Latest News
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ERM and Dolphyn Hydrogen Start Offshore Hydrogen Production Trials
Specialist sustainability consultancy ERM has launched offshore trials to test key elements of its innovative Dolphyn Hydrogen process.Following six years of development, the trials are being conducted in a floating marine environment in Pembroke Port, South Wales. They represent an important step forward in enabling the UK to produce low-carbon hydrogen safely, reliably and at scale. The Dolphyn Hydrogen process combines electrolysis, desalination and hydrogen production on a floating wind platform. Hydrogen is transported to shore via pipeline, where it can be used directly for power generation, transport, industrial purposes and heating. It does not require an electrical connection and provides a pathway to low-carbon energy generation without associated grid constraints or consumption of energy from other renewable sources. The development of the Dolphyn Hydrogen process has been supported by the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, through the Low Carbon Hydrogen Supply 2 Competition in the $1.26 billion (£1 billion) Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP). It has been awarded funding of over $10.1 million (£8 million) to date and has also been championed by devolved Governments in Wales and Scotland.Dolphyn Hydrogen brings together the expertise of local and international suppliers in the renewable and hydrogen production industries. ERM has mobilized a team that blends skills and expertise across engineering, health and safety services, permitting and consenting, and stakeholder engagement.To help accelerate learnings and deployment, the team has incorporated a first-of-a-kind digital twin using ERM’s emissions.AI, a SaaS solution that helps operations teams to optimize the energy efficiency of their facilities and minimize emissions. “Low-carbon hydrogen has a key role to play in supporting the energy transition, enhancing our energy security and generating skilled green economy jobs. These Dolphyn Hydrogen trials mark an important milestone in our journey to deploy affordable, low-carbon hydrogen at scale that will help to deliver a more sustainable future for all,” said Steve Matthews, Dolphyn Hydrogen CEO. “Six years ago, ERM had a vision to produce affordable low -carbon hydrogen from floating wind at a scale that would help accelerate the transition to a net zero economy. We are excited to see this vision translate into reality with the UK’s first offshore hydrogen production trials. We look forward to building on this momentum to help drive progress towards a low-carbon future,” added Tom Reichert, Group CEO at ERM.
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Petronas Hires ABL for Rig Inspection Services in Indonesia
Indonesian branch of Malaysian national oil company Petronas has awarded energy and marine consultancy ABL a contract to provide rig inspection services to its assets operating offshore Indonesia.The contract is valid for one year, with an optional one-year period extension.Under the terms of contract, ABL can be called on to provide rig assurance, equipment focused inspections, drilling readiness peer reviews, client representation and technical risk assessments.“Our rig inspection experts have extensive industry experience and in-depth knowledge across all types of rigs. We have a well-developed set-up that is tailored to make the rig inspection process as efficient, consistent and transparent as possible while also de-risking the impact of rig operations on the local marine environments,” said Deddy Setiyatno, ABL Indonesia Country Manager.ABL’s Indonesian team in Jakarta will manage and resource the project. ABL also has a newly established office in Batam, Indonesia.ABL is part of Oslo-listed ABL Group, an independent consultancy group providing energy, marine, engineering and digital solutions to drive safety and sustainability across global renewables, maritime and oil and gas sectors.In 2023, ABL Group acquired the international wells and reservoir consultants, AGR, enabling it to provide an end-to-end and project-focused approach to supporting rig operations.
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Asia stocks damage on the client approach to rate cuts
Numerous crucial Asian share benchmarks fell on Thursday as markets absorbed the ramifications of policymakers in significant economies preferring to take patient method to financial easing in the middle of sticky inflation. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.57%. Australia's S&P/ ASX 200 index was one of the biggest decliners, slumping 0.8%, likewise injured by a pullback in some product costs. Geopolitical tensions also kept financiers nervous as China's. military started two days of punishment drills held in 5. locations around Taiwan just days after brand-new Taiwan President Lai. Ching-te took workplace. However Taiwan's stock market was not. too fussed and was last up 0.3%. More hawkish-than-expected minutes of the Federal Reserve's. latest policy conference, a hot UK inflation print and a sobering. assessment of New Zealand's inflation issues from the. country's central bank have caused investors to pare their bets. of the pace and scale of international rate cuts expected this year. Something that's interesting from the last 24 hours that. can be taken away is still the unpredictability from central banks. about policy settings and at what levels rates of interest have to. be at, and where they require to possibly stay at, in order to. tame inflation stated Kyle Rodda, senior financial market expert. at Capital.com. That's triggering unpredictability from a policy perspective, however. it's undoubtedly likewise causing uncertainty from a market point of. view. U.S. futures meanwhile got an early boost after AI. darling Nvidia anticipated quarterly profits above. price quotes after the bell on Wednesday, which sent its shares. jumping 5.9% in prolonged trade. S&P 500 futures added 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures. gained 0.57% in Asia trade. Japan's Nikkei increased 0.6%, drawing some support from. a weaker yen that touched its most affordable level in over. three weeks. It was last at 156.85 per dollar. Sterling and the kiwi held near two-month. highs and last purchased $1.2721 and $0.6102, respectively. Information on Wednesday showed inflation in Britain alleviated less. than expected and a key core measure of prices barely dropped,. triggering investors to pull bets on a Bank of England rate cut. next month. Earlier that day, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. wrongfooted markets by cautioning cuts were not likely until far into. 2025 at the conclusion of its policy conference where it held its. money rate constant as anticipated. There are still 'difficult lawns' to be done to bring annual CPI. inflation down to the 2% target midpoint in a prompt and. sustainable manner, and therefore monetary policy easing remains. unlikely this year, said Kelly Eckhold, Westpac chief economist. for New Zealand. Our standard view remains that the first 25bp policy easing. will happen in February next year, to be followed by a series of. gradual (as soon as a quarter) 25bp reductions that will ultimately. lower the OCR to around 3.75% in 2026. Somewhere else in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ran. into revenue taking and fell 1.5%, after having touched an over. nine-month high at the start of the week. China's blue-chip index relieved 0.3%. Gold dipped 0.25% to $2,372.28 an ounce, far from. its record high of $2,449.89 struck on Monday, as the possibility of. higher-for-longer U.S. rates took some shine off the yellow. metal. Oil rates similarly fell, with brent crude down. 0.82% to $81.23 a barrel, while U.S. unrefined edged 0.9%. lower to $76.87 per barrel.
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Copper slips on hawkish Fed minutes, weak demand
Copper rates fell on Thursday, dragged down by a stronger U.S. dollar after hawkish minutes of the Federal Reserve's conference and deteriorating demand in leading customer China. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME). was down 0.9% to $10,325 per metric lot by 0133 GMT,. while the most-traded June copper contract on the Shanghai. Futures Exchange (SHFE) fell 4% to 83,230 yuan. ($ 11,492.05) a ton. The dollar hovered near a one-week high on Thursday. following its best day this month against significant peers after. minutes of the last Fed meeting revealed a determination to raise. rates of interest amongst some officials. A stronger dollar makes it more expensive to purchase the. greenback-priced product. Also weighing on metals was the waning demand in China, as. big price increases this year struck copper-user intake and. pressed inventories greater. Other base metals trended lower. LME aluminium slid. 0.2% to $2,631 a lot, nickel dropped 1.1% to $20,145,. zinc shed 0.6% to $3,043, tin was little moved. at $33,500, and lead was 0.6% lower to $2,301. SHFE aluminium lost 2.2% to 20,910 yuan a load, zinc. dropped 2% to 24,395 yuan, tin moved 2.2% to. 272,790 yuan, lead slid 0.6% to 18,440 yuan, and nickel. was down 3.6% to 152,080 yuan. For the top stories in metals and other news, click. or DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0500 Japan Store Sales YY April 0715 France HCOB Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs May 0730 Germany HCOB Mfg, Serv, Compensation Flash PMIs May 0800 EU HCOB Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs May 0830 UK Flash Compensation, Mfg, Serv PMIs May 1230 United States Initial Jobless Claim Weekly 1445 United States S&P Global Mfg, Svcs, Comp Flash PMIs May 1400 EU Customer Confid. Flash May 1400 US New Home Sales-Units April.
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Gold retreats from near record-high levels as rate-cut bets ease
Gold prices were listless on Thursday after a recent rally slowed to dip more than 1% in the previous session, as traders started drawing back their expectations of rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve this year. BASICS * Spot gold held its ground at $2,377.48 per ounce, since 0113 GMT. Bullion hit a record high of 2,449.89 on Monday. * U.S. gold futures were down 0.6% at $2,378.20. * Federal Reserve authorities indicated that it would take longer than formerly prepared for to acquire higher confidence in inflation relocating to 2%, according to the minutes of the U.S. reserve bank's April 30-May 1 session. * Recent information suggested that U.S. inflation resumed its downward trend, but several Fed policymakers stayed mindful on cutting rates too soon but ruled out the requirement for a hike. * Traders' bets signalled growing doubts that the Fed will cut rates more than once in 2024. * Bullion is called an inflation hedge, but greater rates increase the opportunity expense of holding non-yielding gold. * Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said he does not expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this year. * Asian markets could be delicately poised at the open, with growing worries over how soon U.S. and global rate of interest will boil down offset by a potential increase from AI and chip-making huge Nvidia's earnings late on Wednesday. * Shares of global miner BHP Group fell more than 3%, a day after smaller sized rival Anglo American turned down its third takeover proposal and accepted a one-week extension for the due date to make a binding deal. * Spot silver fell 0.7% to $30.56 per ounce, platinum was down 0.4% at $1,031.04 and palladium lost 1.5%. at $985.00.
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Australian shares drop after hawkish Fed minutes; BHP falls on rejection
Australian shares tracked Wall Street peers to trade lower on Thursday as financiers evaluated minutes from the U.S. central bank's policy conference, while worldwide miner BHP lost grip after a 3rd rejection from smaller competitor Anglo American. The S&P/ ASX 200 index was down 1% at 7,766.50 points, since 0047 GMT. The benchmark appeared poised for a. 3rd straight day of losses, if existing pattern stands. All the three significant stock indexes on the Wall Street closed. lower over night after the U.S. Federal Reserve's minutes. revealed that the board discussed future rates of interest walkings. considering the slow rate of disinflation, however maintained faith. that price pressures would ease. Back in Sydney, mining leviathan BHP Group fell 2.7%. after its takeover target Anglo American rejected the. Australian miner's 3rd buyout proposition after market hours on. Wednesday. Albeit, the British miner extended the offer duration by. another week providing BHP more time to pitch another proposal. Australian miners pulled away 2.5%, on track for their. worst session day given that mid-March, after a broad sell-off throughout. most base metals. Shares of Rio Tinto and Fortescue lost. 1.8% and 1.4%, respectively. Financial stocks decreased 1.1% with the Big 4. loan providers selling the red. Rate-sensitive realty stocks fell 1.5% to their. least expensive levels in more than a week. Mirvac Group shed. 0.7% while Dexus lost as much as 1.9% to its most affordable. level in nearly six months. Energy stocks decreased 1.1% as unrefined rates dropped. on worries that U.S. loaning costs could be treked once again if. inflation rose, a move that could injure oil demand. Sector majors Woodside Energy and Santos. dropped 1.3% each. Gold stocks fell 3.3%, set for their third. successive session of losses, as traders pulled back from bets. on U.S. Fed's rate cuts this year. Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining. shed 3.1% and 3.8%, respectively. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/ NZX 50 index was mostly. flat at 11,729.64 points.
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Moody's downgrades Colombia's Ecopetrol to scrap status
Rating firm Moody's on Wednesday devalued Colombian majority stateowned energy business Ecopetrol into junk territory, mentioning increased insolvency, a boost in dividends and an ambitious investment plan over the next three years. Moody's cut Ecopetrol's long-lasting issuer rating and senior unsecured scores to Ba1, considered scrap, from Baa3. Ecopetrol has been handling more debt to finance its expansion plans, Moody's stated, including the purchase of a. majority stake in energy corporation Interconexion Electrica. ( ISA). Nevertheless, increased financial investments have not become. likewise increased core earnings, Moody's said. A number of Ecopetrol's planned tasks, particularly those. involving gas, are dangerous due to their deep-water,. offshore conditions, Moody's added. On the other hand, Ecopetrol's offered cash has actually been used to pay. out dividends, the scores agency stated. Ecopetrol minimized the scores cut in a statement,. stating its share price would likely stay unaffected as its. investors prioritize company performance over score. statements. The company included that it was devoted to accountable financial obligation. management which it was working to keep costs down.
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Youth climate-change claim targets Alaska LNG job
8 young Alaska homeowners took legal action against the state on Wednesday seeking to block a major natural gas job, the latest in a. string of climate-change related lawsuits by youths arguing that. government policies promoting nonrenewable fuel sources break their rights. The Anchorage state court lawsuit, brought by a group of. complainants ranging in age from 11 to 22, alleges that an Alaska. law mandating the job's advancement infringes on their due. process rights and other constitutional securities by triggering. the release of greenhouse gases that damage their health and. livelihood. Numerous of the other youth climate-change lawsuits have. recently been dismissed, including 2 suits against the. federal government and 2 previous cases in Alaska. A comparable. case including young Hawaiian complainants is anticipated to head to. trial next month, and the complainants have actually modified among the. dismissed federal cases as well. The Alaska Supreme Court said in the most recent case before. it, which was dismissed in 2022, that courts can not mandate. broad policy modifications. The most recent claim is narrower than the earlier Alaska. cases, which challenged broad state policies that support fossil. fuels. By focusing on a specific task, the complainants stated. the most recent suit abides by the earlier court choices. Alaska's youth are on the cutting edge of the environment. crisis, and their futures depend on a swift shift far from. nonrenewable fuel sources, Andrew Welle, an attorney at the non-profit law. company Our Kid's Trust, which represents the complainants, stated. in a declaration. Alaska Chief Law Officer Treg Taylor called the claim. misguided in an e-mail, and stated melted natural gas. advancement in the state undergoes the most strict. environmental standards worldwide. Taylor said he is. positive the courts will uphold the law. The corporation's Alaska LNG task includes an over. 800-mile pipeline that will bisect the state, carrying as much as 3.3. billion cubic feet of gas each day from the state's petroleum. rich North Slope to Alaska communities and an export terminal. south of Juneau. The development agency has said the approximately $39. billion project is anticipated to be functional by 2030. The young plaintiffs said in the claim that environment change. is already causing them breathing problems due to wildfire smoke. and is diminishing their capability to hunt and fish for. subsistence, to name a few supposed damages. They stated the Alaska LNG. project will make climate modification worse. The lawsuit asks the court to block the Alaska LNG project. from case, and to state that a law mandating its. advancement is unconstitutional. They also asked the court for a. declaration that the Alaska constitution consists of a right to a. life-sustaining environment system.
Ecuador states will get $333 mln in private investment from 3 oil agreements
Ecuador's energy ministry stated on Friday the country will get $333 million in personal financial investment through three oil agreements for exploration and production involvement at the Saywa, VHR Oeste and VHR Este oil blocks.
The tasks, part of bidding in the Intracampos II oil round, also have the possible to increase national oil output, the ministry stated in a declaration.
The operations procedure will be in the hands of 2 international business, which became winners throughout the licensing round, the declaration stated.
Ecuadorean-Argentine endeavor PCR will get the contracts for the Saywa and VHR Este blocks, the ministry stated, while Uruguayan company Petrobell S.A. will take on VHR Oeste.
Investment in Saywa will be worth some $161 million and have state participation of 55%, while VHR Este will attract financial investment of $125 million and have state involvement of 69%.
The VHR Oeste block will attract $47 million in financial investment, with state participation of 76%, the declaration included.
All the blocks are located in northeastern Sucumbios province. Both PCR and Petrobell already run in Ecuador.