Regional News

Bloomberg Mexico plans to start awarding the construction of its seventh refinery as soon as March 2019, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at an event at the Dos Bocas port, in Tabasco, even as the nation´s refining system is operating at its lowest levels in three decades. Unveiling a plan for the nation’s refining system, Lopez Obrador said Mexico …

Bloomberg China has gone all out to avoid a repeat of last winter’s crippling gas shortages. The early verdict: so far, so good. China’s gas needs peak for its so-called winter heating season. It’s a time of surging demand and firmer prices as the nation seeks to curb its reliance on dirty coal. The difference so far this year — …

Bloomberg The activists who rankled Royal Dutch Shell Plc by filing climate-change resolutions for three straight years now are targeting other oil majors. A Dutch group that accumulates shares in oil companies in order to press them over greenhouse gas emissions, has filed another resolution against Shell for 2019. It also filed its first resolution against BP Plc and may …

Bloomberg Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp and BP Plc are being pressed by investors with $1.9 trillion in assets under management to resist the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back Obama-era methane rules. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility sent a letter to 30 oil and natural gas explorers on behalf of 61 investors urging the companies to publicly declare …

Bloomberg Bloated by debt, bled by corruption and battered by structurally declining sales, South African power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd is facing what’s known in the industry as a “death spiral.” And the Johannesburg-based company poses the biggest credit risk to Africa’s most industrialised nation, according to S&P Global Ratings. More than a decade of unreliable supply and surging …

Bloomberg China’s dramatic increase in liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports ov-er past two years may have hogged the headlines, but India may well emulate its neighbour in switching to the cleanest, fastest-growing fossil fuel. As China’s shift to natural gas from dirtier burning fuels such as coal and fuel oil helps improve air quality, Indian cities are rising in pollution …

Bloomberg The pipeline shortage that has been strangling the Canadian oil industry is weighing on spending plans for next year, with one major producer slashing its capital budget for 2019 by C$1 billion ($750 million). Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, citing a lack of shipping options, said that it’s targeting a base capital plan of C$3.7 billion for next year, about …

Bloomberg Xcel Energy Inc Chief Executive Officer Ben Fowke said keeping nuclear power plants open is key for the utility to meet its goal to slash greenhouse gases. The company, which pledged to cut carbon dioxide emissions 80 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050, operates two reactors in Minnesota that will become increasingly vital as wind and solar …

Bloomberg Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd, the cash-strapped South African power utility, wants the government to take on about 100 billion rand ($7.2 billion) of its debt as part of a rescue plan that will enable it to continue operating. The company’s executives outlined the proposal to move the debt onto the government’s balance sheet to bond investors in London this …

Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is bowing to industry pressure to boost Germany’s offshore wind capacity, already among the biggest in Europe. The government will assess how to boost offshore capacity to 20 gigawatts by 2030 from a planned 15 gigawatts, according to details in an energy law passed by the parliament. The administration in Berlin has steadfastly blocked pressure …