2024-10-09 00:44

Oct 8 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve's 50-basis-point interest-rate cut last month was "timely" and was neither reactive, nor proactive, Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said on Tuesday. "It was timely and consistent" with the Fed's two mandates of attaining 2% inflation and maximum employment, Jefferson said at Davidson College in North Carolina. The Fed's success in meeting the first mandate by bringing down inflation, he said, allowed the U.S. central bank "to pay increased attention to the other side of the mandate." Jefferson voted in September with the majority of his colleagues to reduce the Fed's policy rate, marking a turning point in what had been a two-year battle against inflation that took U.S. borrowing costs to their highest levels in decades. "Our goal over the past two years has been to bring inflation down without causing an undue or unorderly increase in the unemployment rate," Jefferson said. "And that's why we held the policy rate at a very high level for an extended period of time, because we wanted to bring inflation down and the labor market was performing very well." Unemployment, rather than rising as the Fed raised rates as was the case in prior battles with inflation, had held steadily under 4% for most of that time. "The performance of the labor market gave us the headroom, if you will, to keep policy ... in restrictive territory for a long period of time," Jefferson said. But unemployment's upward drift - it is now 4.1% - and the decline in inflation to nearer to the Fed's 2% goal made it appropriate to "recalibrate" policy, he said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/fed-vice-chair-jefferson-sept-rate-cut-was-timely-2024-10-09/

2024-10-09 00:26

WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. has awarded six companies contracts to help process a special uranium fuel meant for a new generation of reactors that could be built in coming years, the Energy Department said on Tuesday. Russia is currently the only country that makes the high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, or HALEU, in commercial volumes. The companies that won the contracts and aim to de-convert HALEU are Centrus (LEU.A) , opens new tab, the U.S. division of France's state-owned nuclear fuel company Orano, GE Vernova (GEV.N) , opens new tab, BWXT (BWXT.N) , opens new tab, French firm Framatome, and Westinghouse. Deconversion turns gaseous uranium into oxide or metal forms to be made into fuel for reactors. HALEU is uranium enriched to between 5% and 20%, which backers say has the potential to make new high-tech reactors more efficient. Uranium fuel used in today's reactors is enriched to about 5%. The administration of President Joe Biden believes nuclear power, which generates virtually emissions-free electricity, is critical in fighting climate change and to meet rising power demand from artificial intelligence and other consumers. "Boosting our domestic uranium supply won’t just advance President Biden’s historic climate agenda, but also increase America’s energy security, create good-paying union jobs, and strengthen our economic competitiveness," Ali Zaidi, the national climate adviser, said in a statement. All contracts will last for up to 10 years. Each company will get a minimum contract of $2 million, with up to $800 million available for the services, subject to the availability of appropriations, the Energy Department said. Critics of HALEU, which has a higher fissile content, say it is a weapons risk if it gets into the wrong hands and recommend limiting its enrichment to between 10% and 12% for safety. "This award is a critical piece of the puzzle in building an advanced nuclear fuel supply chain to support the next generation of reactors," said Amir Vexler, president and CEO of Centrus, which plans to make commercial amounts of HALEU at a plant in Ohio. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-awards-contracts-process-haleu-fuel-high-tech-reactors-2024-10-09/

2024-10-08 23:58

Oct 8 (Reuters) - An area of low pressure located northeast of the northwestern Bahamas has 30% chance of becoming a cyclone in the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Tuesday. "The system is already producing gale-force winds, but environmental conditions appear only marginally favorable for additional tropical or subtropical development over the next day or so," it added. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-nhc-says-30-chance-cyclone-near-northwestern-bahamas-2024-10-08/

2024-10-08 23:32

Oct 9 (Reuters) - Woodside Energy (WDS.AX) , opens new tab said on Wednesday it has completed the acquisition of U.S. liquefied natural gas developer Tellurian (TELL.A) , opens new tab, including its U.S. Gulf Coast LNG export project, for $1.2 billion including debt. Last week, Tellurian shareholders had voted in favour of its proposed acquisition by the Australian energy producer. Woodside said it has renamed the Driftwood LNG development opportunity as Woodside Louisiana LNG. The company said it is targeting final investment decision (FID) readiness from the first quarter of 2025 for the acquired project. FID is the point where a company approves the project's future development. With the development opportunity having a total permitted capacity of 27.6 million tonnes per annum, it could strengthen the position of the U.S. as the world's largest producer of the superchilled gas. The agreement is expected help solve Tellurian's financial woes. The U.S. company has been searching for financial partners to fund the LNG facility. In May, it said it would sell its upstream assets to pay off some of its debt. "We are also pleased with the inbounds received from multiple parties looking to enter the opportunity as a strategic partner," Woodside CEO Meg O'Neill said in a statement. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/woodside-completes-12-bln-tellurian-acquisition-2024-10-08/

2024-10-08 23:12

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the energy sector will likely peak this year due to falling costs for solar and batteries which are encouraging less coal-fired power and oil use, a report by consultancy DNV suggested on Wednesday. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Global C02 emissions rose to a new record high last year, putting a target to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius increasingly out of reach, experts and climate scientists have said. DNV said even if emissions peak this year, they are cumulative and a slow decline after the peak means warming of 2.2C is the most likely scenario this century. BY THE NUMBERS The build-out of solar photovoltaic (PV) and batteries is booming. In 2023, new solar installations surged by 80% to reach 400 gigawatts (GW) and the costs in many regions became cheaper than coal. As battery prices also fell, it is making 24-hour solar and storage power more accessible. Battery prices fell by 14% last year and are expected to continue to drop, meaning that electric vehicles will become cheaper too. China remains the world's largest consumer of coal and the biggest emitter of CO2 but it accounted for 58% of global solar installations and 63% of new electrical vehicle purchases last year. Its dependence on fossil fuels is expected to fall rapidly as it continues to install more solar and wind. KEY QUOTE "Solar PV and batteries are driving the energy transition, growing even faster than we previously forecasted,” said Remi Eriksen, DNV's group president and chief executive. "Emissions peaking is a milestone for humanity. But we must now focus on how quickly emissions decline and use the available tools to accelerate the energy transition," he added. CONTEXT In this year's energy outlook report, oil and gas major BP forecast peak CO2 emissions from the energy sector in the middle of this decade based on current trends. Shell estimates that CO2 emissions from energy use, industrial processes and land use could peak in 2030 at 10% above 2010 levels. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/global-energy-related-co2-emissions-set-peak-this-year-consultancy-dnv-says-2024-10-08/

2024-10-08 22:24

Over 17% of Florida gasoline stations out of fuel Outages to grow after Hurricane Milton landfall, analysts say Kinder Morgan shuts Florida fuel pipelines, Tampa terminals Could be biggest storm-related disruption in Florida fuel market since 1992, analyst says NEW YORK, Oct 8 (Reuters) - A growing number of gas stations were flashing empty signs on Tuesday as panic-buying gripped Florida, where residents are bracing for a monster hurricane to make landfall. Hurricane Milton was downgraded to a Category 4 storm on Tuesday as it grinded past Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula en route to Florida's Gulf Coast where over 1 million people were ordered to evacuate. Parts of Florida are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which battered the state at the end of September. The storm is expected to make landfall on Wednesday. By 6:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, 7,912 gasoline stations in Florida, about 17.4% of the total, had run out of fuel versus almost no outages on Monday morning, according to data from fuel markets tracker GasBuddy. As people rush to get out of harm's way, demand for gasoline has jumped, said Patrick De Haan, an analyst at GasBuddy.com. "These numbers will continue to rise very fast," De Haan said. Milton's path over Tampa Bay is spelling trouble for major fuel distribution networks, he added. Florida is the third-largest gasoline consumer in the United States, but there are no refineries in the state, making it dependent on waterborne imports. More than 17 million tons of petroleum- and natural gas-related products move through Tampa Bay in a typical year, according to the Energy Information Administration. Tampa and most other Florida ports were closed on Tuesday to all vessel traffic, reports by the U.S. Coast Guard showed. TERMINALS SHUT Kinder Morgan (KMI.N) , opens new tab has shut its Central Florida Pipeline system, which moves refined products between Tampa and Orlando, the company said in an emailed statement. It has closed all fuel delivery terminals in Tampa, but expects trucks to be able to pick up fuel from Orlando wholesale racks until winds exceed 35 miles per hour. Fuel trucks cannot safely deliver at wind speeds exceeding that threshold, wholesale distributor Mansfield explained, and said it expects wind conditions to bring all Florida fuel deliveries to a near-halt by Wednesday. Refiner CITGO Petroleum and infrastructure and logistics provider Buckeye Partners are also shutting down their Tampa terminals, the companies told Reuters. Mansfield has moved all Florida markets to its "Code Red" classification, requiring a 72-hour notice to make new deliveries. It is also requesting 48-hour notices for new deliveries in southern Georgia. Milton could potentially be the biggest disruptor to Florida's gasoline supply since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, said Tom Kloza, head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service. "I'd be hard pressed to come up with an area that could be more prone to lingering problems should a Cat3 or greater storm hit the infrastructure," Kloza said. "It's hard to anticipate any tankers or barges coming in to Tampa Bay until Sunday or Monday," he added. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/gas-stations-run-empty-panic-grips-florida-ahead-hurricane-milton-2024-10-08/