2023-11-13 20:48

Critical minerals law likely to enter force early 2024 Deal increases ambitions on recycling Aluminium and synthetic graphite added to key minerals BRUSSELS, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Negotiators for EU governments and lawmakers reached a deal on Monday on targets for domestic supply of critical minerals such as lithium and nickel to reduce its reliance on third countries, principally China. The European Commission proposed the Critical Raw Materials Act in March, a centrepiece of EU strategy to allow it to compete with the United States and China in making clean tech products. The proposal said the European Union should extract 10%, recycle 15% and process 40% of its annual needs by 2030 for 16 "strategic raw materials". The European Parliament and the Council, the grouping of EU governments, needed to agree on a common text. They did this on Monday, parties from both sides said, paving the way for the law to enter force in early 2024. Negotiators upgraded the recycling target to at least 25%. Parliament negotiators also said the European Commission would pass a related act in 2027 that set a recycling target related to annual waste collected, rather than consumption. The negotiators also agreed to add aluminium to the list of strategic raw materials as well as synthetic graphite. Natural graphite was already in the list. The latter inclusion reflects China's plan to tighten export controls for graphite. China refines over 90% of the world's graphite into material that is used in almost all electric vehicle anodes, the negatively charged portion of the battery. The EU is also heavily reliant on China for rare earths and lithium, other vital materials for its green transition. The act's aim is that no third country should provide more than 65% of any strategic raw material, which also includes cobalt, copper, magnesium and titanium. The act sets time limits on granting permits for strategic mining, recycling and processing projects, and requires large companies needing strategic materials in key technologies to do regular risk assessments of their supply chains. It also has provisions designed to moderate consumption. EU industry chief Thierry Breton said in a statement that, without action, Europe risked shortages and unwanted dependencies, and that the law would ensure high environmental and social standards. The bloc will work with EU members to identify strategic projects that will benefit from shorter and more efficient permitting procedures and easier access to finance, he added. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/eu-set-okay-rules-secure-critical-raw-materials-eu-official-says-2023-11-13/

2023-11-13 20:24

Nov 13 (Reuters) - U.S. oil output from top shale-producing regions is set to decline in December for a second consecutive month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its monthly Drilling Productivity Report on Monday. Oil output is expected to drop to 9.652 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, from an estimated 9.653 million bpd in November, the EIA said. Output from the Permian basin of Texas and New Mexico, the top shale-producing region in the country, is set to rise to a record for a sixth straight month, the EIA said. The pace of growth, however, is expected to slow, the agency noted. Permian oil production in December is expected to total around 5.981 million bpd, up from 5.976 million bpd in November. Total natural gas output in the big shale basins will fall by about 0.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) to 99.6 bcfd in December, EIA projected. That compares with a monthly record of 100.4 bcfd in August. That puts gas output on track to decline for a record fourth consecutive month in December, according to EIA data going back to 2007. In the biggest shale gas basin, Appalachia in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, output is set to slide 0.2 bcfd to 35.8 bcfd in December, its lowest since May. Appalachia output hit a record 36.2 bcfd in September. EIA said it expects new Appalachia gas well production per rig to edge up to 25.02 per million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) in December from 25.01 mmcfd in November. That small increase follows 34 straight months of declining well productivity and a drop in the number of rigs operating in Appalachia to just 39 in October, the lowest since October 2021. EIA said producers drilled 859 oil and gas wells in October, the lowest since February 2022, and completed just 951, the lowest since December 2022. Total drilled-but-uncompleted (DUC) oil and gas wells dropped by 92 to 4,524 in October, the lowest since December 2013. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-shale-oil-output-expected-fall-december-eia-2023-11-13/

2023-11-13 20:13

LONDON/HOUSTON, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Chevron (CVX.N) said on Monday it had resumed the supply of natural gas from the offshore Tamar field, a month after it was told by Israel to halt operations due to violence in the region. The Tamar field, a major source of gas for Israel's power generators, is expected to reach full capacity within a few days, industry sources said. Around 20% of the gas from the field typically goes to neighbouring Egypt and Jordan. Israel's Energy Ministry had ordered a state of emergency for the sector and instructed Chevron to shut the field after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli territory, which sparked a conflict in the Gaza Strip and other parts of the region. The platform, which can been seen from the northern Gaza Strip on a clear day, is within range of rocket fire. It is located about 25 km (15.5 miles) from the city of Ashdod along Israel's southern Mediterranean coast. "We have resumed supplying customers in Israel and in the region from the Tamar production platform," Chevron said in a statement, adding that it was instructed by the Israeli government on Nov. 9 to resume operations. Israel's largest offshore gas field, Leviathan, has continued to operate normally during the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, the militant Islamist Palestinian group that controls Gaza. Chevron operates and holds a 25% stake in Tamar, which delivers about 1% of its global output. Without gas from Tamar, Israel relied more heavily on supplies from the Chevron-operated Leviathan field, which exports large volumes to Egypt, as well as Energean's (ENOG.L) Karish field. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chevron-says-resumes-supplying-customers-tamar-natgas-gas-field-2023-11-13/

2023-11-13 20:11

BRASILIA, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Brazil plans to expand its railway network with a 40 billion reais ($8 billion) fund that will be financed by removing discounts given to rail companies by previous government contracts, Transport Minister Renan Filho told Reuters. The discounts were given to iron ore miner Vale (VALE3.SA) and logistics companies Rumo (RAIL3.SA) and MRS (RAIL3.SA) in 2022 under the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro when they received an early renewal of their contracts for 35 years. The Federal Audit Court is now reviewing those extensions after the government of President Lula da Silva disputed the discounts. "We think that some procedures adopted in the contracts are unacceptable," Filho said in an interview on Friday. The contracts did not receive the normal public bidding process, and instead the Bolsonaro government allowed the rail operators to make an advance payment, deducting unamortized assets from what they owed for their concessions, he said. According to the government, the companies owe an additional 40 billion reais ($8.1 billion) in unpaid concession payments. Of the three companies, only Rumo has already agreed to pay. Vale, which operates the railway from Carajas to the port of Vitoria in Espirito Santo state, and MRS, which operates in the state of São Paulo, are still discussing the dispute in the court, Filho said. Vale told Reuters that the process started in 2015 and was approved in 2020 by the audit court, and the company is following all the obligations required in its contract. Rumo and MRS did not respond Reuters inquiries. "The concessionaire is getting another 35 years to manage that railway, thus he also has another 35 years to amortize the unamortized assets. So why is he deducting that sum from the concession payment?" Filho said. Following the court's decision, which they expect to happen until the end of this year, the government will arrange any payments with the companies, the minister said. The government plans to use the money to create a fund to finance the construction of new railways and the extension of some existing ones, Filho said, as authorities seek to move more freight by less costly rail than road. Details of the national rail plan have been postponed until next year, pending the TCU decision. The government's goal is to have 40% of Brazil's freight, which is mostly iron ore, transported by rail, up from 17% today. Little of Brazil's growing grain output is carried by rail. ($1 = 4.9350 reais) https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/brazil-aims-expand-rail-system-with-funds-prior-contracts-2023-11-13/

2023-11-13 19:56

SAO PAULO, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Restoring global forests could sequester 22 times as much carbon as the world emits in a year, according to a scientific study published on Monday, making the case that trees are a key tool in confronting the climate crisis along with cutting fossil fuels. The study considers restoring forests where they would naturally exist if not for humans, either by allowing degraded woodlands to regrow or by reforesting denuded areas, but excludes areas vital to agriculture or already turned into cities. Reaching the world's full potential for restoration would draw out an estimated 226 gigatonnes of excess carbon from the atmosphere - or roughly one-third the amount added to the atmosphere since the industrial revolution, the research finds. "There cannot be a choice between nature and decarbonising. We absolutely must take steps to achieving both simultaneously," said ecologist Thomas Crowther of Switzerland's Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. The paper, published in the journal Nature by Crowther and more than 200 other researchers, offers a major update to a 2019 paper that sparked fierce debate in the scientific community. The new findings show that, while forests can help to combat climate change, it is counterproductive to use them to offset future greenhouse gas emissions, Crowther said. Any additional emissions will exacerbate climate change and extreme weather, damaging forests and hurting their ability to absorb carbon. That would negate the benefits of an offset, he said. The idea of earning an offset through simply planting trees "is now categorically against what the science says," Crowther said. Crowther said he plans to attend the upcoming United Nations COP28 climate summit in Dubai to deliver that message to policymakers. "This paper has to be the one to kill greenwashing," he told Reuters. TREE CONTROVERSY The research follows on a landmark 2019 study also co-authored by Crowther, indicating that 205 gigatonnes could be sequestered by forest restoration. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff read the study and was inspired to work with the World Economic Forum to develop its initiative to plant a trillion trees. But the paper and the trillion trees effort - which was quickly endorsed by then-U.S. President Donald Trump - set off a controversy among scientists and environmentalists. Many scientists - as well as Swedish activist Greta Thunberg - said trees were being presented as an overly simplistic cureall for the climate crisis that could distract from efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels, the main culprit for climate change. Crowther said the response drastically oversimplified the paper's message. More than 40 scientists wrote in the journal Science that the 2019 study may have inflated the carbon sequestration potential of forest restoration by 4-5 times by considering tree planting in non-forest ecosystems among other oversights. Joseph Veldman, an ecologist at Texas A&M University and lead author of that criticism, said he thinks the new paper still exaggerates how much carbon could be sequestered, potentially by half. He said the 226 gigatonne figure includes carbon sequestered in places that are "inappropriate" for planting trees, like at high altitudes, and overly rely on forest gains in savannas, among other concerns. "This is like the absolute, absolute upper bound of what could possibly ever be fathomable," Veldman said. "You're never going to get there. It's unwise and it's not feasible." Crowther said that while the current and previous study show where trees could be planted, it did not mean that they necessarily should be planted there. The study's authors specify that restoration must be done a certain way to be effective. They argue that forests must be diverse, rather than mass plantings of a single species, and restoration must serve local community needs. Cristina Banks-Leite, a tropical ecologist, teaches the 2019 Crowther paper and a paper that criticized it in the first week of her master's course at Imperial College London to illustrate the debate around forests in the scientific community. Doing such complex measurements for the whole world is always going to have some flaws, but also improves with technology advances, she said. The paper also finds that protecting existing forests is more beneficial than trying to regrow them. Of the total carbon sequestration potential, only 39% would come from reforesting denuded areas. Most of the carbon gains, an estimated 61%, would come simply from protecting forests that are still standing and allowing degraded woodlands to recover. "The take-home message - that the forest that we have should be protected - is absolutely foundational and correct," said ecologist Nicola Stevens at University of Oxford, who had co-authored the criticism of Crowther's earlier paper. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/forests-key-climate-fight-along-with-cutting-fossil-fuels-study-suggests-2023-11-13/

2023-11-13 17:01

Nov 13 (Reuters) - Slovakia's new government plans to raise multiple taxes, including on banks, to fund pension and other spending rises and slowly cut the euro zone's highest budget deficit under a programme approved by the cabinet on Monday. Leftist Robert Fico became prime minister for the fourth time last month after winning an election in which he took aim at critical media, Western partners and liberal policies and pledged to end military support for Ukraine. Fico, who has formed a coalition with smaller leftist and nationalist parties, plans to present the programme to parliament on Tuesday for a confidence vote in his government. The programme promised a special tax on banking profits and measures to cut interest rates on mortgages. Special levies will be designed for excessive profits in other unspecified sectors. The programme also set out plans for increasing tax levels for higher earners, on real estate -- especially second and third homes -- and on alcohol and tobacco. The government will also consider a tax on sweetened drinks. The goal is to help fund a slow consolidation of the public budget as the budget gap is expected to be nearly 7% of gross domestic product. "In 2024, the reduction of the general government deficit will amount to 0.5% of GDP, to ensure that the living standards of the population, which are among the lowest in the European Union, do not deteriorate further," the programme said. Despite the high deficits, the government pledged to establish an extra 13th month in pensions, above a small extra annual payment currently. Social Affairs Minister Erik Tomas said the government would give a one-off 150-euro ($160) benefit to each pensioner this year. Fico said at the weekend the government would give a tax break worth up to 1,800 euros to households whose saw their mortgage interest jump this year, and the government will cover some interest rate costs as of 2024. The programme reiterated Fico's pledge to halt Slovakia's official military aid to Ukraine and seek a cessation of hostilities, while recognising Ukraine's international borders. It also reiterated opposition to an end of national veto rights of European Union member states, or a move towards majority voting in more areas. ($1 = 0.9373 euros) https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/new-slovak-government-eyes-tax-spending-hikes-slow-deficit-reduction-2023-11-13/