2025-04-29 07:44
LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - BP's (BP.L) , opens new tab strategy and sustainability chief Giulia Chierchia, the key architect of the group's ill-fated foray into renewables, will step down on June 1, the company said on Tuesday. Activist investor Elliott had demanded her exit alongside other structural changes at the company to improve accountability, according to a source. Sign up here. Chierchia will leave BP and her role will be abolished, the company said in an emailed statement accompanying its lower-than-expected first-quarter results. "As part of our continued drive to simplify our structure, the teams within the (Strategy Sustainability & Ventures) function will be integrated into other functions that will provide clear synergies, enabling quicker decision-making and clearer accountabilities," BP said. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/bp-strategy-chief-chierchia-leave-june-after-elliott-pressure-2025-04-29/
2025-04-29 07:27
LISBON, April 29 (Reuters) - Portugal's government said on Tuesday all 6.4 million electricity clients had power supplies normalised after Monday's country-wide blackout. It said in a statement all airports were operating, if with some recovery still underway in Lisbon, and trains were working. Sign up here. Schools were also reopening and the health service fully stabilised. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/portugal-recovers-blackout-government-says-2025-04-29/
2025-04-29 06:54
Electricity restored to most of Spain, Portugal Authorities under pressure to explain Monday's blackout Spanish schools reopen, public transport restarts Power outage was one of biggest ever seen in Europe MADRID, April 29 (Reuters) - Spain and Portugal switched their power back on after the worst blackout in their history, though authorities offered little explanation for what had caused it or how they would prevent it from happening again. Traffic lights were back on, train and metro services slowly returned and schools reopened. Commuters battled with delays to get back to work after an outage that had left people stranded in lifts and cut off from phone contact with their families. Sign up here. The sudden outage had seen the equivalent of 60% of demand in Spain drop in five seconds around midday on Monday. While Spanish grid operator REE on Tuesday ruled out a cyber attack as the cause, Spain's High Court said it would investigate whether the country's energy infrastructure had suffered a terrorist strike and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his government had not ruled out any hypothesis. "We must not rush to (conclusions) and (commit) errors through haste," Sanchez said on Tuesday. "We will find out what happened in those five seconds." REE said it had identified two incidents of power generation loss, probably from solar plants, in Spain’s southwest that caused instability in the electric system and led to a breakdown of its interconnection with France. Spain is one of Europe's biggest producers of renewable energy, and the blackout sparked debate about whether the volatility of supply from solar or wind made its power systems more vulnerable. Investment bank RBC said the economic cost of the blackout could range between 2.25 billion and 4.5 billion euros, blaming the Spanish government for being too complacent about infrastructure in a system dependent on solar power with little battery storage. STATE OF EMERGENCY Javier Diaz, a 24-year-old student, was forced to sleep in Madrid's Movistar Arena, a music venue, after finding himself stranded in the capital. Luckily, he had just finished walking the Camino de Santiago, a Christian pilgrimage route in northern Spain, and had a sleeping bag, "so we had quite a good night". Madrid authorities put on free buses to get people to work on Tuesday and the metro and some trains resumed operating, although with delays. Construction worker William Galicia, 39, had seen three buses pass by completely full. "We'll have to be lucky for one with a bit more space inside so we can get in," he said. A state of emergency was declared across many Spanish regions on Monday, with the deployment of 30,000 police. In Atocha station in Madrid, police and Red Cross workers handed out blankets and bottles of water. Bars and restaurants counted the cost of lost produce after fridges and freezers were switched off for more than eight hours. "(We’re) scared it will go bad, that we have to throw everything away. We don’t know if the insurance will cover it," said Maria Luisa Pinol, 63, owner of the Granja Isabel bar in Barcelona, which had to shut on Monday night. In Portugal, the government said hospitals were back up and running, airports were operational albeit with delays in Lisbon, while the capital's metro was restarting operations and trains were running. Energy systems can be vulnerable when combining intermittent renewable power such as wind and solar with traditional sources such as gas and nuclear plants, said Victor Becerra, a professor of power systems engineering at the University of Portsmouth. "Whatever the cause, a major failure in one area can place sudden pressure on neighbouring systems, causing protective shutdowns to prevent further damage," Becerra said. More than 75% of the electricity Spain was using at the time of the outage came from renewable sources, according to Red Electrica data. Sanchez on Tuesday ruled out an excess of renewable energy as a cause of the network's collapse. He said Spain's nuclear power stations still hadn't resumed operating on Tuesday, which he said showed they were no more resilient than renewables. He said demand at the time of the blackout was relatively low and that there was ample supply. "What happened yesterday was an exceptional event in normal, everyday circumstances," Sanchez said. ($1 = 0.8787 euros) https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spains-power-generation-nearly-back-normal-after-monday-blackout-says-grid-2025-04-29/
2025-04-29 06:49
HELSINKI, April 29 (Reuters) - Airline Finnair (FIA1S.HE) , opens new tab on Tuesday reported a significant decline in first-quarter earnings due to a labour dispute with its pilots and warned that global trade tensions could dampen travel demand. Finnair, majority owned by Finland's government, seeks to rebound from the twin blows dealt by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's airspace closure that hit the group's lucrative Europe-to-Asia business. Sign up here. Its comparable operating loss for the January-March period deepened to 62.6 million euros ($71.28 million) from a loss of 11.6 million euros in the same period a year ago. The company said that industrial action negatively affected the result by around 22 million euros. Despite these challenges, Finnair maintained its 2025 outlook, although it acknowledged the risk of global trade tensions. "The threat of trade wars and uncertainty related to economic development have increased significantly, which may weaken demand," CEO Turkka Kuusisto said in a statement. Finnair had more passengers in January and February than at the same time last year but saw traffic decrease in March due to workers taking industrial action during collective bargaining. The collective labour agreement between Finnair and its pilots ended in September last year and talks for a new one have been ongoing since. To put pressure on Finnair, the pilots have used standby and overtime bans as well as short strikes. ($1 = 0.8783 euros) https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/finnairs-first-quarter-operating-loss-deepens-2025-04-29/
2025-04-29 06:43
NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell about 2% to a two-week low on Tuesday as investors braced for OPEC+ to boost output and worried U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs would hit the global economy and slow demand for the fuel. Brent crude futures fell by $1.61, or 2.4%, to settle at $64.25 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped by $1.63, or 2.6%, to settle at $60.42. Sign up here. Both benchmarks posted the lowest settlement since April 10. Trump's aggressive tariffs on imports into the U.S. have made it probable the global economy will slip into recession this year, according to a majority of economists in a Reuters poll. China, hit with the steepest tariffs, has responded with its own levies against U.S. imports, stoking a trade war between the top two oil-consuming nations. Analysts have sharply lowered their oil demand and price forecasts. "Trade between China and the U.S. has slowed to a semi-embargo type flow. Every day that passes without some kind of deal with any of our significant trade partners brings us one day closer to a global demand destruction situation," Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho, said in a note. The U.S. trade deficit in goods widened to a record high in March as businesses ramped up efforts to bring in merchandise ahead of Trump's sweeping tariffs, suggesting trade was a large drag on economic growth in the first quarter. The fallout from Trump's trade war reverberated through the corporate world on Tuesday, as delivery giant UPS (UPS.N) , opens new tab said it would cut 20,000 jobs to lower costs. Auto maker General Motors (GM.N) , opens new tab pulled its outlook and pushed its investor call to Thursday pending possible changes to trade policy. Trump was set to soften the blow of his auto tariffs through an executive order mixing credits with relief from other levies on parts and materials, after automakers pressed their case with the administration. UK oil major BP (BP.L) , opens new tab reported a deeper-than-expected 48% drop in net profit to $1.4 billion on weaker refining and gas trading. The energy market awaits earnings from U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) , opens new tab and Chevron (CVX.N) , opens new tab this week. PRODUCTION RISING Several members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies in OPEC+ will suggest an acceleration of output hikes for a second straight month in June, sources told Reuters last week. "Another production hike from OPEC+ could not happen at a worse time when sentiment is already weak, and with Kazakhstan not showing much interest in reducing production," said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen. OPEC+ member Kazakhstan increased oil exports by 7% year-on-year in January-March thanks to a supply boost via the Caspian pipeline, Reuters calculations based on official data and sources showed on Tuesday. U.S. OIL INVENTORIES U.S. oil inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute trade group was due on Tuesday and from the U.S. EIA on Wednesday. , Analysts forecast energy firms added about 0.5 million barrels of oil to U.S. stockpiles during the week ended April 25. If correct, that would be the fifth weekly build in a row and compares with an increase of 7.3 million barrels during the same week last year and an average build of 3.2 million barrels over the past five years (2020-2024). https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/oil-falls-economic-jitters-dampen-demand-outlook-2025-04-29/
2025-04-29 06:40
First-half adjusted operating profit down 10% Expects "low single digit" annual sales growth for Primark Forecasts loss in sugar of up to 40 million pounds Shares down 8% in early trading LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - Associated British Foods (ABF.L) , opens new tab reported a 10% fall in first-half profit on Tuesday, hurt by a loss in its sugar division, sending its shares down 8% in early trading. The group however kept its guidance for "low single digit" annual growth at its Primark clothing unit, driven by new stores in continental Europe and the United States, offsetting weaker sales in the UK and Ireland. Sign up here. Sales at Primark, whose boss Paul Marchant resigned last month over inappropriate behaviour, rose 1% to 4.5 billion pounds. "While we continue to assume our trading in the UK remains challenging in H2 2025, there have been some early signs of improvement in recent weeks," the company said. AB Foods said it expected its sugar business to make a full-year adjusted operating loss of up to 40 million pounds ($54 million), reflecting persistent low European sugar prices, a loss at its UK bioethanol business, Vivergo, and challenges in Tanzania and South Africa. It said it was close to completing a review of its Spanish sugar business Azucarera, and it was considering mothballing or closing the Vivergo plant unless there were changes to UK bioethanol regulations. The group maintained guidance for its grocery, ingredients and agriculture businesses. It said adjusted operating profit, its preferred profit measure, was 835 million pounds in the six months to March 1, on flat revenue of 9.5 billion pounds on a constant currency basis. Shares in AB Foods fell 8%, wiping out most of the 10% gain recorded so far this year. ($1 = 0.7459 pounds) https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/ab-foods-keeps-annual-guidance-primark-unit-cuts-sugar-outlook-2025-04-29/
