Western Europe

Calculations based on official sources and data showed that Kazakhstan increased its oil exports from January to March by 7%, to 19.51 million metric tonnes (1.63 millions barrels per day), thanks to an increase in supply via the Caspian Pipeline. The oil output and exports of Kazakhstan, a country that ranks among the top 10 oil producers, are in the spotlight. This is because the Central Asian nation has exceeded the quotas set by the OPEC+ group, which has angered several members, including Saudi Arabia. The Caspian Pipeline Consortium exports oil via the Black Sea from Kazakhstan. Drone attacks have...

Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, Germany has sought to import liquefied gas (LNG), to replace Russian gas piped to Germany. The first step was to deploy floating storage units (FSRUs), which receive seaborne LNG. Longer term, it planned shore-based regasification facilities and terminals to import and manufacture ammonia and clean hydrogen. Here are the latest updates: MUKRAN Gascade's OAL pipeline supplies the terminal on Ruegen Island in Baltic Sea with LNG. The private operator Deutsche ReGas announced on April 16 that there were no regasification slots left at Mukran until 2025. They said LNG carriers arrive...

According to a notice on DET's site, the terminal's superstructure at the transhipment facility's jetty will reopen soon after scheduled repairs were completed last week. The regasification vessel Hoegh Esperanza had returned to its docking on the 26th of April at noon. The note from Deutsche Energy Terminal GmbH stated that "the Esperanza is now connected to the superstructure, and will be soon able to accept the next LNG delivery, regasify and feed it to the German gas grid." Lower Saxony's state port operator dug at the site in order to maintain the necessary water depth. DET announced Friday that...

China's top regulator of the market said that it is closely monitoring CK Hutchison’s plans to sell most of its port operations to a BlackRock led consortium, and that parties should not attempt to avoid a review of antitrust. As trade tensions between the United States and China intensify, the sale of the Hong Kong conglomerate's two ports on the strategically significant Panama Canal has become a highly political issue. In a recent statement, the State Administration for Market Regulation stated that "no concentration of undertakings will be implemented without prior approval. Otherwise, legal liability may be incurred." The statement...

Three people with knowledge of the matter said that ByteDance is considering a large investment in a Brazilian data center to harness the abundant wind power on Brazil's northeast coast. Two sources, who requested anonymity in order to discuss confidential negotiations, said that the company was in discussions to partner with renewable power producer Casa dos Ventos in developing a facility at the Pecem Port Complex in the state Ceara. Discussions are taking place as Latin America’s largest economy tries to position itself as the global hub for a fast-growing industry of data centers, by leveraging its abundant renewable energy....

Nikolai Patrushev is one of the Kremlin’s senior hawks. He said that the trust between Russia and the United States, the "great powers", should be restored. Moscow was also ready to resume its cooperation with America on the Arctic. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, has shifted his focus towards Russia to try to end the three year war in Ukraine. He and his administration see China as the greatest threat to the United States. The Kremlin welcomed the opportunity to restore relations with the United States, after the confrontation about Ukraine caused what diplomats in both countries described as the...

Tata Steel Nederland announced on Wednesday that major industrial groups from Oman and Germany, as well as the Netherlands, have signed an agreement to develop the first liquid hydrogen import corridor in the world. The group announced in a press release that the corridor would link the ports of Duqm, Oman, Amsterdam, Netherlands, and the key logistic hubs of Germany, including Duisburg. The aim is to allow the importation of liquid hydrogen that complies with RFNBO (renewable fuel of non-biological source) into Europe. Hans van den Berg is the CEO of Tata Steel Nederland. He said: "As a large buyer,...

Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, Germany has sought to import liquefied gas (LNG), to replace Russian gas piped to Germany. The first step was to deploy floating storage units (FSRUs), which receive seaborne LNG. Longer term, it planned shore-based regasification facilities and terminals to import and manufacture ammonia and clean hydrogen. Here are the latest updates: MUKRAN Gascade's OAL pipeline supplies the terminal on Ruegen Island in Baltic Sea with LNG. The private operator Deutsche ReGas announced on April 16 that there were no regasification slots left at Mukran until 2025. They said LNG carriers arrive...

Bloomberg News, citing sources familiar with the situation, reported that Gianluigi Aponte, an Italian billionaire, is the main investor in a group looking to purchase 43 ports from the conglomerate CK Hutchison. Bloomberg reported that the Terminal Investment Ltd. (TIL) of the Aponte family, which according to their website manages a portfolio of diverse container terminals, will become the sole owner of the ports after the deal has been completed. Two of the ports in Panama would then be controlled by BlackRock Inc. BlackRock Global Infrastructure Partners, a subsidiary of BlackRock, will own 51% and TIL the remainder of the...

A court document shows that lawyers for Indian businessman Prateek gupta agreed on an April 16 deadline to disclose information in a longstanding fraud case brought against him by commodity trader Trafigura. The judge had threatened to ban him from representing the case further if he continued to delay. Trafigura of Geneva, a major industrial metals trader and oil company, sued Gupta for $600-million in fraud in February 2023. It claimed that it was the victim in a $600-million nickel cargo scam masterminded by Gupta, in which his companies also participated. Gupta has been granted several delays to comply with...

These are the most popular stories from the New York Times' business pages. These stories have not been verified and we cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports. Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale are two of the largest law firms in the United States. Both have been attacked by the Trump Administration and filed documents on Tuesday to block the executive orders which threaten their business and ability to represent federal clients. A senior Panamanian official said on Monday that he found evidence of misconduct from a Hong Kong-based company. This finding could cause a delay or even the...

Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, Germany has sought to import liquefied gas (LNG), to replace Russian gas piped to Germany. The first step was to deploy floating storage units (FSRUs), which receive seaborne LNG. Longer term, it planned shore-based regasification facilities and terminals to import and manufacture ammonia and clean hydrogen. Here are the latest updates: MUKRAN Gascade's OAL pipeline supplies the terminal on Ruegen Island in Baltic Sea with LNG. The private operator Deutsche ReGas began a three-month bid round on April 4 to expand Mukran’s long-term capacity for regasification by offering 5 bcm extra...

On Wednesday, Spain's grid operator denied that solar power was the cause of Spain's worst blackout in history. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is under increasing pressure to explain why it happened. After a blackout which halted trains and airports, and trapped Spanish in lifts, life has returned to normal. Sanchez's critics blamed low investment for a system heavily reliant on intermittent solar power and wind. Sanchez announced an investigation by the government and stated that he wanted answers from private companies who feed electricity into the grid. He said that he had not ruled out the possibility of a cyber-attack,...

The need to replenish Europe's storages that were two-thirds empty following the winter will keep the market tight, and demand an increase in the supply of liquefied gas, according to Anders Opedal, CEO of Equinor. Equinor is the continent's biggest gas supplier. The European gas storage sites have ended winter heating at their lowest levels since 2022. This is due to the colder weather, lower wind speeds and increased demand for gas. Opedal stated that Europe will need 200-300 additional LNG cargoes than last year. He said that gas storages in Europe are low and that a tighter market is...

A massive blackout in Spain, Portugal, and parts of France has halted trains and bank machines, as well as traffic lights. It was one of the biggest power system failures ever seen in Europe. Cyber Attack? The Spanish grid operator Red Electrica has ruled out cyber attacks as the cause, but the High Court of Spain said that it will open an investigation in order to determine the reason. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez Red Electrica said on Tuesday that just because it had ruled out any cyber attacks on its systems did not mean they could not have occurred....

The massive power outage on Monday reminded the Portuguese and Spaniards of their dependence on electricity in modern life and how they can be rendered helpless in an instant. Some people were trapped in lifts during the eight-hour power outage that began around midday. Others had to descend multiple flights of stairs with their phones as light. Metros and trains came to a complete halt. People were either trapped in carriages for hours by electric doors, or forced out to walk, jump over the tracks and pick their way across. Ana Cordero, a Puerto Rican tourist, was stranded for three...

ENTSO-E - the European power grid lobby - has demanded that Germany split its 25-year-old single electric market into five zones of price bidding. This is to prevent intra-German prices from leaking out to neighboring countries. As a six-month period of consultation began on Monday, here are some facts and considerations. Why has the topic been brought to the forefront? The European Network Companies' Group argues in its Bidding Zone Review that dividing Germany into zones will increase efficiency and lower management costs both inside and outside Germany. It said that a scenario based on conditions in 2019 showed that...

A massive blackout in Spain, Portugal, and parts of France has prompted a search for the cause. The outage, which halted traffic lights, trains, and bank machines, was one of Europe's largest ever power system failures. Cyber Attack? Portugal's Premier Luis Montenegro said that there were no signs of a cyberattack. However, both countries continue to investigate all possible hypotheses. EXPLAINATIONS SO FAR In a Monday night statement, Spanish grid operator Red Electrica pointed out a "strong fluctuation in the flow of power" that caused "a very substantial loss in generation." The electrical system was not designed to handle this...

According to Spanish grid operator REE, the massive blackout which hit the Iberian Peninsula Monday was caused by a sudden and large drop in electricity supply, which caused the grid interconnection to trip between Spain France. Energy Ministry, Monday evening, said that the network lost 15 gigawatts in just five seconds, at 1033 GMT. It did not explain the cause of the loss. REE's System Operations Chief Eduardo Prieto informed reporters that the power outage was greater than what European systems were designed to handle. This caused the Spanish grid to be disconnected from the French grid, which led to...

The Madrid Open was called off on Monday due to a widespread outage in the Spanish capital. This forced the 15th seed, Grigor Dimitrov, and his British opponent Jacob Fearnley from the court. Scoreboards and overhead cameras were also without power. A spidercam that was left too close to court in the round of 32 match between Dimitrov and Fearnley, where Dimitrov won 6-4 5-4, had to be removed. The Madrid Open announced on X that "the nationwide power outage experienced in Spain on Sunday 28 April forced the cancellation both of the day and the night sessions." The microphone...

A widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal on Monday paralysed the public transport system, caused traffic jams and caused flights to be delayed. Red Electrica, the Spanish electricity transmission company, said that the outage could last between six and ten hours. The cause was not known at the time. Officials have not ruled out the possibility of a cyber-attack. Traffic lights failed to work, creating gridlock in Portugal and Spain. The outage affected the transport networks, hospitals and elevators. In Madrid, there were hundreds of people standing in the street outside important office buildings. There was also a strong...

A widespread blackout in Spain and Portugal on Monday paralysed the public transport system, caused traffic jams, and delayed flights. Utility operators scrambled to restore power. Officials said that authorities were still unable to explain why the outage occurred an hour later, despite the fact that a cyber attack was not ruled out. Investigations were also ongoing. According to sources familiar with the situation, a crisis committee in Spain was formed to handle the situation. After the power outage that briefly affected northeastern Spain and a portion of France, both governments called emergency cabinet meetings. Portugal's utility REN confirmed a...

In a report released on Monday, the European association of power grid operators said that Germany should split its electricity market up to five different price zones in order to reflect the different prices across the country. Why it's important Germany has a large, unified power market with a unified price. Luxembourg is a part of the German electricity bidding zone. The congestion on Germany's grid has led to calls for at least two zones to be created to prevent high prices in one area from affecting the whole country. By the Numbers ENTSO-E's analysis of the various options to...

The number of cyclists in London's City has increased by over 50% in just two years. New cycle paths, dockless bikes and improved air quality have all contributed to this increase. Official data shows that in October 2024 there will be 139,000 cyclists per day in the Square Mile. This is London's historic financial district. In 2022, this number was 89,000. The City of London Corporation released a press release stating that there were nearly twice as many bicycles as cars on London's streets at any given time. The increase in cycling coincides with a reduction of motor vehicle traffic...