The French Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition has unveiled the updated proposal of the revised PPE energy plan (Programmation Pluriannuelle de l’Énergie), which will define France’s energy policy over the 2019-2028 period. The revised version is available for consultation until 19 February 2020.

The latest tender held by the state-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for developing 1.2 GW of wind power has failed to attract investors, receiving an insufficient number of bids to continue the process. The public agency launched the tender on 17 January 2020, with a ceiling tariff of INR2.93/kWh (US$4c/kWh) that had earlier been raised from INR2.85/kWh to encourage participation. The ceiling tariff had earlier been revised from Rs 2.85 per unit to Rs 2.93 in an attempt to encourage participation.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Eni to collaborate in carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS). The partnership between the two companies includes cooperation in relation to innovative geomechanical and geochemical workflows for CCUS programs as well as in advanced analysis and modelling of thermally induced fractures in oil and gas reservoirs.

Thailand’s state-owned oil and gas corporation PTT plan to invest THB180.8bn (US$6bn) between 2020 and 2025. 68% of the amount will be allocated to joint ventures and subsidiaries, 17% to transmission infrastructures, 7% to technology and engineering, 6% in gas and 1% each in dowbstream and other businesses. For the upstream oil and gas activities, PTT will focus on the 5th natural gas transmission pipeline project, on its LNG import terminal project, and on the maintenance of its gas separation plant.

Malaysian state-run oil and gas company Petronas has signed a 12-year term agreement with Shenergy (owned by the government of Shanghai (China)) to deliver 1.5 Mt/year of LNG to its Wuhaogou receiving terminal in China. The contract will start from 2022, and also comprises a shipping partnership to build and charter new mid-sized LNG vessels for the cargo delivery.

The parliament of Jordan has adopted a draft law that prohibits imports of Israeli gas to the kingdom, due to demonstrations against the gas agreement. The text will be submitted to the cabinet prior to promulgation. However, legal impediments may stop it from coming into law.

Belarus plans to reduce the share of Russian oil imports from the current 90% to less than 40% of its oil consumption, as the two countries are disagreeing on pricing for new supply and on compensation for tainted oil supplies in the summer of 2019. Consequently, Russia stopped oil deliveries to Belarusian refineries on 1 January 2020 and partially restarted supplies on 4 January 2020.

The French government has agreed to reassess the ARENH (Accès régulé à l’électricité nucléaire historique, 2010) mechanism, which obliges EDF to sell part of its nuclear generation (up to 100 TWh/year, i.e. around a quarter of its production) to alternative suppliers on the wholesale market at a regulated price (“ARENH price”), which has been set by the CRE at €42/MWh since 2012. This level is lower than the average electricity price on European wholesale markets (around €47/MWh) and requests from alternative suppliers for 2020 rose by more than 10% in December 2019 (to 147 TWh).

Mexico has decided to scrap some hydropower projects that are opposed by the population, namely the 900 MW La Parota dam project in Guerrero, the 540 MW Paso de la Reina in Oaxaca and the Boca del Cerro dam in Chiapas.