2024-04-01 21:03

April 1 (Reuters) - The Port of Baltimore opened a temporary channel on Monday, freeing some tugs and barges that had been trapped by last week's bridge collapse, but officials said wider restoration of commercial shipping remained frustrated by unyielding conditions. Baltimore's shipping channel has been blocked since a fully loaded container ship lost power and collided with a support column of the Francis Scott Key Bridge last Tuesday, killing six road workers and causing the highway bridge to tumble into the Patapsco River. A recovery team led by the U.S. Coast Guard and the state of Maryland aims to quickly reopen the port, the largest in the U.S. for "roll-on, roll-off" vehicle imports and exports of farm and construction equipment. But first it must free the cargo vessel Dali, stuck under steel bridge debris with 4,000 containers and a 21-member crew stranded aboard since the accident. To illustrate the task ahead, officials said recovery workers needed 10 hours to cut free and remove a 200-ton piece of debris - what they called "a relatively small lift." "We're talking about something that is almost the size of the Statue of Liberty," Governor Wes Moore told a news conference. "The scale of this project, to be clear, is enormous. And even the smallest (tasks) are huge." Beneath the surface, the job is even more complicated than originally imagined, said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath, as the twisted steel is obscured by murky waters darkened by the volume of debris. "These girders are essentially tangled together, intertwined, making it very difficult to figure out where you need to potentially cut so that we can make that into more manageable sizes to lift them from the water," Gilreath told the same news conference. Officials declined to estimate how long it would take to clear the harbor. Limited ship traffic resumed for the first time on Monday after recovery teams opened a temporary channel with a controlling depth of 11 feet (3.35 meters) on the northbound side of the wreckage. The first vessel to transit the channel was a tugboat pushing a barge supplying jet fuel to the U.S. Department of Defense, the Coast Guard said on Facebook, posting video of the barge sliding beneath a truncated section of bridge that is still standing. A second temporary channel on the southbound side with a depth of 15 to 16 feet (4.6 to 4.9 meters) would open "in the coming days," Moore said. Once debris is cleared, a third channel with a depth of 20 to 25 feet (6.1 to 7.6 meters) would allow almost all tug and barge traffic in and out of the port, Gilreath said. U.S. President Joe Biden will get a first-hand look at the recovery on Friday when he travels to Baltimore, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said. The Biden administration has helped secure barges and a crane along with an early influx of money and was working with Congress to ensure the federal government pays to rebuild the bridge. Get weekly news and analysis on the U.S. elections and how it matters to the world with the newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/maryland-opens-temporary-channel-collapsed-bridge-site-governor-2024-04-01/

2024-04-01 21:02

CHICAGO, April 1 (Reuters) - Texas and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday reported a case of avian influenza in a person who had contact with dairy cows presumed to be infected with the virus. It was the second case of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, identified in a person in the United States, following a 2022 case in Colorado, and comes as the virus is spreading to new mammals including dairy cattle for the first time. The CDC said the infection does not change the risk assessment for the U.S. general public from H5N1 bird flu, which it considers to be low. The Texas patient's only symptom was eye inflammation, according to the state's health department. The U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) reported on March 25 that samples of milk collected from sick cattle in Kansas and Texas tested positive for avian flu, showing the wide reach of the virus that has been found in poultry flocks and mammals around the world. USDA said last week the nation's milk supply is safe as milk from sick cows is being diverted or destroyed so it does not enter the food supply. Pasteurization is required for milk entering interstate commerce, a process that kills bacteria and viruses such as flu, the USDA said. On Monday, USDA said it did not see the need to cull dairy herds as infected cows were being isolated and reportedly recovering. The Nebraska Department of Agriculture said it was monitoring the situation, after the virus was detected in dairy cattle in New Mexico, Michigan and Idaho, as well as top cattle state Texas and Kansas. Nebraska will require all breeding female dairy cattle to obtain a special permit prior to entry to protect the state's herd, the department said. This year, H5N1 was also found in a goat in Minnesota on a farm where poultry tested positive. Avian flu has reached new corners of the globe in recent years, spread by wild birds. Since 2022, 82 million U.S. chickens, turkeys and other birds have been culled. The virus is fatal to poultry but has been less severe in mammals. Chicago Mercantile Exchange live and feeder cattle futures fell on Monday on fears that bird flu in cattle could result in less demand for meat and dairy products. Get weekly news and analysis on the U.S. elections and how it matters to the world with the newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/texas-says-bird-influenza-detected-person-who-had-contact-with-presumed-infected-2024-04-01/

2024-04-01 19:44

HOUSTON, April 1 (Reuters) - U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell slightly in March to 7.61 million metric tons (MT) from 7.73 MT in February as production of the superchilled gas from the country's second largest exporter remained constrained, preliminary data from financial firm LSEG showed on Monday. But the U.S. was the largest exporter of LNG last year with exports rising 12% over 2022 , opens new tab to average 11.9 billion cubic feet per day. Nearly half of March's and last year's LNG exports were sent to Europe, which cut imports of Russian pipeline gas following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Freeport LNG last month disclosed it had completed repairs on an electric motor at one of the plant's three large processing trains after more than a month of reduced operations. But it added two other processing units would be taken out of service until May, likely leading to another month of overall weaker exports. Gas flows to the Freeport LNG plant averaged 780 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) over last week, below its about 2.2 bcfd capacity, said financial firm Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Company on Monday. It means that since January Venture Global LNG, which has been producing above its name plate capacity has emerged as the country's second-largest LNG exporter of the superchilled gas, surpassing Freeport LNG, LSEG data showed. Europe remained the favored destination for the gas, taking about 57%, or 4.31 MT, of March's total exports. But that was down from 60.5% of all the cargoes, or 4.62 MT in February, the LSEG data showed. Exports to Asia made a major comeback last month, with U.S. exporters sending cargoes on a longer route past the Cape of Good Hope to reach markets from Bangladesh to China as drought hampered Panama Canal transit, according to the ship tracking data. Of the 7.61 MT exported last month, 2.54 MT or 33% went to Asia in March. That was up from the region's 25% share in February, and double the percentage in January when only 17% went to Asia, LSEG shipping data showed. Prices in Asia early in the month appear to have encouraged the uptick in purchases by price sensitive countries like India and even Bangladesh, with an increase in spot buying as Asian LNG prices were at $8.30/mmBtu earlier last month, the lowest levels since April 2021, before seeing a slight boost to $8.60/mmBtu. March exports to Latin America rose slightly to 7%, or .55 MT, compared to 6% or .49 MT in February. Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Colombia purchased U.S. LNG last month, LSEG ship tracking data showed. There was also one shipment for .07 MT of LNG to Kuwait the data showed. Freeport LNG's return to service in April last year played a major role in the U.S. becoming the world's largest exporter of LNG in 2023, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Monday. The Reuters Power Up newsletter provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-march-lng-exports-flat-freeport-plant-woes-continue-2024-04-01/

2024-04-01 19:43

SINGAPORE, April 1 (Reuters) - Privately-run Chinese power company GCL Holdings is rebuilding a natural gas business after offloading hundreds of solar installations to set up gas import capacity and a trading operation, company executives told Reuters. If successful, GCL would join so-called tier-two liquefied natural gas (LNG) players in China such as city-gas companies ENN and Beijing Gas Group that aim to ramp up imports of the super-chilled fuel alongside state majors to meet growing demand from the world's top energy user. GCL's return to gas after several years comes as global spot LNG prices have fallen to near three-year lows on growing supply, and as demand is set to expand in China, which reclaimed its title as the world's top LNG buyer last year. The group's Hong Kong-listed unit GCL New Energy Holdings (0451.HK) , opens new tab last month hired Xiong Xin, former vice president of ENN Natural Gas, as head of gas trading to lead a team based in Beijing that will expand to about 20 by year-end, company executives told Reuters. Xiong, who began his LNG career at state major CNOOC, will also head a new gas trading arm in Singapore that will have about five staff in the coming months, said Xu Huilin, GCL New Energy's executive president. Details of GCL's renewed push into the gas business have not previously been reported. Once China's largest privately-controlled solar power producer, GCL entered the gas business about a decade ago and had rights to explore for hydrocarbons in Ethiopia. By 2018 it had plans to invest billions of dollars to build five LNG receiving terminals along China's coast. But deep debt at its solar power generating unit, hurt by industry-wide overcapacity and Beijing's phase-out of subsidies, hobbled its gas ambitions, Xu said. China, the world's largest solar power operator and manufacturer, faces a massive capacity overhang that has hit global solar material and equipment prices and sparked international dumping concerns. GCL sold all 220 of its solar stations totalling 7.15 gigawatts, mostly to state utilities, raising around 23.5 billion yuan ($3.25 billion) by the end of 2023, a company media official said. The group still provides management and maintenance for solar farms and has a profitable silicon manufacturing business, Xu said. "The spin-off of the heavy solar downstream assets has enabled the group's strategic shift back to the gas business," said Xu, previously a vice president at state-run Sinochem Oil, who joined GCL last June. LNG TERMINALS, GAS-FIRED PLANTS That shift includes building two receiving terminals, marketing and international trading of gas, as well as producing and exporting gas from Ethiopia, Xu said. GCL is building an import terminal, estimated to cost 5 billion yuan, in Rudong in Jiangsu province that can handle 3 million metric tons of LNG a year. The project, held 51% by GCL and 49% by independent oil and gas firm Pacific Energy, is slated for start-up in late 2025, said Xu and Xiong. Pacific Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the project. A similar-sized terminal planned for Maoming in Guangdong province in which GCL will likely own a 43% stake, is pending state approval, they added. GCL has stakes in 10 gas-fired power plants in Guangdong and Jiangsu, giving it over 2 billion cubic metres of gas demand for its trading business. It also intends to sell gas to third-party customers such as city-gas companies and ceramics makers, Xu said. GCL is considering resuming activity in Ethiopia's gas-rich Ogaden region, where it halted investment around 2018 after drilling 40 wells, company officials said. One proposal is to build a 600,000 ton-per year liquefaction facility there, the officials said, with an eye to marketing fuel shipped in ISO tanks to South Asia or Europe. "The idea is to develop the gas resource step by step, potentially bringing in strategic partners in the future to make it a sizeable LNG export project," Xu said. ($1 = 7.2279 Chinese yuan renminbi) The Reuters Power Up newsletter provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/china-power-firm-gcl-revives-lng-ambition-after-solar-spin-off-2024-04-01/

2024-04-01 19:43

April 1 (Reuters) - Gasoline prices for U.S. motorists could jump by as much as 15 cents a gallon, with global fuel supplies tighter after Ukraine's recent attacks on Russian refineries, Patrick De Haan, petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com said on Monday. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Rising gasoline prices could hinder the U.S. government's fight against inflation. Higher pump prices already contributed to a solid jump in consumer and producer prices in February. CONTEXT Motor fuel prices tend to rise seasonally this time of year as vacationers take to the roads and the U.S. switches to more-expensive summer grade gasoline. This year, Russian refinery outages could boost U.S. pump prices by an additional 5 to 15 cents a gallon from GasBuddy's previous April forecast of between $3.36 and 3.67 per gallon, De Haan said. Any additional supply shocks, like unplanned outages at major U.S. refineries, could push domestic gasoline prices above $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022, De Haan said. BY THE NUMBERS According to Reuters calculations, around 14% of Russia's refining capacity has been shut down by drone attacks, and the country has banned gasoline exports for six months while increasing imports from neighboring Belarus in March to address possible fuel shortages. Russian exports of clean products like gasoline and diesel are due to drop 30% to 1.2 million barrels per day in April, according to an analysis of Kpler shipping data. The total U.S. gasoline stockpile stood at 232.1 million barrels as of March 22, 1% lower than the past five year's average at this time of the year. Gasoline prices averaged $3.536 a gallon at pumps across the U.S. on Monday, up 6% from a month ago and 1% above the same time last year, data from motorist group AAA showed. Get weekly news and analysis on the U.S. elections and how it matters to the world with the newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-pump-prices-set-climb-russian-refinery-outages-2024-04-01/

2024-04-01 19:41

April 1 (Reuters) - Virginia utility regulators on Friday approved new solar projects with a total of 764 MW electricity capacity that will expand Dominion Energy's (D.N) , opens new tab clean energy portfolio in the U.S. state. The more than a dozen projects approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission included four solar facilities - amounting to 329 MW - that will either be owned or acquired by Dominion, as well as power purchase agreements for independently-owned solar projects that will deliver 435 MW of capacity in total. Once completed, Dominion will have more than 4,600 MW of approved solar projects in Virginia - capable of powering more than 1.1 million homes at peak output, according to the utility. Dominion expects the solar projects will come online in 2026, pending local and state permits. Dominion proposed the projects to Virginia regulators last October, as it sought to capitalize on federal clean energy incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act. The act provides for billions of dollars in tax credits and direct payments for clean energy resources. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/virginia-regulators-approve-dominion-energy-solar-projects-2024-04-01/