This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine
MOSCOW, Jan 4 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin sent a frigate to the Atlantic Ocean armed with new generation hypersonic cruise missiles on Wednesday, a signal to the West that Russia will not back down over the war in Ukraine.
Russia, China and the United States are in a race to develop hypersonic weapons which are seen as a way to gain an edge over any adversary because of their speeds – above five times the speed of sound – and manoeuvrability.
In a video conference with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Igor Krokhmal, commander of the frigate named “Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov”, Putin said the ship was armed with Zircon (Tsirkon) hypersonic weapons.
“This time the ship is equipped with the latest hypersonic missile system – ‘Zircon’,” said Putin. “I am sure that such powerful weapons will reliably protect Russia from potential external threats.”
The weapons, Putin said, had “no analogues in any country in the world”.
More than 10 months since Putin sent troops into Ukraine, there is no end in sight to the war which has descended into a grinding winter artillery battle that has killed and wounded tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides.
Russia has also used hypersonic Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles in Ukraine.
Along with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle which entered combat duty in 2019, the Zircon forms the centrepiece of Russia’s hypersonic arsenal.
Russia sees the weapons as a way to pierce increasingly sophisticated U.S. missile defences which Putin has warned could one day shoot down Russian nuclear missiles.
ATLANTIC VOYAGE
Shoigu said the Gorshkov would sail to the Atlantic and Indian oceans and to the Mediterranean Sea.
“This ship, armed with ‘Zircons’, is capable of delivering pinpoint and powerful strikes against the enemy at sea and on land,” Shoigu said.
Shoigu said the hypersonic missiles could overcome any missile defence system. The missiles fly at nine times the speed of sound and have a range of over 1,000 km, Shoigu said.
The main tasks of the voyage were to counter threats to Russia and to maintain “regional peace and stability jointly with friendly countries”, Shoigu said.
A U.S. Congressional Research Service report on hypersonic weapons says that Russian and Chinese hypersonic missiles are designed to be used with nuclear warheads.
The target of a hypersonic weapon is much more difficult to calculate than for intercontinental ballistic missiles because of their manoeuvrability.
Beyond Russia, the United States and China, a range of other countries are developing hypersonic weapons including Australia, France, Germany, South Korea, North Korea and Japan, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, +79856400243; editing by Philippa Fletcher
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No discussions about Russian price cap – delegates
Oil prices have come under pressure from weak economy
Next meetings to take place Feb. 1 and June 3-4
LONDON/DUBAI, Dec 4 (Reuters) – OPEC+ agreed to stick to its oil output targets at a meeting on Sunday as the oil markets struggle to assess the impact of a slowing Chinese economy on demand and a G7 price cap on Russian oil on supply.
The decision comes two days after the Group of Seven (G7) nations agreed a price cap on Russian oil.
OPEC+, which comprises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, angered the United States and other Western nations in October when it agreed to cut output by 2 million barrels per day (bpd), about 2% of world demand, from November until the end of 2023.
Washington accused the group and one of its leaders, Saudi Arabia, of siding with Russia despite Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
OPEC+ argued it had cut output because of a weaker economic outlook. Oil prices have declined since October due to slower Chinese and global growth and higher interest rates, prompting market speculation the group could cut output again.
But on Sunday the group of oil producers decided to keep the policy unchanged. Its key ministers will next meet on Feb. 1 for a monitoring committee while a full meeting is scheduled for June 3-4.
On Friday, G7 nations and Australia agreed a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil in a move to deprive President Vladimir Putin of revenue while keeping Russian oil flowing to global markets.
Moscow said it would not sell its oil under the cap and was analysing how to respond.
Many analysts and OPEC ministers have said the price cap is confusing and probably inefficient as Moscow has been selling most of its oil to countries like China and India, which have refused to condemn the war in Ukraine.
Neither an OPEC meeting on Saturday nor the OPEC+ meeting on Sunday discussed the Russian price cap, sources said.
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday Russia would rather cut production than supply oil under the price cap and said the cap may affect other producers.
Sources have told Reuters several OPEC+ members have expressed frustration at the cap saying the anti-market measure could ultimately be used by the West against any producer.
The United States said the measure was not aimed at OPEC.
JP Morgan said on Friday that OPEC+ could review production in the new year based on fresh data on Chinese demand trends and consumer compliance with price caps on Russia crude output and tanker flow.
Reporting by Maha el Dahan and Rowena Edwards, Editing by Kirsten Donovan
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Announces plans to buy further $4 billion in shares
Profit hit by weak LNG trading and refining
LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Shell (SHEL.L) on Thursday posted a third-quarter profit of $9.45 billion, slightly below the second quarter’s record high, due to weaker refining and gas trading, and said it will sharply boost its dividend by the end of 2022 when its CEO departs.
The British oil and gas giant also extended its share repurchasing programme, announcing plans to buy $4 billion of stock over the next three months after completing $6 billion in purchases in the second quarter.
Shell said it intends to increase its dividend by 15% in the fourth quarter, when Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden will step down after nine years at the helm. The dividend will be paid in March 2023.
It will be the fifth time that Shell will have raised its dividend since slashing it by more than 60% in the wake of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Shell shares were up nearly 6% by 1430 GMT, compared with a 3.5% gain for the broader European energy sector (.SXEP).
Van Beurden will be succeeded by Wael Sawan, the current head of Shell’s natural gas and low-carbon division.
With a profit of $30.5 billion so far this year, Shell is well on track to exceed its record annual profit of $31 billion in 2008.
The strong earnings were likely to intensify calls in Britain and the European Union to impose further windfall taxes on energy companies as governments struggle with soaring gas and power bills.
Van Beurden said the energy industry “should be prepared and accept” that it will face higher taxes to help struggling parts of society.
Shell’s shares have gained more than 40% so far this year, lifted by soaring oil and gas prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February and amid tightening global oil and gas supplies.
French rival TotalEnergies posted a record profit in the third quarter.
[1/2] A view shows a board with the logo of Shell at the company’s fuel station in Saint Petersburg, Russia May 6, 2022. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov/File Photo
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LNG WOES
Shell’s quarterly adjusted earnings of $9.45 billion, which slightly exceeded forecasts, were hit by a sharp 38% quarterly drop in the gas and renewables division, the company’s largest.
Earnings for the second quarter were a record $11.5 billion.
The world’s largest trader of liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced 7.2 million tonnes of LNG in the period, 5% less than in the previous quarter, mainly due to ongoing strikes at its Australian Prelude facility.
Its gas trading business was hit this quarter by “supply constraints, coupled with substantial differences between paper and physical realisations in a volatile and dislocated market.”
Earnings from the refining, chemicals and oil trading division also dropped sharply by 62% in the quarter due to weaker refining margins.
Shell said it would stick to its plans to spend $23 billion to $27 billion this year.
Shell’s cash flow in the third quarter dropped sharply to $12.5 billion from $18.6 billion in the second quarter due to a large working capital outflow of $4.2 billion as a result of changes in the value of European gas inventories.
Shell’s net debt rose by around $2 billion to $46.4 billion due to lower cash flow from operations and to pay for a recent acquisition. Its debt-to-capital ratio, known as gearing, also rose above 20%.
Reuters Graphics
Reporting by Ron Bousso and Shadia Nasralla; editing by Jason Neely, Simon Cameron-Moore and Paul Simao
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Shadia Nasralla
Thomson Reuters
Writes about the intersection of corporate oil and climate policy. Has reported on politics, economics, migration, nuclear diplomacy and business from Cairo, Vienna and elsewhere.
U.S. says more than one OPEC country coerced into cut
Iraq, Kuwait, other OPEC+ members stand by decision
Saudi defence minister says decision was purely economic
CAIRO Oct 16 (Reuters) – OPEC+ member states lined up on Sunday to endorse the steep production cut agreed this month after the White House, stepping up a war of words with Saudi Arabia, accused Riyadh of coercing some other nations into supporting the move.
The United States noted on Thursday that the cut would boost Russia’s foreign earnings and suggested it had been engineered for political reasons by Saudi Arabia, which on Sunday denied it was supporting Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine.
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz said the kingdom was working hard to support stability and balance in oil markets, including by establishing and maintaining the agreement of the OPEC+ alliance.
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The kingdom’s defence minister and King Salman’s son, Prince Khalid bin Salman, also said the Oct 5 decision to reduce output by 2 million barrels per day – taken despite oil markets being tight – was unanimous and based on economic factors.
His comments were backed by ministers of several OPEC+ member states including the United Arab Emirates.
The Gulf state’s energy minister Suhail al-Mazrouei wrote on Twitter: “I would like to clarify that the latest OPEC+ decision, which was unanimously approved, was a pure technical decision, with NO political intentions whatsoever.”
His comment followed a statement from Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO.
“There is complete consensus among OPEC+ countries that the best approach in dealing with the oil market conditions during the current period of uncertainty and lack of clarity is a pre-emptive approach that supports market stability and provides the guidance needed for the future,” SOMO said in a statement.
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation Chief Executive Officer Nawaf Saud al-Sabah also welcomed the decision by OPEC+ – which includes other major producers, notably Russia – and said the country was keen to maintain a balanced oil markets, state news agency KUNA reported.
Oman and Bahrain said in separate statements that OPEC had unanimously agreed on the reduction.
Algeria’s energy minister called the decision “historic” and he and OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais, visiting Algeria, expressed their full confidence in it, Algeria’s Ennahar TV reported.
Ghais later told a news conference that the organisation targeted a balance between supply and demand rather than a specific price.
Oil inventories in major economies are at lower levels than when OPEC has cut output in the past.
Some analysts have said recent volatility in crude markets could be remedied by a cut that would help attract investors to an underperforming market.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday that “more than one” OPEC member had felt coerced by Saudi Arabia into the vote, adding that the cut would also increase Russia’s revenues and blunt the effectiveness of sanctions imposed over its February invasion of Ukraine.
King Salman said in an address to the kingdom’s advisory Shura Council that the country was a mediator of peace and highlighted the crown prince’s initiative to release POWs from Russia last month, state news agency SPA reported.
Khalid bin Salman said on Sunday he was “astonished” by claims his country was “standing with Russia in its war with Ukraine.”
“It is telling that these false accusations did not come from the Ukrainian government,” he wrote on Twitter.
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Reporting by Moataz Mohamed, Yasmin Hussien, Maha El Dahan and Aziz El Yaakoubi; additional reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Ahmed Tolba; Editing by Louise Heavens, Will Dunham and Alexandra Hudson
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DUBAI, Oct 2 (Reuters) – OPEC+ will consider an oil output cut of more than a million barrels per day (bpd) next week, OPEC sources said on Sunday, in what would be the biggest move yet since the COVID-19 pandemic to address oil market weakness.
The meeting will take place on Oct. 5 against the backdrop of falling oil prices and months of severe market volatility which prompted top OPEC+ producer, Saudi Arabia, to say the group could cut production.
OPEC+, which combines OPEC countries and allies such as Russia, has refused to raise output to lower oil prices despite pressure from major consumers, including the United States, to help the global economy.
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Prices have nevertheless fallen sharply in the last month due to fears about the global economy and a rally in the U.S. dollar after the Federal Reserves raised rates.
A significant production cut is poised to anger the United States, which has been putting pressure on Saudi Arabia to continue pumping more to help oil prices soften further and reduce revenues for Russia as the West seeks to punish Moscow for sending troops to Ukraine.
The West accuses Russia of invading Ukraine, but the Kremlin calls it a special military operation.
Saudi Arabia has not condemned Moscow’s actions amid difficult relations with the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.
Last week, a source familiar with the Russian thinking said Moscow would like to see OPEC+ cutting 1 million bpd or one percent of global supply.
That would be the biggest cut since 2020 when OPEC+ reduced output by a record 10 million bpd as demand crashed due to the COVID pandemic. The group spent the next two years unwinding those record cuts.
On Sunday, the sources said the cut could exceed 1 million bpd. One of the sources suggested cuts could also include a voluntary additional reduction of production by Saudi Arabia.
OPEC+ will meet in person in Vienna for the first time since March 2020.
Analysts and OPEC watchers such as UBS and JP Morgan have suggested in recent days a cut of around 1 million bpd was on the cards and could help arrest the price decline.
“$90 oil is non-negotiable for the OPEC+ leadership, hence they will act to safeguard this price floor,” said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM.
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Reporting by Maha El Dahan, Olesya Astakhova and Alex Lawler; Editing by Gareth Jones, Jan Harvey and Raissa Kasolowsky
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LONDON/KISUMU, Kenya, July 13 (Reuters) – After decades of work, the World Health Organization endorsed the first-ever malaria vaccine last year – a historic milestone that promised to drive back a disease that kills a child every minute.
In reality, efforts are falling well short of that, with a lack of funding and commercial potential thwarting GSK Plc’s capacity to produce as many doses of its shot as needed, according to Reuters interviews with about a dozen WHO officials, GSK staff, scientists and non-profit groups.
The British drugmaker committed to produce up to 15 million doses every year through 2028, following 2019 pilot programs – considerably less than the WHO says is needed. It is currently unlikely to make more than a few million annually before 2026, according to a source close to the vaccine rollout.
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A GSK spokesperson told Reuters that it could not make enough of its vaccine Mosquirix to meet the vast demand without more funds from international donors, without giving details on the numbers of doses it expected to produce annually in the first years of the roll-out.
“Demand over the next five to 10 years will probably outstrip the current forecasts on supply,” said Thomas Breuer, GSK’s chief global health officer.
The vaccine’s effectiveness at preventing severe cases of malaria in children is relatively low, at around 30% in a large-scale clinical trial. Some officials and donors are hoping that a second shot being tested by Oxford University may prove better, cheaper and easier to produce in bulk.
Yet the world’s inability to fund more Mosquirix shots dismays many in Africa. Children on the continent account for the vast majority of the roughly 600,000 global malaria deaths every year.
“Mosquirix has the potential to save a lot of precious lives before another new vaccine arrives,” said Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, a public health specialist leading a pilot vaccination program in Ghana. “The more we wait, the more children die needlessly.”
Rebecca Adhiambo Kwanya in the Kenyan city of Kisumu needs no convincing: her four-year-old child Betrun has suffered numerous malaria bouts since birth, yet her 18-month-old Bradley – vaccinated in the pilot program – hasn’t caught it.
“My elder one was not vaccinated and he was sick on and off,” she said. “But the smaller one, he got the vaccine and he was not even sick.”
The limited international appetite to produce and distribute more Mosquirix stands in stark contrast to the record speed and funds with which wealthy countries secured vaccines for COVID-19, a disease that poses relatively little risk to children.
Unlike many pharmaceutical products, there is no major market for a malaria vaccine in the developed world, where drug companies typically make the large profits that they say allows them to make their products available at far lower prices in poorer countries.
“This is a disease of the poor, so it’s not been that appealing in terms of the market,” said Corine Karema, chief executive of the nonprofit RBM Partnership to End Malaria, which is working with governments in Africa to eliminate the disease.
“But one kid dies of malaria every minute – that’s unacceptable.”
EXTRA DATA, ADDED YEARS
In the coming weeks, global health organizations will announce the next steps to make Mosquirix widely available, including the first procurement deal and the WHO’s recommended allocation to prioritize roughly 10 million children at highest risk, the source familiar with the rollout plans said.
Long-term, WHO officials say roughly 100 million doses a year of the four-dose vaccine will be needed, which would cover around 25 million children. When the U.N. agency backed Mosquirix last October, it said that even a smaller supply could save 40,000 to 80,000 lives each year, without specifying the number of doses required. read more
GSK’s maximum target of 15 million doses could prevent up to about 20,000 deaths each year, according to a Reuters review of the malaria vaccine models used by WHO.
Yet even hitting 15 million could take years, according to several officials at the WHO and elsewhere in the malaria effort who said wider distribution beyond the pilot countries was unlikely before early 2024, and even then it would start slowly.
GSK also has to upgrade its manufacturing capacity to reach its target. It said it had set up a funding deal with international vaccine alliance Gavi to help stockpile a key ingredient of the shot to ensure there was no gap in supply during that process.
“We are on course to complete the agreed stockpiling volume,” said a spokesperson.
The drugmaker has invested 700 million pounds ($840 million)in the vaccine’s development and says it won’t charge more than 5% above the cost to produce it.
“No company wants to be in a situation where you build manufacturing which oversupplies the market and vaccines will not be used,” said Breuer said, referring to a future split in demand between Mosquirix and the Oxford vaccine, if approved.
After 2028, India’s Bharat Biotech will take over production of Mosquirix’s key ingredient.
GSK’s Breuer expects the deal with Bharat to accelerate production. The British drugmaker will continue to produce the adjuvant – immune-boosting portion – of the vaccine, and recently committed to doubling production to 30 million doses annually, without offering a timeline.
Bharat Biotech, which has yet to outline its manufacturing plans, did not respond to requests for comment.
A nurse administers the malaria vaccine to an infant at the Lumumba Sub-County hospital in Kisumu, Kenya, July 1, 2022. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
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LOSING SOMEONE TO MALARIA
GSK has donated 10 million doses to pilot programs in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, and less than half have been shipped so far. The countries plan to expand campaigns this year and next using a mix of the remaining donations and purchased shots.
GSK said a WHO decision to collect additional data on safety and effectiveness from the pilot programs had added years to the launch process, during which it had to idle a dedicated production facility.
The WHO said safety questions had to be addressed before approval, and that it was working urgently to boost supply.
Mary Hamel, the agency’s malaria vaccine implementation head, told Reuters that COVID vaccines had shown how quickly things could move with the political will and funding – which she said malaria had never had.
Mosquirix has been in development since the 1980s, in part because of the complexity of targeting the malaria parasite.
Its regulatory pathway has also been slow. In 2015, GSK published results from a large-scale clinical trial showing vaccine reduced the risk of severe malaria by about 30%. The WHO sought more data on the shot’s safety and effectiveness, gathering information from 2019 during the pilot vaccination programs, before endorsing Mosquirix.
In the past, such real-world data on a vaccine has often been tracked after it has been authorized for use.
“Would we have done it in the West? I don’t know,” said WHO’s Hamel, who was not involved in the decision, referring to holding up the deployment of shots to collect extra data.
BIG DONOR: NO SILVER BULLET
Now recommended for use, it is not clear how the shot’s distribution will be financed long-term. Funding for malaria totaled $3.3 billion in 2020, less than half of the estimated need, the WHO said, for tools such as treatments, bed nets and insecticides.
Adding malaria vaccines could cost between $325 million and more than $600 million annually, depending on how widely they are used, according to a study by global health researchers published in the Lancet journal in 2019. The WHO estimates that the GSK vaccine will cost around $5 per dose.
Two of the biggest funders behind the development and pilot programs for Mosquirix, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, told Reuters they were committing almost no additional financing to deploy the vaccine.
“It’s not a silver bullet, and it’s relatively expensive compared to other interventions used for malaria,” said Peter Sands, head of the Global Fund. “The fundamental issue with malaria isn’t actually about tools. It’s about the fact that we spend far too little money on it.”
The Gates Foundation said it would continue to back research into how to best use the “historic” vaccine, but “concerns about the relatively low efficacy, short duration, and constrained supply challenges” meant it would not fund deployment.
Gavi is currently the only significant source of funding for a wider Mosquirix rollout. It has approved about $155 million for 2022 through 2025, alongside some funding from the countries themselves. Internal documents seen by Reuters suggest Gavi’s investment in the first year is only expected to be $20 million.
A source familiar with the plans said the group hoped that getting the vaccine rolled out, and countries showing demand, would make the case for more investment.
OXFORD SHOT IN THE WORKS
Several global health officials said future funding from donors might be better committed to a new shot from the scientists at Oxford University who developed AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine.
Data from small trials showed 77% efficacy over a 12-month period, if given to babies shortly before the peak malaria season. Results from a much larger clinical trial are expected in the coming weeks. Some researchers suggest the GSK vaccine, too, may show higher effectiveness if given seasonally.
Oxford scientist Adrian Hill told Reuters his team aims to secure a WHO recommendation for their malaria shot within a year of submitting data to the agency.
The Serum Institute of India, which will manufacture the vaccine, told Reuters it expects to be able to make up to 200 million doses annually by the end of 2024.
In the years ahead, there are also hopes for a shot being developed by BioNTech (22UAy.DE), using the same mRNA technology as their successful COVID vaccine made with Pfizer . BioNTech aims to begin human trials by the end of 2022.
But in the years before either of those shots might be used, there will not be enough vaccines even for those 10 million children the WHO says are most at risk.
“We should have had this vaccine a long time ago,” said Alassane Dicko, professor of public health at the University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako in Mali, who has led some of the Mosquirix trials.
“We have to do more.”
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Reporting by Jennifer Rigby and Natalie Grover in London, and Maggie Fick in Nairobi; Additional reporting by Baz Ratner in Kisumu, Kenya; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Pravin Char
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LAGOS, June 5 (Reuters) – Gunmen attacked a Catholic church in southwest Nigeria during mass on Sunday, killing at least 50 people including women and children, according to a hospital doctor and media reports.
The gunmen shot at people outside and inside the church building, killing and injuries worshippers, said Funmilayo Ibukun Odunlami, police spokesperson for Ondo state.
She did not say how many people were killed or injured at St Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo but added police were investigating the cause of the attack.
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Ondo state Governor Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, who visited the scene of the attack and injured persons in hospital, described Sunday’s incident as “a great massacre” that should not be allowed to happen again.
The identity and motive of the attackers was not immediately clear.
“It is so sad that while the Holy Mass was going on, unknown gunmen attacked St Francis Catholic Church…leaving many feared dead and many others injured and the Church violated,” said Catholic Church spokesman in Nigeria, Reverend Augustine Ikwu.
Ikwu said the bishop and priests from the parish had survived the attack unharmed.
A doctor at a hospital in Owo told Reuters that at least 50 bodies had been brought into two hospitals in the town from the attack. The doctor, who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the press, also said there was a need for blood donations to treat the injured.
President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the attack, calling it “heinous”, and the Vatican said Pope Francis was praying for the victims who had been “painfully stricken in a moment of celebration”.
Nigeria is battling an Islamist insurgency in the northeast and armed gangs who carry out attacks and kidnappings for ransom, mostly in the northwest.
In the southwest, attacks such as this are rare.
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Reporting by Fikayo Owoeye in Lagos, MacDonald Dzirutwe, Camillus Eboh and Felix Onuah in Abuja; Editing by Catherine Evans, David Holmes and Lisa Shumaker
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A man stands at the scene of explosion in which over 100 people lost their lives, at an illegal crude oil bunkering site at Abaezi forest, in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo state, Nigeria April 24, 2022. REUTERS/Tife Owolabi
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Bunkering site was on border of Rivers and Imo states
Illegal refining in Niger Delta fuelled by poverty
Blast follows recent crackdown by Rivers state governor
YENAGAO, Nigeria, April 24 (Reuters) – Charred bodies were left scattered among burnt palms, cars and vans on Sunday after a weekend explosion which killed more than 100 people at an illegal oil refining depot on the border of Nigeria’s Rivers and Imo states.
Flip flops, bags and clothing belonging to those who died littered the ground, which was blackened by oil and soot while still emitting smoke in some places despite overnight rain.
“There are so many people that died here. I’m pleading to the government to look into this,” Uche Woke, a commercial bike rider, told Reuters at the scene of the blast on Saturday night.
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The Nigerian Red Cross Society was on the scene on Sunday to assess the blast, which destroyed a section of the Abaezi forest, which straddles the border of the Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo state with Rivers state.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement that he would intensify the clampdown on illegal refineries after what he described as a “catastrophe” and “national disaster”.
Unemployment and poverty in the oil producing Niger Delta have made illegal refining attractive, but with often deadly consequences. Crude oil is tapped from a web of pipelines owned by major oil companies and refined in makeshift tanks.
The process has led to fatal accidents and polluted a region already blighted by oil spills in farmland, creeks and lagoons.
The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre said several vehicles that were in a queue to buy illegal fuel were burnt.
“The fire outbreak occurred at an illegal bunkering site and it affected over 100 people,” Goodluck Opiah, the state commissioner for petroleum resources, said of the accident.
The border location is a reaction to a recent crackdown in Rivers on illegal refining in an effort to reduce worsening air pollution. read more
“In the last month or two, there were several raids and some security agents involved were tackled,” Ledum Mitee, former president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), said.
At least 25 people, including some children, were killed in an explosion and fire at another illegal refinery in Rivers state in October. read more
In February, local authorities said they had started a crackdown on the refining of stolen crude, but with little apparent success. read more
Government officials estimate that Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer and exporter, loses an average of 200,000 barrels of oil per day, more than 10% of production, to illegal tapping or vandalising of pipelines.
That has forced oil firms to regularly declare force majeure on oil and gas exports.
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Additional reporting by Felix Onuah in Abuja and Julia Payne in Lagos, Writing by Julia Payne and MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Ros Russell and Alexander Smith
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Men wearing face masks walk past a sign of China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) outside its headquarters in Beijing, China March 8, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
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CNOOC preparing to exit Britain, Canada, U.S. -sources
Beijing concerned over growing tension with West
Production in three countries reached 220,000 boed last year
Decision follows CNOOC’s delisting on New York Stock Exchange
LONDON/SINGAPORE, April 13 (Reuters) – China’s top offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC Ltd. (0883.HK) is preparing to exit its operations in Britain, Canada and the United States, because of concerns in Beijing the assets could become subject to Western sanctions, industry sources said.
Ties between China and the West have long been strained by trade and human rights issues and the tension has grown following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which China has refused to condemn.
The United States said last week China could face consequences if it helped Russia to evade Western sanctions that have included financial measures that restrict Russia’s access to foreign currency and make it complicated to process international payments. read more
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CNOOC did not immediately comment.
Companies periodically carry out reviews of their portfolios, but the exit being prepared would take place less than a decade after state-owned CNOOC entered the three countries via a $15 billion acquisition of Canada’s Nexen, a deal that transformed the Chinese champion into a leading global producer.
The assets, which include stakes in major fields in the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and large Canadian oil sand projects, produce around 220,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), Reuters calculations found.
Last month, Reuters reported CNOOC had hired Bank of America to prepare for the sale of its North Sea assets, which include a stake in one of the basin’s largest fields. read more
CNOOC has launched a global portfolio review ahead of its planned public listing in the Shanghai stock exchange later this month that is aimed primarily at tapping alternative funding following the delisting of its U.S. shares last October, the sources said. read more
The delisting was part of a move by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in 2020 that targeted several Chinese companies Washington said were owned or controlled by the Chinese military. China condemned the move.
CNOOC is also taking advantage of a rally in oil and gas prices, driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, and hopes to attract buyers as Western countries seek to develop domestic production to substitute Russian energy.
As it seeks to leave the West, CNOOC is looking to acquire new assets in Latin America and Africa, and also wants to prioritise the development of large, new prospects in Brazil, Guyana and Uganda, the sources said.
‘A PAIN’
CNOOC is seeking to sell “marginal and hard to manage” assets in Britain, Canada and the United States, a senior industry source told Reuters.
All the sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The industry source said last month that CNOOC’s top management, including chairman Wang Dongjin, found managing the former Nexen assets was “uncomfortable” because of red tape and high operating costs compared with developing nations.
CNOOC has faced hurdles operating in the United States in particular, such as security clearances required by Washington for its Chinese executives to enter the country, the source added.
“Assets like Gulf of Mexico deepwater are technologically challenging and CNOOC really needed to work with partners to learn, but company executives were not even allowed to visit the U.S. offices. It had been a pain all along these years and the Trump administration’s blacklisting of CNOOC made it worse,” said the source.
In its prospectus ahead of the initial public offering, CNOOC said it could face additional sanctions.
“We cannot predict if the company or its affiliates and partners will be affected by U.S. sanctions in future, if policies change,” CNOOC said.
In the United States, CNOOC owns assets in the onshore Eagle Ford and Rockies shale basins as well as stakes in two large offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico, Appomattox and Stampede.
Its main Canadian assets oil sands projects are Long Lake and Hangingstone in Alberta Province.
Reuters Graphics
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Reporting by Ron Bousso and Chen Aizhu; editing by Barbara Lewis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Chevron Corp’s refinery is shown in Richmond, California August 7, 2012. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith
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March 20 (Reuters) – Chevron Corp began turning over some operations at a California oil refinery to replacement workers on Sunday ahead of a United Steelworkers strike set to begin shortly after 12 a.m. PDT on Monday.
A union official said it had notified Chevron of its intent to begin a strike at the plant outside of San Francisco after negotiations failed to reach agreement on a new labor contract.
The existing contract at the Richmond, California, refinery expired Feb. 1. Both sides had agreed to a rolling extension that was not renewed by the union after workers rejected the latest offer.
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The 245,000 barrel-per-day plant is the second-largest refinery in the state, employs more than 500 union-represented workers and produces gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel.
“It’s disappointing that Chevron would walk away from the table instead of bargaining in good faith,” said Mike Smith, chair of the USW’s National Oil Bargaining Program.
Chevron is committed to continuing to negotiate toward an agreement, a spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday.
The San Ramon, California-based company was “prepared to continue normal operations safely and reliably to provide the energy products that are needed by consumers,” the spokesperson added.
California has some of the highest fuel prices in the nation with a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline on Sunday selling for $5.847 and a gallon of diesel for $6.258, according to motorist group AAA.
A Chevron turnover team began taking control of refinery operations manned by union workers on Sunday afternoon ahead of the strike deadline, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The USW and U.S. refiners last month reached a national agreement that provides a 12% pay raise over four years to the union’s about 30,000 members at oil and chemical companies. Each local union separately negotiates a contract covering plant-specific issues, and Richmond workers have twice voted down Chevron proposals. read more
On Saturday, the union had advised machinists to go to the refinery and remove their personal tools before the contract extension expires.
Union members have twice voted to reject contract proposals put forward by Chevron. The last vote, completed on Saturday, was overwhelmingly against what was called the company’s last, best and final offer, according to messages posted on-line by USW Local 12-5.
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Reporting by Gary McWilliams, additional reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Will Dunham and Diane Craft
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
