2024-09-01 04:41
Sept 1 (Reuters) - Searchers found no survivors among the wreckage of a Russian helicopter that crashed in the far eastern peninsula of Kamchatka with 22 people on board, state news agency TASS said on Sunday. The Mi-8T helicopter had taken off from a base near the Vachkazhets volcano. The Kamchatka peninsula, some 7,100 km (4,400 miles) east of Moscow, was hit by a cyclone over the weekend, with heavy winds and rain, but it was not clear if that was the cause of the crash. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/wind-rain-make-search-missing-russian-helicopter-with-22-aboard-difficult-2024-09-01/
2024-09-01 00:21
SYDNEY, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people in Australia's southern island state of Tasmania were without power on Sunday after a cold front brought damaging winds and heavy rains, sparking flood warnings. "Around 30,000 customers are without power across the state this morning," Tasnetworks, a state-owned power company, said on Facebook on Sunday. The nation's weather forecaster said on its website that a cold front over Tasmania, population around 570,000 people, was moving away, "although bands of showers and thunderstorms continue to pose a risk of damaging wind gusts." Properties, power lines and infrastructure had been damaged, Tasmania's emergency management minister Felix Ellis said in a televised media conference, adding that "the damage bill is likely to be significant". Emergency authorities issued warnings for flooding, which they said could leave Tasmanians isolated for several days, as the state prepared for another cold front forecast to hit on Sunday night. “There is potential for properties to be inundated, and roads may not be accessible," executive director of Tasmania State Emergency Service, Mick Lowe, said in a statement. Authorities had received 330 requests for assistance in the last 24 hours, according to the agency. Tasmania is a one-hour flight or 10-hour ferry crossing from the mainland city of Melbourne, 445 km (275 miles) away. About 40% of the island is wilderness or protected areas. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thousands-australians-without-power-heavy-rain-damaging-winds-lash-tasmania-2024-09-01/
2024-08-31 20:17
Aug 31 (Reuters) - Libya's Sarir, Messla and Nafoura oilfields have received instructions to resume production, engineers at the three fields told Reuters on Saturday, after a standoff between rival political factions shut most of the country's oilfields. The resumption order was made by the fields' operator, the Arabian Gulf Oil Company, which did not provide any reasons, according to the engineers. A struggle to control the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) has sparked a blockade of oil production and threatens the worst crisis in years for the major energy exporter, long torn between rival eastern and western factions. The standoff was triggered when western factions moved this month to oust veteran governor Sadiq al-Kabir and replace him with a rival board, leading eastern factions to shut down all oil production. The eastern-based administration, which controls oilfields that account for almost all the country's production, are demanding western authorities back down over the replacement of the CBL governor - a key position in a state where control over oil revenue is the biggest prize for all factions. Earlier on Saturday, the Libyan oil export port of Hariga stopped operating due to insufficient crude supplies following the near-total shutdown of the Sarir oilfield, the port's main supplier, engineers at the terminal said. The Sarir field normally produces about 209,000 barrels per day (bpd). Libya pumped about 1.18 million bpd in July in total. On Friday, Libya's National Oil Corporation said recent oilfield closures have caused the loss of approximately 63% of the country's total oil production. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/three-libyan-oil-fields-receive-instructions-resume-production-engineers-say-2024-08-31/
2024-08-31 19:48
Aug 31 (Reuters) - Iraq plans to offer 10 gas exploration blocks to U.S. companies during an upcoming visit by Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani to the United States, he announced on Saturday. The move is part of Baghdad's efforts to attract U.S. investment into its energy sector, following previous licensing rounds where Chinese firms secured the majority of available fields. The 10 gas blocks, left unclaimed following six licensing, rounds, will be presented in a new bidding process, Iraqi state media said, and comes as Iraq seeks to bolster its domestic gas production. Abdel-Ghani also said Iraq will launch a new gas investment project by the end of the year at the Al-Faihaa oil field in southern Iraq. The project, with a capacity of 125 million standard cubic feet (mscf), is a key component of Iraq's strategy to enhance its energy infrastructure. The latest initiative follows recent agreements to develop 13 oil and gas blocks, aimed at increasing Iraq's crude and gas output to supply power plants, which currently rely heavily on Iranian gas imports. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iraq-seeks-us-investment-gas-new-projects-target-energy-independence-2024-08-31/
2024-08-31 19:12
CARACAS, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Electricity returned to Caracas and other parts of Venezuela on Saturday after a blackout plunged much of the country into darkness on Friday, although Reuters witnesses reported continued intermittent outages in the oil-producing state of Zulia. Venezuela's government blamed the massive blackout that crippled the South American country on an "attack" on the country's largest dam, Guri, without providing additional details. "The first thing I thought was that the food was going to spoil, and it was so expensive to buy,” said Jose Rincon, a teacher who lives in the central city of Valencia. "When you think everything is bad, it seems like it just gets worse." Reyner Acosta, a 62-year-old retiree in Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia, said the electricity came back early Saturday morning, only to cut off once again. "We were struggling because the electricity came and went," he said while shopping at a market to replenish food that had gone bad while the power was out. On Saturday, the Jose oil terminal, the largest in the country, resumed operations that had been interrupted by the blackout, according to an industry source. About 70% of Venezuela's oil exports are handled through the terminal, which does not have its own energy system. A key oil upgrader that produces exportable crude, Petropiar, also resumed operations on Saturday, according to two company sources. Experts say the blackouts that have plagued Venezuela for years are due to lack of maintenance and disinvestment from the electrical system. In 2019, a series of nationwide power outages hit Venezuela and lasted days. At the time, Venezuelan authorities also attributed the blackouts to attacks by the opposition. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/power-returns-most-venezuela-after-fridays-blackout-2024-08-31/
2024-08-31 17:39
WASHINGTON, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday suggested his support for the decriminalization of marijuana, saying taxpayer dollars should not be wasted arresting people carrying "personal amounts." "In Florida, like so many other states that have already given their approval, personal amounts of marijuana will be legalized for adults with Amendment 3," Trump said about an effort in his home state to legalize the possession and purchase of up to 3 ounces for adults over the age of 21. "Whether people like it or not, this will happen through the approval of the voters, so it should be done correctly." Trump, who is the Republican nominee for president, said state lawmakers should create laws that ban use of marijuana in public spaces. He added that someone should not be a criminal in one state when marijuana use is legal in others. "We do not need to ruin lives and waste taxpayer dollars arresting adults with personal amounts of it on them, and no one should grieve a loved one because they died from fentanyl laced marijuana," Trump said. Marijuana is legal in some form in nearly 40 states. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-taxpayer-dollars-shouldnt-be-wasted-arrest-people-small-amounts-2024-08-31/
