2025-03-22 06:15

March 22 (Reuters) - Britain's Heathrow Airport said on Saturday it is open and fully operational, a day after a fire knocked out its power supply and shut Europe's busiest airport, causing global travel chaos. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-heathrow-airport-says-it-is-open-fully-operational-2025-03-22/

2025-03-22 00:26

BUENOS AIRES, March 21 (Reuters) - Argentine energy company CGC announced on Friday that it will partner with state oil company YPF in a project located in the South American country's lucrative Vaca Muerta basin as a minority partner. In a statement, CGC said it will provide an unspecified amount of capital for the tie-up in Argentina's massive shale formation. The project aims to develop the formation's Aguada del Chañar area, where CGC will hold a 49% stake while YPF will have 51%. Sign up here. CGC, part of holding company Corporacion America, operates more than 60 energy projects, mostly in Argentina's Northwest and Neuquen basins, the latter being home to Vaca Muerta. Vaca Muerta is one of North America's most prolific sources of shale oil and gas. Since 2023, CGC has also worked with state-owned YPF to search for oil and gas in the Palermo Aike project in southern Argentina. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/argentine-energy-firm-cgc-tie-up-with-ypf-vaca-muerta-oil-project-2025-03-22/

2025-03-22 00:11

Operations normal on Saturday, Heathrow CEO says British Airways operates around 90% of flights Police say incident not being treated as suspicious Government, Heathrow order separate probes LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) - London's Heathrow Airport resumed full operations on Saturday and ordered a probe into how it dealt with a power outage that shut Europe's busiest air hub for almost a day as airlines warned of further delays and cancellations. British Airways (ICAG.L) , opens new tab, whose main hub is Heathrow, said it had operated around 90% of its schedule on Saturday and promised a "near-full" schedule for Sunday after chief executive Sean Doyle on Friday warned the "huge impact" would last days. Sign up here. The airport, the world's fifth-busiest, had been due to handle 1,351 flights on Friday, flying up to 291,000 passengers. But the fire at a nearby electrical substation forced planes to be diverted to other airports and many long-haul flights returned to their point of departure. Britain's energy ministry said on Saturday it had commissioned the National Energy System Operator to carry out an urgent investigation into the outage that raised questions about the resilience of the country's critical infrastructure. Heathrow said it had tasked an independent board member, former transport minister Ruth Kelly, with undertaking a review of the airport's crisis-management plan and its response to the incident with the aim of boosting resilience. Aviation experts said the last time European airports experienced disruption on such a large scale was the 2010 Icelandic volcanic ash cloud that grounded some 100,000 flights. "It has been absolutely insane", said Amber Roden, a U.S. citizen getting married in three days' time, after a number of her relatives had their flights cancelled. Two relatives who were halfway to London from Atlanta had to turn around and go back, she said. Two others will not make it to the UK until the day of the wedding, which she has been planning for two years. The vast majority of scheduled morning and early afternoon flights departed successfully on Saturday, with a handful of delays and cancellations, Heathrow's departures website showed. "We don't expect any major amount of flights to be cancelled or delayed," Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye told BBC radio. The airport has hundreds of additional staff on hand to facilitate an extra 10,000 passengers travelling through the airport, a spokesperson said in a statement. But airlines were still left dealing with disrupted schedules and the tens of thousands of passengers whose journeys had been interrupted. Virgin Atlantic said on Saturday that it was planning to run a near-full schedule with limited cancellations. Air India said it had restarted flights to and from Heathrow and expected to operate "as per schedule". FIRE NOT SUSPICIOUS Several passengers travelling to Heathrow from London's Paddington Station were still nervous. "I'm just hoping that when I get there, I can actually go," said university professor Melissa Graboyes, who said she was repeatedly checking the status of her flight to Toronto. Police said that after an initial assessment they were not treating the incident as suspicious, although inquiries remained ongoing. London Fire Brigade said its investigations would focus on the electrical distribution equipment. The travel industry, facing the prospect of a financial hit costing tens of millions of pounds and a likely fight over who should pay, questioned how such crucial infrastructure could fail without backup. "It is a clear planning failure by the airport," said Willie Walsh, head of global airlines body IATA, who, as former head of British Airways, has for years been a fierce critic of the crowded hub. Heathrow and London's other major airports have been hit by other outages in recent years, most recently by an automated gate failure and an air traffic system meltdown, both in 2023. "Britain humiliated by airport fiasco," read a headline in the Sun newspaper. "Farcical", wrote the Daily Mail. ($1 = 0.7741 pounds) https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/global-travel-chaos-has-airlines-scrambling-after-fire-forces-heathrow-shutdown-2025-03-22/

2025-03-21 23:50

Four 'stalking horse' bids received by court Recommended bid considered low by analysts Proposed transaction provides for $3.24 bln in cash Sale process' final hearing expected in July HOUSTON, March 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. court officer overseeing an auction of shares in the parent of Venezuela-owned refiner Citgo Petroleum is recommending a judge choose a $3.7 billion offer by an affiliate of Contrarian Funds to set the floor for a new bidding round this year, according to a court filing on Friday. A federal court in Delaware is auctioning shares in Citgo's parent PDV Holding to pay up to $21.3 billion to 18 creditors seeking compensation for debt defaults and expropriations in Venezuela. Sign up here. The court decided this time to set a minimum bid for PDV Holding after most companies in the auction last year rejected a $7.3 billion offer by an affiliate of hedge fund Elliott Investment Management that was subject to the resolution of parallel lawsuits brought by some of the same creditors. Four potential "stalking horse" bids for shares in PDV Holding were received by a March 7 deadline, the filing said. The offer by Contrarian Funds' affiliate Red Tree Investments was recommended by the special master in charge of the auction. Judge Leonard Stark must accept or reject it before the auction moves on. "Red Tree's proposed transaction has the second highest purchase price, and the special master believes it has the least conditionality," the filing said. "The special master considers that the combination of value and the certainty of the proposed transaction results in its being the best available stalking horse." Canadian miner Gold Reserve (GRZ.V) , opens new tab said last week that a consortium including its subsidiary Dalinar Energy Corporation and units of U.S. conglomerate Koch had also submitted an offer. Red Tree and another affiliate of Contrarian are holders of Venezuelan defaulted bonds and part of the 18 creditors seeking to cash proceeds from the auction, which means that if the group's offer wins they will get their claims paid. They are jointly claiming about $680 million plus interests and fees, according to court documents. Red Tree's initial bid was considered low by analysts, taking into account that Citgo's market valuation exceeds $10 billion, but a topping-off period to follow for rival bids to be submitted could increase the final offer, they said. "This offer would resolve the dispute with the holders of PDVSA's 2020 bonds while raising $1.5 billion to pay other creditors," said Jose Ignacio Hernandez from consultancy Aurora Macro Strategies. "For Red Tree, it's a financial, not an operational deal. But Venezuela could object it, saying it's too low," he added. The sale process' final hearing is set for July, according to the court's schedule. By choosing a starting bid, Stark hopes to maximize proceeds for creditors in the eight-year-long case, which previously found PDV Holding liable for the country's debts. Caracas-headquartered PDVSA is Citgo's ultimate parent. If it wins the process, the stalking horse would acquire 100% of PDV Holding's shares, with proceeds to be distributed to creditors at closing. Red Tree's proposed transaction provides for $3.24 billion in cash and $458 million in non-cash consideration, according to the court filing. Houston-based refiner Citgo Petroleum is the crown jewel of Venezuela's overseas assets. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has called the auction a "robbery" of Venezuela's assets in the United States. His government has criticized U.S. oil sanctions on the country, in force since 2019. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/contrarian-funds-37-billion-offer-recommended-starting-bid-citgo-parent-auction-2025-03-21/

2025-03-21 23:24

TORONTO, March 21 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday said Canada could offset the effects of any U.S. tariffs by removing internal trade barriers and that he aimed for free trade within the country by July 1, after meeting provincial and territorial leaders. "We are committing to table legislation by the 1st of July for goods to travel across the country... free of federal barriers," Carney told reporters. "We can more than offset the effects of any U.S. tariffs by eliminating internal trade barriers alone." Sign up here. Carney on his website cites research that found removing internal barriers would reduce trade costs by up to 15% and expend the economy by 4% to 8%. He said there were three main approaches to do this: harmonizing regulations across provinces, provinces' mutual recognition of rules and creating common national standards. Business groups have long complained about trade barriers among the 10 provinces and three territories and a drawn-out permitting process that means it can take years to develop and build mines, oil pipelines and other major resource projects. U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on Canadian imports of steel and aluminum in March, with further tariffs to follow on April 2. Canada sends 75% of exports to the United States and a third of all imports come from its southern neighbor, leaving its economy vulnerable to a protracted trade war. Carney, who recently became prime minister and is reportedly poised to announce on Sunday an election to take place in April, has yet to speak to Trump or lay out detailed plans on how he would deal with the president. The effort to reduce internal trade barriers would include removing labor mobility restrictions, Carney said. To speed up approvals of major infrastructure projects, Carney said the government will create a "one-window approval process" that would eliminate duplicative requirements between federal and provincial environmental assessments. He also vowed that an oil and gas cap would limit emissions not production. Carney said he agreed with provinces that the federal government would provide funds to build transportation links to resource extraction sites and develop a "national trade and energy corridor strategy." To support workers and businesses affected by the tariffs, Carney said the country would ease access to the employment insurance system for laid-off workers and allow business to defer corporate income tax payments and remittances. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/carney-says-canada-aims-have-free-internal-trade-by-july-1-amid-us-tariffs-2025-03-21/

2025-03-21 21:25

March 21 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo could extend a four-month export ban on cobalt introduced in February following a sharp drop in the metal's price, government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said on Friday. The world's top producer of cobalt halted the metal's exports in February in a bid to curb a global supply glut and stabilize the market. Sign up here. The Central African country also intends to impose export quotas on cobalt and partner with Indonesia, another key producer, to manage pricing and supply. After a cabinet meeting, government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said that cobalt prices had risen by over 50% since Congo's decision to suspend exports. Quoting a statement from President Felix Tshisekedi, Muyaya said it was necessary to maintain the cobalt export ban, adding that an evaluation would be carried out at the end of the four-month period, to decide whether the country should extend the ban or adopt new measures to maintain market stability. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/congo-could-extend-cobalt-export-ban-government-spokesperson-says-2025-03-21/