NEW YORK (Reuters) – Hedge funds and money managers raised bullish wagers on U.S. crude oil in the latest week, data showed on Friday, as prices rose with the risk of global supply disruptions remaining high.

The speculator group raise its combined futures and options position in New York and London by 31,273 contracts to 472,907 in the week to April 17, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said.

During the period, oil prices rose about 1.5 percent.

Oil markets have been supported by the sentiment that there are high risks of supply disruptions, including

However, Brent crude speculators cut net long positions by 12,572 contracts to 619,882 in week to April 17. Last week, the group hiked bullish bets to the highest on record.

Oil markets were tense about the possibility of Western military action in Syria heading into the weekend but prices weakened amid a lack of escalation following intervention by the United States, France and the UK.

Oil prices had risen nearly 10 percent in the run-up to the strikes, as investors bulked up on assets such as gold or U.S. Treasuries, which can shield against geopolitical risks.

In the United States, inventories have fallen as fuel demand has firmed and imports dropped. Crude stockpiles fell 1.1 million barrels in the week to April 13, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, compared with analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 1.4 million barrels.

Among refined products, bullish bets on U.S. gasoline climbed to the highest in more than two months. Net long positions rose by 9,269 lots to 97,978 lots.

Gasoline demand has jumped to levels seen during peak driving season in the summer, data showed.

In distillates, bullish bets on ultra low sulfur diesel also rose to a more than two-month high. Distillate stockpiles decreased 3.1 million barrels, versus expectations for a 268,000-barrel draw, the EIA data showed this week, putting overall inventories of these products, which include diesel, heating oil and jet fuel, at levels not seen seasonally since 2014.

ing conflicts in the Middle East, renewed U.S. sanctions against Iran and falling output as a result of political and economic crisis in Venezuela.

Gazprom PJSC is considering testing the mar- ket’s appetite for its debt this year by issuing Eurobonds through a Russian or UK unit said a person familiar with the company’s plans. The Russian gas producer is working to set up a UK unit because a legal spat with JSC Naf- togaz Ukrainy makes it difficult to use its existing Luxembourg- based financial arms, the person said, asking not to be named because the plans aren’t public. Earlier this month, a court in Luxembourg confirmed the Ukrainian company’s right to demand a freeze of Gazprom’s local assets and debt. The energy giant may use the British unit by the end of the year for a small Eurobond issue, the person said. Since Decem- ber 2018, securities legislation also allows Russian corporate issuers to make direct placements of Eurobonds compliant with foreign regulations, without needing to use a special purpose vehicle, or SPV, based overseas. Gazprom does not need external financing, so any bond issue would be mainly aimed at gauging investors’ enthusiasm for the assets, the person said. Gazprom’s spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov declined to comment. Gazprom issued $1.25bn of Eurobonds in February, in what became the biggest single-tranche dollar transaction for the company since 2009. Investors initially bid more than $5.5bn amid positive sentiment for emerging- market bonds. Investors will have an appetite for Gazprom’s new debt as long as the issuer is located in a safe jurisdiction, Lutz Roeh- Meyer, chief investment officer at Berlin-based Capitulum Asset Management GmbH, said by e-mail. “Which SPV is doing it, is unimportant,” he said, adding that he views both the UK and Luxembourg as safe. Gazprom has said it has enough liquidity as it aims to complete three major gas pipeline projects this year – Nord Stream 2 to Europe, TurkStream to Turkey and Power of Siberia to China. Last week, it raised a further $2.2bn when its subsidiaries sold quasi-treasury shares equivalent to 2.9% of the company to an unidentified buyer. Gazprom’s legal battle with Ukraine is over multibillion-dollar gas transit debt payments. The Russian company has been trying to fence off Naftogaz’s attempts to arrest its assets across Europe with mixed success.

Turkish Airlines is interested in HNA Group Co.’s minority stake in Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. as it seeks growth in the Asia-Pacific region, according to people familiar with the matter.

Turkey’s national flag-carrier is among companies looking at HNA’s 20% stake in the Australian airline, said the people, asking not to be named because the discussions are private. Deliberations are preliminary and may not result in a deal, the people said.

Reports that it will acquire HNA’s 20% stake in Virgin Australia “do not reflect the truth,” Turkish Airlines said in a statement Thursday. “We share our objectives of developing our business partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region with our stakeholders.” A representative for HNA Group declined to comment.

The troubled Chinese conglomerate was open to offers for its stake in Virgin Australia as part of efforts to cut debt, Bloomberg reported in August last year. Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Nanshan Capital, which each control about a fifth of Virgin’s shares, were among the companies weighing a bid, people familiar with the matter said at the time.

Shares Decline

Virgin Australia closed 3% lower at 16 Australian cents in Sydney, valuing the airline at A$1.35 billion ($925 million). Turkish Airlines fell as much as 2% and traded 0.9% lower at 12.35 liras as of 11:58 a.m. in Istanbul.

HNA has about dozen airlines in its portfolio including Hainan Airlines Holding Co. Ltd., Hong Kong Airlines Ltd., Lucky Air Co. Ltd. and Tianjin Airlines.

The Chinese firm is selling assets after racking up one of the nation’s biggest corporate debt loads in a global acquisition spree. It also considered selling its majority stake in oil-storage and logistics business HG Storage International Ltd. as well as container-leasing unit Seaco, tech-outsourcing arm Pactera Technology International Ltd. and aircraft-maintenance firm SR Technics, Bloomberg News has reported.

Turkish Airlines has been evaluating investments in other carriers in a departure from concentrating on growth at its huge Istanbul hub as it looks to safeguard expansion as Mideast and European economies falter and a rise in protectionism weighs on global cargo flows. The company has a longstanding holiday venture, SunExpress, with Deutsche Lufthansa AG, and set up a joint venture in Albania last year.

The airline plans to boost its fleet to 474 planes by 2023 including 25 Boeing 787-9s, according to its website. It took delivery of the first Dreamliner in June as part of a deal for 40 of the jets.

In another development, Turkish Air on Thursday announced a so-called code-share partnership with Bangkok Airways PCL. The deal will allow Turkish to sell tickets on Bangkok Air flights as if they were its own, opening up more destinations in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia.

Paris: EU members have so far been unable to reach a consensus on a candidate to succeed Christine Lagarde as head of the International Monetary Fund and may yet need a vote to break the deadlock, officials said Thursday.

EU states had given themselves a deadline of the end of July to find a candidate to head the Washington-based global lender, which by tradition — but not rule — is led by a European.

But reflecting tensions all too familiar in Brussels, the process to replace Lagarde, who is to become head of the European Central Bank, has been mired in disputes between northern and southern EU member states.

“At this stage, although some candidates´ names gather more support than others, there is not yet a full consensus around one name,” said an official from France´s finance ministry, asking not to be identified by name.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who is leading the talks on finding a European candidate, has spoken to “all his colleagues” over the last few days and in particular his German counterpart Olaf Scholz.

Sources say that five candidates are currently in contention — from southern Europe Spain´s Finance Minister Nadia Calvino and her Portuguese counterpart Mario Centeno, and from northern Europe, former Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem and Bank of Finland chief Olli Rehn.

The fifth candidate — from central Europe and a possible compromise figure — is Kristalina Georgieva, the current number two at the World Bank.

Southern EU states fear that Rehn and Dijsselbloem, who enjoys German backing, excessively favour economic austerity which risks harming growth.

Southern countries have particularly long memories of Dijsselbloem because of his tough stance against southern nations like Greece when he headed the group of EU finance ministers.

“I can´t spend all my money on drinks and women and then ask for help,” he said in one particularly notorious comment in 2017. But northern countries are also underwhelmed with the southern European candidates, with Calvino in particular seen as having insufficient experience.

“This situation shows the splits between the north and the south and the difficulties for the Europeans in agreeing on a solid candidate,” a source close to the talks told AFP.

The ECB´s outgoing chief Mario Draghi said last week that he was “not available” for the position. At 71, he is too old to hold the post, according to IMF rules, which state that the managing director must be under 65 when appointed.

This leaves Georgieva — but the snag is that she will soon be 66, above the age limit of 65. “The other members of the fund will need to make an exception for her, and that it is not a given,” one source said.

Adding to the uncertainty, Le Maire has allowed Britain, after its government shake-up last month, one more day to present a candidate, source said. This could allow a candidacy by Canadian-born Bank of England governor Mark Carney, who holds Canadian, British and Irish nationality.

Sources said a vote by ministers is a possible way to break the impasse, adding that Le Maire has raised this as an option. But this would also have the disadvantage of exposing to the world the inability of Europeans to unite around a single top-level candidate, the sources said.

The IMF says any of the fund´s 189 members can nominate a candidate between July 29 and September 6, after which the board will announce its shortlist of up to three names. But with the US and Europe having the biggest voting blocs in the IMF, it would be difficult for an outside candidate to upset the tradition whereby they divvy up the IMF and World Bank jobs between them.

The convention has nonetheless come under strain in recent years, with developing economies demanding a greater say at the Washington-based institutions. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin emphasised at a meeting of G7 ministers last month that naming a European to head the IMF was a convention, “not an official policy”.

Possible non-European candidates could include the general manager of the Bank of International Settlements and former Bank of Mexico governor Agustin Carstens, and Lesetja Kganyago, the governor of the central bank of South Africa. The IMF plans to select its new leader by October 4.

Forgot to pay your bills? Don’t worry. So did your electricity provider.

France’s state state energy giant EDF has been fined 1.8 million euros ($2 million) for not paying its bills on time, a record amount that aims to dissuade big businesses from starving small suppliers by putting off payment for as long as possible.

Junior economy minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said Thursday the government wanted to “hit companies in the wallet” to force a change in their thinking on paying bills, currently treated by many as “a minor administrative issue”.

German industrial giant Siemens AG became the latest casualty of Europe’s economic slowdown, warning a sharp deterioration in some markets hurt quarterly profit and has put financial goals at risk.

The shares dropped as much as 5.9% on Thursday, the most in more than three years, after the region’s largest engineering company reported a disappointing set of results, joining ArcelorMittal, Rheinmetall AG and BMW AG in providing evidence of the gathering storm.

The earnings are a sign that a deepening slump in the global car industry and a more general economic malaise are reaching further into corporate Europe. Until now, Siemens was able to rely on its digital industries division supplying factories with equipment to automate to make up for a protracted slump in the power and gas sector. In the latest quarter, even orders and sales at that unit dropped.

Sweden’s introduction on Thursday of a tax aimed at phasing out the nation’s last remaining coal and gas plants to curb global warming comes with an unintended consequence for some of its biggest cities.

Hiking threefold a levy on fossil fuels used at local power plants will make such facilities unprofitable and utilities from Stockholm Exergi AB to EON SE have said they will halt or cut power production.

The move means that grids in the capital and Malmo won’t be able to hook up new facilities including homes, transport links and factories. While Sweden doesn’t have a shortage of power, there’s not enough cables to ship it to the biggest cities.

“We don’t have a problem with generating enough power in Sweden, we have a problem with getting it to where its needed,” Magnus Hall, chief executive officer of state-owned utility Vattenfall AB, said in an interview. “This law was added with short notice and I am not sure a proper analysis of it was made.”

The tax was introduced in January in a budget deal between the Center Party, Liberals, Social Democrats and the Greens after record long 18 weeks of negotiations. As only one of 73 points hashed out between the political fractions to reach a compromise, time for thorough analysis was probably slim.

By Andy Home

LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) – The alumina market has collapsed over the last three months with both Chinese and Western prices now at their lowest levels in two years.

The action in China has been particularly brutal. Spot prices surged to a six-month high of 3,170 yuan per tonne in May as production in the province of Shanxi was disrupted by environmental closures.

So violent has been the subsequent sell-off to below 2,500 yuan that producers are now voluntarily cutting output to try to support prices.

Since alumina is the key metallic input to the aluminium smelting process, bombed-out alumina prices are bad news for an aluminium market that is itself treading heavy water right now.

The London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month aluminium price is currently trading just above the $1,800 per tonne level after touching an 18 month low of $1,745 in June.

Lower alumina prices serve to lower the aluminium production cost-curve, the break-even point for smelters that helps define the market’s downside.

Global smelter profitability is once again beholden to the gyrations of the alumina price with still little evidence that such volatility is being hedged in either the CME Group’s or LME’s new futures contracts.

THE RETURN OF ALUNORTE

The CME alumina price, tellingly, never reacted to the May spike in the Chinese price but rather kept grinding lower to today’s $305 per tonne, a level last visited in June 2017.

The core driver has been the return of the giant 6.3-million tonne per year capacity Alunorte plant in Brazil.

Alunorte had been operating at half capacity since February 2018 under a court order related to allegations of run-offs from a tailings dam holding the “red mud” generated in the refining process.

Operator Hydro was given clearance to resume full output in May this year and Alunorte was already running at 80-85% capacity in June, the company said in its Q2 results. That should rise to 85-95% in the fourth quarter.

Alunorte’s return closes a supply gap in the Western market which had to be filled by Chinese exports, an unusual occurrence in the alumina market.

Chinese exports mushroomed to 1.5 million tonnes last year from just 56,000 tonnes in 2017.

The tide has since turned. Exports have dropped off sharply and the country has returned to being a net importer since January.

The extra supply is no longer needed thanks to the return of Alunorte, the continuing ramp-up of new capacity by Emirates Global Aluminium and stagnant aluminium production.

Metal output outside of China was down by 0.6% in the first half of 2019, according to the International Aluminium Institute.

CHINESE BOOM AND BUST

Chinese alumina prices have boomed and bust in the space of just three months.

Environmental closures in May, triggered by a “red mud” leak at Xinfa Group’s Jiaokou alumina refinery in Shanxi, spooked the local supply chain.

Any impact from those closures, however, has been fleeting. National output dipped appreciably in May but has since bounced back to 6.41 million tonnes in June, the highest monthly run-rate since May 2017.

Cumulative alumina output rose by 3% in the first half of the year and with China’s own aluminium production also flat-lining this year, analysts at Morgan Stanley calculate a 200,000-300,000 tonne surplus in the country. (“Stopping alumina’s slide”, July 29, 2019).

Previous fears of a supply shortfall have been rapidly dialled back and spot prices are now at a level where higher-cost producers in northern regions are suffering “serious losses”, according to Antaike, the research arm of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association.

Producers have announced a collective temporary curtailment of 1.5 million tonnes, Antaike says.

As ever with such coordinated announcements by Chinese producers, there’s an element of window-dressing previously scheduled maintenance work, but the real significance is what it says about the margin pain occasioned by falling prices.

Higher-cost producers have in the past been able collectively to support prices around $300 per tonne but with alumina’s own input costs falling, it remains to be seen how disciplined supply will be this time around.

There is growing speculation among analysts that China’s alumina sector is heading for the same sort of structural reform treatment already imposed on the smelter segment of the production chain.

That might be a source of long-term support to the alumina price but for now it’s down to whether Chinese producers can curtail output sufficiently to balance the domestic market.

RIDING THE ROLLER COASTER

Alumina has been on a high-tempo, high-volatilty price trajectory over the last couple of years.

It was above $600 per tonne as recently as September 2018 before crashing to its current producer pain levels.

The price of alumina was once linked to that of aluminium. Producers embraced spot trading several years ago, arguing that alumina supply-demand fundamentals were different from those of the metallic product.

They have turned out to be right, although not perhaps in the way they imagined. Alumina has turned out to be a much more volatile package of drivers than aluminium.

What’s curious is that all this volatility hasn’t inspired much interest in using the paper market to hedge price risk.

The LME’s newly-launched alumina contract didn’t trade at all through June. CME’s contract, which started trading in 2016, has seen only sporadic volumes since inception. Activity this year has almost totally dried up with just 240 contracts traded in January-June.

The Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) is undeterred and has promised its own contract later this year.

It’s possible that last year’s high prices actively deterred producer hedging interest but with the outlook increasingly bearish, that might change.

Morgan Stanley sees “near term price support around $300 per tonne, with risk to the downside”.

However, given the excitement of the last two years, you wouldn’t bet against a few more spins of what Antaike calls the alumina “roller coaster”.

($1 = 6.8876 yuan)