2025-08-05 12:00

Aug 5 (Reuters) - Uranium Energy's (UEC.A) , opens new tab Sweetwater Uranium Complex in Wyoming has been selected by the U.S. government for a fast-tracked process of approval to add in-situ recovery capability, it said on Tuesday. In March, President Donald Trump had invoked emergency powers to boost domestic production of critical minerals as part of a broad effort to offset China's near-total control of the sector. Sign up here. The Uranium miner wants approval to use in-situ recovery mining methods within the existing permit boundary and to expand the boundary to include ISR-amenable deposits on nearby federally managed lands. In-situ mineral extraction combines drilling, rock fracturing and chemical leaching directly at the drill site. The Sweetwater facility has been added to the FAST-41 transparency dashboard, a federal initiative launched in 2015 to streamline approvals of critical infrastructure, the company said. "On completing this tack-on permitting initiative, Sweetwater will be the largest dual-feed uranium facility in the United States, licensed to process both conventional ore and ISR resin," CEO Amir Adnani said. Sweetwater's uranium complex in Illinois has a 3,000 ton per day conventional mill and an existing licensed capacity of 4.1 million pounds of U3O8 per year, the company said. In April, the White House had said it would fast-track permitting for 10 mining projects across the country as part of Trump's push to expand critical minerals production. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/uranium-energys-sweetwater-plant-fast-track-in-situ-mining-approval-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 11:50

At least four dead, more than 50 missing in Uttarakhand floods Army and disaster response teams deployed for rescue operations Experts link frequent floods to climate change and receding glaciers LUCKNOW, India, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Surging floodwaters and a torrent of mud swept through a village in the northern Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, killing at least four people while more than 50 others were missing, authorities and local TV channels said on Tuesday. Teams from army and disaster response forces had reached the area, local authorities said, with workers trying to rescue people trapped under debris and sludge. Sign up here. TV news channels showed floodwaters and mud surging down a mountain and crashing into the village, sweeping away houses and roads as people ran for their lives. The mudslide cleaved through Dharali village, burying some houses, according to a video update shared by the state chief minister's office. Four people were killed and many more had been rescued so far, Uttarkashi district administrator Prashant Arya told local media. "A massive mudslide struck Dharali village in the Kheer Gad area near Harsil, triggering a sudden flow of debris and water through the settlement," the Central Command of the Indian Army said in a post on X. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to those affected and said teams were making every attempt to provide assistance. Uttarakhand is prone to floods and landslides, which some experts blame on climate change. At least 200 people were killed in 2021, when flash floods swept away two hydroelectric projects in the state. There are about 10,000 glaciers in the Indian Himalayas, and many are receding due to the warming climate. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/mudslide-engulfs-indian-village-least-four-dead-over-50-missing-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 11:47

Exxon, Chevron oil and gas production hit record in Q2 Shell production drops to lowest in at least 20 years, BP's drops from year ago European majors hope to close a valuation gap with US rivals LONDON, Aug 5 - When playing catch up, picking up the pace may not be enough. One also has to hope rivals don't accelerate. Just ask Europe’s energy majors. Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) , opens new tab and Chevron's (CVX.N) , opens new tab bumper oil and gas output in the second quarter served as a sobering reminder to their European rivals of the ferocious challenge the latter face in their attempts to close the production gap that has expanded in recent years. Sign up here. Exxon pumped 4.63 million barrels of oil and gas equivalent per day (boed) in the second quarter, up by 6% from a year ago and a record for the period, following last year's $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources and rising output from low-cost operations in the Permian shale basin in the United States and offshore Guyana. The Texas-headquartered company is targeting between $27 and $29 billion in capital expenditures this year and aims to increase output to 5.4 million boed by 2030. And CEO Darren Woods signalled the company was willing to make further upstream acquisitions. Smaller rival Chevron also posted its highest-ever quarterly production of 3.4 million boed, up 3% on the year, on the back of rising output in the Permian and in Kazakhstan. Output is set to rise by up to 500,000 boed in the third quarter after Chevron completed the acquisition of Hess earlier this month, following a lengthy, bitter legal battle with Exxon. The story is quite different in Europe. Shell's (SHEL.L) , opens new tab production dropped 4.2% to 2.65 million boed, the lowest in at least 20 years, reflecting recent asset sales and the British energy company’s lower spending on oil and gas exploration earlier this decade, in its efforts to shift away from fossil fuels. At BP (BP.L) , opens new tab, production suffered a 3.3% annual decline to 2.3 million boed, also due to lower investment in recent years. And while France’s TotalEnergies grew production by 3.6% from a year ago, its output of 2.5 million boed is still well behind that of its U.S. rivals. Worryingly for these European giants, the window of opportunity to grow output meaningfully is narrowing in this capital-intensive industry, where it takes years to develop projects, competition from rising OPEC supplies is intensifying and the longer-term outlook for oil demand remains hazy amid the energy transition. MODEST GROWTH The European trio’s oil and gas production targets are also rather modest compared with Exxon and Chevron’s aggressive strategies. TotalEnergies – which has maintained the most consistent strategy among the three – aims to increase output by 3% on an annual basis between 2024 and 2030. BP last year abandoned a target to sharply reduce output by the end of the decade and now aims to keep production roughly stable at 2.3 to 2.5 million bpd. Shell aims to grow oil and gas production by 1% annually into 2030. Shell aims to hold upstream and integrated gas capital spending flat between 2022 and 2028 at $12-$14 billion per year. The company plans to start up around five upstream projects by 2027, but it has relatively limited reserves to sustain and grow its production over the long-term, meaning it will likely seek to acquire assets or another company. BP, which has been in deep turmoil following a leadership and strategy crisis which began in 2023, has plans for several new upstream projects in the coming years, including in Iraq and a complex development in the Kaskida field in the Gulf of Mexico. And the UK group announced on Monday that it had made its biggest oil discovery in 25 years in the Bumerangue block in offshore Brazil. If the discovery holds significant commercial volumes, it could certainly offer the company meaningful financial uplift, but once again, development would take years and billions of dollars. VALUE AND VOLUME Of course, larger oil and gas volumes do not necessarily equal stronger shareholder returns, but upstream operations have long been the core driver of profits – and this continues to be reflected in valuations today. Exxon's price-to-cash flow ratio, a key valuation metric, of 8.2 compares with Chevron's 7.7, which both far exceed Shell's 5.1, TotalEnergies' 4.6 and BP's 3.6, according to LSEG data. Importantly, the energy sector as a whole is fighting for a smaller pool of capital. It accounts for less than 5% of the S&P 500 index, down from a peak of 16% in 2008, reflecting years of weak returns, massive energy price volatility and growing environmental pressures. Given this backdrop, Europe’s energy majors have been focused on driving down costs and improving operations, while moderately growing upstream production following years of lower investment when they rolled out energy transition strategies between the late 2010s and 2023. But these new strategies to attract a shrinking pool of investment capital may be too little too late, because even if the Europeans speed up production, Exxon and Chevron won’t be standing still. Enjoying this column? Check out Reuters Open Interest (ROI), , opens new tab your essential new source for global financial commentary. ROI delivers thought-provoking, data-driven analysis. Markets are moving faster than ever. ROI , opens new tab can help you keep up. Follow ROI on LinkedIn and X. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/record-production-exxon-chevron-humbles-european-rivals-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 11:29

India accuses US, EU of double standard over Russian trade Highlights EU's 67.5  billion euros in trade with Russia Says US imports Russian uranium, palladium, fertilisers Both US and EU have heavily cut back on trade with Moscow NEW DELHI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - India has sharply criticised the United States and the European Union, saying it is being unfairly singled out by them over its Russian oil purchases when they both trade extensively with Moscow despite the war in Ukraine. India's criticism followed a renewed threat by U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday to raise tariffs on goods from India over its Russian oil purchases, deepening the trade rift between the two countries. Sign up here. In a rare show of unity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Congress on Tuesday condemned Trump's repeated criticism of New Delhi. India's Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued late on Monday that "it is revealing that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia". "It is unjustified to single out India," the ministry said. It said the EU conducted 67.5 billion euros ($78.02 billion) in trade with Russia in 2024, including record imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) reaching 16.5 million metric tons. The United States, the statement said, continues to import Russian uranium hexafluoride for use in its nuclear power industry, palladium, fertilisers and chemicals. It did not give a source for the export information. The U.S. embassy and the EU's delegation in New Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Both the United States and EU have sharply scaled back their trade ties with Russia since it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In 2021, Russia was the EU's fifth-largest trading partner, with goods exchange worth 258 billion euros, according to the EU executive European Commission. SUDDEN RIFT The sudden rift between India and the U.S. has been deepening since July 31, when Trump announced a 25% tariff on Indian goods being shipped to the U.S. and for the first time threatened unspecified penalties for buying Russian oil. India is one of the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, importing about 1.75 million barrels per day from January to June this year, up 1% from a year ago. Indian refiner Nayara Energy, a major buyer of Russian oil which is majority owned by Russian entities including oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM) , opens new tab, was subjected to European Union sanctions targeting Russia's oil and energy industry in July. India has said it does not support "unilateral sanctions" by the EU. Trade experts say Trump's tariff could badly hurt India's economy. Ajay Srivastava of the New Delhi-based Global Trade Research Initiative said he expected Indian goods exports to the U.S. to fall 30% in the current fiscal year ending March 31, to $60.6 billion from $86.5 billion in the 2025 fiscal year. India's equity benchmarks fell after Trump's renewed threat of harsh tariffs on goods from India. Manish Tewari, a member of parliament and Congress leader, said Trump's "disparaging remarks hurt the dignity and self-respect of Indians". "The time has come to call out this constant bullying and hectoring," he added. BJP Vice President Baijayant Jay Panda quoted Henry Kissinger - the most powerful U.S. diplomat of the Cold War era - in a post on X: "To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal." https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-accuses-eu-us-double-standard-over-russian-trade-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 11:26

BEIJING, Aug 5 (Reuters) - China's renewable power potential in far-flung provinces is increasingly going unused, official statistics showed on Monday, as the country rushes to build more long-distance transmission and energy storage to bridge the gap. The curtailment rate for solar power rose to 6.6% in the first half of 2025 from 3.9% in the same period a year earlier while the rate for wind rose to 5.7% from 3%, according to the National New Energy Consumption Monitoring and Early Warning Center. Sign up here. Curtailment refers to how much grid managers have to limit the amount of power coming into the grid to maintain a balance with demand or due to grid infrastructure constraints. China has a national-level limit of 10% curtailment for renewables, a figure it relaxed last year from 5% previously as it became harder to incorporate rising amounts of renewable energy into the grid. China added 268GW of new solar and wind power in January-June, according to the energy administrator - nearly equal to all of the wind and solar the United States has ever built. On the curtailment front, China's national-level figures masked a larger increase in some renewable-heavy provinces. Tibet curtailed 30.2% of its wind power in the first half of 2025 compared with 2.3% a year earlier. It curtailed 33.9% of its solar power, up from 5.1%. Qinghai in the northwest curtailed 15.2% of its solar power, up from 8.8%. Regions with higher electricity demand continued to report low curtailment rates, including none in the megacities of Shanghai and Chongqing as well as in Fujian province. Underutilisation of renewables is spurring China to switch its focus from rapidly building renewable plants to making sure more of their power gets into the grid, analysts say. "China will still push for decarbonisation, but not necessarily on renewable installation. China might switch its policy focus or target focus from installation volume" to utilisation, Natixis economist Haoxin Mu said. More energy storage is needed, Mu said, which could help increase renewable utilisation by storing excess power when supply outpaces demand. Rising curtailment is also one reason China is investing in projects like the world's largest hydropower dam in Tibet, analysts at BMI said in a July note. Unlike wind and solar, hydropower is dispatchable, meaning output can be adjusted based on demand. China is also responding to increasing curtailment of non-hydro renewables over the past two years by building more high-voltage power transmission, the BMI analysts said, to move electricity from huge power plants in the west to electricity-hungry cities in the east. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/chinas-renewable-capacity-soars-utilisation-lags-data-show-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 11:19

Most of Europe's 153 open coal plants to close by 2038 Data centres require grid connection, cooling Most supplies will come from renewable resources PARIS, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Some of Europe's ageing coal and gas fired power plants can look forward to a more high-tech future as big tech players, such as Microsoft and Amazon, seek to repurpose them as data centres, with ready-made access to power and water. Companies such as France's Engie (ENGIE.PA) , opens new tab, Germany's RWE (RWEG.DE) , opens new tab, and Italy's Enel (ENEI.MI) , opens new tab are looking to benefit from a surge in AI-driven energy demand by converting old power sites into data centres and securing lucrative long-term power supply deals with their operators. Sign up here. The data centre option offers the utilities a way to offset the hefty costs of shutting down ageing power plants as well as potentially underwriting future renewable developments. Tech companies see these sites as a quick way to secure power grid connections and water cooling facilities, two big bottlenecks in the AI industry. "You have all the pieces that come together like ... water infrastructure and heat recovery," said Bobby Hollis, vice president for energy at Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab. Lindsay McQuade, EMEA energy director at Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab , said she expected permitting for data centres to move faster at old sites, where a big chunk of infrastructure was already in place. Utilities can either lease the land or build and operate the centres themselves, securing long-term power contracts with tech firms, he said. The deals offer much more than just the sale of unused land as they include opportunities for stable, high-margin revenue, said Simon Stanton, head of Global Partnerships and Transactions at RWE. "It's more about the long-term relationship, the business relationship that you get over time that enables you to de-risk and underwrite your infrastructure investments," Stanton said. Most of EU's and Britain's 153 hard coal and lignite plants are set to close by 2038 to meet climate targets, joining the 190 plants that have closed since 2005, based on data from NGO Beyond Fossil Fuels, which campaigns to accelerate closure of coal-fired power stations. NEW REVENUE STREAMS The economics of data centre deals can be compelling for the utilities, which can negotiate a long-term power supply contract to underwrite future renewable developments. Tech firms are paying premiums of up to 20 euros per megawatt-hour for low-carbon power, said Gregory LeBourg, environmental program director at French data centre operator OVH (OVH.PA) , opens new tab. Data centre power demands can be anywhere from a couple hundred megawatts to a gigawatt or more. So the annual 'green premium' - the extra price paid for low-carbon electricity - on top of a base market price could potentially translate into a long-term contract worth hundreds of millions or even billions of euros, based on Reuters' calculations. One long-term option is to build an "energy park" and connect the data centre to a new renewable development, relying on the grid for emergencies, but this is a relatively new concept, industry sources said. Engie wants to nearly double its installed renewable energy and battery capacity by 2030 from the current 52.7 GW. The group has identified 40 sites globally that it is marketing to data centre developers, including coal and gas plants that could be converted, said Sebastien Arbola, who runs the company's data centre business. One is the Hazelwood coal plant in Australia, which closed in 2017. He declined to disclose details of other sites, saying they are mostly in Europe. Other utilities, including Portugal's EDP (EDP.LS) , opens new tab, EDF, and Enel said they are also marketing old gas and coal sites for new data centre development. "It's business model diversification," said Michael Kruse, managing partner at consultancy Arthur D. Little. Utilities are creating a new type of business and also new revenue streams, he said. 'SPEED TO POWER' The appeal for tech companies is speed. Grid connection delays in Europe can stretch over a decade, while repurposed plants potentially offer speedier access to power and water. "You actually have the opportunity to move faster," said Hollis at Microsoft. Data centre capacity in Europe is much lower than the United States and Asia due to longer grid connection times and slower permitting, data from Synergy Research Group showed. The data centre operators can choose to buy the renewable power they need directly from the utilities in the form of long-term contracts or purchase from the power market. Real estate firm JLL is working on several conversions, including a 2.5 GW data centre at a former German coal plant and four sites in Britain for a major tech client, said Tom Glover, who works on data centre transactions at JLL. Developers do not often disclose more detail about data centre projects, including their clients, for security reasons. Britain's Drax (DRX.L) , opens new tab is also seeking a partner to develop unused parts of an old coal site in Yorkshire, now partially converted to biomass. It offers access to unused water cooling equipment, said Richard Gwilliam, Drax's carbon programme director. Drax is offering a "behind-the-meter" deal where the power plant will provide direct power to the data centre and it can pull from the grid if necessary. EDF has also chosen developers for two sites at gas power plants in central and eastern France. Tech companies are willing to pay more for projects that can start up sooner as they vie for market share in a rapidly growing industry, said Sam Huntington, director of research at S&P Global Commodity Insights. "Speed to power is just the phrase we keep hearing over and over again," he said. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/europes-old-power-plants-get-digital-makeover-driven-by-ai-boom-2025-08-05/