2024-07-09 21:56

WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy's loans office said on Tuesday it issued a conditional loan of up to $1.2 billion to ENTEK Lithium Separators LLC to finance a plant in Indiana for making lithium-ion battery separators used mostly in electric vehicles. Battery separators play a key role in the performance and safety of lithium-ion batteries. Based on current factors chosen by battery cell manufacturers, the project will support roughly 1.9 million mid-size EVs or 1.3 million electric sports utility vehicles, ENTEK said in a release. The project, in Terre Haute, Indiana is expected to create more than 760 construction jobs and 635 operational jobs, it said. "There has never been a more exciting time to be a manufacturer in the battery industry," ENTEK CEO Larry Keith said. If finalized, the loan would be offered through the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program that has $40 billion in direct lending authority. Separators produced at the plant will accommodate all existing lithium-ion EV battery chemistries, the LPO said. Automakers face increasingly stringent requirements in order to qualify for $7,500 EV tax credits. New rules took effect on Jan. 1 restricting Chinese content in batteries eligible for EV tax credits of up to $7,500, which sharply cut the number of eligible vehicles. Automakers have since made changes to supply chains and won restored eligibility for many vehicles. DOE estimates that by 2030, the North American lithium-ion EV battery industry will require annual separator production of 7 to 10 billion square meters. DOE estimates the project will support roughly 1.9 million mid-size EVs or 1.3 million electric SUVs. It is unclear when the loan will be finalized. In June 2023, DOE said it intended to loan the Blue Oval SK joint venture of Ford Motor (F.N) New Tab, opens new tab and South Korean battery maker SK On, a unit of SK Innovation (096770.KS) New Tab, opens new tab, up to $9.2 billion to help finance construction of three new battery manufacturing plants in Tennessee and Kentucky. The loan for the Ford SK joint venture has still not closed. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/entek-gets-conditional-12-billion-us-loan-ev-battery-separator-plant-2024-07-09/

2024-07-09 21:55

July 9 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas production will decline in 2024 while demand will rise to a record high, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday. EIA projected dry gas production will ease from a record 103.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2023 to 103.5 bcfd in 2024 as several producers reduce drilling activities after gas prices fell to 3-1/2-year lows in February and March. In 2025, EIA projected output would rise to 105.2 bcfd. The agency also projected domestic gas consumption would rise from a record 89.1 bcfd in 2023 to 89.4 bcfd in 2024 before easing to 89.2 bcfd in 2025. If the projections are correct, 2024 would be the first time output declines since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic cut demand for the fuel. It would also be the first time demand increases for four years in a row since 2016. The latest projections for 2024 were higher than EIA's June forecast of 102.1 bcfd for supply and unchanged from the agency's June forecast of 89.4 bcfd for consumption. In Appalachia, the biggest U.S. shale gas basin spanning Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, output is set to rise from 34.7 in July to 34.8 bcfd in August. Appalachia output hit monthly records of 37.1 bcfd in November and December 2023. The agency forecast average U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports would reach 12.2 bcfd in 2024 and 14.3 bcfd in 2025, up from a record 11.9 bcfd in 2023. That was higher than EIA's LNG export forecast in June of 12.1 bcfd. The agency projected U.S. coal production would fall from 577.5 million short tons in 2023 to 509.7 million tons in 2024, the lowest since 1964, and 489.5 million tons in 2025, the lowest since 1963, as gas and renewable sources of power displace coal-fired plants. EIA projected carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels would rise from 4.793 billion metric tons in 2023 to 4.819 billion metric tons in 2024 as all fossil fuel use increases, and 4.825 billion metric tons in 2025 as petroleum use increases. That means carbon emissions were on track to rise in four out of five years through 2025 since dropping to 4.584 billion metric tons in 2020, the lowest since 1983, when the pandemic sapped demand for energy. Carbon emissions also fell in 2023 as power companies burned less coal. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-natgas-output-decline-2024-while-demand-rises-record-high-eia-says-2024-07-09/

2024-07-09 21:55

July 9 (Reuters) - U.S. power consumption will rise to record highs in 2024 and 2025, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday. EIA projected power demand will rise to 4,123 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2024 and 4,198 billion kWh in 2025. That compares with 4,000 billion kWh in 2023 and a record 4,067 billion kWh in 2022. With growing demand from artificial intelligence and data centers and as homes and businesses use more electricity for heat and transportation, EIA forecast 2024 power sales would rise to 1,504 billion kWh for residential consumers, 1,418 billion kWh for commercial customers and 1,052 billion kWh for industrial customers. That compares with all-time highs of 1,509 billion kWh for residential consumers in 2022, 1,391 billion kWh in 2022 for commercial customers and 1,064 billion kWh in 2000 for industrial customers. EIA said natural gas' share of power generation would ease from 42% in 2023 to 41% in 2024 and 40% in 2025. Coal's share will hold at 17% in 2024, the same as 2023, before easing to 16% in 2025 as renewable output rises. The percentage of renewable generation will rise from 21% in 2023 to 23% in 2024 and 25% in 2025, while nuclear power's share will hold at 19% in 2024 and 2025, the same as 2023. Although the use of coal to generate power has been falling for years versus gas primarily because gas produces less carbon dioxide and other emissions than coal, EIA projected higher gas prices would boost the amount of coal used to generate power in the second half of 2024. "Utilities will look for a more economical alternative as natural gas prices go up," EIA Administrator Joe DeCarolis said in a statement. "We expect renewables, especially solar, to fill most of the gap in the power mix. We expect utilities will also look to coal as a less expensive fuel source the rest of the year." EIA projected 2024 gas sales would hold at 12.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) for residential consumers, rise to 9.30 bcfd for commercial customers and 35.7 bcfd for power generation, and slide to 23.1 bcfd for industrial customers. That compares with all-time highs of 14.3 bcfd in 1996 for residential consumers, 9.6 bcfd in 2019 for commercial customers, 23.8 bcfd in 1973 for industrial customers and 35.4 bcfd in 2023 for power generation. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-power-use-forecast-reach-record-highs-2024-2025-eia-says-2024-07-09/

2024-07-09 21:14

LOS ANGELES, July 9 (Reuters) - The state of Ohio on Tuesday joined oil companies and business groups asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse decisions that underpin California's ambitious plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. The Midwest state joined Valero's (VLO.N) New Tab, opens new tab Diamond Alternative Energy and other plaintiffs in challenging Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority under the Clean Air Act to grant waivers that allow California to set greenhouse gas emissions limits that are stricter than the federal government's, after a spate of Supreme Court rulings that weaken U.S. agency authority. "The Golden State is not the golden child. Yet in the Clean Air Act, Congress elevated California above all the other States by giving to the Golden State alone the power to pass certain environmental laws," the Ohio plaintiffs wrote in their petition to the nation's top court. Ohio's attorney general, who brought the case, and the EPA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In their request for Supreme Court review last week, the Diamond plaintiffs said it was time for the Supreme Court to "finally decide whether EPA has the authority to grant California a preemption waiver to address global climate change." The attorney of record for that petition declined comment. Because it has more cars and some of the nation's worst air quality, California since the late 1960s has been the only state with the power to request an EPA waiver to set its own vehicle pollution standards. For the last two decades, the nation's most populous state has used waivers to tackle greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, which account for about a quarter of its climate-warming emissions. EPA granted the California waiver at the center of these two cases in 2013, during President Barack Obama's administration. The EPA under President Donald Trump revoked the waiver in 2019 and President Joe Biden reinstated it in 2021. In addition to targeting California's EPA waivers, opponents have argued the agency cannot set greenhouse gas emissions standards from mobile sources like vehicles because it is not written into the Clean Air Act. Meanwhile, environmental attorneys are monitoring the potential impact of two recent Supreme Court decisions. The 2022 West Virginia v. EPA ruling invoked the "major questions" doctrine that requires explicit congressional authorization before regulators can take consequential actions on issues of vast economic, political and societal impact. In addition, last week's Corner Post ruling cleared the way for new lawsuits against rules previously considered settled. Those cases could set the stage for dismantling rules aimed at arresting climate change and reducing health impacts on people living near transportation corridors known as "diesel death zones," environmental attorneys warned. "Pretty much everything is up for grabs again," said David Pettit, senior attorney for climate and energy with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Ultimately, California waiver challenges may turn on whether opponents can convince the court that the state is being arbitrary and capricious or that it does not need such standards "to meet compelling and extraordinary conditions New Tab, opens new tab," said Stan Meiburg, a former acting EPA deputy administrator under Obama. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/ohio-joins-california-climate-plan-opponents-us-supreme-court-plea-2024-07-09/

2024-07-09 20:44

TSX down 0.3% in broad-based declines Industrials, Healthcare, Consumer shares lead losses US Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments pull up financial shares Maple Leaf Foods to split into two entities; shares jump July 9 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index closed down on Tuesday amid broad declines across sectors even as U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell assured the U.S. Congress that the economy was no longer overheated, raising hopes of a rate cut. The benchmark S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) New Tab, opens new tab closed down 83 points, or 0.3%, at 22,042.5. At the end of Tuesday's trade, the financial sector shares at TSX closed in the green, as markets prepared for a possible September rate cut in the U.S. and Powell began his two-day monetary policy testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, which began earlier in the day. In the Canadian market, the industrials, materials and consumer cyclicals led the broader declines with a loss of 1% each. Heavy-weight energy shares (.SPTTEN) New Tab, opens new tab fell 1.5% in tandem with oil prices. Healthcare (.GSPTTHC) New Tab, opens new tab shares that opened in green, lost their morning gains and closed down 0.4%. Fears of recession loomed large after last week's data showed a 6.4% rise in domestic unemployment. Traders now expect a 64% chance of a rate cut by the Bank of Canada in its next policy meeting on July 24. 0#BOCWATCH Among individual stocks, Maple Leaf Foods (MFI.TO) New Tab, opens new tab closed up by 8% to top the Toronto Stock Exchange after the food processor said it is splitting into two independent public entities by spinning off its pork business. Traders now expect a 64% chance of a rate cut by the Bank of Canada in its next policy meeting on July 24. 0#BOCWATCH "Policymakers are reluctant to cut because they don't want to lower interest rates and see things spiral out of control again on the inflation side, only to then raise rates again," said Allan Small, senior investment advisor at Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private Wealth. However, traders are pricing in a 75.2% chance of a rate cut the Fed's September policy meeting. 0#FEDWATCH Investors will also focus on U.S. consumer prices data due on Thursday, which can further support rate-cut bets after last week's softer jobs data. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 (.SPX) New Tab, opens new tab and Nasdaq (.IXIC) New Tab, opens new tab indexes notched fresh record highs. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/tsx-futures-rise-ahead-fed-chair-powells-testimony-2024-07-09/

2024-07-09 20:33

July 9 (Reuters) - Billionaire Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI and tech giant Oracle (ORCL.N) New Tab, opens new tab have ended talks on a potential $10 billion server deal, the Information reported on Tuesday. The startup and Oracle have ended talks to expand an existing arrangement under which xAI has been renting Nvidia's (NVDA.O) New Tab, opens new tab AI chips from the cloud provider, the report New Tab, opens new tab said, citing several people involved in the talks. Musk's xAI is building a system using Nvidia's H100 graphics processing units by itself "for fastest time to completion", the billionaire said in a post on his social media platform X. The specific capacity that Oracle was talking about with xAI has been contracted to another customer, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. "The company is always in discussion with customers about upcoming capacity and continues to engage with xAI on its infrastructure needs," the source said. A multi-year agreement to rent Nvidia processors from Oracle for a planned supercomputer was underway, but talks were held back by issues such as Musk's demands to build a supercomputer faster than Oracle deemed possible, the Information said. Oracle also raised concerns that xAI's preferred location had inadequate power supply, the report added. xAI already has a contract to train AI models in Oracle's Gen2 Cloud. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/oracle-musks-xais-10-bln-server-deal-talks-lapse-information-reports-2024-07-09/