2024-07-03 12:24
MILAN, July 3 (Reuters) - Italian gas grid operator Snam (SRG.MI) New Tab, opens new tab, steel pipe maker Tenaris (TENR.MI) New Tab, opens new tab and green technology firm Tenova are trialling the use of hydrogen fuel at a Tenaris steel plant in northern Italy in a bid to cut emissions, they said on Wednesday. According to a joint statement from the groups, the trial to use hydrogen fuel in a reheating furnace at the plant in Dalmine, near Bergamo, will last six months. It will track the performance and reliability of using hydrogen in the steel industry, the statement said, and is part of Snam's broader move to help industrial companies decarbonise. Hydrogen's main by-product as a fuel is water vapour, along with small amounts of nitrogen oxides, making it far less polluting than fossil fuels - assuming it does not cause further pollution via leaks. Earlier in May, Italy, Germany and Austria signed a cooperation deal to develop a hydrogen transportation network from the southern Mediterranean to northern Europe. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/italian-steel-plant-launches-trial-use-hydrogen-cut-emissions-2024-07-03/
2024-07-03 12:22
MOSCOW, July 3 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan raised oil and gas condensate production in June by 4% from May on a daily basis to 7.24 million metric tons, exceeding its quota within the OPEC+ group of oil producers, according to two sources and Reuters calculations. Production rose from 7.192 million tons in May, as reported earlier by the Bureau of National Statistics, after the completion of maintenance at the giant Tengiz oilfield. Excluding production of gas condensate, a type of light oil, crude oil output rose in June to 6.32 million tons from 6.163 million in May. When using the tons to barrels conversion ratio of 7.3, used by Kazakhstan's energy ministry previously, oil production reached 1.538 million barrels per day (bpd), exceeding the OPEC+ quota by around 70,000 bpd, Reuters calculations showed. Kazakhstan's oil production quota under the OPEC+ agreement is 1.468 million bpd. The energy ministry, in emailed comments to Reuters, did not provide output data. It said that the conversion barrels to tons ratio stands at between 6.8 and 8, depending on the density of a given oil grade. Kazakhstan said in May it was 45,000 bpd above its OPEC+ quota and promised compensate for that and be fully compliant in June. It has also said Kazakhstan will fully offset all of this year's overproduction by September 2025. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/kazakhstan-exceeded-opec-oil-quota-june-raised-output-sources-say-2024-07-03/
2024-07-03 12:09
ZURICH, July 3 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank is open to expanding its pilot project with wholesale central bank digital currencies, governing board member Antoine Martin said on Wednesday. "We would like to see a pilot which develops, with more banks joining and a higher volume of transactions," Martin told the Point Zero Forum event in Zurich. The SNB will continue providing a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) for at least two more years, it said last month, extending a pilot called Project Helvetia III which began last year. Six banks, including UBS (UBSG.S) New Tab, opens new tab and Commerzbank (CBKG.DE) New Tab, opens new tab, are already taking part in the project which has seen six digital bond issuances for a total value of 750 million Swiss francs ($830.38 million). ($1 = 0.9032 Swiss francs) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/swiss-national-bank-open-expanding-digital-currency-project-2024-07-03/
2024-07-03 11:44
ATHENS/LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - An abandoned tanker that was drifting off Yemen's coast in June has disappeared and is believed to have sunk, three navy and security sources said, the latest vessel lost in the strategically important Red Sea. The area, on the main shipping route from Europe to Asia, is considered high risk as Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched more than 70 attacks on merchant vessels since October in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Maritime security sources said last week the abandoned tanker, the Lavant, was unlikely however to have been targeted by the Houthis. According to two sources, it had reported an engine failure and was taking on water. Russian shipping group Sovcomflot said last week that one of its vessels, responding to a distress signal, had rescued the crew off the southern Yemeni coast on June 23 after the seafarers had evacuated in a life raft. Navy and maritime security sources said on Wednesday the Lavant was likely to have sunk after drifting for days. It was unclear if the vessel was carrying fuel onboard. Its owner could not be located for comment. Houthi militants operating in the Red Sea have so far sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least three seafarers. They are still holding the kidnapped crew of one ship. The Verbena cargo ship, attacked by the Houthis with anti-ship cruise missiles last month and abandoned by its crew, remains afloat and is waiting to be salvaged, the sources said separately. One of the sources said that an armed guard on board had been injured during the attack. The salvage operation for the Verbena is ongoing, the European Union's naval force in the region told Reuters. Verbena's owners did not respond to Reuters request for comment. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/abandoned-tanker-lavant-has-likely-sunk-off-yemen-sources-say-2024-07-03/
2024-07-03 11:43
LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - The pound rose on Wednesday, taking advantage of a softening in the dollar and a reading of business activity that showed growth in the British services sector cooled in June, but not by as much as initially forecast. The U.S. currency weakened against most others on Wednesday, bar the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell the previous day reinforced expectations that interest rate cuts were not far off. Sterling was last up 0.13% on the day at $1.2703, set for a fifth straight day of gains and was flat against the euro at 84.72 pence. The S&P Global UK Services Purchasing Managers Index fell in June to 52.1 from 52.9 in May, its lowest reading since November but revised up from a preliminary estimate of 51.2. Data provider S&P Global linked the slowdown to companies taking a "wait-and-see" approach to the outcome of Britain's national election on Thursday. Opinion polls show the opposition Labour Party is set to win, possibly with a record breaking majority. "The UK election is unlikely to be a major market event. If the exit poll at 10 pm UK time (2100 GMT) shows a (large) Labour majority and the Conservative party as the second largest party, the market will quickly move on to focus on other factors," Deutsche Bank strategist Shreyas Gopal said in a note. Those "other factors" include the final round of voting in France's parliamentary election, set for July 7, and key UK data later on in the month that could give the Bank of England room to cut rates at its August meeting, Gopal said, adding: "We remain constructive on the pound, having recently lowered our year-end forecast for euro/sterling to 82 pence." Futures markets show traders are still only betting on a roughly 50/50 chance of a cut at the Aug. 1 meeting, with a cut fully priced in September. Investors are currently holding a long position in sterling worth $3.5 billion, having trimmed that back from a high of $4.15 billion two weeks ago, according to weekly data from the U.S. markets regulator . Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/sterling-set-fifth-daily-rise-ahead-uk-election-2024-07-03/
2024-07-03 11:40
NEW DELHI, July 3 (Reuters) - India has asked power companies to order equipment worth $33 billion this year to fast track capacity additions of coal-fired power in the years ahead, as the South Asian nation struggles to meet booming electricity demand, two government officials said. The unprecedented move by the government, which would result in record tendering in a year for the equipment by major power firms such as state-run NTPC (NTPC.NS) New Tab, opens new tab and SJVN (SJVN.NS) New Tab, opens new tab as well as by private companies Adani Power (ADAN.NS) New Tab, opens new tab and Essar Power, will help add 31 gigawatts (GW) in the next 5-6 years, the sources said. Normally, the government leaves the tendering timing to the companies themselves. Expediting equipment orders for new coal-fired plants was discussed at a meeting held by Power Minister Manohar Lal, soon after the formation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's federal cabinet early last month, the sources said. The targets are ambitious given the country has ordered equipment for about 2-3 GW capacity annually in prior years, barring last year's orders for 10 GW. India is rushing to add fresh coal-fired plants as it is barely able to meet high power demand with the existing fleet in non-solar hours. Post pandemic, the country's power demand scaled new records on the back of the fastest rate of economic growth among major economies and increased instances of heatwaves. India saw its biggest power shortfall in 14 years in June, and had to race to avoid night time outages by deferring planned plant maintenance, and invoking an emergency clause to mandate companies to run plants based on imported coal and power. State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) (BHEL.NS) New Tab, opens new tab, which bagged all power equipment contracts in auctions in the last year, is likely to get most of the contracts for the new equipment, the sources said. Larsen & Toubro (LART.NS) New Tab, opens new tab, the only other power equipment producer in the market, had not participated in most of last year's bids, they said. The Power Ministry, BHEL, Adani, NTPC, SJVN and L&T did not immediately respond to emails sent by Reuters. The sources did not want to be named because they were not authorised to talk to media. "The last large orders for power equipment were placed for about 20 GW around 2009-10 when Chinese companies bagged a major pie," one of the sources said. Policy flip-flops and lack of orders for coal-based plants over the past several years forced other equipment suppliers such as Thermax–Babcock, BGR–Hitachi and South Korea's Doosan to shut their manufacturing units in India. The country, since 2020, discourages contracts with companies in countries sharing a land border such as China by mandating regulatory approvals. Since late last year, India has fast tracked coal-fired power plants to meet its power needs, threatening to undermine progress made by the world's No.3 greenhouse gas emitter in weaning its economy off carbon. In March Reuters reported private Indian firms have expressed interest in building at least 10 GW of coal-fired power capacity over a decade, ending a six-year drought in significant private involvement in the sector.($1 = 83.5040 Indian rupees) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/india-asks-utilities-order-33-bln-equipment-this-year-boost-coal-power-output-2024-07-03/
