2025-06-18 12:42

COPENHAGEN, June 18 (Reuters) - Norwegian state-owned utility Statkraft said on Wednesday it would cut its annual costs by around 15% or 2.9 billion crowns ($292 million) by 2027, citing increased global uncertainty, higher expenses and lower power prices. The company already announced in May that it had stopped developing new green hydrogen projects due to higher costs and uncertain demand, after it scaled back its hydrogen ambition last year. Sign up here. "Statkraft needs to adapt to the changing market and increased geopolitical uncertainty," Statkraft CEO Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal said in a statement on Wednesday. The specific measures, including any staff reductions, will be identified during the second half of 2025, the company said. Statkraft said it would prioritise near term profitable technologies, including solar, wind and batteries in fewer markets, pointing to slow development of the offshore wind industry. "Offshore wind will play an important role in the power mix in Europe, but the pace of development of the industry has been slower than previously forecasted, and this has impacted the ability to drive down costs in the short term," Vartdal said. The company said it would stop further activities in new projects, including Norway's upcoming allocation round of Utsira Nord, and that it will stop its development activities in Portugal. It added that it would assess its investment in solar, wind and batteries in Poland, but that it would proceed with the development of the North Irish Sea Array project. Statkraft will continue market activities in both Portugal and Poland, it said. ($1 = 9.9445 Norwegian crowns) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/norways-statkraft-cut-costs-by-292-mln-may-announce-layoffs-2025-06-18/

2025-06-18 12:14

MUMBAI, June 18 (Reuters) - Indian refiners cancelled orders for 65,000 metric tons of crude palm oil (CPO) scheduled for delivery from July to September following a sudden surge in benchmark Malaysian prices, four trade sources told Reuters. Refiners in the world's largest palm oil importer cancelled the orders in the past three days after Malaysian palm oil futures rose more than 6%, hedging their risk against the prospect of falling prices by locking in a profit. Sign up here. "There is a lot of volatility in the market. There was more margin in cancelling bought CPO than in importing, refining, and selling refined palm oil in the local market," said an Indian buyer who operates a refinery on the west coast and cancelled shipments for July delivery. Indian buyers made CPO purchases nearly a month ago around $1,000 to $1,030 per ton, including cost, insurance, and freight, after a rebound in palm oil production brought down prices to their lowest in more than eight months. This week, palm oil futures jumped, tracking a rally in Chicago soyoil futures after the U.S. proposed higher biofuel blending volumes. The sudden rise prompted Indian refiners to cancel contracts at between $1,050 and $1,065 per ton, making a profit of more than $30 per ton, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media. Buyers agreed to contract cancellations by accepting a price slightly lower than the current market rate, a decision mutually reached with sellers, said a New Delhi-based dealer with a global trading house. The CPO is being offered at about $1,070 a ton in India for July delivery, compared to $1,020 to $1,030 a month ago. Despite the cancellations, Indian imports are poised to rise in coming months after falling far below average in recent months, bringing down inventories, said Sandeep Bajoria, chief executive of Sunvin Group, a vegetable oil brokerage. India's palm oil imports hit a six-month high in May, driven by low inventories and the oil's price discount to rival soyoil and sunflower oil. Indian buying had gained momentum after India last month halved the import duty on CPO, but the cancellations have disrupted that momentum, said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader with a palm oil producing company. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/indian-refiners-cancel-palm-oil-orders-july-sept-prices-surge-2025-06-18/

2025-06-18 12:09

State offers incentives, infrastructure for minerals industry growth China dominates critical minerals and has banned some exports State's challenges include education system, lack of mineral deposits LAWTON, Oklahoma, June 18 (Reuters) - Nestled beneath Oklahoma's Wichita Mountains sits a two-story warehouse containing the only machine in the United States capable of refining nickel, a crucial energy transition metal now dominated by China. The facility, owned by startup Westwin Elements, aims to help Oklahoma become the epicenter for U.S. critical minerals processing, a sector the country largely abandoned decades ago. Sign up here. The state will have to overcome several obstacles to get there, including a lack of major critical mineral deposits, a weak education system and its location at the center of the United States - far from international shipping lanes. Yet Oklahoma's push into minerals processing marks an unexpected twist in the country's efforts to wean itself off Chinese rivals who have blocked exports. President Donald Trump has said he wants to boost U.S. production of minerals used across the economy. In Oklahoma, the country's only nickel refinery, its largest lithium refinery, two lithium-ion battery recycling plants, a rare earths magnet facility, and several electronic waste collection facilities are under construction or in operation - more than in any other state. They join a Umicore (UMI.BR) , opens new tab site that produces germanium crystals for solar panels. An aluminum smelter - the country's first since 1980 - is set to break ground next year at a site bordering an Arkansas River tributary. "I've strategically made a conscious effort to go after some of these new industries that I think are going to be critical," Governor Kevin Stitt, a Republican, told Reuters. "There's money flying into critical minerals from the investment side, so it might as well be located in Oklahoma." Investors and corporate executives say the state's location, lack of mineral deposits, and other detracting factors are outweighed by a string of positives: Oklahoma has railways and highways bisecting the state en route to the three U.S. coasts, a workforce with deep energy experience, state rebates and other financial incentives, a large inland port with access to the Mississippi River watershed, and accommodating regulators. Officials boast on social media that Oklahoma is a "one phone call state," a description meant to evoke what they see as a streamlined regulatory process. Australia-based MLB Industrial, a startup that supplies lithium-ion batteries to the locomotive industry, expanded its business to Oklahoma earlier this year for that very reason. "Other states were looking for a large, established company to invest, rather than a company with a growth profile," said Nathan Leech, MLB's CEO, who moved his family to Oklahoma. "We intend to grow in Oklahoma." A nickel refinery, in particular, has been sought by Washington for years but Chinese market dumping had scared away would-be entrants, said a source familiar with the Trump administration's minerals policy. KaLeigh Long founded Westwin and named it after her desire for the U.S. to shake off Chinese minerals dependence - as she puts it, "The West will win." The firm has built a demonstration facility 85 miles (137 km) south of the state capital that it says can refine 200 metric tons of nickel annually and will expand to produce 34,000 metric tons per year by 2030. If successful, the Westwin facility would refine 10% of America's annual nickel needs, demand projections from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence show, drawing on rock taken from Turkish and Indonesian mines, as well as recycled U.S. batteries. Even as Oklahoma promises state tax rebates and other incentives, Westwin is lobbying Washington not to eliminate a federal production tax credit heavily opposed by Republicans along with other green energy subsidies enacted by former President Joe Biden, as Reuters reported earlier this month. Westwin is in negotiations with the Pentagon for a nickel supply deal that would keep metal inside the United States to make batteries for military drones and other equipment, according to a source familiar with the deliberations. SUSTAINABLE POWER Roughly 220 miles (354 km) northeast, a lithium refinery under construction from Stardust Power (SDST.O) , opens new tab aims to produce 50,000 metric tons of the battery metal per year, about a fifth of what the U.S. is expected to need by 2030. Japan's Sumitomo (8053.T) , opens new tab signed a preliminary agreement in February to buy up to half of the facility's output. Stardust aims for the plant to filter lithium from brines - something that has yet to happen at commercial scale - and will have roughly the same capacity as Tesla's (TSLA.O) , opens new tab refinery under construction in Texas. It will be powered in part by renewable energy; nearly half of the state's electricity is generated by wind turbines. "That was a huge draw," said Roshan Pujari, Stardust's CEO. The company is pushing forward even after rival Albemarle (ALB.N) , opens new tab paused plans to build a large U.S. refinery, citing weak lithium prices. "During these down cycles is the best time to be developing, because why do we want prices to be high when we have nothing to sell?" Pujari said. USA Rare Earth (USAR.O) , opens new tab, which went public earlier this year, chose Oklahoma over Texas for its rare earths magnet facility given what it felt was the personalized support from Stitt and other officials, said CEO Josh Ballard. Magnets made from rare earths turn electricity into motion for EVs; the U.S. stopped making them in the 1990s. Ballard says the facility is slated to open early next year and initially produce 1,200 metric tons annually, enough magnets to build more than 400,000 EVs. That supply is already highly sought after in the United States since China placed export restrictions on rare earths in April. Ballard said he has been fielding "a lot of phone calls" since April from prospective customers. The company on Tuesday signed a preliminary supply agreement with Moog (MOGa.N) , opens new tab for magnets used in AI data centers. "We can do this quickly. It's just a matter of how do we do it, and can the government help be a catalyst?" said Ballard. The company could get a boost from legislation introduced earlier this month by three U.S. senators - including Oklahoma's Markwayne Mullin - that would provide a tax credit for roughly 30% of the cost to manufacture a magnet made from rare earths. Elsewhere, two Oklahoma battery processing facilities - from Green Li-ion and Blue Whale Materials - will break down lithium-ion batteries into copper and other building blocks for new batteries. Natural Evolution, in Tulsa, is spearheading a push to expand electronic waste recycling. Green Li-ion, which has a recycling facility in Atoka - Country music star Reba McEntire's hometown - has held talks with Glencore (GLEN.L) , opens new tab as well as Westwin about buying a recycled version of battery scrap known as MHP, or mixed hydroxide precipitate, that can be used to make nickel products, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations. Glencore declined to comment. Most of the country's recycled batteries are exported now to China in the form of black mass, essentially shredded battery parts. Green Li-ion, which is headquartered in Singapore, moved its U.S. operations to Oklahoma given the state's history with oil and gas extraction, skills it sees as complementary to black mass processing. "This state has a lot of chemical engineers," said Kevin Hobbie, the company's senior vice president of operations. 'SWINGING FOR THE FENCES' Oklahoma's foray into the energy transition hasn't been all smooth sailing. Tesla supplier Panasonic (6752.T) , opens new tab in 2022 chose Kansas over Oklahoma for a battery plant after the Sunflower State wooed it with $1 billion in incentives. In January, EV startup Canoo (GOEVQ.PK) , opens new tab filed for bankruptcy despite a $1 million state grant and Stitt's commitment for his administration to buy 1,000 of the company's vehicles. Canoo, which had several production facilities in Oklahoma, blamed uncertain demand for its cargo vans. State officials say they are trying to recoup the funds. Stitt said he is not bothered by the bankruptcy. "We're going to keep swinging for the fences," he said. The state's education system has also generated negative headlines, due in part to a battle over low standards that could make it difficult to convince high-tech talent and their families to relocate to Oklahoma. The state's pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade educational system, for instance, is ranked 48th out of the 50 U.S. states by U.S. News and World Report, and many schools have moved to a four-day week to save money. Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab Google, which built an Oklahoma data center in 2011, donated funds to the local school district in part to attract faculty. Oklahoma's superintendent of schools is an elected position over which Stitt has no control. The governor successfully pushed for a school voucher system that he said should attract more families. "If I create competition, and now a public school has to compete for a student, it's going to make all boats rise and bring more talent to Oklahoma," Stitt said. The governor said he is focused on helping the minerals refiners in his state grow and is lobbying Trump to require federal contractors to increase the percentage of minerals they buy that are processed in the country. That's a key desire also for Long, the Westwin founder, who spent her youth herding cattle, an experience she said inspired her interest in refining and a reticence for mining. "After seeing the beef and meat industry, I learned that the packer is the one that seems to take the least amount of risk and yet makes the most amount of money," she said. "When I saw mining, I was like, 'The miner is the rancher and the refiner is the packer.' So I decided I want to be the packer." https://www.reuters.com/world/us/rural-oklahoma-strives-become-american-hub-critical-minerals-processing-2025-06-18/

2025-06-18 12:07

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats demanded on Wednesday Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. make public the reviews on which his department said it based its decision to cancel a contract for developing a bird flu vaccine. President Donald Trump's administration last month canceled a $590-million contract awarded to Moderna (MRNA.O) , opens new tab in January by outgoing President Joe Biden's administration for the late-stage development of its bird flu vaccine for humans, as well as the right to purchase shots. Sign up here. "This is a grievous mistake that threatens to leave the country unprepared for what experts fear might be the next pandemic – and there appears to be no rationale for this decision other than your ill-informed and dangerous war on vaccines," Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Duckworth wrote in a letter seen by Reuters. The cancellation endangers American lives and will likely contribute to a 20% rise in the price of eggs this year, they wrote to Kennedy, who has a long history of questioning the safety of vaccines contrary to scientific evidence. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services at the time said the contract was canceled after a comprehensive internal review determined the project did not meet the scientific standards or safety expectations required for continued federal investment. Warren and Duckworth demanded Kennedy make the review public, alongside a similar review the department cited when it cut funding of a $258-million program researching an HIV vaccine. They also asked for a detailed description of how the department decided to end the contracts, and a staff briefing. "You have failed to justify either of these moves to cripple vaccine research," Warren and Duckworth wrote. "Furthermore, these decisions appear to be part of your larger, unfounded vendetta against mRNA technology." Kennedy named eight members last week to serve on a panel of vaccine advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including some who have advocated against vaccines, days after abruptly firing all 17 members who had been serving on the independent committee of experts. Several of his appointees specifically oppose the mRNA vaccine technology used in some of the newest immunizations such as the COVID-19 vaccine, including by Moderna. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-senate-democrats-demand-kennedy-explain-canceling-bird-flu-vaccine-contract-2025-06-18/

2025-06-18 11:37

KYIV, June 18 (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament has until the end of this year temporarily authorised the sale of petrol without the mandatory 5% bioethanol content, cancelling fines and other penalties for companies selling such petrol, lawmakers said on Wednesday. Ukraine introduced the mandatory addition of 5% bioethanol to motor fuel from May 1 to meet EU sustainability regulations. Sign up here. Lawmakers and authors of the law have not explained the reason for the amendment, but market sources say the refusal to impose fines and to allow the sale of petrol without bioethanol has been prompted by fears of possible fuel shortages. Ukraine does not officially disclose the volume of domestic fuel production as most of its facilities have been repeatedly attacked by Russian missiles and drones. Ukraine imported about 1.2 million tons of petrol in 2024. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/ukrainian-mps-allow-sale-petrol-without-mandatory-5-bioethanol-until-january-1-2025-06-18/

2025-06-18 11:24

LONDON, June 18 (Reuters) - The London Metal Exchange's new warehouses in Hong Kong are seeing strong interest for metal deliveries before they go live next month, partly due to the current tightness in the copper market, the CEO of the exchange said on Wednesday. Last month, the LME approved three more warehouses in Hong Kong, taking the total to seven, as it increases its presence in the city that is the gateway to the world's biggest metals consumer, China. Sign up here. Hong Kong's higher costs have raised questions about the viability of the new storage facilities compared with other sites in Asia like Korea or Malaysia. "They can put metal into the warehouses, but it won't show up on our numbers yet because the location isn't live until the 15th (of July)," LME Chief Executive Matthew Chamberlain told Reuters on the sidelines of the International Derivatives Expo. "My understanding is there is quite a lot of interest in getting some metal in there before then." Getting approval for warehouses in China to store LME-traded metal has been a strategic goal since Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (0388.HK) , opens new tab bought the LME in 2012. The exchange, the world's oldest and largest market for industrial metals, would still like to open registered warehouses in mainland China, but that would depend on approval by the Chinese authorities, Chamberlain said. "But ultimately it's for mainland policymakers to decide whether or not they want LME warehouses." However, in Hong Kong there was a good spread of locations to service various types of customers, including several near the northern border with Shenzhen and the mainland, he said. "They'll be able to service Chinese metal owners who, for example, want to put copper into a warehouse, truck it down just over the border into the new territories, put it into a warehouse," Chamberlain said. "That's obviously extremely relevant right now with the copper tightness... It will allow people to deliver into those backwardations more effectively." Falling stocks in LME-registered warehouses have created a backwardation, or premium for nearby contracts against those with longer maturities . Copper stocks in LME registered warehouses at 107,350 tons have dropped 60% since March and are at their lowest since May 2024. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/lmes-new-hong-kong-warehouses-attract-strong-interest-metal-deliveries-lme-ceo-2025-06-18/