2024-07-30 12:01
July 30 (Reuters) - Pipeline operator TC Energy (TRP.TO) , opens new tab said on Tuesday it will sell a minority stake in its Canadian natural gas pipeline system to Indigenous communities for C$1 billion ($722.1 million) as part of a plan to reduce debt and fund investments. The agreement will enable an Indigenous-owned investment partnership to purchase a 5.34% stake in the NGTL system and Foothills assets in western Canada. Calgary-based TC is best known for its Keystone oil pipeline, but the company is undergoing an overhaul and in the process of spinning off its oil business to focus on transporting natural gas. Analysts said the widely anticipated deal was a key step to achieving the company's C$3 billion asset sale target for 2024 and the healthy valuation would have a positive impact on investor sentiment. "With significant asset sales announced, we see its funding plan being further de-risked," Scotiabank analyst Robert Hope wrote in a note. TC shares were flat on the Toronto Stock Exchange at C$58.05. The deal is backed by the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation (AIOC), a provincial crown corporation, and was negotiated by a consortium committee representing 72 communities closest to the pipeline system in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Chief Isaac Twinn of the Sawridge First Nation, chairman of the consortium committee, said in a statement the committee had significantly improved the terms of the deal during negotiations. The agreement follows a number of other similar agreements struck by companies including Enbridge (ENB.TO) , opens new tab and Suncor Energy (SU.TO) , opens new tab that have enabled Indigenous communities to take a stake in energy projects situated near their territories. TC Energy CEO Francois Poirier said the deal allowed the company to achieve its corporate objective of reducing debt while also partnering with Indigenous communities. "It's nice when you can kill two birds with one stone," Poirier told a news conference. The NGTL, spanning about 24,400 kilometers (15,150 miles) in length, connects most of the natural gas production in western Canada to domestic and export markets. "Owning part of this premier energy asset will create significant new revenue streams for every single community that signs on," Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said. The deal is the largest Indigenous loan guarantee ever issued in Canada and the first to involve communities from different provinces, said Chana Martineau, head of the AIOC. A growing number of Canadian Indigenous communities are investing in natural resource projects. Last month, the Haisla Nation on British Columbia's west coast announced a positive final investment decision on the C$4 billion Cedar LNG project, in partnership with Pembina Pipeline Corp . The Canadian government this year said it would provide up to C$5 billion in loan guarantees to help Indigenous groups invest in natural resource projects. Now that the agreement has the backing of the AIOC and the consortium, each of the 72 communities represented will review the deal and decide whether to participate. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter. ($1 = 1.3848 Canadian dollars) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/tc-energy-sell-pipeline-stake-certain-indigenous-communities-722-mln-2024-07-30/
2024-07-30 12:00
July 30 (Reuters) - The pound held steady against the dollar on Tuesday as investors looked to the Bank of England's (BoE) interest rate decision later in the week and assessed the fallout of spending cuts announced by the new British finance minister Sterling traded down 0.05% at $1.2854, after having touched a near three-week low of $1.2807 against the dollar in the prior session. The euro gained 0.17% against the pound to 84.27 pence, with the common currency helped by data showing the euro zone's economy grew slightly more than expected in the three months to June. Traders are pricing in a near 60% chance that the British central bank will cut interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) to 5.0% on August 1, according to LSEG's interest rate probabilities app, and see rate cuts of 52 bps by the end of the year. 0#BOEWATCH With the decision so finely balanced investors are nervous about trading sterling ahead of the decision. "If we just go back week or two ago, the market was thinking 50:50 chance of a rate cut but economist surveys are more confident that there will be a move this week," said Jane Foley, head of FX strategy at Rabobank in London. Prices in British shops rose at the joint-slowest rate since October 2021 this month, held down by falls in the cost of non-food items, the British Retail Consortium said. While headline consumer price inflation targeted by the BoE held at its 2% target in June, the central bank is most concerned about services price inflation, which at 5.7% last month was well above the bank's forecast. Investors are also awaiting the Bank of Japan and the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions on Wednesday, while U.S. payrolls data could set the tone for financial markets later in the week. Britain's new finance minister, Rachel Reeves, told parliament on Monday her Conservative predecessor had left public spending on track to go over budget by 21.9 billion pounds ($28 billion) this year. She announced an immediate 5.5 billion pounds of cuts and pencilled in a further 8.1 billion pounds of cuts for the next financial year, saying the state of the public finances was not sustainable. "It's not good news. The government has also announced reining back of a lot of infrastructure projects and that's disappointing too in terms of the growth outlook for the UK," added Rabobank's Foley. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/knife-edge-boe-decision-this-week-keeps-sterling-check-2024-07-30/
2024-07-30 11:48
MADRID, July 30 (Reuters) - Spanish utility Iberdrola (IBE.MC) , opens new tab faces claims worth up to $535 million in an arbitration process launched by Singaporean liquefied natural gas (LNG) company Pavilion Energy over a supply contract, according to Iberdrola's earnings report. The dispute is related to a 2019 contract, under which Pavilion supplies natural gas to Iberdrola. Pavilion is seeking between $233.4 million and $534.9 million, plus interest, in compensation from Iberdrola in "an amount equivalent to the estimated loss" due to what it called "exceptional circumstances" that had arisen since the contract was signed, according to the document. Iberdrola said, however, that the contract does not contain a price review clause and it believes "that the agreement between the parties as set out in the contract must prevail". A spokesperson for Iberdrola declined to comment while Pavilion did not immediately reply to a request for comment outside usual business hours in Singapore. The case is ongoing in Madrid and subject to Spanish law, Iberdrola said. The specific amount claimed will be specified during the proceedings, it added. In June, Shell agreed to buy Pavilion Energy from global investment company Temasek. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iberdrola-faces-up-535-mln-claim-pavilion-lng-contract-dispute-2024-07-30/
2024-07-30 11:44
MOSCOW, July 30 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry said on Tuesday its forces have captured the settlement of Pivdenne in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the latest target of Moscow's slow but grinding push through the industrial Donbas area. Pivdenne, which Russia calls by its Soviet-era name of Leninskoe, adjoins Toretsk, a Ukrainian stronghold and coal mining town towards which Russia began pushing in June. The Ukraine military's General Staff made no reference to Pivdenne in a late evening report, but said Russian forces had tried to breach Ukrainian defences near Pokrovsk 15 times in the past 24 hours. Three skirmishes were still going on. Ukrainian military bloggers dismissed any notion that Russian troops had pushed their way into Toretsk, but said areas around the town were gripped by heavy fighting. One blogger calling himself "officer" said Russian soldiers were attempting to slip into the town in small groups. In 2022, Ukrainian authorities gave Pivdenne's pre-war population as 1,404, and Toretsk's as around 30,000. Kyiv did not immediately comment on Pivdenne's status. The towns are close to the front line in place since 2014, when Russian-backed forces seized parts of Donetsk region, including the city of Horlivka, 12 km (7 miles) from Pivdenne. Russia's push for Toretsk is one of the most active combat zones in the Donetsk region, with Moscow's forces also moving towards Pokrovsk, a Ukrainian transport hub around 70km (43 miles) west of Toretsk. Moscow said on Sunday that its forces had taken two villages, Prohres and Yevhenivka, on the approaches to Pokrovsk. Ukraine's General Staff recorded 40 Russia assaults in the Pokrovsk sector, with 18 clashes continuing. Russia says it annexed the Donetsk region, along with three other Ukrainian provinces, in September 2022, and that Kyiv must vacate the regions as a precondition for peace talks. Kyiv says it plans to return all four regions by force and to expel every Russian soldier from its territory. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-says-its-forces-took-control-pivdenne-eastern-ukraine-2024-07-30/
2024-07-30 11:29
SHENGJIN, Albania, July 30 (Reuters) - Albanian firefighters and soldiers battled to control spreading forest fires near the coastal town of Shengjin on Tuesday, prompting authorities to evacuate residents. The fire was still active after several days and helicopters were deployed to try and extinguish it, the Albanian army said in a statement. Late on Monday, the wind direction changed, putting residents and homes in the town at risk. The army said some 13 wildfires were extinguished over the past 24 hours and seven that still remained active were widespread across the whole country. The situation is “very difficult and danger continues to remain high” in the Shengjin area, interior minister Tulant Balla said in a Facebook post. Police said a 64-year-old man was arrested in the coastal town of Durres for causing a fire that razed a massive area. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/forest-fires-rage-near-albanian-coastal-town-spurring-evacuations-2024-07-30/
2024-07-30 11:27
July 30 (Reuters) - Electric and gas utility CenterPoint Energy (CNP.N) , opens new tab said on Tuesday it expects total costs to restore facilities damaged by Hurricane Beryl to be in the range of $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion. Earlier this month, Hurricane Beryl made landfall near the coastal town of Matagorda, Texas, causing significant damage to CenterPoint electric subsidiary's delivery system. Nearly 2.3 million of CenterPoint's customers lost power after Hurricane Beryl knocked down trees and electricity infrastructure with its 80 mph winds. The company expects to incur additional charges in the range of $425 million to $475 million related to storm events that occurred in May, where about 922,000 customers lost power. The largest Texas power provider serves about 2.9 million electric customers in the greater Houston area and southwestern Indiana. Restaurants in and around Houston have sued CenterPoint Energy, seeking more than $100 million in damages, alleging incompetence and negligence in the utility's efforts to restore power quickly following Hurricane Beryl. CenterPoint's net income available to common shareholders rose to $228 million, or 36 cents per share, in the second-quarter, from $106 million, or 17 cents per share, a year earlier, helped by increased demand for electricity during the peak summer months. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/centerpoint-energy-sees-up-13-bln-restoration-costs-after-hurricane-beryl-2024-07-30/
