Energy

Bloomberg China’s state-owned oil refining giants are in discussions to form a purchasing group to buy crude together, increasing their bargaining power and avoiding bidding wars. Senior executives from China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, PetroChina Co, Cnooc Ltd and Sinochem Group Co are in advanced talks to iron out details of the plan, said people familiar with the initiative, who …

Bloomberg BP Plc agreed to sell its chemicals business to Ineos Group Holdings SA, taking a big step in its transition away from being a traditional oil company, while also raising vital funds. The announcement comes just months after new Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney set the London-based energy giant on course to eliminate its carbon emissions by 2050, a …

Bloomberg Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) approved a plan to participate in an Indonesian coal power project despite mounting global pressure to move away from the most-polluting fossil fuel. The board of directors on Tuesday cleared the $51 million purchase of a 15% stake in the joint-venture developing the Jawa 9 & 10 project, according to a company spokesman. The …

Bloomberg Sasol Ltd expects binding bids within weeks for its stake in a natural gas pipeline running from Mozambique to South Africa, as the company accelerates asset sales to pay off debt, according to people familiar with the process. The bidding round underway for the Rompco 865-kilometre (537-mile) gas pipeline stake concludes in late July, according to two of the …

Bloomberg India, the third-biggest oil consumer, expects fuel demand to return to normal earlier than projections by the International Energy Agency and OPEC. “If you look at the trend of the past few weeks, I’m confident that by the end of second quarter, demand will be as usual,” India’s oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at the BloombergNEF Summit, referring to …

Bloomberg Electricite de France (EDF) faces a possible $11 million fine after being accused by French regulators of providing false information on the Hinkley Point C nuclear project and lacking transparency concerning new circumstances that ramped up its cost. In October 2014, EDF announced it would build the UK’s first nuclear reactors since 1995 after reaching a deal with the …

Bloomberg A collective of more than 200 farmers in a rural part of the Netherlands got financing to build one of the largest onshore wind farms in the country. Windpark Zeewolde BV secured 500 million euros ($561 million) of debt from Rabobank to construct the 322-megawatt wind farm about 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of Amsterdam. The group plans to …

Bloomberg US President Donald Trump’s government has put pressure on Japan’s Hitachi Ltd not to sell a nuclear-power project in the UK to China, The Sunday Times reported, without saying where it got the information. Hitachi is weighing options for the Horizon nuclear project in Anglesey, according to the report. The company said in January 2019 that it would halt …

Bloomberg In the north of England about 450 engineers are toiling away to build a new large gas plant. It could be one of Britain’s last. SSE’s 840-megawatt Keadby plant is the latest gas plant under construction in the UK. At the start of June a gas turbine weighing as much as an Airbus A-380 arrived on-site from Germany, keeping …

Bloomberg Nigeria’s powerful state oil company, whose finances and operations have been shrouded in secrecy for decades, is opening itself up to greater public scrutiny. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) published its 2018 annual report, which contained an audited account of all its 20 units for the first time in its 43-year history. The 2019 figures are set to …