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Mint
a day ago
- Business
- Mint
Luxembourg Probes Possible Wrongdoing in China CO2 Credits
Luxembourg authorities are looking into possible wrongdoing tied to carbon-credit projects based in China that have been tapped by European companies to reduce their CO2 footprints. 'The Prosecutor General's office is currently investigating the matter,' a spokesperson at Luxembourg's ministry of environment, climate and biodiversity told Bloomberg, declining to comment further. A spokesperson for Luxembourg's public prosecutor's office said the case concerns a complaint forwarded by the ministry in March and is 'currently being processed.' The office hasn't yet decided what action to take, the person said. Both the ministry and the prosecutor's office declined to name the companies or projects involved. The development follows an investigation launched in Germany last year, which led authorities in Europe's biggest economy to reject carbon credits tied to projects in China. Berlin's public prosecutor has also been investigating 17 employees at the verification bodies responsible for monitoring the projects. The probes highlight the difficulties companies in Europe face in navigating carbon credit markets as they look for ways to bring down their reported emissions in compliance with local regulations and climate targets. At the same time, the European Commission has proposed allowing member states to use carbon credits produced outside the region to make it easier to reach the bloc's 2040 emissions reduction target. The China-based projects being probed have been operating within a framework created under the European Fuel Quality Directive, and were run by international corporations that used European auditors. Germany's federal environment agency has previously indicated that it faces obstacles in advancing its probe, in part as investigators struggle to get access to the relevant projects in China. A carbon credit is supposed to represent one metric ton of CO2 that's been avoided, reduced or removed from the atmosphere. Credits tied to claims that emissions are being avoided have come under intense scrutiny in recent years after a number of underlying projects were found to have exaggerated their climate benefits. A study published earlier this month found that market-based checks and balances systematically fail to guarantee credit quality, amid what the study's authors characterized as perverse incentives for auditors. The China-based credits under investigation are so-called upstream emissions reductions , which allow companies to report lower emissions by funding measures that claimed to reduce pollution during the production of oil and gas. UERs have tended to trade at much higher prices than credits tied to the so-called voluntary carbon market or Europe's emissions trading system. UERs traded at around €440 a ton in 2022, but are currently priced at around €140 a ton, according to Argus Media. Earlier this month, the German environment agency won dismissal of a suit in an administrative court against its decision to cancel a project developer's UER certificates. According to the judges, the project didn't achieve any additional emission reductions. Whistleblower allegations last year helped spark Germany's investigation into the UER market. The country's 2024 probe led to the revocation of $20 million worth of credits after the identification of 'irregularities' in eight different projects in China. With assistance from Karin Matussek, Irina Reznik and Peter Chapman. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Russian Oil Discount Lowest Since Start of War Despite EU Push
Russia's flagship Urals crude is trading at its narrowest discount relative to benchmark prices since the Kremlin started its war against Ukraine in 2022, suggesting that fresh European sanctions have so far failed to make an impact. The grade shipped from Russia's western ports has traded at an average discount of $11.45 a barrel to the North Sea Dated marker in recent days, according to Argus Media data compiled by Bloomberg. That's the narrowest gap since February 2022, when Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Nikkei Asia
17-07-2025
- Business
- Nikkei Asia
Cobalt prices up as Congo extends export ban on EV battery metal
Congo accounted for 76% of global cobalt mine production in 2024, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. © Reuters SHUGO YAMADA TOKYO -- Prices of cobalt, used in electric-vehicle batteries, have soared since top exporter Congo halted exports, with some expecting the high prices to trigger a shift away from using the rare metal in batteries. The European spot price for cobalt came to around $17.50 per pound as of July 10, up about 50% from the start of 2025, according to U.K. research firm Argus Media. The approximately $11.50 price at the start of the year was the lowest level since 2016.
Reuters
07-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
US Gulf Coast fuel oil imports at record low as refiners opt for heavier crude
HOUSTON, July 7 (Reuters) - Fuel oil imports into the refinery hub on the U.S. Gulf Coast hit a record low in June as tighter global supplies prompted refiners to run more heavy, sour crude. When refineries run a heavier, sourer crude slate, they produce more heavy residue, which is either processed in a secondary unit to produce higher value products like gasoline or diesel. Gulf Coast-bound fuel oil imports hit a record low at 213,000 barrels per day in June, down from 233,000 bpd on the month, according to ship tracker, Kpler, compared with 430,000 bpd in June 2024. Refineries along the Gulf Coast account for more than 55% of total U.S. refining capacity. The dip was driven by a drop in Mexican crude volumes, which in June slipped to their lowest since April 2020, at just 22,000 bpd, down from 71,000 bpd on the month. Global high-sulphur fuel oil supplies have tightened as seasonal demand for power burn in the Middle East rises between June and August when air conditioning demand spikes, while U.S. sanctions on Russian oil have further tightened supplies in the long term analysts said. This has driven prices higher and made the feedstock a less economic refinery throughput compared with crude. The daily premium for high-sulphur fuel oil over the Mexican flagship, Maya heavy crude averaged $4.20 a barrel in May, the widest monthly average premium since October, according to prices from Argus Media. Gulf Coast refiners favor Maya as they typically run medium and heavy oil. Higher prices for high-sulphur fuel oil have driven refiners to process less of the feedstock and use more heavy crude, a refinery source said. "U.S. refiners are weighing up fuel oil against crude as a feedstock, and so we've seen lower imports, even with a low stock position, as the margins are just not quite as attractive to run more high-sulphur fuel oil over crude," said Austin Lin, principal analyst, refining and oil products at Wood Mackenzie. Longer term, U.S. refiners have been weaning off imported residual feedstocks and relying more on domestic output for refining, a changing crude diet with more heavy, medium crude imports, and tweaked refinery configurations, said Roslan Khasawneh, senior oil analyst at Kpler. "In part, this is why we have seen U.S. fuel oil inventories trending lower to multi-decade lows and slightly higher domestic fuel oil yields since mid to late last year," Khasawneh said. U.S. residual fuel oil stocks on the Gulf Coast fell last week to their lowest since March 1996, according to the Energy Information Administration, at 10.63 million barrels. "Gulf Coast imports have been on a clear downtrend since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, given the U.S. ban on Russian oil imports," Khasawneh added.
Business Recorder
25-06-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Chicago soy rises on oil rebound; wheat, corn fall on ample supply outlook
BEIJING: Chicago soybean and soyoil futures edged higher on Wednesday, supported by a rebound in oil prices as investors monitored the fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel. The most-active soybean contract rose 0.24% to $10.39-4/8 per bushel after three straight sessions of losses. Soyoil gained 0.78% to 53.02 cents per pound. 'Soybean and soyoil are taking a breather as they overshot a bit to the downside,' said Ole Houe, head of advisory services at IKON Commodities in Sydney. Oil prices edged higher after plummeting in the last two sessions, underpinning soyoil, which often tracks crude because it is used in biofuel as a substitute for fossil fuel. 'The crude oil market has stabilised at levels marginally higher than before the Israel-Iran war so that has given some confidence we don't need to slide too much for now,' Houe said. Warm, rainy weather in the US Midwest is expected to aid crop development in the coming days, according to forecasters. Corn eased 0.06% to $4.16 a bushel, hovering near this year's lowest level, as benign weather across the US Corn Belt and strong global crop prospects pressured prices. In Brazil, farmers are estimated to produce a record 123.3 million metric tons of second corn, agribusiness consultancy Agroconsult said on Tuesday. China's May soybean imports from Brazil jump Second corn, which Brazilian farmers are harvesting now, will account for about 80% of national output this year. It is mainly exported in the second half, competing with US corn suppliers on global markets. Wheat slid 0.45% to $5.49-4/8 a bushel, weighed by a strong production outlook across the northern hemisphere and accelerating harvest activity. Argus Media raised its forecast for Russia's 2025-26 wheat output to 84.8 million tons, up from 81.3 million tons a year ago.
