2024-10-23 07:54

China practiced blockade drills during war games last week China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own Taiwan Strait is a major international trade route TAIPEI, Oct 23 (Reuters) - A real Chinese blockade of Taiwan would be an act of war and have far-reaching consequences for international trade, Defence Minister Wellington Koo said on Wednesday after drills by China last week practiced such a scenario. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has over the past five years staged almost daily military activities around the island, including war games that have practiced blockades and attacks on ports. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims. China's latest war games, carried out last week, included simulating blockading ports and areas and assaulting maritime and ground targets, Beijing said. Speaking to reporters at parliament, Koo said that while "Joint Sword-2024B" delineated the exercise area, there were not any no-flight or no-sail zones. He said that under international law a blockade would prohibit all aircraft and ships entering an area. "Then according to United Nations resolutions it is regarded as a form of war," he said. "I want to stress that drills and exercises are totally different from a blockade, as would be the impact on the international community." A blockade would have consequences beyond Taiwan, Koo said, saying that one-fifth of global freight passed through the Taiwan Strait. "The international community could not sit by and just watch," he said. Taiwan has been outlining its preparations for a blockade, including food supplies, but Koo pointed to liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a weak point. Economy ministry official Hu Wen-chung added that Taiwan currently holds around eight days of LNG supplies, and is planning to extend that to 14 days by 2027, but as a contingency decommissioned coal-fired power stations can be brought back online. CARRIER IN THE STRAIT While last week's war games lasted only a day, Chinese military activity has continued. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan's defence ministry said earlier on Wednesday that a Chinese aircraft carrier group sailed through the Taiwan Strait, travelling in a northerly direction after passing through waters near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands. The ministry said the Chinese ships, led by Liaoning, the oldest of China's three aircraft carriers, were spotted on Tuesday night, and its forces monitored the fleet. The Pratas are at the northern end of the South China Sea. China's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing that as Taiwan was Chinese territory, "there is nothing more normal than China's aircraft carriers operating in their own territory and waters". The Liaoning was involved in those same Chinese war games last week near Taiwan. Taiwan said at the time that the Liaoning operated off the island's southeast coast during those drills, launching aircraft off its deck. Japan said last month the same carrier had entered Japan's contiguous waters for the first time. China has sailed its carriers through the strategic strait before, including in December shortly before Taiwan held elections. China says it alone has jurisdiction over the nearly 180 km (110 miles) wide waterway that is a major passageway for international trade. Taiwan and the United States dispute that, saying the Taiwan Strait is an international waterway. The U.S. Navy regularly sails through the strait to assert freedom of navigation rights. Other allied nations, like Canada, Germany and Britain have also carried out similar missions, to the anger of Beijing. Taiwan has also been worried about China's use of its coast guard in recent war games, and is especially concerned Taiwanese civilian ships may be boarded and inspected as Beijing seeks to assert legal authority in the strait. Taiwan's coast guard, in a report to parliament on Wednesday, said if that happened its ships would respond under the principle of "neither provoking nor backing down" and stop such acts "with all its strength". Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taiwan-says-chinese-aircraft-carrier-group-sailed-through-taiwan-strait-2024-10-22/

2024-10-23 07:46

BHUBANESWAR, India, Oct 23 (Reuters) - A severe cyclonic storm is set to pummel the coasts of India and Bangladesh on Thursday, spurring authorities to cancel train services, warn fishermen to stay home and begin evacuating thousands of people from vulnerable sites. Cyclone Dana, now over the Bay of Bengal, is expected to strengthen, packing wind gusts of up to 120 kph (74 mph), and make landfall late on Thursday on India's east coast and the south coast of Bangladesh, Indian weather officials said. Rains and strong winds are already lashing parts of India's coastal state of Odisha, which is prone to cyclones, witnesses and officials said. "We have started evacuating people from vulnerable areas," said administrative official Dilip Routrai in the state's district of Bhadrak, which is likely to be hit. The state cancelled more than 200 train services, shut schools until Friday and told fishermen not to go to sea. Its largest port of Paradip was suspending operations from Wednesday night, a senior official said, while ships at anchor were moving to safe positions at sea. Heavy to extremely heavy rainfall expected over the next three days could damage homes, roads, crops, and power lines, while bringing flooding and landslides, weather officials said. Weather officials in neighbouring Bangladesh also warned fishermen and put southern ports on alert. India's West Bengal state, which shares a border with Bangladesh, has readied disaster relief teams equipped with tree cutting machinery, officials said. During India's cyclone season from April to December, severe storms slam coastal cities, causing extensive damage in both countries. A super cyclone that hit Odisha in 1999 raged for 30 hours and killed 10,000, but the state has beefed up disaster preparedness since, reducing damage and casualties. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/severe-cyclonic-storm-set-barrel-into-eastern-india-bangladesh-2024-10-23/

2024-10-23 07:28

Oct 23 (Reuters) - India's annual diesel consumption is expected to rise by 3%-4% in the current fiscal year to March 31, said V. Satish Kumar, chairman of Indian Oil Corp (IOC) (IOC.NS) , opens new tab. India's annual diesel demand in April-September, half of this fiscal year, rose 1% to 44.4 million tons, according to government data, even though heavy rains curtailed the movement of trucks. "There will be a pick up in diesel consumption from October as rains have stopped and crop harvesting has begun," V. Satish Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by the World Biogas Association. IOC is India's largest fuel retailer and refiner. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/indias-diesel-consumption-rise-3-4-current-fiscal-year-says-indian-oil-chair-2024-10-23/

2024-10-23 07:02

ANELO, Argentina, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Argentina's new market-friendly government and fears about oil supply from the Middle East and elsewhere are driving a drilling and production boom in Argentina's Patagonian south, home to the giant Vaca Muerta shale formation, Spanish for "Dead Cow". Shale oil and gas output is soaring in the flat, arid landscape. Fracking wells are being drilled at record pace, pipelines built to take gas north to the capital Buenos Aires - and eventually beyond once liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants come online. "Our energy future is being built here," proclaims a huge blue billboard from state energy giant YPF outside the shale town of Anelo, where new homes are being built fast. The town's population swelled 10% in the last year. Argentina's embattled government, under pro-industry libertarian President Javier Milei, is pushing oil and gas exports to bring in needed foreign currency to build up reserves, and is also rolling out sweeteners for big investment. Vaca Muerta, an area the size of Belgium, holds the world's second largest shale gas reserves and fourth for shale oil. Still a relative frontier in the global energy scene, it has huge promise. Investors are more than ready to welcome a new and stable source of oil and LNG at a time of mounting conflict in the oil-rich Middle East while gas giant Russia wages war in Ukraine and Venezuela remains a pariah. In oil towns like Anelo, the rapid rise in activity is clear: only a few decades ago it was a sleepy hamlet with a handful of houses. Now it has hotels, restaurants and even a casino for energy sector workers flocking there in droves. "The boom is already here," said Monica Paredes, 70, one of the first residents in Anelo as she sat in front of her home of almost half a century near the town's central plaza. "There was nothing here before, nothing." The local governor says Anelo has added 1,000 residents in the last year. This has strained local infrastructure. a broader challenge for growth. Thousands of oil executives are flocking to the region for a major energy summit starting on Wednesday, with infrastructure, LNG export plans and energy deals on the table. Hotels in and around capital Neuquen are booked out. "Growth is so dizzying that infrastructure cannot keep up with the speed of growth of the number people," said José Luis Sureda, former secretary of hydrocarbon resources of Argentina. GLOBAL ENERGY PLAYER BY 2030? Vaca Muerta has the potential to be a crown jewel for Argentina, which has battled economic crises for years with depleted foreign currency reserves, triple-digit inflation and whipsaw political shifts between left and right. Some of those concerns remain, but libertarian Milei has changed the mood for investors, rolling out policies aimed at boosting the private sector and austerity measures to right the economy - even as poverty has risen. An investment incentive scheme is giving large projects in areas such as energy and mining tax breaks and better access to controlled foreign currency markets, spurring investment. The main hurdle remains getting the logistics right. Argentina still lacks LNG export capacity, which will take years to full build out. Local roads, schools and housing in places like Anelo still need to catch up. Sureda said new oil development would outpace gas in the years ahead because oil is easier to ship to global markets, despite pipeline bottlenecks. Gas faces a more complicated challenge: a lack of plants to turn it into LNG for export. "Vaca Muerta can provide 2 million barrels per day without any problem," Sureda added. Argentina's shale oil production currently is around 400,000 barrels per day. "But for that to happen, other things are needed: more infrastructure to bring the oil to the ports, and many more people in the workforce and more equipment." More people are starting to believe the dream that Argentina could become a serious global energy player. The number of fracking wells to extract shale oil and gas has surged this year. Investment is up. Production is hitting records. "Argentina, if everything goes well, could be a global player by 2030," said Daniel Dreizzen, director of consultancy firm Aleph Energy and former secretary of energy planning. One key focus for energy firms is Argentina's ability to build up its pipelines and gas export terminals. A major LNG terminal deal between YPF and Malaysia's Petronas is wobbling, industry insiders said, underscoring the challenge. Even if it goes ahead, it would take years and billions of dollars. "Oil is very profitable, but gas needs more infrastructure," said Dreizzen, who predicted annual sector investment could almost double to some $23 billion in the next eight years. "You have to build pipelines, liquefy it, transport it, compete with the United States. It is a long-term project." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/argentinas-vaca-muerta-shale-lands-its-drill-baby-drill-2024-10-23/

2024-10-23 07:01

Iberdrola expects net profit to rise 14% this year Profits will further grow in 2025 Company sees opportunities in renewables, grids, data centres MADRID, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The chief of Europe's largest utility Iberdrola (IBE.MC) , opens new tab gave a bullish outlook for the coming years on Wednesday, pledging to build on a strategy to focus investment on expanding and upgrading grids in Britain, the United States and elsewhere. While pouring billions into power grids and taking a more selective approach to renewables, with a preference for offshore wind projects, the Spanish group has made billions of euros in profit and its market capitalisation has reached record levels. And more is in store in 2025 and beyond, Executive Chairman Ignacio Sanchez Galan told analysts after the company posted a 50% increase in profit so far this year. "We are a year ahead of our estimates," he said, with the 5.5 billion euros ($5.93 billion) in profit, excluding the sale of some assets in Mexico, expected for this year already above the target for 2025 it had set in March. The 2024 guidance "is slightly above our forecasts", Barclays said in a research note, adding that capital gains make a comparison with consensus difficult. "We believe Iberdrola's current share price factors in 11 years' worth of renewable pipeline value, above the average for the renewable developers under our coverage (seven years)," it said. Shares in Iberdrola were up 1% at 1216 GMT versus a roughly flat blue-chip IBEX 35 index. Next year, numbers will be "substantially higher than those we are announcing for 2024", Galan said. Iberdrola will update its strategy in autumn 2025. "We expect to follow our trend of the last two decades, with more investment, higher results, and higher dividends, always preserving our strong financial position," he said. Record investments in the past 12 months allowed the Spanish company to add lucrative regulated assets to its network operations, as well as new renewable capacity. The group, which raised its outlook for the year in the previous two quarters, cited operations in Britain and the U.S. as the main drivers of its performance this year. Iberdrola sees further opportunity for expansion in its core renewables and grid operations and beyond, eyeing businesses such as data centres to drive further growth. Talk with partners interested in a data centre joint venture, in which Iberdrola will have a minority stake, are at an advanced stage, Galan said. As for shareholders, an interim dividend of 0.23 euros per share allows remuneration to grow in line with profit. Galan ruled for the moment out further acquisitions like its $5.4 billion deal for British power network Electricity North West (ENWL) and played down political risks in its Spanish home market and in the U.S., a country where most of its operations are regulated at state level. Net profit for the first nine months rose to 5.47 billion euros from 3.64 billion, slightly above analysts' expectations. ($1 = 0.9271 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iberdrolas-profit-jumps-50-record-investments-2024-10-23/

2024-10-23 06:45

Crude stocks and gasoline inventories rise, distillate inventories fall, says EIA Dollar index rose to its highest since July Israel begins strikes on Lebanese port city Tyre NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday after data showed U.S. crude inventories rose by more than expected even as refining activity rebounded, though futures remained up about 2% this week as traders factored in continuing conflict in the Middle East. Brent crude futures settled at $74.96, down $1.08, or 1.42%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled down 97 cents, or 1.35%, to $70.77. Last week oil fell more than 7% on worries about Chinese demand and easing worries about potential disruptions of Middle East oil supplies. Oil settled higher the first two sessions this week as buyers emerged. U.S. crude inventories rose by 5.5 million barrels to 426 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 18, the Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday, exceeding analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 270,000-barrel rise. "The large crude oil inventory build this week is offsetting the drop last week. But a lot of this is a result of the rebound in crude oil imports, a lot of it had to do with the hurricane," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, referring to the previous week's drawdown due to lower imports and demand post Hurricane Milton. Refinery runs climbed further as facilities exited from seasonal fall maintenance, yielding a build in gasoline while distillates showed a minor draw last week, analysts said. Also pressuring oil prices, the dollar index rose to its highest since late July. A firmer U.S. currency can hurt demand for dollar-denominated oil from buyers using other currencies. The impact of the crude stocks build on prices was countered somewhat by persistent concerns over potential oil supply risk from conflict in the Middle East. "The market continues to wait for Israel's response to Iran's missile attack," ING analysts said, noting the lack of any outcome from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's latest visit to Israel. Blinken pushed on Wednesday for a halt to fighting between Israel and militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, but heavy Israeli air strikes on a Lebanese port city Tyre demonstrated no respite. "Market participants priced for the Middle East conflict to drag for longer, with a ceasefire deal potentially seeing some gridlock," said IG market strategist Yeap Jun Rong. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/oil-prices-slip-rising-us-crude-inventories-2024-10-23/