2024-05-24 06:27

CANBERRA, May 24 (Reuters) - A Glencore (GLEN.L) New Tab, opens new tab carbon capture and storage project in eastern Australia cannot go ahead because it could irreversibly harm groundwater used by farmers, a state government said on Friday, adding that it would also block similar projects. Global commodities giant Glencore said the decision by Queensland was the result of misinformation and political opportunism and had effectively outlawed carbon capture and storage projects in the state. The company's pilot project aimed to pump 330,000 metric tons of liquefied carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power plant in southern Queensland into an aquifer 2.3 km (1.4 miles) underground. The project "is not suitable to proceed due to potential impacts on groundwater resources," the state's environment department said in a statement. Farm groups had protested that it risked poisoning part of the Great Artesian Basin, a network of groundwater deposits spanning much of eastern Australia, supporting agriculture and communities. The proposed site was not a contained aquifer and the carbon dioxide "could migrate, likely causing irreversible or long-term change to groundwater quality and environmental values," the environment department said. Such changes could include greater concentrations of contaminants such as chloride, sulphate, lead and arsenic, it said, adding that its decision made clear that other carbon storage projects in the Great Artesian Basin would not be viable. DISAPPOINTING Governments including Australia's say carbon capture and storage (CCS) is needed to achieve the world's net-zero goals and contain global warming. Its rollout has been slow but is speeding up. Glencore said its proposal was scientifically robust, targeted an area with unused, low-quality groundwater and the carbon dioxide was extremely unlikely to spread significantly. "The decision is disappointing and comes after a damaging misinformation campaign and political opportunism," the company said in a statement. "The Queensland government has now effectively banned carbon capture and storage projects in Queensland," it said. "It's now up to the Queensland government to explain how it's going to meet its ambitious emissions reductions targets." Asked if it would appeal the decision, a company spokesman said that Glencore will review the decision and consider its options. The project would have captured 2% of the emissions of the Millmerran plant power plant but could eventually have stored 90%, the company said. Queensland farm group AgForce praised the decision but said more protection was needed for the basin and it would push for more federal scrutiny for projects like Glencore's. Australia has one active CCS project, Chevron's (CVX.N) New Tab, opens new tab Gorgon, on an island off the northwest coast. Two more are under construction and 14 are in development, according to the Global CCS Institute. Most target offshore storage. Glencore's project is managed by a subsidiary called Carbon Transport and Storage Corporation (CTSCo). Japan's Marubeni Corp (8002.T) New Tab, opens new tab and J-POWER (9513.T) New Tab, opens new tab each committed A$10 million to it in 2022. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/australian-state-blocks-glencores-carbon-storage-project-over-groundwater-risk-2024-05-24/

2024-05-24 06:15

SYDNEY, May 24 (Reuters) - Hundreds are feared dead after a massive landslide levelled dozens of homes and buried families alive in a remote village in northern Papua New Guinea early on Friday, a resident said. More than 50 homes, many with people still asleep inside, were buried when the landslide hit Kaokalam village around 3 a.m., villager Ninga Role told Reuters by phone. The death toll was nearly 300, among them his brother and cousin, he said. The Australian Broadcasting Corp and other local media reported that more than 100 people had been killed. One man who turned back to try and save his two children was buried along with his extended family, Role said. Social media footage posted by Role showed people clambering over rocks, uprooted trees and mounds of dirt searching for survivors. Women could be heard weeping in the background. "It's very impossible, the area covered by the landslide is large and there are rocks and trees everywhere," Role said. "It's very difficult to get them out." The village is in Enga province, about 600 km (370 miles) north of the capital, Port Moresby. Prime Minister James Marape said in a statement he was yet to be fully briefed, but that authorities were responding to the disaster. "We are sending in disaster officials, PNG Defence Force, and the Department of Works and Highways to meet provincial and district officials in Enga and also start relief work, recovery of bodies, and reconstruction of infrastructure," Marape said. "I will release further information as I am fully briefed on the scale of destruction and loss of lives." PNG police did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The landslide hit a section of highway near the Porgera gold mine, operated by Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) New Tab, opens new tab through Barrick Niugini Ltd, its joint venture with China's Zijin Mining (601899.SS) New Tab, opens new tab. "The extent of the damage is still being assessed, so it is too early to know the impact, if any, on the operations of the Porgera Gold Mine, which is 100 km away," a spokesperson for Barrick Gold said. Porgera currently has sufficient fuel on-site to operate normally for 40 days and other critical supplies for longer, the spokesperson added. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/landslide-remote-papua-new-guinea-village-kills-about-100-abc-says-2024-05-24/

2024-05-24 06:07

NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rallied and crude oil prices rebounded after upbeat economic data on Friday as investors positioned themselves ahead of the long U.S. Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start to summer. The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 advanced, while the Dow closed nominally higher. The light-volume session capped a week in which minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve policy meeting struck a hawkish tone, solid economic data hinted at the possibility of rising inflation and megacap chipmaker Nvidia's (NVDA.O) New Tab, opens new tab beat-and-raise earnings report re-ignited investors' fervor for artificial intelligence. "After yesterday’s very rough day it was nice to see the bulls make a stand ahead of the long holiday weekend," said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha, Nebraska. "The economy continues to surprise to the upside. That’s why stocks are flirting with all-time highs." On a weekly basis, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq nabbed their fifth straight Friday-to-Friday gains, while the Dow was on track to snap its five-week winning streak. Investors are growing increasingly resigned to the higher-for-longer interest rate narrative after the Fed minutes release on Wednesday, as well as cautious remarks from policymakers who expressed doubt whether inflation is indeed on a reliable downward trajectory. Financial markets are now pricing just one rate cut in 2024, a far cry from the six cuts that were projected earlier in the year. On the economic front, new orders for U.S. durable goods increased more than expected, while the University of Michigan's final take on May consumer sentiment bumped higher. "The realization that the economy is not slowing down has pushed back on any summer rate cut," Detrick added. "July is likely off the table, but as (Fed Chair) Jerome Powell has said, with improving inflation data over the summer, a September rate cut has a fighter’s chance." The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) New Tab, opens new tab rose 4.33 points, or 0.01%, to 39,069.59, the S&P 500 (.SPX) New Tab, opens new tab gained 36.88 points, or 0.70%, to 5,304.72 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) New Tab, opens new tab added 184.76 points, or 1.1%, to 16,920.79. European shares closed lower and recorded a weekly decline as sentiment was dampened by the re-emergence of interest rate worries. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) New Tab, opens new tab lost 0.19% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS) New Tab, opens new tab gained 0.34%. Emerging market stocks lost 0.73%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) New Tab, opens new tab closed 0.88% lower, while Japan's Nikkei (.N225) New Tab, opens new tab lost 1.17%. Treasury yields were mixed after reports confirmed the U.S. economy remains resilient, which could convince the Fed to hold off on cutting interest rates this year. Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 2/32 in price to yield 4.4669%, from 4.475% late on Thursday. The 30-year bond last rose 4/32 in price to yield 4.5729%, from 4.58% late on Thursday. The dollar dipped against a basket of world currencies but remained well-placed to resume its advance as stronger-than-expected economic data has prompted markets to dial back rate cut expectations. The dollar index (.DXY) New Tab, opens new tab fell 0.36%, with the euro up 0.31% to $1.0847. The Japanese yen was flat versus the greenback at 156.93 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2739, up 0.33% on the day. Crude prices edged higher, after having been under pressure for much of the week as the notion of prolonged restrictive Fed policy dampened the demand outlook. U.S. crude rose 1.11% to settle at $77.72 per barrel, while Brent settled at $82.12 per barrel, up 0.93% on the day. Gold prices rose but recorded their first weekly downturn in three due to lowered rate cut expectations. Spot gold added 0.3% to $2,336.03 an ounce. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/global-markets-corrected-wrapup-1-2024-05-24/

2024-05-24 06:05

LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) - In a year of elections worldwide, June turns up the heat several notches and will test global markets' seemingly nonchalance toward the process to date. With European Parliament elections as an early appetizer on June 6-9, Britain heads to the hustings next month too ahead of July 4's freshly scheduled poll and U.S. presidential candidates look set to start their campaigns earlier than usual with a first televised debate on June 27. Mexico also heads to the ballot box during the month. So far, with global business picking up steam again and interest rates plateauing, world markets seem in no mood to pay much heed in popular votes in the major economies. Major stock markets are at all-time records and volatility gauges on a range of assets and currency prices are all but asleep. In thrall to the central bank metronome for two years, equity and credit markets even seem to have broken that spell this year - accepting a likely long period of relatively high interest rates ahead and focused instead on the buoyant economy, earnings and unfolding themes like artificial intelligence. But June should give that a reality check, or at least reveal investor interest in potential shifts in democratic power in some of the big economies. With critical geopolitical, trade and fiscal issues at stake, there are no shortages of potentially market-moving issues - most obviously in the re-run of 2020's U.S. race between Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican challenger Donald Trump. All the more surprising then that currency market volatility at large (.DBCVIX) New Tab, opens new tab is less than half what it was a year ago. And six-month implied volatility in major dollar exchange rates , that now covers the U.S. election date is about two full points below where it was a year ago - easing substantially again over the past month. And that's not to mention equity volatility at four-year lows and even bond volatility subsiding to its lowest in two years. A moment to hedge? According to a quarterly survey of 250 finance officials at UK and U.S. companies conducted by FX platform MillTechFX nearly half said they plan on increasing currency hedging length in options or forward rates due to elections around the world. And yet there's scant sign of that showing up in prices so far. FLICKERS OF SENSITIVITY Many investors have long argued that markets tend to ignore elections until the final throes - screening out much of the political noise of campaigning and wilder early polling. As election dates get nearer, the number and frequency of opinion polls ratchets higher - which improves their average accuracy but also ups the risks of periodic rogue readings. And perhaps there was the merest flicker of that effect this week in the surprise UK announcement of a July vote - two or three months ahead of the date that many had bet on. Two-month sterling volatility , levels popped higher on the news - albeit from historic lows in the case of euro/sterling levels. And yet strategists queued up on Thursday to detail why the outcome shouldn't necessarily affect sterling or UK bond levels - with the opposition Labour Party more than 20 points ahead in opinion polls for many months. The Labour Party is the overwhelming favourite in betting markets to take power for the first time in 14 years and has few curve balls in its manifesto for markets to latch on to. A bigger disturbance from the June campaign at this stage may well be if polls showed the incumbent Conservatives can hang onto office. It's a different matter stateside however. Biden and Trump remain tied in popular surveys with attention being paid to swing states. There are clearly huge gaps between the two in domestic and international policy - as well as on the independence of the Federal Reserve, the value of the dollar, trade tariffs and tax cuts. Noel Dixon, global macro strategist at State Street Global Markets, thinks the TV debates next month may be the starting gun for greater market attention - earlier than the traditional post-Labor Day klaxon. What's more, he says State Street's models monitoring the asset market sensitivity to various media narratives surrounding the election are already picking up. "There's definitely more market attention being paid this time around than there was at the same stage in 2020," Dixon said. "Because they're moving the TV debates up, Trump now gets a chance to clarify his stance on some of the more alarming media stories about what he may do." "If he doubles down on those issues next month, there's going to be a lot more market attention," he said, referring to media reports about how his team are planning to reduce Fed independence and how his former trade adviser Robert Lighthizer New Tab, opens new tab advocates actively weakening the dollar for trade advantage. How all that plays out in terms of price direction rather than volatility per se is harder to parse and perhaps why speculation on the outcome is so limited. But even if investors have been intent on blurring out political noise in favor of focusing on the current state of economy, it may be harder to ignore it all a month from now. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/june-test-markets-election-nonchalance-mike-dolan-2024-05-24/

2024-05-24 06:00

LITTLETON, Colorado, May 24 (Reuters) - Solar farms generated less than 6% of the electricity produced by utilities in the United States in 2023, but that annual share vastly understates the critical role that solar plays in enabling power firms to accelerate energy transition efforts. On a day-to-day basis, solar plants can have such disruptive influence on system electricity flows that utilities have been forced to develop capabilities to rapidly curtail output from other sources and store surplus power for later use. In turn, that resulting agility and emerging ingenuity throughout the energy sector is helping to accelerate global energy transition efforts by forcing power systems to more efficiently accommodate large swings in clean power output. With supplies of all forms of renewable energy set to rapidly grow, utilities that learn to maximise the volume of solar power within generation systems today will be best placed to help drive the further evolution of energy systems in the decades ahead. CLEANER, BUT MORE VOLATILE No other clean power source comes close to creating both the opportunities and challenges that rapidly expanding supplies of solar power entail. Solar's overall share of U.S. power output may currently be small, but it is growing fast, with output expanding by 155% between 2018 and 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA.) That growth rate compares with a 56% expansion in wind power and a 22.4% swell in natural gas-fired output over the same period. To accommodate growing renewables supplies and make good on commitments to reduce power sector emissions, U.S. utilities reduced coal-fired power generation by 41% from 2018 to 2023, which cut coal's share of the power mix from around 30% to 16%. But by replacing such a significant chunk of baseload power from coal with growing quantities of intermittent renewable power from solar farms, the U.S. power system has become more volatile as well as more clean over the past five years. MAKE WAY! California's power system best exemplifies the volatility that comes from rapid increases in solar generation. As the largest solar power producer in the U.S., California has boosted solar power output by 72% from 2018 to 2023, and relies on solar for around 28% of electricity supplies, according to energy think tank Ember. The state also accounts for around 25% of national electricity supplies generated from solar. But it's an enduring challenge to turn the state's abundant sunshine into useable electricity without distorting power markets. As more and more solar plants were connected to California's grid over the past decade, power prices in the state came under increasing pressure during the middle of the day when solar output peaks. A compounding problem is that the peak solar production period overlaps with what is traditionally the lowest period for system demand, so power firms have been forced to lower power prices in order to balance system needs until solar output declines later in the day. The resulting 'Duck Curve' shape of power prices became a well known phenomenon over the last few years, with the unintended distortion to market dynamics caused by surplus solar power widely lampooned in 2023 by opponents of the energy transition. The volume of California's solar output has increased further so far in 2024, with solar electricity generation through May 23 running 27% ahead of the same period in 2023, according to LSEG data. The uneven distribution of this output causes daily contortions to the state's power generation mix, with solar power accounting for 0% of power generation before sunrise to over 70% during the sunniest times of day. And California's power prices continue to come under severe pressure during peak solar production hours, routinely turning negative for spells as the market pricing mechanism tries to lure demand and deter production from other sources. BATTERY BUTTRESS To alleviate the impact of the system imbalance caused by runaway solar output, California's utilities have deployed networks of utility-scale batteries that can absorb surplus power during peak solar production periods, to be discharged when the sun goes down. The battery network is still being built out, but already accounts for around 20% of California's system needs during the peak demand period just after solar output stops and when people returning from work crank up household electricity demand. The batteries also reduce the need for power imports by California during those peak demand periods, which reduces regional power strain and helps California become less reliant on neighbouring states for power supplies. California's battery system also acts as a learning tool for other power networks who are also struggling with the impact of too much solar supply, too soon. And along with wider use of smart energy meters - which encourage consumers to increase power consumption when supplies are most abundant - all U.S. utilities are learning key ways to accommodate rapid growth in solar output and set themselves up for further energy transition progress. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/solar-hits-above-its-weight-powering-us-energy-transition-maguire-2024-05-24/

2024-05-24 05:58

Bullion hit its lowest since May 9 earlier in the session Silver, platinum, palladium set for weekly dip May 24 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose on Friday as the dollar slipped, but were headed for their worst week in five and a half months as hopes of interest rate cuts by the U.S. central bank tamed. Spot gold rose 0.2% to $2,332.77 per ounce as of 1:54 p.m. ET (1754 GMT) as the U.S. dollar index slipped 0.4%, making gold relatively less expensive for other currency holders. U.S. gold futures settled 0.1% lower to $2,334.50. Bullion hit a record high of $2,449.89 on Monday, but has shed more than $100 since then and is on track for a 3% drop this week, its worst weekly dip since early December. "What we've always had was a little bit of a lack of interest from the Western investors on uncertainty over when the Fed will cut rates...once the Fed cuts rates, they would increase exposure again," said Michael Widmer, Bank of America's head of Metals Research. Minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting published this week showed the central bank's path to 2% inflation could take longer than expected. Traders' bets signalled growing doubts that the Fed will cut rates more than once in 2024, currently pricing in about a 63% chance of a rate cut by November according to the CME FedWatch Tool New Tab, opens new tab. Higher interest rates make non-yielding gold a less appealing investment. Despite uncertainty around U.S. rate outlook, gold prices managed to gain 13% so far this year, largely on the back of strong Chinese demand and ongoing geopolitical uncertainties, analysts have noted. However, "there is a risk now that you might see somewhat lower gold purchases from the Chinese retail investors into the second half of this year, as the government is putting much more effort into reflating the economy. If that happens, you then revert back to the demand from the Western investors- taking us back to discussion about the Fed rate cuts," Widmer said. Spot silver rose 0.5% to $30.25. It hit an 11-year high on Monday. Platinum rose 0.8% to $1,027.25, while palladium fell 0.7% to $962.50. All three metals were headed for weekly losses. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/gold-eyes-biggest-weekly-drop-nearly-eight-months-2024-05-24/