuters. Other potential buyers could include oil majors such as Chevron Corp (CVX.N), the sources said. Exxon declined to comment and Denbury did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

Venezuela's oil ministry, PDVSA and Maroil did not reply to requests for comment. PETCOKE MOUNTAINSIn Jose, two heavy oil upgrading projects controlled by PDVSA, Petro San Felix and Petrocedeno, produce and store petroleum coke. SANCTION SCRAMBLEIndian firms this year have been big buyers of Venezuelan petcoke as the Asian nation looks for inexpensive fuel to power industries amid high coal prices. read moreShimsupa GmBH, a Germany-headquartered trading firm, has an exclusive arrangement with Maroil to sell Venezuelan petcoke in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the company said. Resellers of Venezuelan petcoke originally supplied by Maroil say the cargoes are free of penalties since, as opposed to PDVSA, Maroil has not been blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury Department.

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