2025-07-03 23:32
LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) - Britain is launching its first ever onshore wind strategy, designed to boost renewable power capacity and increase jobs in the sector, the government said on Friday. Britain is aiming to largely decarbonise its electricity sector by 2030 as part of efforts to meet its climate goals, boost energy security and reduce power costs by curbing its reliance on expensive fossil fuels. Sign up here. “Rolling out more onshore wind is a no-brainer – it’s one of our cheapest technologies, quick to build, supports thousands of skilled jobs and can provide clean energy directly to the communities hosting it,” Energy Minister Michael Shanks said in a statement from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The government said the move could help create around 45,000 jobs. Under the strategy it is launching 40 actions to help boost onshore wind projects such as offering funding for things like football pitches or libraries in communities hosting the projects, working to repower existing wind turbines coming to the end of their lifespans and improving the planning process for new projects. “The measures outlined will increase confidence among investors and developers, so that we can attract billions in private investment and create thousands of highly-skilled jobs and new supply chains all over the country,” James Robottom, Head of Onshore Wind Delivery at industry group RenewableUK said in the government statement. Britain currently has around 16 gigawatts (GW) of onshore wind power but is targeting 27-29 GW by 2030. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/britain-launches-strategy-expand-onshore-wind-create-jobs-2025-07-03/
2025-07-03 23:27
QUITO, July 3 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean state oil company Petroecuador declared force majeure on all operations, including crude exports, after two key pipelines suspended pumping, the firm's head said on Thursday. The state-owned SOTE and OCP oil pipelines suspended pumping earlier this week to protect infrastructure threatened by heavy rains, which sped up erosion in the Amazonian province of Napo. Sign up here. "Force majeure has been declared so that (Petroecuador) can act with all the tools necessary," Petroecuador chief Leonard Bruns said. The company also said it had begun shutting down oil wells in the region due to the pause in transport operations. Ecuador's crude production fell some 133,000 barrels per day (bpd) since the operations were paused, according to a report published on Thursday by the nation's Hydrocarbons Regulation and Control Agency. The erosion, which began along the Coca River in 2020, has since expanded, damaging oil infrastructure and roadways and now threatening the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant, the largest in Ecuador. Authorities said temporary bypasses are under construction on both pipelines to resume operations, while studies have been authorized for permanent rerouting to avoid the impacted area. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ecuadors-state-oil-company-petroecuador-declares-force-majeure-its-operations-2025-07-03/
2025-07-03 23:21
July 4 (Reuters) - Australian oil and gas producer Santos (STO.AX) , opens new tab said on Friday it had signed a mid-term liquefied natural gas supply deal with QatarEnergy Trading, a wholly-owned unit of QatarEnergy, the world's largest exporter of LNG. Under the deal, Santos said it would supply 0.5 million tonnes of LNG per annum over a period of two years from 2026. The commodity would be supplied from the firm's wide portfolio of LNG assets, it said in its statement. Sign up here. Qatar is the world's third-biggest liquefied natural gas exporter after the U.S. and Australia. "We continue to see very strong demand in Asia for high heating value LNG from projects such as Barossa and PNG LNG, as well as for reliable regional supply," said Kevin Gallagher, Santos CEO and managing director. In June, Santos, the country's second-largest independent gas producer, said it had been progressing well towards final commissioning activities at its Barossa LNG project. The Barossa project, together with the Pikka Phase 1 project in Alaska, is expected to deliver a 30% increase in production for Santos in the next 18 months compared to 2024. Last month, an international consortium led by Abu Dhabi's National Oil Company (ADNOC) offered to buy out Santos in an all-cash $18.7 billion takeover bid, which the latter intended to support. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/australias-santos-signs-lng-supply-deal-with-qatarenergys-unit-2025-07-03/
2025-07-03 22:55
July 3 (Reuters) - Barclays on Thursday said it raised its Brent oil price forecast by $6 to $72 per barrel for 2025 and by $10 to $70 a barrel for 2026 on an improved outlook for demand. "Geopolitical tensions have eased as the U.S.-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Iran continues to hold and the risk premium has evaporated, but price action has been reflecting better-than-expected fundamentals, in our view," said Barclays in a note. Sign up here. Despite an accelerated increase in output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia (OPEC+), global crude oil inventories declined in the second quarter, Barclays said. The tighter balance outlook is driven by stronger demand growth, weaker non-OPEC supply growth, and the International Energy Agency's (IEA) upward revision of baseline demand estimates, it said. Barclays raised its outlook for global demand growth by 260,000 barrels per day, with most of that coming from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, where it said "demand has been coming in stronger than expected". It now sees U.S. oil demand growing by 130,000 bpd this year, which is 100,000 bpd ahead of its previous estimate following a weather-related demand boost earlier in the year, although it still expects a gradual slowdown in activity. On the supply side, while OPEC+ will likely continue to phase out its voluntary production cuts at an accelerated pace, the actual output increase likely will continue to lag, Barclays said, pointing to pressure on some OPEC+ producers to curb output to compensate for earlier producing above their quotas. "Between March and May 2025, OPEC+ target increased by 548 kb/d but the group's output remained largely flat, resulting in better compliance, in aggregate," it said. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/barclays-raises-brent-forecast-72-per-barrel-2025-2025-07-03/
2025-07-03 22:43
LIMA, July 2 (Reuters) - A protest by informal miners in Peru is blocking parts of a key copper corridor used by major miners MMG (1208.HK) , opens new tab, Glencore (GLEN.L) , opens new tab and Hudbay (HBM.TO) , opens new tab, leaders of the action and an industry source said on Wednesday. The demonstrators at the blockade in the Chumbivilcas province of the Cusco region are pushing Peru's government to extend a deadline to regularize informal mining operations, said Luis Huaman, one of the protest leaders. Sign up here. The companies operating major copper mines in the area - MMG's Las Bambas, Hudbay's Constancia and Glencore's Antapaccay - did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Reuters could not determine the scope of the potential impact to operations at the sites, which rank among the top 10 producers in the country, led by Las Bambas in the fourth slot. The area is one of several nationwide where members of Peru's artisanal and informal miners organization, CONFEMIN, began staging protests on Friday. "This blockade is in support of the national protest, for unconditional formalization," Huaman said in an interview. "We are not allowing (trucks from) large-scale mining to pass." A mining industry source familiar with Las Bambas told Reuters that after several days of protest, the company is being affected, but did not provide further details. Las Bambas has faced numerous protests in recent years, and has used longer alternate routes to avoid roadblocks. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/protesters-block-peru-copper-route-used-by-large-miners-2025-07-02/
2025-07-03 21:50
Bill cuts solar and wind tax credits, keeps nuclear and geothermal Energy Innovation projects 300 GW capacity fall due to bill Oil and gas industry praises bill for advancing energy dominance agenda WASHINGTON, July 3 (Reuters) - Advocates of clean energy on Thursday decried the final passage of President Donald Trump's tax cut bill by the House of Representatives as a reversal of course on the energy transition, while fossil-fuel interests rejoiced. Trump's fellow Republicans in the House passed the bill 218-214 and it now heads to the president's desk. Trump is expected to sign it on Friday. Sign up here. The legislation sharply cuts access to a 30% tax credit for solar and wind power projects that had been set to run until 2032 and which developers had relied on. Research firm Energy Innovation projected that the bill would result in a fall of 300 gigawatts of U.S. electricity capacity, as demand soars for the first time in two decades, driven by growth in data centers and artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, demand for power from data centers is estimated at upward of 100 GW, according to nonprofit group American Clean Power. The bill's passage "is a dramatic swing in federal policy, disrupting the good-faith investments of American companies that are powering our economy and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs," said Jason Grumet, ACP's president. Jefferies global investment bank said in a research note to clients that the phaseout of the wind and solar subsidies will lead to a "medium-term rush" to claim credits, which could speed the roll-out of projects for a couple of years. After that period, investors will need to reassess such projects without them. It said nuclear and geothermal power, energy sources that the Trump administration favors for dependable electricity generation, received better access to credits in the legislation. Battery storage projects will also retain the full tax credit through 2033 and phase out fully by 2036. The "longer runway" for those baseload resources to use the tax credits won praise from the Data Center Coalition, whose members include Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab and Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab. Mike Sommers, the president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, the top oil and gas lobbying organization, said Congress had advanced Trump's "energy dominance agenda" of maximizing oil and gas output. Production of oil and gas had already hit a record during the administration of former President Joe Biden. "We applaud Congress for unleashing our nation’s oil and natural gas resources, and we look forward to President Trump signing this bill into law," Sommers said in a release. COAL GETS A BREAK Some tax credits favored by the oil industry, like those for hydrogen and carbon capture, were preserved in the bill. The bill also mandates sales of oil and gas drilling rights in federal lands and in waters off Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump has renamed the Gulf of America. It allows coal used in steel making a new production tax break of 2.5% of costs that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars for the industry. It also reduced royalty rates that coal companies have to pay when mining on public lands. Rich Nolan, the president and CEO of the National Mining Association lobbying group, said the bill supports "today's mining industry which stands ready to create additional jobs and revenues for our economy." Daniel Francis, a director with Generate Capital, said the focus for wind and solar industries will shift to states and communities. "Ultimately the impact of the bill will be to move decisions down the federal chain from Congress to states, counties and cities," he said. "Because economies run on power, because voters care about their power bills, and there is no alternative." https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/clean-energy-backers-blast-us-budget-bill-setback-2025-07-03/
