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Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan are eyeing a new pipeline to boost US West Coast fuel supplies
Phillips 66 & Kinder Morgan began Monday to solicit shipper commitments in support of a proposed pipeline that would move fuel from Texas' refining hub into Arizona & California, bolstering supplies amid a recent spate of refinery closings. The new pipelines, if constructed, could ease the strain placed on West Coast fuel supplies by the closures planned for Phillips 66’s Los Angeles refinery at the end of the year and Valero Energy’s Benicia refining plant next year. These refineries together produce 20% of California fuel needs and also help to meet the needs in neighboring states. Regulators have been scrambling to find alternatives for the planned closures. The system proposed to the public by Phillips 66 & Kinder Morgan includes construction of a pipeline that will run from Borger in Texas to Phoenix. In a joint press release, the companies said they would also reverse the flow direction on an existing Kinder Morgan pipe that delivers fuel to Phoenix from Colton in California. The Phillips 66 Gold Pipeline will also reverse the flow of products currently delivered from Borger, Texas to St. Louis Missouri. The companies claim that reversing the flow will allow more fuel to be delivered from refineries in the Midwest of the United States into the Western Gateway pipeline, a proposed new pipeline from Borger, Texas, to Arizona. GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan stated on the social media platform X that this could be a huge deal for drivers in California, Las Vegas and Arizona. Fuel prices are expected to increase further due to the planned refinery closings. De Haan stated that the new pipeline system would allow Gulf Coast refiners an increase in capacity for feeding these pipelines. This is especially true in states with political advantages. Magellan Pipeline (a subsidiary of ONEOK) began gauging public interest last month in a new pipeline to transport refined products to El Paso, Texas and the Phoenix region. (Reporting from Sumit Saha and Shariq in New York, with editing by Matthew Lewis.)
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Maersk tests Brazilian-ethanol blend to make cleaner marine fuel
Maersk, a Danish shipping company, announced Monday that it is testing a mixture of Brazilian ethanol blended with marine diesel and methanol - also known as "bunker". This blend will be used to power its vessel engines in an effort to further reduce carbon emissions. Why it's important This initiative could help open up a new market to the Brazilian ethanol industry, while also reducing the carbon footprint of maritime shipping. At present, this sector accounts for approximately 3% global greenhouse gas emissions. By the Numbers Maersk, which accounts for 15% of the world's maritime shipping market is currently testing a fuel blend that contains 10% ethanol. The fuel blend could generate a demand of 50 billion liters per year if the entire industry adopts it. Brazil's production is expected to be around 35 billion liters this year. KEY QUOTES Danilo veras, Maersk Latam's Vice President of Regulatory Policies said: "This is the very first time that ethanol has been burned in a four-story two-stroke engine. It's a new level of research and concern." CONTEXT Veras says that Maersk chose Brazilian ethanol as a test, because it is derived from sugarcane fields or corn, if corn-based. This reduces the potential impact of deforestation. What's Next? Maersk plans to complete the ethanol blend test in methanol powered vessels by October 23. Bunker fuel tests will follow. If the tests are successful, Maersk will begin negotiations with Brazilian ethanol producers such as Raizen, Copersucar Inpasa FS Atvos. (Reporting and writing by Roberto Samora, Fernando Cardoso, Lisa Shumaker).
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Burgum, US Interior secretary, says that the key Alaska LNG pipeline study is expected to be completed in this year.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced on Monday that the backers of an 800-mile (1 287 km) proposed gas pipeline in Alaska, championed by U.S. president Donald Trump, expect to finish a major engineering and cost study before the end of this calendar year. It has been discussed for years, but Trump's desire to increase U.S. fossil fuel development has given it new life. The pipeline is the result of a joint venture by Glenfarne, a U.S. energy company, and Alaska Gasline Development Corporation. Glenfarne announced earlier this year that it would make a decision about the project by 2025. It had also hired Australian engineering company Worley to produce a Front-End Engineering and Design study (FEED), which is a cost and engineering estimate. Burgum spoke at an American Petroleum Institute event. Trump, since returning to office in 2017, has pledged to advance the mammoth plan to transport gas from Alaska’s north to be chilled before being shipped overseas as liquefied gas. Glenfarne representatives, AGDC representatives and Worley representatives were not available to comment immediately. Reporting by Valerie Volcovici, Washington; Nichola Groom, Los Angeles. Editing by Sonali Paul.
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Morocco expects modest economic growth, but a 5.5% budget increase in 2026
The Moroccan finance ministry submitted Monday to the parliament of the country a draft budget for 2026 totaling 761.3 billion dirhams (83 billion dollars), an increase of 5.5% over a year earlier. According to the government's draft budget, the country expects the economy to grow at a slower rate next year, down from the 4.8% it grew in 2025. This is due to uncertainty on the global markets and a projected average grain harvest. In its budget for 2026, the government stated that it would prioritize improving health and education as well as reducing regional inequalities. Protests led by youth In recent weeks, anger about public services has spread throughout the Kingdom. The document shows that the Moroccan government expects the public investment to rise by 12% next year to 380 billion Dirhams, mainly due to spending on infrastructure, such as ports, airports, and railways, in preparation for the FIFA World Cup 2030. Document shows that the country's fiscal surplus is expected to decrease to 3% of its GDP by 2026, from 3.5% in 2018, as increased tax revenues continue to offset higher public investment expenditure. The estimated financing needs for 2026 are 48.744 milliards dirhams, a decrease of 23.26% compared to 2025. Reporting by Ahmed El Jechtimi, editing by Mark Heinrich & Paul Simao
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Longacre Square and AI startup InvestorSight announce partnership
Longacre Square Partners, a corporate advisory firm, has formed a partnership with InvestorSight - a startup that uses artificial intelligence to analyze investor behavior during takeovers and board battles. InvestorSight is a company co-founded by Dartmouth Professor Mark DesJardine, and data scientists. It has developed the first interactive tool that models how institutional investors and mutual funds are likely to respond to different corporate situations. This tool can be used to collect advanced data including the voting patterns of investors in previous contests to determine a company's or an activist investor's vulnerability. InvestorSight, a tool interactive that allows users to model different outcomes, is offered by many institutions including investment banks. The introduction of the new board comes as activist investors target both large and small companies, pushing them to update their boards or even consider selling themselves. Longacre was founded in 2021, by Greg Marose, Dan Zacchei and Bausch & Lomb. It advised hedge-fund Politan on its successful proxy battle at Masimo and activist investor Ancora in its campaign to elect director and push management changes at Norfolk Southern. DesJardine joins Longacre's board of advisors. (Reporting and editing by Svea HerbstBayliss)
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EIA reports record US natural gas exports into Mexico
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Monday that U.S. natural-gas pipeline exports to Mexico in May 2025 averaged 7.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), the highest monthly volume ever recorded, as Mexico's natural-gas demand increases. The EIA reported that the annual average of U.S. natural-gas pipeline exports to Mexico in 2024 was 6.4 bcfd, which is a 25% rise compared to 2019 and also the highest ever recorded in data dating back as far as 1975. The EIA reported that "Total consumption in Mexico has increased from 7,7 bcfd in 2019-2024 to 8,6 bcfd in the same period. Most of the growth is concentrated in the electric power sector in Mexico." It also noted that natural gas enters Mexico through four main corridors: South Texas, West Texas Arizona and California. The combined capacity of these four export corridors is approximately 14.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) with an approximate utilization of 43% by 2024. The EIA reported that in 2024, pipelines exports from West Texas and South Texas would account for 91% (or more) of U.S. pipeline exports to Mexico. This report stated that there are many factors that limit the exports of gas, the main ones being the limited capacity for storage and the lack of pipeline infrastructure in Mexico. It also noted that the recent commissionings of connecting pipelines throughout central and southwest Mexico have helped to facilitate this record-breaking rise.
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Prague bans shared electric scooters from 2026 due to 'chaos on the sidewalks'
The deputy mayor of Prague has criticised the electric scooter rental option as causing confusion on the sidewalks. The city council approved Monday a new regulatory overhaul concerning shared transportation options in the city with 1.4 million residents whose cobblestoned street and rich history will attract more than 8,000,000 tourists by 2024. The regulation will only apply to bikes, both electric and pedal, but not escooters. This effectively ends the sharing of escooters. "The end of the electric scooters has been approved!" Zdenek Hirb, the national Pirate Party's chairman and deputy mayor of Prague City Hall in charge for transport, spoke on X Monday. "We're introducing rules to clear the public space of uncontrolled scooter traffic. This was used more in the city center as a tourist attraction rather than a mode of transport, and created chaos on sidewalks and pedestrian zones." Prague has joined other popular European tourist destinations that have cracked down on eScooters over the past few years. In Italy, cities have implemented strict safety regulations, including helmets and insurance, while in Paris and Madrid, rentals are banned. Finland prohibits under-15s to use them. The city of Prague has responded to complaints by residents about the dangers associated with scooters that whizzed past on sidewalks, parks or blocked sidewalks and street parking spaces when they were not in use. The city wants to encourage more people to use shared bike services. However, e-scooters have a higher accident rate than bicycles. Lime, a major operator of shared electric scooters in the city, expressed regret over the decision. Vaclav Petr, Lime's director of country in the Czech Republic, told CTK that scooters can serve citizens very well when there is a "constructive dialog" between operators and cities. Lime didn't immediately respond to any further questions.
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Air France CEO: avoiding Russia airspace compounds China rivalry
Air France-KLM CEO said that on Monday, western European airlines needed more favorable regulation as the requirement to fly around Russian airspace places them at a disadvantage compared to their Chinese competitors. Ben Smith, CEO of Air France-KLM, said in an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as well as with French newspaper Les Echos and Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Schohr that having to avoid Russia adds two to two-and-a half hours to flights from Europe to Asia. All costs associated with the extra flight time are to be paid by the customer. Smith added that customers don't necessarily want to spend an extra two hours on a flight already very long to Asia. He claimed that Chinese airlines' faster access to Europe was a "gift", while western airlines were at a competitive disadvantage. Both Smith and Spohr supported a proposal from the U.S. Government to deny access to U.S. Airspace to any airline which continues to fly over Russian airspace.
INSIGHT-Airline pilots, crews voice issues about Middle East paths
In late September, an experienced pilot at lowcost European airline Wizz Air felt anxious after discovering his airplane would fly over Iraq in the evening amidst mounting tensions in between nearby Iran and Israel.
He decided to query the decision given that simply a week previously the airline company had deemed the route risky. In action, Wizz Air's. flight operations team told him the respiratory tract was now. thought about safe and secure and he had to fly it, without giving further. explanation, the pilot said.
I wasn't really delighted with it, the pilot, who requested. privacy from worry he might lose his job, told Reuters. Days. later on, Iraq closed its airspace when Iran fired missiles on Oct. 1 at Israel. It confirmed my suspicion that it wasn't safe.
In response to Reuters' questions, Wizz Air stated security of. team and guests was its utmost top priority and would not be. jeopardized in any situations, adding its choices on. where to fly are based upon rigid threat assessments in. partnership with third party intelligence experts.
Our aircraft and crews will only fly in airspace that. has been considered safe and we would never ever take any dangers in this. regard, Wizz Air likewise stated in a statement.
Reuters spoke with four pilots, 3 cabin team members,. 3 flight security specialists and 2 airline executives about. growing safety concerns in the European air market due to. intensifying tensions in the Middle East following Hamas' attack. on Israel in October 2023, that triggered the war in Gaza.
The Middle East is a key air corridor for airplanes heading to. India, South-East Asia and Australia and in 2015 was. criss-crossed day-to-day by 1,400 flights to and from Europe,. Eurocontrol data reveal.
The safety debate about flying over the region is playing. out in Europe mostly since pilots there are safeguarded by. unions, unlike other parts of the world.
Reuters evaluated 9 unpublished letters from four European. unions representing pilots and crews that revealed worries. about air safety over Middle Eastern countries. The letters were. sent out to Wizz Air, Ryanair, airBaltic, the European. Commission and the European Union Air Travel Safety Firm (EASA). in between June and August.
No one should be required to operate in such a harmful. environment and no business interests ought to surpass the. safety and well-being of those on board, checked out a letter,. resolved to EASA and the European Commission from Romanian. flight team union FPU Romania, dated Aug. 26.
In other letters, staff gotten in touch with airline companies to be more. transparent about their decisions on routes and demanded the. right to refuse to fly an unsafe route.
There have actually been no casualties or accidents impacting. industrial aviation connected to the escalation of stress in the. Middle East considering that the war in Gaza erupted last year.
Air France opened an internal examination after one of its. business aircrafts flew over Iraq on Oct. 1 during Tehran's. rocket attack on Israel. On that event, airline companies scrambled. to divert lots of aircrafts heading towards the affected locations in. the Middle East.
The ongoing stress between Israel and Iran and the abrupt. ousting of President Bashar al-Assad by Syrian rebels at the. weekend have actually raised issues of additional insecurity in the. region.
The use of missiles in the region has actually revived memories of. the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern. Ukraine in 2014 and of Ukraine International Airlines flight. PS752 en route from Tehran in 2020.
Being accidentally shot-down in the chaos of war is the top. worry, three pilots and two air travel security professionals informed. Reuters, together with the threat of an emergency landing.
While airline companies consisting of Lufthansa and KLM. no longer fly over Iran, carriers including Etihad,. flydubai, Aeroflot and Wizz Air were still crossing. the country's airspace as recently as Dec. 2, information from tracking. service FlightRadar24 show.
Some European airlines including Lufthansa and KLM permit. crew to opt-out of paths they do not feel are safe, but others. such as Wizz Air, Ryanair and airBaltic do not.
AirBaltic CEO Martin Gauss stated his airline meets an. worldwide safety standard that does not require to be changed.
If we begin a right of rejection, then where do we stop? the next person feels dissatisfied overflying Iraqi airspace. since there's stress there? he informed Reuters on Dec. 2 in. response to queries about airBaltic flight security talks with. unions.
Ryanair, which intermittently flew to Jordan and Israel. until September, stated it makes security choices based on EASA. guidance.
If EASA says it's safe, then, honestly, thank you, we're not. thinking about what the unions or some pilot think, Ryanair CEO. Michael O'Leary told Reuters in October, when asked about staff. security concerns.
EASA stated it has actually been involved in a number of exchanges with. pilots and airline companies on route security in current months worrying. the Middle East, including that disciplining staff for raising. security issues would run counter to a simply culture where. staff members can voice concerns.
INSUFFICIENT REASSURANCES
One Abu Dhabi-based Wizz Air pilot told Reuters he was. comfy flying over the conflict-torn area as he thinks. the market has a really high safety requirement.
However for some pilots and crew members operating at budget plan. airlines, the peace of minds of the companies are insufficient.
They informed Reuters pilots should have more option in refusing. flights over potentially hazardous airspace and requested more. information about airline security evaluations.
The reality that Wizz Air sends out emails asserting that it's. safe is unimportant to commercial employees, checked out a letter from. FPU Romania to Chief Operating Officer Diarmuid O'Conghaile,. dated Aug. 12. Flights into these conflict locations, even if they. are rescue missions, ought to be performed by military workers. and airplane, not by industrial crews.
Mircea Constantin, a previous cabin team member who represents. FPU Romania, stated Wizz Air never provided a formal action to this. letter and similar ones sent out earlier this year, however did send out. security assistance and updates to staff.
A pilot and a cabin crew member, who decreased to be named. for worry of vindictive action, stated they got warnings from. their companies for declining to fly on Middle Eastern paths or. hiring ill.
CONGESTED SKIES
Last month, 165 rockets were launched in Middle Eastern. dispute zones versus just 33 in November 2023, according to the. latest readily available information from Osprey Flight Solutions.
However airspace can just be enforcably limited if a nation. picks to shut it down, as in the case of Ukraine after. Russia's major intrusion in 2022.
Several airline companies have decided to briefly suspend flights to. locations like Israel when stress increases. Lufthansa and British. Airways did so after Iran bombarded Israel on April 13.
But this limits the airspace in use in the currently crowded. Middle Eastern skies.
Selecting to fly over Central Asia or Egypt and Saudi Arabia. to prevent Middle Eastern locations is likewise more expensive as planes. burn more fuel and some nations charge greater overflight costs.
Flying an industrial aircraft from Singapore to London-Heathrow. through Afghanistan and Central Asia, for example, cost an. airline $4,760 in overflight charges, about 50% more than a route. through the Middle East, according to two Aug. 31 flight plans. examined .
Reuters might not call the airline company as the flight plans are. not public.
Some private jets are avoiding the most important areas.
At the minute, my no-go areas would be the hotspot points:. Libya, Israel, Iran, just because they're sort of captured up in. it all, stated Andy Spencer, a Singapore-based pilot who flies. personal jets and who previously worked as an airline pilot.
Spencer, who has two decades of experience and flies through. the Middle East routinely, stated that on a current flight from. Manila to Cuba, he flew from Dubai over Egypt and north through. Malta before refuelling in Morocco to circumvent Libyan and. Israeli airspace.
EASA, concerned by industry experts as the strictest local. security regulator, issues public bulletins on how to fly safely. over dispute zones.
However these aren't necessary and every airline chooses where. to take a trip based on a patchwork of government notifications,. third-party security consultants, in-house security groups and. info sharing in between carriers, leading to divergent. policies.
Such intelligence is not usually shared with staff.
The opacity has sown fear and skepticism amongst pilots, cabin. team and travelers as they question whether their airline company has. missed something providers in other countries understand, stated. Otjan de Bruijn, a former head of European pilots union the. European Cockpit Association and a pilot for KLM.
The more information you offer to pilots, the more. informed a decision they can make, said Spencer, who is likewise an. operations expert at flight advisory body OPSGROUP, which. deals independent functional guidance to the air travel industry.
When Gulf players like Etihad, Emirates or flydubai all of a sudden. stop flying over Iran or Iraq, the industry sees it as a. reliable indication of danger, pilots and security sources stated, as. these airlines can have access to detailed intelligence from. their federal governments.
Flydubai told Reuters it operates within airspace and. air passages in the area that are approved by Dubai's General Civil. Air travel Authority. Emirates stated it continuously monitors all. routings, changing as required and would never ever run a flight. unless it was safe to do so. Etihad stated it only operates. through approved airspace.
Passenger rights groups are also asking for tourists to. get more details.
If guests decrease to take flights over conflict zones,. airline companies would be disinclined to continue such flights, said. Paul Hudson, the head of U.S.-based passenger group Flyers. Rights. And guests who take such flights would do so. informed of the threats.
(source: Reuters)