2025-01-17 23:16
SYDNEY, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people in Australia's New South Wales state were without power on Saturday after a low pressure system brought damaging winds and heavy rains, sparking flood warnings. Around 28,000 people were without power in Sydney, the state capital and Australia's largest city, and 15,000 had no power in nearby Newcastle city and Hunter region, power company Ausgrid said on its website on Saturday morning. The state's emergency services agency fielded 2,825 callouts for assistance since Friday, mostly for fallen trees and properties with wind damage, it said on its website. "It is still a dynamic situation, and I urge people in affected areas to stay up to date with the latest emergency warnings and follow the advice of emergency services," federal emergency management minister Jenny McAllister said in a statement announcing disaster support funding. Warnings for flooding, damaging winds and heavy rain were current for many parts of the state, the nation's weather forecaster said, adding that winds with gusts up to 100 km/h were likely over alpine areas. The alerts come after storms this week brought down trees and power lines and left 200,000 people without power in New South Wales, local media reported. Climate change is causing heavy short-term rainfall events to become more intense in Australia, the country's science agency said last year. The agency also warned of more extreme heat, coastal inundation, drought and fire weather in the bushfire-prone country of around 27 million. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thousands-australians-without-power-heavy-rain-damaging-winds-lash-new-south-2025-01-17/
2025-01-17 22:33
Jan 17 (Reuters) - Air Products and Chemicals (APD.N) , opens new tab laid out a more specific timeline on Friday for when its CEO will leave the industrial gases company, as investors began casting votes for directors in a bitterly contested boardroom battle. The company said it will announce a new president by the end of March and that this person will then become CEO within three months of joining, replacing Seifi Ghasemi. Air Products also laid out critical governance changes by pledging to split the roles of chairman and CEO, and announcing that Ghasemi, who has been at the helm for a decade, will then retire from the board. The company, valued at $70.7 billion, is racing to convince investors to back its nine directors, including Ghasemi, at Thursday's annual meeting. Activist investor Mantle Ridge is trying to persuade shareholders to elect four newcomers. Mantle Ridge argues Air Products needs to lay out a succession plan for its octogenarian CEO, allocate its capital differently and scale back on risky projects. It proposed four executives, including its founder Paul Hilal and a former industry executive, Dennis Reilley, as candidates. Air Products countered by telling shareholders that the election of any Mantle Ridge nominee "could create extraordinary confusion" about the company's direction and leadership. Hours after the company laid out its more detailed timeline for when Ghasemi will exit, investment firm Neuberger Berman said it will vote for all four Mantle Ridge nominees. The investment firm cited concerns about "strategic missteps and capital allocation" as well as a "lack of a credible succession plan" for its decision. Neuberger Berman owns roughly 770,000 shares or a 0.35% stake in Air Products, making it a top-50 shareholder, a spokesperson for the company confirmed. Earlier, proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services, Glass Lewis and Egan-Jones recommended that investors back at least some of Mantle Ridge's candidates. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/air-products-split-ceo-chair-roles-amid-activist-pressure-2025-01-17/
2025-01-17 22:27
Trump plans pro-crypto orders in first few days in office Creating crypto council, repealing SEC guidance on the table President-elect courted crypto backers hard on campaign trail WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump is planning to use his executive powers to reduce the regulatory burden faced by cryptocurrency companies and promote digital asset adoption in his first few days in office, according to three people briefed on the plan. Trump, who courted crypto cash on the campaign trail with promises to be a "crypto president," is expected to sign an executive order creating a crypto advisory council, an idea he first floated in July, said two of the sources who requested anonymity to discuss private deliberations. Bloomberg News first reported on Thursday that Trump was planning to issue an executive order creating a crypto council, which would help advise the government on crypto-friendly policy. It could have as many as 20 members, according to one of the sources. Trump's advisers have also discussed using an executive order to direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to rescind 2022 accounting guidance known as "SAB 121" that has made it too costly for some companies, particularly banks, to hold cryptocurrencies on behalf of third parties, the people said. Trump is also expected to order the end of "Operation Choke Point 2.0," the term crypto executives use to describe what they say has been a concerted effort by bank regulators to choke crypto companies out of the traditional financial system by directing banks to deny them services. Bank regulators deny that such an effort exists. Reuters could not ascertain if Trump would direct the changes via one or several executive orders, but sources said the goal was to quickly send a strong signal that the new administration broadly supports digital asset adoption. If implemented by the relevant regulators, Trump's expected policy directives have the potential to push cryptocurrencies into the mainstream, say regulatory and crypto experts. That is in stark contrast to President Joe Biden's regulators which, in a bid to protect Americans from fraud and money laundering, cracked down on crypto companies, suing exchanges Coinbase, Binance, Kraken and dozens more in federal court. Critics of the cryptocurrency industry point to the downfall of leading crypto executives Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years for fraud, and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who briefly went to prison for money laundering violations, as evidence of the industry's dangers. A representative for Trump, who counts multiple crypto advocates among his financial backers and top cabinet picks, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The SEC did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Cryptocurrency regulation is just one of several topics that Trump is expected to address with executive orders in the opening days of his second four-year term. The incoming president's team has promised dozens of executives orders on topics ranging from energy production to illegal immigration. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/trump-plans-crypto-friendly-orders-first-few-days-power-2025-01-17/
2025-01-17 22:22
Jan 17 (Reuters) - U.S. government-owned utility Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) said on Friday that it is seeking an $800 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop nuclear technology. The company, in partnership with Duke Energy (DUK.N) , opens new tab, American Electric Power (AEP.O) , opens new tab and others, will apply to receive funding under the DOE's Generation III+ Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Program. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The U.S. nuclear industry, which has faced expansion challenges in recent decades, is witnessing a surge in demand as Big Tech seeks alternative energy sources for their power-intensive data centers, spurred by the Biden administration's push for investment in cleaner energy sources. With technologies such as SMRs, which are smaller-sized nuclear reactors, harnessing nuclear energy can become more cost-effective and easier to deploy than full-sized models, which can take decades to build. CONTEXT The program aims to accelerate the development of new nuclear technologies by forming cost-shared partnerships with teams that include utility, reactor vendor, constructor, and end-users or power off-takers, according to the DOE's website. The program also has access to up to $900 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, enacted in 2021 under President Joe Biden. WHAT'S NEXT TVA said the funding, if awarded, would accelerate the construction of GE Vernova's (GEV.N) , opens new tab SMR technology at TVA's Clinch River project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, by two years, targeting commercial operation planned for 2033. KEY QUOTES "Not only will this funding allow us to accelerate our own SMR ambitions, but this partnership will also allow us to collectively advance the entire industry," American Electric Power's CEO Bill Fehrman said. Separately, Duke Energy said it would collaborate as a group to assess risks and foster U.S. heavy manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, a move that could lead to cost reductions and cooperation across deployments. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/tennessee-valley-authority-other-utilities-seek-800-mln-federal-funding-build-2025-01-17/
2025-01-17 21:48
WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has protected about 84%, or $96.7 billion in clean energy grants created by its signature climate law from any clawback by the next administration, a White House official said on Friday. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The 84% of the grants from the Inflation Reduction Act have been "obligated", meaning contracts have been signed between U.S. agencies and recipients. The outgoing administration hopes this will help to continue the deployment of clean energy even after Monday's inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, a climate change skeptic who has pledged to rescind all unspent IRA funds. BY THE NUMBERS Here are examples of programs that have been obligated. About 94% of Department of Energy funding for state energy efficiency rebate programs for home retrofits and appliances, or about $8.8 billion, has been obligated. A U.S. Department of Agriculture program to help electric co-ops to procure more clean energy has been 97% obligated, or about $9.45 billion. At the Environmental Protection Agency, some $38 billion has been obligated, with 100% in a greenhouse gas reduction fund obligated and about 94% of all of its IRA grant programs obligated. Some $11 billion has been announced but not obligated. Much of that is for upcoming fiscal years and for USDA programs. KEY QUOTES “This is all big progress and ensures that these investments should actually flow to communities and recipients as intended,” Kristina Costa, a deputy assistant to Biden and director of the clean energy office at the White House, told Reuters. Even though some $11 billion in funds are not obligated, the fact that they have been announced publicly “creates some political pressure to not rescind those commitments, particularly in areas where those programs are going to Republican states and districts in rural areas and otherwise,” Costa said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/biden-protects-84-ira-clean-energy-grants-being-clawed-back-2025-01-17/
2025-01-17 21:35
HOUSTON/WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Oilfield service provider SLB (SLB.N) , opens new tab on Friday said its current business in Russia still aligns with U.S. sanctions issued this month, but that revenue in the country was declining. The world's largest oilfield service company is one of the few Western firms to remain in Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. SLB is under pressure to leave Russia after the U.S. Treasury Department on Jan. 10 issued new sanctions that included adjusting an executive order to cut off Russia's access to U.S. services related to the extraction and production of crude oil and other petroleum products. Companies have until Feb. 27 to wind down operations, according to the sanctions. U.S. lawmakers from both political parties had urged the Treasury to close the loophole allowing SLB to operate in Russia, which they say boosts revenues for Russian President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine. "Any reasonable interpretation of Treasury's new guidance that 'cuts off access to U.S. services related to the extraction of crude oil' would mean getting U.S. oilfield services companies out of Russia," said U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat. President-elect Donald Trump's policy on Russian sanctions is uncertain. President Joe Biden's sanctions were intended to help Trump get a deal in Ukraine. SLB is reviewing the new sanctions and believes that voluntary measures it has taken to curtail its Russian activity, including halting shipments of product and technology into the country from all SLB facilities worldwide, are aligned with the new restrictions, Chief Executive Officer Olivier Le Peuch said on Friday in an earnings call. SLB raised its quarterly dividend and accelerated share repurchases as its fourth-quarter profit beat expectations, while also warning of flat 2025 revenue due to an oil oversupply. Revenue from SLB's operations in Russia has been declining and accounted for 4% of its total revenue in 2024, down from 5% the year before, he said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/slb-says-its-russia-business-aligns-with-new-us-sanctions-revenue-drops-2025-01-17/
