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Tag: Energy industry

  • SEPA Appoints New Chief Strategy Officer

    SEPA Appoints New Chief Strategy Officer

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    WASHINGTON, July 1, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Emily Fisher as its new Chief Strategy Officer, starting July 29th. Fisher will provide strategic direction and leadership for SEPA and oversee the organization’s business development, membership, and research and industry strategy teams.

    “I am incredibly excited to have Emily join SEPA as our new Chief Strategy Officer,” said Sheri Givens, President and CEO of SEPA. “Her broad executive leadership skills, combined with her passion for helping energy companies develop and implement solutions to address climate change, make her an exceptional choice for this critical role. She is a respected policy advocate and in-demand speaker on a range of industry issues. I look forward to her support in expanding SEPA’s reach and advancing our mission.”

    Prior to joining SEPA, Fisher worked at Edison Electric Institute (EEI), where she served as a member of the leadership team as Executive Vice President, Clean Energy, and General Counsel. In these positions, she focused on ensuring member electric companies succeeded in the clean energy transition. Fisher worked on external policy, legal, and regulatory work, as well as stakeholder engagement. She had a wide scope of internal responsibilities related to the strategic and economic performance of the association. Fisher also led EEI’s Environment Department and cross-functional clean energy team, where she focused on engagement with key regulators and supporting members’ efforts to develop and deploy new technologies. She served as a key advisor to the EEI Board, comprising member CEOs, and worked closely with Board leadership on a range of policy and management issues. Prior to EEI, Fisher served as an associate energy attorney and served as a diplomat in Europe, Asia, and South America.

    “For the last 16 years, I’ve been privileged to accompany investor-owned electric companies as they’ve led the efforts to provide affordable, resilient clean energy to customers,” said Emily Fisher. “I am excited to join SEPA at this critical moment in the clean energy transition to broaden and deepen this work. SEPA is uniquely positioned to convene the range of critical stakeholders in the electric sector necessary to design and implement actionable solutions to the challenges of climate change.”

    Fisher has an undergraduate degree in internal affairs, with a concentration in economics, and she attended The George Washington University and Georgetown University Law Center. She was a Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State and served at the U.S. Embassies in Thailand and Columbia.

    About SEPA
    The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), a 501(c)(3) organization with over 1,000 members, is dedicated to accelerating the transformation to a carbon-free electricity system. Focused on six critical focus areas including Resilience, Transportation, Energy Storage, Emerging Technology, Policy, and Energy Equity, SEPA brings together a diverse community of electric power stakeholders committed to driving positive change. By actively shaping the future of the industry, SEPA delivers exceptional value to its extensive membership through comprehensive research, educational initiatives, engaging events, and collaborative projects. SEPA plays a vital role in contributing to the collective efforts towards a carbon-free energy landscape. For more information, please visit www.sepapower.org.

    Source: Smart Electric Power Alliance

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  • Bakersfield legislator Vince Fong wins special election to replace Kevin McCarthy in Congress

    Bakersfield legislator Vince Fong wins special election to replace Kevin McCarthy in Congress

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    In the race to replace former Rep. Kevin McCarthy in Congress, San Joaquin Valley voters Tuesday chose Vince Fong, a Republican state assemblyman who was endorsed by McCarthy and Donald Trump.

    The Associated Press called California’s 20th Congressional District special election for Fong at 8:17 p.m. Fong bested fellow Republican Mike Boudreaux, the Tulare County sheriff.

    McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) resigned from Congress at the end of 2023 after being voted out as House speaker. Fong will complete McCarthy’s term, which ends in January, representing a vast agricultural district that stretches through Kern, Tulare, Kings and Fresno counties.

    In a prepared statement, Fong said that he was “filled with humility and gratitude” at the early results.

    “With the campaign over, the real work now begins,” he said. “In Congress, I will remain focused on solving the tough issues facing our community — securing the border, supporting small business, bringing investment in water storage and infrastructure, unleashing our energy industry, and keeping the United States safe amidst the grave security threats facing our nation.”

    Fong, 44, began his career working for McCarthy’s predecessor, then-Rep. Bill Thomas, then worked for nearly a decade as McCarthy’s district director before winning a seat in the Assembly in 2016.

    Boudreaux, 57, has been the sheriff of Tulare County for more than a decade and serves as the head of the California State Sheriffs’ Assn.

    Boudreaux said in a statement that he called to congratulate Fong on Tuesday night. He added that he was “absolutely humbled by the outpouring of support from family, friends, and neighbors across Fresno, Tulare, Kings, and Kern counties who stepped up to volunteer their time and energy to our campaign and donated generously to spread our message for a better Valley.”

    Fong and Boudreaux will meet again in November, when voters will choose a representative for a full two-year term in Congress. Being the incumbent will give Fong a significant advantage.

    Although McCarthy was not on the ballot, the former House speaker had a hand in boosting Fong, using his political influence and fundraising prowess to help his handpicked successor.

    Fong placed first in the March primary for the full two-year term and the remainder of McCarthy’s term, and raised more than three times as much money as Boudreaux.

    Fong also had support from a political action committee called Central Valley Values, which reported raising $950,000 from McCarthy’s Majority Committee PAC and a new PAC funded by major Republican donors, including longtime McCarthy ally Barbara Grimm-Marshall of Bakersfield’s Grimmway Farms, the world’s largest carrot grower.

    Fong was also boosted by the endorsement from Trump in March, widely seen as orchestrated by McCarthy. The endorsement was a coup for Fong, who has largely avoided the culture wars that dominate factions of the GOP and sought to win over right-wing Republicans skeptical of the political establishment.

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    Laura J. Nelson

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  • 2024 SEPA Power Player Awards Winners Announced

    2024 SEPA Power Player Awards Winners Announced

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    WASHINGTON, May 1, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) is pleased to announce the winners of the highly anticipated 2024 SEPA Power Player Awards. Recognizing excellence and leadership in energy innovation across the U.S., these awards signify a pivotal moment in the collective journey toward a decarbonized electric power system. This year’s award categories are intricately tied to SEPA’s five critical focus areas: resilience, transportation, energy storage, emerging technology, and policy, along with energy equity — reflecting the collective efforts needed to address opportunities and key challenges to progress a carbon-free system.  

    “Recognizing and celebrating the phenomenal accomplishments of our outstanding Power Player Award winners, finalists, and nominees provides our sector with boundless inspiration,” shared Sheri Givens, President and CEO of SEPA. “Their steadfast commitment to advancing tangible, real-world solutions in clean energy underscores our shared journey towards a cleaner tomorrow. Each of these projects exemplifies innovation, leadership, and teamwork – fundamental elements propelling us toward a brighter future. My heartfelt congratulations to all recipients for their pioneering strides!”

    SEPA’s 2024 Power Player Awards honor the outstanding contributions of utilities, corporations, regulators, policymakers, and other energy stakeholders, project teams, and/or individuals, who played an essential role in advancing actionable decarbonization solutions between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023. SEPA received over 120 nominations nationwide, and with the assistance of internal and external energy leaders, selected six award winners and 17 finalists in the six categories. The panel of judges, composed of members from SEPA’s Research Advisory Council, Program Advisory Council, and SEPA’s internal subject matter experts, participated in an impartial and equitable evaluation process.

    The winners were recognized at a Power Player Awards ceremony on April 30, 2024, in Coronado, California, in conjunction with SEPA’s inaugural Energy Evolution Summit.

    The six award categories awardees include:

    Resilience Power Player of the Year Awardee
    Vermont’s largest investor-owned utility, Green Mountain Power, is enhancing grid resiliency, safety, and equity through innovative initiatives aimed at keeping customers connected in severe weather and addressing climate change impacts. Their initiatives include Lift the Cap, Resilient Neighborhood, and Zero Outages.

    Transportation Electrification Power Player of the Year Awardees
    In New York, the nonprofit NYC School Bus Umbrella Services (NYCSBUS) partnered with Mobility House, World Resource Institute, New York League of Conservation Voters, and CALSTART on the Electrifying School Buses in the Bronx (ESBB)  project. ESBB addresses the transition to electric school buses by focusing on training for drivers and mechanics, developing charging infrastructure, and creating a mobility hub, with plans to expand these efforts across NYCSBUS’ fleet and serve as a model for nationwide adoption. Both NYCSBUS and Mobility House are being honored for their innovation in progressing electric school buses and charging infrastructure.

    Energy Storage Power Player of the Year Awardees
    In Arizona, the Salt River Project, a community-based, not-for-profit organization providing water and power to more than 2 million people, partnered with CMBlu Energy to launch the Desert Blume long-duration energy storage pilot at its Copper Crossing site in Florence, Arizona. CMBlu‘s non-flammable, recyclable SolidFlowTM battery technology aims to surpass traditional lithium-ion batteries in efficiency, life span, and recyclability. It is set to become the world’s largest utility-scale, long-term installation of its kind, expected to power approximately 1,125 homes for 10 hours upon its operational start in December 2025. Both Salt River Project and CMBlu are being honored with an award for their innovative contributions to long-duration energy storage.

    Emerging Technology Power Player of the Year Awardees
    In Texas, Adaptix.Grid by Sensewaves, in collaboration with AEP Texas, is enhancing grid reliability and enabling smart operations through artificial intelligence-powered analytics, overcoming challenges posed by aging infrastructure and the slow impact of advanced distribution management system technologies by swiftly integrating distributed energy resources and improving operational efficiency by up to 96%. Both Sensewaves and AEP Texas are being honored with an award for their innovative contributions to grid modernization and efficiency improvements.

    Policy Power Player of the Year Awardees
    In California, Edison International’s subsidiary, Southern California Edison, a utility providing electricity to 15 million people, progressed Countdown to 2045. They conducted detailed in-house analysis and issued calls to action, emphasizing the urgency of California’s clean energy transition. As mandated by state law, Assembly Bill 1279, California seeks to achieve an 85% greenhouse gas emissions reduction and net zero by 2045, offering a feasible and cost-effective path to decarbonize the state’s electric grid and key economic sectors. Both Edison International and Southern California Edison are being honored with an award for their continued advocacy efforts to meet California’s 2045 net zero goal.

    Equity Power Player of the Year Awardee
    In California, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), a community-owned utility providing electricity to 1.5 million customers, aims to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2030, the most ambitious target among large U.S. utilities. SMUD focuses on inclusivity and equity through the Sustainable Communities Resource Priorities Map and the Community Impact Plan. These resources address energy inequities and aim to benefit all communities in Sacramento by improving health, creating jobs, and fostering resilience to climate change. Additionally, SMUD is working to develop a diverse, inclusive future workforce in clean energy and related fields.

    For additional information, please visit SEPA’s Power Player Awards webpage.

    About SEPA:
    The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), a 501(c)(3) organization with over 1,000 members, is dedicated to accelerating the transformation to a carbon-free electricity system. Focused on five critical focus areas including resilience, transportation, energy storage, emerging technology, and policy, SEPA brings together a diverse community of electric power stakeholders committed to driving positive change. By actively shaping the future of the industry, SEPA delivers exceptional value to its extensive membership through comprehensive research, educational initiatives, engaging events, and collaborative projects. SEPA plays a vital role in contributing to the collective efforts towards a carbon-free energy landscape. For more information, please visit www.sepapower.org. 

    ###

    Source: Smart Electric Power Alliance

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  • Economists say the labor market is strong — but job seekers don’t share that confidence. Here’s why

    Economists say the labor market is strong — but job seekers don’t share that confidence. Here’s why

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    The job market looks solid on paper.

    Over the course of 2023, U.S. employers added 2.7 million people to their payrolls, according to government data. Unemployment hit a 54-year low at 3.4% in January 2023 and ticked up just slightly to 3.7% by December.

    “The labor market has been fairly strong and surprisingly resilient,” said Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor. “Especially after 2023 when we had headlines about layoffs and forecasts of recession.”

    More from Personal Finance:
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    But active job seekers say the labor market feels more difficult than ever.

    A 2023 survey from staffing agency Insight Global found that recently unemployed full-time workers had applied to an average of 30 jobs, only to receive an average of four callbacks or responses.

    “Between the news, the radio, and politicians just talking about how the economy is so great because unemployment is low and just hearing all that, I just want to scream from the rooftops: Then how come no one can find a job?” said Jenna Jackson, a 28-year-old former management consultant from Ardmore, Pennsylvania. She has been actively looking for a job since her layoff four months ago.

    “I haven’t quantified how many applications I’ve applied to but it’s definitely in the hundreds at least,” Jackson said.

    More than half, 55%, of unemployed adults are burned out from searching for a new job, Insight Global found. Younger generations were affected the most, with 66% complaining of burnout stemming from job search.

    A major reason could be the fact that the labor market is cooling.

    “There’s less of a frenzy on the part of the employers,” according to Peter Cappelli, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania. “If you’re somebody who wants a job, you would like a frenzy on the part of the employers because you would like to have lots of people trying to hire you.”

    Some experts suggest it might also be due to the expectations of job seekers.

    “How people feel about the job market is informed by their recent experiences with the job market,” Zhao said. “In 2021 and 2022, there were labor shortages, so [employers] were offering all kinds of perks and benefits to try to get people in the door. So even if 2024 is shaping up to be a relatively healthy labor market by recent comparison, it doesn’t feel quite as strong.”

    Watch the video above to find out why getting a job feels harder than ever.

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  • FTC opens inquiry of Chevron-Hess merger, marking second review this week of major oil industry deal

    FTC opens inquiry of Chevron-Hess merger, marking second review this week of major oil industry deal

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    The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Chevron’s acquisition of Hess oil company, the second inquiry the independent agency has opened this week of a major oil industry merger

    ByMATTHEW DALY Associated Press

    December 8, 2023, 4:07 PM

    File – The Chevron Products Company El Segundo refinery is seen on Monday, Oct. 23, 2023, in El Segundo, Calif. On Wednesday, the Labor Department releases producer prices data for October. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)

    The Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Chevron’s acquisition of Hess oil company, the second inquiry the independent agency has opened this week of a major oil industry merger.

    Chevron and Hess said in separate filings that the FTC is seeking additional information and documentary materials related to Chevron’s proposed $53 billion purchase of Hess, announced in October.

    The statements Friday follow an announcement earlier this week that the FTC is reviewing ExxonMobil’s proposed $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources. Such requests for information are steps the agency takes when reviewing whether a merger could be anticompetitive under U.S. law. If completed, the Exxon and Chevron deals would be among the largest mergers in the energy industry in two decades.

    The inquiries come after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and 22 other Democratic senators urged the FTC to investigate the two deals. Schumer said Friday the Chevron-Hess merger would lead to “higher prices at the pump for families even while Big Oil profits keep going up and up.”

    The FTC, which shares antitrust authority with the Justice Department, can sue in court to block a merger or decline to take action, effectively clearing the deal.

    A spokesperson for the commission declined to comment Friday.

    Chevron, Exxon and other oil companies have announced huge profits from strong energy prices and demand since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Exxon reported $9.1 billion in profits in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, while Chevron reported $6.5 billion in profits.

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  • Chevron buys Hess for $53 billion, 2nd megadeal in the oil patch this month as energy prices soar

    Chevron buys Hess for $53 billion, 2nd megadeal in the oil patch this month as energy prices soar

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    Chevron is buying Hess Corp. for $53 billion and it’s not even the biggest acquisition in the energy sector this month as major producers seize the initiative while oil prices surge.

    Crude prices rose sharply in early 2022 with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and are hovering around $90 per barrel after ticking another 9% higher this year. That has made big drillers cash rich and they are looking for places to invest.

    The Chevron-Hess deal comes less than two weeks after Exxon Mobil said that it would acquire Pioneer Natural Resources for about $60 billion.

    Upward pressure on oil prices are being applied from a number of fronts including the war in Ukraine. Oil markets are being stretched by cutbacks in oil production from Saudi Arabia and Russia, and now, a war between Israel and Hamas runs the risk of igniting a broader conflict in the Middle East. While attacks on Israel do not disrupt global oil supply, according to an analysis by the U.S Energy Information Administration, “they raise the potential for oil supply disruptions and higher oil prices.”

    Chevron said Monday that the acquisition of Hess adds a major oil field in Guyana as well as shale properties in the Bakken Formation in North Dakota. Guyana is a South American country of 791,000 people that is poised to become the world’s fourth-largest offshore oil producer, placing it ahead of Qatar, the United States, Mexico and Norway. It has become a major producer in recent years with oil giants, including Exxon Mobil, China’s CNOOC, and also Hess, squared off in a heated competition for highly lucrative oil fields in northern South America.

    “This combination is aligned with our objective to safely deliver higher returns and lower carbon,” Chevron Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth said in prepared remarks. “In addition, Hess increases Chevron’s estimated production and free cash flow growth rates over the next five years, and is expected to extend our growth profile into the next decade supporting our plans to increase our peer-leading dividend growth and share repurchases.”

    Chevron is paying for Hess with stock. Hess shareholders will receive 1.0250 shares of Chevron for each Hess share. Including debt, Chevron valued the deal at $60 billion.

    And even with alarms being raised over climate change after a summer of record-smashing temperatures, elevated energy prices have driven more exploration and more drilling, and big payouts for investors.

    There have been a number of acquisitions focused on U.S. shale fields and another round of consolidation in the energy sector began during the pandemic as big producers sought to cut costs. In the summer of 2020, Chevron announced that it was buying Noble Energy for $5 billion. Chevron made the deal when crude prices were down more than 30% in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. That same year, ConocoPhillips bought shale producer Concho Resources in an all-stock deal valued at $9.7 billion.

    Last month Britain gave the go-ahead for a major oil and gas project in the North Sea, ignoring warnings from scientists and the United Nations that countries must stop developing new fossil fuel resources if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change.

    Chevron said the deal will help to increase the amount of cash given back to shareholders. The company anticipates that in January it will be able to recommend boosting its first-quarter dividend by 8% to $1.63. This would still need board approval. The company also expects to increase stock buybacks by $2.5 billion to the top end of its guidance range of $20 billion per year once the transaction closes.

    The boards of both Chevron and Hess have approved the deal announced Monday after six months of negotiations, and is targeted to close in the first half of next year. It still needs approval by Hess shareholders. John Hess, the company’s CEO, is expected to join Chevron’s board. His family owns a large chunk of Hess.

    Shares of Chevron Corp., based in San, Ramon, California, fell 3.7% Monday. Shares of New York-based Hess Corp. ended down 1%.

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  • Chevron to buy Hess for $53 billion as the biggest US oil companies get even bigger

    Chevron to buy Hess for $53 billion as the biggest US oil companies get even bigger

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    Chevron is buying Hess Corp. for $53 billion and it’s not even the biggest acquisition in the energy sector this month as major producers seize the initiative while oil prices surge.

    Crude prices rose sharply in early 2022 with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and are hovering around $90 per barrel after ticking another 9% higher this year, meaning big drillers are flush with cash and looking for places to invest piles of cash.

    The Chevron-Hess deal comes less than two weeks after Exxon Mobil said that it would acquire Pioneer Natural Resources for about $60 billion.

    Upward pressure on oil prices are being applied from a number of fronts including the war in Ukraine. Oil markets are being stretched by cutbacks in oil production from Saudi Arabia and Russia, and now, a war between Israel and Hamas runs the risk of igniting a broader conflict in the Middle East. While attacks on Israel do not disrupt global oil supply, according to an analysis by the U.S Energy Information Administration, “they raise the potential for oil supply disruptions and higher oil prices.”

    Chevron said Monday that the acquisition of Hess adds a major oil field in Guyana as well as shale properties in the Bakken Formation in North Dakota. Guyana is a South American country of 791,000 people that is poised to become the world’s fourth-largest offshore oil producer, placing it ahead of Qatar, the United States, Mexico and Norway. It has become a major producer in recent years with oil giants, including Exxon Mobil, China’s CNOOC, and also Hess, squared off in a heated competition for highly lucrative oil fields in northern South America.

    “This combination is aligned with our objective to safely deliver higher returns and lower carbon,” Chevron Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth said in prepared remarks. “In addition, Hess increases Chevron’s estimated production and free cash flow growth rates over the next five years, and is expected to extend our growth profile into the next decade supporting our plans to increase our peer-leading dividend growth and share repurchases.”

    Chevron is paying for Hess with stock. Hess shareholders will receive 1.0250 shares of Chevron for each Hess share. Including debt, Chevron valued the deal at $60 billion.

    And even with alarms being raised over climate change after a summer of record-smashing temperatures, elevated energy prices have driven more exploration and more drilling, and big payouts for investors.

    Last month Britain gave the go-ahead for a major oil and gas project in the North Sea, ignoring warnings from scientists and the United Nations that countries must stop developing new fossil fuel resources if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change.

    Chevron said the deal will help to increase the amount of cash given back to shareholders. The company anticipates that in January it will be able to recommend boosting its first-quarter dividend by 8% to $1.63. This would still need board approval. The company also expects to increase stock buybacks by $2.5 billion to the top end of its guidance range of $20 billion per year once the transaction closes.

    The boards of both Chevron and Hess have approved the deal announced Monday after six months of negotiations, and is targeted to close in the first half of next year. It still needs approval by Hess shareholders. John Hess, the company’s CEO, is expected to join Chevron’s board. His family owns a large chunk of Hess.

    Shares of Chevron Corp., based in San, Ramon, California, declined more than 2% before the opening bell Monday. Share of Hess Corp., based in New York City, rose slightly.

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  • Video: Mia Mottley Calls for Financial Solutions to Transition to Clean Energy

    Video: Mia Mottley Calls for Financial Solutions to Transition to Clean Energy

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    new video loaded: Mia Mottley Calls for Financial Solutions to Transition to Clean Energy

    transcript

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    Mia Mottley Calls for Financial Solutions to Transition to Clean Energy

    The prime minister of Barbados discussed her country’s eagerness and limitations to develop renewable energy infrastructures with the World Bank’s president, Ajay Banga.

    “That if we continue to ask countries to continue to undertake austerity in order to fit metrics that may no longer be appropriate or useful, then you’re not going to see sustainable growth. The developed world are doing things that they tell us not to do. And even when we’re talking to children, you really don’t have credibility when you tell them, do as I say and not as I do. So the hypocrisy of the post-imperial order is really hitting us in a way that does not make it easy for us to go on. When you compound that with the reality that people will look for opportunities and jobs by moving out of the country if they can’t find a livable wage, then you are beginning to see the disparity even more because the world accommodates the movement of capital, but it doesn’t accommodate the movement of people.” “There has to be a way for institutions, not just like mine, but the I.M.F., us and others to provide some cushion there. There are intelligent ways to find our way through this. We’ve created processes to work on this. I would tell you, don’t think the door will open and the trillions will flood in. But don’t give up hope.”

    Recent episodes in News Clips

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  • China’s Sinopec signs agreement to enter retail fuel market in crisis-hit Sri Lanka

    China’s Sinopec signs agreement to enter retail fuel market in crisis-hit Sri Lanka

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    COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Chinese petroleum giant Sinopec signed an agreement with Sri Lanka on Monday to enter the South Asian island country’s retail fuel market as it struggles to resolve a worsening energy crisis amid an unprecedented economic upheaval.

    The contract agreement would enable Sinopec to import, store, distribute and sell petroleum products in Sri Lanka, which has had a fuel shortage for more than a year.

    The move comes as Beijing looks to consolidate investments in Sri Lanka’s ports and energy sector amid growing security concerns raised by the island nation’s immediate neighbor, India, which considers Sri Lanka to be its strategic backyard.

    Sri Lanka, which is facing a foreign exchange crisis, hopes the deal will help to resolve its energy crisis.

    The agreement signed Monday in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, was made to “ensure uninterrupted fuel suppliers to consumers,” the president’s office said in a news release.

    Under the pact, Sinopec will be granted a 20-year license to operate 150 fuel stations currently operated by Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, and to invest in 50 new fuel stations and in the country’s energy sector, the nation’s Power and Energy Ministry said in a statement.

    Sinopec can start operations within 45 days of license issuance and “this development brings hope for a more stable and reliable fuel supply, boosting the country’s energy sector and providing assurance to consumers,” the president’s office said.

    When the economic crisis hit Sri Lanka last year, the government couldn’t find foreign currency to import fuel, triggering a severe shortage that lasted for more than two months and forcing people to endure long lines at fuel stations. Sri Lankans are still allotted limited amounts of fuel that is distributed according to a QR code system.

    In an effort to resolve the crisis, Sri Lanka opened its retail fuel market to foreign petroleum companies, asking them to use their own funds to purchase fuel, without depending on Sri Lankan banks for foreign exchange. The government has given approval to two other foreign companies — Australia’s United Petroleum and U.S. company RM Parks in collaboration with Shell — to enter its fuel market.

    An Indian oil company already operates in Sri Lanka. But, India is concerned over the growing influence of China in Sri Lanka, which sits along one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.

    Sri Lanka borrowed heavily from China over the past decade for infrastructure projects including a seaport, airport and a city being built on reclaimed land. The projects failed to earn enough revenue to pay for the loans, a factor in Sri Lanka’s economic woes. In 2017, Sri Lanka leased the seaport in Hambantota to China because it could not pay back the loan.

    China accounts for about 10% of Sri Lanka’s loans, trailing only Japan and the Asian Development Bank.

    Sri Lanka’s economic crisis resulted in severe shortages of essentials such as medicines, fuel, cooking gas and food, leading to angry protests that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee Sri Lanka and resign last summer.

    Sri Lanka defaulted payment of foreign debts and sought the support of international partners and organizations to resolve the crisis.

    The IMF approved a nearly $3 billion rescue program for in March which will run for four years. Sri Lanka authorities are now discussing debt restructuring with foreign creditors.

    ___

    This story was updated to correct that the quote that begins, “This development brings hope…,” is from the president’s office, not the Power and Energy Ministry.

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  • BOK Financial says energy book fuels strength

    BOK Financial says energy book fuels strength

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    “Energy continues to be pretty strong and the outlook’s good in that market,” Marc Maun, executive vice president, said during BOK’s earnings call on Wednesday.

    pdm – stock.adobe.com

    BOK Financial in Tulsa, Oklahoma, said its bread-and-butter oil-and-gas loan portfolio shrunk slightly in the first quarter, a period in which commodity prices came under pressure. 

    But the book grew from a year earlier, credit quality remained strong and energy clients proved an important source of stability as the industry grappled with deposit outflows following regional bank failures in March.

    The $46 billion-asset bank said Wednesday that energy loan balances — primarily loans to oil-and-natural gas producers — decreased by $27 million, or 1%, from the fourth quarter to $3.4 billion. Still, energy loans made up 15% of total loans for the first quarter, and these loans increased 13% from a year earlier. 

    Total loans increased 1% from the prior quarter.

    Executive Vice President Marc Maun said BOK expects energy to prove a strength through 2023, given strong global oil and gas needs.

    “Energy continues to be pretty strong and the outlook’s good in that market,” Maun said on the company’s earnings call with analysts Wednesday.

    Loan losses in energy are rare in the current era, he said. “I mean energy credit quality is about as good as it could possibly be,” Maun added. “With oil prices, even with gas prices where they are, we have a strong borrowing base.”

    Benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil prices hovered in the $70s per barrel during the first quarter — and continued to in April. This marked a notable decrease from the $90s per barrel in the fourth quarter of last year. Oil demand decreased early this year amid recession worries and lighter consumption of travel fuels, according to Rystad Energy, an energy research and data firm. Still, most producers can turn healthy profits with oil around $50 per barrel or higher, and profitability across the U.S. oil-and-gas sector proved strong over the past year and into the first quarter, Rystad noted.

    Henry Hub natural gas prices, the U.S. standard, slumped during the first quarter to less than half the level of the prior quarter. This developed as demand for the heating fuel tapered off amid mostly mild weather conditions in the eastern half of the country, a region that typically consumes a large share of the nation’s gas during the winter.

    The price declines contributed to some modest pullback in borrowing to invest in new drilling during the first quarter. But overall oil-and-gas production remains elevated, and Rystad projects that will remain the case through at least the summer.

    Global demand for oil is projected to rise this summer as China’s post-pandemic economy accelerates, and natural gas is in high demand across Asia as well as Europe. Asian countries want U.S. exports of gas to displace coal, while Europe needs American energy sources to fill a void created by Russia’s war in Ukraine. A combination of sanctions against Russia in protest of the war and the Kremlin’s retaliations against those penalties resulted in a sharp decrease in Russian gas sent to Europe over the past year. This is expected to endure, Rystad analysts say, fueling ongoing demand for U.S. exports.

    All of this has supported robust production activity. U.S. oil production early in 2023 has held near two-year highs, and natural gas production has been close to record levels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    BOK Financial said its unfunded energy loan commitments totaled $4.1 billion at the close of the first quarter, an increase of $246 million from the end 2022. This, the bank said, points to growth ahead.

    Strength on the loan side in energy can translate into deposit stability, as oil-and-gas companies often park their money at the same banks at which they have lending lines. For BOK, energy loans slightly trailed health care, at 17%, in terms of the bank’s overall lending pie for the first quarter. But on the funding side, energy banking is the largest industry concentration at 7% of total deposits, though BOK said its deposit base is diversified across multiple industries.

    Following the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March, hastened by runs on their deposits, much of the industry lost deposits in the first quarter. BOK was not an exception; however, its executives characterized deposit outflows as largely due to customers putting excess pandemic-era cash to work in new investments or by making purchases.

    BOK’s average deposits fell 6% during the first quarter, but the bank said this brought balances closer to historic norms relative to loans.

    BOK’s loan-to-deposit ratio for the first quarter was just under 70%. This compared with a pre-pandemic loan-to-deposit mean around 80%, indicating the bank has a healthy level of deposits relative to its historic needs.

    “The net result of the disruptive March events to our deposit portfolio was not significant,” Chief Financial Officer Martin Grunst said on the earnings call. Total deposit attrition in the first quarter “was the same amount as in” in the prior quarter “and generally consistent with our guidance provided in January.”

    BOK reported first quarter net income of $162.4 million, or $2.43 per share. That compared with net income of $62.5 million, or 91 cents, a year earlier. The company recorded about $50 million of pretax trading losses in the year earlier quarter.

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  • New ETF makes a big bet on cleaning up the environment

    New ETF makes a big bet on cleaning up the environment

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    A U.S.-based ETF is mimicking an investment trend in Europe that’s designed to boost profits while helping the climate.

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  • HSBC updates climate policy to stop funding new oil and gas

    HSBC updates climate policy to stop funding new oil and gas

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    LONDON — HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, announced Wednesday it will no longer finance new oil and gas fields as part of its updated climate strategy.

    Climate campaigners welcomed the moved saying HSBC provided a new baseline for other major banks but urged the bank to go further.

    The bank said it would still provide financing to existing fossil fuel projects “in line with current and future declining global oil and gas demand.” It would also continue to provide finance and advisory services to energy sector clients but will assess the companies’ plans to transition to clean energy.

    “It sets a new minimum level of ambition for all banks committed to net zero,” said Jeanne Martin from the campaign group ShareAction. But she added the change “doesn’t deal with the much larger proportion of finance it (HSBC) still provides to companies that have oil and gas expansion plans.” She called for new proposals to address the issue of corporate-level financing for energy companies “as soon as possible.”

    Climate experts said the move was nevertheless a big deal.

    “Banks make everything possible, including either the entrenchment of the status quo, that is infrastructure based on fossil fuels, or a transition that’s at the pace and of the kind that science tells us that is needed to address the crisis of climate change,” said Timmons Roberts, a professor at Brown University and director of the Climate Social Science Network. “So big banks making pledges like this are a big deal, a very big deal.”

    Roberts said there are incentives to make these pledges, following through is the harder part.

    “They’ll need to be vigilant at tracking whether they keep their promise,” he said.

    Aditi Sen, climate and energy program director at the Rainforest Action Network, said that each year their research on fossil fuel funding shows banks headquartered in the U.S. are the biggest culprits when it comes to fueling the climate chaos, “yet their commitments are flimsy at best and deliberately negligent at worst.”

    The group found that the largest four U.S. banks together account for one quarter of all fossil fuel financing identified over the last six years.

    “Today HSBC has made a big step forward on climate, which proves that U.S. banks can step it up to do the same,” Sen added. “Financial institutions writ large play a really, really important role in keeping afloat the fossil fuel economy that we have, but also they have a huge role and an opportunity to drive the shift towards a clean energy economy.”

    In a report last year the International Energy Agency said investments in new coal mines, oil and gas wells need to end immediately if the world stood a chance of meeting its commitment in the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Fossil fuel financing from the world’s 60 largest banks has reached $4.6 trillion U.S. dollars in the six years since the adoption of the agreement, with $742 billion in fossil fuel financing in 2021 alone, according to the most recent Rainforest Action Network report.

    Earlier this year a group of institutional investors found that several banks — including HSBC — would need to significantly step up their efforts on climate if the Paris goal is to be met.

    Bank policies must be reconciled with the climate upheavals and economic threats posed by those upheavals that the banking industry warns about, said U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who is a leading advocate for strong action on climate.

    “For a long time the banking industry has been talking out of two sides of its mouth. They’ve been offering these really grim warnings about the bursting of the carbon bubble and the collapse of coastal property values and all of that, while at the same time continuing to behave as if the things that they were saying weren’t true,” he said. “So this aligns HSBC policy with what the banking industry has been saying for a long time, and I think it’s welcome and overdue.”

    ———

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Swiss climate activists lament election of oil lobbyist

    Swiss climate activists lament election of oil lobbyist

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    BERLIN — Swiss environmentalists criticized the election Wednesday of a top car- and oil-industry lobbyist to the new government, calling it a “disaster for climate policy.”

    Lawmakers picked Albert Roesti of the nationalist Swiss People’s Party as one of two new members of the Cabinet, or Federal Council.

    The election was necessary following the retirement of two long-serving members in the seven-seat government, which traditionally includes politicians from all the country’s major parties.

    Roesti was until recently the president of Switzerland’s fuel importer association Swissoil. He remains the president of Auto Schweiz, the association of car importers in Switzerland. As part of his lobby work, Roesti successfully campaigned against a bill designed to reduce the Alpine nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

    “In the middle of the climate crisis the Swiss Parliament has elected the top car and oil lobbyist to the Federal Council,” the group Climate Strike said in a statement. “This is a disaster not just for Switzerland, but our entire generation.”

    It called on other members of the government not to let Roesti head the Ministry for Environment, Energy and Transport. That post became vacant with the retirement of Simonetta Sommaruga, one of two departing ministers.

    Also elected to the council Wednesday was Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, a member of the left-leaning Social Democrats.

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  • Tagovailoa, Zaporizhzhia make list of most mangled words

    Tagovailoa, Zaporizhzhia make list of most mangled words

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    BOSTON — “Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa explained the significance of the Chicxulub impact crater to actor Domhnall Gleeson over a drink of negroni sbagliato in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia,” is the kind of sentence that just might tie your tongue up in knots.

    It contains five examples from this year’s list of the most mispronounced words released Wednesday by The Captioning Group, which since 1991 has captioned and subtitled real-time events on television in the U.S. and Canada.

    The Captioning Group has compiled the list since 2016 by surveying the words and names most often mangled on live television by newsreaders, politicians, public figures and others. It is commissioned by Babbel, the online language learning company based in New York and Berlin.

    Yes, the list is a little humorous, but it’s also educational and highlights how some of the biggest international news events of the year have entered the North American consciousness, said Esteban Touma, a senior content producer and language teacher at Babbel.

    “It really shows the ways we interact with other languages and really gives a good grasp of what’s going on in the world and how we connect with people abroad,” he said.

    Don’t be intimidated by tough-to-pronounce words, he said. It is an opportunity to learn. After all, even professionals sometimes have problems.

    “People want to get the right pronunciation but it’s hard to do so,” he said.

    Just ask Joe Biden.

    New British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was infamously referred to as “Rasheed Sanook” by the U.S. president, but he wasn’t the only one to stumble over the name, which should be pronounced REE-shee SOO-nahk.

    Then there’s Grammy-winning singer Adele, who informed the world in October that her fans have for years been mispronouncing her name. It’s not “ah-DELL” but “uh-DALE.”

    The other words on the list, with phonetic pronunciations provided by Babbel, were:

    — Chicxulub (CHICK-choo-loob) — The crater in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the asteroid that scientists say likely caused the extinction of the dinosaurs was in the news recently.

    — Domhnall Gleeson (DOH-null GLEE-sun) — The Irish actor called out talk show host Stephen Colbert for mispronouncing his first name.

    — Edinburgh (ed-in-BRUH) — American news anchors faced criticism for mispronouncing the Scottish capital during coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s memorial in September.

    — Negroni sbagliato (ne-GRO-nee spah-lee-AH-toh) — The alcoholic beverage was introduced to the world by actor Emma D’Arcy, whose social media mention of the drink received more than 14 million views.

    — Novak Djokovic (NO-vak JO-kuh-vich) — The Serbian tennis star was in the news in January when he was barred from competing in the Australian Open and deported for failing to comply with the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination rules.

    — Ohtani rule (oh-TAHN-ee) — Major League Baseball’s rule named after 2021 AL MVP Shohei Ohtani allows a starting pitcher to remain in a game as the designated hitter even after leaving the mound.

    — Tuanigamanuolepola (Tua) Tagovailoa (TOO-uh-ning-uh-mah-noo-oh-LEH-po-luh TUNG-o-vai-LOH-uh) — The Miami Dolphins quarterback became the center of discussion about NFL concussion protocols after suffering injuries in consecutive games.

    — Zaporizhzhia (zah-POH-reezha) — The Ukrainian city is the location of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which was shut down in September as the nation’s war with Russia raged in the area.

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  • US stocks lose ground as markets ponder the Fed’s next moves

    US stocks lose ground as markets ponder the Fed’s next moves

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    NEW YORK — Stocks fell in morning trading on Wall Street Tuesday as markets ponder the Federal Reserve’s next moves on fighting inflation.

    The S&P 500 fell 0.9% as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 139 points, or 0.4%, to 33,801 and the Nasdaq fell 1.4%.

    Technology stocks and retailers had some of the biggest losses. Apple fell 1.5% and AutoZone fell 5%,

    Bond yields mostly held steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell slightly to 3.57% from 3.58% late Monday.

    European markets were mostly lower and Asian markets closed mixed.

    Several companies made big moves following financial updates and buyout announcements.

    Utility NRG Energy slumped 11.4% after announcing it is spending $2.8 billion in cash and assuming $2.4 billion in debt to buy Vivint Smart Home.

    Jewelry company Signet rose 18.6% after raising its profit and revenue forecasts for the year.

    The broader market’s dip comes a day after stocks pulled back as stronger-than-expected readings on the economy raised worries that the Fed has a ways to go in getting inflation under control. The Fed is doing that by intentionally slowing the economy with higher interest rates.

    Investors are closely watching economic data and company announcements to get a better sense of how the economy is handling stubbornly hot inflation. They are also trying to determine whether inflation is easing at a pace that will allow the Fed to ease up on interest rate increases. The Fed’s policy risks hitting the brakes on the economy too hard and sending it into a recession.

    Wall Street will get a weekly update on unemployment claims on Thursday. The job market has been one of the stronger pockets in the economy.

    Investors will get important updates on inflation and how consumers are dealing with high prices later in the week.

    On Friday, the government will release its November report on producer prices. That will give investors more insight into how inflation is impacting businesses.

    The University of Michigan will release its December survey on consumer sentiment on Friday.

    With growing concern about a recession, Fitch Ratings revised its forecasts for world economic growth downward to reflect the Fed’s and other central banks’ interest rate hikes.

    The ratings agency’s Global Economic Outlook report estimated global growth at 1.4% in 2023, revised down from 1.7% in its September forecast. It put U.S. growth in 2023 at 0.2%, down from 0.5%, as the pace of monetary policy tightening increases.

    ———

    Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

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  • EXPLAINER: US power grid has long faced terror threat

    EXPLAINER: US power grid has long faced terror threat

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    WASHINGTON — Investigators believe a shooting that damaged power substations in North Carolina was a crime. What they haven’t named yet is a suspect or a motive.

    Whatever the reason, the shooting serves as a reminder of why experts have stressed the need to secure the U.S. power grid. Authorities have warned that the nation’s electricity infrastructure could be vulnerable targets for domestic terrorists.

    Tens of thousands of people lost their electricity over the weekend after one or more people opened fire on two Duke Energy substations in Moore County, which is roughly 60 miles southwest of Raleigh. Nobody has been charged in the shooting as of Monday.

    Here’s a look at what is known about the shooting and why it could have implications across the U.S.

    WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE SHOOTING?

    The outages in North Carolina began shortly after 7 p.m. on Saturday when one or more people opened fire on two power substations in Moore County, the county’s sheriff said. The outages left tens of thousands of people without electricity, and the equipment could take days to repair, according to Duke Energy.

    Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said at a Sunday news conference that authorities have not determined a motive. He said someone pulled up and “opened fire on the substation, the same thing with the other one.” The sheriff said that it appeared gates were breached at both sites. The Pilot newspaper in Southern Pines, North Carolina reported that a wooden post holding up a gate had been snapped at one of the substations and that it was lying in an access road Sunday morning.

    The sheriff noted that the FBI was working with state investigators to determine who was responsible. He also said “it was targeted.”

    “It wasn’t random,” Fields said.

    Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks said that the company has multiple layers of security at each of its facilities but declined to provide specifics. He said that the company has planning in place to recover from events like the shooting and that they are following those plans.

    Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Ruth Clemens said the department’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has offered support to Duke Energy as it efforts the restoration of power.

    TARGETS FOR EXTREMIST GROUPS

    Federal authorities have warned that the power grid could be a prime target for extremist groups that embrace “accelerationism,” a fringe philosophy that promotes mass violence to fuel society’s collapse.

    In January, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report warned that domestic extremists have been developing “credible, specific plans” to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020. The DHS report warns that extremists “adhering to a range of ideologies will likely continue to plot and encourage physical attacks against electrical infrastructure.”

    The department wrote that attackers would be unlikely to produce widespread, multistate outages without inside help. But its report cautioned that an attack could still do damage and cause injuries.

    Members of white supremacist and antigovernment groups have been linked to plots to attack the power grid. In February, three men pleaded guilty to conspiring to attack U.S. energy facilities. Authorities said they were driven by white supremacist ideologies to “sow mayhem and division among Americans.”

    OTHER ATTACKS

    Fears of an attack on the nation’s electricity infrastructure are nothing new. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered grid operators to increase security following a still-unsolved April 2013 sniper attack on a California electric substation.

    The attack on the Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s Metcalf Transmission Substation in an isolated area near San Jose, California, caused power outages and led to calls for millions of people to conserve energy.

    The attack involved snipping fiber-optic phone lines and firing shots into the PG&E substation. The FBI said at the time that it found no evidence that it was an act of terrorism.

    Former U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, who chaired the Senate Energy Committee in 2014, said at the time that it was fortunate the attack didn’t cause a blackout in Silicon Valley, “the horrors of which could only be imagined.”

    In the wake of that attack, FERC and other agencies recommended utilities to take specific measures to protect vulnerable substations, like adding walls, sensors or cameras. Still, many remain exposed in rural areas of the U.S. And experts have warned for years that taking out a few substations could cause rolling blackouts in the U.S., leaving millions without power.

    A Utah man was arrested in 2016 and later sentenced to federal prison time after he used a rifle to shoot the cooling fins of a substation, rupturing the radiator piping and causing the substation to overheat and fail. Court documents said the man had planned to attack other substations as part of an effort to take down power in a large chunk of the western United States.

    WHAT’S THE CHALLENGE IN PROTECTING THE GRID?

    The vastness of American electricity infrastructure makes it difficult to defend. Power plants and substations like those targeted in North Carolina are dispersed in every corner of the country and connected by transmission lines that transport electricity through farmland, forests and swamps.

    “The grid is massive,” said Erroll Southers, a former FBI official and professor of homeland security at the University of Southern California.

    The targets also present an increasing challenge to secure because attackers don’t always have to get as close as they did in North Carolina in order to do damage, Southers said. With the right rifle, skill and line of sight a sniper could take a shot from as far as 1,500 meters (about 4,900 feet) away.

    Protecting substations against a long range rifle shot is “extremely challenging, if not impossible,” he said.

    Southers said all of these challenges mean that protecting the electricity infrastructure can come down to response and backup systems more than defense. “Those are the kinds of things that you put in place to protect, knowing that you may not be able to stop the rifle shot.”

    ———

    Kunzelman reported from Silver Spring, Maryland.

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  • Atlanta house fire kills 2 during gas leak in front yard

    Atlanta house fire kills 2 during gas leak in front yard

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    ATLANTA — An Atlanta house fire killed two people over the weekend and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, the agency announced Sunday.

    The fire involved natural gas, according to a tweet from the NTSB, which investigates pipeline mishaps.

    A fire department statement said crews responded to a northwest Atlanta home around 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 3, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Atlanta Fire Rescue Department officials said a gas leak was found in the front yard after crews extinguished the heavy blaze.

    Other news reports said Atlanta Gas Light, the largest natural gas distributor in the Southeast, attributed the cause of the fire to the leak. Fire officials said the origins were still under investigation.

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  • OPEC+ oil producers face uncertainty over Russian sanctions

    OPEC+ oil producers face uncertainty over Russian sanctions

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    FRANKFURT, Germany — The Saudi-led OPEC oil cartel and allied producing countries, including Russia, are expected to decide how much oil to supply to the global economy amid weakening demand in China and uncertainty about the impact of new Western sanctions against Russia that could take significant amounts of oil off the market.

    The 23-country OPEC+ alliance are scheduled to meet Sunday, a day ahead of the planned start of two measures aimed at hitting Moscow’s oil earnings in response to its war in Ukraine. Those are a European Union boycott of most Russian oil and a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian exports imposed by the EU and Group of Seven democracies.

    Russia rejected the price cap approved Friday and threatened to stop supplying the nations that endorsed it.

    Oil has been trading lower on fears that coronavirus outbreaks and China’s strict zero-COVID restrictions would reduce demand for fuel in one of the world’s major economies. Concerns about recessions in the U.S. and Europe also raise the prospect of lower demand for gasoline and other fuel made from crude.

    That uncertainty is the reason OPEC+ gave in October for a slashing production by 2 million barrels per day starting in November, which some saw as a possible move to help Russia weather the European embargo. The impact had some limitations because OPEC+ countries already can’t meet their quotas.

    With the global economy slowing, oil prices have been falling since summertime highs, with international benchmark Brent closing Friday at $85.42 per barrel, down from $98 a month ago. That has eased gasoline prices for drivers in the U.S. and around the world.

    On the other side, the price cap and EU boycott could take an unknown amount of Russian oil off the global market, tightening supply and driving up prices. To prevent a sudden loss of Russian crude, the price cap allows shipping and insurance companies to transport Russian oil to non-Western nations at or below that threshold. Most of the globe’s tanker fleet is covered by insurers in the G-7 or EU.

    Russia would likely try to evade the cap by organizing its own insurance and using the world’s shadowy fleet of off-the-books tankers, as Iran and Venezuela have done, but that would be costly and cumbersome, analysts say.

    Facing those uncertainties for the global oil market, OPEC oil ministers led by Saudi Arabia could leave production levels unchanged or cut output again to keep prices from declining further. Low prices mean less revenue for governments of producing nations.

    “We feel that the meeting will be fairly short, and the alliance will stick to the current output targets,” said Gary Peach, oil markets analyst with Energy Intelligence. Standing pat makes sense “all the more so because oil is at $87 per barrel (earlier Friday), which is a good price for everybody. … Of course, $98 is better, but right now I think they see the market as adequately priced, adequately supplied and there’s no reason to rock the boat.”

    Analysts at Clearview Energy Partners, on the other hand, expect OPEC+ to announce a production cut of 1 million barrels per day. Some members are underproducing, so that would more likely amount to a production cut of roughly 580,000 barrels per day.

    A cut of that magnitude wouldn’t cause a problem with global supplies, even when taking into consideration the EU ban on Russian oil, which is expected to pull another 1 million barrels off the market, said Jacques Rousseau, managing director at Clearview Energy Partners. Oil use declines in the winter, in part because fewer people are driving.

    But the G-7 price cap could prompt Russia to retaliate and take more oil off the market. The Saudis are “likely to share the Kremlin’s interest in quashing the G-7’s rising buyers’ cartel,” said Kevin Book, another managing director at Clearview.

    The cap of $60 a barrel is near the current price of Russian oil, meaning Moscow could continue to sell while rejecting the cap in principle.

    “If Russia ends up taking off more oil than about a million barrels per day, then the world becomes short on oil, and there would need to be an offset somewhere, whether that’s from OPEC or not,” Rousseau said. “That’s going to be the key factor — is to figure out how much Russian oil is really leaving the market.”

    ———

    Bussewitz reported from New York.

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  • OPEC+ oil producers face uncertainty over Russian sanctions

    OPEC+ oil producers face uncertainty over Russian sanctions

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    FRANKFURT, Germany — The Saudi-led OPEC oil cartel and allied producing countries, including Russia, are expected to decide how much oil to supply to the global economy amid weakening demand in China and uncertainty about the impact of new Western sanctions against Russia that could take significant amounts of oil off the market.

    The 23-country OPEC+ alliance are scheduled to meet Sunday, a day ahead of the planned start of two measures aimed at hitting Moscow’s oil earnings in response to its war in Ukraine. Those are a European Union boycott of most Russian oil and a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian exports imposed by the EU and Group of Seven democracies.

    Russia rejected the price cap approved Friday and threatened to stop supplying the nations that endorsed it.

    Oil has been trading lower on fears that coronavirus outbreaks and China’s strict zero-COVID restrictions would reduce demand for fuel in one of the world’s major economies. Concerns about recessions in the U.S. and Europe also raise the prospect of lower demand for gasoline and other fuel made from crude.

    That uncertainty is the reason OPEC+ gave in October for a slashing production by 2 million barrels per day starting in November, which some saw as a possible move to help Russia weather the European embargo. The impact had some limitations because OPEC+ countries already can’t meet their quotas.

    With the global economy slowing, oil prices have been falling since summertime highs, with international benchmark Brent closing Friday at $85.42 per barrel, down from $98 a month ago. That has eased gasoline prices for drivers in the U.S. and around the world.

    On the other side, the price cap and EU boycott could take an unknown amount of Russian oil off the global market, tightening supply and driving up prices. To prevent a sudden loss of Russian crude, the price cap allows shipping and insurance companies to transport Russian oil to non-Western nations at or below that threshold. Most of the globe’s tanker fleet is covered by insurers in the G-7 or EU.

    Russia would likely try to evade the cap by organizing its own insurance and using the world’s shadowy fleet of off-the-books tankers, as Iran and Venezuela have done, but that would be costly and cumbersome, analysts say.

    Facing those uncertainties for the global oil market, OPEC oil ministers led by Saudi Arabia could leave production levels unchanged or cut output again to keep prices from declining further. Low prices mean less revenue for governments of producing nations.

    “We feel that the meeting will be fairly short, and the alliance will stick to the current output targets,” said Gary Peach, oil markets analyst with Energy Intelligence. Standing pat makes sense “all the more so because oil is at $87 per barrel (earlier Friday), which is a good price for everybody. … Of course, $98 is better, but right now I think they see the market as adequately priced, adequately supplied and there’s no reason to rock the boat.”

    Analysts at Clearview Energy Partners, on the other hand, expect OPEC+ to announce a production cut of 1 million barrels per day. Some members are underproducing, so that would more likely amount to a production cut of roughly 580,000 barrels per day.

    A cut of that magnitude wouldn’t cause a problem with global supplies, even when taking into consideration the EU ban on Russian oil, which is expected to pull another 1 million barrels off the market, said Jacques Rousseau, managing director at Clearview Energy Partners. Oil use declines in the winter, in part because fewer people are driving.

    But the G-7 price cap could prompt Russia to retaliate and take more oil off the market. The Saudis are “likely to share the Kremlin’s interest in quashing the G-7’s rising buyers’ cartel,” said Kevin Book, another managing director at Clearview.

    The cap of $60 a barrel is near the current price of Russian oil, meaning Moscow could continue to sell while rejecting the cap in principle.

    “If Russia ends up taking off more oil than about a million barrels per day, then the world becomes short on oil, and there would need to be an offset somewhere, whether that’s from OPEC or not,” Rousseau said. “That’s going to be the key factor — is to figure out how much Russian oil is really leaving the market.”

    ———

    Bussewitz reported from New York.

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  • US intel chief thinking ‘optimistically’ for Ukraine forces

    US intel chief thinking ‘optimistically’ for Ukraine forces

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    KYIV, Ukraine — The head of U.S. intelligence says fighting in Russia’s war in Ukraine is running at a “reduced tempo” and suggests Ukrainian forces could have brighter prospects in coming months.

    Avril Haines alluded to past allegations by some that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advisers could be shielding him from bad news — for Russia — about war developments, and said he “is becoming more informed of the challenges that the military faces in Russia.”

    “But it’s still not clear to us that he has a full picture of at this stage of just how challenged they are,” the U.S. director of national intelligence said late Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.

    Looking ahead, Haines said, “honestly we’re seeing a kind of a reduced tempo already of the conflict” and her team expects that both sides will look to refit, resupply, and reconstitute for a possible Ukrainian counter-offensive in the spring.

    “But we actually have a fair amount of skepticism as to whether or not the Russians will be in fact prepared to do that,” she said. “And I think more optimistically for the Ukrainians in that timeframe.”

    In recent weeks, Russia’s military focus has been on striking Ukrainian infrastructure and pressing an offensive in the east, near the town of Bakhmut, while shelling sites in the city of Kherson, which Ukrainian forces liberated last month after an 8-month Russian occupation.

    In his nightly address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lashed out at Western efforts to crimp Russia’s crucial oil industry, a key source of funds for Putin’s war machine, saying their $60-per-barrel price cap on imports of Russian oil was insufficient.

    “It is not a serious decision to set such a limit for Russian prices, which is quite comfortable for the budget of the terrorist state,” Zelenskyy said, referring to Russia. He said the $60-per-barrel level would still allow Russia to bring in $100 billion in revenues per year.

    “This money will go not only to the war and not only to further sponsorship by Russia of other terrorist regimes and organisations. This money will be used for further destabilisation of those countries that are now trying to avoid serious decisions,” Zelenskyy said.

    Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, the United States and the 27-nation European Union agreed Friday to cap what they would pay for Russian oil at $60 per barrel. The limit is set to take effect Monday, along with an EU embargo on Russian oil shipped by sea.

    Russian authorities have rejected the price cap and threatened Saturday to stop supplying the nations that endorsed it.

    In yet another show of Western support for Ukraine’s efforts to battle back Russian forces and cope with fallout from the war, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland on Saturday visited the operations of a Ukrainian aid group that provides support for internally displaced people in Ukraine, among her other visits with top Ukrainian officials.

    Nuland assembled dolls out of yarn in the blue-and-yellow colors of Ukraine’s flag with youngsters from regions including northeastern Kharkiv, southern Kherson, and eastern Donetsk.

    “This is psychological support for them at an absolutely crucial time,” Nuland said.

    “As President Putin knows best, this war could stop today, if he chose to stop it and withdrew his forces — and then negotiations can begin,” she added.

    ———

    Merchant reported from Washington, D.C.

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