Top Energy/Automotive News; Oil prices dip due to China rate cut, weak economic outlook generally
London, 20 June, 2023, (Oilandgaspress) : U.S. supply is expected to tighten in the near-term, especially as fuel demand increases and as U.S. energy firms reduced the number of operational oil rigs for a seventh straight month. Brent oil futures fell 0.3% to $75.86 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 0.6% to $71.08 a barrel
Landmark Group to increase solar power capacity by 25%
Landmark Group will increase its solar power capacity by 25%, allowing it to offset 2,485 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually following an extended agreement with SirajPower. The company said it will make its total capacity 10.4 megawatt peak (MWp) by adding extra solar panels on rooftop and car port locations including Oasis Mall in Dubai and Sharjah as well as sites in Al Quoz and Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA).
The company said the installation of the new panels, in agreement with UAE solar company SirajPower, will be commissioned by the end of 2023 and will make it one of the largest solar-powered retailers in the region with 17.4 gigawatt hours (GWh) of annual green energy production across eight UAE locations.
Rajesh Garg, Group CFO of Landmark Retail, said: “The group is also planning to implement similar sustainable energy initiatives in the other GCC countries, further extending its commitment to creating a greener future across the region.”
Landmark Group currently has a solar capacity of 8.3MWp, with 67% of it facilitated by SirajPower. In addition, the Group has awarded an additional 2.1 MWp of solar rooftop and carport systems across four prominent sites in the UAE. The total solar capacity will be distributed among various locations, including Oasis Mall in Dubai and Sharjah, as well as two other sites in Al Quoz and JAFZA. This initiative will double the number of locations and increase the solar capacity by 25%. By deploying solar panels at these newly added locations, Landmark Group expects to offset approximately 2,485 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually. Read More
Hydro is joining forces with CAKE and Vattenfall for their pioneer project ‘Cleanest Dirt Bike Ever,’ aiming to inspire the industry to minimize its carbon footprint. Hydro will contribute with its low-carbon aluminium, Hydro CIRCAL 100R, and EcoDesign expertise to adapt the motorbike to new aluminium alloys.CAKE and Vattenfall have committed to producing the cleanest dirt bike ever by removing carbon emissions from the electric CAKE Kalk OR bike’s production chain by 2025. The goal of the initiative is to inspire the automotive industry to reduce carbon emissions in production methods through innovative partnerships. As part of the project, Vattenfall and CAKE have explored cleaner aluminium solutions available before 2025. Hydro is joining as a new partner to supply aluminium parts made from up to 100 percent recycled post-consumer scrap. Hydro will additionally support the design and engineering of the bike to make use of other alloys, and possibly increase the use of extruded aluminium. Read More
UK electric car owners without access to a home charger are now paying up to a 1,500 per cent premium by being forced to top up their vehicles on the streets. Homeowners with a dedicated charger, smart meter and electric car tariff from their energy supplier can pay as little as 5p per kWh to replenish the vehicle’s batteries overnight. However, a neighbour relying on a council-backed on-street charger can face rates of 65p per kWh – meaning the same car could be filled for as little as £2.56 or as much as £41.
Worse still for the second person, they can also face ‘idle fees’ of up to 6p per minute, if they remain attached to the charger once their vehicle is filled up. Also, someone charging at home pays VAT at a rate of 5 per cent, while those charging publicly are stung with a 20 per cent rate – which is an increasingly lucrative revenue stream for the government. Read More
General Index Partners with LSEG
General Index (GX), the world’s first technology-led benchmark provider, announced today anexpansion of its partnership with LSEG. This new agreement will enable all Eikon and Workspace customers to access desktop and enterprise subscriptions to GX data directly from the Eikon or Workspace platform.
Users can gain desktop access to GX’s global suite of crude oil and refined products indexes for a simple monthly fee, enabling usage of GX data across Eikon or Workspace. This partnership further supports the GX vision of bringing fair access to critical pricing data to the world’s commodity markets through trusted open-technology solutions. GX aggregates trade data to build a full view of market activity, and then applies algorithmic index methodologies consistently, accurately and without subjective judgement.
“We are delighted to partner with LSEG, a global leader in financial data and analytics. Through this partnership, we are expanding the reach and impact of our energy price data, which is trusted by the industry for its accuracy and reliability. LSEG’s sales teams will leverage their deep expertise and relationships to deliver our data to more customers around the world.”
Neil Bradford, Founder and CEO, General Index
Working closely with GX, LSEG will provide over 1500 prices aligned with market closures for each region. Price data will be available for a selection of global markets including Crude, Refined Products, LPG, and Marine Fuels. GX provides both new benchmarks to reflect evolving trading patterns and well-established commodity pricing points.
“We have extensive experience of bringing energy pricing data to our customers to aide them in their decision making. As a leader in commodity data distribution, our partnership with General Index ensures we are responding to the market; providing critical information that is affordable to allour customers and their differentiated needs and requirements.”
Andrew Toumazi, Head of Commodities, trading solutions at LSEG
In working closely with GX, LSEG will provide 400+ prices all-to-see aligned with market closures for each region. Pricing will be available for a selection of global markets including Crude, Refined Products, LPG, and Marine Fuels. GX provides both new benchmarks to reflect evolving trading patterns and well-established commodity pricing points. Read More
WINTERMAR’s Public Expose 2023
PT Wintermar Offshore Marine Tbk (WINS:JK) invested US$3.15 million out of capex plan of US$18 million in 2023, and expects higher demand for OSVs driven by a jump in approved deepwater oil and gas investments and tight OSV supply. During the Public Expose on 16 June 2023, PT Wintermar Offshore Marine Tbk unveiled its strategic plans to enhance fleet composition and profitability, positioning itself to capitalize on the anticipated upturn in the oil and gas industry.The Company expressed a bullish outlook on O&G as a jump in approved investments in deepwater projects is expected to raise the demand for high-value Offshore Supply Vessels (OSVs) in the coming years. Wintermar aims to ride on the upturn, having added high tier fleet capacity, and stands to benefit from rising charter rates. Read More
Patagonia Lithium Ltd (ASX:PL3 or Company) announced that it has now received 1D and 2D inversion results for all three MT geophysics survey lines 0300, 1300 and 2300 undertaken on the Formentera/Cilon salar.Phil Thomas, Executive Director stated that “the low resistivity values continue to impress, and the lithological unit shapes are very significant – more than 700m in depth where the resistivity is less than 0.9 Ohm-m. It seems we potentially have a large body of brine with two concentration centres up to 5km in length and 2km in width. Depending on the transmissivity, 500m wells could possibly draw up significant amounts of lithium brines (characterised by low Ohm-m values) from below. We know that in some salars, lithium concentrates at depth and this concentration, porosity, transmissivity and brine release information is what we hope to attain with our drilling program.” The MT survey was composed of three lines of approximately 6.6km long each with stations every 200m.The Company’s drill program is planned to be five to six diamond drill holes with depths of 400m and 250m, and the balance of four to five being rotary drill holes making a total of 10 subject to progressive drill results. The Company may put in a production well in the same campaign if brine release values are above our target value and the rig has a 12 inch diameter capability. The drill program will commence shortly after the permit is received from the Jujuy Mines department. Read More
Hydro receives Mercedes-Benz sustainability award
The Mercedes-Benz Supplier Circle event was held in Stuttgart, Germany on June 19. Hydro was one of two companies honored with the Mercedes-Benz Supplier Award in the sustainability category. The Mercedes-Benz Supplier Award is presented annually to highlight outstanding performance by supplier partners in three categories: innovation, quality and sustainability. The award comes after Mercedes-Benz received the delivery of the first batch of Hydro REDUXA 3.0 low-carbon aluminium earlier this year. The aluminium was produced at Hydro’s Årdal plant in Norway with hydroelectric power, contains a minimum 25 percent post-consumer scrap content and its carbon footprint is around 70 percent lower than the European average.
“This award is a fantastic recognition of our efforts to drive sustainability in aluminium production. It demonstrates a key customer’s appreciation of Hydro’s commitment to decarbonize and minimize environmental impact along the entire aluminium value chain,” says President and CEO Hilde Merete Aasheim, who received the award on behalf of Hydro.
Hydro aims to become a net-zero company, making net-zero products, enabling a net-zero society, by 2050. The company is currently on track to reduce its own carbon emissions by 10 percent by 2025 and 30 percent by 2030, compared to 2018 levels. Full decarbonization will be achieved by increasing the recycling of post-consumer scrap in combination with the introduction of new technology. This includes Carbon Capture Storage (CCS), hydrogen, as well as new in-house technology currently under development with the potential to eliminate carbon emissions from primary aluminium production altogether. Read More
Voters in Switzerland have backed a new climate bill designed to cut fossil fuel use and reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The government says the country needs to protect its energy security and the environment, as glaciers melt rapidly in the Swiss Alps. The law will require a move away from dependence on imported oil and gas towards the use of renewable sources. In Sunday’s referendum 59.1% of voters backed the green energy proposals.
Opponents had argued the measures would push up energy prices.
Nearly all of Switzerland’s major parties supported the bill, except the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which triggered the referendum after pushing back against the government’s proposals.
Switzerland imports about three-quarters of its energy, with all the oil and natural gas consumed coming from abroad. Read More
Rally2 cars in Kenya
For the Safari Kenya Rally, the fourth of the season on gravel, Pirelli once again nominates as prime the soft-compound Scorpions, which even in the unexpectedly wet race in Sardinia (where they were an option) performed well. A decision dictated by the performance offered in the 2022 edition of the Safari, when – despite the very aggressive approach of the drivers who tackled it as a sprint race – the soft tyres were the only ones used throughout the weekend, withstanding the brutal blows suffered on the bumpy and rocky roads around Lake Naivasha.
After all, the dangers of the African race are well known to all: slippery though rocky, bumpy tracks with deep ruts, which put the focus more on endurance than performance, and the ‘fesh fesh’, the fine sand in which cars can easily sink. These challenges could be accentuated in this year’s edition by the rain expected in the days leading up to the rally and, according to some forecasts, even during the race itself. The rainfall could, in fact, make the roads even more slippery and muddy and expose more rocks, increasing the risk of bogging and bumps and decreasing grip.
PIRELLI TYRES
Even in the worst-case scenario, the soft-compound Scorpion KX SA tyres are the most suitable, being designed to provide grip even in the slipperiest conditions and on wet ground, in a balance of performance and endurance already proven in other races. The hard-compound Scorpion KX HAs are the option and are suitable for the most abrasive surfaces and the longest stages.
The regulations stipulate an allocation of 24 and eight tyres respectively for the prime and option, plus four for the shakedown, in the compound chosen by the crew.
As for the other categories, the Rally2 cars in Kenya will have Scorpion K6B (soft) and K4B (hard) tyres, while the Rally3 cars will have K6A (soft) and K4A (hard) tyres. For these cars, the allocations are 22 and 8 tyres for the prime and option respectively, to which a shakedown set must be added. Read More
Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline (NMGP) project
Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has signed four memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with five African countries. The deal was finalized with Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Benin, and Guinea, further cementing the commitment to the ambitious pipeline project. The signings took place at the headquarters of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja, with representatives from ECOWAS and all participating countries present.
The NMGP project aims to construct a 5,600-kilometer gas pipeline, traversing a total of 13 African countries. The pipeline will pass through Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania. The signing of the MoUs represents an important milestone in the realization of this extensive infrastructure project. The Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline project holds immense potential for transforming the energy landscape in West Africa and beyond. Read More
Approval To Import Petroleum Products
Nigeria has recently announced the approval of six new companies to engage in petroleum product importation, as part of its efforts to ease the removal of fuel subsidies. The approval was disclosed by Farouk Ahmed, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Mainstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDRA), during a press briefing held at the Presidential Villa.
Ahmed emphasized that apart from the six approved companies, there were several other entities that had applied for permits to import petroleum products, indicating a significant level of interest in the fuel importation sector. He clarified that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) does not possess the authority to grant approval for importing petroleum products, addressing speculation surrounding the Dangote Group’s alleged approval. Read More
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has approached German plastics and chemicals maker Covestro AG (1COV.DE) with a takeover proposal worth more than 10 billion euros ($10.9 billion), a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The energy giant has made an informal offer for a per share price in the mid-50 euros, which compares with a Monday closing price of 40.31 euros, said the source, asking not to be named because the matter is confidential.(Reuters) Reports Read More
Oil Tankers Avoid Nigeria After Multimillion-Dollar Tax Bill
Rivian (RIVN.O) said it has agreed to adopt Tesla’s (TSLA.O) charging standard, giving customers access to the biggest U.S. charging network and adding momentum to Tesla’s bid to set the industry standard.
Customers of Rivian, which has its own small network of fast chargers, will be able to access 12,000 Tesla Superchargers with adapters in the United States and Canada as early as spring 2024, the company said. Rivian also said it would make a Tesla-style charging port standard on its vehicles, starting in 2025. Tesla has struck comparable deals in recent weeks with General Motors (GM.N) and Ford (F.N). While other automakers get access to Tesla’s charging network, Tesla stands to profit from selling power to a bigger group of electric vehicle drivers.(Reuters) Read More
| Oil and Gas Blends | Units | Oil Price $ | change |
| Crude Oil (WTI) | USD/bbl | $69.93 | Down |
| Crude Oil (Brent) | USD/bbl | $74.92 | Down |
| Bonny Light | USD/bbl | $75.58 | Up |
| Saharan Blend | USD/bbl | $75.97 | Up |
| Natural Gas | USD/MMBtu | $2.63 | Up |
| OPEC basket 19/06/23 | USD/bbl | $76.45 | Up |
Busan’ Branded EVs in Paris
Hyundai Motor Group is supporting the ambition of Korea’s second city Busan to host the World Expo 2030 with the provision of a fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) during the 172nd Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) General Assembly, which will be held in Paris, June 20. The Group will be providing ten EVs, wrapped with the Busan logo, as transportation to the Korean delegation.
This initiative will promote Busan as a candidate for hosting the World Expo, to major figures from the BIE member countries as well as tourists from all over the world who are visiting Paris.
The Group’s EVs, wrapped with the logo ‘BUSAN is READY!’, will be driven around major tourist attractions in Paris, including the Louvre and Eiffel Tower. On June 21, when Korea’s official reception will be held, the vehicles will be used to provide transport for representatives of each country between the General Assembly hall and the reception hall. The transport fleet will feature the Hyundai IONIQ 5, IONIQ 6, and Kia EV6.
This year’s BIE General Assembly is also referred to as the ‘final gateway’ for the role it will play in deciding which country will host the 2030 World Expo. While the Korean delegation will be conducting its fourth presentation and engaged in intense bidding activities inside the General Assembly, outside, Hyundai Motor Group’s EVs will be the face of Busan, promoting the city to the world.
For the first time, the Group’s fleet of wrapped vehicles will comprise exclusively dedicated EVs. The decision was made in consideration of the vision of the Busan World Expo, which seeks a sustainable future under the theme of ‘Transforming Our World, Navigating Toward a Better Future.’ This is particularly fitting, as Hyundai Motor Group’s dedicated EVs have been consistently recognized and won major awards around the globe since last year, and further emphasize and promote the carbon neutral expo that Busan advocates.
The Group’s latest support initiative for Busan follows similar activities last year when it created a positive atmosphere by utilizing its eco-friendly vehicles. During the 170-171st BIE General Assembly in June and November 2022, the Group demonstrated vehicles wrapped with the Busan World Expo logo at major tourist attractions in Paris. The Hyundai IONIQ 5, Kona Electric, and Tucson models were driven around the BIE venue and major tourist attractions in the French capital to promote Busan. Read More
Hyundai Sets Course for Accelerated Electrification and Future Mobility Goals
Hyundai Motor Company hosted its highly anticipated ‘2023 CEO Investor Day’ in Seoul today, unveiling its visionary mid- to long-term business strategies and financial plans. With the aim of actively leveraging its knowledge and heritage of innovation from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, the company is committed to a successful transition to the electrification era through its newly introduced strategy, ‘Hyundai Motor Way.’
The company will implement this strategy and accelerate its transition toward becoming a smart mobility solution provider by securing a large-scale investment of KRW 109.4 trillion over the next 10 years. Furthermore, in order to secure leadership in the future mobility industry, it has decided to focus on future businesses, such as autonomous driving, hydrogen, robotics and advanced air mobility (AAM). Hyundai Motor is leveraging its heritage of innovation and knowledge accumulated over a long period of time as a traditional vehicle manufacturer amidst seismic change in the industry with competition intensifying in a bid for leadership in the electric vehicle (EV) market. The company announced that it will achieve a successful transition to electrification by efficiently and effectively leveraging its long experience in vehicle production and sales.
In particular, the company has decided to initiate its ‘Hyundai Motor Way’ strategy by securing KRW 109.4 trillion for its next decade investment, including KRW 35.8 trillion for electrification. The company aims for 2 million units in annual EV sales by 2030.
The key parts of the strategy include introducing a next-generation modular architecture for EVs, strengthening EV production capacity, battery development capabilities and future businesses. Read More
Oil and Gas News Undiluted !!! �The squeaky wheel gets the oil�
| Region | Period | Rig Count | Change from Prior |
| U.S.A | 16 June 2023 | 687 | -8 |
| Canada | 16 June 2023 | 159 | +23 |
| International | May 2023 | 965 | +18 |
OilandGasPress Energy Newsbites and Analysis Roundup | Compiled by: OGP Staff, Segun Cole @oilandgaspress.
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