2024-10-28 20:42

Move marks latest effort to increase oil reserve after 2022 sale Unclear how much money is left to buy more oil Future SPR replenishment depends on Congress amid political challenges WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. on Monday said it is seeking up to 3 million barrels of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for delivery through May next year, a purchase that would leave the government with little money to buy more until lawmakers approve more funds. The solicitation for the oil which would be delivered to the SPR's Bryan Mound, Texas site from April through May 2025, is the latest step in bringing oil back to the reserve after its biggest sale ever in 2022 of 180 million barrels. President Joe Biden had ordered that sale after gasoline prices spiked following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Department of Energy has now bought back more than 55 million barrels at an average price of about $76 per barrel, nearly $20 lower than the $95 a barrel price it sold the oil for in 2022. As part of efforts to replenish the SPR, the department also worked with lawmakers in late 2022 to cancel 140 million barrels in sales that had been congressionally mandated through 2027. Democratic and Republican lawmakers had voted for those sales to pay for government programs. It is unclear exactly how much money the DOE has left in its fund to buy more oil. A department source said earlier in the month that there was about $150 million left, or about enough to buy about 2 million barrels. But evidently there is slightly more. "The DOE will continue to purchase crude at a good price for taxpayers with available emergency revenues," a department spokesperson said on Monday. The Biden administration, or the next one, will need to work with Congress to fill up the DOE's SPR purchasing fund. "Imminent depletion of the SPR petroleum account puts the onus on Capitol Hill for further replenishment, but politicization of the SPR could make it hard for lawmakers to agree," said Kevin Book, a policy analyst at ClearView Energy Partners, a non-partisan research group. Book estimated that "theoretically" there would still be some money left if the latest solicitation was fulfilled but that it would not be much. Working with lawmakers on the SPR could also involve cancelling future sales that Congress mandated years ago of about 100 million barrels of oil from 2026 through 2031. Cancelling the sales instead of buying oil only to resell it again could reduce wear and tear on the SPR's underground caverns on the Texas and Louisiana coasts, where the oil is held. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-announces-solicitation-up-3-million-barrels-oil-delivery-spr-2024-10-28/

2024-10-28 20:32

Oct 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy finalized a $2.26 billion loan for Lithium Americas (LAC.TO) , opens new tab on Monday to build Nevada's Thacker Pass lithium mine, one of Washington's largest mining industry investments and part of a broader push to boost critical minerals production. The loan, provisionally approved in March, is a key part of U.S. President Joe Biden's efforts to reduce dependence on lithium supplies from China, the world's largest processor of the electric vehicle battery metal. Biden officials permitted a similar lithium project under development by ioneer (INR.AX) , opens new tab last week. The Thacker Pass project is slated to open later this decade and be a key supplier to General Motors (GM.N) , opens new tab, which earlier this month boosted its investment in the mine to nearly $1 billion. "The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes mineral security is essential to winning the global clean energy race," said Ali Zaidi, the White House national climate advisor. Former President Donald Trump had permitted the mine just before leaving office. Initial construction at the site, just south of Nevada's border with Oregon, started last year after the company won a long-running and complex court case brought by conservationists, ranchers and Indigenous communities. With the loan now closed, Vancouver-based Lithium Americas plans to start major construction, a process that could take three years or longer. The mine's first phase is expected to produce 40,000 metric tons of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year, enough for up to 800,000 EVs. The project is expected to employ about 1,800 people during construction, and provide 360 full-time jobs once the mine is operational. The loan will have a 24-year term, with interest rates based on the U.S. Treasury rate as each tranche is drawn. "This essential loan helps us reduce dependence on foreign suppliers and secure America's energy future," said Lithium Americas CEO Jon Evans. The mine's cost had been increased from a previous estimate of $2.27 billion to nearly $2.93 billion due to higher engineering costs, an agreement to use union labor, and the company's decision to build a housing facility for workers and their families in the remote region. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-energy-dept-finalizes-226-billion-loan-lithium-americas-nevada-mine-2024-10-28/

2024-10-28 20:15

New deal uncertain on funding for nature conservation 38% of world's tree species at risk of extinction, IUCN reports Nations still far from 30-by-30 goal, with 17% land now protected CALI, Colombia, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Countries were at an impasse over how to fund nature conservation and other key decisions as the U.N. COP16 biodiversity summit entered its second week on Monday in the Colombian mountain town of Cali. With nature in unprecedented decline and species going extinct faster than ever, scientists warned the world's governments that there is no time to waste. As of today, roughly 38% of the world's tree species - totaling 16,425 species - are at risk of extinction thanks to timber logging and clear-cutting to make way for farming, mining, road-building and other development efforts, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). "We need to take urgent action ... if we really want to keep these tree (species) alive," IUCN Director Grethel Aguilar told a news briefing in Cali. The summit, which marks the 16th meeting of parties to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), is tasked with figuring out how to implement 23 goals outlined in the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework aimed at halting and reversing nature loss by 2030. Chief among those goals is having each country set aside 30% of its land and sea territory for conservation by 2030 - a target known as the 30-by-30 goal. As of Monday, only 17.6% of the world's land area and inland waters were under some form of protection, according to the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP). That is far below the 30% goal, though many countries have yet to submit pledges despite this month's deadline. Commitments for protecting the open ocean were even lower - with only 8.4% of maritime and coastal areas now protected, the UNEP report said. The UNEP chief urged countries to not only meet the 30% conservation goal, but also to target high-value lands and waterways for protection rather than favoring wastelands or other areas that already have little wildlife and small human populations. "We cannot be seduced by just these numbers," UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said on the sidelines of the summit. "Nature cannot be put in a museum." By the summit's end on Friday, negotiators and observers hope to achieve progress on a raft of issues touching on financing, genetic material, Indigenous representation and conservation policy. "The discussions are going well, but it's a heavy agenda," said David Ainsworth, a spokesperson for the secretariat. While the intensity of these discussions shows countries' engagement, it is also in some cases a sign "of a relatively low level of trust" between countries, Ainsworth said. "They have a lot of work to do this week." So far, delegates are close to agreeing on a measure to recognize and include Indigenous groups in biodiversity decision-making, including with a new permanent presence for these groups within the official U.N. CBD process. But many are watching for COP16 to deliver strong options for funding conservation as a measure of the summit's success. Summit talks on how to mobilize the billions of dollars needed to halt biodiversity loss this decade were stuck on Monday, as country delegates debated whether there should be an additional fund created to handle this financing. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/un-cop16-nature-talks-are-gridlocked-scientists-warn-extinction-risks-2024-10-28/

2024-10-28 20:10

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Russian and Chinese-linked influence actors and the Cuban government have been amplifying misinformation following two deadly U.S. hurricanes, including false claims that the U.S. was denying disaster relief claims, a U.S. official said on Monday. The U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, shared the assessment following a declassification of certain U.S. intelligence information. They disclosed no direct link to the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5. The White House and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have spoken out about a huge spike in misinformation surrounding relief efforts following Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene, that made it difficult for relief officials to do their jobs, and fueled criticism of the Biden administration. Certain strands of that misinformation were repeated by some Republicans, drawing criticism from at least three congressional Republicans. But foreign actors also played a role in spreading the false claims, the U.S. official said. The U.S. official said Russian hurricane-related misinformation on Telegram included an Oct. 10 image shared by state-owned news agency RIA that was likely generated by artificial intelligence to show a flooded Disney World. That image was also shared by pro-Kremlin English-language accounts on an unnamed U.S. social media platform, the official said. Reuters this month reported that the fake Disney World images, which gained nearly half a million views worldwide, were clearly AI-generated. Russian influence actors also used their social media accounts to spread other "provocative" hurricane-related content, such as an Oct. 9 post claiming the U.S. government was denying disaster relief claims, the U.S. official said. Chinese-linked influence actors also circulated divisive hurricane-related material, including through a false social media posting that claimed U.S. spending on foreign conflicts had undermined support for disaster victims. "The post included an image probably generated by AI portraying the Vice President (Kamala Harris) overlooking flood damage next to a sign saying that all of the United States’ money went to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan," the official said. Cuba also amplified a posting which suggested that U.S. support for Israel and Ukraine had diverted resources from disaster relief efforts, echoing many of the same themes in Russian and Chinese social media messaging, the official said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/russian-chinese-cuban-accounts-are-amplifying-hurricane-misinformation-us-2024-10-28/

2024-10-28 19:57

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Yemen's Houthis said on Monday that they carried out three operations targeting vessels in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea. The attacks included strikes on the Motaro in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait with ballistic missiles. Yahya Sarea, the Houthi military spokesman, also said in a televised address, that the group targeted the Maersk Kowloon in the Arabian Sea with a missile and the SC Montreal in the Arabian Sea with two drones. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/yemens-houthis-say-theyve-targeted-vessels-red-sea-arabian-sea-2024-10-28/

2024-10-28 19:36

Tanker carrying about 400,000 barrels of oil en route to Cuba Tanker departed from Mexico's Pajaritos port Cuba has lost $5 billion due to U.S. embargo in the last year HOUSTON/MEXICO CITY, Oct 28 (Reuters) - A tanker carrying about 400,000 barrels of oil departed from Mexico's Pajaritos port and was on Monday en route to Cuba, where an acute energy crisis has left the island struggling to keep the lights on, shipping data showed. Cuba kept schools closed and non-essential workers home last week as it struggled to recover from the collapse of its power grid and a hurricane in recent days. The Cuba-flagged tanker Vilma, expected to arrive in the island later this week according to data from financial firm LSEG, has exclusively been covering Mexico-Cuba routes this year. Mexico has been supplying Cuba with crude and fuel since last year, complementing volumes sent by Venezuela, which is Cuba's main oil supplier. A previous oil cargo was sent in mid-September by Mexico to a port serving Cuba's Cienfuegos refinery, the LSEG data showed. From January through September, Mexico provided some 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Olmeca crude to Cuba, which mainly arrived in Cienfuegos. In all of 2023, Mexico exported some 16,000 bpd of crude and refined products to the island, according to the data. The Mexican cargoes, onboard the same vessels that ferry Venezuelan crude and fuel to Cuba, are supplied by a subsidiary of state-run Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMX.UL), the company told the Securities and Exchange Commission this year, adding that sales are made using peso-denominated contracts and are valued at market prices. Pemex did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Cuba has lost about $5 billion in the last year due to the U.S. embargo of the country, Cuba's ambassador to Mexico Marcos Rodriguez said on Monday, blaming the "cruel policy" for the failure of its grid. Rodriguez declined to comment on planned oil cargoes from Mexico to Cuba, but said his government is negotiating aid with that country, Venezuela and Colombia. Mexico's former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador supported Cuba in several ways, including oil supply, while President Claudia Sheinbaum has shown willingness to maintain aid to the country. The passage of Hurricane Oscar has complicated the recovery of Cuba's already precarious electricity grid. The island stabilized its electrical service last week, but warned that outages would continue. Cuba's outdated power plants reached crisis point this year as oil imports from Venezuela and Russia dwindled, culminating in a grid collapse this month. Venezuela's oil supply to Cuba fell to 32,600 bpd in the first nine months of the year from 60,000 bpd in the same period of 2023, according to vessel monitoring data. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-cargo-mexico-en-route-cuba-amid-power-crisis-data-shows-2024-10-28/