Venezuela's PDVSA to produce, refine and export crude previously handled by Chevron, document says
The Venezuelan firm plans to produce between 105,000 and 138,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Hamaca heavy crude, with a portion of the output sent to domestic refineries and another exported to other markets than the U.S., the document says.
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Reuters
27 minutes ago
- Reuters
European shares fall as tech selloff casts gloom over markets
SINGAPORE, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Global share markets came under pressure on Wednesday after a tech-led selloff on Wall Street, while the dollar gained some ground ahead of a key meeting of central bankers later in the week. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX), opens new tab fell 0.26%, with German shares (.GDAXI), opens new tab sliding 0.7%. In Britain, the FTSE 100 (.FTSE), opens new tab eased 0.11%, after data on Wednesday showed nationwide inflation hit its highest in 18 months in July. The move lower in European markets mirrored a dim day for their Asian counterparts earlier in the day, with tech-heavy indexes in Taiwan (.TWII), opens new tab and South Korea (.KS11), opens new tab among the biggest losers. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab lost 0.74%. While there was no immediate trigger behind the selloff in technology stocks, analysts pointed to a confluence of factors, including President Donald Trump's growing influence over the sector and a general risk-off mood. "What we're seeing is a relatively broad momentum unwind, probably triggered by some de-risking ahead of Powell's remarks at Jackson Hole on Friday," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is looking into the government taking equity stakes in Intel (INTC.O), opens new tab as well as other chip companies in exchange for grants under the CHIPS Act that was meant to spur factory-building around the country, sources told Reuters. The move comes on the back of other unusual deals Washington has recently struck with U.S. companies, including allowing AI chip giant Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab to sell its H20 chips to China in exchange for the U.S. government receiving 15% of the revenue from those sales. "These developments signal that the U.S. government is heading in a concerning and more interventionist direction," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG. In commodities, oil prices trimmed losses from the previous session, as investors awaited the next steps in talks to end Russia's war on Ukraine, with uncertainty over whether oil sanctions might be eased or tightened. While a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a group of European allies over the Russia-Ukraine war concluded without much fanfare, Trump said the United States would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there. He later said on Tuesday that the United States might provide air support to Ukraine, while ruling out putting U.S. troops on the ground. "The U.S. is not categorically underwriting anything, any security for Ukraine, even if they're open to provide some, because we don't know the conditions under which they will. So there's quite a bit of risk left out there," said Vishnu Varathan, head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho. Brent crude futures were last up 0.8% at $66.32 a barrel, while U.S. crude tacked on 0.72% to $62.80 per barrel. All eyes are now on the Kansas City Federal Reserve's August 21-23 Jackson Hole symposium, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak on the economic outlook and the central bank's policy framework on Friday. Focus will be on what Powell says about the near-term outlook for rates, with traders almost fully pricing in a rate cut next month. "Given the apparent tensions between U.S. CPI and PPI data, (it) does come across as ... premature to declare one way or the other. And most importantly, given this kind of dilemma embedded within the data, it is hard to decipher whether the Fed would take or would emphasise the risks that start to mount on the job side of the equation or (the) need to sit firm," said Mizuho's Varathan. Ahead of the gathering, the dollar firmed slightly, pushing the euro down 0.06% to $1.1639. Sterling rose a touch after the release of the UK inflation data and was last little changed at $1.3494. The New Zealand dollar tumbled more than 1% after its central bank cut rates as expected and flagged further reductions in coming months as policymakers warned of domestic and global headwinds to growth. The kiwi last bought $0.5829. Elsewhere, spot gold rose 0.29% to $3,324.89 an ounce.
Reuters
27 minutes ago
- Reuters
China private equity secondary deals to surge on rising supply, cheaper valuations
HONG KONG, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Secondary trades of private equity assets in China are poised to accelerate after a robust first half, with Canada's No.2 pension manager and a China-focused buyout fund among those looking to divest such assets worth potentially billions of dollars, sources said. A private equity (PE) secondary trade refers to the buying and selling of PE fund portfolios or their direct shareholdings in private companies, allowing investors to exit their positions outside the typical investment cycle. The steep discounts being offered by the selling funds are expected to attract buyers who have confidence in China's longer-term economic prospects, industry sources said. Many of the selling funds have to repay their own investors and are struggling to find trade buyers or float the assets on public markets due to economic headwinds and geopolitical risks. Canada's Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), for example, which stopped making PE investments in China two years ago, is considering selling about $2 billion worth of assets via secondary trades, most of which are from China, said two people. China-focused buyout fund CDH Investments is also aiming to raise a multi-asset continuation vehicle to allow some investors to cash out from its existing fund's portfolio, they said. A continuation fund is a new investment vehicle created by a PE firm to transfer holdings of some existing investments, which allows investors to maintain or exit their stakes in the assets. CDPQ declined to comment. A CDH spokesperson did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The people, who are familiar with the matter, did not wish to be identified as the talks are confidential. A total of 731 secondary trades involving yuan-denominated funds were completed in the first half of 2025, hitting a record 77.3 billion yuan ($11 billion) and logging an 89% year-on-year growth, according to Chinese data provider ZERONE. Data for secondary trades involving U.S. dollar-denominated assets in China is not publicly available, industry sources said. It is a good time for investors who have a long-term view on China to buy quality assets on the cheap with reduced regulatory risks, global alternative asset investor LGT Capital Partners said in an industry insight white paper published in July. "We expect the majority of capital we are going to deploy in China in the short to medium term to be via secondaries," Doug Coulter, LGT's Hong Kong-based partner and head of Asia Pacific private equity, told Reuters. LGT announced in June that it was the co-lead investor in continuation vehicles worth a total of $500 million for a portfolio of 13 assets managed by China-focused venture capital fund IDG Capital. LGT declined to disclose the discounts the assets were traded at. Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC ( also invested in IDG's continuation vehicles, primarily buying shares of social media company Bytedance, said the two people. GIC declined to comment. IDG did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Globally, secondary market deals have also hit record volumes, reaching $103 billion in the first half, according to a report by investment bank Jefferies, as the lack of capital distribution from IPOs and M&A deals fuels supply. Quality China assets are being sold in the secondary market at 40%-50% discounts to net asset value (NAV), said Coulter. That compares with the roughly 10% to 20% discounts to NAV for U.S. assets in the secondary market, industry sources said. The improved market sentiment in China should be conducive to PE secondary deals, industry sources said. China's onshore benchmark CSI 300 (.CSI300), opens new tab is up 7% so far this year, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (.HSI), opens new tab is up 25%. "We believe the sentiment of investors about China has generally improved," said Mingchen Xia, managing director and co-head of Asia investments at investment management and advisory firm Hamilton Lane. He said that "the softened geopolitical tensions and largely settled tariff negotiations" by some major economies should give some comfort to investors.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Oil firms while investors await next steps in Ukraine peace talks
SINGAPORE, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Oil prices edged up on Wednesday as investors awaited the next steps in talks to end the war in Ukraine, with sanctions on Russian crude remaining in place for now and the potential for further restrictions on buyers of its exports still looming. Brent crude futures rose 50 cents to $66.29 a barrel by 0630 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for September delivery, set to expire on Wednesday, were at $62.80 a barrel, up 45 cents. The more active October contract was at $62.30 a barrel, up 53 cents. Prices settled down more than 1% on Tuesday on optimism that a deal to end the war seemed closer, which would likely lead to an easing of sanctions on Russia and an increase in global supply. However, despite comments from U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday that the U.S. might provide air support as part of security guarantees for Ukraine, he also conceded that Russian President Vladimir Putin might not want to make a deal. "Crude markets are in limbo ... continued protracted peace talks will keep the market on its toes," said Emril Jamil, a senior analyst at LSEG. Trump said on Monday he was arranging a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to be followed by a trilateral summit among the three presidents. Russia has not confirmed it will take part in talks with Zelenskiy. "The likelihood of a quick resolution to the conflict with Russia now seems unlikely," said Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ, in a note on Wednesday. In the U.S., BP (BP.L), opens new tab said on Tuesday operations at its 440,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Whiting, Indiana, were affected by flooding caused by a severe thunderstorm overnight, potentially weighing on the facility's crude demand. The site is a key fuel producer for the Midwest market. Prices also found some support as an industry inventory report indicated steady crude and fuel demand in the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer. U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 2.42 million barrels in the week ended August 15, market sources said on Tuesday, citing American Petroleum Institute figures. Gasoline inventories fell by 956,000 barrels, while distillate inventories rose by 535,000 barrels from last week, the sources said.
