Energy

Bloomberg Global efforts to reduce wasted energy have faced a major setback in 2020, sidelining a relatively simple way of slashing emissions and hitting climate goals. That’s the conclusion from an International Energy Agency report, which recorded the weakest improvement in efficiency since 2010, as investments into technologies that can cut emissions have slowed amid the economic turmoil brought on …

Bloomberg LG Chem Ltd is voluntarily recalling some models of its home energy storage batteries in the US over concerns they could overheat and start fires. The South Korean industrial giant is working with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission on the recall after the company received reports of five fires with its battery systems that caused limited property damage …

Bloomberg Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, South Africa’s biggest polluter, said it will be charged with supplying misleading information to a government air quality officer, exceeding emission limits at the Kendal coal-fired power plant and breaching its Atmospheric Emission License. The 4,116-megawatt facility had its pollution abatement equipment damaged during a 2018 strike and has since been the subject of a …

Bloomberg National Grid Plc is starting a hydrogen research facility to test how Britain’s gas transmission network can be used to transport hydrogen to heat homes or applied to industry. The 12.7 million-pound ($17 million) project will receive almost three quarters of its funding from Ofgem as part of the energy regulator’s Network Innovation Competition, announced on Monday, with the …

Bloomberg China’s third-biggest oil company faces a US blacklist, which could spur major outflows from its Hong Kong-listed unit, after years of involvement in offshore drilling in disputed South China Sea waters. China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), the nation’s main deepwater explorer, is among four companies to be added to a list of firms owned or controlled by the …

Bloomberg Construction work on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea will resume this week, despite US sanctions designed to end the pipeline that will bring Russian gas to Germany. Pipelaying on the 9.5 billion-euro ($11.2 billion) link will restart on December 5 after being halted for a year because of the sanctions, Nord Stream 2 company …

Bloomberg Repsol SA will reduce its dividend next year after outlining plans to wind down the search for oil and expand its renewable capacity fivefold during the next decade. The Spanish company, which was the first oil major to set a net-zero emissions target a year ago, will put its projects into “harvest mode” as it refocuses on higher-value oil …

Bloomberg Nigeria’s efforts to revamp its aging refineries may be bogged down due to a lack of resources, but Africa’s top oil producer is moving ahead with mini-plants in an effort to help end its dependency on fuel imports. The country’s first modular refinery, built by independent producer Waltersmith Petroman Oil Ltd, began operations in the southeastern Imo state earlier …

Bloomberg Tokyo Gas Co plans to develop one of Japan’s largest offshore wind projects as the nation looks to a major expansion of the technology to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The 600-megawatt facility — about 30 times larger than the nation’s existing capacity — is planned to be built off the coast of Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, if …

Bloomberg China may delay the launch of its national carbon market for power companies to the first half of 2021, according to a researcher who helped the government design the emissions trading system. Actual trading of emission allowances will likely begin next year, Zhang Xiliang, director of Tsinghua University’s Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, said at the International Finance …