2025-07-23 07:48
Empire Wind 1, South Brooklyn Marine Terminal face $763 million impairment Regulatory changes impact future US offshore wind projects Equinor halts Empire Wind 2 development plans OSLO, July 23 (Reuters) - Norway's Equinor (EQNR.OL) , opens new tab booked on Wednesday a $955 million impairment on an offshore wind project in the United States, citing U.S. tariffs and the uncertainty of the U.S. regulatory environment under President Donald Trump. Hopes the industry had harboured that projects in the United States would revive the sector were dashed on Trump's first day back in office in January when he suspended offshore wind leases. Sign up here. Then in April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shut down Equinor's Empire Wind development in New York state. He later lifted the stop-work order on the project. For Equinor, however, the damage has been done. On Wednesday, it reported its net operating income for the second quarter fell due to having to book a near-billion dollar impairment on its U.S. offshore wind projects. "This is impacted by an impairment of $955 million due to regulatory changes causing loss of synergies from future offshore wind projects and increased exposure to tariffs," Equinor said in a statement on Wednesday. "Of this, $763 million is related to Empire Wind 1/South Brooklyn Marine Terminal project and the remainder is related to the Empire Wind 2 lease." Equinor, majority-owned by the Norwegian state, had won a federal lease for Empire Wind in 2017 under Trump's first administration and secured approval for its investment plans in 2023 during former President Joe Biden's time in the White House. The global offshore wind market, once touted by governments as a cornerstone of efforts to cut carbon emissions, has faltered under escalating costs and logistical setbacks. Equinor CFO Torgrim Reitan said the U.S. administration changing its mind on developing offshore wind had affected the value of the group's large onshore terminal in South Brooklyn, built to serve offshore wind farm installations. "It is a result of changing regulations so there is very little probability for more offshore wind projects coming in the U.S. over the foreseeable future and that is impacting a project that we have related to staging facilities," he told Bloomberg TV. Equinor would not develop the second phase of the Empire Wind farm, as it had earlier planned, he added. "We don't intend to push it forward currently," Reitan said of Empire Wind 2. The total book value after the latest impairments was $2.3 billion, Equinor said on Wednesday. With a planned installed capacity of 810 megawatts, Empire Wind 1 could generate enough electricity to power half a million homes a year and was expected to begin operating in 2027. Equinor on Wednesday also reported a decline in core second-quarter results, as expected, due to lower oil prices. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/blaming-trump-equinor-makes-955-million-us-offshore-wind-writedown-2025-07-23/
2025-07-23 07:34
July 23 (Reuters) - Europe's largest utility Iberdrola (IBE.MC) , opens new tab hired investment bank Barclays to sell 15 renewable power plants in Mexico to exit the country, Spanish news website El Confidencial reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources close to the operation. Iberdrola's assets are worth about 4 billion euros ($4.70 billion), El Confidencial said, adding that the utility seeks to sell on concerns about the legal and tax stability in the country. Sign up here. Iberdrola already sold 55% of its assets in the country to the Mexican government for $6 billion in 2024, which the Mexican government called at the time a "new nationalisation" of the electricity market. The deal was in large part designed to give Mexico's state-owned power company Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) majority control over the local power market. Iberdrola declined to comment, while Barclays did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ($1 = 0.8518 euros) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/iberdrola-hired-barclays-sell-assets-mexico-470-billion-el-confidencial-says-2025-07-23/
2025-07-23 07:34
Iberdrola plans to expand focus on US, Britain power grids No further capital increase expected this decade Annual investments will increase to 15 billion euros MADRID, July 23 (Reuters) - Europe's largest utility Iberdrola (IBE.MC) , opens new tab launched a 5 billion euro ($5.87 billion) capital increase on Wednesday to help pay for a big increase in investments in power grids in Britain and the United States. The company plans to increase its annual investments to around 15 billion euros from a current level of around 12 billion euros, building on its shift towards upgrading and expanding power grids in countries where returns are steady and healthy, such as the U.S. and Britain. Sign up here. In the next six years, it will invest some 55 billion euros in power grids, more than 80% in these two countries. The planned investment represents a 75% increase over the previous six years. As a result, the value of its grid assets, whose returns are regulated and guaranteed, will top 90 billion euros by 2031 - 75% of which will be in Britain and the U.S. - from 55 billion euros this year and just 30 billion euros at the beginning of the decade. The weight of its Spanish home market in the network business is set to decline significantly, as a share of both investments and regulated assets. Spanish utilities have recently warned that the country risked losing critical investments in grids to other countries as the remuneration on grid assets proposed by regulators was set below what they expect. The cash raised by Iberdrola's capital increase, along with debt, operating cash flow, asset sales and partnerships will help fund the new strategy the company will present in September. No further equity raises are expected until at least the end of the decade, Executive Chairman Ignacio Sanchez Galan said in a call with investors. The shares offered through a process of accelerated book-building were set to be priced at 15.10 euros, one of the bookrunners said. Iberdrola's share price closed at 15.895 euros on Tuesday. Spain's stock market regulator suspended trading of Iberdrola's shares on Wednesday morning. The capital increase was unexpected, RBC analyst Fernando Garcia said. Separately, the utility said first-half net profit declined 14% from a year earlier, when results were boosted by the inclusion of the sale of gas assets in Mexico. Net profit for the period was 3.56 billion euros ($4.18 billion) compared to 4.1 billion euros a year earlier. Excluding one-offs, profit was up 20%, it said. ($1 = 0.8523 euros) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/iberdrola-launches-59-billion-capital-increase-fund-growth-us-britain-2025-07-23/
2025-07-23 07:32
ABUJA, July 23 (Reuters) - Nigeria's Senate has approved President Bola Tinubu's plan for more than $21 billion in foreign borrowing to plug shortfalls in the 2025 budget, a senior lawmaker said late on Tuesday. Tinubu asked parliament to approve the borrowing in May. Sign up here. "With this approval we now have all revenue sources, including loans, in place to fully fund the budget," Solomon Adeola, Senate chair on appropriations, told reporters. The approval also includes loans of 4 billion euros ($4.70 billion) and 15 billion yen ($102.26 million), a $65 million grant as well as $2 billion dollar-denominated borrowing at home. The money is earmarked for infrastructure, healthcare, education, security and housing. Some $3 billion has been allocated to revamp a 2,044 kilometre (1,270.08 miles) narrow-gauge line along Nigeria's eastern rail corridor. Since taking office in 2023, Tinubu has initiated bold economic reforms, including ending costly fuel subsidies and devaluing the naira, to stimulate growth. Instead the measures have fuelled inflation and triggered a cost of living crisis. The borrowing reflects Tinubu's shift toward fiscal expansion to stimulate growth, despite limited revenue. The House of Representatives is expected to approve the plan on Wednesday. ($1 = 0.8515 euros) ($1 = 146.6900 yen) ($1 = 1,525.2700 naira) https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerias-senate-approves-president-tinubus-21-billion-external-borrowing-plan-2025-07-23/
2025-07-23 07:16
Dollar languishes near two-week low Asian shares rise as Trump announces Japan trade deal US, China to discuss tariff deadline extension July 23 (Reuters) - Gold eased on Wednesday as risk appetite improved after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Japan ahead of an impending tariff deadline, though a soft dollar and lower Treasury yields capped losses for greenback-priced bullion. Spot gold was down 0.2% at $3,425.91 per ounce, as of 0705 GMT, after hitting its highest point since June 16 earlier in the session. Sign up here. U.S. gold futures edged 0.1% lower to $3,439. Trump said the U.S. and Japan had struck a trade deal that includes a 15% tariff that will be levied on U.S. imports from the country. U.S. and Chinese officials will meet in Stockholm next week to discuss an extension to the deadline for negotiating a trade deal, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. "If further trade deals are signed ahead of August 1, this could further boost general risk appetite and reduce the demand for gold," CM Trade Chief Market Analyst Tim Waterer said. "But if the USD remains pressured this will keep a return to $3,500 a viable near-term prospect for the precious metal." Japanese shares led an Asian share market rally on Wednesday after Trump announced the U.S.-Japan deal. Offering support to bullion, the U.S. dollar index (.DXY) , opens new tab languished near a two-week low against its rivals, making greenback-priced gold less expensive for other currency holders. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields on Tuesday touched their lowest level since July 9. Meanwhile, Trump continued his attack on U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, calling him a "numbskull" who has kept interest rates too high and said he will be out in eight months. "These are low-liquidity conditions and that could just easily see volatility recede should the pressure on Powell's firing ease. Bears may therefore be lurking to fade into moves below $3,500," said Matt Simpson, a senior analyst at City Index. Elsewhere, spot silver rose 0.2% to $39.34 per ounce, platinum gained 0.2% to $1,445.20 and palladium climbed 0.4% to $1,280.01. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/gold-eases-us-japan-trade-deal-lifts-risk-appetite-weak-dollar-caps-losses-2025-07-23/
2025-07-23 07:15
China has seen record number of high-temperature days since March China says heat could impact power generation and supply China announced construction of mega dam project to meet surging power demand Authorities issued first heat-related health risk alert this month BEIJING, July 23 (Reuters) - China warned on Wednesday against the risk of power supply disruptions as people struggled to keep cool in record heat baking large swathes of the country, which also spurred warnings to the elderly to guard against heat stroke. Power demand exceeded 1.5 billion kilowatts for the first time last week, energy officials said, the third successive record for China this month, when its first nationwide alert on heat-related health risks also went out. Sign up here. "High-temperature weather will ... have an impact on power generation and supply," weather official Chen Hui told a press conference on Wednesday, adding that it would hit hydropower output and reduce the efficiency of photovoltaic generation. Authorities will send alerts to notify electricity suppliers if measures such as peak shaving and cross-regional dispatching of power are called for, added Chen, an official of the China Meteorological Administration. Over the weekend, China announced that construction had begun on what will be the world's largest hydropower dam in Tibet, at an estimated cost of at least $170 billion, cheering investors but vexing downstream neighbours India and Bangladesh. The project is expected to produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, equal to the amount of electricity consumed by Britain last year, as Beijing seeks to meet the country's growing power demand. Since mid-March, the number of days when temperatures hit 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) or more is the highest on record, said Jia Xiaolong, deputy director of the National Climate Centre. Authorities asked the elderly to stay indoors unless necessary, while urging outdoor workers to scale down activity on such "sauna days". Temperatures have hit new highs since mid-March in the central provinces of Henan and Hubei, Shandong in the east, Sichuan in the southwest, and northwestern Shaanxi and Xinjiang, pushing the national average to the second highest on record. During the last two weeks, above 40 degrees C (104 F) heat enveloped 407,000 square kilometres of the country, Jia said. That is more than the land area of Germany or Japan. In the same period, roughly one in 10 national weather observatories tracked temperatures above 40C with one in Xinjiang reaching 48.7C. Jia did not rule out the chance of more record-breaking heat, saying August could prove as warm as, or even hotter than, in recent years. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/record-heat-china-strains-power-grid-stirs-health-fears-2025-07-23/
