2024-05-14 21:16

May 14 (Reuters) - The Canada Energy Regulator (CER) on Tuesday said it had issued an order to TC Energy's (TRP.TO) New Tab, opens new tab NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd (NGTL) to further reduce the operating pressure for the Grande Prairie Mainline gas pipeline near Edson, Alberta. A section of the NGTL gas pipeline system in Alberta was ruptured and caught fire on April 16, sparking a wildfire in a remote area of Yellowhead County. Last month, TC Energy said its NGTL gas pipeline system has resumed normal operations. The cause of the rupture was under investigation. The pressure reduction will be in place until NGTL demonstrates the Grande Prairie Mainline pipeline is safe to operate at a pressure above the restricted operating pressure outlined in the inspection officer order, the CER said. "Currently we do not have any service restrictions on the NGTL System and we do not anticipate any service interruption to natural gas delivery," TC Energy said in a statement. The NGTL is TC Energy's natural gas gathering and transportation system, which transports gas produced in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) to markets in Canada and United States. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadas-energy-regulator-orders-reduction-pressure-tc-energys-ngtl-pipeline-2024-05-14/

2024-05-14 20:48

May 14 (Reuters) - Retail investor darlings GameStop (GME.N) New Tab, opens new tab and AMC (AMC.N) New Tab, opens new tab soared on Tuesday, as posts from "Roaring Kitty" Keith Gill raised chatter about the return of the central figure behind the 2021 meme stock frenzy. Shares of both U.S. video game retailer GameStop and those of the world's largest theater chain AMC more than doubled during the trading session. GameStop shares rose to the highest since June 2021, closing up 60% at $48.75. AMC shares notched the biggest gain since January 2021, finishing up nearly 32% at $6.85. The rally began on Monday after Gill shared a meme and more than 10 clips from movies, including "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "The Avengers" and the 1993 Western "Tombstone." While the posts did not mention company names, GameStop and AMC were the most traded stocks by retail investors on Monday and Tuesday as of 10:30 a.m. ET (1430 GMT), J.P.Morgan data showed. Gill, whose posts marked a return to social media platform X after nearly three years, is credited with sparking the so-called Reddit rally in January 2021 with bullish calls on GameStop. "The fact that Roaring Kitty is back should be totally meaningless to the stock market (but) the fact that it isn't is fascinating," said Matthew Tuttle, CEO of Tuttle Capital Management. GameStop's shares have nearly tripled in value since Friday's close, its market capitalization jumping to about $18 billion. On Tuesday, short sellers lost $1.6 billion on paper, taking combined losses since Monday to $2.4 billion, analytics firm Ortex Technologies said. "Today's losses will put a lot of short sellers on tilt and squeeze them out of their positions with their buy-to-covers pushing GME's stock price even higher," said Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics at S3 Partners. Meanwhile, AMC completed a $250 million "at-the-market" share sale program on Monday as its stock surged 78% to $5.19, more than double its record low hit in mid-April. The frenzy spread to micro-cap shares such as Headphones maker Koss, (KOSS.O) New Tab, opens new tab which jumped 40%. U.S.-listed shares of BlackBerry rose 12%, and food storage container company Tupperware (TUP.N) New Tab, opens new tab gained 17%. Reddit (RDDT.N) New Tab, opens new tab added 7%. Retail investors used the social media firm in 2021 to coordinate and target highly shorted stocks as Main Street battled Wall Street. Retail investor-focused brokerage Robinhood (HOOD.O) New Tab, opens new tab, which made zero-commission trades mainstream, gained nearly 7%. "This is ridiculous but all a part of free markets," said Andrew Left at Citron Research, a former GameStop short seller. RETAIL FRENZY IN NEW ECONOMY Unlike 2021, speculative trades are not likely to last long in the current economic condition, said some analysts, noting interest rates are much higher than in the era of cheap money. "This meme rally maybe rhymes with 2021 but is unlikely a repeat," said Ben Laidler, global markets strategist at digital brokerage eToro. About 600,000 GameStop options contracts changed hands on Monday, compared to volumes of one million to two million contracts in early 2021, said Brent Kochuba, founder of options analytic service SpotGamma. However, the implied volatility of GameStop options, a measure of investor expectations for price swings in the shares, jumped in the previous session to levels that rivaled 2021. "This suggests that the reaction of market makers (increasing options prices) to a potential repeat of GameStop mania was very fast," he said. Institutional investors are now better equipped to handle the situation, market participants said, after the surprise collective force of individual investors cost hedge funds billions in losses three years ago. In the past five sessions, the average retail traders' share of total GameStop turnover was around 7% and about 10% for AMC, said Marco Iachini, senior vice president at Vanda Research. He said that indicates large numbers of institutional investors were participating along with retail investors. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/gamestop-amc-surge-evokes-2021-meme-stocks-saga-2024-05-14/

2024-05-14 20:44

HOUSTON, May 14 (Reuters) - U.S. federal regulators said on Tuesday they are satisfied that Venture Global LNG is trying to correct faults at the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) at its Calcasieu Pass LNG export plant in Louisiana and expects the work to be completed in the timeline promised by the exporter. Venture Global, the fourth-largest U.S. LNG exporter, has been at the center of a dispute with several of the world's largest energy companies including Shell PLC (SHEL.L) New Tab, opens new tab, BP PLC (BP.L) New Tab, opens new tab, Repsol S.A. (REP.MC) New Tab, opens new tab, Galp Energia (GALP.LS) New Tab, opens new tab, Edison SpA (EDNn.MI) New Tab, opens new tab and Orlen SA (PKN.WA) New Tab, opens new tab for failing to deliver their cargoes, two years after it first started producing liquefied natural gas (LNG). The majors have taken Venture Global to arbitration and have even asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to deny the LNG exporter's request to extend the commissioning period to 2025 or alternatively allow the majors access to confidential information on the commissioning so they can judge if Venture Global has been prolonging the process for its own financial gain. The company has said the HRSGs at Calcasieu were part of the problem that has delayed commercial operation of the plant. FERC staff said in their latest report that Venture Global's team was approaching the diagnosis and remediation of the equipment performance in a careful and technically sound manner. Venture Global is working with the equipment vendor and other industry experts to find a permanent solution to resolve the equipment performance, the site inspection report stated. FERC did not say in its report what was the timeline given to it by Venture Global for the problems to be fixed. The report offers further proof that Venture Global is hiding behind non-critical repairs to avoid honoring contracts owed to foundational partners, Shell spokesperson Curtis Smith said. "The performance of their in-service equipment has been more than adequate to load nearly 300 LNG cargoes, already, and more every week," Smith added. Venture Global did not comment on the report. The Louisiana-based LNG exporter has said that the plant's power system was unreliable and it is not prolonging the commissioning process but rather acting responsibly to get the plant completed. It has said it cannot deliver long-term contracted cargoes unless the plant is complete. FERC has not yet ruled on the application of the majors to deny the extension request or make the confidential documents available to them. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/federal-regulators-sign-off-venture-globals-repairs-louisiana-plant-2024-05-14/

2024-05-14 20:41

May 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld a rule from President Joe Biden's administration that set the amount of biofuels that oil refiners were required to blend into the nation's fuel mix from 2020 through 2022, rejecting a challenge by oil refiners to the mandates. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which administers the obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), lawfully exercised its discretion in setting the requirements for the three years at issue. Under the RFS, oil refiners must blend billions of gallons of biofuels into the U.S. fuel pool or buy credits from those that do. The credits, known as RINs, are used by oil refiners and importers to show compliance with mandates. In the past, small refiners could receive an exemption from the requirements if they proved financial harm from the mandates. In 2022, the EPA set biofuel blending mandates New Tab, opens new tab for that year at 20.63 billion gallons, as well as retroactive volume mandates for 2021 at 18.84 billion gallons and for 2020 at 17.13 billion gallons. The agency denied oil refiners waivers to be exempt from the requirements but said it would allow extra time for small refiners to meet their 2020 blending obligations. Oil refiners challenged the rule, arguing that the standards were too high. Meanwhile, producers of so-called cellulosic biofuels, derived from wood waste and other feedstocks, also challenged the rule, saying the standards for cellulosic biofuels were too low. "We hold that EPA complied with the law," the court said in a ruling filed on Tuesday. Biofuel groups cheered the decision. "Thanks to the D.C. Circuit opinion, EPA can ensure the integrity of its annual (Renewable Volume Obligation) and address shifts in market conditions and how refiners meet their blending obligations," Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor said in a statement. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-appeals-court-upholds-biofuel-blending-mandates-2020-2022-2024-05-14/

2024-05-14 20:39

May 14 (Reuters) - A Native American group said on Tuesday it will take its fight against Rio Tinto’s (RIO.L) New Tab, opens new tab(RIO.AX) New Tab, opens new tab proposed Arizona copper mine to the U.S. Supreme Court, after a federal appeals court refused to reconsider whether the U.S. government may have improperly transferred land to the developer. The group said they would ask the high court to weigh in after the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a longshot bid to have the full 29-judge court reconsider earlier decisions not to block a land grant for the project. The court did not provide an explanation for its decision. The Resolution Copper project, a partnership between Rio and BHP (BHP.AX) New Tab, opens new tab, would supply more than a quarter of U.S. copper, which is needed to build electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels. Those are key to federal plans to combat climate change. Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group comprised of San Carlos Apache tribe members and others, claim the land swap in a federal forest northeast of Phoenix violates religious protection law because it would destroy a site where indigenous ceremonies have been held for generations. Luke Goodrich, an attorney for Apache Stronghold, said the Supreme Court has taken 25 religious liberty cases since 2011, and ruled in favor of religious liberty arguments in 24 of those. “Blasting the central sacred site of Western Apaches to oblivion is a great violation of religious liberty,” he said. A spokesperson for Resolution Copper said the mine plan was developed in collaboration with various levels of government, Native American communities and others. The spokesperson said they will continue engaging with those groups going forward. The U.S. government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The 2,422-acre (980-hectare) plot of land in question was authorized to be transferred in 2014 by Congress as part of a defense bill, in exchange for 5,459 acres of private land elsewhere in Arizona. An Arizona district court refused to preliminarily block the land swap in 2021, and the 9th Circuit had twice affirmed that decision before denying the latest request on Tuesday. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/land-use-biodiversity/indigenous-group-take-fight-against-arizona-copper-mine-supreme-court-2024-05-14/

2024-05-14 20:38

May 14 (Reuters) - Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed a bill aimed at reevaluating and potentially revising existing offshore wind project plans, setting the stage for the state's goal of achieving 8,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2031. The bill signed on May 9 will empower the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) to open proceedings to evaluate offshore wind projects, including offshore wind renewable energy credit (OREC) pricing. The bill, which facilitates the increase of the maximum amount of ORECs sold under certain conditions, will be effective from June 1 when the PSC will open a revised round 2 offshore wind project proceeding. The bill will allow the state to reallocate the support awarded to Orsted’s Skipjack project, from whose power purchase agreement the developer withdrew, to other eligible offshore wind projects, OffshoreWIND.biz, an online media platform wrote on Monday. Denmark's Orsted, the world's biggest offshore wind firm, said in late January it was exiting a deal to supply offshore wind power to Maryland from Skipjack because the previously agreed contract was no longer commercially viable. The legislation also mandates the PSC to report on a comprehensive plan for the state's offshore wind procurements through 2031. This plan will lay out a path for future offshore wind energy projects. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/maryland-sets-course-offshore-wind-energy-expansion-with-new-legislation-2024-05-14/