2024-09-26 06:23

DUBAI, Sept 26 (Reuters) - State oil giant Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) , opens new tab has raised $3 billion from two-part Islamic bonds, or sukuk, tapping the debt markets for the second time this year as it expects to pay huge dividends, mainly to the government. The state oil giant on Wednesday sold $1.5 billion in five-year sukuk at a spread of 85 basis points (bps) over U.S. Treasuries and $1.5 billion in 10-year Islamic bonds at 100 bps above the same benchmark, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, tighter than earlier guidance on strong demand. Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Aramco, in which the Saudi government holds a nearly 81.5% stake and its sovereign Public Investment Fund another 16%, was aiming to raise up to $3 billion in the deal, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The world's top oil exporter raised $6 billion from a three-tranche bond sale in July, ending a three-year debt market hiatus after it issued the same amount in Islamic bonds in 2021. The debt-raising comes at a time when it is producing about a quarter below its capacity and has outlined it will pay $124.3 billion in dividends for 2024, up from $97.8 billion last year. "We see the increased borrowing in 2024 reflecting both the higher dividend payments and to support its planned capital expenditure, at a time of softer oil revenue outlook," said Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. "Indeed, Aramco's dividend payments were higher than the company's free cashflow" in the first half of this year, she added. Aramco has long been a cash cow for Saudi Arabia, which is pouring billions of dollars into its Vision 2030 economic overhaul plan to create new industries and reduce reliance on oil. But lower oil prices and cuts to production have weighed on Aramco's profit. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, de facto led by Riyadh, along with allies including Russia - together known as OPEC+ - have been cutting oil output to support prices. Earlier this month, OPEC+ agreed to delay a planned oil output increase for October and November after crude prices hit their lowest in nine months, saying it could further pause or reverse the hikes if needed. Brent crude was trading at $71.43 a barrel at 0615 GMT. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/saudi-aramco-raises-3-billion-second-debt-foray-since-july-2024-09-26/

2024-09-26 06:14

Helene expected to cause flash flooding with up to 15 inches of rain Officials urge evacuations due to catastrophic winds and storm surge Energy facilities scale back operations Sept 26 (Reuters) - Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region late Thursday as one of the most powerful storms to hit the state, raising fears of deaths, widespread damage and even worse floods than the severe deluge which had preceded its arrival. Helene hit Florida packing sustained winds of around 130 mph (209 kph), the National Hurricane Center said, making it a powerful Category 4 storm. Even before it made landfall, the storm had flooded the Gulf Coast and knocked out power for at least 1 million customers in the state. Officials pleaded with residents in the path of the storm to heed mandatory evacuation orders or face life-threatening conditions. Helene's surge - the wall of seawater pushed on land by hurricane-force winds - could rise to as much as 20 feet (6.1 meters) in some spots, as tall as a two-story house, the center's director, Michael Brennan, said in a video briefing. "A really unsurvivable scenario is going to play out" in the coastal area, Brennan said, with water capable of destroying buildings and carrying cars pushing inland. Strong rain bands were whipping parts of coastal Florida, and rainfall had already lashed Georgia, South Carolina, central and western North Carolina and portions of Tennessee. Atlanta, hundreds of miles north of Florida's Big Bend, was under a tropical storm warning. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters late Thursday the hurricane had already caused one fatality. He gave no details. In Pinellas County, which sits on a peninsula surrounded by Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, roads were already filling with water before noon. Officials warned the storm's impact could be as severe as last year's Hurricane Idalia, which flooded 1,500 homes in the low-lying coastal county. Videos posted on the county's social media site showed some swamped beachside roads and water rising over boat docks. Airports in Tampa, Tallahassee and St. Petersburg all suspended operations on Thursday. Helene is expected to remain a full-fledged hurricane as it rolls through the Macon, Georgia, area on Friday, forecasters said. It could bring 12 inches (30.5 cm) of rain or more, potentially devastating the state's cotton and pecan crops, which are in the middle of harvesting season. "The current forecast for Hurricane Helene suggests this storm will impact every part of our state," Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said. After making landfall across the Florida coast, Helene is expected to move more slowly over the Tennessee Valley on Friday and Saturday, the NHC said. WALL OF WATER Storm surge was forecast to reach 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 meters) in the Big Bend area of Florida's Panhandle region where the storm came ashore. Numerous evacuations were ordered along Florida's Gulf Coast, including Sarasota and Charlotte counties. Not everyone heeded the evacuation orders. In coastal Dunedin, Florida, about 25 miles west of Tampa, state ferry boat operator Ken Wood, 58, planned to ride out the storm with his 16-year-old cat, Andy. "We're under orders, but I'm going to stay right here at the house," Wood told Reuters by telephone. "The storm looks like it'll be a bit west of us, but who knows? I'm sure it'll be interesting, to say the least." In Taylor County, the Sheriff's Department asked residents who decided not to evacuate to write their names and dates of birth on their arms in ink - so that they could be identified in the case they lost their lives in the hurricane. Reinsurance broker Gallagher Re said preliminary private insurance losses could reach $3 billion to $6 billion, with additional losses to federal insurance programs approaching a potential $1 billion. Energy facilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast scaled back operations and evacuated some production sites. The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deanne Criswell, said at a White House briefing that she would travel to Florida on Friday to assess the damage. Helene was expected to dump up to 15 inches (38.1 cm) of rain in some isolated spots after making landfall in Florida, causing considerable flash and urban flooding, the hurricane center said. "You need to prepare for prolonged (energy) outages. Those trees are going to come down in strong winds, block roads," National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Jamie Rhome said. (This story has been refiled to add the missing word 'to' in paragraph 12) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/hurricane-helene-barrels-toward-florida-with-fierce-winds-storm-surge-2024-09-26/

2024-09-26 06:13

Company struggling with weak demand in Europe Dividend could be cut to 2.25 euros a share from 3.40 this year Share buybacks will mitigate dividend cut Company confirms potential overhaul of businesses Sept 26 (Reuters) - German chemicals giant BASF (BASFn.DE) , opens new tab on Thursday slashed the dividends it plans to pay out in 2025 and in the following three years as it grapples with weak demand in Europe and eyes splitting off several businesses. The new annual dividend proposal of at least 2.25 euros ($2.51) compares with a dividend 3.40 euros per share, or 3 billion euros ($3.35 billion) in total, paid out this year and in the two years before. To mitigate the decline, BASF is planning share buybacks, starting in 2027 at the latest and worth around 4 billion euros in total. In aggregate, BASF said it is committed to keeping the overall distribution to shareholders at the level of the last years through a combination of dividends and share buybacks. "In this way, BASF aims to distribute at least 12 billion euros to shareholders from 2025 to 2028." The company also said it was forecasting earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) before special items of 10 billion to 12 billion euros in 2028, but that was contingent on "mid to upcycle conditions". Analysts on average expect about 11 billion euros in 2028 EBITDA, according to LSEG data. BASF also said it was preparing a divestment process for its decorative paints business in Brazil. The company confirmed a report by Reuters on Wednesday that it is planning a partial listing of its agricultural chemicals business and that it is considering new ownership options for its coatings unit because the stock market is underestimating their earnings prospects within the group. ($1 = 0.8965 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/basf-lowers-2025-dividend-proposal-least-225-eur-per-share-2024-09-26/

2024-09-26 06:08

LITTLETON, Colorado, Sept 26 (Reuters) - There's a wide range in the proportion of U.S. electricity generated by clean energy sources, with nearly 100% of Vermont's electricity coming from low-emissions power while the territory of Puerto Rico has less than 3% clean electricity. The average clean electricity supply share for the United States as a whole is around 43% so far this year, which is a record high and up from 38% in 2019, data from energy think tank Ember shows. Ongoing investments by utilities in renewable energy capacity, mainly solar and wind farms, as well as expansions in hydroelectric and nuclear power, look set to keep lifting the share of clean electricity generated across the U.S. as a whole. But a wide range of clean and fossil fuel-fired generation mixes look set to persist at state level, where legacy infrastructure, political leanings, local geography, land availability and community engagement all play a role in advancing or hindering energy transition efforts. Below is a breakdown of key leaders and laggards in terms of clean energy generation at state level, and key trends to track nationally. CLEANEST CUT While Vermont tops the list as the state with the cleanest electricity share, there are five other states with a clean generation share of more than 70%: Washington, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Idaho and Illinois. The sources of clean generation vary widely across the list, from heavily hydro in Vermont, Idaho and Washington, to mainly nuclear-powered in New Hampshire and Illinois. Combined output from solar and wind farms has also shown steady growth across the cleanest electricity states, as utilities there look to expand total electricity output in line with overall power demand trends across the country. FOSSIL FIXED At the other end of the clean generation spectrum are Puerto Rico, West Virginia, Kentucky, Delaware, Indiana, Mississippi, Louisiana and Ohio, which all have less than 20% shares of clean energy in state electricity generation systems. Natural gas and coal-fired power stations provide the bulk of power generation across these states, with West Virginia and Kentucky both heavily dependent on locally mined coal while the remainder rely mainly on gas. West Virginia's power system is almost entirely fossil-based, with 88% of electricity coming from coal and an additional 8% or so from natural gas. Kentucky also gets over 90% of electricity from coal and gas, but has doubled that share of gas-fired power while steadily reducing coal-fired generation over the past decade or so in order to reduce power pollution levels. An additional 16 states, including Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida and Michigan, have clean electricity generation shares of well below the national average, although in most cases are making investments in clean generation capacity. CLEAN GROWTH Thirteen states have managed to boost their average clean generation share of the generation mix by over 10 percentage points since 2019, with New Mexico, Colorado, Montana and Iowa posting the largest gains. Rapid growth in renewable energy generation - particularly wind - has been the main driver of clean energy supply expansion in all of these states, especially Iowa and New Mexico. Texas and Wyoming have also scored strong clean generation growth since 2019 on the back of big jumps in wind output, while Utah has seen a doubling in solar's share of the state's generation mix since 2022. BACKSLIDING New York, Maine, Pennsylvania and Idaho have all lost ground in terms of clean generation share since 2019. In New York and Pennsylvania, which are two of the largest power systems in the country, new natural gas-fired capacity boosted the fossil share of the generation mix by around 5-10 percentage points since 2018. Michigan, Mississippi and Louisiana have also made notable boosts to gas-fired capacity within the past five years, so that the share of clean generation within each state has receded since 2018. Overall, however, the U.S. electricity generation system looks set to get incrementally cleaner over the remainder of this decade as utilities across the country install more renewable generation capacity and drive total electricity supplies to new records. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/cleanest-dirtiest-us-state-electricity-systems-maguire-2024-09-26/

2024-09-26 06:06

LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - British recycling firm Altilium and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will build and test battery cells made using recycled materials from old Jaguar i-Pace electric vehicles in a pilot project to demonstrate recycled battery production is possible at scale. Part-funded by Tata Motors (TAMO.NS) , opens new tab unit JLR, Altilium and the UK state-backed Advanced Propulsion Centre, the project will run over the course of the next year and take cathode active materials from used i-Pace batteries and make new cells for testing in new JLR EVs. The rise in EVs has brought with it a race to recycle the valuable minerals in their batteries - primarily lithium, cobalt and nickel - which can be worth thousands of euros per car, and counter China's dominance of this field. There is also regulatory pressure on automakers and battery makers to recycle. From 2031, new EV batteries sold into the European Union must include a minimum of 6% recycled lithium, 6% recycled nickel and 16% recycled cobalt. By 2036 these targets increase to 12%, 15% and 26%, respectively. Altilium says that its process should also help automakers hit carbon dioxide reduction targets, as it lowers the need for newly mined materials resulting in a 60% drop in carbon emissions. Earlier this year, SQM Lithium Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile's (SQM) (SQMA.SN) , opens new tab lithium business, provided most of a $12 million Series A funding round for Altilium. That followed a $2.6 million investment by SQM, the world's second-largest lithium producer, in Altilium last year. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/jlr-altilium-test-ev-batteries-made-with-recycled-materials-2024-09-26/

2024-09-26 06:06

BERLIN, Sept 26 (Reuters) - German consumer sentiment is expected to stabilise at a low level going into October, with households more willing to save money amid concerns about where Europe's largest economy is heading in the next 12 months, a survey showed on Thursday. The consumer sentiment index, published by GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM), unexpectedly increased slightly to -21.2 points going into October from a revised -21.9 the month before. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the index to fall to -22.5 going into October. "After the severe setback in the previous month, the slight improvement in consumer sentiment can be interpreted as stabilisation at a low level," said NIM analyst Rolf Buerkl. "The consumer climate has not made any progress since June 2024, when -21 points were measured for the consumer climate. Therefore, the slight increase cannot be interpreted as the start of a noticeable recovery," said the consumer analyst. Labour market woes have been added to the list of factors weighing on sentiment, such as war and inflation, he added. An improvement in income expectations and the propensity to buy boosted overall sentiment but was weighed down by a rise in the willingness to save and a fall in economic expectations. The latest economic data paint a gloomy picture, with data earlier this week showing German business activity contracting in September at the sharpest pace in seven months and leading institutes slashing their forecasts for the coming years. NOTE - The survey period was from Sept. 5-16, 2024. The consumer climate indicator forecasts the progress of real private consumption in the following month. An indicator reading above zero signals year-on-year growth in private consumption. A value below zero indicates a drop compared with the same period a year earlier. According to GfK, a one-point change in the indicator corresponds to a year-on-year change of 0.1% in private consumption. The "willingness to buy" indicator represents the balance between positive and negative responses to the question: "Do you think now is a good time to buy major items?" The income expectations sub-index reflects expectations about the development of household finances in the coming 12 months. The additional business cycle expectations index reflects respondents' assessment of the general economic situation over the next 12 months. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-consumer-sentiment-stays-low-level-october-finds-gfk-2024-09-26/