Genesis secures more gas to curb New Zealand shortages

: Coal, Electricity, Natural gas, Petrochemicals
24/08/13

New Zealand upstream firm and utility Genesis Energy has secured emergency gas supplies for its dual gas- and coal-fired Huntly power station on the North Island.

Genesis has secured 3.2PJ (86mn m³) of gas to allow the 400MW No.5 unit at Huntly to reach full capacity for the first time this winter, it said on 13 August, describing the electricity grid as facing "unprecedented pressure".

An agreement has been reached with Canadian methanol manufacturer Methanex, which will shut its Motunui plants in the North Island's Taranaki province until the end of October to allow for more gas-fired power generation, Genesis said.

The commercial arrangements regarding the gas transfer are structured to provide Methanex with a base price for each unit of gas delivered, with further incremental value shared between the parties depending on electricity pricing over the period, it said on 12 August. Methanex's 1.72mn t/yr plant in Motunui has paused production in the past, also diverting feedstock natural gas to support electricity generation in the winter of 2021.

The 953MW Huntly — New Zealand's largest power station by capacity and the country's only coal-fired unit, has been under significant strain as dry, cold conditions have led to increased demand during winter as hydroelectricity inflows remain low. New Zealand has also experienced light winds cutting expected wind-powered generation this winter, with Genesis planning coal imports for the first time since 2022 in response to lower domestic gas output and rapidly falling coal stocks.

LNG imports investigated

New Zealand energy minister Simeon Brown told parliament on 7 August his administration was investigating two separate options to ease the gas shortfall in the short to medium term.

Industry body the Gas Industry Company (GIC) is studying the feasibility of importing LNG, while also considering policies to increase investment in flexible gas-fired generation, Brown said. Data from upstream firms released earlier this year show a significant drop in proven plus probable reserves, falling from 1,635PJ to 1,300PJ, he added.

Gas production into open access pipelines was 58.8PJ during January-June, GIC said in its April-June quarterly report, 20pc down on 73.7PJ a year earlier, while gas-fired power demand grew by 10pc against April-June 2023.

New Zealand's National Party-led government is aiming to overturn a 2018 ban on new oil and gas exploration with legislation to be introduced to parliament later this year.

By Tom Major

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25/07/17

Brazil's Cade clears Braskem stake transfer

Sao Paulo, 17 July (Argus) — Brazil's antitrust watchdog Cade approved without restrictions the sale of Novonor's stake in petrochemical major Braskem to investment fund Petroquimica Verde, controlled by businessman Nelson Tanure. Initially disclosed in May , the R7.7bn ($1.38bn) deal involves the transfer of shares held by NSP Investimentos, a Novonor vehicle that owns 50.1pc of Braskem's voting capital. With the regulatory green light, the transaction now enters a 15-day legal window for third-party comments or potential review by Cade. The possible shift in control of Braskem, one of Latin America's largest petrochemical companies, could mark a strategic turning point. Petroquimica Verde, which has expressed interest in expanding its footprint in the sector, would assume the company's leadership if the deal is finalized. Despite the favorable ruling, key hurdles remain. Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petrobras, which holds approximately 47pc of Braskem's voting shares, has a right of first refusal. Additionally, unresolved issues related to financial liabilities and environmental claims, such as the land subsidence case in Maceio , in northeastern Alagoas state, continue to generate uncertainty in the market. Investors are closely monitoring the process. A change in ownership could bring shifts in governance and corporate strategy, potentially impacting the performance of Braskem's shares traded on the Sao Paulo stock exchange B3, the New York Stock Exchange NYSE and Madrid's Latibex exchange. Braskem's sale is critical for Novonor, which intends to use any proceeds to repay R14bn ($2.47bn) in debt to creditors. Novonor — formerly known as Odebrecht — is currently undergoing a judicial recovery process. Braskem is the largest producer of thermoplastic resins in the Americas and a leader in biopolymer production. Tanure, a Brazilian entrepreneur known for acquiring and restructuring distressed companies, has been involved in high-profile investments in sectors including energy and real estate. His portfolio includes stakes in power company Light, real estate firm Gafisa and independent oil company Prio. Braskem reported a first quarter profit of $114mn on 12 May, recovering from a $273mn loss a year earlier and a $967mn loss in the fourth quarter of 2024. By Fred Fernandes Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

New tariff threat could disrupt Mexico GDP outlook

25/07/16

New tariff threat could disrupt Mexico GDP outlook

Mexico City, 16 July (Argus) — Mexico's association of finance executives IMEF held its 2025 GDP growth forecast steady at 0.1pc in its July survey but warned the outlook could deteriorate if the US raises tariffs to 30pc. The survey of 43 analysts maintained projections for year-end inflation at 4pc and for the central bank's benchmark interest rate to fall from 8pc to 7.5pc by the end of 2025. The sharpest variation came in formal employment, after Mexico's social security administration IMSS reported a net loss of 139,444 formal jobs in the second quarter. IMEF cut its 2025 job creation forecast to 160,000 from 190,000 in June — the seventh and largest downgrade this year. Job losses increased in April, May and June, "a situation not seen since the pandemic in 2020," IMEF said. "If this trend is not reversed, the net number of formal jobs could fall to zero by year-end." "It is still too early to call it a recession, but the rise in job losses is worrying," said Victor Herrera, head of economic studies at IMEF. "The next risk we face is in auto plants. Some halted production after the 25pc US tariff was imposed in April. They did not lay off workers right away — they sent them home with half pay. But if this is not resolved in the next 60-90 days, layoffs will follow." The July survey was conducted before US president Donald Trump said on 12 July he would raise tariffs on Mexican goods from 25pc to 30pc starting 1 August. "What we have seen in the past is that when the deadline comes, the tariffs are postponed or canceled," Herrera said. "Hopefully, that happens again. If not, you can expect GDP forecasts to shift into contraction territory." While the full impact would vary by sector, Herrera said the effective average tariff rate would rise from 4pc to 15pc, with most exports either exempt or subject to reduced rates under regional content rules. But 8–10pc of auto exports would face the full 30pc duty. IMEF expects the peso to end 2025 at Ps20.1/$1, stronger than the Ps20.45/$1 estimate in June. But the group warned that rising Japanese rates — which influence currency carry trades — and falling Mexican rates could put renewed pressure on the peso once the dollar rebounds. For 2026, the GDP growth forecast dropped to 1.3pc from 1.5pc, while the peso is seen ending that year at Ps20.75/$1, slightly stronger than the previous Ps20.90/$1 forecast. By James Young Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

US refiners lobby to revive expired biofuel credits

25/07/16

US refiners lobby to revive expired biofuel credits

New York, 16 July (Argus) — A group of small oil refiners asked US officials at a recent meeting to not just grant exemptions from years-old biofuel blend mandates but to also provide lucrative program credits they can sell to other companies. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed record-high biofuel blend mandates for the next two years, but farm groups fear that a backlog of exemption requests threaten those targets. There are more than 180 unresolved exemption requests stretching over 10 years after courts struck down various denials during former-president Joe Biden's term. Under the Renewable Fuel Standard, oil refiners and importers must annually blend biofuels or buy Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits from those that do. But refiners that process 75,000 b/d or less of crude and can prove "disproportionate economic hardship" are able to request full exemptions which can mean tens of millions of dollars in reduced compliance costs. In a 20 May meeting with EPA officials, a coalition of small refiners made the case that President Donald Trump's administration should not just grant broad relief from 2019-2022 mandates but also issue "replacement RINs" for any refiners that already complied. EPA should issue these RINs "with adequate lead time" before compliance deadlines and ensure they have "adequate shelf life", according to a proposal shared with EPA by a coalition lawyer and obtained by Argus through a Freedom of Information Act request. The agency should even consider giving companies more credits than they submitted if RINs are cheaper now, the group argued. RINs from those years are otherwise expired and would be useless if returned as is. "Hardship relief is more critical now than ever", the group of 14 companies argues, given rising biofuel quotas. The issue is politically tricky for EPA, since widespread waivers threaten biofuel and crop demand, and has been the subject of numerous court fights over the years. The first Trump administration handed out exemptions generously , but current officials have not yet staked out a clear position. EPA told Argus it is taking steps "to reduce the backlog as soon as possible". Living RIN the past EPA could potentially return credits on a staggered timeline or impose conditions on their use to avert market turmoil, according to lawyers and lobbyists experienced in waiver issues. The proposal alludes to this, noting however that "any conditions on RIN return that are intended to address potential market reactions must strike the appropriate balance to ensure flexibility to small refineries". Biofuel groups have lobbied against retroactive waivers but said that EPA could minimize the damage by making other oil companies blend more biofuels. The agency should ensure that any exemptions "will be made up in the market", said Emily Skor, president of ethanol lobby Growth Energy, at a hearing last week. But the refiners' proposal argues that EPA is not required to do so if it grants exemptions retroactively. The agency has estimated future exemptions when calculating the percentage of biofuels individual refiners must blend — frustrating large producers that then shoulder more of the burden of meeting high-level targets — but doing the same with past-year waivers is more legally risky. The small refiners float a less aggressive approach for other compliance years. The proposal notably makes no reference to petitions for relief from 2016-2018 quotas. EPA under Biden rejected 31 petitions for those years but did not require companies to surrender additional RINs, potentially making any push for extra relief a tougher sell despite courts' skepticism of the underlying denials. And for 2023 and beyond, the refiners say that EPA should rely on "merit-driven scoring". EPA already consults with the Department of Energy, which scores hardship for individual applicants, though the importance of this feedback has varied over the program's history. The coalition also wants EPA to rescind three 2023 compliance year denials issued during the final days of Biden's term, which affected two Calumet refineries and one CVR Energy refinery. RINto the future The coalition's proposal is notable since small refiners — apart from a handful recently calling for a "seat at the table" — have largely not publicized their asks of the Trump administration, leading traders to speculate wildly on policy shifts. RIN prices have been volatile as a result. The coalition includes 14 companies that submitted 41 petitions that courts have told EPA to reconsider as well as 37 requests for more recent years, the proposal says. They are represented by independent attorney Claudia O'Brien, who did not respond to a request for comment. The documents obtained by Argus do not list all companies involved in the effort, but lawyers for Calumet, Par Pacific and Placid Refining were scheduled to attend the May meeting in person with top EPA appointees Aaron Szabo and Alexander Dominguez, while others attended virtually. O'Brien said in a separate email that Hunt Refining, REH Company, and Ergon were part of the coalition. The policy requests represent the position of one group and not necessarily all 34 refineries EPA estimates are eligible for future waivers. It is not clear how officials responded at the meeting or what options they are weighing now. EPA wants to finalize new blend mandates before November and has said it plans to communicate its approach to exemptions beforehand. By Cole Martin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Trump touts $92bn in investments in AI, energy

25/07/15

Trump touts $92bn in investments in AI, energy

Washington, 15 July (Argus) — President Donald Trump said today his administration would fast-track permitting and take other steps to support billions of dollars in recently announced investments in Pennsylvania tied to artificial intelligence and energy production. Trump said an estimated $92bn in investments announced Tuesday would ensure the future will be "designed, built and made right here in Pennsylvania." The investments include data centers to support artificial intelligence, gas-fired power plants, nuclear power plants, pipeline upgrades, and natural gas supply agreements, although many of the projects announced appear to be early in development. "We're building a future where American workers will forge the steel, produce the energy, build the factories," Trump said at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University. Among the projects are plans to invest billions of dollars on the redevelopment of retired coal plants into sites that would host new gas-fired plants that would be co-located with data centers. Technology firms hope that developing data centers next to power plants will sidestep the years-long wait that would be required to upgrade the grid to supply their facilities with electricity. "You're going to build your own electric factory, and you're gonna make your own electricity," Trump said. "You can sell it back into the grid, you'll even make money from the electric business." Those projects include a plan by the firm Frontier Group to develop the site of the retired 2.7GW Bruce Mansfield coal plant into a "significantly larger" gas plant that would also host a "prospective" data center. Investment firm Knighthead Capital Management said it plans to repurpose the retired Homer City coal-fired power plant into a data center that will include 4.4GW in gas-fired power generation. Other projects will upgrade existing power plants. The firm Capital Power said it will spend $3bn over the next decade to expand a gas plant in Shamokin Dam, Pennsylvania. Google said it has reached a $3bn agreement for electricity from two hydropower facilities in Pennsylvania. Constellation Energy said it was investing $2.4bn to upgrade its Limerick nuclear power plant. Trump said he was directing his administration to issue permits quickly for power plants proposed to supply electricity for data centers, with an apparent joke that the world's largest power plant would obtain environmental permits in "about a week" and about two weeks for nuclear plants. "These are permits that would have taken you literally 10 years to get," Trump said. "It's crazy all over the country, but we're freeing it up." The Trump administration has argued that making the US the leader in AI is one of its highest priorities. US interior secretary Doug Burgum said the administration determined early on that "losing the AI arms race" to China would be an "existential threat" such that it justified a declaration of an "energy emergency" to increase domestic energy production. "Energy dominance means prosperity at home, it means peace abroad, it's how we end wars, it's how we build and advance every industry we have," Burgum said. The administration has cited its support for AI to justify slowing the development of wind and solar projects they see as incompatible with the industry's demand for baseload power. Trump said wind "doesn't work" for data centers, and Burgum said he was "completely opposed to having unreliable, unaffordable intermittent energy as our future." Other administration officials have touted efforts to build more fossil fuel infrastructure. "This administration, we're going to make it much, much easier to build new power plants, new infrastructure, even transmission lines, natural gas pipelines," US energy secretary Chris Wright said during an interview with CNBC on the sidelines of the summit. By Chris Knight Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Trump to limit US weapon use by Ukraine

25/07/15

Trump to limit US weapon use by Ukraine

Washington, 15 July (Argus) — President Donald Trump's change of position on continued US weapons supply to Ukraine has revived a dilemma his predecessor had to consider: whether to place limits on Kyiv's ability to carry out strikes deep inside Russia's territory. Trump on Monday approved a plan to continue supplying US weapons to Ukraine, which will be financed by contributions from the EU and other NATO members. But he told reporters Tuesday that he is not considering providing long-range missiles to Ukraine and said that Kyiv "shouldn't target Moscow" with US weapons. The range of western-supplied missiles is well short of the distance from the Ukraine-Russia border to Moscow. Former president Joe Biden's administration last year gave authorization to Kyiv to use western weapons against targets in Russian regions bordering northeast Ukraine and against military targets beyond the Russian-Ukrainian border. Other NATO members also have removed most restrictions on use of their weapons. The Biden administration warned Kyiv against attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. But Ukraine used its own military drones to target Russia's sprawling oil infrastructure last year, causing some disruptions but barely affecting the exports of Russian crude and refined products. Few such attacks have taken place this year, but Washington-based experts attribute that to a change in Ukrainian military tactics, which now target air fields, weapons depots and command centers instead of Russian energy infrastructure. Trump on Monday said he would impose "secondary tariffs" on Russia — meaning penalties for countries buying Russian oil and other products — unless Moscow takes steps in the next 50 days to stop its war in Ukraine. "At the end of 50 days, if we don't have a deal, it's going to be too bad," Trump said Tuesday. "The tariffs are going to go on and other sanctions." The Kremlin has had a restrained reaction to Trump's threat, saying "we certainly need time to analyze what was said in Washington" and advising to wait for President Vladimir Putin to respond directly. "We want to understand what the statement about '50 days' means," Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday. "We previously heard of '24 hours' and '100 days'", Lavrov said, likely referencing Trump's vow to stop the fighting in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office, subsequently amended by the White House to a pledge to stop the war in Ukraine within 100 days into his second term. The White House on 25 March announced that Moscow and Kyiv had agreed to implement the "energy ceasefire", but the Kremlin immediately attached new conditions to the agreement and continued attacks on civilian energy infrastructure in Ukraine. Trump in late March promised to impose a 25pc "secondary tariff" on Russian oil sales if the energy ceasefire deal failed. On 27 May, he gave Putin a two week deadline to make progress in peace talks with Ukraine. The Trump administration so far has refrained from imposing additional sanctions against Moscow and even exempted Russia from punitive tariffs imposed on nearly every US trading partner in April. By Haik Gugarats Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Genesis secures more gas to curb New Zealand shortages

LNG imports investigated

Related news posts

Brazil's Cade clears Braskem stake transfer

Brazil's Cade clears Braskem stake transfer

New tariff threat could disrupt Mexico GDP outlook

New tariff threat could disrupt Mexico GDP outlook

US refiners lobby to revive expired biofuel credits

US refiners lobby to revive expired biofuel credits

Trump touts $92bn in investments in AI, energy

Trump touts $92bn in investments in AI, energy

Trump to limit US weapon use by Ukraine

Trump to limit US weapon use by Ukraine

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