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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Reuters unveils Reuters Open Interest, a new data-driven market and finance commentary product
By Anna Szymanski -Reuters on Monday announced the launch of Reuters Open Interest (ROI), a new source for data-driven, expert commentary on market and economic trends for financial professionals. Drawing on Reuters footprint in 200 locations around the world, ROI provides a global perspective on the biggest financial and economic topics of the day. ROI is available to LSEG customers via Workspace and to Reuters users via and Reuters newsletters. In a time of great uncertainty in the global economy and financial markets, ROI helps readers make sense of the news with a panel of experienced in-house columnists and outside experts from the financial industry and academia. Their blend of subject matter expertise, analytical capabilities and use of data visualizations will provide readers with a deeper understanding of the trends driving capital allocation decisions worldwide. New formats and offerings will continue to be added as ROI grows. ROI expands on the authoritative fact-based coverage that Reuters is known for, with distinctive takes on financial and economic topics. The new offering builds on Reuters track record of delivering incisive commentary through Breakingviews, which provides agenda-setting financial insight in real time to corporate boardrooms, investors and policymakers. Breakingviews, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, has continued to innovate for subscribers via new features like 'The Big View' and a newly relaunched podcast. ROI's commentary covers a range of topics, including macroeconomics, foreign exchange markets, commodities, equities, bonds and emerging markets. Columnists bring more than 150 years of combined experience and include Ron Bousso on energy, Karen Braun on agriculture, Mike Dolan on markets, Andy Home on metals, Gavin Maguire on renewables, Jamie McGeever on markets and Clyde Russell on Asia commodities. Some external experts featured on the site in recent months include sovereign debt experts Lee Buchheit and Mitu Gulati; financial author Marty Fridson; Stephanie Guild, CIO of Robinhood Markets; Eurizon SLJ CEO Stephen Jen; investment strategist Joachim Klement; Mike Peacock, former Reuters Senior Editor; Jay Pelosky, founder of TPW Advisory; Manishi Raychaudhuri, CEO of Emmer Capital Partners Limited; and Fidelity International portfolio manager Taosha Wang. For more information on ROI, search ROI on Workspace or on here. (Anna Szymanski) Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Melden Sie sich an, um Ihr Portfolio aufzurufen. Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Europe's Grid Buckles Under Its Own Future
Monday's massive power outage in Spain and Portugal, Europe's worst blackout, triggered a lot of questions, concerns, and a blame game of who done it. On Monday midday, a sudden massive outage hit the electricity transmission systems of Spain and Portugal, and briefly parts of France, in a very rare blackout in Europe, whose causes are yet to be determined. The blackout, which began at around 12:00 PM GMT on Monday, hit major cities and transportation networks, leaving authorities scrambling to restore power and ascertain the underlying cause. Airports grounded flights, hospitals postponed routine surgeries, while authorities in both Spain and Portugal declared a state of emergency. Internet and mobile phone services were were quick to point the finger at renewable energy—solar power provided nearly 60% of Spain's electricity generation immediately before the massive loss of power, while wind energy accounted for another 10%. Initial speculation swirled around a possible cyber attack or the high dependence of the grid on renewable power generation. Spain and the EU are investigating the cause, but it appears that a cyber attack could be ruled out. 'On Monday 28 April, between 12:38 and 13:30 CET, Spain's transmission system was disconnected from the European grid at the 400 kV level due to an issue with a power line connecting French and Spanish Catalonia. The fault triggered a domino disrupting electricity supply not only in Spain but also in Portugal, Andorra, and parts of France,' said Eurelectric, the federation of the European electricity industry. What's certain is that there wasn't a shortage of electricity generation before the event. There were reports of anomalous oscillations in the high-voltage lines before the power shut down. These oscillations caused synchronization failures between the electrical systems and eventually ended in disturbances across the interconnected European network, Eurelectric said. One possible reason for the massive loss of power could be the insufficient grid inertia, which is critical for maintaining a steady frequency. While stable baseload power generators such as gas power plants or nuclear power have spinning generators creating inertia, solar and wind power don't have rotating generators to keep the inertia long enough to keep the grid frequency in case of sudden power loss, Reuters Energy Columnist Ron Bousso notes. Grids need to have their frequency stable at 50 Hertz to ensure a steady power supply. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said suggestions that Spain's high share of renewable energy was to blame for the outage were 'lies'. 'Those linking the blackout to the lack of nuclear power are either lying or demonstrating their ignorance,' Sanchez the cause, the worst blackout in Europe and the first major system collapse in the era of booming renewable energy installations highlighted the need for investments in storage and grid resilience. Spain's 'extraordinary event is a stark reminder that the grid is the backbone of our society. With electricity playing an increasingly important role in our society, we need to create all the conditions for enable a secure electricity supply,' Eurelectric said. David Brayshaw, Professor of Climate Science and Energy Meteorology at the University of Reading in the UK, commented on the blackout, 'If something on the network — a generator, a power line, or even a large electricity user — suddenly disappears, it creates a supply-demand imbalance and the system frequency starts to shift.' Brayshaw noted that if the shift becomes too large, other components can trip offline, 'creating a snowball effect that worsens the imbalance and can trigger a major blackout — sometimes within seconds.' The Spanish blackout unfolded in a matter of seconds. Dr Omid Shariati, lecturer in Sustainable Technologies at the University of Reading, said that 'a single transmission line failure shouldn't cause widespread blackouts if proper security planning is in place.' But the expert noted that 'no grid is 100% secure, and there's always a small risk of multiple severe problems happening at once.' In the case of Europe, where renewable energy installations are booming, the grid is not ready to handle all that new inverter-based – not inertia-creating – supply. Analysts and forecasters have been warning for years that investment in grid capacity, resilience, and transmission lines is lagging behind the rollout of renewables. Grid investments are lagging behind renewable additions and a lack of transmission capacity could hold back the energy transition, think tank Ember said in a report last year. 'Making sure solar and wind can actually connect to the system is as critical as the panels and turbines themselves,' says Elisabeth Cremona, Energy & Climate Data Analyst at Ember. 'There is no transition without transmission.' The EU and the world as a whole are unprepared for the massive roll-out of wind and solar—investments in grids are currently insufficient to handle the boom, while energy storage is also behind the curve of renewable power generation. 'As Europe ramps up renewable energy deployment and increasingly electrifies the economy, electricity production and demand are expected to double by 2050,' Agora Energiewende, a think tank, said in a report in 2024. 'A high number of additional generators and consumers will be connected to the power grid at the distribution level. This poses challenges to the existing infrastructure which was not built to handle such increased loads.' By Tsvetana Paraskova for More Top Reads From this article on
The Hindu
22-04-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Europe can ride LNG wave to build strategic gas reserves
Ron Bousso European governments may have a rare window of opportunity to build up strategic gas stockpiles in the coming years to help manage supply shocks that could become more common if geopolitical tensions keep rising. Europe has long been dependent on energy imports, particularly natural gas. North Sea production, primarily in Norway, is the main regional source but accounts for only around a third of consumption. The dangers of this acute dependency were laid bare when Moscow started reducing its huge volume of supplies to Europe in the lead up to its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, plunging the region into its biggest energy crisis in decades. Europe has successfully reduced Russian pipeline imports to near zero since then, but it has consequently become highly dependent on liquefied natural gas imports, at a huge cost to businesses, consumers and governments. LNG today makes up over a third of European supplies, with 45% coming from the United States and another 19% from Russia in 2024. Beyond LNG, Europe imports gas from Norway, North Africa and Turkey via pipeline. This might seem like a relatively diversified supply matrix. But it isn't hard to imagine scenarios that could severely disrupt supplies: physical or cyberattacks on North Sea infrastructure, civil war in Algeria or Libya, Gulf Coast hurricanes, or war with Iran and subsequent disruption in the Straits of Hormuz, a choke point for 20% of the world's oil and gas. In another scenario, which might have seemed far-fetched only a few months ago, the United States could restrict exports of oil and gas in order to lower domestic prices under the 1950 Defense Production Act, which grants the president control over supply of critical materials and services. Strategic thinking Given the growing list of potential risks, Europe would be wise to create a comprehensive plan for storing and managing natural gas to avoid a repeat of the 2022 shock. Several major economies, including the United States, Britain, EU members, China and Australia, today hold strategic oil reserves, typically equivalent to 90 days of their fuel consumption. These strategic petroleum reserves, created following the 1973 Arab oil embargo, have been tapped several times to help with severe disruptions, including in the wake of the Ukraine war, the 2011 civil war in Libya and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Europe already has huge gas storage facilities in underground salt caverns and aquifers that have capacity to hold around a quarter of Europe's annual consumption of around 400 billion cubic metres, when combining the EU and Britain. These inventories are regularly filled during the summer months to be drawn on in winter. LNG import terminals also offer a modest amount of additional storage capacity. These are commercial inventories that are mostly governed by market forces. The European Union has tried to centrally manage reserves since 2022, introducing rules that require countries to fill 90% of storage capacity by November 1. But the requirements have led to rising prices, thus complicating traders' effort to refill storage. The EU has also tried to jointly buy LNG in large volumes in order to reduce costs, but had little traction in the market. Therefore, a government-run storage system that buys and sells gas independently and with state financing appears to be a more viable solution to prepare for emergencies. Ride the wave How much gas can and should Europe store? Those are complex questions given costs and technical restrictions. Europe could emulate its oil SPR system, which holds at least three months-worth of demand, but that seems a tall order given the significant cost it would entail of around $34 billion at today's prices and the storage capacity currently available. Such scale might not be required, however. Holding just two months' worth of LNG imports in strategic reserves, or around 20 bcm, would offer the European market a significant buffer against a rupture in supplies, buying precious time to reroute LNG cargoes to the region, similar to how the SPR helped deal with oil market disruption. A transatlantic tanker voyage typically lasts around two weeks. European governments could use some of the many depleted oil and gas fields dotted across the North Sea to store strategic gas reserves. Such a programme would certainly not be cheap: 20 bcm of gas is valued at $7 billion at today's benchmark TTF prices, and then there is the cost of building the infrastructure. But a wave of new LNG supply is set to come on stream in the next few years, mostly in the United States and Qatar, which should help keep gas prices relatively low and steady compared to recent volatility. Taking advantage of these favourable conditions to build up a comprehensive gas storage mechanism would leave the region much better prepared for whatever emergency is next coming down the pike. (The author is a columnist for Reuters)
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Benchmark diesel price up first time in 3 weeks, futures markets edge higher
For the first time in three weeks, the benchmark price used for most fuel surcharges has risen. The weekly average retail diesel price published by the Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration rose 1.8 cents a gallon to $3.567. It comes after three weeks of declines that totaled 14.8 cents a gallon. The price of diesel in the futures market has been gradually climbing higher but in small increments compared to the volatility that has been a feature of markets for five years, pushed down at first by COVID and then boosted by the Russian invasion of the past few weeks, possibly because confusion about tariff policy makes forecasting oil prices difficult, prices generally have traded in a relatively narrow range. However, the price of ultra low sulfur diesel on the CME commodity exchange in the past week has taken a relatively strong upward move. Two steps by the Trump administration have contributed to that increase. One was the move last week to increase sanctions against Iranian shipments of oil, including singling out a small Chinese refinery that had been a buyer of crude from on Monday, a threat to put a 25% tariff on any country buying Venezuelan crude brought another bullish reaction. However, much of that spike was mostly gone by the end of the day, and ULSD was up just 0.75 cents a gallon to settle at $2.2571. Still, that is up 9.48 cents a gallon from a recent low of $2.1622 on March 13 and up more than 6 cents since Tuesday. An article by Reuters published Friday questioned why diesel prices have not risen further, saying the price level of the fuel is 'increasingly disconnected from tightening supply and demand conditions, reflecting deepening concerns over the outlook for global economic activity.' The argument by commodities columnist Ron Bousso is that diesel prices relative to crude should be higher. He cited various statistics about inventory levels and industrial activity, which are the backbone of diesel demand. 'Everything about this supply-demand picture points toward rising diesel prices, yet the profit margin refiners make from converting crude oil into diesel has fallen well below the seasonal levels seen in recent years,' he said. ULSD on CME at the end of January was running about 65 cents a gallon more than the cost of global crude benchmark Brent, converted into gallons. The past few days, the spread has hovered around 50 cents a gallon, though in the past several trading days it has started to move up a few cents per gallon. A year ago, the spread was trading near 60 cents a gallon. 'The diesel price disconnect suggests that this negative sentiment – the deep uncertainty concerning the direction of global trade and manufacturing – is trumping the reality of tight supply-demand dynamics in the physical market,' Bousso wrote. 'While the weakening diesel price may ultimately end up being an accurate signal – if the feared contraction in global economic activity materializes – investors may be getting ahead of themselves.'More articles by John Kingston Trucking company owner gets almost 4 years in prison for lying to FMCSA Clash on legal status of California transportation waivers highlighted at TCA Carriers big and small at TCA wait for signs of freight market turnaround The post Benchmark diesel price up first time in 3 weeks, futures markets edge higher appeared first on FreightWaves. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Time has come to ramp up U.S. gas output, BP CEO says
By Ron Bousso HOUSTON - BP is set to ramp up U.S. natural gas production in its onshore shale operations following the recent rise in domestic gas prices, CEO Murray Auchincloss said on Tuesday. "With rising gas prices, the time has come for the Haynesville" basin in eastern Texas, Auchincloss told the CERAWeek conference in Houston. Benchmark U.S. natural gas prices have more than doubled over the past year to around $4.4 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) as new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals along the Gulf Coast ramped up. Last year, BP produced 434,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in its onshore U.S. shale operations. Of that, 264,000 boepd was natural gas, mostly associated with crude oil output, according to full-year results. It operated two rigs in the Haynesville basin compared with four rigs in the oil-rich Permian and four more in the Eagle Ford basins. It has 5.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas reserves in the U.S. onshore shale basin. Last month, Auchincloss announced plans to slash investments in renewable energy and increase annual spending on oil and gas to $10 billion, a major strategy shift aimed at boosting earnings and investor confidence. BP now aims to grow oil and gas production to between 2.3 million and 2.5 million boepd in 2030, after scrapping a previous goal to reduce output during the decade. The U.S. will play a central role in the renewed focus on oil and gas, along with the Middle East, Auchincloss said. Last year, BP gave the green light for the development of the Kaskida oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico, which lies in a highly complex geological structure called the Paleogene. BP plans to go ahead with a second Paleogene development, Tiber, later this year, Auchincloss said. "We have a fabulous position here in the Gulf of America. In the Paleogene we have 10 billion barrels (of oil and gas resource) in place," he said. BP plans to explore for further resource in the basin, he said. "We think this is the next wave of development in the Paleogene in the Gulf of America." Sign in to access your portfolio
