2025-02-18 19:58
NEW YORK, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Constellation Energy (CEG.O) , opens new tab, the largest U.S. nuclear power operator, skipped its quarterly earnings investor call on Tuesday for the first time since going public three years ago. The earnings call was supplanted by a management call on January 10, a Constellation spokesperson said, when the company announced a proposed $16.4 billion acquisition of private natural gas and geothermal provider Calpine in one of the biggest U.S. power industry deals. "Given the timing of that call and the depth of information shared, we determined that a call this quarter was redundant," Constellation spokesman Paul Adams said, adding that the Calpine discussion included forward-looking earnings guidance. "We remain committed to transparency." A first-quarter earnings conference is scheduled for May, Adams said. The lack of a call surprised some analysts. A discussion on Tuesday would have allowed for questions about Constellation's full-year 2024 results, the Calpine acquisition and other company matters, Bank of America analysts said in a note. The cancellation surprised some analysts. Constellation, which was spun off from Exelon in early 2022, released stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings earlier on Tuesday. Its shares rose about 2.5% at mid-afternoon. Constellation is among the biggest stock market winners in the past year, rising roughly 150% from a surge in demand from artificial intelligence data centers. The independent power producer has recently landed lucrative contracts, including one to restart a Three Mile Island nuclear reactor for Microsoft data centers. BofA and J.P. Morgan analysts said a meeting between Constellation and regulators on Thursday could be a catalyst for the stock. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may address Constellation's complaint over rules governing co-located commercial arrangements, in which data centers directly connect to a power plant. Co-location has become a possible solution for quickly powering data centers without the wait times for connecting to the broader grid, but critics have raised reliability and cost concerns over the setup. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/constellation-forgoes-earnings-call-first-time-since-spinoff-2025-02-18/
2025-02-18 19:57
GEORGETOWN, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The fourth floating production facility to be operated by a consortium led by Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) , opens new tab in Guyana has departed from Singapore on its route to the South American country's waters, according to a company executive and LSEG vessel tracking data seen on Tuesday. Once the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is installed, the consortium plans to boost output capacity to 940,000 barrels per day (bpd) later this year. The group produced an average of 616,000 bpd last year after upgrades at two of its three facilities. The fourth FPSO, One Guyana, was built by SBM Offshore (SBMO.AS) , opens new tab with a 250,000-bpd output capacity. Two more vessels are expected to arrive in Guyana in the coming two years. "I'm very pleased to announce (that it) just left Singapore today on its way home to Guyana," said Hunter Farris, Exxon's Vice President for Deepwater, at Guyana's Energy Conference in Georgetown. The floating facility began moving on Tuesday on its way from Singapore through the Malacca Strait, vessel tracking data showed. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/exxons-fourth-fpso-guyana-departs-singapore-company-vessel-data-says-2025-02-18/
2025-02-18 19:47
WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday formally gave West Virginia authority to oversee carbon capture projects in the state, the fourth state granted such ability. The agency signed a final rule granting primary enforcement authority, known as primacy, to West Virginia to permit so-called Class VI wells in order to speed up the approvals and advance the development of massive carbon sequestration projects. "As one of my first acts as EPA Administrator, I am proud to sign this rule to allow West Virginia the independence it needs to permit and regulate itself, while also working to safeguard our environment and drinking water," said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. Carbon capture and storage is an emerging technology that aims to pull carbon dioxide emissions from industrial sources before they reach the atmosphere for storage underground. Over a dozen states have carbon sequestration projects planned or in development and are awaiting approvals by the EPA, which has been a slow process. North Dakota, Wyoming and Louisiana are the three other states that have been granted authority to oversee their own CO2 injection permitting and oversight. Last week, Texas oil, gas and industrial groups urged Zeldin to speed up the state's request for primacy , opens new tab. Texas has 43 projects under review - one-third of all U.S. applications. The Biden administration's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act contains billions of dollars of subsidies, including a lucrative $85 per metric ton tax credit for storing CO2 in geological formations. While President Donald Trump has vowed to gut the IRA, Biden's landmark climate-change legislation, energy experts say such subsidies will likely survive due to strong support from Republican states and lawmakers. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-epa-grants-west-virginia-authority-oversee-carbon-capture-2025-02-18/
2025-02-18 19:37
Feb 18 (Reuters) - U.S. utility Constellation Energy (CEG.O) , opens new tab beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, benefiting from lower expenses and rising demand for power. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects power consumption to reach record highs in 2025, with demand from data centers expected to nearly triple in the next three years. Driven by the unprecedented power demand, nuclear utilities were among the biggest winners in the S&P 500 last year. The S&P 500 utilities sector (.SPLRCU) , opens new tab rose 19.6% in 2024, while Constellation Energy rose 91.3%. In January, Constellation, which operates 21 nuclear power plants in the country, agreed to buy natural gas and geothermal company Calpine Corp for $16.4 billion, marking one of the biggest U.S. power industry acquisitions. "Independent of our pending acquisition of Calpine, Constellation will invest over $2.5 billion in 2025 to reliably operate our business for the long-term and fund our growth investments to help meet growing power demand," Constellation CFO Dan Eggers said in a statement on Tuesday. The utility forecast full-year adjusted operating earnings in the range of $8.90 per share to $9.60 per share, while analysts were expecting $9.17 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG. The company's total operating expenses fell 23.6% to $4.48 billion in the October-December quarter, from a year ago. The Baltimore, Maryland-based utility posted adjusted operating profit of $2.44 per share in the quarter ended December 31, beating analysts' average estimate of $2.15 per share. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/constellation-energy-beats-profit-estimates-data-center-driven-power-demand-2025-02-18/
2025-02-18 19:33
SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Brazil has resumed electricity imports from Venezuela after six years to supply its northern Roraima state, in a measure aimed at reducing costs and diversifying the energy supply for consumers. The operation, which received final approval on Tuesday from Brazilian energy regulator Aneel, aims to guarantee another source of energy supply for Roraima, Brazil's only state that does not receive energy from the national grid. Since imports from Venezuela stopped in 2019, Roraima's consumers have relied exclusively on local thermoelectric generation, with fuel subsidized by a fund added to electricity bills. The Brazilian government authorized trading firm Bolt Energy to import Venezuelan energy at a price of 1,096.11 reais ($192.49) per megawatt-hour, valid from January to April this year. The trading company is expected to receive a reimbursement of 41.2 million reais for these operations, using resources from the state fund. The imports resumed last Saturday, with a limit of 15 megawatts, according to data from the National Electric System Operator. The following day operations were briefly interrupted after a shutdown on a transmission line connecting Brazil to Venezuela, but the issue was already solved, and the import of energy from Venezuela resumed. ($1 = 5.6943 reais) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/brazil-resumes-energy-imports-venezuela-after-six-years-2025-02-18/
2025-02-18 19:17
Feb 18 (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Tuesday he wanted to see less volatility in medium and longer-dated bond yields that have been driven up by speculation about the trade policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. British government borrowing costs surged and then eased in January as investors tried to price global inflation risks in the light of Trump's plan for tariffs on trade partners. "It is what's coming out of Washington on tariffs that is moving that term premium around, day by day and hour by hour," Bailey said, referring to the extra interest investors demand for holding longer-dated debt. "And I do agree with the comments that the new U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, because I do think that we'd all probably like to see less volatility on that," Bailey added at an event in Brussels organised by Bruegel, a think tank Bessent said earlier this month that he and Trump were seeking to contain yields on 10-year U.S. government debt. Bailey said Bessent was "very wise" to point to that part of the yield curve. The BoE governor repeated his warning that trade barriers would hurt global economic growth but the implications for inflation were unclear. "I do have to say that fragmentation of the world economy is negative for growth," Bailey said. "The situation for inflation in a country that faces tariffs is actually fairly ambiguous in terms of what happens, because it depends upon trade redirection, it depends upon whatever measures are taken in response and it depends upon the reaction of exchange rates." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/boes-bailey-hopes-less-bond-market-volatility-driven-by-us-tariffs-2025-02-18/
