Bloomberg Wind turbine makers are finding it increasingly difficult to get parts they need to build their machines, snarling progress on a global shift toward renewables at precisely the time scientists say it needs to speed up. Manufacturers including Vestas Wind Systems A/S and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA are wrestling with their own factory shutdowns and disruptions to suppliers ...
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Texas oil at $2 a barrel raises specter of negative prices
Bloomberg Crude prices in America’s oil capital are getting dangerously close to zero. Buyers bidding for crude in Texas, the birthplace of the shale revolution, are offering as little as $2 a barrel for some oil streams, a precipitous markdown from a month ago. The slumping value of physical barrels is raising the possibility that Texas producers may soon have ...
Read More »Montana judge blocks Keystone XL permit for river crossings
Bloomberg TC Energy Corp’s Keystone XL oil-sands pipeline was a dealt a setback with a judge’s ruling that the US Army Corps of Engineers improperly approved a streamlined permit process without fully evaluating the impact on endangered species. In a legal challenge brought by environmental groups, a federal judge in Montana ordered the agency to conduct further review and barred ...
Read More »Chinese oil refiners snapping up bargains
Bloomberg Chinese refiners are snapping up low-price oil from all over the world as Asia’s largest economy emerges from a virus-driven slump. Varieties such as Alaska North Slope, Canada’s Cold Lake and Brazil’s Lula have been offered at steep discounts to global benchmark prices as sellers scrambled to secure buyers. Processors in China — where throughput is back to pre-virus ...
Read More »Austria commits to renewable energy
Bloomberg Austria became the second European country to eliminate coal power from its electricity grid and said it’s looking towards renewable energy to fuel future economic growth. Verbund AG closed its Mellach coal-fired district heating plant about 200 kilometres (124 miles) south of Vienna, the state-controlled utility said. Austria’s Environment and Infrastructure Ministry said eliminating coal will strengthen the country’s ...
Read More »Top LNG buyers seek cargo delays as virus cuts demand
Bloomberg The world’s top buyers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are seeking to defer shipments as the coronavirus pandemic cripples demand and forces more of the heating and power fuel into storage that is nearing capacity. The move signals that efforts to contain the spread of the virus may impact energy consumption far into this year and possibly 2021, worsening ...
Read More »Italy’s Enel seeks 50% financial partner for Africa renewable unit
Bloomberg Enel SpA is looking for a financial partner to buy as much as 50% of its African renewable business as the Italian energy giant looks to extend wind and solar power projects across the continent. The search for a company to form a joint venture started before the coronavirus outbreak stalled the regional economy and will continue regardless, a ...
Read More »US crude glut turns Canadian pipeline problem on its head
Bloomberg The worldwide coronavirus pandemic that’s caused oil demand to plummet has turned the Canadian oil patch’s biggest problem on its head. Rather than having too few oil pipelines, the province now has too many. The collapse in oil demand caused by people staying home has reduced US demand for Canadian crude, leaving pipelines struggling to stay full. After more ...
Read More »Tycoon sees Oklahoma adopting oil-output limits
Bloomberg Continental Resources Inc founder Harold Hamm told Texas oil regulators he expects neighbouring Oklahoma to adopt crude-production limits in a bid to bolster energy prices. Hamm’s comments came during a marathon hearing of the Texas Railroad Commission on whether to enact quotas amid the worst crude-market crash on record. Oklahoma, the fourth-largest US oil-producing state, plans to consider imposing ...
Read More »Shale explorers clash over oil-supply cut to survive rout
Bloomberg One of the biggest Texas shale explorers warned it will halt all drilling if the state imposes Opec-style production caps, raising the stakes in a debate over a contentious proposal to arrest free-falling oil prices. The stark pronouncement from Diamondback Energy Inc’s finance chief stunned observers of the virtual hearing by the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees oil output ...
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