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☆ IAEA says a dozen countries to be equipped with nuclear power
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, speaks at a news briefing in Okuma, northeastern Japan, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. Hiro Komae/Pool via REUTERS Acquire Licensing RightsPARIS, Nov 28 (Reuters) - A dozen countries are expected to start producing electricity from nuclear power sources within the next few years, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi said on Tuesday. "We already have 10 countries which have entered the decision phase (to build nuclear power plants) and 17 others which are in the evaluation process," he said. "There will be a dozen or 13 (new) nuclear countries within a few years," he added. Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Namibia, the Philippines, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were cited by Grossi as potential new nuclear countries.

Persons: Rafael Mariano Grossi, Hiro Komae, Grossi, Benjamin Mallet, Forrest Crellin, Bernadette Baum Organizations: International Atomic Energy Agency, REUTERS Acquire, Rights, International Atomic Energy Association, Thomson Locations: Okuma, Japan, Paris, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Namibia, Philippines, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan

France's minister of state for development Chrysoula Zacharopoulou told the Indian government about the plan, called the "New Coal Exclusion Policy", for private financial institutions and insurance companies, two Indian officials said. The plan to stop private financing for coal-fired power plants has not been previously reported. They are concerned private international financing continues to support large additions to coal capacity in developing nations, according to the plan shared by France with India. "And countries need to stop digging a deeper hole by building new unabated coal power plants, because unfortunately, there's still some 500 gigawatts of new coal-fired power plants in the pipeline globally, and the IPCC and the International Energy Agency have both been quite clear that that needed to stop already." Member countries are divided on emissions abatement technologies that are yet to evolve to commercial scale for use in developing countries, one of the Indian officials said.

Persons: Rula, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Zacharopoulou, Emmanuel Macron, Rick Duke, Duke, there's, Sarita Chaganti Singh, Valerie Volcovici, Kate Abnett, Benjamin Mallet, Sonali Paul Organizations: Abu Dhabi Sustainability, REUTERS, OECD, French, Organisation for Economic Co, Development, U.S, International Energy Agency, Thomson Locations: UAE, Abu Dhabi, DELHI, BRUSSELS, WASHINGTON, France, United States, India, Europe, Dubai, China, New Delhi, U.S, Union, Canada, COP28, Washington, Brussels, Paris

[1/4] A view of the turbines at an offshore wind farm near Nysted, Denmark, September 4, 2023. Time is short: The EU has a legally binding goal to nearly double renewable sources as a share of total energy by 2030, to 42.5%, requiring a rapid expansion of offshore wind. But of the governments surveyed, only Britain and Poland said they had invested or budgeted for steps to improve the security of offshore infrastructure. It requires a lot of effort from the government side," said Mattia Cecchinato, senior adviser for offshore wind at WindEurope. It said it would establish a permanent coast guard base close to where offshore wind farms are planned.

Persons: Tom Little, Thomas Almegaard, Vladimir Putin, Mads Nipper, Orsted, Ewa Skoog Haslum, James Appathurai, Germany's RWE, Anitta, Mattia Cecchinato, Rasmus, Krzysztof Jaworski, Orsted's Errboe, Benjamin Mallet, Riham, Elizabeth Piper, Toby Sterling, Andrius Sytas, Marek Strzelecki, Sara Ledwith Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Baltic Seas, EU, NATO, NewNew, Sweden's, Soaring, Emerging, Research, Solutions, Internal, Fund, Military, Naval Operations Centre, Polish Navy, Thomson Locations: Nysted, Denmark, Europe, Baltic, Nord, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Russian, Russia, NewNew Shipping, Netherlands, Britain, Poland, Germany, North, Swedish, Copenhagen, Moscow, Sofia, European, Anitta Hipper, Belgium, Norway, France, Lithuania, Latvia, Baltic . Poland, Paris, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Vilnius, Warsaw

☆ Technip Energies shares plunge after Le Monde report on Russian gas project
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Oct 19 (Reuters) - Technip Energies (TE.PA) shares plummeted on Thursday after French newspaper Le Monde said the oil and gas company may have failed to comply with European Union sanctions against Russia by continuing to supply equipment to a Russian gas project. Technip Energies said in a statement after its shares fell as much as 22% that it had always respected international sanctions and its contractual obligations regarding the Arctic LNG2 project in Russia. "Technip Energies has worked with the relevant authorities and has complied with sanctions gradually imposed by the European Union, the United States and Britain," it said. The equipment delivered by Technip involved two modules for the construction of a liquefaction train worth around 450 million euros, Le Monde said, citing Russian customs records, maritime data and satellite images. "$800 million of market cap came off, it's a very harsh response, and suggests the news scared investors out there," said the analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, referring to the Le Monde story.

Persons: Le Monde, Monde, Technip, China's CNPC, Piotr Lipinski, Nathan Vifflin, Benjamin Mallet, Silvia Aloisi, David Evans Organizations: Union, Russia, European Union, Le, Japan, Mitsui & Co, Thomson Locations: Russian, Russia, United States, Britain, Paris, EU, Ukraine, Gdansk

Cutouts depicting images of oil operations are seen outside a building of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA in Caracas, Venezuela January 28, 2019. Separate talks between Maduro's envoys and the Venezuelan opposition are expected to follow in Mexico in the coming weeks, according to sources. Washington has been trying to encourage negotiations between Maduro and the political opposition over elections in Venezuela and other demands. The proposal included reframing oil sanctions on Venezuela by amending existing U.S. executive orders or issuing new ones so buyers in Europe and other regions could resume imports of Venezuelan oil in a structured, organized way. Chevron (CVX.N) has been allowed to expand operations in Venezuela and export its oil to the U.S. since November.

Persons: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Nicolas Maduro, Maurel, PDVSA, Vivian Sequera, Mayela, Andrew Mills, Marianna Parraga, Matt Spetalnick, Benjamin Mallet, Marguerita Choy Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, U.S, U.S . State Department, White, Doha, Chevron, Eni, Mayela Armas, Thomson Locations: Caracas, Venezuela, Rights CARACAS, DOHA, HOUSTON, Mexico, Washington, Doha, Venezuelan, Maduro, U.S, Qatar, Iran, American, Europe, Houston, Diego Ore, Mexico City, Paris

☆ What Macron means when he says he wants to 'take back control' of French power prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

PARIS, Oct 4 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said last week his government would "take back control" of electricity prices by the end of the year, without spelling out what steps he would take. "There is a point that is key for our competitiveness, and we will announce it in October, and that is to take back control of electricity prices," Macron said. "We'll be able to announce in October electricity prices that are in line with our competitiveness," he said, adding this would apply to households and businesses. However, French officials say Germany is undermining a traditional French strength due to fears cheap nuclear electricity could provide French businesses with a competitive advantage over German companies. Under the current system, called marginal pricing, European electricity prices are linked to the most expensive power producing asset.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Macron, We'll, Bruno Le Maire, Michel Rose, Elizabeth Pineau, Benjamin Mallet, Leigh Thomas, Forrest Crellin, Kate Abnett, Julia Payne, Mark Potter Organizations: Union, EDF, EU, European Commission, French Finance, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Paris, France, Brussels, Germany, Russia, Europe, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Austria, Spain

☆ TotalEnergies says will pay more to shareholders as oil, gas output rises
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The logo of French oil and gas company TotalEnergies is seen at the company's headquarters skyscraper in the financial and business district of La Defense, near Paris, France September 14, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsPARIS, Sept 27 (Reuters) - French energy goup TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) said on Wednesday that it would increase returns to shareholders and planned to raise its oil and gas production by 2 to 3% per year over the next five years. The group said at an investor day that it expects to distribute about 44% of its cash flow to shareholders in 2023 and set a target of more than 40% beyond 2023. TotalEnergies also announced positive results at an exploration well in Namibia, to be confirmed by another flow test, and said further appraisal wells and prospects would be drilled. Analysts had said they were particularly keen to hear more about the French energy group's recent exploration activity offshore Namibia - which has no oil and gas output now but could become one of the top 15 oil producers by 2035.

Persons: Gonzalo Fuentes, TotalEnergies, Benjamin Mallet, Forrest Crellin, Sudip Kar, Gupta, Ingrid Melander, Emelia Sithole Organizations: La Defense, REUTERS, Rights, Thomson Locations: La, Paris, France, Namibia

☆ EDF swings back to profit in H1 thanks to price increases
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Net income came in at 5.8 billion euros ($6.44 billion), compared to a loss of 5.3 billion in the first half of 2022. The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached 16.1 billion euros, from 2.7 billion euros a year earlier. Net debt rose slightly to 64.8 billion euros, from 64.5 billion euros at the end of 2022. The French state became the sole shareholder of the public utility after taking full control at the beginning of June. A government decision in 2022 to limit electricity price increases, as well as reduced power supply due to stress corrosion problems at several EDF reactors led to a record net loss of 18 billion euros in 2022.

Persons: Forrest Crellin, Benjamin Mallet, Silvia Aloisi Organizations: Electricite de, SA, PARIS, EDF, Thomson

☆ France to raise regulated household electricity prices by 10% from August
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, July 18 (Reuters) - The French government has decided to raise regulated household electricity prices by 10% starting from August, a government official said on Tuesday, confirming a report from newspaper Les Echos. The 10% increase is much lower than the one proposed by the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), which - based on current market prices - recommended an increase of 74.5%. In May, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said France's cap on electricity prices would be phased out and end at the end of next year. European electricity prices soared last year, mainly driven by the fallout from the war in Ukraine. France also saw record-low nuclear output as state-owned utility EDF (EDF.PA) repairs reactors affected by stress corrosion.

Persons: Les, ”, Bruno Le Maire, France's, Benjamin Mallet, Tassilo Hummel, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Jason Neely Organizations: French Energy Regulatory Commission, Finance, EDF, Thomson Locations: Europe, Ukraine, France

☆ TotalEnergies boss: 2024 U.S. election could cause energy shock
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanne speaks during the Energy Asia conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia June 26, 2023. REUTERS/Hasnoor Hussain/File PhotoCompanies TotalEnergies SE FollowPARIS, July 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. presidential election could trigger a major energy shock if Republicans were to win and decide to halt hydrocarbon exports, Patrick Pouyanné, the chief executive of French oil major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), said on Saturday. "The only thing that could happen, which is a major systemic risk, is that the Republicans decide to stop exporting ... At least 11 Republican candidates have announced that they will try to win their party's nomination to take on Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 2024 election. Pouyanné also said he expected a "sustainably high" oil barrel price due to the global shift towards cleaner sources of energy and the decrease in oil investments.

Persons: TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanne, Hasnoor Hussain, Patrick Pouyanné, Pouyanne, Joe Biden, Biden, Pouyanné, Benjamin Mallet, Tassilo Hummel, Alison Williams Organizations: Energy Asia, REUTERS, U.S, Republican, Democratic, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Thomson Locations: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, PARIS, Ukraine

☆ Exclusive: EDF CEO tells managers nuclear business to be reorganised
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies Electricite de France SA FollowPARIS, June 29 (Reuters) - EDF CEO Luc Remont told managers on Thursday that the state-owned power group's nuclear activities would be reorganised to overcome recurring problems that cut production last year. Two sources said the division would be restructured and five executives charged with drawing up proposals, including nuclear park head Cedric Lewandowski, head of new nuclear projects Xavier Ursat and head of industrial quality Alain Tranzer. France is the region's largest exporter of power, but the outages cut 2022 nuclear power output to the lowest level since 1988. Remont told the group's top 300 managers that talks were still underway with the state and EU competition regulators about its existing and future nuclear activities, the source said. There's no need to wait for a final decision from the president's office," the source said after attending the meeting with managers.

Persons: Luc Remont, Cedric Lewandowski, Xavier Ursat, Alain Tranzer, Emmanuel Macron's, Remont, Elizabeth Pineau, Benjamin Mallet, Josephine Mason, Leigh Thomas, Jan Harvey Organizations: Electricite de, SA, PARIS, EDF, Reuters, French, Thomson Locations: France, EU, Paris, London

Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Ukraine ran its nuclear reactors on Russian fuel, producing 55% of the country's electricity. Cameco, like Energoatom, can adjust how much uranium it delivers on two years' notice, Kotin said. Contracted uranium prices are typically higher than spot prices, meaning that Cameco may take a discount if Ukraine purchases less uranium due to the war's impact, Carter said. Kotin said Energoatom will buy Cameco's uranium at a price based equally on a fixed price and a market price. BIG POTENTIAL REWARDSWhile Ukraine will rely on Cameco for uranium, it has struck separate deals for further processing.

☆ TotalEnergies sheds Canadian oil sands, promises to reward shareholders
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( America Hernandez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TotalEnergies said its first-quarter adjusted net income fell 27% to $6.5 billion - in line with analyst expectations - due to lower energy prices. It also confirmed it expected net investments of $16-18 billion this year, including $5 billion for low-carbon energies. After European refining capacity was hampered by French strikes in the first quarter, TotalEnergies anticipates its facilities will ramp back up above 80%. TotalEnergies' share price was down around 1% in early trade, in line with falls across the sector and relatively weak oil prices . Analysts said its results were positive, as was the sale of carbon intensive oil sands given investors' focus on lower carbon energy.

☆ France's Macron signs contested pension bill into law
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, April 15 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron has signed into law a bill to raise the state pension age that sparked mass protests, the government's official journal showed on Saturday. The proclamation of the law came after France's Constitutional Council on Friday approved the main pension-age increase and follows months of demonstrations against the plan, which the government forced through parliament without a final vote. Protesters gather in front of the Paris City Hall after the Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel) approved most of the French government's pension reform, in Paris, France, April 14, 2023. Francois Ruffin, a lawmaker from the left-wing LFI party, on Twitter accused the government of proclaiming the pension law "like thieves in the night". Opposition parties have tabled another bid for a citizens' referendum on the reform after the Constitutional Council on Friday rejected a first such proposal.

☆ Exclusive: EDF warns of 1 billion euro loss due to French strikes, reviews hiring - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Benjamin Mallet | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, April 13 (Reuters) - French utility EDF (EDF.PA) has warned drawn-out strikes at its nuclear reactors and hydro-electricity plants have cost it 1 billion euros ($1.10 billion) in lost output and that it is reviewing hiring plans for the year, three sources said. An EDF spokesperson told Reuters that a moratorium had been imposed on hirings. It comes as EDF's new chief executive draws up a plan to ramp up nuclear production and lighten the group's heavy debt load. The group had originally planned to hire between 3,000 and 3,500 people in 2023, mostly in nuclear production and sales, one of the sources said. The group's net debt rose to 64.5 billion euros in 2022, up from 43 billion a year earlier.

LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - A group of investors with $1.1 trillion in assets under management has joined climate activist group Follow This in asking TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) shareholders to push for more ambitious targets on emissions cuts. "These climate resolutions at Big Oil will show which investors are serious about resolving the climate crisis and which prefer to just talk about it." TotalEnergies has said its emissions will not register a big reduction by 2030 in absolute terms. In 2020, the last time TotalEnergies shareholders voted on a Follow This resolution, the activist received 17% of the votes. TotalEnergies' climate strategy was approved by about 90% of shareholder votes in 2021 and 2022.

Operations were normal at the company's Normandy site in the north, while the Feyzin refinery in the southeast was operating almost normally, the person added. A union official said earlier that the Normandy refinery would be stopped this weekend. At oil major ExxonMobil's (XOM.N) Esso-branded Port Jerome refinery in Normandy, workers have been called to strike from Saturday at 2 p.m. (1300 GMT), a CGT union official said. It was unclear whether Esso's Fos-sur-Mer refinery in the south would be similarly affected. Reporting by Benjamin Mallet, Forrest Crellin and America Hernandez; Editing by Jan Harvey and Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/11] Protesters take part in a demonstration against the French government's pension reform plan, as part of the eighth day of national strike and protests, in Ancenis-Saint-Gereon, France, March 15, 2023. The pension bill passed to a joint parliamentary committee on Wednesday where lawmakers from the lower and upper chambers are seeking a compromise text. If a deal is reached, a final vote in both the Senate and National Assembly will be held on Thursday. This new day of protests "is meant to tell lawmakers: don't vote this reform," he said. "In the National Assembly, there will not be an easy vote, nor will there be panic," government spokesman Olivier Veran told Europe 1 radio station.

On Tuesday, a nationwide day of industrial action brought record numbers of people onto the streets against the policy change. But Olivier Gantois, the head of the French Association of Petroleum Industry (UFIP), said there was little impact on consumers for now. The logo of French oil and gas company TotalEnergies is seen at TotalEnergies fuel depot in Mardyck, near Dunkerque, as France faces the sixth nationwide day of strike and protests against French government's pension reform plan, France, March 7, 2023. REUTERS/Pascal RossignolThe four French LNG terminals and all of the gas storage facilities also remained blocked, FNME-CGT representative Fabrice Coudour said. The next nationwide day of strikes and protests is set for Saturday.

PARIS, March 5 (Reuters) - Industrial action in France over the government's planned pensions overhaul will cause heavy disruption to public transport again on Tuesday, the transport minister and several public transport authorities said on Sunday. Some unions, such as the hardline CGT, called for a rolling strike at refineries and at the national railway operator SNCF. "We are moving up a gear," the head of CGT, Philippe Martinez, told French weekly JDD. It is up to him to withdraw this reform," he said, referring to President Emmanuel Macron. RATP, the public transport operator for the Ile-de-France region around Paris, also said metro lines and suburban trains will be heavily disrupted, with some metro lines only running at peak hours.

[1/5] The logo of Nord Stream AG is seen at an office building in the town of Vyborg, Leningrad Region, Russia August 22, 2022. Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, each consisting of two pipes, were built by Russia's state-controlled Gazprom to pump 110 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas a year to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Three of the pipes were ruptured by unexplained blasts in September, and one of the Nord Stream 2 pipes remains intact. Engie (ENGIE.PA), Gasunie (GSUNI.UL) and Wintershall DEA (WINT.UL) (BASFn.DE) - stakeholders in Nord Stream AG, the operator of Nord Stream 1 - declined to comment. The similar-sized Nord Stream 2 had been completed in September 2021 as tensions with Russia were growing and ran in trouble as Germany's regulators refused to certify it.

MADRID/PARIS/STOCKHOLM, March 2 (Reuters) - France and Spain are poised to announce a breakthrough this week in a long-running impasse over hefty costs of what would be their first undersea electricity link, a minister and sources in both countries told Reuters. That was due to unforeseen seabed instability on the French side that required costly re-routing, and rising costs of raw materials. Spain is a growing producer of renewable energy that it exports to France and it wants its neighbour to pay most of the extra costs. That had led to disagreement amid wider tensions between them about pipeline connections and protectionism. Spanish sources said the go-ahead would likely mean that France, whose nuclear power industry has been beset by problems, finally agreed to pay more.

☆ French court dismisses Uganda lawsuit against TotalEnergies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( America Hernandez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies TotalEnergies SE FollowPARIS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - A French civil court ruled on Tuesday that a lawsuit brought by campaigners against energy major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) over its oil projects in Uganda and Tanzania was inadmissible. TotalEnergies in a statement to Reuters said the court had found it "formally established a vigilance plan comprising the five items required by the duty of vigilance law, in sufficient detail so as not to be considered purely summary". The court in its ruling, the first based on the 2017 law, said nothing prevented France from enacting laws that govern the overseas activities of companies present in France. TotalEnergies had argued a French court did not have jurisdiction over the overseas activities of its subsidiary TotalEnergies EP Uganda. Reporting by America Hernandez and Benjamin Mallet; editing by Silvia Aloisi and Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ TotalEnergies CEO: it's getting harder to get dividends from Russia's Yamal project
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Companies TotalEnergies SE FollowPARIS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - French oil major TotalEnergies received some dividends for its stake in Russia's Yamal LNG project in 2022 but it is becoming more complex to receive such payouts because of Western sanctions against Russia, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said on Wednesday. Pouyanne said TotalEnergies was only booking cashflow from the Yamal venture in its accounts "when we see the dividends in our pockets." The company also gets more income out of its Yamal venture, in which it has a 20% stake, when LNG volumes received under TotalEnergies' long-term contract are sold into Europe and Asia. "This is not Russian money, this is a European contract" Pouyanne said. Reporting by America Hernandez, Benjamin Mallet, writing by Silvia AloisiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ TotalEnergies net profits double to record $36.2 bln in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - French oil major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) posted a record net profit of $36.2 billion in 2022, double the previous year, joining in the sector's bumper earnings thanks to higher oil and gas prices since Russia invaded Ukraine. TotalEnergies' fourth-quarter adjusted net income was $7.6 billion, including a $4.1 billion impairment related to the deconsolidation of its stake in Russian gas firm Novatek (NVTK.MM). The net income for the last three months of the year was in line with analyst estimates in a consensus by Refinitiv and compared with $6.8 billion a year earlier, and $9.9 billion in the third quarter of 2022. The company said it expected net investments of $16-18 billion in 2023, including $5 billion for low-carbon energy. Reporting by America Hernandez and Benjamin Mallet, editing by Silvia Aloisi and Richard LoughOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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