Energy

Bloomberg Reliance Industries Ltd, India’s most valuable company led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, reported a 15% decline in profit for the quarter through September, as the coronavirus pandemic gutted demand for transportation fuels. Net income fell to 95.7 billion rupees ($1.28 billion) from 112.6 billion rupees a year earlier, the Mumbai-based company said in an exchange filing. That compares with …

Bloomberg Spanish shipbuilder Navantia is stepping up its bet on offshore wind energy, a venture that stands to benefit from the European Union’s fiscal response to the pandemic. The landmark 750 billion-euro ($890 billion) pandemic-recovery aid will encourage Spain to invest more in clean energy. That could galvanise the company’s recent pivot into sea-based power projects, said Managing Director Javier …

Bloomberg Total SE and its partners made a second gas-condensate find off the southern coast of South Africa, a country that imports most of its oil. The “significant” discovery of gas condensate — a light liquid hydrocarbon — comes after Total said last year it had opened up a new “world-class” oil and gas province off South Africa. The drilling …

Bloomberg Wind and solar power have become even cheaper compared to fossil fuels in the past year, making them an attractive way to stimulate economies recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Lazard Ltd. Without subsidies, the cost of energy from onshore wind has fallen to as low as $26 a megawatt-hour while utility-scale solar is as cheap as $29, …

Bloomberg Total SE is considering natural-gas investments in Iraq, according to the Middle Eastern nation’s government. The two sides held talks about projects in western Iraq and near the southern energy hub of Basra, the Iraqi oil ministry said in a statement. They hope to reach an agreement soon, the statement said, citing Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar. Jabbar met …

Bloomberg South Africa’s biggest cities are preparing to source their own power after the energy ministry this month approved letting them wean themselves off the state utility that’s subjected cities to outages for the past 13 years. Johannesburg and Cape Town, which have a combined population of about 10 million people, plan to diversify away from the electricity produced mainly …

Bloomberg Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, South Africa’s indebted power utility, started a billion-dollar round of investments in Africa’s oldest and only nuclear power plant before getting permission from safety regulators that the reactor’s lifetime can be extended. The decision to begin installing new steam generators at the Koeberg plant near Cape Town underscores state-owned Eskom’s confidence that it will win …

Bloomberg The desolate red sands of the Pilbara region in western Australia, home to most of the iron ore mines that account for a major chunk of the nation’s export income, may one day house an ambitious hydrogen export hub. The Asian Renewable Energy Hub, which would use electricity from wind and solar plants stretched across thousands of miles to …

Bloomberg A unit of Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) sued the US to recover more than $640 million in excise taxes it says it overpaid on environmentally friendly fuels. PDV Holding Inc, the subsidiary of Venezuela’s national oil company, claims it improperly calculated tax credits and overpaid from 2005 to 2011. The company, which filed the lawsuit in federal court …

Bloomberg Cenovus Energy Inc agreed to buy Husky Energy Inc in an all-stock deal valuing Husky at about C$3.8 billion ($2.9 billion), creating Canada’s third-largest oil and natural gas producer. The deal promises to combine two of the largest players in Canada’s oil sands at a time that valuations have crumbled in the sector. Even before this year’s oil-price slump, …