2025-05-23 07:00

Indonesia, Malaysia, Algeria likely to become net LNG importers These countries could add close to 50 mln tons LNG demand by 2040, Shell forecast BEIJING, May 23 (Reuters) - Energy major Shell (SHEL.L) , opens new tab expects several traditional LNG exporter nations to turn into net importers, driving demand for the super chilled fuel and potentially easing concerns that the industry faces oversupply from a raft of planned new projects. Cederic Cremers, Shell's executive vice president for LNG, told Reuters that Indonesia, Malaysia, and Algeria are likely to become net import markets in the future as their domestic gas demand is rising while production is declining. Sign up here. "Our prediction is that between now and 2040 that's pretty much close to 50 million tons of additional draw on the LNG market," he said on the sidelines of the World Gas Conference. These LNG exporters are likely to join Egypt, which became a net LNG importer last year. Egypt is in talks with energy firms and trading houses to buy 40-60 LNG cargoes amid a worsening energy crunch ahead of peak summer demand. Earlier, the country had signed deals worth about $3 billion with Shell and TotalEnergies to secure LNG. Meanwhile, LNG projects are facing challenges stemming from project delays during the COVID pandemic that limited new supply in 2023 and 2024, bottlenecks in global supply chains and labour shortages on the U.S. Gulf Coast. "The net increase in supply capacity in 2024 was only about 2 mtpa (million metric tons per annum) ... because a number of projects that were supposed to come online have been delayed," Cremers said. "The new capacity coming from all these projects may be a bit more phased than all coming at the same time as some of the industry analysts may have been reporting," he said. "So we may see a little bit of a softer landing in terms of the supply coming onto the market." Other producers including Diamond Gas International and TotalEnergies have said they expect a LNG supply glut around 2027 or 2028. Major projects include QatarEnergy's North Field East natural gas expansion project which will begin production in mid-2026. Companies in the U.S., the world's largest exporter, are planning to approve over 90 million metric tons per year of new LNG production capacity this year. Cremers said latent demand and increased infrastructure investment in Asia will help to soak up the new supply. Shell has forecast that global demand for LNG will rise by around 60% by 2040, driven largely by economic growth in Asia, power-thirsty AI and efforts to cut emissions in heavy industries and transportation. However, Asian demand is sensitive to prices, Cremers said. "We saw that spot prices towards Q2 dropped below $10 (per MMBtu), and at that point in time you saw a real strong demand response from a number of customers in Asia." https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/wgc-shell-expects-more-lng-exporters-turn-into-net-importers-drive-demand-2025-05-23/

2025-05-23 06:56

Ofgem reduces price cap due to lower wholesale energy prices Energy bills remain 50% above pre-Ukraine invasion levels Consumer groups urge more support for struggling households LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - Millions of British households will see lower energy bills from July after regulator Ofgem cut its price cap by 7%, a move that will boost government efforts to ease a cost of living squeeze. The cut, the first in nearly a year, comes against a backdrop of strained consumer budgets. Data earlier this week showed a bigger-than-expected rise in inflation in April. Sign up here. Despite the fall, domestic energy prices remain around 50% higher than they were in the summer of 2021, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent gas prices soaring and sparked an energy crisis in Europe. Consumer groups said that energy costs remain unmanageable for many households and called for more support for those struggling. "Any fall in the price of energy is always welcome news, but this is a short fall from a great height. Bills remain punishingly high for low-income households," Adam Scorer, Chief Executive of energy poverty charity National Energy Action, said. Ofgem Director General of Markets Tim Jarvis said people should look for better deals that could be as much as 200 pounds a year cheaper than the price cap. “The first thing I want to remind people is that you don’t have to pay the price cap – there are better deals out there so it’s important to shop around," he said in a press release. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he recognised that older people were still feeling the pressure of energy prices and he wanted to ensure that more pensioners become eligible for winter fuel payments, having curbed the number of people eligible last year. Ofgem's new cap of 1,720 pounds ($2,314.43) a year for average use of electricity and gas is down 129 pounds from the previous cap for April-June. The fall reflects a drop in wholesale prices. "Global wholesale prices for energy have gone down. While this is the main cause, changes to supplier business costs have also made an impact on energy prices falling," Ofgem said in a statement. The price cap was introduced in 2019 to protect consumers and covers around 65% of households. ($1 = 0.7432 pounds) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/uks-ofgem-lowers-price-cap-by-7-says-energy-bills-would-hit-2313-2025-05-23/

2025-05-23 06:52

Energy, Interior secretaries to host June 2 event in Alaska Officials from Taiwan, South Korea, Japan invited Trump pushing allies to invest in long-delayed project TOKYO/WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. has invited officials from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to Alaska to discuss projects including a vast gas pipeline, two people familiar with the planning said, as Asian governments consider U.S. investments in the hopes of relief from President Donald Trump's tariffs. Trump's energy czar, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will host the June 2 event, the sources told Reuters, requesting anonymity as the details are not public. Sign up here. The event will include a visit to Alaska's remote North Slope, one source said, home to stranded gas fields the U.S. is seeking to unlock through the proposed $44 billion pipeline. It would traverse 800 miles (1,300 km) across the huge state before the gas is liquefied for shipment, mainly to Asian customers. Trump has pushed allies like Japan and South Korea to buy U.S. energy while threatening trade tariffs. He has said Tokyo and Seoul want to invest "trillions of dollars each" in the pipeline project. It is unlikely the Alaska meeting will yield major deals related to the long-delayed pipeline project, as originally hoped, and the size and seniority of the foreign contingent is unclear, the sources said. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed optimism about the Alaska LNG project during a private meeting with Trump in February, despite doubts in Tokyo about its viability. Japanese and South Korean officials and executives have sounded caution on a project in the works for decades that has made little progress because of cost and logistical challenges. The White House declined to answer specific questions about the event, saying in a statement that Trump "has a proven history of bolstering American energy production and will restore our nation's position as a global energy leader". The Energy and Interior departments did not respond to requests for comment. Officials from Taiwan's state-run energy company CPC, which in March signed a non-binding agreement to invest in and purchase offtake from the pipeline project, will attend the Alaska meetings, the Economic Ministry said. CPC did not respond to requests for comment. South Korean Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun said last week his government had been invited but that the timing was "very tricky". South Korea holds a presidential election on June 3. Japan's trade minister, Yoji Muto, has also been invited, two sources said. A Japanese government source said it would be difficult for Muto to attend due to parliamentary commitments, while Tokyo's level of participation may be influenced by the progress of Japan-U.S. trade negotiations. An official at Japan's trade ministry said on Friday that no decision had been made on Japanese participation. Locking in binding agreements on the pipeline project may take time as developers have not yet conducted a front-end engineering design study, needed to clarify overall project costs, one source said. The study is expected to begin later this year. The June 2 meeting will also broadly discuss collaborating on energy projects in the Arctic, the sources said. Burgum and Wright are then scheduled to participate in the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference in Anchorage from June 3 to 5. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-invites-asian-officials-alaska-eyes-44-billion-lng-project-2025-05-23/

2025-05-23 06:08

BUDAPEST, May 23 (Reuters) - The European Union's plan to ban Russian energy imports must be prevented "by all means", Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio on Friday. The European Commission will next month propose legal measures to phase out the EU's imports of all Russian gas and liquefied natural gas by the end of 2027, the EU executive said earlier in May. Member states Slovakia and Hungary, which rely on Russian oil and gas supplies, have opposed the proposed ban. Sign up here. "We have to try to stop this Ukrainian push to completely ban Russian gas from Europe. We must prevent it by all means. Because there is no point in having a pipeline if we are not allowed to bring any gas through it," Orban said. He said if the EU compensated Hungary for the cost of the energy ban, then the government would be "open to negotiations" on the issue. Slovakia and Hungary continue to receive Russian gas and oil and have argued with Ukraine over its decision to halt with the end of 2024 gas flows from the east through its territory. The EU has imposed sanctions on most Russian oil imports but not on gas due to opposition from Slovakia and Hungary, which maintain closer ties with Moscow. The Commission's proposal only requires a qualified majority in the European Parliament to pass, meaning that the two central European states would not be able to block it, but their objections could complicate the process. Hungary imports most of its gas via the Turkstream pipeline, which runs under the Black Sea to Turkey and on to Southeast Europe. In the first quarter of this year, volumes through TurkStream’s European section rose 16% year-on-year to around 4.5 billion cubic metres, driven by higher demand in Hungary and Slovakia. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/hungarys-orban-says-eu-plan-ban-russian-energy-imports-must-be-prevented-2025-05-23/

2025-05-23 06:00

Trump labels the EU 'difficult to deal with' Dollar down, has weekly loss Gold, yen and government bonds gain on safe haven demand Apple shares knocked by direct new tariff threat NEW YORK May 23 (Reuters) - Major stock indexes and the dollar eased on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump unleashed his latest trade threats, recommending 50% tariffs on European Union imports from June 1 and considering a 25% tariff on any Apple iPhones made outside the U.S. Shares of Apple (AAPL.O) , opens new tab ended 3% lower, while the three major U.S. stock indexes finished weaker but off session lows. European shares also ended lower. Sign up here. The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, hit a three-week trough. For the week, the dollar was down 1.9%, on track for its biggest weekly percentage decline since early April. The dollar sank 1% versus the Japanese yen , while the euro rose 0.8% against the dollar. Government bonds in the United States and Europe climbed on safe-haven buying after sustaining heavy pressure this week from rising concerns about Trump's tax cuts and the White House's ballooning debt pile. Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network: "The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with." This was the latest event in a jittery week for global markets after Moody's downgraded the U.S. credit rating late last Friday and the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved Trump's sweeping tax cuts on Thursday. The new tax-cut bill is expected to add almost $4 trillion to the U.S. federal government's $36 trillion debt pile. "Tariffs are back at the forefront," said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president and advisor for Wealthspire Advisors in Westport, Connecticut. "I think the 25% tariffs on iPhones and Apple was a little bit of a surprise. It seemed like there was going to be an exemption there, and the market is reacting more to that than the EU news, and is interpreting that as a hardening of the stance by President Trump and the administration as opposed to seeking a negotiating path." The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab fell 256.02 points, or 0.61%, to 41,603.07. The S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab dropped 39.19 points, or 0.67%, to 5,802.82 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab slipped 188.53 points, or 1.00%, to 18,737.21. All three major U.S. stock indexes had fallen more than 1% early in the day. For the week, the Dow lost 2.47%, the S&P 500 fell 2.61%, and the Nasdaq shed 2.48%. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS) , opens new tab fell 2.86 points, or 0.33%, to 868.15. The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) , opens new tab index fell 0.93%. The White House paused most of the punishing tariffs Trump announced in early April against nearly every country. He left in place a 10% baseline tax on most imports, and later reduced his massive 145% tax on Chinese goods to 30%. "Markets go through a cycle with tariffs - freak out and sell when they are announced ..., freak out and buy (when) they are paused," said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group in Richmond, Virginia. The 30-year U.S. bond yield , which on Thursday hit the highest since October 2023, fell in response to fresh tariff fears. The yield was down 2.2 basis points at 5.042%. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 3.6 basis points to 4.517%. Thirty-year bonds have taken the brunt of the price selloff and posted the largest weekly increase in yields since April 7. Yields move the opposite direction to prices. Gold, which has surged in recent months as economic anxiety has risen, was higher. Spot gold rose 2.14% to $3,364.74 an ounce. Oil prices gained as U.S. buyers covered positions ahead of the three-day Memorial Day weekend. Brent crude futures settled at $64.78 a barrel, up 34 cents, or 0.54%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures finished at $61.53, up 33 cents, or 0.54%. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/global-markets-wrapup-1-2025-05-23/

2025-05-23 05:53

May 23 (Reuters) - Australia Pacific LNG has agreed to cut the liquefied natural gas price on sales to China's Sinopec (600028.SS) , opens new tab for the remaining 10 years on their contract, Origin Energy (ORG.AX) , opens new tab said on Friday. The agreement followed a price review on their 20-year contract out to 2035, and "has resulted in a reduction in the JCC-linked contract slope, which is effective from 1 January 2025," Origin said. Sign up here. The slope refers to the percentage of the benchmark Japan Crude Cocktail benchmark price to which the LNG price is linked. Origin said the price cut would lower its earnings before income, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) from its stake in APLNG by A$55 million ($35.39 million) for the six months to June 2025. China Chemical and Petroleum Corporation, commonly known as Sinopec, buys 7.6 million metric tons per year of LNG from APLNG, a project in Queensland, where it is a partner with Origin and operator ConocoPhillips (COP.N) , opens new tab. The last price review triggered by Sinopec in 2020 did not lead to any changes. Origin said one final price review is due in 2030, which is at APLNG's discretion. ($1 = 1.5542 Australian dollars) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/australia-pacific-lng-price-cut-sinopec-hit-origin-profit-2025-05-23/