Following are energy highlights from today’s editions of the European press. Click on the story links to see related Argus stories.
Financial Times
The European Commission is planning to break up integrated power companies such as Germany’s RWE and France’s EDF in the face of strong governmental and corporate resistance (p1).
British Nuclear Group’s Sellafield site is to reopen its fuel reprocessing plant Thorp two years after a radioactive leak (p4).
British energy regulator Ofgem has set “challenging” efficiency targets for gas distribution companies in its 2008 price review (p4).
Belarus has abolished an export duty on oil pipeline transits allowing Russia to resume oil deliveries to Europe (p5).
The ownership unbundling of major European power companies is unlikely to become law and is more likely to be delivered via market forces (p6).
Brussels’ call for a 20pc cut in greenhouse gas emissions is the world’s most ambitious plan to date for fighting global warming (p6).
European commissioner for competition Neelie Kroes has threatened antitrust action to break up integrated power groups (p6).
China has failed to meet its own target for energy efficiency in 2006 (p8).
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has been sworn in for a third term as president (p8).
Venezuelan “21st century socialism” will be threatened by market restraints and the better performances of countries such as Chile and Brazil (p14).
The EU’s plans to break up integrated utilities goes against member states’ desire to build national champions which they consider best able to strike deals with companies such as Gazprom (p16, Lex).
BP has delayed a restart of a key unit of its Texas refinery after the discovery of a leak (p18).
The launch of a European energy investment bank could help develop co-ordinated action on supply investment and the break-up of monopolies (p22).
The fall in oil and metals futures contracts may signal the end of a five-year bull run (p38).
Crude oil futures continued to fall yesterday following a rise in US heating oil inventories because of mild weather (p39).
WSJ
Exxonmobil has begun to show interest in how a greenhouse emissions reduction scheme may be structured in the face of increasingly inevitable government curbs (p1).
Russia said oil shipments through its main export pipeline would resume after the country resolved its spat with Belarus over transit duty (p3).
Spain’s supreme court has removed an injunction on German energy firm Eon’s €36.5bn ($47.5bn) bid of Spanish utility Endesa (p4).
The European Commission has published proposals for the EU’s first common energy strategy, which envisage more action on carbon emissions and the possible break-up of the continent’s energy giants (p8).
Editorial: Russia’s disagreement with Belarus over oil transit duties showed signs of miscalculations from both parties (p11).
Breaking Views: Germany’s decision to shutdown nuclear power station by 2020 seems increasingly premature in the light of the recent oil supply debacle with Russia (p17).
Lloyd’s List
The European Commission is expected to push for new measures for combating ship emissions from the International Maritime Organisation, rather than issuing its own regulations (p1).
A takeover attempt by Norway’s Seadrill to acquire fellow Norwegian company Eastern Drilling has been blocked by the Oslo stock exchange, which rejected the mandatory offer price (p2).
The Economist Intelligence Unit has predicted that average crude prices for 2007 will not be lower than 2006’s $65/bl (p2).
Brazilian state oil firm Petrobras is facing delays to an offshore development as Singapore’s Jurong group is threatening to sue over the awarding of licences for the field (p3).
Nine South Koreans and a Nigerian were kidnapped by militants in the Niger delta as attacks increased in the region (p3).
The European Commission has unveiled fresh targets for EU energy policies, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 20pc below 1990 levels by 2020, as well as reducing reliance on gas and oil imports by a similar margin (p4).
Investment bank Merrill Lynch has said unseasonally warm weather will reduce oil demand by 600,000 b/d (p4).
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