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XIAN, China, May 17 - China will for the first time host an in-person summit of central Asian leaders this week, seeking to cement ties in a region seen as Russia's backyard as its relations with the West sour. "Beijing wants to promote a new alternative to the global order, and try to persuade the Central Asian region that this new global order is better for them too," said Adina Masalbekova, a research fellow at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. For the first in-person summit, Xian is a symbolic nod to the importance of economic ties as the city was pivotal in the ancient Silk Road trade route that spans Central Asia. "One of the biggest trump cards that we expect to see at this summit is a serious opening for Central Asian products to enter the Chinese market. But with the region's main backer Russia caught up in a grinding war with Ukraine and subject to international sanctions, analysts say the Central Asian states will welcome Beijing's overtures.

☆ Biden administration grants Mountain Valley Pipeline permit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 16 (Reuters) - The Biden administration has approved a permit to allow the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline to run through the Jefferson National Forest straddling Virginia and West Virginia, Senator Joe Manchin said on Tuesday. Manchin, a conservative Democrat of West Virgina, has introduced a bill to speed fossil fuel and renewable energy projects that calls on the administration to approve Equitrans Midstream Corp's (ETRN.N) $6.6 billion Mountain Valley pipeline. The Biden administration has supported Manchin's bill as it would help renewable energy companies reap the benefit of billions of dollars of tax credits contained in last year's Inflation Reduction Act. The Mountain Valley Pipeline has been opposed by environmental activists, but won the backing of Biden administration officials, including Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. The Forest Service is part of USDA.

☆ Jim Cramer expects defensive stocks to be resilient as debt ceiling talks drag on
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Julie Coleman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

With lawmakers in a stalemate about the debt ceiling, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Monday to put faith in defensive stocks like health care, discount stores, and natural gas. Cramer looked to the 2011 debt ceiling crisis for guidance, noting that even though history seems to be repeating itself, it's not as simple as finding what rallied after that deal was finalized. You want winners that stayed winners right through the worst of the debt ceiling talks," Cramer said. In the way of consumer-focused defensive stocks, Cramer pointed to Chipotle as a safe bet. "I wish I were less skeptical of a theoretical debt ceiling deal falling apart or coming together less than perfectly," Cramer said.

☆ Opinion | Speeding Up the Update of Our Electrical Grid
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “We Desperately Need a New Electrical Grid. Otherwise, America will not be able to decarbonize our grid or our economy. Fortunately, the proposed Streamlining Interstate Transmission of Electricity (SITE) Act would provide F.E.R.C. has decades of experience approving interstate natural gas pipelines. has been more responsive to the legitimate needs of states and other stakeholders when siting pipelines.

☆ Vast China-Russia resources trade shifts to yuan from dollars in Ukraine fallout
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Chen Aizhu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/2] Model of natural gas pipeline, Russian and Chinese flags and Yuan and Rouble banknotes are seen in this llustration taken, September 7, 2022. "For now, and for the foreseeable next few years, I think the trade using RMB will predominantly be used for commodity and energy trade." Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that two-thirds of trade between Beijing and Moscow is now settled in roubles or yuan. Surging commodity imports pushed China's trade deficit with Russia to $38 billion last year, although the gap has narrowed in the first four months of 2023. Gazprom, which said last September it had agreed with CNPC to settle gas trade in roubles and yuan, did not respond to requests for comment.

☆ Dominion Energy, National Grid pursuing pipeline sales - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 6 (Reuters) - Utility firms Dominion Energy (D.N) and National Grid Plc (NG.L) are separately considering a potential sale of parts of their natural gas pipeline networks, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. National Grid on the other hand is exploring a possible sale of part of its pipeline network serving the Northeastern U.S. Eliminating natural gas appliances would mean transitioning to electric equipment such as heat pumps. Dominion and National Grid's shares on the New York Stock Exchange were trading 0.4% and 1% higher, respectively. Dominion and National Grid declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

"From our point of view, Rostock with its overseas port and an existing ammonia terminal can become a hub for international hydrogen imports into eastern Germany," said Hans-Joachim Polk, board member for infrastructure and technology. In another cooperation, VNG is sounding out Algeria's state oil and gas producer Sonatrach with a view to possibly arranging green hydrogen imports into Rostock via Tunisian and Italian natural gas pipelines, Polk told a press briefing. As customers across Europe baulked at sky-high prices, VNG's gas sales fell 23% last year to 588 billion kilowatt hours (kWh). As well as gas sales to local utilities and industry, the group has a wide range of activities in high pressure and distribution gas pipelines, storage facilities and biogas. Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Rachel More, Friederike Heine and Susan FentonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Exclusive: Canada's ATCO gives Mexico troubled pipeline after damage award -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Dave Graham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Lopez Obrador afterward met representatives from Canadian energy companies, including ATCO, and details of the transfer were concluded in late February, one of the sources said. Neither ATCO, CFE, the Canadian government or Lopez Obrador's office immediately replied to requests for comment. Arguing that past governments skewed Mexico's energy market in favor of private capital, Lopez Obrador has taken a series of steps to bolster state control of the sector. Last July the U.S. and Canadian governments launched formal dispute resolution talks with Mexico over energy. The company argued Mexico had not done enough to enable the pipeline's completion, and the London Court of International Arbitration agreed, Reuters reported.

☆ After calling the Russia-Ukraine war a 'territorial dispute,' DeSantis says Putin is a 'war criminal' and 'basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ron DeSantis called the Russia-Ukraine war a "territorial dispute" last week. When asked about the comment, DeSantis said Russia's invasion was "wrong" and Putin was a "war criminal." Ron DeSantis used some of his harshest words yet for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine. DeSantis's comments come after he downplayed the US interest in the war, referring to it as a "territorial dispute" between Russia and Ukraine. When asked about his "territorial dispute" comment, DeSantis told Morgan his words had been "mischaracterized," adding that "obviously" Russia invaded last year, as well as Crimea in 2014, and was "wrong" to do so.

Very little green hydrogen, or hydrogen produced from green energy sources, exists today, as most current hydrogen is made using natural gas, and known as blue hydrogen. But several firms have committed to scaling up green hydrogen output over the coming decade, using solar or wind energy to power electrolysers that will split water into its constituent parts, hydrogen and oxygen. In turn, that should drive the cost of renewable-powered electrolysis below that of other forms of hydrogen production, and allow for a rapid global surge in green hydrogen output. FEASIBLE FUTUREWhile industry analysts can see a viable path to greater hydrogen supply, it is less clear how the demand side pans out. Such businesses are more likely to receive government support for energy system overhauls than factories due to their importance to the local and international economy.

☆ Larry Fink: BlackRock is not the 'environmental police'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Laurence "Larry" Fink, chairman and chief executive officer of BlackRock Inc., pauses as he speaks during the BlackRock Asia Media Forum in Hong Kong, China. Justin Chin | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAsset managers like BlackRock are not "the environmental police," Larry Fink said in his annual chairman's letter to investors, which was published on Wednesday. In fact, it's hard to find a part of our ecology – or our economy – that's not affected," Fink wrote. Blackrock has customers who want to invest in the energy transition and others who do not, Fink said, and Blackrock serves both types. BlackRock is investing in natural gas pipelines, with efforts made to mitigate methane emissions from those natural gas pipelines, Fink said.

☆ Pro-Ukraine group sabotaged pipelines, intelligence suggests, NYT reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Olena Harmash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

On the battlefield, Ukraine's forces continued to fight for the eastern city of Bakhmut on Tuesday despite Russian troops and mercenaries nearly encircling them. "Without a doubt, Ukraine is absolutely not involved in the excesses on the pipelines," presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said in a statement. Several towns and villages near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region came under Russian shellfire, including Dubovo-Vasylivka, Ivanivske, Dyliivka and Bohdanivka, the statement said. Other provinces of Ukraine were attacked by Russian troops on Tuesday, the Ukrainian military said, including in central Zaporizhzhia region. That narrative is rejected by Kyiv and the West, which say Ukraine is fighting for survival against a Russian imperial land grab.

☆ Russia's Nord Stream gas pipelines may have been sabotaged by pro-Ukraine group, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Nord Stream pipeline explosions last year may have been the work of a pro-Ukraine group. A report in the New York Times on Tuesday cited new intelligence seen by US officials. US officials have reviewed data that indicates that the perpetrators were Ukrainian or Russian nationals and supportive of Kyiv, the report said. Gazprom, which owns the Nord Stream pipeline, saw its revenue halved as a result. Meanwhile, Russia recently decided to leave the pipelines in disrepair, effectively giving up on the European market for its gas exports.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the West formed what looked like an overwhelming global coalition: 141 countries supported a United Nations measure demanding that Russia unconditionally withdraw. South Korea Indonesia Israel Thailand Japan Saudi Arabia Philippines Afghanistan CambodiaBy contrast, Russia seemed isolated. Eritrea “Russian actions are being distorted” North Korea Russia Belarus Syria Eritrea “Russian actions are being distorted” North Korea Russia Belarus SyriaBut the West never won over as much of the world as it initially seemed. But like many other African countries, South Africa appears careful to balance its growing ties with Russia against maintaining a relationship with the West. Others that provided Ukraine with military support have declined to impose economic sanctions on Russia.

☆ Column: More to Spain and Portugal's power markets than Iberian Exception
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Gavin Maguire | Thomson Reuters | Gavin Maguire Is The Global Energy Transition Columnist. He Was Previously Asia Commodities | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

CLEAN POWER CRITICAL MASSWhile a majority of energy market focus in 2022 stayed on the impact of surging natural gas prices, Spain and Portugal quietly scaled new highs in terms of clean power generation. REWRITING THE RULESThe negotiations for the Iberian Exception were a messy affair involving bureaucrats from across Europe. As a majority of Europe's power system runs off natural gas, the surge in natural gas prices had a commensurate effect on electricity costs throughout the EU last year. PRICE IMPACTThe exception was implemented in Iberian power markets from June 2022, and resulted in a steady decline in Spanish and Portuguese power prices from then on. Spain vs Europe power pricesIn turn, this allowed power prices in Spain to average roughly 40%-45% less than those in Germany, the Netherlands and France over the latter half of 2022.

On energy, the ministry has “completely overhauled the previous government’s Russia-friendly policy” to reduce Germany’s dependence on Russian natural gas, it said. “That tells you something.”Germany consistently underestimated the Russian threat and gave counterintelligence work a low priority, but that is changing now in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, experts and Western officials said. Last April, Berlin expelled 40 Russian Embassy employees for allegedly working for Russian intelligence services. Germany’s intelligence services failed to anticipate that Russia would invade Ukraine, a failure that has yet to be the subject of any publicly released “lessons learned” review. Such a review would show Germany is serious about altering its approach, the Western official said.

☆ Just how bad was the war in Ukraine for Europe’s biggest economy last year?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

London CNN —Germany’s economy grew slightly last year despite battling an energy crisis sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The bank predicts the German economy will stagnate this year, rather than decline, as it had previously forecast. Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty ImagesEither way, it’s welcome news for Europe’s biggest economy. “The German economy has been more resilient than initially feared,” Jan-Christopher Scherer, a research associate at DIW Berlin, told CNN. About 40% of German companies expect business to decline in 2023, and another 35% think it will stagnate, according to a November survey of 2,500 firms conducted by the German Economic Institute.

☆ Biden names Phillips acting head of energy regulator
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies Federal Energy Regulatory Commission FollowWASHINGTON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden has named Willie Phillips, a Democrat, acting chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC said on Tuesday. Phillips joined the commission in December, 2021 after being appointed by Biden and approved by Congress. After Phillips joined FERC, that began to change as Democrats had a 3-2 majority and the Biden administration pursued policies to transition to low-carbon energy. But now Phillips is acting chairman, FERC will be locked at a 2-2 because the former head, Richard Glick, left FERC after Senator Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat, did not hold a confirmation hearing to consider Biden's re-nomination of Glick. Phillips will serve as temporary chief of the commission as the Biden administration considers nominating a permanent chair.

☆ In an income-obsessed world, dividends that are too high could turn into a dry well
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Scott Schnipper | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Income and yield, dividends and royalties. After all, analysts' forecast yield on the S & P 500 as a whole in 2023 is still only about 1.8% today. To find red flags among high-payers, CNBC Pro searched the S & P 1500 Index, consisting of the S & P 500, Midcap 400 and Smallcap 600 indexes. The result is five stocks with dividends ranging as high as 15.2%, but no lower than 5.5%. More optimistically, however, its dividend coverage ratio stands at a reasonable 2.0.

☆ India may split planned mega refinery to various sites -sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Nidhi Verma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A 3D printed natural gas pipeline is placed in front of displayed Saudi Aramco logo in this illustration taken February 8, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/FilesNEW DELHI, Dec 15 (Reuters) - India is considering building several refineries instead of a single mega plant planned with Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), due to challenges in acquiring land, three sources familiar with the matter said. Aramco and ADNOC own 25% each in the joint venture Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL), a company named after the region where the refinery was initially planned. "The role of Maharashtra government is crucial in acquiring the land," the source said. Another source said ADNOC and Aramco were aware of the plan for several refineries.

"I remember reading a book once called, 'Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers,'" Poirier said at the company's investor day. Calgary, Alberta-based TC is widely known for its Keystone oil pipeline, a critical artery for moving Canadian oil to U.S. refiners that dominated headlines over the past decade for an expansion that ultimately failed. Keystone could fetch TC C$12.8 billion, said CIBC analyst Robert Catellier in a note. He added that reducing TC's oil exposure would help it reach its emissions-reduction goals. TC's stake in the Millennium natural gas pipeline in New York state is another logical sale candidate and could fetch $1 billion, said Scotiabank analyst Robert Hope.

☆ EU discussing Russian oil price cap at $60/barrel with bi-monthly review
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationBRUSSELS, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Representatives of European Union governments were discussing on Thursday a price cap on Russian seaborne oil at $60 per barrel, with a review every two months, yielding to pressure from some countries to lower the cap, diplomats said. The Group of Seven nations (G7) proposed last week a price cap on Russian oil, meant to diminish Moscow's revenues and its ability to finance its war in Ukraine, of $65-70 per barrel. Poland, Lithuania and Estonia refused to back the cap at that level, arguing Russian Urals crude was already trading lower so the cap would be ineffective. Two others confirmed the $60 level, noting there was no agreement yet. The three countries also insist that the price cap be regularly reviewed to adjust to changing market and geopolitical conditions and diplomats said EU government representatives were discussing a review every two months.

After explosions - whose cause is under investigation - damaged the Nord Stream Russian gas pipeline system to Europe under the Baltic Sea, Putin in October proposed setting up a gas hub in Turkey, building on a southern route for exports. "Does Europe need the project, given the determination of the EU countries to forego Russian gas in the nearest future?" A source in Russia's pipeline gas exporting monopoly Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said be believed the hub would facilitate sales. "That will not be Russian gas, but gas from the hub," said the source, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. Neither Gazprom, nor the Kremlin provided a cost estimate for the Turkish hub idea.

☆ Column: A gasier Asia would emit less CO2, but may lift global power costs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Gavin Maguire | Thomson Reuters | Gavin Maguire Is The Global Energy Transition Columnist. He Was Previously Asia Commodities | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Asia coal and gas power production & emissionsTop polluter Asia relies on coal for roughly 57% of electricity production, BP Statistical Review of World Energy data shows, so switching out coal for gas offers a potential way for power producers there to cut emissions without drastically overhauling current power supply systems. Asian power firms plan to build out natural gas pipeline infrastructureHowever, power producers across the region are planning to expand existing networks and link major consumer hubs to distant suppliers. According to a Global Energy Monitor study released in February 2022, more than 70,000 kilometres (43,000 miles) of gas pipelines are under construction globally, with more than 45,000 kilometres in Asia. Global gas markets have been drastically disrupted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine since the Global Energy Monitor study was published, and surging gas prices have clearly cooled Asia's near-term appetite for gas in some areas. However, more Asian gas supplies and use will also allow power producers to lower emissions, which for many of the attendees of the COP27 talks is of greater consequence for global energy markets.

☆ Turkey's Black Sea gas field still to go online next year, Erdogan says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISTANBUL, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Turkey's Black Sea gas field is on track to go online next year as promised and work has sped up to connect it to the national infrastructure, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. Addressing a natural gas pipeline opening in the northern Kastamonu province, Erdogan said drilling at 9 of the ten wells in the first phase of the seabed Sakarya gas field was complete. Turkey discovered natural gas off its northern coast in 2020 and since estimated volumes at 540 billion cubic metres (bcm). Turkey built an "energy base" in Sakarya, and it will become a benchmark marketplace for natural gas with the inclusion of domestic supplies, Erdogan said. "We're preparing to build an advanced natural gas marketplace where multiple products, multiple contracts come together to form reference prices."

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