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Russian management claims that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant will have external power restored by Saturday.
The Russian-installed management has said that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in southeast Ukraine will be able to receive external power by Saturday. Since September 2022, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Europe - Europe's biggest with six reactors -- has been using external power to cool down nuclear material and prevent an accident. The plant was taken over by Russia in the first weeks of the conflict with Ukraine. Both sides have accused each other of shelling the facility at different times. The plant has relied on diesel emergency generators since almost a full month, after the external power supply was cut off due to fighting. Evgenia Yashina, a spokeswoman of the Russian-installed administration, said that the repair work on the Dneprovskaya electricity line which was severed began October 18 and is continuing "intensively" until Saturday. She said that inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency were monitoring the work progress and the situation was under control at the plant. Rafael Grossi, Director general of the IAEA, said that restoring off-site electricity is essential for nuclear safety and security. Grossi stated that the work started after local zones of ceasefire were established in order to allow for repairs to be carried out. Interfax reported that the ceasefire is still in effect. The plant has frequently been disconnected from the grid since 2022, but this is the longest outage. Reporting by Lucy Papachristou, Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing and proofreading by Mark Trevelyan
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Azerbaijan removes restrictions on cargo transit from Armenia as a sign of peace
Azerbaijan has lifted all restrictions on cargo transit into Armenia, President Ilham Alyev announced on Tuesday. This is a sign that relations between the two countries are warming after nearly four decades of conflict. Aliyev informed Kazakh President Kassym Jomart Tokayev during a meeting held in Astana, that the shipment of grain from Kazakhstan via Azerbaijan was the first of its kind since the transit was stopped in the last years of the Soviet Union when the war broke out between both neighbours. Azerbaijani media quoted Aliyev as saying, "I believe this is also a sign that peace between Azerbaijan & Armenia is not only on paper but is now in practice." Hikmet Hajiyev is Aliyev’s foreign policy adviser. He said that cargo shipments will travel via Georgia to Armenia, calling this transit "an economic advantage of peace". A spokeswoman of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan welcomed Aliyev’s move, calling it "a step of great importance" for opening up regional communications, strengthening trust between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, and institutionalising peace. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a bitter conflict since the late 1980s, over Nagorno Karabakh. This mountainous region in Azerbaijan enjoyed de facto autonomy for 30 years until Baku regained full control in 2023. Azerbaijan demanded that Armenia amend its constitution. The South Caucasus is an oil and gas rich region, and it's a vital transit route between Asia and Europe. It has become more prominent since the Ukraine war largely closed down trade routes through Russia to European markets. The United States will be the only ones to develop a strategic transit corridor. This is expected to increase energy exports as well as bilateral economic ties.
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Falling freight rates have an impact on European logistics companies
Analysts have trimmed their profit forecasts for the third quarter to reflect lower freight rates and weaker consumer demand. Ocean container rates are at their lowest level since January 2024 due to an oversupply in the industry and weaker demand after new U.S. Tariffs. This is threatening carrier profit. Analysts say that Maersk, the Danish shipping company, is relatively protected from the challenges of today's market, in part due to its long-term contracts, which are fixed at higher rates, with customers. Bernstein analysts stated in a research report that although container volumes increased 4% between January and August, this was mainly due to front-loading, which occurred during the U.S. tariff pause. This only provides temporary rate support. Bernstein reported that demand remained subdued in the third quarter. This is usually the carrier's peak season, but it was subdued. The broker said that rates will remain low as supply increases. Bank of America's analysts expect logistic companies to "present a cautious outlook". BEARISH WIND BLOWS THROUGH SECTOR Analysts predict that companies will either lower their third-quarter forecasts or announce weaker results due to the softening of sea and air freight rates. BofA Securities predicts that Denmark's DSV will shave 1 billion Danish crowns (156 million dollars) off the top of their guidance range for its operating profit before special items, bringing it down to between 19,5 billion and 20,5 billion crowns. HSBC, on the other hand, expects Swiss Kuehne + Nagel to see a drop in quarterly operating profits by a third. Jefferies attributes DSV's higher profitability to its fellow freight forwarder K+N's loss of lower margin business after the merger with Schenker. HSBC predicts that DHL, the German logistics giant, will report a 4% drop in its operating profit for the quarter due to weakness in the express and forwarding segment. MAERSK KEEPS ANALYSTS BULLIENT Analysts expect Maersk will report strong results for the third quarter and increase its full-year forecast, citing an upward trend in freight rates up to mid-August, which likely increased both revenue and volume. Rico Luman is a senior economist at ING Research, specializing in transport, logistics & automobile. He said that for Maersk, the majority of container rates are fixed by term contracts. He added that these contracts usually last up to one year, which allows Maersk the opportunity to benefit from rates previously high. Luman stated that Maersk Ocean's segment would eventually be under pressure due to contract renewals, but the decline would be slower than other container lines.
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GE Aerospace boosts 2025 earnings forecast on strong engine demand
GE Aerospace increased its full-year earning forecast on Tuesday for the second time in just four months, boosted by strong demand for its commercial aircraft engines and services. The aerospace giant announced a surge in engine deliveries, and raised its forecast for LEAP engines this year. The Ohio-based firm now expects an adjusted profit per share of between $6.00 and $6.20 in 2025. This is compared to its previous expectation of $5.60 - $5.80. GE Aerospace shares rose 2.4% in the premarket. The company has a dominant position on the narrowbody jet engine market and a strong presence in widebody aircraft. Parts and services account for more than 70% of the company's revenue from commercial engines. The lack of engine supply has delayed the production of new planes. Airlines are forced to fly older jets that use less fuel and have to spend billions in maintenance. This has benefited GE Aerospace. The company earns the majority of its profits from long-term, high-margin contracts for parts and service. Larry Culp, CEO of Culp & Company, told analysts during an earnings call that "we continue to see significant demand for our products and services." GE reported a 33 percent increase in revenue for the third quarter from engine servicing. Spare part sales increased by more than 25% compared to a year earlier. The company sent its engineers directly to its most important suppliers in order to fix the supply chain bottlenecks. The company has been working on improving the reliability and durability its engines in order to reduce downtime. These measures have led to an increase in jet engine sales, which increased by 41% from a year earlier. The delivery of LEAP engines that power narrowbody aircraft of Airbus or Boeing increased by 40% compared to a year earlier. In 2025, the company expects LEAP sales to increase by more than 20%. This is a significant increase compared to its previous estimate of a 15%-20% increase. LSEG data shows that GE Aerospace’s adjusted profit per shares for the quarter ended September jumped by 44% to $1.66. This was a big improvement over expectations of $1.45. Its revenue adjusted rose by 26%, to $11.31 Billion. Reporting by Rajesh Singh in Chicago and Shivansh Twary in Bengalur. Arun Koyyur, Mark Potter and Arun Koyyur edited the article.
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RTX increases its forecast for 2025 as strong demand offsets concerns about tariffs
RTX has raised its revenue and profit forecast for the full year on Tuesday. The aerospace and defense company is confident in its ability, in light of the rising demand for missiles and its aftermarket services, to weather the effects of tariffs. The company's shares rose 6.3% in the morning, beating Wall Street's expectations for the third quarter. The Trump administration’s trade war pushed RTX in July to cut its profit forecast and anticipate $500 million in tariffs costs for this year. A shortage of new commercial aircraft has driven sales for maintenance and repair services providers like RTX. They are betting on airlines that have older fleets with high costs. RTX, a company that makes GTF engines, and competes against CFM International, also benefited from the booming demand by planemakers, as they ramped up production. Collins Aerospace, the company's aerospace division and avionics unit, posted revenue of $7.62billion in the third quarter. This is an 8% increase from a year ago. Sales at Airbus' Pratt and Whitney, which manufactures engines for the A320neo aircraft, rose by 16% to $8.42billion. Defense segment of the company has also continued to grow due to strong demand in an era of rapidly increasing geopolitical tensions. Raytheon's defense division, RTX, reported a 10% increase in sales. This was primarily due to higher sales of its Patriot air defence systems, which are used in the Ukraine on the battlefield. RTX expects to achieve full-year adjusted revenues between $86.5 billion ($87 billion) and $84,75 billion ($85,5 billion), up from its previous estimate of $84,75 billion or $85,5 billion. It also increased its adjusted profit forecast for 2025 to between $6.10 to $6.20 per common share, up from $5.80 - $5.95. Total revenue for the Arlington, Virginia-based firm increased 12% in the third quarter to $22,48 billion. LSEG data shows that analysts had on average expected $21.31 Billion. Its adjusted profit per share was $1.70. This is also higher than the $1.41 expected. (Reporting and editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri; Utkarsh shetti in Bengaluru, Mike Stone in Washington)
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RTX increases its forecast for 2025 as strong demand offsets concerns about tariffs
RTX has raised its revenue and profit forecast for the full year on Tuesday. The aerospace and defense company is confident in its ability, in light of the rising demand for missiles and its aftermarket services, to weather the effects of tariffs. The Trump administration’s trade war pushed RTX in July to cut its profit forecast and anticipate $500 million in tariffs costs for this year. A shortage of new commercial aircraft has driven sales for maintenance and repair services providers like RTX. They are betting on airlines that have older fleets with high costs. RTX, a company that makes GTF engines, and competes against CFM International, also benefited from the booming demand by planemakers, as they ramped up production. Collins Aerospace, the company's division for aerospace and avionics, posted revenue of $7.62billion in the third quarter. This is an 8% increase from a year ago. Sales at Airbus' Pratt and Whitney, which manufactures engines for the A320neo aircraft, increased 16% to $8.42billion. Defense segment of the company has also continued to grow due to a strong demand in a time of rapidly increasing geopolitical tensions. Raytheon's defense division, RTX, reported a 10% increase in sales. This was primarily due to higher sales of its Patriot air defence systems, which are used in the Ukraine on the battlefield. RTX expects to achieve full-year adjusted revenues between $86.5 billion ($87 billion) and $84.75 billion ($85.55 billion), up from its previous estimate of $84.75 billion or $85.5 billion. It also increased its adjusted profit forecast for 2025 to between $6.10 to $6.20 per common share, up from $5.80 to 5.95. Arlington, Virginia's company saw its total revenue increase by 12% in the third quarter to $22,48 billion. Its adjusted profit per share was $1.70 compared to $1.45 the previous year. (Reporting from Utkarsh Setti in Bengaluru, and Mike Stone in Washington. Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri.)
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Brazil's Ambipar files bankruptcy protection
Ambipar, a Brazilian waste management firm, filed for bankruptcy in Rio de Janeiro late Monday night. The company was facing a cash crunch and the threat of debt repayments that could amount to billions of dollars. According to a document published early Tuesday, a subsidiary of XYZ Company has also filed for Chapter 11 protection in the United States. Ambipar stated that the bankruptcy was filed after "discovering evidence of irregularities" in the Finance Department's contracting of swap transactions and the sudden resignation of the previous Chief Financial Officer. The company claims that this has led to a significant drop in market confidence and early repayment requests from creditors. This poses a serious cross-default risk on other financial obligations of the Group. Ampipar said in a separate statement that the court protection was urgently needed after Deutsche Bank asked for additional loan guarantees. This prompted several other institutions, including banks, to ask for early repayment of debt. The firm that manages waste had obtained an injunction to prevent creditors from demanding early payment. Ambipar says that the measure did not prevent a bigger crisis of trust and liquidity issues. As one creditor demanding immediate payment could cause a domino-effect, the company said that such demands could create a "financial gap of more than 10 Billion Reais". UBS analysts in a report published late September said that Ambipar had struggled with integrating newly acquired assets, and managing its increasing financial complexity, despite a management change. UBS said that recent events had exposed the weaknesses in governance and strength of balance sheet after years of expansion and more than 70 M&A deals. UBS warned Ambipar's Response division which is specialized in emergency and environmental services depends heavily on operational reliability. They added that any perception of financial instabilities or internal disorganization can undermine client trust and threaten contract. According to Ambipar, in 2023 57% of Ambipar’s net revenues will come from Brazil, 25% North America, 15% Latin America (excluding Brazil), and 3% Europe. (Reporting and editing by Hugh Lawson; Luciana Magnhaes)
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Russia delivers first oil to new Georgia refinery
According to LSEG data and industry sources, the Russian company Russneft delivered a first oil shipment to the newly constructed Kulevi oil refining plant in Georgia. Since 2008, Russia and Georgia did not have formal diplomatic relations. They fought over the breakaway regions South Ossetia (backed by Moscow) and Abkhazia. Tbilisi's economic ties to Russia have grown under the Georgian Dream Party, but its relations with Western nations have deteriorated dramatically. According to LSEG, and a trader the tanker Kayseri transported 105,340 metric tonnes of Siberian Light Oil grade from the Russian Black Sea Port of Novorossiisk, to the Kulevi Oil Terminal, on October 6, 2006. Russneft has not responded to a comment request. Russia seeks to diversify exports in order to combat the sanctions imposed by the West over Ukraine. Georgia's first oil refinery aims to reduce dependence on fuel imports from Russia, Turkey Azerbaijan Romania and Kazakhstan. The facility began operations in this month with a processing capacity of approximately 1.2 million tonnes of oil per year or 24,000 barrels a day. The company will gradually increase the annual production capacity of its fuel to 4 million tonnes in 2028. It will supply both domestic and export markets. Clarence Fernandez, Clarence Fernandez (Reporting)
Maguire: Key trends to watch as US seeks coal revival
The Trump administration’s pledges to provide federal loans and land leases for the power sector may spark a short-lived revival of coal's fortunes. Other factors will determine if a more sustainable recovery can take hold in the U.S. Coal sector.
The cost of transporting coal from new mines and power plants to existing ones, and the opposition to increasing emissions may prevent coal from making a comeback. This is despite federal promises for land and money.
Here are some key trends that track coal production, emissions, and consumption. These will help you gauge the success of the latest efforts to reverse coal's long decline.
CAPACITY TRACTORY
The amount of coal-fired power generation capacity is the single most important measure of the potential use of the fuel. The U.S. coal industry is the third largest source of electricity after nuclear and natural gas. However, its generation footprint has decreased so much over the last decade that it's impossible to quickly return to the previous highs.
Data from the energy think tank Ember revealed that between 2010 and 2024 U.S. coal-fired electricity generation capacity dropped by 43 percent or 145 gigawatts.
The approximately 194 GW coal-fired power plant capacity that is still in operation is at its lowest level since 2000. This means coal's maximum electricity production ceiling is now significantly lower than it was a decade earlier.
For coal to have meaningful long-term prospects in the U.S. it will be necessary to bring online a large amount of coal-burning power generation capacity.
Global Energy Monitor reports that only 0.4 GW new coal-fired power generation capacity is planned for the U.S.
This new capacity will increase the total coal-fired power generation capacity by 0.2%. It has no impact whatsoever on the total amount of coal used to generate electricity.
The coal-fired power plant's place in the U.S. energy mix would be permanently improved with only tens or hundreds of gigawatts.
Power SHARE
Although coal's capacity has declined steadily in recent decades, its share of U.S. electricity production has fluctuated and even experienced a revival over the last year.
Data from Ember revealed that coal-fired plants will generate around 16.3% (or a little more) of the electricity supplied by U.S. utilities between January and August 2025. This share was down from a record-low 14.7% during the same period last year. This rebound gives coal supporters hope that the U.S. energy system will be able to sustainably increase its use of the fuel.
Several factors were favorable to coal in early 2025 but may change its appeal as the U.S. energy mix moves forward. A surge in natural-gas prices was one of the key drivers for coal's use rebound in early 2025. This pressured utilities into cutting costs and increasing output by using coal-fired electricity instead.
In the first half 2025, coal was around $1.15 less per megawatt-hour than natural gas. This gave generators a strong reason to reduce gas production and increase their coal use.
Since June however, the coal price has flipped and is now a slight premium over gas. This has resulted to reverse power firms' burning patterns, resulting in coal losing out to gas.
To ensure that coal continues to be used in greater quantities than other fossil fuels in the future, it needs to maintain a cost advantage over gas. This will encourage power companies to continue using coal in their network instead of gas.
This discount is difficult to maintain, as coal has higher logistic costs than natural gas pipelined, particularly from distant mines to distant power stations, where trucks and trains are required.
RENEWABLES RISE
In the last five years, solar and wind power have surpassed previous records.
Utilities added more solar and Wind generation capacity over the last decade than any other source of power. This was due to the fact that government subsidies pushed the cost of adding clean energy below the costs of adding additional fossil fuel capacity.
Most utilities will still prefer adding more solar power due to the speed at which sun-derived energy can be added to grids.
Battery storage is also expected to be a priority for many utilities, since it allows them to maximize the use of their existing solar assets while potentially increasing power market revenue.
POLLUTION OPPOSITION
The coal's higher emission profile than other power fuels will also likely prevent it from expanding rapidly its current use footprint.
Ember data shows that coal-fired power plants are responsible for 40% of the total U.S. emissions in the electricity sector, even though they generate less than 20%.
According to Ember, coal-fired power stations emit approximately 950,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide for every terawatt of electricity produced. Natural gas plants, on the other hand, produce around 550,000 tonnes of CO2 per unit of electricity.
The hefty toll of pollution from coal, combined with the rapid growth rate of renewables in the U.S. utilities system will likely ensure that it continues to play a declining part in the overall U.S. energy system despite Washington's current support.
These are the opinions of a columnist who writes for.
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(source: Reuters)