2024-10-06 07:59

Japan is second-biggest LNG buyer globally after China Seeks shorter duration contracts that allow for resales Talks to South Korea, Italy on LNG procurement cooperation HIROSHIMA, Japan, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Japan has agreed on Sunday to study cooperating with South Korea and Italy on procurement of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the world's second-biggest LNG importer after China seeks greater flexibility while strengthening its energy security. JERA, Japan's biggest utility company, and South Korea's Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) (036460.KS) , opens new tab, also a major LNG buyer, are collaborating on opportunities for joint procurement, cargo swaps and other forms of cooperation, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said in a statement on Sunday. "The governments of both countries expect that this endeavour will serve as the starting point for a new LNG cooperation between Korean and Japanese companies," said the statement co-signed by the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Separately, the state-backed Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) signed a preliminary agreement with Italian energy company Eni (ENI.MI) , opens new tab to cooperate on LNG procurement, as Eni also seeks investors for its LNG projects. "We already deal with Japanese buyers on a short-term basis and we would like to expand that collaboration also to a long-term basis," Cristian Signoretto, Eni's director for global gas and LNG portfolio, told reporters on the sidelines of an LNG conference in Hiroshima on Sunday. Japanese buyers are increasingly looking for more flexible contracts with shorter durations that also allow for resales so the companies can divert cargoes to other buyers when domestic demand declines. Japan is also boosting its own LNG trading in the region. Tokyo Gas (9531.T) , opens new tab, Japan's biggest city gas provider, is already collaborating with partners for joint LNG procurement which strengthens its emergency response capabilities, Yumiko Yao, senior general manager for LNG, told the conference on Sunday. Part of ensuring adequate supply, JERA is designated by the Japanese government to secure one cargo of LNG, about 70,000 metric tons, each month from December to February in preparation for the heating season for the country's strategic LNG buffer (SBL). Japan is going to prepare cargoes for the SBL for this heating season as well, Yuya Hasegawa, a division director at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/japan-expands-lng-flexibility-via-cooperation-with-skorea-italy-2024-10-06/

2024-10-06 07:57

DUBAI, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Iran's oil minister landed on Kharg Island, home to the country's main export terminal, and held talks with a naval commander on Sunday, the oil ministry's news website Shana reported, amid concern Israel could attack energy facilities. An Israeli military spokesman said on Saturday that Israel would retaliate in response to last week's missile attack by Tehran "when the time is right". U.S. news website Axios cited Israeli officials as saying Iran's oil facilities could be hit, while U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday that he did not think Israel had yet concluded how to respond. Iran is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) with production of around 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd), or 3% of global output. Iranian oil exports have climbed this year to near multi-year highs of 1.7 million bpd despite U.S. sanctions. Most of its oil and gas wealth is located in the south of the country, where the Kharg Island terminal is situated and from which around 90% of Iranian oil exports are shipped. Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad arrived on Sunday "to visit the oil facilities and meet operational staff located on Kharg Island," Shana reported, adding that the oil terminal there has the capacity to store 23 million barrels of crude. State media reported Paknejad met with Mohammad Hossein Bargahi, a Revolutionary Guards Navy commander, to check the security of Iran's South Pars gas platforms and assess the effective actions of the Guards' 4th Naval Region. "The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy plays an important role in the security of oil and gas facilities," Paknejad was quoted as saying. China, which does not recognise U.S. sanctions, is Tehran's biggest oil customer and according to analysts imported 1.2 to 1.4 million barrels per day from Iran in the first half of 2024. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-oil-minister-visits-key-oil-terminal-amid-israel-strike-fears-2024-10-06/

2024-10-06 05:42

Exit poll shows nearly 70% voted in favour of the plan Central Election Commission says vote is valid Project valued at $10-12 billion has faced public criticism Plant would be built on shores of Lake Balkhash ULKEN, Almaty region, Kazakhstan, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan voted in a referendum on Sunday on whether to build its first nuclear power plant, and an exit poll showed voters backed the idea promoted by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's cabinet as a way to phase out polluting coal plants. The plan has faced public criticism due to concerns about related hazards, the Soviet nuclear testing legacy, and fears that Russia will be involved in the project. Almost 64% of registered voters cast their ballots by 8 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) when the polling stations closed, the Central Election Commission said, making the vote valid. The Commission will announce preliminary results on Monday but an exit poll of about 284,000 voters showed 69.8% of them voted in favour of the plan, local pollster SOCIS-A said hours after the vote ended. "I have come to the conclusion that the decision to build the nuclear power plant, and to build it with (Russian state nuclear firm) Rosatom, has already been made in (Tokayev's office) and the people of Kazakhstan are being invited to polling stations as 'notaries' to authenticate this decision with their votes," popular blogger Vadim Boreiko wrote. In the village of Ulken on the shores of Lake Balkhash, in the southeast of the country, which the cabinet has designated as the site to build the plant, some locals hoped the project would bring jobs. Others expressed concern about the impact on the quality of the lake water. "I support the power plant," said Dametken Shulgeyeva, who has lived in the village of 1,200 people for more than 20 years. "This is our future." Despite its sizeable natural gas reserves, the Central Asian nation of 20 million relies mostly on coal-powered plants for its electricity, supplemented by some hydroelectric plants and the growing renewable energy sector. Kazakhstan already imports electricity, mostly from Russia, as its facilities, many of which are old, struggle to meet domestic demand. And coal is regarded as the most polluting energy source. SOVIET LEGACY The government says a reliable energy supply is needed to supplement renewable sources such as solar and wind power, and, since Kazakhstan is one of the world's biggest uranium producers, nuclear power is a logical choice. "In order not to remain on the sidelines of global progress, we must use our competitive advantages," Tokayev said ahead of the vote. The former Soviet republic, however, does not enrich uranium to the point where it can be used as fuel. The cabinet estimates that a nuclear power plant would cost $10 billion-$12 billion to build and expects contractors to secure the financing. Critics say the same goal could be achieved with gas-powered plants which, although they still use fossil fuel, are much less polluting than coal plants and come with less risk. Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union in 1986 when the Chornobyl nuclear disaster occurred, and tens of thousands of Kazakhs took part in the subsequent clean-up operation that left many with lifelong health issues. The country was also the site of hundreds of Soviet nuclear weapon tests which have made swathes of land uninhabitable, led to disease among people in nearby areas, and have made many people distrustful of anything nuclear. Tokayev, who publicly cast his vote in the capital Astana told reporters he had no single country or company in mind as a potential contractor. "My personal vision on this matter is that an international consortium would need to work in Kazakhstan made up of global companies that possess the most advanced technologies," he said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/kazakhstan-votes-whether-build-first-nuclear-plant-2024-10-06/

2024-10-06 05:23

Oct 6 (Reuters) - France's TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) , opens new tab is considering a move into trading copper, expanding its oil trading operations into metals to capitalise on the global energy transition, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The oil major has been "studying the case" for trading copper, Rahim Azouni, senior vice president of crude, fuel and derivatives trading, told a closed-door conference in London on Wednesday, the FT said. Azouni said the company has not decided whether to make move, the newspaper said, citing people who had heard his remarks. TotalEnergies did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. The company would be following Vitol, the world's top energy trader, which this year diversified into metals trading. The energy transition, which includes electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies, will need large volumes of metals including aluminium, copper, nickel cobalt - providing lucrative opportunities for traders. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/totalenergies-considers-foray-into-copper-trading-ft-reports-2024-10-06/

2024-10-06 03:57

Q3 quarterly GDP growth highest in two years Sept exports up 10.7% y/y, industrial output up 10.8% Sept CPI up 2.63% y/y Jan-Sept trade surplus at $20.79 bln HANOI, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Vietnam reported its strongest economic growth in two years in the quarter to end-September, as strong exports and industrial production and rising foreign investment offset the effects last month of Asia's strongest typhoon so far this year. Gross domestic product grew 7.4% year-on-year in the third quarter, surpassing the second quarter's revised 7.09% expansion, the government's General Statistics Office said in a report. Vietnam is a regional manufacturing hub for multinational corporations including Samsung Electronics and Apple suppliers Foxconn and Luxshare, and has drawn a steady influx of foreign investment. "The world economy is stabilising as global trade in goods improves, inflationary pressures ease, financial conditions continue to loosen and labour supply increases," the statistics office said. Data for September showed that exports rose 10.7% from a year earlier while industrial production was up 10.8%, it said. Foreign investment inflows in the first nine months of this year rose 8.9% from a year earlier to $17.3 billion. Northern Vietnam has been reeling from the impact a month ago of Typhoon Yagi, which killed more than 300 people, disrupted power supplies and halted industrial production. Authorities estimated property damage at $3.3 billion. S&P Global's purchasing managers index (PMI) for Vietnam manufacturing fell to 47.3 in September from 52.4 in August, the biggest decline in the indicator of the sector's health since November last year. "The storm brought an end to a period of strong growth in the sector," said Andrew Harker, director at S&P Global Market Intelligence. "Heavy rain and flooding caused temporary business closures and delays to both supply chains and production lines." Vietnam is targeting GDP growth of 6.0% to 6.5% this year and aims to keep inflation below 4.5%. Consumer prices in September rose 2.63% from a year earlier, the statistics office said in its Sunday report. Retail sales rose 7.6%. For the first nine months of this year, exports rose 15.4% from a year earlier to $299.63 billion while imports were up 17.3% at $278.84 billion, for a trade surplus of $20.79 billion, the office said. The International Monetary Fund late last month forecast Vietnam's GDP growth at 6.1% this year, while the Asian Development Bank put it at 6.0%. This year's growth is "supported by continued strong external demand, resilient foreign direct investment, and accommodative policies", the IMF said in a report. Both the IMF and the ADB, however, warned that geopolitical tensions and uncertainties could hurt external demand, Vietnam's key growth driver. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/vietnam-q3-gdp-grows-74-robust-exports-industrial-production-2024-10-06/

2024-10-06 02:05

HIROSHIMA, Japan, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Italian energy company Eni (ENI.MI) , opens new tab is in talks with Japan on supplying the country with liquefied natural gas (LNG), Cristian Signoretto, Eni's director for global gas and LNG portfolio, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on Sunday. "We already deal with Japanese buyers on a short-term basis and we would like to expand that collaboration also to a long-term basis," Signoretto said, adding that Eni plans to bring more LNG volumes to the market including from Indonesia and also wants Japanese financial institutions to support some projects. Eni plans to build its LNG portfolio to 18 million metric tonnes per year by 2027 and would be ready to commit part of it to Japan if the opportunity is there, he added. Signoretto said it was early to say about the specifics of the discussions, including whether Eni would insist on destination clauses, which are obligations in contracts for the buyer not to resell the gas to third parties. In recent years, there has been a growing demand among Japanese buyers for deals with shorter duration and without destination clauses as this allows buyers in Japan, the world's second-biggest LNG importer, to stay flexible and also to resell LNG. "Flexibility will be part of the discussion," Signoretto said, without providing details. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/italys-eni-talks-with-japan-supplying-lng-executive-says-2024-10-06/