2023-11-14 23:56

WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The United States has issued a new 120-day waiver allowing Iraq to pay Iran for electricity, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, stressing Tehran could only use the funds for humanitarian trade and seeking to blunt criticism of giving Iran the money. U.S. officials said the waiver was identical to one in July that for the first time allowed Iraq not only to make payments into restricted Iranian accounts in Iraq but also for the funds to be sent to similarly restricted accounts in third countries. Speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, officials stressed the moneys could only be used for "non-sanctionable transactions" such as buying humanitarian goods like food and agricultural products. They also sought to parry criticism, notably from Republicans in Congress, that giving Iran greater access to such funds - an estimated $10 billion in such payments have built up in Iraq - frees up money that Tehran can spend on militias that attack U.S. forces, or on its nuclear program. The U.S. has imposed a range of sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program and support for militant organizations, effectively banning countries that do business with Iran from doing business with the U.S. U.S. officials said their main aim was to decrease Iran's leverage over Iraq. Tehran has in the past pushed Baghdad to secure U.S. permission to release such funds by cutting Iranian natural gas exports to Iraq, limiting Iraq's ability to generate power and forcing deeply unpopular electricity cuts in Iraq. The move may also be controversial because Washington has asked Baghdad to curtail attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq by Iranian-allied militias, with mixed results. One U.S. official described the U.S. requests to Iraq as "a work in progress." Since Hamas' Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel, prompting a fierce Israeli military campaign against the militant group in the Gaza Strip, there has been a rise in attacks on U.S. forces in the region that the Pentagon blames on Iran-backed militias. U.S. and coalition troops have been attacked at least 55 times in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17, injuring 59 personnel, though all have returned to duty. "In the wake of Oct. 7 and non-stop attacks on U.S. forces, it should be American policy to deny Tehran access to any and all cash wherever it's held," said Richard Goldberg, a national security council official during the Trump administration who is now at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank. https://www.reuters.com/world/us-renews-120-day-waiver-allowing-iraq-pay-iran-electricity-2023-11-14/

2023-11-14 23:34

Nov 14 (Reuters) - Heat-related illnesses and deaths are rising as the world warms, an international team of health experts said on Tuesday, forecasting a 370% surge in yearly heat deaths by mid-century if the world warms by 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Already, at roughly 1.1C (2F) of warming, people experienced about 86 days of health-threatening high temperatures on average in 2022, the report from the Lancet medical journal found. People over 65 have been the most vulnerable to soaring temperatures, with deaths in this age group attributed to rising temperatures up 47% in the past decade compared with how many people died during the period from 1991 to 2000. The findings, assembled by more than 100 experts from 52 different research institutions and United Nations agencies including the World Health Organization, deepen concerns over the health impacts posed by heat. A study earlier this year indicated that some 61,000 people were likely to have died during European heatwaves in the summer of 2022. "We are paying in lives," report executive director Marina Romanello said of the world's inaction on climate change. The Lancet report, the eighth of its kind to assess how climate change is affecting health outcomes globally, also found that heat exposure may have led to 490 billion lost labour hours in 2022, up nearly 42% from the 1991 to 2000 period. More frequent heatwaves could also cause food insecurity for an additional 525 million people by mid-century. The United Nations' annual climate change conference, COP28, in Dubai later this month will focus in part on health impacts for the first time. Some 46 million health professionals have called on the COP28 presidency to push for a phaseout of fossil fuels. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/heat-related-deaths-could-more-than-quadruple-by-mid-century-report-2023-11-14/

2023-11-14 23:33

Nov 14 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp (CVX.N) said it is evaluating options for around 70,000 net acres of land in East Texas' Haynesville shale formation after pausing development earlier this year, with sources saying a full sale is one option under consideration. The move would be a small first step by the energy major which is seeking to offload assets worth up to $15 billion over the next five years following its recent multi-billion dollar acquisitions of more than 700,000 acres in U.S. shale assets. Chevron last month said it would enter the Bakken basin of North Dakota with a $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corp (HES.N). In August, it concluded the $6.3 billion acquisition of PDC Energy, which expanded its reserves in the Permian and DJ basins. The deals added almost 500,000 barrels per day of oil and gas in the U.S. shale to Chevron's portfolio. "Chevron is evaluating opportunities for our East Texas assets and is committed to safely delivering high returns and lower carbon," a Chevron spokesperson said in response to questions from Reuters. They declined to comment further on the process. Among the options Chevron is considering is a full sale of the Haynesville assets, two sources familiar with the discussions said. The company informed some potential buyers of its plans to market the assets early next year, in the days following its Hess takeover announcement, the sources added. The sources requested anonymity to discuss confidential information and noted that a sale is not guaranteed. Chevron could still consider other options for the land, including a partnership with other producers in the region who could develop the assets in return for a split of the profits, one of the sources said. Dealmaking interest in the Haynesville is likely to pick up due to the region's proximity to existing and planned liquefied natural gas export projects along the U.S. Gulf Coast, according to bankers and others involved in energy transactions. Demand for U.S. LNG exports shot up after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year led to Western sanctions on Moscow's energy trade. The acreage is likely to be valued in the low hundreds of millions of dollars, two sources said, with one of the sources adding that Chevron produces around 40 million cubic feet equivalent per day of natural gas from a small part of the Haynesville holdings. The asset's valuation will ultimately depend on various factors, one source cautioned, including commodity price forecasts at the time of bidding and how much worth bidders put on the land's untapped potential. Most of the land is undeveloped, and the Chevron spokesperson confirmed Haynesville development activities were paused in July "as a part of regular business planning and portfolio prioritization." Given much of the asset remains to be developed, this could draw in potential buyers seeking to bolster their own positions in the basin, at a time when energy investors are favoring companies with many years of reserves. London-based BP (BP.L) has held talks with several companies about tying up operations in the Haynesville shale gas basin, Reuters reported last month. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chevron-reviewing-options-east-texas-assets-after-shale-acquisitions-2023-11-14/

2023-11-14 23:09

HOUSTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Tuesday rejected for a second time oil major Repsol SA's (REP.MC) request to reopen regulators' approval of Venture Global LNG's Calcasieu Pass export plant in Louisiana. The decision was cheered by a spokesperson for Venture Global, which is embroiled in contract arbitration cases with several customers over its insistence it does not have to provide contracted cargoes while the plant is undergoing commissioning. The DOE said Repsol's request was too late and does not determine the operational status of an LNG export project. It says that is up to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which has authorized the plant to run. "DOE has no basis to second-guess FERC’s determinations concerning the operational status of the Project," Tuesday's decision said. Repsol was not immediately available for comment after normal hours. “We are pleased to see DOE deny Repsol’s inappropriate and unprecedented request, reaffirming that the U.S. regulatory body is not meant to be used to exert pressure on commercial parties under binding contracts,” said Venture Global LNG spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes. Venture Global has sold more than 200 cargoes worth about $18.2 billion to date, according to a Reuters tally. Those sales reaped higher prices than would be available under its customers' long-term contracts. Repsol had asked the DOE reopen the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of the Calcasieu plant in view of the startup problems that has prevented it from getting its LNG cargoes. BP (BP.L), Edison (EDNn.MI) and Shell (SHEL.L) last month separately pressed a U.S.-EU task force on energy security to intervene in the dispute. Venture Global is operating the Calcasieu Pass plant at capacity, it has told U.S. regulators. Shell and others claim the firm has profited from the rally in global gas markets while short-changing Europe's energy security. They have been told they will not receive their contracted amounts until late 2024. DOE said it has long taken the position that commercial arrangements, including disagreements with contract terms and performance are a matter for the commercial parties to resolve. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-denies-repsols-request-venture-global-lng-approvals-2023-11-14/

2023-11-14 23:05

WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Climate change harms Americans physically, mentally and financially, often hitting those who have done the least to cause it, including Black people facing floods in the South and minorities enduring searing heat in cities, a federal report said on Tuesday. More than a dozen U.S. agencies and about 750 scientists produced the National Climate Assessment, meant to crystallize the top science on the problem and communicate it to wide audiences, President Joe Biden said at the White House. "This assessment shows us in clear scientific terms that climate change is impacting all regions, all sectors of the Untied States," he said. "It warns that more action is still badly needed. We can't be complacent." This year set a record for extreme weather events that cost over $1 billion, with costly floods, fires and storms occurring roughly every three weeks. In the 1980s, by comparison, the United States experienced a billion-dollar disaster only once every four months. Climate change is increasingly imposing costs on Americans, as prices rise for weather-related insurance or certain foods. Medical costs are also going up as more people struggle with climate consequences such as extreme heat, the report said. Biden said he had seen firsthand the devastating toll of climate change when visiting areas hit by historic hurricanes, floods and wildfires, and said it was "foolish" for some Republicans to deny the impacts of climate change. "This summer and this fall have been the Earth's hottest since global records began to be kept in the 1800s," he said. "The impacts we're seeing are only going to get worse, more frequent, more ferocious and more costly." Last year, he said, natural disasters caused $178 billion in damages in the United States, often hitting the most vulnerable the hardest. The assessment marks the fifth such report released by the U.S. government since 2000. It was peer-reviewed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe, a report coauthor since the second assessment, said the newest version reflects the latest in climate science and can help policymakers and companies working on emissions cuts and ways of adapting to the consequences of a warming world. "Today, we can document the risks that we face, per degree of warming," Hayhoe told reporters on a call. "We can put a number on the extent to which climate change is fueling our record-breaking weather extremes, and we are starting to tap the interconnectivity and understand the vulnerability of our systems from socioeconomics to national security." It was the first report produced since 2018, when the administration of then-President Donald Trump was dismantling rules meant to rein in climate-warming emissions. Trump, a Republican who denies the science of climate change, also dismissed the 2018 assessment. Biden, a Democrat, said the report was the most comprehensive assessment yet on the state of climate change in the U.S. and announced more than $6 billion in funding for climate resilience projects including bolstering the power grid and reducing flood risks. POVERTY LINE For the first time, this year's assessment includes a chapter on economics that illustrates how costly damages are distributed unevenly across society, often amplifying existing inequalities. It includes a new online tool that shows the impact in states, cities and counties. Children are reporting mental-health distress due to climate anxiety. Outdoor workers experiencing dehydration through extreme heat are suffering acute kidney illness after only one day of exposure to extreme temperatures, the report says. "Families living below the poverty line often live where climatic changes are expected to be the most economically damaging, like the already-hot Southeast," the report says. The report also said, referring to the U.S. Southeast, that slavery, segregation and housing discrimination have resulted in many Black and other minority communities living in neighborhoods exposed to environmental risks and with fewer resources to address them compared with white neighborhoods. It was not all doom and gloom, though. With shuttered coal plants being replaced by natural gas and renewables, the country's energy-related greenhouse gas emissions fell some 12% between 2005 and 2019 - even as the economy and population both grew. "We're pointing in the right direction, we just want to do more, faster," said Ted Schuur, a professor of ecosystem ecology at Northern Arizona University who was not involved in writing the report. The study's findings could encourage local and state policymakers to consider ways of adapting to the coming climate disruption, such as redesigning sewer systems to better drain water from flood-prone city streets, creating cooling centers in heat-vulnerable cities or helping hospitals plan for likely increases in vector-borne diseases, as warming encourages mosquitoes and ticks to move north into new areas. The report also discusses national security risks of climate change, as countries compete for resources needed in the energy transition. Competition with China for minerals, for example, will likely escalate tensions between the two countries in coming years. Climate migration, meanwhile, is expected to become a high-security risk by 2030 as people living in climate-vulnerable nations seek to cross the border into the United States for safety, the report says. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-climate-assessment-lays-out-growing-threats-opportunities-temperatures-rise-2023-11-14/

2023-11-14 23:03

WELLINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Westpac New Zealand is targeting a reduction in the emissions produced by the livestock-based farming sector it lends to as it works to cut planet-warming gases from its lending and investment portfolio, the bank said on Wednesday. The bank, a subsidiary of Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX), said it was targeting a 10% reduction in emissions relative to production by 2030 from its dairy lending portfolio and wanted to see a 9% reduction in its sheep and beef lending portfolio. The reductions are based on a 2021 baseline. Westpac NZ General Manager of Institutional and Business Banking Reuben Tucker said the targets are for improvements in the emissions intensity of the bank’s lending, rather than outright reductions. Tucker said they were asking farmers to measure their emissions and share that information with the bank. “We know farmers have a lot on their plate at the moment. This is why we want to work together with customers to better understand the risks and opportunities, and ultimately set their businesses up to be more successful long-term,” he said. The move comes after dairy giant Fonterra Co-Operative Group (FCG.NZ) said last week it want its nearly 8,500 farms to reduce emissions by 30% by 2030 in part because finance was going to become more difficult if reductions were not made. Westpac NZ in June launched a farm sustainable loan, which provides a lower financing rate for farmers working to improve sustainability practices and build more resilient farms. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/westpac-nz-seeks-emissions-reduction-rural-lending-portfolio-2023-11-14/