Australia's biggest takeover bids never came to fruition
The merger talks between Rio Tinto & Glencore failed after both sides could not resolve their differences on valuation. This ended months of negotiations about a tie up that would have created?the world's largest mining firm with a value market exceeding $200 billion. The following is a list containing some of the biggest failed mergers and purchases involving Australian companies in the last three years. After months of discussions, the takeover talks between mining giant Rio Tinto and Glencore came to an end.
Oil majors buy up West African oil blocks to prepare for the next Brazil
Chevron, TotalEnergies and other oil majors are snatching up offshore blocks off the coast of West and Southern Africa. Geology, regulatory reforms and the need to replenish the reserves have prompted the search for the next Brazil. Companies are restocking oil and gas assets as fossil fuel demand is expected to remain higher than forecasted just a few short years ago. Justin Cochrane is the African Upstream Regional Research Director for S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Norway Parliament Rejects Challenge to LNG Plant's Power Supply Plan
Norway's parliament on Thursday rejected a proposal to block Equinor's plan to supply electricity to its Hammerfest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant from the region's power grid, allowing the ongoing development to continue.Opposition parties had sought to revoke the LNG plant's planned link to the power grid, but the motion failed when the Socialist Party withdrew its support for the plan, calling it "in practice unlawful".A total of 48 members of parliament, known as the Storting, backed the opposition's proposal while 54 voted against."For Equinor and our part
French spots are affected by the warmer temperatures and increasing wind supply
The French spot electricity price for Thursday dropped as the wind energy supply was expected to increase and demand to drop due to warmer weather. By 0942 GMT, the French 'day-ahead' baseload had fallen 12% to 77 euros ($91.01). LSEG data show that the German day-ahead basisload was not traded with a bid of 105.50 euro/MWh. LSEG data revealed that German wind power generation is expected to?drop by 1 GW this Thursday to 25.4 GW while French?wind energy was expected to rise 1.5 GW up to 10.3 GW.
Norway Socialist Party Withdraws Support for LNG Electricity Project Opposition
Norway's Socialist Party has withdrawn its support for a proposal to block Equinor's Hammerfest liquefied natural gas plant from receiving a planned onshore power connection, clearing the way for the grid development to proceed.Parliament is due on Thursday to vote on an opposition proposal seeking to revoke the LNG plant's planned link to the power grid, but the motion is likely to fail without backing from the Socialist Party.The government approved the connection in 2023 to cut greenhouse gas emissions at the plant on Melkoeya island off Hammerfest and extend i
Count down to CMA Shipping 2026
The count down is on for this year’s CMA Shipping 2026 conference and exhibition taking place from 10–12 March 2026 at the Hilton Stamford Hotel in Stamford, Connecticut. Organised by the Connecticut Maritime Association (CMA) and Informa Markets, this flagship event is set to bring together the most influential voices in the maritime industry for three days of industry networking, knowledge sharing, and innovation.CMA Shipping 2026 features a robust conference agenda designed to address the most pressing issues facing the maritime sector.
Prices drop due to lower gas prices and more nuclear
On Monday, the German baseload contract for 2027 dropped as European benchmark gas fell. Several nuclear reactors?returned to operation at the weekend and more are expected to?restart?this week. At 0934 GMT the German baseload price for the year ahead was down 1.2% to 83.90 euros per megawatt hour, while its equivalent French price was not traded with a bid price of 49.10 euro/MWh. Mind Energy analysts say that the German forward power market will drop on Monday as a result of milder weather, declining gas prices and retreating CO2.
Mozambique and TotalEnergies launch $20 billion LNG project
TotalEnergies and Mozambique agreed to restart construction of the French energy giant's $20 billion "liquefied natural gas" project in the country on Thursday, even though they are still negotiating over the additional costs associated with delays. Construction on the project was stopped in 2021 after a series of jihadist attacks in Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique. TotalEnergies has added equity to its partners' projects after some investors pulled out. It announced late last year that it was ready for work to resume.
Australia reaches new renewable milestone over 50%
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), a'statement made on Thursday,' said that Australia had achieved a clean energy milestone in the quarter ending December, despite a rise of over 2,2% in power demand from a year earlier. The gas-fired generation has fallen to its lowest levels since 2000. Meanwhile, the total electricity production across the National Electricity Market grew 3.1% from one year ago to just under 25,000 megawatts. The share of generation from renewables increased by 5 percentage points compared to a year earlier, and now exceeds 50%.
MIDEAST - STOCKS-Major Gulf stock exchanges gain from earnings and oil
Investors focused on rising oil prices and corporate earnings as they boosted the major Gulf stock exchanges in the early trading on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index rose?0.4%. Oil major Saudi Aramco gained?1.2%. Alinma Bank gained 2.6% after a dramatic increase in net profit. In a separate filing to the bourse, the bank proposed a capital raise through bonus shares. It would grant one bonus share per five shares held. Crude oil prices, a major catalyst for Gulf financial markets, rose further on Wednesday.
Kuwait Readies $7b Pipeline Deal as Gulf Turns to Foreign Investors
Gulf governments are stepping up infrastructure deals with foreign investors, with Kuwait set to launch an oil pipeline network stake sale as soon as February in a deal that could raise up to $7 billion, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.The shift comes as oil prices, down more than 25% in two years, sit below levels needed to fund the Gulf’s diversification plans. Governments are now offering investors access to assets once off limits - from pipelines to power plants - to bring in pension funds…
French baseload prices jump as the wind is expected to decrease, German prices lag
The French baseload contract increased on Tuesday as a result of expectations for lower wind power, higher demand, and a strike in the country's coal-fired power plants. Meanwhile, it is expected that the German market will?fall. LSEG data shows that the French day-ahead power contract jumped by 30.6% at 0929 GMT to?128 euros ($151.91) a megawatt hour. The German equivalent contract increased by 0.9% to 134 Euro/MWh. LSEG data shows that German wind power production is expected to increase by 8.3 gigawatts to 24 GW on Wednesday…
PJM, the largest US power grid, issues alerts when storms increase energy demand
The largest U.S. grid PJM announced on Tuesday that it had issued additional alerts to transmission & generation firms, as a'monster winter -storm' looked to be bringing unprecedented energy demand. The operator, who serves 13 states and District of Columbia, sent out Maximum Generation and Load?alerts to companies, asking them to determine if maintenance or testing could be postponed or cancelled to keep the units online during this critical period. These alerts let other systems 'know' that PJM could'reduce its electricity exports.
The US Electric Grid is stressed by the cold weather
Electric grid operators in the U.S. took extra precautions on Saturday to avoid rotating blackouts, as frigid temperatures hit half of America's population. The PJM Interconnection – the largest?U.S. The PJM Interconnection, which serves 67,000,000 people in the East and Mid-Atlantic region, reported temporary spikes of wholesale spot?electricity? prices that rose above $3,000 per megawatt-hour on Saturday morning. Earlier levels were less than $200. Gridraven CEO Georg Rute is an expert in how weather impacts power line capacity.
Venture Global soars following arbitration victory in case brought by Spain’s Repsol
Venture Global shares soared by nearly 8% after an arbitral tribunal ruled in the U.S. supplier of liquefied gas,?in a dispute between Spain's Repsol. Repsol filed the lawsuit?in?2023 due to Venture Global's failure to deliver LNG under a long-term 20-year contract. The International Chamber of Commerce in Paris denied Repsol’s claims and determined that the U.S. firm had acted in accordance with their agreement as a “reasonable?and prudent operator”. Venture Global, second largest LNG exporter in the U.S.
Kinder Morgan beats quarterly profit estimates on strong natgas demand
Kinder Morgan, which is a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Inc., beat Wall Street's expectations on Wednesday for its fourth-quarter profits. This was due to higher volumes transported by its pipelines. In extended trading, shares of the pipeline operator increased 1.4% to $28.99. U.S. Midstream Companies such as Kinder Morgan benefit from the surge in oil production and natural gas demand in the Permian Basin. This is due to record exports of liquefied gas and an increase in power generation linked to artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency mining, and data centers.
Kazakhstan's Tengiz Oil Field to Remain Shut for Another 7-10 Days
Oil production at Kazakhstan's vast Tengiz oil field, one of the world's largest, could be halted for another 7-10 days after shutting down on Sunday, cutting crude exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, three industry sources told Reuters.The field's operator Tengizchevroil (TCO) said on Monday that due to power supply problems, production at the Tengiz and Korolevskoye field had been stopped.A day earlier, on January 18, a fire broke out at two turbine transformers at the field's GTES-4 power station…
Western Midstream renegotiates Occidental's contracts in the Delaware Basin
Western Midstream Partners, the operator of a pipeline in Delaware Basin, announced on Tuesday that it had renegotiated contracts for its Delaware Basin assets with Occidental Petroleum. The new contract provides a "simpler fixed fee structure" for natural gas gathering. Western Midstream will receive 15.3 million units of common stock worth $610 million as part of the deal. This would reduce Occidental's ownership by about 40% once the units have been redeemed. According to LSEG data, the U.S. shale producers is Western's largest shareholder.
Smulders to Deliver Jacket Foundation for French Offshore Wind Substation
Engineering firm Smulders has been selected by Chantiers de l’Atlantique to execute the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the offshore substation jacket foundation for the 600MW Dunkerque offshore wind farm in France.The jacket foundation will support the offshore substation for the project, with France’s electricity transmission operator RTE acting as the end client.Final assembly and delivery are scheduled to take place at Smulders’ French yard in Fos-sur-Mer.Smulders’ scope includes detailed engineering…
Origin Energy, Australia's coal-fired power station in NSW, will continue to operate until 2029
Origin Energy announced on Tuesday that it will extend the operation all four?units?of its Eraring Power?Station?toApril 2029 to support energy supplies in New South Wales. Eraring's 2,880-megawatt coal-fired power plant was scheduled to close in August 2027. A December report from the Australian Energy 'Market Operator (AEMO), however, said that Sydney could experience blackouts if the plant is retired as planned. Australia aims to meet 82% of its energy needs with'renewable sources' by 2030.