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Italy’s biggest refinery in crisis three years after sale by Russia’s Lukoil

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Italy’s biggest refinery in crisis three years after sale by Russia’s Lukoil

Italy’s largest refinery, which was sold by Moscow-based Lukoil after EU sanctions cut it off from Russian oil, is in crisis as the Greek billionaire who is now its majority investor and commodity giant Trafigura clash over the terms of a crude supply arrangement.

GOI Energy bought the ISAB plant in the Sicilian town of Priolo in 2023 with support from Trafigura in a last-minute deal that Franco-Israeli mining tycoon Beny Steinmetz helped arrange. The sale was approved by the Italian government but shrouded in mystery, with neither the buyer nor Rome disclosing the identity of its shareholders.

Documents seen by the Financial Times show that the largest investor in GOI’s controlling fund, Argus, at the time of the transaction was George Economou, a tycoon whose TMS Tankers was one of the biggest seaborne transporters of Russian oil following the 2022 full-blown invasion of Ukraine.

GOI and Trafigura gazumped a bid by rival trading house Vitol and US private equity group Crossbridge Energy Partners, and secured the deal despite opposition from the US government.

Economou invested in the refinery alongside Steinmetz and former Trafigura executive Michael Bobrov, according to the documents. Relations between the three men have since soured over money and the terms of a 10-year oil supply and marketing agreement signed with Trafigura, according to six people familiar with the situation.

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Economou has argued that Trafigura is to blame for the refinery’s problems, complaining in meetings that the supply and offtake deal is overly favourable to the trading group, allowing it to protect its profits while the facility operates at a loss. Trafigura has said the refinery requires more investment to upgrade operations amid difficult market conditions.

Increased refinery operating costs resulting from higher prices of gas and carbon offsets are weighing on margins across Europe, making it difficult for all but the most efficient refineries to break even.

Moscow-based Lukoil sold the refinery in Sicily after EU sanctions cut it off from Russian oil © Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images

The infighting could threaten the survival of a facility that provides a fifth of Italy’s refining capacity, employs about 1,000 people directly and supports another 8,500 jobs in the local area.

It has also led to criticism of the Italian government, which approved the sale to GOI even though its largest investors had no experience of owning or operating refineries.

“These capital-intensive businesses require heavy investments, but they suffer volatile cash flow so the financial soundness of the buyer is a key element,” said Alan Gelder, vice-president of refining, chemicals and oil markets at Wood Mackenzie.

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“In hindsight one could say the Italian government should have chosen another alternative than selling to [GOI Energy].”

Under the terms of the deal, GOI acquired the refinery while Trafigura agreed to provide working capital to fund its operations and, according to two people familiar with the agreement, paid GOI an upfront €30mn fee to supply the plant with crude oil and sell the refined product it produces for 10 years.

“Trafigura’s commercial arrangements with ISAB are at arm’s length and on market-based terms, in line with similar commercial agreements around the world,” Trafigura said in a statement to the FT.

“In difficult market conditions, the Priolo refinery needs substantial performance improvements and further investment to remain competitive. We have offered our assistance to ISAB and the Italian government to help secure a sustainable future for this important asset.”

ISAB lodged an application this year with Sicilian authorities to restructure the business through an out-of-court “negotiated settlement of a business crisis”.

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Economou hopes to use the process to force a renegotiation or cancellation of the contract with Trafigura, according to two people familiar with the matter. Economou has also considered selling the refinery but the supply agreement has proved a major sticking point in conversations with prospective buyers, according to people familiar with the conversations.

At the time of the acquisition, Economou was presented to the Italian government as the ultimate beneficial owner of a Cypriot entity that held 52 per cent of the Argus Fund subunit, which controlled 70 per cent of GOI, according to the documents seen by the FT.

The rest of Argus Fund subunit was owned by an entity controlled by two foundations whose beneficiaries included Steinmetz’s children, the documents show.

Steinmetz’s connection to the refinery and his role in negotiating the deal with Italian authorities was revealed by the FT in 2023. 

In 2023 Economou decided to loan money to GOI Energy so it could repay an outstanding debt with Lukoil. In January last year, after GOI failed to repay the loan, he opted to convert it into equity and dilute the other shareholders, the documents show. The 71-year-old now controls 99 per cent of GOI’s shares through a complex fund structure.

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GOI paid about €180mn for the plant, significantly outbidding Vitol and Crossbridge, which had offered roughly €55mn, according to two people familiar with the terms of the bids. They estimate that it also paid several hundred million euros for the oil on site at the time of the acquisition.

The Italian government approved the investment under the so-called gold power rule, which gives it the right to veto deals or impose requirements over the purchase of strategic assets.

At the time, Italian officials said they were reassured by the involvement of Trafigura and Bobrov, who is also an investor, alongside Steinmetz’s son-in-law, in Israel’s largest refinery. GOI had also offered reassurances about maintaining jobs and production levels, they said at the time.

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.

One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.

The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.

All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.

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Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.

One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”

The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.

Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.

If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.

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The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.

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Supreme Court financial disclosures reveal how their books add to their income

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Supreme Court financial disclosures reveal how their books add to their income

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett speaks at the Reagan Library on Sept. 9, 2025, in Simi Valley, Calif. Barrett discussed and signed copies of her new book, Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution.

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Even as the Supreme Court was handing down one legal thunderbolt after another last week, the justices were quietly releasing their annual financial reports. Justice Samuel Alito was the only sitting justice to request an extension, which he has done for 15 years. The disclosures do not give a complete account of the justices’ total income and wealth, but they give insights into their concertgoing, guest professorships and even their involvement in youth sports.

In addition to their salaries, much of the justices’ reported income came from their book deals. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson led the pack earning more than $1.1 million last year for a total of roughly $4 million since her memoir, Lovely One, was published in 2024.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy also reported income from published books. Earnings from their books ranged from $849,000 for Barrett, to $300,000 for Gorsuch and $88,000 for Sotomayor, whose books include her 2013 autobiography and five children’s books. Justice Clarence Thomas, who previously earned $1.5 million for his 2007 memoir, listed no publisher payments last year, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of 13 co-authors of a 2016 legal treatise, also received no payments last year. Kavanaugh is said to be working on a memoir but he listed no payments for the anticipated book. Alito does have a book coming out in the fall, but with his financial report still outstanding, there is no data on how much he was paid for the work in 2025.

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The only two sitting justices who have not written books are Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan.

Many justices also earned income from teaching at law schools. Roberts reported income from New England Law, located in Boston, and Gorsuch reported teaching income from George Mason University in Virginia. Thomas taught classes at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and Barrett and Kavanaugh taught at Notre Dame Law School. Barrett graduated from the school and began teaching there 23 years ago; Kavanaugh has family connections to Notre Dame.

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Manhattan Building’s Columns Buckled Beneath New Addition, Images Show

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Manhattan Building’s Columns Buckled Beneath New Addition, Images Show

At least two structural columns buckled and failed in a 37-story office tower in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, prompting evacuations of nearby streets and buildings. While city officials asserted that the tower was in no danger of collapsing completely, outside engineers said further failures in the structure could not be ruled out.

A pair of columns that failed completely were part of the tower’s existing structure. A New York Times review of images and videos from inside the building has found that several floors were added atop these columns.

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City officials said in a news conference on Tuesday that the building was continuing to move, while they simultaneously assured the city that the building would not suffer “total collapse.” “The way this building is constructed, it’s a steel-frame building,” John Esposito, a chief in the Fire Department in New York, said at the afternoon news conference. “So, it would not be a total collapse. It would be more of a localized collapse.” Still, he said, “that remains our concern, that it’s moved.”

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Engineers said that the movement itself was cause for concern. In a properly designed steel building, they said, loads should redistribute quickly to surviving structural supports if columns failed.

Joe DiPompeo, a former president of the Structural Engineering Institute at the American Society of Civil Engineers, said that if the structure had been overloaded, he would expect any movement “to happen very quickly,” rather than gradually.

“Generally when a column buckles, it’s a sudden failure,” Mr. DiPompeo said. He said that a full collapse remained unlikely given the redundancies built into the building codes.

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Engineers often refer to the most dangerous possibility as a progressive collapse, a process in which structures near the initial failure become overstressed and also fail, potentially bringing down the building if the sequence continues. While unlikely, it cannot be ruled out, Mr. DiPompeo said.

Footage recorded from inside the building shows at least two structural columns appear to have failed completely, Mr. DiPompeo said. Other nonstructural, interior walls — or at least the metal “studs” that were in place to hold them up — also appear to have deformed.

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“The only way that really happens is if the floor above them dropped. It looks like the floor above could have dropped a foot or two, which is obviously not a good situation,” Mr. DiPompeo said.

@fernando40tiktok.commarc via Storyful

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Image from @fernando40tiktok.commarc via Storyful

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Image from @Bogs4NY via X

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The 37-story building is in the process of being converted from office space into residential units. Four new floors and a large vertical portion were added onto the existing building in recent months. The vertical portion consists of a stack of over a dozen new floors cantilevered out over the existing building below.

Engineers said that there was nothing inherently wrong with adding residential floors or the cantilevered section above the columns that failed, as long as the original structure and the modifications had properly accounted for the added weight and wind loads.

“The cantilever alone doesn’t change anything,” Mr. DiPompeo said, but it does put additional load on the columns underneath — a factor that should have been reflected in the design.

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Nathan Berman, managing principal and founder of MetroLoft, the developer overseeing the conversion, said on Tuesday that “this incident is nothing more than a typical construction mishap.”

He said two columns near the northwest corner of the tower had bent under the weight of additions to the building above, most likely because those columns had not been properly reinforced, though he said an investigation would determine the cause. The rest of the columns, he said, “picked up the weight.” He estimated the affected floors above the failed columns had sagged by a maximum of four inches.

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Mr. Berman said that he expected the problems to be fixed and the project to be completed with, at most, a slight delay.

On Tuesday evening, installation of temporary shoring was set to begin shortly, in order to help stabilize the 20th and 21st floors of the building.

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