2025-09-24 12:40
WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - U.S. aircraft engines and parts, along with certain chemicals, could give the United States leverage in its talks with China, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday. Bessent told Fox Business Network's "Mornings with Maria" program that rare earth minerals from China were flowing, but the U.S. was working to shore up supplies of certain strategic goods and products. Sign up here. "We're not without levers on our side. We have plenty of products that they depend on us for," Bessent said, listing aircraft engines and parts, along with certain chemicals and plastics, as well as the ingredients for silicon. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/bessent-says-aircraft-engines-chemicals-could-be-leverage-us-china-talks-2025-09-24/
2025-09-24 12:35
Sept 24 (Reuters) - Freeport-McMoRan (FCX.N) , opens new tab said on Wednesday it was expecting consolidated sales to be lower by about 4% for copper and nearly 6% for gold in the third quarter, compared with its prior forecast, sending the miner's shares down 9% in premarket trading. Earlier this month, the company had temporarily halted mining in Indonesia's Grasberg mine after a large flow of wet material blocked access to parts of its underground mine, restricting evacuation routes for seven workers. Sign up here. Freeport last week located two team members who had been fatally injured in the incident. The company operates Grasberg, one of the world's largest gold and copper mines, and had been building a smelter in Indonesia. The smelter was damaged by a fire last year and was shut down. In July, it had forecasted a consolidated sales of 1 billion pounds of copper and 350 thousand ounces of gold for the third quarter. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/freeport-mcmoran-expects-lower-consolidated-sales-copper-gold-third-quarter-2025-09-24/
2025-09-24 11:49
1.5 GW farm offshore Normandy would produce beginning 2033 66 euro/megawatt-hour tariff is 47% higher than nearby tender given to EDF in 2023 RWE aims to exit, Total to seek new consortium partner Total executive says France needs new energy planning law to reassure industry Sept 24 (Reuters) - TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) , opens new tab has won a tender to develop and build a 1.5 gigawatt wind farm off the coast of Normandy in a consortium with Germany's RWE (RWEG.DE) , opens new tab, marking France's largest such project to date. The deal, a last-minute award by the outgoing government which collapsed this month before publishing crucial legislation to launch future energy tenders, allows TotalEnergies to strengthen its renewable energy portfolio in France, a market the company has previously deemed less competitive due to slow permitting processes compared to Britain and Germany. Sign up here. It also allows France, which lags behind European Union renewable energy targets, to inch toward its offshore wind capacity aim to reach 45 gigawatts (GW) by 2050, up from the current 1.5 GW, but progress has been hampered by the absence of a revised energy planning law (PPE) to guide future tenders. "TotalEnergies is proud to be French and invest in France, but in effect a new PPE is necessary to reassure industry players and launch new tenders," Isabelle Patrier, head of TotalEnergies France, told journalists at a Wednesday press briefing. Consortium partner RWE has requested permission to exit the project, which Total said was for strategic reasons. RWE did not respond to a request for comment. FIRST FRENCH OFFSHORE WIN The offshore wind award is Total's first in France, where most previous tenders have gone to state-owned EDF or partially-state-owned Engie (ENGIE.PA) , opens new tab . Of Total's 25 GW of gross renewable capacity, just 2 GW are in France, although that will rise to 4 GW by 2030. The project represents an investment of 4.5 billion euros ($5.29 billion) excluding grid connection costs, Total said, with the tariff set by the state to be 66 euros per megawatt-hour, a sharp increase from previous tenders, which Total said reflected a 50% rise in construction costs. The wind farm would produce six terawatt-hours of electricity annually, supplying the equivalent of 1 million households, the French government said separately. Total said it expects to make a final investment decision in early 2029, with power production to begin in 2033. Patrier said Total is able to build the project alone, but will seek a new partner. "We don't imagine not being able to find a new partner if RWE leaves, because we know certain developers are already interested in the project," she said. ($1 = 0.8510 euros) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/totalenergies-wins-53-billion-contract-build-wind-farm-france-2025-09-24/
2025-09-24 11:27
Sept 24 (Reuters) - A tanker under U.S. sanctions has moved from the Arctic LNG 2 plant east along Russia's Northern Sea Route, data from LSEG and market sources showed. The Northern Sea Route, which Moscow wants to turn into a new Suez Canal, is challenging for ships due to thick ice in winter, and navigation is restricted to warmer months. Sign up here. According to shipping data, the tanker Universal was loaded with about 44,000 metric tons of gas condensate at the Arctic LNG 2 site on September 2 and moved along the Northern Sea Route to carry out ship-to-ship transfers near the Russian Far East port of Zarubino. The cargo's final destination is not yet known. The Arctic LNG 2 project, which is subject to Western sanctions over Russia's conflict with Ukraine, had been set to become one of Russia's largest LNG plants with eventual output of 19.8 million metric tons per year and up to 1.6 million metric tons of gas condensate. The current production volumes of gas condensate on the Arctic LNG 2 project are unclear. Last year, a record volume of nearly 38 million metric tons of goods, including oil and liquefied natural gas, was shipped along the NSR, according to the state-controlled Rosatom. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/tanker-under-us-sanctions-carries-fuel-along-russias-northern-sea-route-data-2025-09-24/
2025-09-24 11:16
Needs 460 billion euro investment by 2040 for its projects EDF's debt, cash flow are challenges for funding, auditors say Court urges cost, risk-sharing among state, EDF, customers PARIS, Sept 24 (Reuters) - French utility EDF will need to invest some 460 billion euros ($542.39 billion) by 2040, mainly in its domestic nuclear fleet, but rising debt and cash flow issues pose major challenges, the French Court of Auditors said on Wednesday. Nearly all of France's 57 nuclear reactors are over 30 years old and require extensive maintenance to continue operating, even as EDF plans to develop another six reactors over the next several decades. Sign up here. "Everything related to ... preserving the competitiveness of the French economy, involves energy bills," Ines Mercereau, president of the Court of Auditors, said at a hearing in front of the National Assembly. About a fifth of the needed investments will have to go into keeping the existing nuclear fleet operational until they are 60 years old, costing about 5 billion euros to 6 billion euros per year, the Court of Auditors said in a report. EDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The utility is expected to finalise its plans for the new EPR2 reactors by the end of the year, allowing them to assess costs to make a final investment decision by the second half of 2026. The court estimates the total cost of the first six reactors at 75 billion euros. EDF'S DEBT POSES A CHALLENGE TO FUND RAISING Investing in its electricity network subsidiary Enedis is expected to cost anther 100 billion euros, as the grid will need to be modernised and reinforced, the report said. EDF is expected to have difficulties raising capital alone for these investments due to its debt, which ballooned in 2022 during the European energy crisis, and its cash flow trajectory, the report said. The utility has faced difficulties implementing its new long-term contract scheme to replace the old system that contracted out about a third of its annual production as plummeting market prices have hurt EDF's ability to draw clients, the report said. EDF refused to regulate the sale of its nuclear power in the past, so its income is now more than ever linked to falling market prices, said Nicolas Goldberg, partner at Colombus Consulting. French prices for next year delivery were still above 100 euros per megawatt-hour when these new long-term contracts were announced in late 2023, but prices have dropped sharply since then to now under 60 euros/MWh, LSEG data showed. To address these issues, the court urged the utility to continue to monitor profitability of its renewable investments and for a clear distribution of costs and risks between the French state, EDF and its customers. "This will not, on its own, resolve the EDF group's debt situation," said Mercereau. ($1 = 0.8481 euros) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/french-utility-edf-faces-hurdles-funding-542-billion-nuclear-plan-auditors-say-2025-09-24/
2025-09-24 11:06
Brazil expands gold-tracing to combat cross-border smuggling Interpol's Gaia Project supports global adoption of Brazil's tracing method Amazon Police Cooperation Center aids in tackling environmental crimes BRASILIA, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Brazil’s Federal Police can trace whether gold came from an illegal mine in the Amazon rainforest, and investigators told Reuters they are expanding the program to other countries, hoping to catch more criminals who are trying to escape Brazil's tightening enforcement by smuggling gold across borders. Gold prices have surged to record highs this month as political uncertainty around the world has pushed investors to seek safe havens. Rising prices are a powerful incentive for those illegally mining the precious metal in the Amazon rainforest. Sign up here. The Brazilian program catalogues "gold DNA," the metal's unique morphological signature, to connect each piece of gold police seize from suspects to environmental damage caused by illegal mining in specific sections of the rainforest. In 2023, Brazil prosecuted its first case using the technique. But, as criminal groups expand their reach, taking gold from illegal mines in one country to smelters in another, police say they need to grow their gold library to keep pace. “When we have samples from all gold-producing areas across the Pan-Amazon region, our gold database will be complete, allowing us to scientifically identify the origin of seized samples,” said Humberto Freire, who heads the Amazon and Environment Department at Brazil's Federal Police. AMAZON GOLD DATABASE GROWS BEYOND BRAZIL Some expansion work has already started. A series of agreements signed by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and France's Emmanuel Macron allowed police in Brazil and French Guiana to access samples from each other’s databases to increase cooperation between investigators. In August, Freire met with Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez to discuss implementing the program there. In Colombia, criminal groups often launder drug trafficking money through illegal mining operations. Officials across the region fear the practice could expand to other countries, making investigations harder. In recent years, Colombian authorities have increasingly found Brazilians working in illegal gold mines near the border, according to Colombia’s National Police and Defense Ministry. Two Colombian Defense Ministry officials told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, that the country is interested in cooperating with Brazil and modeling its initiative to develop its own project to analyze "gold DNA." The Brazilian Federal Police's work in tracing also spurred Interpol to develop the Gaia Project, backed by the German government, to train police agencies worldwide to use the Brazilian method of cataloguing gold. Interpol Secretary-General Valdecy Urquiza, a Brazilian Federal Police officer, said he supports initiatives to map gold-producing regions as a strategy for successful investigations against illegal mining. CRACKDOWN FORCES GOLD SMUGGLERS TO SHIFT TACTICS The sharp increase in investigations and raids into illegal gold miners under the Lula administration pushed criminal groups to turn to international routes, exporting gold to neighboring countries for processing and sale, one source at Brazil's Federal Police told Reuters. A series of state-led enforcement measures, including a Supreme Court ruling that forced smelters to verify the origin of gold, have also made it harder for illegally mined gold to enter the market. “We used to see gold coming from Venezuela into Brazil — now it’s the opposite, gold is leaving Brazil,” said Erich Moreira Lima, who heads Brazil's gold-tracking program. Investigators say this shift is already evident in data. Last year, there was a sharp drop in gold trade, with Federal Police seizures falling to 80 kg from a record 308 kg in 2023. But between January and August this year, police have already seized 253 kg of gold – half of which was headed to smelters in Venezuela, investigators believe. Now, federal police officers are working to analyze the “DNA” of the seized gold to figure out where it came from. As environmental criminals increasingly operate across borders, governments in the region are working to create other tools for cooperation. This month, Lula joined Colombian President Gustavo Petro and other authorities to inaugurate the Amazon International Police Cooperation Center in Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. The center, first announced in 2023, is designed to facilitate information-sharing across Amazonian countries, with a focus on environmental offenses. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/brazilian-police-expand-program-trace-gold-illegal-amazon-mines-nab-smugglers-2025-09-24/
