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FuelCell Energy to lay off 13% of labor force to lower operating expense
Renewable power company FuelCell Energy said on Friday it will lower 13% of its labor force as part of an international restructuring of its operations in the U.S., Canada and Germany. Shares of the company increased 14.1% in premarket trading. The business stated it aims to decrease operating expense by almost 15% in 2025 and protect its competitive position amid slower-than-expected financial investments in clean energy. High rates of interest and policy unpredictabilities around capital-intensive tidy energy tasks have required numerous renewable resource firms to review their growth plans. FuelCell said it had already made reductions to its workforce in September, with the most recent layoffs bringing the total cuts to 17% of its workers. It anticipates the restructuring plan to be considerably finished by the end of the first quarter (Nov-Jan) of financial year 2025, and to record charges of about $1.7 million to $2. million in expenses associated with severance. The company stated the strategy will not impact its carbonate. making capabilities at its Torrington, Connecticut. center. The Danbury, Connecticut-based company stated it would offer. extra details regarding the restructuring plan throughout its. fourth-quarter earnings get in touch with Dec. 19.
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Romania signs main engineering agreement for two atomic power plants
Romanian stateowned nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica signed the main engineering contract to include two more reactors at its plant in Cernavoda on the Danube river with a consortium of four firms, it stated on Friday. The European Union state presently has 2 706-megawatt (MW). reactors which utilize Canadian CANDU innovation, owned by. AtkinsRealis, formerly referred to as SNC-Lavalin group, accounting. for a fifth of Romania's power production. It prepares to include 2 more 700 MW reactors using the same. innovation by 2031 and 2032, respectively. Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja has said the contract,. which was signed on Friday at COP29 in Baku, will set the brand-new. systems on a course of no return. The consortium makes up Canada's AtkinsRealis, U.S. Fluor. Corporation, Sargent & & Lundy and Italy's Ansaldo Nucleare. The. contract is estimated to cost 3.2 billion euros ($ 3.38 billion). and take 9 years to complete pending a final financial investment. decision. Today marks a significant turning point in the improvement and. ultimately the completion of Romania's tactical Cernavoda Systems. 3 and 4 task, the business's president Cosmin Ghita. said. Once Units 3 and 4 are connected to the grid, 66% of. Romania's clean energy will be supplied by nuclear energy. The business did not expose the upgraded expense quote for the. units. Prior estimates varied from 6.5 billion to 7 billion. euros in overall. U.S. Exim Bank has actually committed financing for the. job.
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Households gather at South African mine shaft where hundreds are feared underground
Desperate family members of unlawful miners believed to number in the hundreds waited outside a disused mine shaft in South Africa on Friday in the hope of their loved ones emerging from the hole in the ground. The miners remain in a standoff with authorities, who have actually obstructed their materials of food and water and are attempting to require them out to detain them for illegally getting in the abandoned mine in search of leftover gold - a typical problem in South Africa. More than 1,000 unlawful miners have already resurfaced in recent weeks as the cops have split down, and a minimum of one dead body has been brought up. It was unclear if those staying in the mine in Stilfontein, North West province, were unwilling or not able to leave the shaft, which comes down vertically for more than 2 km (1.2 miles) underground. Police and community members stood around the rocky entryway, where a wheel had actually been established to hoist males out. I'm here waiting for youths who are underground, who are dying, Zimbabwean nationwide Roselina Nyuzeya informed Reuters from behind the cops barricade obstructing access to the open hole. A woman sobbing close-by was waiting for her spouse, who had been underground since April, Nyuzeya stated. Illegal mining has actually plagued South Africa for years through small-time pilfering and arranged criminal networks. A number of those who do the dangerous work of getting into old commercial mines are immigrants from neighbouring countries. They are referred to as zama-zamas - a local term that comes from the Zulu expression for taking a chance. Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said on Wednesday the government would not send help for lawbreakers but rather would smoke them out Some community members held signs that read Smoke ANC out. in action, referring to the governing African National Congress celebration. We are requesting help from the government to assist us so our children can come out of the mine. All we are requesting is their remains to come out, said Matsidiso Ramolla, a. 41-one-year-old homeowner of Stilfontein.
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South Africa's revised carbon tax to be harsher however with more offsets, Treasury says
South Africa's revised carbon tax intends to balance the rival demands of climate activists and polluters by lowering taxfree allowances while letting business make greater use of offsets, the Treasury's. acting tax chief said on Friday. The modifications, to come into effect in 2026, will help South. Africa satisfy environment commitments however provide 'hard-to-abate' sectors. more versatility, said Chris Axelson, Performing Head of Tax and. Financial Sector Policy at the Treasury. South Africa is one of the world's top 15 greenhouse gas. emitters and the only nation in Africa with a carbon tax. It definitely is a change to the previous structure (in. which) ... the offsets were quite a little percentage, Axelson. informed Reuters in a videocall interview. At COP29 talks in Azerbaijan, developing countries pressured. their richer equivalents for approximately $1 trillion in climate. finance to help nations traditionally least responsible for the. crisis to move to greener energy and adjust. A Treasury policy paper launched on Wednesday shows the. offset allowance for combustion emissions going up to 25%, from. 10%, after 2026. But this is counterbalanced by slashing. tax-free allowances from 60% currently to half in 2026, and by a. additional 2.5 percentage points yearly till 2030. South Africa enacted its carbon tax in May 2019 after almost. a decade of shelving it over objections from mining business,. steelmakers and state-owned power energy, Eskom. Since then,. market has actually complained the tax is too difficult while climate. activists decry it as too generous. We're in a place where they're all screaming at us, Axelson. said. We're searching for that balance ... We do not want one. side to say, 'well, you're harming us excessive' and the other. side to say, 'well, you aren't doing enough'. The proposition also changes a 3.5 cent per kilowatt levy on. non-renewable power with the carbon tax, which Axelson said. would motivate Eskom - whose overreliance on coal has actually made. South Africa a bigger emitter than Britain or France - to utilize. renewables but however without the capacity of passing on expenses to. the customers..
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VEGOILS-Palm rises after 3 days of fall, logs first weekly drop in four
Malaysian palm oil futures increased on Friday after three straight sessions of losses, supported by recovery in competing vegetable oils and talks of possible modifications in Indonesia's export levy, yet it posted the initially weekly decline in four weeks. The benchmark palm oil agreement for January shipment on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange got 118 ringgit, or 2.38%, to 5,081 ringgit ($ 1,137.20) a metric lot at closing. The agreement fell 0.37% for the week. This rumour about a possibility of Indonesia modifying levy or tax structure triggered some panic buying, a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said. There was no official announcement on the levy changes and Indonesian authorities did not react to Reuters' ask for remarks about the rumour. Profit taking ahead of the weekend and recovery in Chicago soyoil and Dalian palm olein added strength to the contract, another trader said. Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 0.46%, while its palm oil agreement increased 2.06%. Soyoil costs on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 2.33%. Palm oil tracks rate movements of competing edible oils, as it completes for a share in the worldwide veggie oils market. Malaysian palm oil exports in Nov. 1-15 decreased between 6%. to 7.3% from a month ago, data from AmSpec Agri and freight. property surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Friday, however improved. from Nov. 1-10 export information. Indonesia's federal government reaffirmed to lawmakers today a strategy to carry out a 40% necessary. biodiesel mix with palm oil-based fuel, called B40, in January. 2025, as part of the brand-new federal government's fast wins programs. The European Parliament sought on Thursday to water down a. restriction on the import of commodities such as beef and soy linked to. logging, and backed a 1 year delay to the new rule, in a. fresh push-back against the EU's ecological program.
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More mass displacement possible in Ukraine if energy sector hit, UN warns
Any additional Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy system might set off a further wave of mass displacement as winter techniques, a senior U.N. official stated on Friday. As the war grinds towards its third winter, civilians are more vulnerable than at any other winter season during the dispute due to Russian strikes on its energy system and donor fatigue, said U.N. Humanitarian Organizer in Ukraine Matthias Schmale. The genuine issue is if they were to target the energy sector again, this might be a tipping point ... for more mass motions, both inside the nation and outside the country, he told reporters in Geneva. Any further displacement would contribute to the 3.6 million that are presently displaced within Ukraine and the more than 6 million who have fled across its borders to get away the dispute that started when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Around 65% of Ukraine's own energy production is presently offline due to Russian strikes which is more than at this exact same point of the year in 2022 or 2023, Schmale stated. Ukraine now relies mostly on power produced by its nuclear plants and its grid operator this week introduced power limits for companies in the very first such relocation given that August after a. huge Russian rocket and drone attack. The United Nations and partners are carrying out the. Humanitarian Winter Reaction Strategy intending to address emergency. needs by delivering fuel and other products to help people remain. warm. Shelters, known as Invincibility Points, where homeowners can. heat up and consume tea have actually also been set up, he said. Schmale voiced particular concern about individuals stranded in. high-rise buildings and the handicapped and senior living close to. the cutting edge in Kharkiv and Kherson. So far, aid workers have reached about half of the 1.7. million individuals targeted however moneying shortages are constraining. efforts, he said. This year, the U.N. humanitarian reaction has received $1.8. billion out of $3.1 billion sought which is less than in 2022. and 2023, he stated. So the pattern is plainly down, however we still get a lot. of money compared to other crisis situations and our plea is. that this is preserved because the war is not over..
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COP climate talks not fit for function and need reform, state environment leaders
A group of previous leaders and climate specialists said the annual U.N. police officer climate talks were no longer suitable for function and needed to be reformed, releasing a. crucial open letter midway through what has actually up until now been a. fractious summit. Almost 200 nations are gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan with a. main goal of agreeing a new target for how much cash needs. to be provided to assist developing nations adapt to environment. modification and recuperate from destructive weather. Up until now those talks have actually made little development. Delegates struggled for hours on the opening day to concur an. agenda and the mood has actually been soured by doubts about the United. States' future role under a Donald Trump presidency, diplomatic. spats involving the host country and the withdrawal of the. Argentinian delegation. Friday's letter, signed by more than 20 specialists, former. leaders and scientists, including former UNFCCC boss Christiana. Figueres and former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said the. COP process had actually accomplished much, today required an overhaul. It is now clear that the COP is no longer fit for purpose. Its existing structure just can not deliver the modification at. rapid speed and scale, which is vital to guarantee a safe. climate landing for mankind, the letter stated. This is what forces our call for a basic overhaul of. the police. We need a shift from settlement to execution,. making it possible for the COP to deliver on concurred dedications and ensure the. immediate energy transition and phase-out of fossil energy. Figueres later on stated some of the ideas in the letter had actually been. misinterpreted. The police procedure is a necessary and irreplaceable lorry. for supporting the multilateral, multisectoral, systemic change. we urgently need. Now more than ever, she stated in a post on. LinkedIn. However, others have actually likewise criticised the police process in. Baku. Previously this week Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley called. for immediate reform and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama mentioned. leaders resting on couches and taking pictures while speeches. at the top played out on soft television screens. Inquired about the letter and the total process, the COP29. Presidency's Lead Negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev said: The process. has already provided ... so far by reducing the forecasted. warming, providing financing to those in requirement - and it's better. than any alternative. Nevertheless he said the multilateral process was under pressure. and that COP29 would be a litmus test for the international climate. architecture..
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MORNING BID AMERICAS-Fed draws veil over post-election reducing
A look at the day ahead in U.S. and international markets from Mike Dolan Faced with another month-to-month round of stubborn inflation and unpredictability about financial, tariff and migration policy ahead, the Federal Reserve is getting cagier about the level of further policy easing. Fed manager Jerome Powell didn't offer much away in a. keenly-watched set-piece speech on Thursday, however made it clear. that the central bank still sees a robust economy and has a lot. of brand-new info to take on board in deciding simply just how much. further it should decrease rates of interest. The economy is not sending any signals that we need to be. in a rush to lower rates, Powell stated at a Dallas Fed occasion. With simply 18 months to the end of his latest term at the. helm of Fed, Powell seemed eager to avoid concerns on the. policy choices of Donald Trump's inbound administration -. reinforced as it was on Thursday by confirmation of a Republican politician. clean sweep of Congress. We can do the arithmetic, Powell stated when asked on. possible tariff walkings on imports and curbs on immigration,. including this is getting me into political concerns that I actually. want to stay as far from as I perhaps can. However on top of a hotter-than-forecast producer price report. for October and another drop in weekly out of work claims, the. rates of interest markets continued to pare back expectations for. Fed easing ahead. Retail and industrial numbers for October top. Friday's journal. Futures now see simply a 60% possibility the Fed will cut rates. once again next month - and less than 3 quarter-point cuts are. now fully priced over the next year. Some financial experts are now. thinking Fed rates may not return below 4% in this cycle. Both the 12-month Treasury bill rate and the. two-year note yield are now hovering simply under 4.4%,. with the 10-year standard simply off five-month highs. of about 4.45%. And two-year market inflation expectations. are settling in about 2.5% - well above the Fed's. 2% target. And with money rates remaining elevated, cash market. fund possessions continue to swell - with properties under management. jumping more than $100 billion over the past week to another. record of $6.67 trillion. Wall Street stocks halted their instant. post-election surge today and the dollar also saw its. first day-to-day retreat on Friday considering that the outcomes unfolded over a. week ago. Attention changed to the state of other major economies,. with nerves jangling about the hazard of worldwide trade war. China's latest financial health check showed a mixed bag of. soft industrial readings and upbeat retail development for last. month. However pervasive gloom about possible U.S. tariff hikes,. disappointment at current stimulus information and continuous home. sector concerns saw Chinese stocks drop once again. Chinese annual home cost deflation deepened in October to. 5.9% - its most significant drop since 2015 - although the regular monthly. decline moderated a little to a fall of 0.5%. Residential or commercial property. financial investment in China also fell at a quicker 10.3% in the first 10. months of 2024 compared with 10.1% over January to September. The CSI300 stock index lost almost 2% on Friday, completing. its worst week given that July - led by decreases in the realty. sector. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was just marginally in the. red, but clocked a sixth straight day of decreases. The overseas yuan, nevertheless, livened up versus a. pulling back dollar as the 10-year yield premium on U.S. Treasuries over Chinese equivalents steadied at the best because. May. The dollar also fell back versus Japan's yen, with. traders wary that excessive yen weakness may draw Bank of Japan. intervention and the current Japanese GDP readout above. forecasts. With an essential BoJ press conference due on Monday,. Financing Minister Katsunobu Kato said the authorities would take. appropriate action versus sharp exchange-rate relocations. The darker global need outlook, however, has seen crude. oil rates fall back again despite this week's drop in. U.S. stocks. Britain added to that cloud, revealing its economy contracted. all of a sudden in September and growth slowed to a crawl over the. third quarter - an early setback for financing minister Rachel. Reeves' aspirations to kick-start development. In the euro zone, Germany's economy continues to be the huge. worry. Although the European Commission anticipated a fairly. vigorous 0.8% expansion for the euro location this year, it cut its. German price quote to reveal a 0.1% contraction. European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel said the. ECB must continue to utilize rates of interest as its primary policy. tool and extraordinary steps such as bond purchasing or. significant 'forward assistance' ought to be utilized only moderately. In business news, there was 6% rally in Walt Disney. after the home entertainment giant reported a quarterly earnings beat. and robust assistance. On the flipside, shares of car manufacturer Tesla closed. down 5.8% and Rivian Automotive dropped 14.3% on. Thursday after Reuters reported that Trump's shift group is. preparing to kill the $7,500 customer tax credit for. electric-vehicle purchases as part of more comprehensive tax-reform. legislation. In Europe on Friday, vaccine makers came under pressure. after Trump said he had picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an. ecological activist who has actually spread out misinformation on. vaccines, to lead the Department of Health and Human Solutions. In General, Wall Street stock futures were in the red. ahead of Friday's bell. Popular 'Trump trades', such as Bitcoin. , were firmer again but well off today's highs and the. leading cryptocurrency was back listed below the $90,000 level on. Friday Key advancements that should provide more direction to U.S. markets in the future Friday:. * United States October retail sales, industrial production, import/export. prices, New york city Federal Reserve's November manufacturing. survey, September business/retail stocks. * New York City Fed President John Williams and Boston Fed chief. Susan Collins speak; European Reserve bank primary financial expert. Philip Lane speaks. * United States business earnings: Sysco, Progressive
China, UAE might cut Iran condensate imports if Trump tightens curbs, FGE states
Iran's condensate exports to China and the United Arab Emirates will most likely decrease if U.S. Presidentelect Donald Trump tightens up sanctions on Tehran, but supply to Venezuela would continue, analysts at consultancy FGE said.
Balancing out the loss in Iranian supply, more condensate will be produced from projects in Qatar and Saudi Arabia from 2026, they added.
Condensate, an ultra light oil, is usually processed at splitters to produce mainly petrochemical feedstock naphtha or used as a diluent for heavy crude such as those from Venezuela.
Iran presently exports 100,000-150,000 barrels daily (bpd). of condensate which generally goes to China, Venezuela and the. United Arab Emirates, according to FGE.
If Trump tightens up sanctions on Iran, its condensate exports. to UAE and China will likely fall or stop entirely as there. are less buyers for the ultra light oil than for Iranian crude,. Iman Nasseri, a handling director at FGE, told the Condensate &&. Naphtha Online forum.
However, Iranian condensate exports to Venezuela, at around. 30,000 bpd, would continue, he added.
The Middle East produces around 2.5 million bpd of. condensate, accounting for about 40% of worldwide supply, with more. production to come from gas fields in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Qatar's North Field Expansion job, expected to begin. from the first quarter of 2026, will add 400,000 bpd condensate. capability though 2030, stated FGE analyst Samuel Ho.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is expected to release the Phase 1 of. its Jafurah Basin advancement by 2026 with possibly 100,000. bpd of condensate production capability, and Stage 2 sometime in. 2028 with potentially over 200,000 bpd of condensate production. capability, he added.
More condensate supply is expected to come from Asia,. Vietnam and Indonesia, as well as Africa, Ho stated, as nations. increase natural gas production for energy transition.
(source: Reuters)