2025-03-15 15:47

Cuba's latest grid collapse leaves millions without power Efforts focus on vital services including hospitals and food production Cuba blames economic woes on U.S. embargo and sanctions HAVANA, March 15 (Reuters) - Cuba's capital Havana plunged into darkness for a second night on Saturday as efforts to restore power proceeded in fits and starts, with setbacks slowing progress and leaving several million still without electricity across the island. Cuba's grid collapsed on Friday evening after a transmission line at a substation in Havana shorted, beginning a chain reaction that completely shut down power generation across the island, officials said. Sign up here. The grid operator focused early efforts on ensuring electricity for vital services including hospitals, water supply and food production centers. But by early Saturday night, neither of Cuba's two largest power plants - Felton, in Holguin province, and Antonio Guiteras, in Matanzas - was generating electricity, leaving the majority of the island's homes in the dark. Lazaro Guerra, the country's top electricity official, said on the evening newscast he hoped both power plants would come online overnight, but warned progress would be necessarily slow to avoid further setbacks. The island's two largest cities, Havana, in the west, and Santiago de Cuba, in the east, both saw efforts to restore power falter during the day on Saturday, forcing the grid operator to begin again from scratch. The latest islandwide grid collapse in Cuba follows a string of nationwide blackouts late last year that plunged the country's frail power generating system into near-total disarray, stressed by fuel shortages, natural disaster and economic crises. Most Cubans outside Havana have already been living for months with rolling blackouts that peaked at 20 hours a day in recent weeks. In Havana, a handful of hotels used generators to keep the lights on late on Saturday for tourists. But street and stop lights on even major boulevards were blacked out, residential areas were largely dark and most restaurants and bars were closed. The country's transportation ministry said bus travel, as well as flights in and out of the country's various airports, continued unfettered by the grid collapse. But severe shortages of food, medicine, fuel and water, combined with mounting hours of daily blackouts, have made life increasingly unbearable for many Cubans. "It's very complicated because without electricity, keeping food is difficult," said Lazaro Hernandez, a cafeteria worker in Havana who was scouring his neighborhood for ice to help keep stores of ham and cheese cool overnight. "We've been without power for hours now; we don't know how much longer it will last." Cuba blames its economic woes on a Cold War-era U.S. trade embargo, a web of laws and regulations that complicate financial transactions and the acquisition of essentials like fuel and spare parts. U.S. President Donald Trump recently tightened sanctions on the island's communist-run government, vowing to restore a "tough" policy toward the long-time U.S. foe. Cuba, with the help of China, has invested heavily in the past year in developing large, state-run solar farms it says will help alleviate dependence on pricey and hard-to-source fossil fuels. Many Cubans, like Victor Raul Bracho, a Havana musician practicing for a recording session on Saturday, carried on as normal despite the blackout. "It's not like we're getting used to these problems, but we have to get on with our lives." https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-still-largely-without-power-after-nationwide-grid-collapse-2025-03-15/

2025-03-15 13:46

PARIS, March 15 (Reuters) - French prosecutors have opened an investigation into TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) , opens new tab over potential manslaughter and a failure to assist people in danger during a jihadist attack in Mozambique, the energy firm said, reiterating that it denied any wrongdoing. Islamist insurgents attacked the port city of Palma in March 2021, killing many civilians in areas close to Mozambican gas infrastructure projects, owned in part by TotalEnergies. Sign up here. Survivors and relatives of victims filed a complaint in France in late 2023, saying the company had failed to ensure the safety of subcontractors. That led prosecutors to launch a preliminary inquiry. "TotalEnergies has been informed of the opening of a judicial investigation into the Mozambique terrorist attacks of March 2021," the company said on Saturday in an emailed statement. "The Company categorically rejects these accusations." Repeating comments it had made at the time of the complaint, TotalEnergies said teams from the Mozambique LNG project provided emergency assistance and evacuated more than 2,500 people. The judicial investigation will determine whether or not there are grounds to send TotalEnergies to court. French media earlier reported the probe was being overseen by prosecutors at Nanterre just outside Paris. The Nanterre prosecutor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The board of the U.S. Export-Import Bank has approved a nearly $5 billion loan for Mozambique LNG, clearing a key hurdle to restarting the project that was halted by the Islamist attacks. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/totalenergies-faces-french-manslaughter-probe-over-mozambique-attack-2025-03-15/

2025-03-15 10:55

LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - The captain of a container ship that crashed into a U.S. tanker earlier this week off Britain's east coast appeared in an English court on Saturday charged with gross negligence manslaughter. Russian national Vladimir Motin, 59, was captain of the Portuguese-flagged Solong that hit the Stena Immaculate tanker, carrying military jet fuel, on Monday morning. Sign up here. Motin, who was charged on Friday evening, appeared at Hull Magistrates' Court on Saturday over the death of Filipino national and Solong crew member Mark Angelo Pernia, 38. Prosecutor Amelia Katz said the Solong was travelling at a speed of over 15 knots (27.8 kilometres per hour) when it hit the Stena Immaculate, which had been anchored in the same position from Sunday evening, "over 15 hours before the collision occurred". She said Motin was the only person in charge of the Solong at the time of the collision, having taken charge about three hours before the incident. "For a period of over 40 minutes before the collision, the Solong was on a direct route for impact with the Stena Immaculate, which was anchored and stationary," Katz said. The prosecutor added: "There were no communication attempts from the Solong to warn of the impending collision and the Solong did not adjust its course or speed at any point." All 23 crew members of the Stena Immaculate and 13 of the 14 crew on the Solong were rescued. "Attempts were made by some of the other crew members on the Solong to locate Mr Pernia, but they were unable to," Katz said. Motin did not make an application for bail and was remanded into custody. The collision caused a huge explosion and spilled jet fuel into the sea. Initial concerns of an environmental disaster subsided as assessments showed the jet fuel had mostly burned off and there was no sign of other leaks from either ship. https://www.reuters.com/world/russian-captain-involved-us-tanker-crash-appears-uk-court-2025-03-15/

2025-03-15 10:28

BRUSSELS, March 15 (Reuters) - European Union countries are discussing making the bloc's binding gas storage goals more flexible, over concerns that the rules risk inflating gas prices, a negotiating document seen by Reuters showed. Countries including Germany, France and the Netherlands have warned the EU's binding deadlines to fill gas storage are pushing up prices, by indicating to the market that European buyers are obliged to buy large volumes of fuel by fixed deadlines, creating an opportunity to manipulate prices. Sign up here. EU member countries are now negotiating changes to the targets. The European Commission last week proposed keeping the binding targets until 2027, but EU countries and the European Parliament can amend the proposal and must approve the final rules. A draft negotiating proposal, circulated among EU countries late on Friday and seen by Reuters, showed countries are considering changing the EU's requirement to fill gas storage to 90% of capacity by Nov. 1 each year. There could instead be a range of any time between Oct. 1 and Dec. 1. The proposal would also make voluntary the EU's series of intermediate targets to fill gas storage caverns in the months leading up to November. Diplomats from EU countries will discuss the proposal next week and may consider further changes to the rules. The negotiating proposal was prepared by Poland, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency and chairs negotiations among EU member states. Its representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Commission has said it will be more lenient in enforcing this year's November gas storage target, but that has not soothed concerns among governments concerned about a large bill for filling their storage if gas prices spike. The gas storage goals were introduced in 2022 after Russia slashed deliveries, to ensure EU countries had a buffer of stored fuel during the winter months when demand for heating peaks. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/eu-countries-draft-plan-soften-gas-storage-targets-document-shows-2025-03-15/

2025-03-15 10:12

LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - Turkey's largest oil refiner Tupras (TUPRS.IS) , opens new tab is set to receive a cargo of Itapu crude early next month, its first such purchase from Brazil, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, and ship tracking data. Tupras last month said it had stopped buying Russian crude after the United States announced new sanctions on Russia's oil industry on January 10. Sign up here. The cargo of Itapu crude, around 1 million barrels, was loaded onto the Suezmax tanker Joao Candido on March 12, according to tracking data from Kpler and LSEG. It is scheduled to arrive at Turkey's Izmit port, where Tupras operates a 225,800-barrel-per-day capacity oil refinery, on April 3-4, the data show. Tupras did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, which arrived late in the Turkish business day on Friday, on the reason for the purchase. Brazil's Petrobras confirmed to Reuters that it sold the cargo. Petrobras "continues to develop new markets to ensure the flow of the growing production of Brazilian oil to profitable destinations," the firm's statement said. The Kpler shipping data that go back to 2013 show that neither of Tupras' two refineries, one at Izmit and another at Izmir, has previously received Brazilian crude. Itapu is a medium-sweet crude with an API gravity of 29.3, and a sulphur content of 0.253%, according to data seen by Reuters. Russia's Urals is medium-sour, meaning it has a similar density to Itapu at around 31.7 API, but is more sulphurous at 1.7%, according to data provided by S&P Global Commodity Insights. Tupras had become one of the biggest importers of Russian crude since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, receiving around 305,000 bpd of the grade in 2024 according to Kpler. Itapu is closer in quality to other medium-sweet grades that Tupras occasionally buys, such as Nigeria's Forcados, a Mediterranean crude trader said. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/turkeys-tupras-imports-first-brazilian-crude-cargo-data-shows-2025-03-14/

2025-03-15 09:03

KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 (Reuters) - Malaysia's state energy firm Petronas said on Saturday it is continuing discussions with multiple stakeholders following a report that negotiations over the ongoing gas aggregator role with Petros have reached a deadlock. Petronas, or Petroliam Nasional, has been engaged in stalled negotiations with Petros, Sarawak's state-run energy firm, since last year. The impasse had raised concerns about the potential impact on Petronas' revenues, a major source of income for the federal government. Sarawak is home to more than 60% of Malaysia's gas reserves. Sign up here. Online media Free Malaysia Today reported on March 12 that the negotiations between Petronas and Petros were still in a deadlock as the state government was sticking to its original demands of requiring all domestic gas users, including LNG plants in the state, to comply with state laws. "We are still working closely with the federal government, Sarawak state government and Petros on the details of the future arrangement to ensure that the rights and interests of all parties including the end-customers and investors are addressed accordingly," Petronas said, in response to queries from Reuters about the status of the negotiations. Last month, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Petronas would uphold all its domestic and international contractual obligations while Petros would act as Sarawak's gas aggregator under a 2016 state ordinance on gas distribution beginning March 1. Law Minister Azalina Othman confirmed Petros' role as the state's gas distributor, but excluding liquefied natural gas. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/petronas-says-still-talks-with-sarawak-over-gas-aggregator-role-2025-03-15/