DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Volkswagen puts off east European gigafactory amid sluggish EV demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A Volkswagen logo is seen during the New York International Auto Show, in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., April 5, 2023. It said earlier this year it was in no rush to make a decision. Czech officials said on Wednesday they would start offering their proposed site for Volkswagen's battery plant to other investors, saying they could not afford to wait any longer for a decision. "We cannot continue to hold the land for this project," Fiala told a news conference. Industry minister Jozef Sikela said talks were happening with five investors, with two of those projects on a similar scale to Volkswagen's plans.

Persons: David, Dee, Delgado, Oliver Blume, BEV, Blume, Petr Fiala, Fiala, Jozef Sikela, Jason Hovet, Louise Heavens, Mark Potter Organizations: New York, REUTERS, Rights, Volkswagen, Volkswagen's, Skoda Auto, Thomson Locations: Manhattan , New York City, U.S, Europe, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Salzgitter, Germany, Valencia, Spain, St, Thomas, Canada, Volkswagen's Czech, Czech

☆ Czech firm Net4Gas missing latest payments from Gazprom
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies Net4Gas sro FollowGazprom PAO FollowPRAGUE, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Czech natural gas transmission system operator Net4Gas (N4G) has not received the latest monthly contracted payments from Russia's Gazprom, a government minister said. Net4Gas had been in the past shipping Russian gas from Germany through the Czech Republic to Slovakia and on to Austria. In October, Fitch Ratings agency affirmed N4G at 'BB+' and said its base scenario assumed "full or near-complete shut-off of Russian pipeline gas to Europe and no payments from Gazprom." The Czech Republic has scrambled to get alternative supplies through liquefied natural gas shipments and flows from Norway and elsewhere. Flows between Slovakia and the Czech Republic have been running in both directions depending on demand.

Companies could also move their gas trading off energy exchanges, where the EU price cap will apply, and instead conduct private transactions. The EU cap will not initially cover these "over-the-counter" (OTC) trades, although the bloc will review next year if they should be included. The EU price cap applies to EU hubs, but not those outside the bloc, such as Britain's National Balancing Point (NBP) trading hub. Front-month TTF prices met the price level required to trigger the EU cap on about 40 days this year. EU gas demand dropped by 20% in August-November this year, compared with the five-year average for the same period, Eurostat said on Tuesday.

European Union energy ministers agreed to a "dynamic" cap on natural gas prices Monday after two months of intense negotiations. Introducing a limit on gas prices has proved controversial for European officials. When applied, it will set a "dynamic bidding limit" on natural gas futures transactions for 20 working days. The Dutch TTF traded around 109 euros per megawatt hour on Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the measure was an attack on market pricing and "unacceptable," Reuters reported, citing Russia's Interfax news agency.

Prices for LNG — a chilled, liquid form of gas that can be transported via sea tankers — are tightly linked to prices for Europe’s natural gas delivered by pipelines. Gas prices spiked to a record high of around €345 ($367) per megawatt hour in August, after Moscow reduced gas deliveries to the continent. TTF gas futures fell back 5% on Monday to hit €107 ($114) per megawatt hour. Other EU measures have included gas storage requirements and a price cap of $60 a barrel on seaborne Russian oil. Germany, the bloc’s biggest economy and one of its largest importers of natural gas, had been the most notable holdout before Monday’s announcement.

☆ EU asks U.S. for same treatment as Canada and Mexico in electric vehicles sales
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Jan Lopatka | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FILE PHOTO: European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, September 28, 2022. REUTERS/Yves HermanPRAGUE (Reuters) -The European Union asked the United States on Monday to treat EU electric vehicles, batteries and sustainable energy equipment sold in the United States the same as those from Canada and Mexico, Czech trade minister Jozef Sikela said. The 27-nation EU has been complaining the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act effectively discriminates against EU producers because it offers tax breaks to consumers on such goods made in North America, but not for those made in the EU. The EU argues that, unlike the United States, it offers the same tax breaks for EU-made and U.S.-made goods in these sectors. The issue is to be resolved by a special task force, which will meet for the first time this week, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said.

☆ EU countries look to map out path to gas price cap
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Kate Abnett | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/IllustrationBRUSSELS, Oct 25 (Reuters) - European Union energy ministers will discuss a bloc-wide gas price cap on Tuesday, attempting to navigate their next steps although it is likely to be weeks before any final decisions. Europe has been scrambling to tame high energy prices after Russia slashed gas supplies following its invasion of Ukraine - sending gas prices skywards and pushing European power prices to record levels in August. With no legal proposal for a price cap on the table yet, ministers meeting in Luxembourg are expected to debate the principles of how an EU gas price limit could work, as well as possible drawbacks. Ahead of Tuesday's talks, the EU Commission shared a document with countries that cautioned against another type of price cap, for gas used to generate power, which it said could cause an increase in gas use. One senior EU official said it was not yet clear when Brussels would make a firm proposal on a price cap.

Search resuls for: "Jozef Sikela"

7 mentions found