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(Reuters) - Ecuador has reached a preliminary agreement with a unit of Thailand’s state-run PTT PCL to extend to 2024 the payment period of an oil-for-loan agreement that was originally planned to be fully paid through 2022, the country’s energy minister said on Thursday.
FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Ecuador s state-run Esmeraldas refinery complex in Esmeraldas, Ecuador, August 15, 2017, REUTERS/Daniel Tapia/File Photo
State-run oil company Petroecuador was expected to deliver up to 85 million barrels this year to PTT and PetroChina to amortize loans extended by the companies to the nation over the last decade.
But making those deliveries would have made it difficult for Ecuador to fulfill other long-term commitments, minister Rene Ortiz told Reuters in an interview.
World stocks rose to their highest in just over a week on Thursday after a report on U.S. consumer prices calmed investor nerves about inflation and lifted the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record close.
2021 core profit seen at 900 million to 1 billion euros Company plans further M&A with focus in consumer protection (Adds M&A comments from press conference)
March 11 (Reuters) - Lanxess is looking for more acquisitions in high-margin consumer markets such as food ingredients and animal hygiene, the German speciality chemicals maker said on Thursday, as it forecast a pick up in earnings from a pandemic-hit 2020.
The group, which began the year with three acquisitions including a $1.1 billion deal to buy U.S.-based rival Emerald Kalama Chemical, said its so-called “consumer protection” business was a particular focus for deals.
The business, which also produces ingredients used in surface disinfectants, hand sanitisers and soaps, generated about a fifth of the group’s revenues in 2020.
European Central Bank policymakers agreed on a monthly bond purchase target when they met on Thursday but had different views on the desirable level of yields, three sources told Reuters.