2025-06-11 20:48

Alberta seeks private sector lead for new pipeline project Canada aims to diversify oil exports amid US trade tensions Pathways Alliance project linked to pipeline for emissions reduction CALGARY, June 11 (Reuters) - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said on Wednesday the province is working to present Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney with a proponent and route for a potential new crude pipeline from Alberta to the Port of Prince Rupert in British Columbia. Smith told reporters at an energy conference in Calgary that her government is in talks with Canada's major pipeline companies in the hope that a private sector proponent will take the lead on Alberta's vision of a new, 1-million-barrel-per-day crude oil conduit to B.C.'s northwest coast. Sign up here. She said Alberta aims to gauge private companies' interest in coming together as a consortium to build the pipeline. "Or if one (company) emerges as being a principal proponent, then we'll be interested in talking to them too," Smith said. Canada currently sends approximately 90 per cent of its oil exports to the U.S., but has been seeking to diversify due to trade tensions and tariff threats from President Donald Trump. Alberta, Canada's main oil-producing province, is keen to see construction of a new export pipeline, to give Canada's oil industry the ability to boost production long-term. No private company has publicly expressed interest in building such a project. Smith said she hopes Carney, who won a minority government in April, will make good on his pledge to speed permitting times for major infrastructure projects. Companies will not commit to building a pipeline, Smith said, without confidence in the federal government's intent to bring about regulatory reform. Alberta is proposing that a new oil pipeline be built in tandem with the Pathways Alliance's carbon capture and storage project, which has been proposed by a consortium of oil sands companies to reduce emissions from Canada's energy sector. The companies have not been successful in negotiating an agreement with both levels of government over funding support for the project. Smith said the Pathways project, which could cost between $10 billion and $20 billion to build, would be more likely to be green-lit by oil companies if they had the assurance of revenue growth that a new crude export pipeline would bring. Canada is the world's fourth-largest oil producer. The country achieved record oil production last year as the opening of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in May 2024 tripled the country's oil export capacity off the B.C. west coast to 890,000 barrels per day. However, construction of that project was marred by regulatory delays and costs soaring to more than four times the pipeline's original budget. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/alberta-premier-says-province-working-proposal-new-crude-oil-pipeline-port-2025-06-11/

2025-06-11 20:42

Trans Mountain exploring capacity increase of 200,000-300,000 barrels per day Asian markets now accessible for Canadian crude via Trans Mountain CEO Maki advises waiting for capacity improvements before selling pipeline CALGARY, June 11 (Reuters) - Canada should not rush to sell the newly expanded Trans Mountain oil pipeline, its CEO, Mark Maki, said on Wednesday at a conference in Canada. The Canadian government, which owns the pipeline and spent C$34 billion ($24.9 billion) completing an expansion that opened last spring, has indicated it does not wish to be the long-term owner of the pipeline. Sign up here. Maki said on Wednesday he believes the government can recover its investment in the pipeline, but will receive a better sale price for the asset if it waits until Trans Mountain has had longer to prove its value and certain uncertainties related to capacity and utilization have been resolved. "It's ultimately their decision," Maki said. "The one thing we have said consistently to the government is, 'don't hurry.'" Use of the newly expanded pipeline, which carries oil from Alberta to British Columbia's west coast where it can then be transported by ship to overseas markets, has increased more slowly than expected. This is in part because oil companies have been hesitant to pay the higher tolls Trans Mountain has been charging customers to cover construction cost overruns, raising questions about the pipeline's ability to generate revenue and in turn about Ottawa's ability to attract a private sector buyer. Maki told reporters on the sidelines of Wednesday's conference that the 890,000-barrel-per-day pipeline has been operating at approximately 85% capacity in the second quarter. Trans Mountain had earlier been forecasting 96% utilization on the pipe every year starting in 2025. Its best month so far was March of this year, when the pipeline was just under 90% full, Maki said. The Trans Mountain pipeline has successfully achieved its goal of opening up Asian export markets to Canadian crude, Maki said, and he said he expects that continued demand from that continent for Canadian barrels should support the pipeline's long-term utilization. Trans Mountain is also exploring both short- and long-term optimization projects aimed at increasing pipeline capacity by 200,000 to 300,000 barrels per day. Maki said it makes sense for the government to hold off selling the pipeline until the capacity improvements are finalized. A regulatory hearing with the aim of resolving the tolling dispute between the pipeline operator and its oil shipping customers has been scheduled for late 2025. $1 = 1.3667 Canadian dollars https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/canada-should-not-rush-potential-sale-tmx-pipeline-trans-mountain-ceo-says-2025-06-11/

2025-06-11 20:39

GameStop falls after reporting decline in quarterly revenue US consumer prices rise moderately in May Stocks move lower on Iraqi embassy evacuation S&P 500 -0.27%, Nasdaq -0.50%, Dow flat June 11 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 ended lower on Wednesday, with investors spooked by Middle East tensions, while a tame inflation report calmed concerns around tariff-driven price pressures and traders awaited more details on China-U.S. trade talks. Wall Street erased modest gains after sources said the United States is preparing a partial evacuation of its Iraqi embassy due to heightened security risks in the region. A senior Iranian official said earlier that Tehran will strike U.S. bases in the region if nuclear negotiations fail and conflict arises with the United States. Sign up here. Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab lost 2% and Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab dipped 0.8%, with both weighing on the S&P 500. Data showed consumer prices increased only marginally in May, while economists expect inflation to accelerate in the coming months due to the Trump administration's import tariffs. Annually, headline inflation stood at 2.4%, lower than the 2.5% rise estimated by economists polled by Reuters. "There's still concern about Trump's tariffs being inflationary but this report was better than expected and it fuels hope that the Federal Reserve will be able to step in with rate cuts later on this year," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth. Traders project a 70% chance that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by its September policy meeting, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. A U.S.-China trade deal is "done," U.S. President Donald Trump said, hours after negotiators from Washington and Beijing agreed on a framework to get a fragile trade truce back on track and remove Chinese export restrictions on rare earth minerals and other critical industrial components. The S&P 500 declined 0.27% to end the session at 6,022.24 points. The Nasdaq declined 0.50% to 19,615.88 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended essentially unchanged at 42,865.77 points. Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, seven declined, led lower by consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) , opens new tab, down 1.02%, followed by a 0.98% loss in materials (.SPLRCM) , opens new tab. With investors betting the United States will reach trade agreements that reduce Trump's steep trade barriers, the S&P 500 is now trading just below its February record high. "The worst-case scenario is probably behind us. There's a little bit of face-saving for both sides," said John Praveen, managing director at Paleo Leon in Princeton, New Jersey. "They got an agreement. The question is whether it will be implemented." According to a White House official, the agreement with China allows the U.S. to charge a 55% tariff on imported Chinese goods, including a 10% baseline "reciprocal" tariff, a 20% tariff for fentanyl trafficking and a 25% tariff reflecting pre-existing tariffs. China will charge a 10% tariff on U.S. imports, the official said. Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab edged up 0.1% after CEO Elon Musk said he regretted some of the negative social media posts he made last week about Trump as they had gone "too far". The U.S. stock market has rallied in recent weeks, recovering from a slump in April sparked by Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs. Software development platform provider GitLab (GTLB.O) , opens new tab fell almost 11% after its quarterly results disappointed investors. Shares of videogame retailer GameStop (GME.N) , opens new tab dropped 5.3% after it reported a decline in first-quarter revenue. Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the S&P 500 (.AD.SPX) , opens new tab by a 1.9-to-one ratio. The S&P 500 posted 11 new highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 80 new highs and 43 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively heavy, with 18.9 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 17.8 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-stock-futures-dip-lack-details-china-trade-talk-cpi-focus-2025-06-11/

2025-06-11 20:20

World Bank announced nuclear ban in 2013 World Bank to work closely with IAEA to build capacity Electricity demand is expected to more than double by 2035 WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - The World Bank's board has agreed to end a longstanding ban on funding nuclear energy projects in developing countries as part of a broader push to meet rising electricity needs, the bank's president Ajay Banga said on Wednesday. Banga outlined the bank's revised energy strategy in an email to staff after what he called a constructive discussion with the board on Tuesday. He said the board was not yet in agreement on whether the bank should engage in funding the production of natural gas, and if so, under what circumstances. Sign up here. The global development bank, which lends at low rates to help countries build everything from flood barriers to railroads, decided in 2013 to stop funding nuclear power projects. It announced in 2017 it would stop funding upstream oil and gas projects beginning in 2019, although it would still consider gas projects in the poorest countries. The nuclear issue was agreed fairly easily by board members, but several countries, including Germany, France and Britain, did not fully support changing the bank's approach to embrace upstream natural gas projects, sources familiar with the discussion said. "While the issues are complex, we've made real progress toward a clear path forward on delivering electricity as a driver of development," Banga said, adding that further discussion was required on the issue of upstream gas projects. Banga has championed a shift in the bank's energy policy since taking office in June 2023, arguing the bank should pursue an "all of the above" approach to help countries meet rising electricity needs and advance development goals. In his memo, he noted that electricity demand was expected to more than double in developing countries by 2035, which would require more than doubling today's annual investment of $280 billion in generation, grids and storage. The Trump administration has been pushing hard for ending the ban on nuclear energy projects since taking office. The U.S. is the bank's single largest shareholder - at 15.83%, followed by Japan with 7% and China with close to 6% - and the bank's decision to broaden its approach to energy projects will likely please President Donald Trump, who withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement and its emission-reduction targets as one of his first acts in January. Twenty-eight countries already use commercial nuclear power, with 10 more ready to start and another 10 potentially ready by 2030, according to the Energy for Growth Hub and Third Way. Banga said the World Bank Group would work closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency to strengthen its ability to advise on nuclear non-proliferation safeguards, safety, security and regulatory frameworks. The bank would support efforts to extend the life of existing nuclear reactors, along with grid upgrades. It would also work to accelerate the potential of small modular reactors. ENERGY MIX Trump administration officials and some development experts say developing countries should not be blocked from using inexpensive power to expand their economies while advanced economies like Germany continue to burn fossil fuels. But climate activists worry that funding more nuclear and natural gas projects will divert funds away from urgently needed efforts by developing countries to adapt to climate change and benefit from abundant alternative energy sources such as solar. "Net zero does not mean fossil fuel free. It means, still, that there will be 20% energy coming from fossil fuels," said Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados. "We know natural gas is that clean fuel." Banga said the bank's revised strategy would allow countries to determine the best energy mix, with some choosing solar, wind, geothermal or hydroelectric power, while others might opt for natural gas or, over time, nuclear. He said the bank would continue to advise on and finance midstream and downstream natural gas projects when they represented the least-cost option, aligned with development plans, minimized risk and did not constrain renewables. The bank would further study evolving technologies like carbon capture and ocean energy, Banga said, adding it aimed to simplify reviews and approvals. Banga said the bank would continue advising on and financing the retirement of coal plants, supporting carbon capture for industry and power generation, but not for enhanced oil recovery, which can typically secure commercial financing. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/world-bank-end-ban-nuclear-energy-projects-still-debating-upstream-gas-2025-06-11/

2025-06-11 20:11

Officials cite 'heightened security risks' for decision US has previously threatened to strike Iran US military dependents authorised to leave region WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD, June 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday U.S. personnel were being moved out of the Middle East because "it could be a dangerous place," adding that the United States would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday that the U.S. is preparing a partial evacuation of its Iraqi embassy and will allow military dependents to leave locations around the Middle East due to heightened security risks in the region, according to U.S. and Iraqi sources. Sign up here. The four U.S. and two Iraqi sources did not say what security risks had prompted the decision and reports of the potential evacuation pushed up oil prices by more than 4%. A U.S. official said the State Department had authorized voluntary departures from Bahrain and Kuwait. The State Department updated its worldwide travel advisory on Wednesday evening to reflect the latest U.S. posture. “On June 11, the Department of State ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel due to heightened regional tensions,” the advisory said. The decision by the U.S. to evacuate some personnel comes at a volatile moment in the region. Trump's efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran appear to be deadlocked and U.S. intelligence indicates that Israel has been making preparations for a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. "They are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place, and we'll see what happens," Trump told reporters. "We've given notice to move out." Asked whether anything can be done to lower the temperature in the region, Trump said: "They can't have a nuclear weapon. Very simple, they can't have a nuclear weapon." Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran if stuttering talks over its nuclear programme fail and in an interview released earlier on Wednesday said he was growing less confident that Tehran would agree to stop enriching uranium, a key American demand. Iranian Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh also said on Wednesday that if Iran was subjected to strikes it would retaliate by hitting U.S. bases in the region. The U.S. embassy in Kuwait said in a statement on Wednesday that it had "not changed its staffing posture and remains fully operational." MILITARY PRESENCE The United States has a military presence across the major oil-producing region, with bases in Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations across the Middle East, a U.S. official said. Another U.S. official said that was mostly relevant to family members located in Bahrain - where the bulk of them are based. "The State Department is set to have an ordered departure for (the) U.S. embassy in Baghdad. The intent is to do it through commercial means, but the U.S. military is standing by if help is requested," a third U.S. official said. Iraq's state news agency cited a government source as saying Baghdad had not recorded any security indication that called for an evacuation. Another U.S. official said that there was no change in operations at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East and that no evacuation order had been issued for employees or families linked to the U.S. embassy in Qatar, which was operating as usual. TENSIONS Oil futures climbed $3 on reports of the Baghdad evacuation with Brent crude futures at $69.18 a barrel. Earlier on Wednesday Britain's maritime agency warned that increased tensions in the Middle East may lead to an escalation in military activity that could impact shipping in critical waterways. It advised vessels to use caution while travelling through the Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Straits of Hormuz, which all border Iran. Britain's Foreign Office said it was monitoring the situation and would keep its embassy in Iraq under constant review following the U.S. moves. Iraq, a rare regional partner of both the United States and its arch regional foe Iran, hosts 2,500 U.S. troops although Tehran-backed armed factions are linked to its security forces. Tensions inside Iraq have heightened since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, with Iran-aligned armed groups in the country repeatedly attacking U.S. troops, though attacks have subsided since last year. Israel and Iran also twice exchanged fire last year - the first ever such direct attacks between the region's most entrenched enemies - with missiles and war drones hurtling across Iraqi airspace. Top U.S. regional ally Israel has also struck Iran-linked targets across the region, including Iraqi armed groups operating both inside Iraq and in neighbouring Syria. In recent months the United States has deployed more military assets in the Middle East, including B-2 bombers, which have since been replaced, and extending the deployment of a second aircraft carrier, which has since departed. The next round of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States is due in the coming days with Iran expected to hand over a counter proposal after rejecting an offer by Washington. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that a military threat had always been part of the United States’ negotiation tactics with Iran. “Any military action against Iran, whether by the U.S. or Israel, will have serious consequences,” the official warned. Iran's U.N. mission on Wednesday posted on X: "Threats of 'overwhelming force' won't change facts: Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon and U.S. militarism only fuels instability." The statement appeared to be a response to an earlier comment by U.S. Army General Michael "Erik" Kurilla, the head of U.S. Central Command, that he had provided the president with "a wide range of options" to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. Kurilla postponed testimony he was due to deliver before U.S. lawmakers on Thursday because of tensions in the Middle East, two other U.S. officials said. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-embassy-iraq-preparing-ordered-evacuation-due-heightened-security-risks-2025-06-11/

2025-06-11 19:38

LONDON, June 11 (Reuters) - Britain has detected a case of the H5N1 bird flu in poultry in West Yorkshire, northern England, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said on Wednesday. "All poultry on the premises will be humanely culled," a notice on the department's website said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/uk-confirms-case-bird-flu-poultry-northern-england-2025-06-11/