Western Europe

Storm Kristin, which swept through central and northern Portugal on Wednesday and knocked down trees, damaged houses, and disrupted rail and road traffic, killed three people. According to emergency services, a person was killed when a fallen tree hit their vehicle in Vila Franca De Xira on the outskirts Lisbon. According to the local council, two more people were killed in central district of?Leiria – one of the worst affected areas. In a country with nearly 11 million inhabitants, civil protection authorities reported more than 3,000 weather related incidents. These were triggered by gusts of wind up to 150 km/hr...

Two sources familiar with the plans on Wednesday said that oil producer Chevron will increase exports of Venezuelan crude from the U.S. up to 300,000 barrels per day (bpd). This is up from 100,000 bpd last December and 230,000 bpd this month. The U.S. firm, which is the principal partner of Venezuelan state-run energy company PDVSA has chartered a dozen oil tankers in order to increase shipments at its projects and drain inventories accumulated since December when a U.S. ban on Venezuelan exports left millions of barrels in tanks and vessels onshore. Four Chevron - PDVSA joint ventures produce between...

Container shipping company Maersk said on Wednesday that storms and heavy snowfall were disrupting cargo flow across the south-west and western parts of Europe, as well as affecting deliveries into and out of northern areas. Portugal and Spain are among the countries that were affected by severe weather alerts on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Italy declared a state-of-emergency on Monday for its southern regions which had been ravaged?by an intense storm last week. Maersk stated that terminals in the western Mediterranean had ceased operations. There is no current timeline for their resumption. Maersk sent an advisory to its customers saying that the...

Three sources familiar with this preparation revealed on Tuesday that U.S. officials are preparing to issue a license to lift'some sanctions' from Venezuelan energy companies. This is a departure from the previous plan of granting individual exemptions for sanctions to companies wanting to do business there. U.S. officials said that following the capture by the U.S. of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in the first week of this month, Washington would ease the sanctions on Venezuela's energy sector to facilitate a $2 Billion oil supply deal and an ambitious $100 Billion reconstruction plan for the country's petroleum industry. In recent weeks,...

Ship tracking data revealed that the first naphtha shipment for Venezuela, as part of an oil deal reached between Caracas & Washington in this'month', arrived Friday on Venezuelan waters aboard a tanker chartered a trading house Vitol. Caracas, Washington and Venezuela agreed on a $2 billion oil deal this month after the U.S. captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. The agreement covers up to 50,000,000?barrels Venezuelan oil that is in storage. The agreement gives traders Vitol &?Trafigura first access to Venezuelan oil to resell to refineries worldwide. It also includes a?supply? of heavy naphtha, needed to dilute Venezuela's extra-heavy output. According...

In a report released on Friday, the rail accident investigation body CIAF stated that a fracture in rail appeared to have 'occurred' before a high speed train derailed last Sunday in southern Spain. In one of Europe's most deadly train accidents, a collision that occurred in Adamuz in the province of Cordoba on Sunday resulted in 45 deaths. First, a private train belonging to Iryo derailled and collided with a high-speed train coming from the?state owned rail company Renfe. The CIAF report posted on its website stated that "based on the information currently available, it is possible to hypothesize that...

Sources and experts have said that a large metal piece found near the crash site of a high speed train in Spain could be the missing undercarriage the investigators are searching for. At least 42 people were killed in the crash, which was one of Europe's largest, that occurred on Sunday near Adamuz, a small town located in the south of Turkey. Inaki Barron is the head of Spain’s railway accident investigation body CIAF. He said that on Monday, the investigation would be focused on a missing piece, called a bogie. This was because it was the main point of...

According to three industry sources, and LSEG data, Russia's Black Sea Port of Tuapse resumed exports of oil?products last week following a?two -week suspension due to a Ukrainian??drone??? attack. The strike on December 31 damaged equipment at Rosneft and one berth in the port. According to the Krasnodar regional operational headquarters, there is a nearby export-oriented Tuapse refining plant. Since the beginning of the conflict, drones from Ukraine have repeatedly attacked the port and refinery. According to "market sources", at least five tankers have loaded diesel and fuel at Tuapse Port since last week. Cargoes from Rosneft refineries were delivered...

Spain's largest train drivers union called for a strike on Wednesday to demand guarantees for the safety of their profession after one of Europe's worst train accidents left at least 42 people dead, and a second derailment killed a driver. A commuter train derailled on Tuesday, after a retaining-wall collapsed onto track during heavy rains in Barcelona. The driver was killed and four passengers were seriously injured. Rail network operator Adif? said that a third derailment on Barcelona's regional rail network was not caused by an accident, but a rock fell on the track during the storm. In a press...

Malaysia's sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd plans to channel additional capital into strengthening the?power?system and supporting local semiconductor companies as AI drives next investment cycle. Khazanah's Managing Director Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir stated in an interview during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos that energy supply and grid reliability were central to competitiveness. "What is needed for it to work well, is computing power. And what does computing power mean? Energy. Amirul Feisal said at the Global Markets Forum that this is when we should think about how to capture some of this growth. Khazanah will instead concentrate...

The Sunday train derailment and collision in southern Spain left at least 122 people injured and 39 dead. Officials cited the "strangeness" of the accident, which occurred on a straight section of rail, and one theory suggested that the cause was a broken rail joint. What we know about the situation so far is: The accident occurred at 7:45 pm (1845 GMT), near the town Adamuz, in the province of Cordoba. This is about 360 km (225 miles) south of Madrid. Two high-speed trains were involved, one operated by the private consortium Iryo and the other by Alvia which is...

Witnesses and aid workers said that severe floods caused by heavy rains in Mozambique forced thousands of people to leave their homes and some were left stranded on roofs. The waters were swollen and swamping settlements. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which is assisting in relief efforts, floods directly affected more than 620,000 individuals, with 72,000 homes flooded and extensive damage caused to bridges, roads and health centers. Rachel Fowler, IFRC's Program and Operations Manager, told reporters in Maputo that the situation was likely to worsen as the dams were already full. This...

New York's Environmental Regulator said on Wednesday that it had filed a complaint with the federal energy regulators in opposition to the bid by Williams Cos, which is leading Constitution Pipeline to revive a permit for building canceled natural-gas pipelines from Pennsylvania to New York. Constitution has recently asked the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a reissue of a Certificate Of Public Convenience And Necessity. This is a necessary?permit required to build the controversial pipeline. In a filing made to FERC Wednesday, the New York Department of 'Environmental conservation' said it was opposed to Constitution's request. It claimed that...

Gulf Arab national oil firms are now well-versed in the art of raising funds while maintaining control of oil and gas assets. This has helped them raise billions for their ambitious diversification plans. Kuwaiti media reported Wednesday that the country could offer investors a stake of its oil pipeline assets by next month. This would mirror similar moves made by other regional countries. Here are some key facts about such deals. ADNOC of the UAE Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, in 2019, created a new company, ADNOC Oil Pipelines. It leased out its 18 pipelines to a consortium that included...

RWE's CEO said that the resulting?geopolitical tensions? have led to a heightened expectation from governments regarding long-term security and resilience in energy supply. Markus Krebber, a Handelsblatt Energy Summit reporter, said that "we are entering a new age in energy supply". He added that the focus of economics was shifting towards a "long-term strategy for energy supply without new dependences". Germany, Europe's largest economy, is among Western nations looking for new alliances. This is because trusted relationships have been damaged, most notably those with the United States, as a result trade tensions caused by Donald Trump's policies. Berlin has severed...

Authorities said that Storm Kristin caused more than 800,000. people in central and northern Portugal to lose electricity on Wednesday morning. The storm knocked down trees and utility poles, damaged homes and disrupted motorway and railway traffic, before it moved inland into Spain. According to emergency services, at least one person was killed when a fallen tree fell onto their car on the outskirts Lisbon. In a country with 11 million people, civil protection authorities reported?1,500 incidents related to weather. These were triggered by wind gusts up to 150 km/h and heavy rain. Grid operator E-Redes stated that technical teams...

The interior minister announced that Germany would step up its efforts to combat left-wing militants, after activists claimed responsibility of a January attack on a Berlin power station which caused the longest blackout since World War Two. Alexander Dobrindt said that on Tuesday, "Our security agencies would be significantly strengthened in the fight against extremists of the left." He said that 1 million Euros?was offered for information leading to perpetrators of a 'January attack. It was suspected that the attackers were a 'far-left activist group called Volcano. This incident left 45,000 homes without electricity in temperatures below freezing. Dobrindt stated...

Greenland’s capital, Greenland’s capital, restored power early on Sunday after a'storm' damaged a transmission line and left thousands of people without heat and electricity through the winter night. Witnesses reported that the electricity was suddenly cut off in Nuuk on Saturday night. Nukissiorfiit, which supplies power to?Nuuk through the Buksefjord Hydropower Plant southeast of the capital, said that the power was restored around?4 :30 am (0630 GMT). Greenlanders have become accustomed to power outages caused by severe weather. The cable that runs across two fjords and through rugged terrain is often damaged. The government released updated recommendations three days before...

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, Kazakhstan's main oil export pipeline, returned to full capacity on Sunday at its terminalon the Russian Black Sea Coast after maintenance was completed at its three moorings points and a crude tanker was loaded, according to the pipeline. Kazakhstan, the 12th largest oil producer in the world, has been facing a number of challenges in recent months. These include an attack by a Ukrainian drone on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) in late November, which caused the pipeline to pump at below capacity, and a shutdown in production earlier this month at the vast Tengiz field....

A large metal piece found near the crash site of a high speed train in Spain could?be the missing undercarriage the investigators are searching for, to determine the cause of the accident. At least 42 people were killed in the crash, which was one of Europe's largest, that occurred on Sunday near Adamuz, a small town located in the south of Turkey. Inaki Barron is the head of Spain’s railway accident investigation body CIAF. He said that on Monday, the investigation will focus on a missing piece, called a bogie. This part is important because it acts as a key...

Three executives present at the meeting claim that U.S. Energy Sec. Chris Wright informed oil company executives in Washington on Wednesday "that Venezuela's production can increase 30% from its current?900,000.?barrels a day within the short to medium term." U.S. president Donald Trump has asked U.S. oil executives for $100 billion in order to improve Venezuela's oil industry. This is a major goal of Washington following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces earlier this month. Venezuela's oil production has plummeted due to years of underinvestment and sanctions. In the 1970s, Venezuela produced 3.5 million barrels per day...

The lawyer of the Chinese captain who is accused of damaging undersea cables on a?ship registered in Hong Kong in the Baltic Sea, said that 18 witnesses will be called in to testify. According to a Hong Kong charging document, Wan Wenguo is accused of causing "criminal damages" on the underwater natural gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia in October 2023. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022, the Baltic Sea region is on high alert for sabotage. This follows a series outages of gas pipelines, power cables and telecoms. Wan, 43 years old, appeared before the...

Hellenic Train, an Italian-owned railway company, is required to invest 420 millions euros ($487.41) in new trains and maintenance nearly three years after Greece's worst rail disaster. The amendments to the '2017' state contract with Hellenic Train, approved late Thursday by the parliament, contain these requirements. "For the very first time the contract contains a clause that allows for a termination. The statement stated that if the trains aren't delivered and in service by 2027 the state may terminate the contract. On February 28, 2023 a passenger train from Athens collided with a freight train from Thessaloniki, near the town...

The German budget committee approved the purchase of a minority share in the German division?of the Dutch high-voltage transmission grid 'TenneT', according to a German parliamentary report on Friday. This is part of a longstanding plan by the German government to consolidate its control over key infrastructure. The source said that conservatives, centre-left SPD, and the Greens were all in favor of the decision, but the far-right AfD was against it, and the Left Party abstained. In a November letter, the economy ministry'said that it intended to sign a 'agreement to buy a 25% stake in TenneT Germany in early...