Reuters Financial News

South Korea on Friday ordered an evacuation on Yeonpyeong, an island near its border with North Korea, a local official told Reuters. South Korea's military did not immediately respond to requests for more information. Earlier a newspaper reported that the South's military was due to resume live-fire drills there.

By Neil Jerome Morales and Mikhail Flores

oil refiners' green energy projects, four government and industry sources said, as the federal government seeks to curb its fiscal deficit. Asia's third largest economy, facing an over 40% shortfall in collecting revenues from stake sales in state-run companies, is prioritising spending to try to limit its fiscal deficit to 5.9% of GDP for this fiscal year to the end of March. State-run Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp aim to end net carbon emissions from their operations by 2040, and Indian Oil Corp has set a target for 2046. To help the companies reach the goals, 300 billion rupees ($3.61 billion) in equity support was announced in the budget for this fiscal year. But an industry and a government official said the funds will be provided in a staggered manner and the government will give 150-billion-rupee equity support in 2023/24. As the refiners' financial position is sound and they do not require 300 billion rupees for capex this year, the government has lowered the amount, one of the sources said. All the sources with direct knowledge of the matter spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have yet to be approved by the federal cabinet. India's oil ministry, the finance ministry and oil companies did not respond to Reuters' emails seeking comments. Two industry sources said BPCL and IOC will halve the size of their planned rights issues to 90 billion rupees and 110 billion rupees, respectively. The refiners do not need funds immediately for energy transition projects, and their capex will only increase significantly after two-to-three years, one of the two industry sources said. A second government source said Oil and Natural Gas Corp, the parent firm of HPCL, will enhance

India paid an average of $85.42 per barrel for Russian oil in November, the highest since the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies imposed a price cap of $60 per barrel to cut Moscow's revenue, preliminary government data shows. India paid 1.4% more for Russian oil in November compared to $84.20 per barrel in October, Reuters calculations based on government data show. The data also showed declining discounts for Russian oil narrowed the price gap with India's second largest oil supplier Iraq in November. India paid an average $85.73 per barrel for supplies from Iraq and $93.32/barrel for Saudi oil, the data showed. Since the imposition of the price cap in December 2022, India has mostly paid above the $60 ceiling for Russian oil that had still proved cheaper than the similar grades from elsewhere. June was an exception when prices were lower. Indian refiners buy Russian oil on delivered basis from from ports in Greece, South Korea and Spain, as well as directly from Russia. Sales from Russian ports at more than $60/barrel led to the U.S.

By Devayani Sathyan

By Luis Jaime Acosta and Oliver Griffin

The dead included nine children, an official told Reuters.

By Lucia Mutikani

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By Maria Martinez

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries and Walt Disney have appointed law firms and started antitrust due diligence of their planned Indian media and entertainment merger, four people familiar with the matter said. Reliance has appointed Indian law firm Khaitan & Co and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, while Disney has roped in AZB & Partners, the people said. The appointments are the latest sign of progress as Reliance and Disney, which each have a major streaming service as well as 120 television channels between them, look at merging into an entity to create an entertainment superpower in the world's most populous nation. Ambani's group is expected to have a majority stake in the entity. A fifth source said senior Disney executives from Burbank headquarters and top Reliance officials from Mumbai travelled to London in late December and signed a non-binding term sheet on the deal. Disney declined to comment and Reliance did not respond to Reuters queries.

Go First establishes company with former employees to liaison with lessors amid resolution process The appointments are the latest sign of progress as Reliance and Disney, which each have a major streaming service as well as 120 television channels between them, look at merging into an entity to create an entertainment superpower in the world's most populous nation. Ambani's group is expected to have a majority stake in the entity. A fifth source said senior Disney executives from Burbank headquarters and top Reliance officials from Mumbai travelled to London in late December and signed a non-binding term sheet on the deal.

Baker Hughes CEO Lorenzo Simonelli provides insight on the energy sector on The Claman Countdown.

By Lucia Mutikani

high-capacity satellite aims to meet the broadband communication needs of the country. "NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) to undertake its 2nd Demand Driven satellite mission “GSAT-20 [GSAT-N2] : Ka-band HTS satellite" during 2nd quarter of 2024…" read the press release issued by the NSIL on Tuesday. ALSO READ: ISRO launches X-ray polarimeter satellite to study black holes.

improvement in factory employment. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Wednesday that its manufacturing PMI increased to 47.4 last month after being unchanged at 46.7 for two straight months. It was the 14th consecutive month that the PMI stayed below 50, which indicates contraction in manufacturing. That is the longest such stretch since the period from August 2000 to January 2002.

Reuters, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) initiated contempt proceedings against Khan and other former leaders of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. The development came days after Khan's nomination for the February 8 general elections was rejected by the Pakistan's poll body.

Quicker and cheaper than its larger rival Bitcoin, Tron has overtaken its rival as a platform for crypto transfers associated with groups designated as terror organisations by the EU, Israel, the US and other countries, according to a Reuters analysis.

ChatGPT was well on its way to becoming a household name even before 2023 kicked off. Just weeks after the Nov. 30 launch of the generative artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot, OpenAI, the non-profit behind ChatGPT, was projected to rake in as much as $1 billion in revenue in 2024, sources told Reuters at the time.

By Kenneth Li

Hyundai plans to take a lead in electrification and focus on optimizing profitability by strengthening its global electric vehicle (EV) production infrastructure, establishing flexible business strategies to adapt to market changes, and reinforcing preemptive risk management capabilities," Hyundai said in a statement. In 2023, Hyundai Motor and Kia managed to market 7.3 million automobiles, falling approximately 3% short of their collective goal of 7.52 million. This shortfall was predominantly attributed to challenging economic conditions marked by escalating interest rates and inflation, factors that rendered certain vehicles financially inaccessible for a portion of potential buyers.