2024-05-17 16:21

ROME, May 17 (Reuters) - BlackRock (BLK.N) New Tab, opens new tab is in talks with various governments over ways to fund critical investments to support artificial intelligence (AI), including increasing the power supply, the CEO of the world's largest asset manager said on Friday. AI is seen as a major boost to global productivity, but it requires data centres and semiconductor plants that require huge amounts of electricity. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink spoke remotely at a meeting in Rome of the B7 business groups of the Group of Seven (G7) states. The conference preceded next week's meeting in Italy of finance ministers and central bankers from the G7 more advanced economies. "These AI data centres are going to require more power than anything we could ever have imagined. We at the G7 do not have enough power," Fink said. "I think this is going to create a real competitive challenge for countries." Data centres are likely to be built where power supply is cheaper, raising the need for state subsidies in areas where energy costs are not competitive, Fink said. Investments to build the data centres and chip factories backing AI technologies and power them, which BlackRock estimates "in the trillions of dollars", require the participation of private investors and could be a great opportunity for pension funds and insurers, Fink said. Japan on Tuesday said it envisages the need for electricity output to rise 35% to 50% by 2050 due to growing demand from semiconductor plants and data centres backing AI. "We're in conversations with many governments right now about how can we bring private capital," Fink said, adding G7 states could not shoulder the cost given the risk of a "fiscal crisis". "The deficits we're seeing in the G7 are becoming a burden for my children, your children, our grandchildren." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/blackrock-ceo-sees-giant-issue-europe-due-ai-power-needs-2024-05-17/

2024-05-17 16:09

May 17 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and is currently working from home, a Fed spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "Chair Powell tested positive for COVID-19 late yesterday and is experiencing symptoms." He is working from home and staying away from others, the statement said, as per guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The announcement follows a trip to Europe this week in which Powell, 71, appeared on Tuesday on stage at an event with Dutch central bank president Klaas Knot in Amsterdam. Powell last tested positive for Covid in January 2023. There was little reaction in financial markets after the Fed's announcement of Powell's latest COVID-19 infection. The next scheduled Fed policy meeting is not until June 11-12. Powell, who was due to give commencement remarks in person on Sunday at Georgetown Law School, will now deliver them via prerecorded video, the statement said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fed-chair-powell-tests-positive-covid-19-working-home-2024-05-17/

2024-05-17 12:53

MOSCOW, May 17 (Reuters) - Russia could deliver oil as well as gas to China along a planned route via Mongolia, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. Putin, wrapping up a two-day visit to China, said he and his hosts had confirmed their interest in moving forward with the proposed gas pipeline, the Power of Siberia 2. "Moreover, it's possible to lay both a gas pipeline and an oil pipeline in the same corridor," Putin said, appearing to revive an idea that was discussed as far back as 2018. However, he said there were also other options for supplying Russian energy to China including by tanker along the Northern Sea Route via the Arctic. "All options are possible, they are all acceptable and economically feasible. It's necessary to choose the best one. I am sure this work will also be completed," he told a televised news conference. Despite Putin's upbeat comments, and after years of discussion about the proposed Power of Siberia 2, Russia and China have yet to reach agreement to go ahead and build it. Putin's energy point man Alexander Novak said in a television interview they expected to sign a contract soon. The project has taken on added urgency for Russia as it bids to ramp up gas shipments to China to make up for the collapse of its exports to Europe because of the war in Ukraine. Putin said it was a complex process including questions of pricing, but that China's growing economy needed energy and there was no more reliable supplier than Russia. The project would also be immune to Western sanctions, he said. "Nobody can get in the way of this, neither sanctions on tanker fleets or even sanctions on financial institutions. We will buy and sell everything in our national currencies. So the interest from both sides is confirmed." The pipeline would carry 50 billion cubic metres of gas per year from the Yamal region in northern Russia - almost as much as the now idle Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea that was damaged by explosions in 2022. Russia currently sends gas to China through the Power of Siberia 1 pipeline, which began operating in 2019 and runs through eastern Siberia into northeast China. Experts say that as China is not expected to need additional gas supply until after 2030, Beijing could drive a hard bargain on price for a second pipeline via Siberia. Moscow has not said how much the 2,600 km (1,600 miles) Power of Siberia 2 would cost or how it would be financed. Some analysts have put the cost at up to $13.6 billion. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/putin-says-oil-pipeline-could-run-alongside-planned-new-gas-link-china-2024-05-17/

2024-05-17 11:41

SINGAPORE, May 17 (Reuters) - Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices rose this week to its highest levels since January, as hot weather across the region spurred more demand for the super-chilled fuel, and as it tracked gains in European gas prices on the back of maintenance outages and lower wind output. The average LNG price for July delivery into north-east Asia rose to $10.90 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), up from $10.50/mmBtu in the previous week and its strongest levels since Jan. 5, industry sources estimated. "Asian delivered prices have edged higher in the past few days... as demand from southeast Asian buyers and gains by European prices in the past three days have offered support," said Samuel Good, head of LNG pricing at commodity pricing agency Argus. He added that forecasts of above-average temperatures in northeast China for the coming month could lift gas-fired generation to meet greater power sector cooling demand. Utilities in India are also expected to seek additional spot LNG volumes to be delivered in June and July due to an ongoing heatwave, said Rystad Energy analyst Masanori Odaka in a note. Meanwhile, PetroVietnam Gas said on Thursday it received its third LNG cargo this year for power generation amid rising demand due to heatwaves. Additionally, the market appeared to shrug off a power outage at the Bintulu LNG complex owned by Malaysia's Petronas, added Argus' Good, with the facility appearing to continue some loadings ahead of the issue's resolution. In Europe, gas prices are seen holding steady for the upcoming week, pressured by above-average temperatures and stable pipeline flows, but supported by renewable power generation uncertainties and reduced feedgas flows at Sabine Pass LNG in the U.S., said Ana Subasic, natural gas and LNG analyst at data and analytics firm Kpler. S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed its daily North West Europe LNG Marker (NWM) price benchmark for cargoes delivered in July on an ex-ship (DES) basis at $9.649/mmBtu on May 16, a $0.15/mmBtu discount to the July gas price at the Dutch TTF hub. Argus assessed the July delivery price at $9.60/mmBtu, while Spark Commodities assessed it at $9.451/mmBtu. On spot LNG freight, both the Atlantic and Pacific rates held steady this week, said Spark Commodities analyst Qasim Afghan. The Atlantic spot rate was estimated at $42,750/day on Friday, while the Pacific rate was unchanged at $46,750/day, he said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/asian-spot-lng-edges-up-hot-weather-spurs-demand-2024-05-17/

2024-05-17 11:22

May 17 (Reuters) - Ukraine attacked a power substation in Russian-occupied Crimea, an oil depot and railway station in Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and an oil refinery in the port town of Tuapse overnight, a Kyiv intelligence source told Reuters. Kyiv has stepped up strikes on energy facilities deep inside Russian territory, which they say are legitimate military targets supporting Moscow's 27-month-old war in Ukraine. Attacks have led to disruptions in refining capacity. Reuters calculations on April 15 showed that Russia had been able to repair some key oil refineries, reducing idled capacity to about 10% from almost 14% at the end of March. Friday's strikes were a joint operation conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the HUR military intelligence agency, the source added. Ukraine launched drones at a refinery in Tuapse, which was already being repaired following an earlier strike, according to the source. "After the new explosions, they will have to start repairs again," the source said. Russian regional officials reported a fire at the refinery following the attack. It was later extinguished, they said. Tuapse has an annual capacity of 12 million metric tons (240,000 barrels per day). The refinery had undergone several months of repairs, completed only at the end of April, after a previous fire in January. Separately, the source said, attacks caused explosions in the port of Novorossiysk, and in the Sevastopol Bay in the Russian-controlled peninsula of Crimea. The strike on the power station in Sevastopol caused power cuts, the source said. Local governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said the station was damaged and warned of "isolated blackouts". Russia's defence ministry said its air defences destroyed 102 Ukrainian aerial drones and six uncrewed naval boats in the Black Sea overnight. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-stages-long-range-attacks-targets-crimea-southern-russia-source-says-2024-05-17/

2024-05-17 11:18

MADRID, May 17 (Reuters) - Europe's largest utility Iberdrola (IBE.MC) New Tab, opens new tab will keep betting on offshore wind in the coming years, roughly tripling the value of its assets in the sector to 17 billion euros ($18 billion), Executive Chairman Ignacio Sanchez Galan told shareholders on Friday. In the past couple of years, the Spanish firm has shifted its focus to upgrading and expanding power grids while taking a more selective approach to renewables that favours investments in offshore wind. In the next three years, offshore wind projects will get more than 50% of the planned 15.5 billion euro investment in renewables, under a new plan presented in March. The company currently has a project in Germany and two in Britain - including a partnership with Denmark's Orsted (ORSTED.CO) New Tab, opens new tab - in operation. Including the partnership, the projects account for around 6 billion euros in investments. It is now building projects in the United States, Britain, France and Germany. "Once finished, there will be 17 billion euro assets in this sector, which also have guaranteed income," Sanchez Galan said, since the production is already sold through long-term contract. "Our commitment to offshore wind will continue," he said. Iberdrola is currently bidding for new offshore wind farm auctions in Britain and the U.S., the chairman said. "We have recently been awarded a new project in Japan and an offshore site for future construction in Australia," said Sanchez Galan, adding there was an "excellent outlook" for the technology. ($1 = 0.9224 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/spains-iberdrola-keep-investing-offshore-wind-2024-05-17/