Thursday, November 21, 2024

Australia News

Albanese: Australia and India will boost their cooperation in renewables and defence

Australia and India will work together to increase investment in renewable energies, such as solar manufacturing, batteries, and mineral processing. This was the announcement made by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a G20 meeting on the sidelines. Albanese, the Australian Minister for Defence and Maritime Security, said that Australia and India would also like to increase their defence and maritime cooperation. He made this statement during a Tuesday meeting in Rio de Janeiro with India's PM Narendra Modi. These two countries are part of the Quad along with Japan and the United States.

Azerbaijan, summit host, warns that COP29 will not succeed without G20 support

Azerbaijan, the host of the COP29 Climate Summit, said that leaders from the world's largest economies should send a strong message about the urgency to combat global warming. The appeal came at a meeting of the Group of 20 leaders (G20) in Brazil, where climate was just one of many topics on their agenda. Others included war in Ukraine and Donald Trump's victory in the election. Nearly 200 countries gathered in Baku for COP29 are aiming to reach an agreement on how to finance climate projects worth trillions of dollars. Talks on a new financing goal and cutting carbon emissions have stalled.

US natgas exports to LNG plants are on track to reach a 9-month high

According to data provided by financial firm LSEG, the amount of gas going to seven large U.S. liquefied gas export plants is on track to reach a new nine-month record on Thursday. This was due to feedgas reaching multi-week records at a few plants. Energy market is concerned about feedgas flow to U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas plants, because in recent years exports were the largest source of growth for the gas industry. In 2023, the U.S. will be the largest LNG exporter in the world, surpassing Australia and Qatar.

Australia may lose $45 bln amid green steel rush, report says

A think tank on Friday said that Australia, the world's largest iron ore exporter, could lose up to half of its revenues from this sector if it does not produce green iron quickly enough. Other countries are now making steel with renewable energy. Australia's largest export is iron ore, but progress in developing green-iron has been slow. According to a Climate Energy Finance report, Australia could lose around A$69 Billion ($45 Billion) in revenue each year as global steelmakers, including those in China, decarbonise and restructure supply chains.

Nel is appointed as the new CEO of South Africa's largest gold miner amid a copper pivot

Harmony Gold, South Africa’s largest gold producer in terms of volume, announced on Thursday that Beyers Nel had been appointed chief executive officer, to replace Peter Steenkamp who is retiring. Nel is a mining engineer with Johannesburg's gold producer. He has worked there since 2003. His new role will begin on January 1, 2025. Nel is Harmony's chief operating officer. He has held this position since January 2023. Harmony plans to move forward with new copper projects in Australia, Papua New Guinea and elsewhere.

The pledge of financing by the Development Bank gives COP29 an early boost

COP29 negotiators have welcomed a commitment by major development bank to increase funding for poor and middle-income nations struggling to combat global warming. This is a positive start to the two week summit. The World Bank and a group of lenders announced on Tuesday that they would increase the finance amount to $120 billion in 2030. This is a 60% increase over the amount of 2023. It's very helpful. Ryan added that this alone will not be enough. He said countries and companies should also contribute.

Vulcan Energy, a company listed in Australia, receives $106 million funding from the German Ministry

Vulcan Energy Resources, an Australian company, announced on Tuesday that it received funding of 100 million euros (106.42 millions dollars) from the German Economy Ministry for its renewable energy facility in Landau in Germany. The Vulcan HEAT4LANDAU Project is a project to generate renewable geothermal heating to support Landau’s transition to sustainable district heating starting in 2026. The project is a part of Vulcan’s Phase One Lionheart Project. This project aims to increase Europe's supply chain for green lithium by strengthening the capacity of 24,000 metric tonnes of lithium hydroxide per year.

Inpex: Ichthys LNG Train 1 will resume full-scale operation in December

Inpex Corp, the operator of Australia's Ichthys LNG, said that Train 1 will resume full-scale operation at the start of December. This follows a reduction in its operating rate for inspections. In order to maintain safety, the Inpex spokesperson said that "Ichthys LNG Train 1" is currently operating at a slightly lower production level in order to inspect heat exchangers. In November and December, we expect approximately 10 LNG cargo shipments each month. Inpex announced in September that it would reduce the rate of operation of Train 1 to 70%, as part of preventive measures.

Australia's HESTA puts MinRes's governance problems on a watchlist; Moody's lowers outlook

HESTA, an Australian superannuation funds said that it had placed Mineral Resources in its watch list on Friday. It cited disappointment at the company's lack of response to issues surrounding billionaire founder Chris Ellison. As of 0055 GMT, shares of the company had fallen as much as 2,5% to A$40.610. Since the MinRes internal investigation concluded on Monday, over 7% of market value has been wiped off by this news. The diversified miner announced earlier this week that its founder and managing…

Australia suffers wide losses when central bank keeps rate at 12-year high

The Australian share market continued to decline on Tuesday, after the central bank maintained the key policy rate in a 12-year-high level. This was done in order to maintain a restrictive policy until the core inflation rate is brought under control. By 0352 GMT, the S&P/ASX 200 Index had fallen 0.4% to 8,131.4. The benchmark index was trading at a 0.3% decline ahead of the policy announcement. The benchmark closed Monday 0.6% higher. In line with the poll, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), kept its interest rate at the same level.

Mitsubishi Japan expects LNG production to reach 17 million tonnes per year by early 2030

Mitsubishi, a Japanese trading company, expects to see its LNG production capacity grow by over 17 million tonnes per year in the early 2030s. This is due to its stakes including projects in Malaysia and Canada. Mitsubishi has invested in 12 LNG projects with a total production capacity of 110,4 million tons per annum in Brunei Malaysia Australia Oman Russia Indonesia USA Canada. This was revealed in a presentation on earnings by the company. LNG Canada will ship its first cargo in mid-2020, but all other projects produce gas.

Shell sales increase in Q3 vs TotalEnergies due to higher Asian LNG prices

LONDON, October 31 - Analysts and traders say that higher production and sales of liquefied gas in Asia helped Shell to outperform TotalEnergies in the third quarter. However, group profits for both companies were affected by a drop in oil refining. Shell's quarterly profit of $6 billion beat forecasts by 12 percent, while TotalEnergies reported a profit of $4.1 billion that was slightly below expectations. Shell and TotalEnergies both reported quarterly profits that were down 70% and 82%, respectively. Their oil refining businesses and their chemicals businesses also suffered losses.

TotalEnergies' third-quarter revenue drops as refining profits collapse

TotalEnergies, the French oil giant, reported a third-quarter net profit at $4.1 billion, a three-year-low. The company was hit by a collapse in refining margins as well as upstream outages. The adjusted net income fell 37% compared to a year ago and 12.7% compared to the $4.7 billion of the previous quarter. Analysts had expected $4.2 billion. The adjusted earnings before interest tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), which is the total of all these items, fell by 23.6% to $10 billion.

Origin Energy's APLNG revenues rise on higher gas prices and sales

Origin Energy, a company based in Australia, reported a sequential increase in revenue for its first quarter from its stakes in the Australia Pacific Liquefied Natural Gas (APLNG), backed by higher natural gas prices and strong sales. Origin, which aims to transition to greener energy sources, has said that it is evaluating a variety of early-stage opportunities for renewable development. As of 0014 GMT the shares of the company rose 0.4% to A$9.54, while the benchmark index fell 0.2%. The warm weather in Asia drove up energy demand, but prices have been moderated recently due to a tepid market.

Australia should be leading the energy transition. But is it missing out? Russell

Australia's abundance of minerals and renewable energy, stability of government, and proximity to Asia's growing markets makes it a country that is well-positioned to benefit from the energy transition. The mood was a bit downbeat this week at the International Mining and Resources Conference in Sydney, which brought together the entire mining and resource sector. Speaker after speaker highlighted the opportunities available, but there was always a warning that Australia risks missing the boat…

Tokyo Gas announces share purchases after H1 profits fall by 84% due to lower gas prices

Tokyo Gas, Japan’s largest city gas provider, posted a 17.2 billion yen (112 million dollars) net profit for the first half of this year to September. This is down 84% compared to the same period last year, due to lower gas prices in Japan and North America. The utility has announced that it will buy back its own shares up to 40 billion Japanese yen, on top of the 40 billion yen already planned. He said that "the total return ratio including dividends is expected to reach 64 percent this fiscal…

Australia should be leading the energy transition. But is it missing out? Russell

Australia's abundance of minerals and renewable energy, stability of government, and proximity to Asia's growing markets makes it a country that is well-positioned to benefit from the energy transition. The mood was a bit downbeat this week at the International Mining and Resources Conference in Sydney, which brought together the entire mining and resource sector. Speaker after speaker highlighted the opportunities available, but there was always a warning that Australia risks missing the boat…

Australia and UK join forces to support clean energy technologies

The leaders of Australia and Britain announced on Friday that they plan to collaborate to increase the deployment and use of renewable energy technologies such as green hydrogen, offshore wind and other forms of renewable energy to help decarbonise the world. In a joint press release, Australian Premier Anthony Albanese said that the transition to net zero will create new jobs for both countries and strengthen their industrial base. In their statement, they did not specify how much money they would be committing to clean energy.

AG&P LNG acquires Australia's Venice Energy and develops South Australian import terminal

The Singapore-based Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific LNG (AG&P LNG) has agreed to acquire the Australian energy infrastructure developer Venice Energy and build its Outer Harbor Import Terminal in South Australia. AG&P LNG aims to have the LNG import terminal at Port Adelaide operational by the first quarter 2027. This was stated in a Thursday statement. The terminal will have an annual import capacity of two million metric tonnes. It will be constructed by converting a LNG carrier with a volume of 145,000 cubic metres into a floating storage unit and regasification (FSRU).

Document shows that Mexico's Pemex plans to increase its gas and oil reserves under Sheinbaum's presidency.

According to a document that was seen by us on Wednesday, the Mexican state oil company Pemex wants to increase its hydrocarbon reserve and make sure it is repaid during the tenure of newly-elected President Claudia Sheinbaum. The document also shows that Pemex will intensify its deepwater exploration as well as develop new business models in order to attract investors. Pemex, under the administration of Sheinbaum’s predecessor Andres Manuel López Obrador for six years, had put off deepwater exploration in order to concentrate on projects which would produce quickly.