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German prices for Monday fall on increasing wind supply and lower demand
German prompt power prices for Monday fell on Friday, pressed by an expected increase in wind power supply throughout Europe and lower demand. German baseload power for Monday was down 3.1% at 71 euros ($ 74.50) per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0951 GMT while the French baseload power agreement for Monday had not traded by that time, LSEG information showed. Week on week the residual load is expected to extend losses in Germany and throughout the region on Monday due to the fact that of greater wind power supply, stated LSEG analyst Riccardo Parviero. German wind power output was anticipated to rise by 3.1 gigawatts (GW) to 41.1 GW on Monday while French output was forecasted to increase by 3.0 GW to 16.2 GW, LSEG information revealed. French nuclear availability was flat at 92% of overall capability. Power intake in Germany is forecast to shed 2.0 GW to 60.7 GW, with average temperature levels expected to increase by 1.4 degrees Celsius to 6.6 C, LSEG data showed. Need in France is expected to drop by 6.6 GW to 56.4 GW on Monday, with typical temperature levels forecast to increase by in between 1.9 C and 10.4 C, the data revealed. German year-ahead power edged down by 0.6% to 92.90 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) while the French 2025 baseload agreement lost 0.8% to 67.20 euros/MWh. In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract gained 0.1% to 80.80 euros a metric ton. Carbon contracts beat a 12-month high on Thursday, generally driven by the unstable scenario in the gas market, Energi Danmark analysts stated.
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Japan's JERA plans to expand US LNG purchases to diversify energy supply
Japan's most significant leading LNG purchaser, JERA, prepares to increase its purchases of melted natural gas from the United States to diversify its supply and meet demand development stimulated by data centres and AI, a. senior executive informed Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to release the U.S. energy market to improve output and threatened the EU with. tariffs if the bloc does not buy more gas, implying JERA might. need to compete with other purchasers for more U.S. gas. Dealing with in between 30-35 million metric heaps (mt) of LNG. annually, Japan's biggest utility presently sources nearly half. of this from the Asia Pacific area, including Australia,. Malaysia and Indonesia. This represents really high direct exposure. My plan is to. rebalance that and to make our LNG supply portfolio more. diversified, Ryosuke Tsugaru, JERA's head of LNG division, informed. Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Online forum annual. conference in the Swiss resort of Davos. My plan is to increase our direct exposure to the U.S. energy. jobs. We are now purchasing 3.2 million tons in long-lasting. contracts from America which is small versus the total purchase. quantity, he added, without detailing the expected increase. However, JERA will be watching carefully the long-lasting. sustainability of LNG policies in the United States, the world's. largest LNG exporter which in 2024 alone shipped 88.3 million. tonnes of the super-chilled gas. Trump ordered the U.S. Energy Department to resume. considering applications for LNG exports after the Biden. administration froze them. Tsugaru stated that JERA welcomed Trump's policies to. accelerate oil and gas production and advancement of new LNG. tasks, nevertheless long-term sustainability stays crucial. The United States is now significant energy supplier to global market. So we. are very much hoping America continues to be reliable and. competitive source of supply, he added. Prioritising supply reliability and price, JERA likewise. plans to talk to providers in the Middle East to have more. geographically balanced energy portfolio, he added. Tsugaru said he was hopeful of continuing to grow a. long-term LNG partnership with Qatar going back to the 1990s. Reuters has reported that Qatar was finding it tough to agree. brand-new LNG deals with Japan amid rising competition from the U.S. and elsewhere with more versatile contract terms. Qatar has their own business goals and requirement. We do have our own, but leveraging long term partnership ... I. am confident to continue and grow long-term LNG partnership with. Doha, he stated. Tsugaru said JERA has a more favorable view on gas. need and energy demand in Japan, driven by emerging need for. steady power, consisting of from data centres and AI. Requested for his market forecast, he said JERA was typically. bullish for the 2026 to 2029 duration to be type of balanced. given that some new LNG tasks will be postponed.
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Stocks gain after Trump comments on tariffs, oil, rates
Worldwide stock exchange increased on Friday, after U.S. President Donald Trump's latest remarks were seen as taking a softer stance towards tariffs versus China and raised the prospect of lower U.S. interest rates. The yen, meanwhile, firmed after the Bank of Japan delivered a widely-expected rate hike. Trump informed business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday that he wanted to lower international oil rates, interest rates and taxes. In an interview with Fox News on Thursday night, Trump stated his recent conversation with President Xi Jinping was friendly and he thought he could reach a trade deal with China. However we have one very big power over China, and that's. tariffs, and they don't desire them, and I 'd rather not have to. utilize it, however it's a remarkable power over China, he stated. Those comments sent China's CSI300 blue chip index. up 0.8% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index 2% greater. The. Australian and New Zealand dollars, in addition to the yuan, also. increased. At 0935 GMT, the MSCI World Equity index was up 0.3% on the. day. European stocks likewise edged higher throughout early trading,. helped by personal products stocks in addition to Trump's remarks,. with the STOXX 600 up 0.3%, Germany's DAX up 0.4%. and France's CAC 40 up 0.9% on the day. Euro zone organizations saw a modest go back to growth at the. start of the new year, PMI data revealed. JAPAN RATE WALKING The BOJ raised interest rates to their highest considering that the. 2008 global monetary crisis, with attention now moving to any. hints from BOJ Guv Kazuo Ueda in his instruction on the pace. and timing of more increases. The yen reinforced to 154.86 per dollar in. volatile trading, simply shy of the one-month high of 154.78 it. touched earlier this week. The hike might have been anticipated however, in what seems like the. very first time in a very long time, there were no major downgrades. to their financial outlook, said Matt Simpson, a senior market. analyst at City Index. This keeps the door open to another 25 basis point hike by. the year-end, and rates to sit at a tremendous 0.75%. Trump's discuss desiring lower interest rates on Thursday. moved U.S. markets, with the S&P 500 hitting a record. high, although financiers remained cautious about the president's. next proceed trade and tariffs. No politician advocates for higher rates and he has always. put himself out there as a low rates guy, stated Prashant. Newnaha, a senior Asia-Pacific rates strategist at TD. Securities. Expect the president to end up being more vocal and. important of the Fed. Treasury yields have actually been on the increase as bond investors. brace for ultimate tariffs that might stoke inflation. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.6398% in European. trading hours, listed below recently's 14-month high of 4.809%. Euro zone government bond yields edged higher, with the. German standard 10-year yield at 2.549%. The European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve are because of. meet next week as policymakers absorb early moves of the Trump. administration. Currency markets in general have been tentative after a. unpredictable couple of sessions given that Trump's go back to the White Home,. driven by his declarations on tariffs. The U.S. dollar index was at 107.47, down around 0.6% on the. day and set for a 1.8% weekly loss - its greatest weekly. loss in two months. Oil prices remained well below $80 a barrel, under pressure. after Trump stated he would be asking Saudi Arabia and OPEC to. lower oil prices. Brent unrefined futures were a touch greater at $78.54 a. barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude
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ExxonMobil introduces 'promising' exploration well off Cyprus-President
ExxonMobil and Qatar Energy on Friday started exploratory drilling for natural gas in a. possibility west of Cyprus, Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides. stated on X. The east Mediterranean has actually yielded some major gas. discoveries in the last few years, and an interruption in energy products. from Russia after its 2022 intrusion of Ukraine has actually honed. Europe's attention on protecting alternative sources of supply. Cyprus progresses expedition activities, aiming to be an. alternative and trustworthy source of natural gas for the EU,. Christodoulides wrote in his post. He stated drilling at the prospect, called Electra, got. underway on Friday early morning. ExxonMobil executives have actually formerly described Electra as. ' highly promising'. The business secured hydrocarbon exploration licences for. Cyprus in 2017. Other multinationals in the region include. U.S.'s Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab, Italy's Eni (ENI.MI),. opens new tab and France's TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA). Cyprus has actually made modest discovers offshore compared to. considerable discoveries by neighbours Egypt and Israel. It has not. yet put any gas into production. The Mediterranean island nation is divided with the. internationally-recognised federal government in the south and a. breakaway Turkey-backed administration in the north. Cyprus's drilling activities by are being closely kept track of. by Ankara, a Turkish defence ministry official said. The location. being drilled lies outside continental shelf boundaries declared. by Turkey, they included. Cyprus and Turkey do not have diplomatic relations, and past. exploration efforts have exposed disagreements and overlapping. claims.
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Spain's production rates rise 2.3% in 2024 from a decline in 2023
Energy costs lifted Spanish production rates in 2024 following a contraction in the previous year, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said on Friday. Production rates increased 2.3% last year after a 6.3%. decrease in the previous year, when energy rates fell from a. peak in 2022 triggered by the war in Ukraine, INE stated in its. regular monthly report. Rates of oil, gas and electrical power increased 7.5% in Spain in. 2024 after contracting by 20.6% in 2023, INE stated. Following chaos on energy markets in 2021 and 2022. triggered by the COVID pandemic and then the start of the Ukraine. war, industrial rate growth in Spain peaked at 47% in March. 2022. Business tend to hand down industrial price rises to. clients, eventually fuelling inflation. Spain's annual inflation rate has gotten in recent. months, reaching 2.8% in December after having actually alleviated to 1.5% in. September. Industrial costs rose 0.9% in December from November. and INE modified up the year-on-year November rate increase to. 1.2% from a preliminary 0.9% increase.
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Sri Lanka revokes power purchase handle Adani Group, AFP reports
Sri Lanka has withdrawed a power purchase agreement with Indian corporation Adani Group following accusations of corruption, according to an AFP report that was published by the Economic Times paper on Friday. The AFP reported that Sri Lanka opened probes into Adani Group's local tasks after U.S. authorities, in November, prosecuted billionaire Gautam Adani and other group executives on accusations they paid bribes to secure Indian power supply agreements. The Adani Group has actually denied the charges, calling them baseless. Sri Lanka had actually gone into a 20-year power purchase contract with Adani Green Energy in May 2024 for two wind power stations established by the company. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's cabinet decided earlier this month not to continue with the deal, the AFP stated, pointing out an energy ministry authorities. While the government has actually revoked the contract, the task is not cancelled and a committee has been appointed to evaluate the whole project, the AFP reported. Sri Lanka's Power and Energy Ministry declined to comment. The Adani Group did not immediately react to an ask for remark. Adani Green Energy shares were trading 1% lower in Mumbai.
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Asia Gold-Elevated costs hinder buyers in essential hubs
Raised prices dampened need for physical gold in many Asian centers today, while Indian dealerships offered the greatest discount rates in more than six months. In India, domestic costs hit an all-time high of 80,034 ($ 927.69) rupees per 10 grams on Friday, tracking the worldwide spot gold rates and hovering near a record high of $2,790.15 struck on Oct. 31. Retail need was minimal today due to the price increase. The majority of jewellery stores were experiencing thin footfall, a. Chennai-based bullion dealership stated. Indian dealerships this week provided a discount rate of. as much as $38 an ounce over official domestic prices-- inclusive of. 6% import and 3% sales levies, up from the recently's discount rate. of $30 an ounce. Jewellers were not making purchases as some are hypothesizing. that the government might alter the import responsibility structure in. the next week's yearly budget, said a Mumbai-based dealer with a. personal bullion importing bank. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the next. fiscal year's federal spending plan on Feb. 1, following a significant. import tax cut on gold in the previous spending plan. In leading consumer China, dealerships used discounts of $10 and. charged a premium of $10 per ounce above worldwide rates. , versus premiums of $3-$ 13 recently. Chinese gold costs are greater once again and near to historical. highs, which has sucked out demand but some people are still. purchasing due to the holiday season beginning next week, stated a. mainland China-based rare-earth element trader. China's official Spring Festival holidays will range from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4. In Hong Kong, gold was sold at par with a $2. premium. In Japan, bullion was offered from a discount of. $ 1 to a premium of $1. Trading houses are reluctant to buy gold with rates. increasing, said a Tokyo-based trader.
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Dalian iron ore logs weekly gain on stronger China need outlook
Dalian iron ore futures increased on Friday to log a small weekly gain, assisted by durable need in leading consumer China, even as financiers worried over mounting trade stress between the United States and China. The most-traded May iron ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended daytime trade 0.69%. higher at 806.5 yuan ($ 111.26) a metric ton, posting a weekly. gain of 0.31%. The benchmark February iron ore on the Singapore. Exchange traded 1.34% greater at $105.1 a heap as of 0707 GMT. The. agreement has actually lost 0.14% up until now today. China's factory activity likely broadened for a 4th month. in January, a Reuters poll revealed, even as the nation braces. for U.S. tariff hikes. Furthermore, China's customer trade-in plan boosted. consumption development by more than 1% in 2024, Vice Commerce. Minister Sheng Qiuping stated on Friday. Total portside ore stockpiles dipped 0.17% from the previous. week to 145.65 million lots, as of Jan. 24, according to. Steelhome information. On Thursday, Washington presented an expense that would withdraw. China's preferential trade status with the U.S., phase in high. tariffs and end the de minimis exemption for low-value Chinese. imports. U.S. President Donald Trump has also swore more tasks. against Chinese imports. Regardless of increasing trade stress, Trump said his conversation. with Chinese President Xi Jinping was friendly and thought he. could reach a trade handle China. China and Hong Kong stocks increased on Friday, on upbeat. belief after Trump's comments on his recent call with Xi, in. addition to Beijing's strategy to motivate insurers to acquire. shares noted on the mainland. Other steelmaking components on the DCE decreased, with. coking coal and coke closing down 1.39% and. 0.93%, respectively. Many steel criteria on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. gotten. Rebar acquired around 0.6%, hot-rolled coil. increased 0.35%, wire rod ticked up 0.14%, while. stainless-steel dropped 0.23%.
TotalEnergies' Mozambique LNG Project Up for Delay Beyond 2029
TotalEnergies' $20 billion Mozambique LNG project will not be operational by 2029 as hoped, the French oil major said on Wednesday, citing the need to end force majeure and ensure security at the project site.
TotalEnergies had previously said that it hoped to lift force majeure and restart construction on the long-delayed liquefied natural gas project by the end of 2024, which would allow it to come online by 2029.
However, a $4.7 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) has yet to be re-approved, after construction on the project was frozen in 2021 due to violent unrest in the northern Cabo Delgado region near the project site — before any disbursements were made.
Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne told investors in October that force majeure could only be lifted with the project finance fully secured, and that three export agencies had not yet reconfirmed their loans after Total negotiated new restart costs with contractors.
"The priority is to restore peace and security in Cabo Delgado and the lifting of force majeure," a Total spokesperson said on Wednesday following a report by the Financial Times on the slipped timeline.
EXIM told Reuters in November it was still re-evaluating the amended loan package, along with several other export credit agencies it declined to name.
Waiting for Exim
EXIM initially agreed to finance Mozambique LNG under President Donald Trump's first term. But requests to amend the loan to reboot the stalled project languished under President Joe Biden's administration, which largely restricted lending for overseas oil and gas projects.
Since taking office on Monday, Trump has made three senior appointments to EXIM, though a full leadership transition is expected to take weeks.
Mozambique LNG, in which TotalEnergies holds a 26.5% operating stake, was slated to make the southern African nation a major LNG producer but the project ground to a halt when an insurgency led by Islamic State-linked militants swept the region.
Security there has since improved, with partner company Mitsui saying in December that final preparations were underway to resume construction after renegotiation with contractors.
Mozambican President Daniel Chapo, who took office last week, has promised to continue deploying soldiers to secure the project site. However, he is also dealing with months of protests against his disputed election victory, with over 300 people killed in clashes with security forces since Oct. 9 vote.
(Reuters - Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris, Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Michael Perry and Emelia Sithole Matarise)