Daily Energy News
Policy & Regulatory
EU launchs consultation on energy taxation and carbon border tax
27 Jul 2020The European Commission has launched public consultations on the revision of the Energy Tax Directive (ETD) and on the creation of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The revision of the ETD would revise minimum tax rates for fuels and current tax exemptions, to cut implicit subsidies for fossil fuels and some economic sectors and to better reflect the EU’s climate ambitions.
Read moreIndia withdraws Bander mine from coal block auction
27 Jul 2020The Ministry of Coal of India has withdrawn the Bander coal mine from a list of 41 coal blocks to be sold in an auction for commercial mining launched in June 2020. The Bander coal mine is estimated to hold over 126 Mt of coal reserves, enough to produce 2 Mt/year at peak capacity, but it is located near a tiger reserve in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra, in central India, prompting the government to withdraw it from the auction.
Read moreOPWP issues RfP for 1 GW of solar projects in Oman
27 Jul 2020The Oman Power and Water Procurement (OPWP) Company has issued a Request for Proposals (RfP) to 9 international consortiums and developers that were pre-qualified to take part to a July 2019 tender for two solar Independent Power Projects (IPPs) in Oman, namely Manah Solar I and Manah Solar II. The projects will each have a minimum power generation capacity of 500 MW (combined capacity of at least 1 GW) and are expected to start operations in the summer of 2023.
Read moreNew Jersey (US) plans 2.4 GW offshore wind bidding round
24 Jul 2020The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU, United States) has issued a draft solicitation guidance for its second offshore wind power solicitation and doubled the capacity to be offered from 1,200 MW to 2,400 MW. A 1,100 MW offshore wind project was already awarded to Ocean Wind (the joint venture of Ørsted and PSEG) in June 2019 (commissioning expected in 2024). Organising a bidding round of 2,400 MW would help New Jersey reach faster its target to develop 7.5 GW of offshore wind power by 2035, as confirmed in the state’s draft Offshore Wind Strategic Plan.
Read moreCompanies
Centrica (UK) will sell its US retail energy activities to NRG Energy
27 Jul 2020The UK energy group Centrica has reached an agreement with the US energy group NRG Energy, under the terms of which Centrica will sell its North American energy supply, services and trading business, Direct Energy, to NRG Energy for US$3.625bn (£2.85bn) in cash. Direct Energy is one of the largest retail provider of electricity, gas and energy-related services. The company operates in 50 US states, the District of Columbia and 8 Canadian provinces, serving more than 4 million customers in North America.
Read morePipeChina aquires $56 bln of oil and gas infrastructure in China
27 Jul 2020The newly created Chinese state-owned company China Oil and Gas Pipeline Network (also known as PipeChina) has reached an agreement to take over oil and gas pipelines, gas and LNG receiving terminals and storage facilities from the state-owned oil and gas groups PetroChina (subsidiary of CNPC) and Sinopec for a total of CNY 391bn (US$55.9bn).
Read moreLatvia takes over Gazprom’s stake in national gas transmission operator
24 Jul 2020The state of Latvia, through the state-owned power transmission system operator (TSO) Augstsprieguma Tikls (AST), has completed the acquisition of the 34.1% stake held by Gazprom in the Latvian gas TSO Conexus Baltic Grid. AST thus raises its interest in Conexus from 34.36% to 68.46%, while the MM Infrastructure Investment Europe fund (Marguerite Fund) holds 29.06% and other shareholders 2.48%. The Marguerite Fund is considering divesting its stake in the company to Marubeni (Japan).
Read moreBrazilian government plans new company to help privatize Eletrobras
24 Jul 2020The Brazilian government is considering creating a new state-owned company to take over Eletrobras’s stake in the Angra nuclear power plant and in the Itaipu binational hydropower plant, paving the way for a privatisation of the 51%-owned power utility. The Ministry of Mines and Energy aims to direct BRL4bn (US$780m) from the 2021 budget for the new company.
Read moreEnergy & Climate Markets
EU countries need to strengthen energy efficiency efforts to reach targets
27 Jul 2020According to the European Commission, primary energy consumption declined by 0.7% in 2018 (-0.1% only for final energy consumption), which is insufficient to meet the 2020 targets. The highest annual reductions in primary energy consumption were posted in Belgium, Austria and Greece, whereas the largest increases were observed in Estonia, Latvia and Luxembourg.
Read moreRosneft discovers 20 Mt of reserves in new oil field in Russia
27 Jul 2020The Russian oil giant Rosneft has announced the discovery of a new oil and gas field, Novoognennoye, at the border of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (northern Russia), which would hold recoverable reserves of over 20 Mt of oil and around 1 bcm of gas. The field was discovered by NK Rosneft’s RN-Vankor company, which is seeking to expand the resource base of the Vostok Oil project (so far estimated at 5 Gt of light sweet oil).
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