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By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices slid for a third day in a row to a 16-week low on Wednesday as a U.S. government shutdown fed worries about the global economy, while traders expected more oil supply to come on the market with a planned output boost by OPEC+ next month. Brent crude futures fell 68 cents, or 1.0%, to settle at $65.35 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 59 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $61.78. Those were the lowest closes for Brent since June 5 and for WTI since May 30. U.S. oil production growth will stall if prices stay near $60 per barrel, as fewer drilling sites are profitable at that level, the CEO of Diamondback Energy FANG.O, one of the country's top oil producers, said on Wednesday. In other energy markets, U.S. gasoline futures closed at their lowest in almost a year. Traders expect OPEC+ to boost production in November by about the same as the 500,000 barrels per day hike in September, even as U.S. and Asian demand start to decline, Rystad analyst Janiv Shah said. OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allied producers like Russia, could agree to raise oil production by up to 500,000 bpd in November, triple the increase made for October, as Saudi Arabia seeks to reclaim market share, three sources familiar with the talks said. However, OPEC wrote on X that media reports of plans to raise output by 500,000 bpd were misleading. An OPEC+ panel stressed the need for achieving full compliance with oil output agreements and extra output cuts that some members are required to make to compensate for earlier exceeding quotas at a meeting on Wednesday, OPEC said in a statement. Oil prices were also pressured by a bigger-than-expected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said energy firms added 1.8 million barrels of crude into inventories during the week ended September 26, exceeding the 1.0-million-barrel build analysts forecast in a Reuters poll. [EIA/S] [API/S] On Tuesday, sources said the American Petroleum Institute trade group had reported a 3.7-million-barrel draw for the week. "Crude stocks rose following a drop in exports, which were not as hot and could signal some weak demand … we already had a pretty big sell-off on the government shutdown and expectations that that could slow the economy and hurt demand," said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at Price Futures Group. US GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN The U.S. government shut down much of its operations on Wednesday as deep partisan divisions prevented Congress and the White House from reaching a funding deal. Government agencies have warned this would halt the release of the closely watched September employment report, among other things. The White House warned that worker layoffs are imminent as the first day of the government shutdown unfolded, even as Vice President JD Vance insisted no final decisions have been made. U.S. manufacturing activity edged up in September, though new orders and employment were subdued as factories grappled with the fallout from President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs. In Asia, the world's biggest oil-consuming region, data on factory activity added to concerns about fuel demand, as manufacturing activity contracted across most major economies in September. Focus was also shifting to the supply and export disruption in Russia due to Ukrainian assaults, PVM Oil Associates' analyst Tamas Varga said. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the situation with the supply of fuel on the domestic market is under control on the whole, while some regions are experiencing shortages of the fuel. Urals crude differentials to dated Brent held steady on Wednesday, while oil loadings from Russia's three key western ports jumped by 25% in September from August, as refinery outages caused by Ukrainian drone attacks freed up more crude. In Venezuela, an OPEC member under U.S. sanctions, oil exports averaged 1.09 million bpd in September, the highest monthly level since February 2020, according to shipping data and documents from state-run energy company PDVSA. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York, Seher Dareen in London and Mohi Narayan in New Delhi. Additional reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston and Ahmad Ghaddar in London; Editing by Alexandra Hudson, Aidan Lewis, Mark Potter, David Gregorio, Diane Craft and Daniel Wallis)

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By David French (Reuters) -BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners is in advanced talks to buy utility group AES, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in a deal that could exceed $38 billion including debt. AES shares jumped more than 15% to $15.15, trading at their highest level in around 11 months, on the news which was first reported by the Financial Times. A transaction could be announced in the coming weeks, according to two of the sources, who cautioned there was no guarantee that an agreement will be reached and talks could still fall through. The two sources, plus two further sources, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential deliberations, confirmed that discussions have been ongoing between AES and GIP in recent months. AES carries consolidated debt of around $29 billion and, as of last close, its market capitalization stood at $9.37 billion, implying an enterprise value of more than $38 billion. AES declined comment. GIP did not respond to a request for comment. Power companies are drawing investor interest as artificial intelligence and data centers drive a surge in power demand, spurring a wave of dealmaking across the sector. AES, which surpassed Wall Street estimates for its second-quarter profit in July, has experienced significant growth in its renewables unit over the past year. This expansion has been fueled by a global push for cleaner sources of power generation, coinciding with projections that U.S. power consumption will reach record levels. BlackRock last year acquired GIP for $12.5 billion as part of its move to expand its footprint in infrastructure and private markets. GIP has a notable track record in the utility space, including teaming up with CPP Investments last year on a pending  $6.2 billion take-private acquisition of U.S. utility Allete. Arlington, Virginia-based AES has power assets on four continents, generating more than 36,000 megawatts, according to its website. (Reporting by David French in New York and Gnaneshwar Rajan and Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Ateev Bhandari and Arunima Kumar ; Editing by Alan Barona, Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Harikrishnan Nair, Krishna Chandra Eluri, Mark Porter and Nick Zieminski)

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(Reuters) -The Bank of Canada expects to release baseline projections for the economy and inflation with its monetary policy report in October, its summary of deliberations released on Wednesday showed. The central bank had stopped giving definitive estimates for Canada's economy from the second quarter and instead opted to lay out a range of projections based on how U.S. tariffs impact the economy. Governor Tiff Macklem had based the decision to pause baseline estimates on extreme uncertainty over whether higher tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump would increase inflation or slow economic growth. "Given the relative stability with respect to U.S. tariffs since the July Report, members expected they would be able to present a baseline projection for growth and inflation in the October Monetary Policy Report," the minutes of the meeting for the Sept. 17 rates decision showed.  The BoC reduced its key policy rate to a three-year low of 2.5% last month, its first cut in six months, and said it would be ready to cut again if risks to the economy increased in coming months. Money markets are betting that the odds for another 25 basis point rate cut on Oct. 29 are just over 55%. The rate-setting committee acknowledged in their meeting that risks to inflation going up were subsiding.  Most counter-tariffs on U.S. goods had been removed, the members believed, and they agreed that there was no longer a significant risk that the cost of tariffs would be passed on to Canadian consumers and create a knock-on effect to other prices. "Lower input costs from labor, shipping and materials would also likely mean lower inflationary pressures going forward," the minutes said. However, they agreed that the risks had not gone away.  The Governing Council said that economic growth could slow further while the adjustment in business investment and jobs plays out. Members discussed how slower population growth and a softer labor market could dampen growth in household spending in the coming months. They also expected weak business investment to continue to weigh on economic growth in the second half of the year.  But they agreed that consumption should continue to support growth going forward and that the economy was expected to grow roughly in line with the "current tariff scenario" outlined in the July monetary policy report. The impending renegotiation of the free-trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada was fueling some uncertainty, and this could impede recovery in business investment in the near term. (Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Caroline Stauffer) ((promit.mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com)) Keywords: CANADA CENBANK/ (Reporting by Chris Reese)

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