2010/09/30

(BN) Russia Sells Nuclear Reactors Decades After Chernobyl Accident

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Russia Sells Nuclear Reactors Decades After Chernobyl Accident
2010-09-30 04:01:47.0 GMT


By Carol Matlack and Yuriy Humber
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Russia, one of the world's biggest
oil and gas exporters, aims to become a global leader in nuclear
power, too. State-owned nuclear group Rosatom now has 15
reactors under construction worldwide, more than any other
international supplier. Five of the 15 are outside Russia, and
more are coming soon, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Oct.
4 issue.
On Sept. 26, Rosatom announced a deal to supply two
reactors to China, in addition to two it has already built.
"China's not even the No. 1 priority now, as we have larger-
scale partnerships in India, Turkey, and in the future,
Vietnam," Rosatom Chief Executive Officer Sergei Kiriyenko
said.
Emerging-market countries are ordering most of the new
reactors nowadays, as projects in developed countries are slowed
by political opposition. Rosatom is ready to compete on price:
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, construction of a 1,000 megawatt plant in Russia
costs an average $2.9 billion, exclusive of financing. That's 20
percent to 50 percent less than plants built by western rivals.
The Russians have overhauled their nuclear technology since
the Chernobyl fiasco. "The power reactors they are offering the
world are the same basic design everyone else is offering,"
says Mark Hibbs, a Berlin-based senior associate in the nuclear
policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace. "Outside experts judge it to be safe." Nonetheless, he
adds, "In some nuclear markets, decision makers both
commercially and politically still are a little nervous about
this."

Expanding Global Sales

Kiriyenko has been pushing to expand global sales since
2005 when he took the helm of Russia's atomic-energy ministry,
which became a state-owned company in 2008. The 48-year-old CEO,
who served briefly as Prime Minister under Boris Yeltsin, says
he wants to boost Rosatom's annual sales from $17 billion now to
more than $50 billion over the next 20 years.
As a state-owned company, Rosatom benefits from the
Kremlin's help in clinching deals at high levels. Its sale of
two reactors to India last March was sealed during a trip to
New Delhi by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who also agreed to
sell the Indians 29 MiG fighters and other arms. The September
sale to the Chinese was signed in Beijing the same day as a
Russian agreement to supply natural gas to China. Rosatom is
also the only nuclear vendor willing to take back spent fuel
from its customers, according to the World Nuclear Assn. Most
countries, including the U.S. and France, prohibit the long-term
storage and disposal of wastes from commercial reactors outside
their borders.

Korea Electric Competition

Rosatom's toughest rival may prove to be Korea Electric
Power. The reactors KEPCO builds in Korea cost about one-third
less than Rosatom's, according to the OECD. And this year KEPCO
inked its first export deal, to supply four reactors to Abu
Dhabi for $20 billion. "The benchmark to beat now is the Korean
price," says Chris Gadomski, a nuclear specialist at analysis
group Bloomberg New Energy Research.
Kiriyenko is still preparing for a boom in sales. To ensure
steady fuel supplies to customers, Rosatom spent $610 million in
June for a controlling stake in Canada's Uranium One. In an
upcoming joint venture with Siemens, the German company will
provide turbines for Rosatom plants. New products are coming,
too, including next-generation fast reactors and floating
reactors that can be hauled by ship to remote locations.

For Related News and Information:
Stories about Nuclear Energy in Russia: TNI NUK RUSSIA <GO>
Top Russia Stories: TOP RUS <GO>
Rosatom News: 2731593Z RU <Equity> CN <GO>

--With assistance from Lyubov Pronina in Moscow. Editor:
Christopher Power

To contact the reporters on this story:
Carol Matlack in Paris at +33-1-5365-5013 or
cmatlack@bloomberg.net
Yuriy Humber in Moscow at +7-495-771-7743 or
yhumber@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Power in New York at 212-617-2929
or cpower3@bloomberg.net.

(BN) U.K. Energy Companies Warned Against Blocking Price

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U.K. Energy Companies Warned Against Blocking Price Disclosure
2010-09-30 11:03:32.645 GMT


By Catherine Airlie
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Chris Huhne, U.K. secretary of
state for energy and climate change, said energy companies
shouldn't block a proposal to give customers notice before they
raise energy bills.
Ofgem, Britain's energy regulator, today proposed energy
suppliers should give 30 days notice before any price rises are
made to "help consumers work out whether they are getting a
good deal in their energy," the regulator said in a statement
on its website.
The regulator will seek advice from the competition
commission if energy companies reject the plan, it said.
"The best result for consumers will be if energy companies
don't block the changes that Ofgem proposes," Huhne said in an
e-mailed statement. ''If they do, I won't hesitate to use my
powers to end for good the practice of surprise energy bill
hikes."
The plan is part of Ofgem's drive to improve competition
after its probe into energy markets in 2008. Utilities have 65
days after raising prices to inform customers under current
rules, Ofgem said. The new plan could start by January 2011,
unless suppliers reject the change.

For Related News and Information:
Top Energy Stories: ETOP<GO>
U.K. Power Prices: ELEU<GO>

--Editors: Will Kennedy, Alex Devine.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Rob Verdonck at +44-20-3216-4149 or
rverdonck@bloomberg.net

(BN) The Mystery of Disappearing Proprietary Traders: Michael Lewis

To see Wall Street turn its back on money is as unsettling
as watching a shark's fin veer away, and then sink from view. It
leaves you wanting to know where the shark has gone, and why.

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

The Mystery of Disappearing Proprietary Traders: Michael Lewis
2010-09-30 01:00:00.1 GMT


Commentary by Michael Lewis
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- In the run-up to the vote on the
financial overhaul bill, the big Wall Street banks squashed an
attempt by Senator Carl Levin to pass a simple ban on any form
of proprietary trading.
A Senate staffer close to the process told me the amendment
was one of Wall Street's highest priorities, spreading money
around to exert as much pressure as possible.
It worked: Levin's amendment never reached the Senate floor
for a vote. The final version of the bill restricts proprietary
trading but allows big Wall Street firms to invest as much as 3
percent of their capital in their own internal hedge funds. How
exactly the new rules are enforced is left to regulators inside
the Federal Reserve, but it's not hard to see how a wholly owned
hedge fund might become a proprietary trading group, with a
different name.
The 3 percent loophole amounted to an invitation for the
big banks to keep on doing at least some of what they had been
doing -- which is why Levin felt compelled to remove it, and the
banks fought so hard to keep it.
Yet in just the past few weeks news has leaked that Morgan
Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs all intend either to close
their proprietary trading units or to sell their interests in
the hedge funds they control.
Obviously, something is wrong with this picture. Why fight
for a right, and win, only to proceed as if you have lost? Why
take prisoners only to surrender to them? Having preserved their
loophole the big American banks now appear to be freely
abandoning any attempt to exploit it. (Credit Suisse, on the
other hand, just bought a stake in a hedge fund.)

Shark Watch

To see Wall Street turn its back on money is as unsettling
as watching a shark's fin veer away, and then sink from view. It
leaves you wanting to know where the shark has gone, and why.
None of the firms have offered a good explanation for
their new and seemingly improved behavior, but it's not hard to
think up several. From least plausible to most:
No. 1 -- Having not merely preserved but bolstered their
place at the heart of capitalism -- with little banks failing
everywhere, the big keep getting bigger and stronger -- the
major Wall Street firms have experienced an epiphany about their
relationship to wider society. They don't need to screw people!
Newly able to raise their prices, they want to return to
serving their customers, rather than exploiting them.
Whatever they lose from prop trading they will be more than
compensated for through new and more trusting relationships with
their clients -- who will now have no reason to suspect they are
merely a tool for the firm's trading desk.

Nice Guys

In a smaller and less competitive financial industry, it
will pay to be the nice guy, and so Goldman Sachs now wants to
play nice.
The only problem with this explanation is that I don't
believe it. More likely:
No. 2 -- The big Wall Street firms have looked anew at
proprietary trading and seen a dying business.
For a start, their proprietary traders, put off by
subpoenas and government inquiries and the new internal aversion
to short-term pain on big trading positions, are fleeing for the
privacy of hedge funds.
But the exodus of trading talent is only part of the
problem. A general malaise has come over the world of big time
financial risk taking. Everywhere you look hedge funds are
either closing or shedding employees or, most shockingly,
cutting their fees. At the bottom of this depressing new trend
lies a deeper problem: a scarcity of suckers.

Find the Fool

The proprietary trading business turns in part on one's
ability to find the fool -- to find people willing to take the
stupid side of the smart bets you are placing. One of the side
effects of our seemingly endless financial crisis is to wash a
lot of fools, many of them German, out of the game.
It's as if a casino owner awakened one morning to find the
tourists had all gone, and the only remaining patrons are pros
counting cards at his blackjack tables. As he looked around his
casino, for the first time in his life, he couldn't find the
fool. And the first rule of the casino business is: if you don't
know who the fool is, it's probably you.
Prop trading isn't as promising as it used to be. At the
same time it's a far greater nuisance than it ever was: The
regulators might actually be paying attention to what your
traders get up to; if they screw up the financial press is
poised to write a story about them; and so on.

Not Worth It

It's just not worth the trouble to prop trade, unless you
can prop trade in some wholly novel way. Which brings us to a
third possible explanation:
No. 3 -- Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan are not
in fact abandoning proprietary trading. They are just giving it
a different name.
They are dismantling the units called "proprietary
trading" and shifting the activity onto trading desks that deal
directly with customers. (Which would explain why so few prop
traders are being let go.)
After all, you don't need a proprietary trading desk to
engage in the two activities that any proprietary trading ban
would seek to prevent: 1) running huge trading risks, and 2)
taking the other side of the customers' stupid trades. Goldman
Sachs' infamous Abacus program -- the one that talked American
International Group into selling vast amounts of cheap insurance
to offset subprime mortgage risk, and then shorted the
instruments they themselves had created -- wasn't dreamed up by
the prop trading desk. It was the brainchild of what customers
knew as the "Client Facing Group."
In short, there are any number of explanations why Wall
Street firms are all at once letting it be known they intend
simply to walk away from what has been, until very recently,
their single most lucrative line of work.

None of the Above

The answer may be none of the above or some mixture of the
three. But what's really striking is how little ability the
outside world retains to find out what is going on inside these
places -- even after we have learned that what we don't know
about them can kill us.
It would be nice to know, for instance, if the big banks
are making these moves with the tacit understanding that the
regulators, going forward, won't be looking too closely at the
activities of the "Client Facing Group."
And yet news of the death of the Wall Street prop trader
has been greeted with hardly a peep. And I wonder: is this the
nature of our new financial order? Big decisions, in which the
public has a clear interest, being made outside public view,
with little public discussion or understanding.
If so, it isn't a future at all. It's just the past,
repeating itself.

(Michael Lewis, most recently author of the best-selling
"The Big Short," is a columnist for Bloomberg News. The
opinions expressed are his own.)

For Related News and Information:
For more Lewis column: NI LEWIS <GO>
For more commentary: OPED <GO>
For more top financial news: FTOP <GO>

--Editors: Marty Schenker, James Greiff.

Click on "Send Comment" button in sidebar display to send a
letter to the editor.

To contact the writer of this column:
Michael Lewis at mlewis1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Greiff at +1-212-617-5801 or jgreiff@bloomberg.net

?European Coal for Next Year Falls After Reaching $100 a Ton

why $100 not sticking when USD still falling against EURO? European Coal for Next Year Falls After Reaching $100 a Ton


By Nicholas Larkin
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Benchmark European coal derivatives
declined after touching $100 a metric ton.
Coal for delivery to Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Antwerp with
settlement next year lost 0.4 percent to $99.50 a ton at 9:55
a.m. London time. The fuel earlier today reached $100, the
highest price since Aug. 10.
The data are drawn from information supplied by ICAP Plc,
GFI Group Inc., Spectron Group Ltd., Credit Suisse Group AG, IHS
McCloskey, Bloomberg and Tradition Financial Services.



For Related News and Information:
Top Stories:{TOP<GO> }

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Nicholas Larkin at +44-20-7673-2069 or
nlarkin1@bloomberg.net

(BN) European Natural-Gas Trading Rose 11% Last Year

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European Natural-Gas Trading Rose 11% Last Year (Update1)
2010-09-30 09:41:55.521 GMT


(Adds churn-rate estimates in sixth paragraph.)

By Lars Paulsson
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Natural-gas trading volumes in
Europe rose last year on increased activity in the U.K. and
Germany, even as consumption of the fuel dropped, Prospex
Research Ltd. said.
Gas contracts bought and sold in the region, including
over-the-counter deals, exchange trades and unrecorded over-the-
counter transactions, rose 11 percent to 21,856 terawatt-hours,
the London-based consultants said in a draft of a report
scheduled for publication tomorrow.
European trading in the fuel remains dominated by the U.K.,
where the volume of traded contracts was almost 17 times greater
than consumption. Buyers and sellers included the utilities
Centrica Plc and Scottish & Southern Energy Plc and banks such
as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Europe's biggest
market for the fuel accounted for more than three quarters of
the regional trading volume, according to the report.
"The double impact of a financial-market crisis followed
by economic recession hit the U.K. market harder than the
smaller and younger mainland markets," authors including Nigel
Harris of Kingston Energy Consulting Ltd. wrote in the report.
"By mid-2009, the U.K.'s trading activity had picked up again
and continued to grow in 2010," they wrote.

German, Dutch, Gains

Natural-gas volumes bought and sold in the U.K. in 2009
amounted to 16,684 terawatt-hours, a gain of 4 percent from the
previous year. German activity rose 134 percent to 955 terawatt-
hours, while the Netherlands, the second-biggest traded market
after the U.K., gained 23 percent to 2,680 terawatt-hours,
according to the report.
The commodity's churn-rate, or the number of times a
country's consumption volume is traded, was 6.6 in the
Netherlands, 3.7 in Belgium and 1.1 in Germany.
European natural-gas consumption slumped 6.3 percent last
year from 2008, as factories used less of the fuel during the
worst recession since World War II, Prospex said.
Global trade in natural gas increased 7.7 percent last
year, BP Plc said June 9 in its annual Statistical Review of
World Energy.
Global trade in liquefied natural gas grew 7.6 percent in
2009, bolstered by rising exports from Qatar and Russia, even as
the recession squeezed worldwide gas use, BP said.
Prospex Research gathers data from official statistics,
exchange volumes and estimates from brokers and trading
companies to compile the reports. The European Gas Trading 2010
report is published tomorrow.

For Related News and Information:
European gas-market stories TNI EUROPE GASMARKET <GO>
Today's top gas news GTOP <GO> and energy news ETOP <GO>
European Energy Brokers Page NRGB <GO>

--Editors: Bruce Stanley, Raj Rajendran

To contact the reporters on this story:
Lars Paulsson in London at +44-207-673-2759 or
lpaulsson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44 207 7073 3520 or sev@bloomberg.net

(BN) EU Cap-and-Trade Hasn’t Given Price Signal, Investor Poll Says

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EU Cap-and-Trade Hasn't Given Price Signal, Investor Poll Says
2010-09-30 05:00:00.0 GMT


By Alex Morales
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union's carbon trading
system hasn't provided the needed long-term price signal for
investors to switch away from carbon-intensive technologies, the
Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change said.
A survey of more than 40 investors including property,
carbon, infrastructure and pension funds found that fewer than
10 percent of respondents said the EU Emissions Trading System
had provided a strong enough price incentive to switch from
carbon-intensive technologies, and none said the EU-ETS had
provided long-term price certainty, the group said today.
The group, with 60 members managing about 5 trillion euros
($6 trillion) of assets, said the EU should decide quickly
whether the 27-nation bloc will raise its emissions target for
2020 to a 30 percent cut from 1990 levels from 20 percent. It
also called for long-term plans for emissions trading and more
durable support for renewable energy in member states.
The bloc should "provide clarity on the EU-ETS out to 2030
in order to be consistent with the investment cycles of large
renewable energy and energy infrastructure assets," the group
said in an e-mailed statement. "The EU ETS will only support a
shift into low-carbon investment if it provides investors with
strong price signals over a significant period of time."
The survey also showed that 90 percent of asset managers
are deterred from making investments in renewable energy by
retrospective policy changes and the absence of grandfathering
guarantees in some member states. Grandfathering is where new
rules aren't applied to old projects.
While the group didn't name specific policies in member
states as a concern, countries including Spain and France have
made or are planning changes to existing subsidies for solar
power, having previously said those incentives would be in place
for longer.
Companies that took part in the survey include APG Asset
Management, Henderson Global Investors, HgCapital and F&C Asset
Management Plc.

For Related News and Information:
More climate-change news: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Top environment, renewable energy page: GREEN <GO>
Most-read environmental news: MNI ENV <GO>

--Editors: Randall Hackley, Todd White

To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Morales in London at +44-20-7330-7718 or
amorales2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or landberg@bloomberg.net

(BN) Norway Mongstad Carbon Capture Costs 6 Billion Kroner, DN Says

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Norway Mongstad Carbon Capture Costs 6 Billion Kroner, DN Says
2010-09-30 05:30:20.925 GMT


By Josiane Kremer
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Norway's carbon capture and storage
plant at the Mongstad refinery and power station will cost about
6 billion kroner ($1.02 billion), Dagens Naeringsliv reported
today, citing Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
The government had initially estimated the cost to be 700
million kroner, according to the Oslo-based newspaper.

--Editor: Willy Morris

To contact the reporter on this story:
Josiane Kremer in Oslo at +47-2299-5043 or
Jkremer4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tasneem Brogger at +44-20-7673-2254 or
tbrogger@bloomberg.net

2010/09/29

(BN) Microsoft, BA, Axa, PepsiCo Urge U.K. to Save ‘Green’ Bank Plan

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Microsoft, BA, Axa, PepsiCo Urge U.K. to Save 'Green' Bank Plan
2010-09-29 14:17:47.273 GMT


By Alex Morales
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp., PepsiCo Inc. and
British Airways Plc are among companies urging the U.K. to push
ahead with plans for a bank to spur investment in clean energy,
even as the government faces a record budget deficit.
Britain should ensure the bank is set up next year and
funded with as much as 6 billion pounds ($9.5 billion) over four
years to promote energy efficiency and renewable power,
according to a statement e-mailed today by the Aldersgate Group,
a lobby group representing 60 companies, lawmakers and non-
governmental groups.
Britain's Labour Party proposed the so-called Green
Investment Bank in March before losing an election that
installed a new government composed of Conservatives and Liberal
Democrats. While they expressed support for the institution in
their coalition agreement, they have yet to lay out plans.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has said nothing
is safe from spending cuts to be announced on Oct. 20.
"The spending review cannot just be about budget cuts,"
Peter Young, chairman of the Aldersgate Group, said in the
statement. "We also need to restore growth and build a more
resilient economy for the future. To achieve this, the Green
Investment Bank must be at the heart of the economic recovery,
repowering the economy and creating valuable green jobs."
Prime Minister David Cameron's coalition is proposing 113
billion pounds of spending cuts and tax increases to reduce a
record deficit of 11 percent of economic output. Chancellor of
the Exchequer George Osborne is due to set budgets for each
department in the spending review.

Trillions Needed

"Delays in setting up the Green Investment Bank will hold
up current investments in low-carbon technologies," the
Aldersgate Group said. Over time, as little as 4 billion pounds
of capitalization "could leverage over a hundred billion more
in investment from the private sector."
Osborne has expressed support for a Green Bank, setting up
an advisory panel when his party was out of office to recommend
methods to raise money and spur investment in clean technology.
The panel, chaired by former Merrill Lynch & Co. banker Bob
Wigley, said in June the U.K. should spend as much as 1 trillion
pounds by 2030 on projects to lower greenhouse gas emissions and
recommended a government bank to resolve funding bottlenecks.
The Aldersgate Group's members also include AXA SA's
Investment Managers unit, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and F&C
Asset Management Plc. The environmental groups Greenpeace UK,
WWF and Friends of the Earth are also signatories to the
statement, as are lawmakers Tim Yeo, chairman of Parliament's
Energy and Climate Change Committee, and Michael Meacher, a
former environment minister.

For Related News and Information:
Climate-change news: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Top environment stories: GREEN <GO>
Most-read environmental news: MNI ENV <GO>
Renewable Energy Stories: NI ALTNRG <GO>

--Editors: Mike Anderson, Todd White

To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Morales in London at +44-20-7330-7718 or
amorales2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or landberg@bloomberg.net.

?European Coal Advances to Seven-Week High, Nears $100 a Ton

coal attached - why this rise folks? comments my way European Coal Advances to Seven-Week High, Nears $100 a Ton


By Mathew Carr
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Benchmark European coal derivatives
climbed to a seven-week high, nearing $100 a metric ton.
Coal for delivery to Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Antwerp with
settlement for next year gained 0.4 percent to $99.75 a ton as
of 4:40 p.m. London time, according to broker data. It traded as
high as $99.90 a ton, the highest price since Aug. 10.
The data are drawn from information supplied by ICAP Plc,
GFI Group Inc., Spectron Group Ltd., Credit Suisse Group AG, IHS
McCloskey, Bloomberg and Tradition Financial Services.


For Related News and Information:
Top Energy Stories: ETOP <GO>
Emissions-trading stories: NI ENVMARKET BN <GO>
European power-markets home page: EPWR <GO>


--Editors: Raj Rajendran, Randall Hackley.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 ...

(BN) EU to Sign Deal With EIB on Carbon Permits by Mid-October

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EU to Sign Deal With EIB on Carbon Permits by Mid-October
2010-09-29 10:05:17.464 GMT


By Ewa Krukowska
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The European Commission, regulator
of the world's largest carbon market, will sign an agreement by
mid-October with the European Investment Bank on selling
emission permits, Maria Kokkonen, a climate spokeswoman, said in
a telephone interview today.
Both institutions are now "fine-tuning" the agreement,
Kokkonen said.
The EU has already agreed to provide as many as 300 million
carbon allowances from the next phase of its emissions-trading
system that starts 2013, which could be used to finance less
polluting, innovative technologies. Permits set aside in the New
Entrants Reserve will be sold by the EIB and proceeds will be
used to support carbon capture and storage and renewable energy
projects, she said.


For Related News and Information:
Top Stories:{TOP<GO>}

To contact the reporter on this story:
Ewa Krukowska in Warsaw at +32-2-237-4331 or
ekrukowska@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Rob Verdonck at +44-20-3216-4149 or
rverdonck@bloomberg.net

(BN) Pakistan, Russian Disasters ‘Mild Taste’ of Future Climate

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Pakistan, Russian Disasters 'Mild Taste' of Future Climate
2010-09-29 13:24:01.141 GMT


By Jeremy van Loon
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Natural disasters like floods in
Pakistan and fires in Russia are a "mild taste" of what the
world faces if governments aren't able to agree to cut carbon
emissions, the United Nations's top climate negotiator said.
"This year has presented us with a series of disasters
that have evidenced the vulnerability of all humanity to extreme
climate events," Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said in a video
on the organization's website.
Negotiators meet in Cancun, Mexico, in late November in an
attempt to resolve differences over financing and limits on
emissions for developing countries at United Nations-sponsored
climate talks. The meeting "has to keep the world walking in
the right direction" and must be the next "significant step"
to tackling climate change, Figueres said today.
Pakistan's deadliest floods killed 1,800 people, ruined
crops worth at least $3.3 billion and ripped out 4,000
kilometers (2,500 miles) of roads this year. In Russia, record
temperatures and fires caused by drought destroyed grain crops
this summer.
"Such impacts on society and economies are but a mild
taste of what science says will come if we do not continuously
raise our ambitions for environmental protection as each year
passes," Figueres said.

For Related News and Information:
Most-read climate stories: MIN CLIMATE <GO>
Top energy news: ETOP <GO>

--Editors: Randall Hackley, Alex Devine

To contact the reporter on this story:
Jeremy van Loon in Berlin at +49-30-70010-6231 or
jvanloon@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net

(BN) Regulatory Uncertainty Over CERs ‘Unsustainable,’ Traders Say

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Regulatory Uncertainty Over CERs 'Unsustainable,' Traders Say
2010-09-29 13:28:10.810 GMT


By Ewa Krukowska
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- "Complete regulatory uncertainty"
over the use of United Nations carbon offsets from 2013 in the
European Union is unsustainable, the European Federation of
Energy Traders said today.
The current legislative process "should address the
eligibility of all credit types and ideally be final and
conclusive," EFET said today in an e-mailed statement. "At the
very least, the EU should establish a positive list of
unrestricted credit types."

For Related News and Information:
Top Energy Stories:{ETOP<GO>}

To contact the reporter on this story:
Ewa Krukowska in Warsaw at +32-2-237-4331 or
ekrukowska@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mike Anderson at +44-20-7673-2718 or
manderson34@bloomberg.net

2010/09/28

Fwd: Climate Treaty Won’t Be Reached in Cancun, Mexico Minister

---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Climate Treaty Won't Be Reached in Cancun, Mexico Minister
2010-09-28 18:37:55.782 GMT



By Carlos Manuel Rodriguez
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations climate talks
summit in Cancun in November isn't expected to produce a binding
global treaty and will be "no more than another step in
negotiations," Mexico's environment minister said.
"We did not intend to reach a binding agreement, because
just to get the political consensus on the definition of
'binding' would take years," Mexican Environment Minister Juan
Elvira Quesada told reporters today in Mexico City. "We don't
believe that now is the best moment."
Negotiations aimed at limiting carbon dioxide emissions set
to resume in November in Cancun have been bogged down by
conflicts over money for poor countries to adjust to climate
change and greenhouse gas limits for countries such as China and
India. Last year, the Copenhagen summit produced a non-binding
accord even after more than 100 world leaders including U.S.
President Barack Obama tried to hammer out a deal.
Mexico would like to see the creation of a global agreement
to protect the forests and to create standards for large
construction projects such as refineries to cut greenhouse gas
emissions, Elvira said.
Mexico's delegates are also trying to secure disbursement
of the $30 billion of climate aid that the developed countries
pledged last year to poorer nations, Elvira said.
Evidence of payment will be needed at the UN's annual end-
of-year climate negotiations in Cancun in November and December,
Christiana Figueres, the new United Nations climate chief, said
last month in Bonn. About $10 billion should be paid out this
year, a third of the total which covered the years 2010, 2011
and 2012, she said.


For Related News and Information:
Link to Company News: 1232Z MM <Equity> CN <GO>
Top Stories: TOP <GO>
Top energy news: ETOP <GO>
BP results by region: BP/ LN <Equity> PGEO G <GO>
Link to Transocean news: RIG US <Equity> CN <GO>

--With assistance from Alex Morales in London. Editors: Robin
Saponar, Carlos Caminada

To contact the reporter on this story:
Carlos Manuel Rodriguez in Mexico City at +52-55-5242-9252 or
carlosmr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dale Crofts at +54-11-4321-7735 or
dcrofts@bloomberg.net.

Fwd: China to Spend 83.3 Billion Yuan on Enviroment, Xie Says

---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

China to Spend 83.3 Billion Yuan on Enviroment, Xie Says
2010-09-29 02:44:39.751 GMT


By Bloomberg News
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- China plans to spend 83.3 billion
yuan ($12.5 billion) on energy conservation and the environment
this year, National Development and Reform Commission Vice
Chairman Xie Zhenhua told reporters in Beijing today.


For Related News and Information:
Top Stories:{TOP<GO>}

To contact the reporter on this story:
Baizhen Chua in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7561 or
bchua14@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Forsythe at +86-10-6649-7580 or
mforsythe@bloomberg.net

Fwd: China Doesn’t Have Conditions to Start Carbon Trading, Xie Says

---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

China Doesn't Have Conditions to Start Carbon Trading, Xie Says
2010-09-29 02:58:12.923 GMT


By Bloomberg News
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- China does not now have the
conditions to begin carbon trading, Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman
of the National Development and Reform Commission, told
reporters today in Beijing.


For Related News and Information:
Top Stories:{TOP<GO>}

To contact the reporter on this story:
Baizhen Chua in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7561 or
bchua14@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Forsythe at +86-10-6649-7580 or
mforsythe@bloomberg.net

Fwd: China Can Still Fulfill 2010 Energy-Saving Targets, Xie Says

---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

China Can Still Fulfill 2010 Energy-Saving Targets, Xie Says
2010-09-29 03:06:19.388 GMT


By Bloomberg News
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- China can still fulfill its energy-
conservation targets for this year, Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman
of the National Development and Reform Commission, told
reporters in Beijing today.
China's goal is to reduce the amount of energy consumed per
unit of gross domestic product.


For Related News and Information:
Top Stories:{TOP<GO>}

To contact the reporter on this story:
Baizhen Chua in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7561 or
bchua14@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Forsythe at +86-10-6649-7580 or
mforsythe@bloomberg.net

(BN) Indian Poor May Bear $2 Billion Clean-Energy Market, Study Says

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Indian Poor May Bear $2 Billion Clean-Energy Market, Study Says
2010-09-28 13:21:52.56 GMT


By Natalie Obiko Pearson
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- A $2 billion-a-year market for
clean-energy products such as solar-powered lanterns may exist
among India's rural poor who want dependable, energy-efficient
devices, according to a bank-funded report.
The poor who live outside cities and comprise 60 percent of
the nation's 1.2 billion people already spend $4.8 billion a
year on fuels like firewood and dung for energy for lack of
better, more reliable alternatives, said the report supported by
the ICICI Foundation whose main donor is ICICI Bank Ltd.,
India's second-largest bank.
"If there are high-quality renewable products and services
that meet consumer demand available, there is a market for them,
even in the very poorest communities," said Saurabh Lall, a
research officer at the Washington-based World Resources
Institute, which helped conduct the study.
India is seeking to promote standalone renewable energy
projects, including 2,000 megawatts of decentralized solar
plants by 2022, to help plug gaps in its electricity grid.
One of three Indians lack access to electricity, a deficit
that must be closed to ensure the expansion of the world's
third-fastest growing major economy, the International Energy
Agency said on Sept. 22.
Companies supplying clean-energy alternatives to rural
communities report that sales have grown on average by 36
percent since 2004, the report said. The study surveyed 23
companies in India, including a local unit of BP Plc, which
distributes a smokeless "Oorja" cooker fuelled by pellets of
agricultural waste, and Envirofit, whose funders include Google
Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
A shortage of power-generating capacity and other
infrastructure shaves 2 percentage points from growth, the
Finance Ministry estimates. The economy has expanded an average
8.5 percent in the last five years.

For Related News and Information:
India energy news: TNI NRG INDIA <GO>
Renewable energy, environment page: GREEN <GO>
Most-read alternative energy stories: MNI ALTNRG <GO>

--Editors: Todd White, Stephen Cunningham

To contact the reporter on this story:
Natalie Obiko Pearson in Mumbai at +91-22-6612-9107 or
npearson7@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Clyde Russell at +65-6311-2423 or crussell7@bloomberg.net.

(BN) Taiwan Increases Renewable-Power Target After Law Spurs Demand

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Taiwan Increases Renewable-Power Target After Law Spurs Demand
2010-09-28 16:01:01.0 GMT


By Yu-huay Sun
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan increased its target for
generating power from renewable sources after a new law spurred
demand for emissions-free electricity.
The nation aims to have 16 percent of installed power
capacity from renewable energy sources by 2025, compared with a
previous target of 15.1 percent, Linda Chen, chief secretary of
the Bureau of Energy, said at a forum in Taipei yesterday.
Taiwan's government set minimum wholesale prices for
electricity generated by solar panels and wind turbines in
December at higher levels than for those for power from fossil
fuels to spur production of renewable energy. President Ma Ying-
jeou, who took office in May 2008, has pledged to cut emissions
to 2000 levels by 2025. Lawmakers approved the Renewable Energy
Development Act last year.
"Demand for renewable energy is robust," Chen said.
Renewable energy may account for 10 percent of installed
electricity capacity by the end of the year, compared with 8.2
percent currently, she said.
Feed-in tariffs, or the prices that state-run utility
Taiwan Power Co. pays generators, are at least NT$11.12 (35
cents) per kilowatt-hour for photovoltaic solar panels and
NT$2.38 for wind farms, the Bureau of Energy said in a statement
on its website in December. That compares with an average cost
of NT$2.06 per kilowatt-hour from fossil fuels.
The government has received 693 applications to build 405
megawatts of renewable energy capacity based on the preferred
tariffs, the energy bureau said on its website Sept. 24. One
megawatt can supply about 800 U.S. homes.

Energy Intensity

The government is taking steps to cut energy intensity, or
the amount of energy used per unit of gross domestic product, by
half before 2025, Chen said. The measures include subsidies for
purchases of equipment that conserve energy, she said.
The state also has proposed an energy tax, Chen said. There
is no timetable for implementation of the tax and the details
are being debated, according to Chen.
The industrialized island releases about three times more
heat-trapping gases per person than the world average, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The island's installed power capacity was 40,823 megawatts
as of July, according to Taiwan Power, the monopoly grid
operator. Natural gas-fueled generators accounted for 37 percent
of the total capacity, coal-fired stations 29 percent and
nuclear reactors 13 percent, according to Taipower. Other
sources included oil and hydroelectric power.

For Related News and Information:
Taiwan's energy statistics: NRGM TAIW <GO>
Top energy news: ETOP <GO>
Top electricity news: PTOP <GO>
Surveys on Taiwan's economic data: ECO TA <GO>

--With assistance from Janet Ong in Taipei. Editors: John
Chacko, Todd White

To contact the reporter on this story:
Yu-huay Sun in Taipei at +886-2-7719-1531 or
ysun7@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or aprakash1@bloomberg.net.

(BN) Los Angeles Wilts as Fall Heat Wave Makes Up for Cooler Summer

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Los Angeles Wilts as Fall Heat Wave Makes Up for Cooler Summer
2010-09-28 04:00:17.0 GMT


By Michael White and Nadja Brandt
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Los Angeles residents, no strangers
to heat, are broiling as temperatures hit records in a post-
summer swelter. Schools canceled recess, firefighters aided heat
victims and the public poured onto beaches to cool off.
Yesterday's peak of 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius) in
Los Angeles surpassed the previous mark of 112 degrees set on
June 26, 1990, Stuart Seto, a specialist with the National
Weather Service, said in an interview. It was the hottest day
since record-keeping began in 1877.
"There's hot, and then there's hot," said Byron Tyler, a
resident walking in Hollywood yesterday after lunch. He shared a
photo sent to his cell phone by a friend in the nearby San
Fernando Valley whose car dashboard thermometer displayed 121
degrees. "Looking at that I don't feel so bad."
The early fall heat wave has produced two consecutive days
of triple-digit temperatures, according to the Weather Service.
Downtown Los Angeles will drop to the mid- to upper-90s, Seto
said. Valley areas, some of which are within city
limits, will remain above 100 until Sept. 29.
"We've gotten many calls today that are heat related --
heat exhaustion, heat strokes," Mike Brown, battalion chief at
the Los Angeles County Fire Department said yesterday. "It's
happening all over the map."
Beaches were busier than usual for a Monday as people
sought to cool down, Brown said yesterday. Some motorists didn't
make it. Dispatch calls were running 14 percent higher than on a
typical Monday, said Jeffrey Spring, a spokesman for AAA
Southern California.

Cars Overheat

"We're averaging 2,000 calls an hour," Spring said in an
interview. "There are a lot of dead batteries because they tend
to give up when they're not in good shape in this kind of
weather. Overheated vehicles, where belts and hoses aren't doing
their job."
Tyler, a 47-year-old independent bookseller, said the
unprecedented heat may persuade him to turn on the central air
conditioning at home. It would be the first time in more than
two years. As others did the same, the city's Department of
Water and Power advised residents to conserve energy to avoid
overtaxing the grid.
"The power system is operating normally," Carol
Tucker, a spokeswoman for the department, said in an interview.
"There's currently no major outages that are heat related."
The Los Angeles Unified School District canceled athletic
events and other outdoor activities, invoking an "extreme
caution" policy that is triggered when the temperature reaches
95 degrees or above, said Gayle Pollard-Terry, a spokeswoman.

Late Summer

The 617,000-student district, the nation's second-largest,
will continue the precautions tomorrow, Pollard-Terry said.
Parents of elementary-school students are being asked to send
their children to school either with a frozen bottle of water or
a thermos of cold water, she said.
The heat wave follows a summer that was the second-coolest
since at least 1944, according the Weather Service.
The past several days have made up for it, said Brent
Toney, a 25-year-old actor who sat with a friend outside a
Starbucks, drinking iced coffees to ward off the heat.
"We didn't have much of a summer before," Toney said.
"Everyone who was complaining then is complaining now that
we're finally getting one."

For Related News and Information:
California and weather: TNI CA WEA <GO>
Top general news: TOP GEN <GO>
Top municipal bond stories: TOP MUN <GO>
Archive of most-read muni bond stories: TNI MUN READ <GO>

--With assistance from Alan Ohnsman, Andy Fixmer and Rob Golum
in Los Angeles. Editors: Anthony Palazzo, Anne Reifenberg

To contact the reporters on this story:
Michael White in Los Angeles at +1-323-782-4237
or mwhite8@bloomberg.net;
Nadja Brandt in Los Angeles at +1-323-782-4238 or
nbrandt@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Anthony Palazzo at +1-323-782-4228 or
apalazzo@bloomberg.net;

(BN) HFC Industrial Gases Need Control, UN Specialist Says (Update1)

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

HFC Industrial Gases Need Control, UN Specialist Says (Update1)
2010-09-28 14:56:30.337 GMT


(Adds background on Montreal Treaty from fifth paragraph.)

By Ewa Krukowska
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Emissions of hydrofluorocarbons
need to be curbed and regulators must tighten controls over the
"unwanted" HFC-23 greenhouse gas, according to the head of
ozone branch at the United Nations Environment Program.
Governments worldwide are considering phasing out
production of hydrofluorocarbon-23 under the ozone-protection
rules of the Montreal Protocol. Regulators of the UN carbon
market are under scrutiny over allegations that some investors
are profiting unduly from emission offset credits related to the
gas. The warming potential per molecule of HFC is 11,700 times
more powerful than carbon dioxide.
The European Union is working on a proposal to restrict
some offsets linked to industrial gases that can be used for
compliance in its own emissions trading system.
"Efforts to regulate HFCs have already been announced by
the EU, there are also proposals under the Montreal Protocol and
the regulations need to be tightened," the UN's Rajendra Shende
said in an interview in Brussels during the Atmosphere 2010
workshop. "Time is the essence. Things may change fast as
there's growing realization that we need to act."
More than 190 states that ratified the Montreal Protocol
agreed to a total phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons, known
as HCFCs, by 2030 in developed countries and by 2040 in
developing nations. HCFCs gained favor in the early 1990s as an
alternative to chlorofluorocarbons, which scientists linked to
the depletion of the ozone layer. Still, their global-warming
potential was considered unacceptable when the phase-out was
decided in 2007.

Air Conditioners

To better protect the climate, the signatories of the
Montreal Protocol are now mulling phasing-down HFC-23, a by-
product of HCFC-22 used in the air-conditioning and
refrigeration industries.
Draft measures before a meeting of the parties starting
Nov. 8 in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, include a proposal by
the U.S., Mexico and Canada to cut HFCs to 15 percent of
baseline by 2033 in developed nations and by 2043 in developing
countries.
The Federated States of Micronesia are proposing that HFCs
be reduced to 10 percent of baseline by 2030 in developed
nations and 2036 in developing countries.

'Meet Half-Way'

Both proposals have the same intentions, and it's probable
that "these countries will meet half-way," Shende said.
"The Montreal Protocol community is quite distinct from
the Kyoto Protocol community," Shende said. "They are more
doers than debaters. Because it's related to climate change and
because the world feels that little is being done on climate
change, probably the Montreal Protocol becomes the only show in
the town to take immediate action. The governments may agree. I
wouldn't rule it out."
Negotiators meeting last year in Copenhagen to iron out a
greenhouse gas-reduction framework for when the Kyoto Protocol
expires in 2012 failed to reach a binding deal, settling instead
for a political accord. The next summit is scheduled to start
near the end of November in Cancun, Mexico.
Before the global talks start, the regulators of the Clean
Development Mechanism, the UN-supervised carbon market, are due
to decide whether to change the methodology of awarding credits
to projects that cut HFC-23 amid allegations of misuse.

'Bogus Credits'

The Bonn-based environmental group CDM Watch said in a
June 14 report that some companies won "bogus credits" by
artificially boosting greenhouse-gas emissions on HFC projects.
The claim is rejected by polluters and investors including
Natsource LLC.
The CDM, created under the Kyoto Protocol, is the world's
second-biggest carbon market after the European Union cap-and-
trade program. Investors can use credits earned in the CDM for
reduction of emissions in developing countries to comply with
their quota under the EU system.
"While the CDM helps control emissions of greenhouse
gases, the Montreal Protocol removes the root cause," Shende
said. "Better methodologies need to be looked into to see if
the objective of the CDM is really met. In the meanwhile, let
the emissions control continue and let's see what comes out of
the Montreal Protocol talks. Eventually, we may have two
parallel tracks."

For Related News and Information:
Emission market news: NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page: EPWR <GO>

--Editors: Stephen Voss, Mike Anderson.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Ewa Krukowska in Brussels at +32-474-620-243 or
ekrukowska@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
EUETSY10 <Index> CN

(BN) ICE Futures Europe Adds Coal Offsets, Cuts Margining Costs

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

ICE Futures Europe Adds Coal Offsets, Cuts Margining Costs
2010-09-28 10:37:02.425 GMT


By Mathew Carr
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- ICE Futures Europe will add
starting tomorrow to the number of contracts that traders can
use to offset margining costs against coal futures, according to
the brokerage GlobalCOAL.
Coal traders will be able to offset the margin, or
collateral held against Henry Hub natural gas, U.K. baseload
power, Brent first-line swaps and three fuel-oil contracts,
GlobalCOAL said in an e-mailed statement said. GlobalCOAL is co-
operating with ICE to develop the coal futures market.

Link to Company News:{ICE US <Equity> CN <GO>}

For Related News and Information:
Top Stories:{TOP<GO>}

To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mike Anderson at +44-20-7673-2718 or
manderson34@bloomberg.net

(BN) U.S. Panel Splits Over New Technology Rules for Carbon Dioxide

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

U.S. Panel Splits Over New Technology Rules for Carbon Dioxide
2010-09-28 14:26:03.549 GMT


By Simon Lomax
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- A panel advising the Obama
administration on carbon dioxide regulations is deadlocked over
what pollution-cutting technology power plants, factories and
refineries should be required to use starting in 2011.
After nearly a year of talks, the work group couldn't
reconcile "divergent points of view," according to a copy of
its report to the Environmental Protection Agency. Companies
represented on the panel included utilities American Electric
Power Co. and Southern Co. It also included officials from
national environmental groups and state regulatory agencies.
"There were points in this process where you could not get
enough Novocain to make it bearable," said David Doniger, a
policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council and a
member of the 45-member Climate Change Work Group established in
October 2009 by the EPA.
The federal agency plans to enforce greenhouse gas limits
under the existing Clean Air Act after Congress failed to pass a
new cap-and-trade law in which companies would have bought and
sold the right to pollute. Starting next year, some newly built
or modified sources of industrial pollution, such as power
plants, would have to use the "best-available" technology to
cut their carbon output.
The EPA hasn't yet announced what it considers the best-
available technology and the work group was established to help
the agency make that decision. While the deadlock on the panel
won't stop the EPA from moving ahead, it shows the agency will
have a fight on its hands no matter what it decides, said Peter
Glaser, a Washington-based partner at law firm Troutman Sanders
LLP.

'Litigated Debate'

"We are going to have a very long, protracted, litigated
debate," Glaser, whose clients include coal-mining companies,
said in a telephone interview.
The EPA's plans are already under attack in federal court,
with at least four lawsuits challenging recent decisions by the
agency concerning greenhouse gases, Glaser said.
In Congress, a Republican-led effort to strip the agency of
its authority over greenhouse gases was defeated in the Senate
in June. Still, some Democrats, including West Virginia Senator
Jay Rockefeller and Texas Representative Gene Green, have called
for a two-year suspension of the agency's carbon rules for
industrial sources to give lawmakers more time to come up with
another plan.
During the work group's negotiations over best-available
control technology, some companies that own and operate power
plants were "extremely reluctant" to make any concessions,
Doniger said in a telephone interview.

Fuel Switching

They rebuffed proposals to use the best-available-
technology requirement to force some power plants to switch from
coal to cleaner burning natural gas, Doniger said. Mandated
improvements in energy-efficiency, which would cut emissions by
saving fuel, and technology that converts coal into a synthetic
gas were also rejected, he said.
"The circumstances don't seem to be right for
negotiating," Doniger said.
Power companies are fighting efforts to define the best-
available technology because they reject the idea of regulating
greenhouse gases from industrial sources under the Clean Air
Act, John McManus, American Electric's vice president of
environmental services and a member of the EPA's advisory panel,
said in a telephone interview.

Regulatory Debate

While the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases
could be regulated under the Clean Air Act, the regulatory
programs established by the statute aren't up to the task,
McManus said.
Those programs work for problems like smog and acid rain
because there is proven "back-end control technology" that can
be fitted to the smokestack of a power plant to capture those
pollutants, he said.
Equipment that captures and stores carbon dioxide is still
being developed, with the Obama administration spending $1
billion on revamping an Illinois power plant to test the
viability of capturing carbon dioxide and sending the gas via
pipeline to sites where it will be stored underground. American
Electric is also testing carbon-capture technology at a coal-
fired plant in West Virginia.
The Clean Air Act "was never intended for an issue like
this one" and the EPA should give Congress more time to pass
legislation that includes greenhouse-gas limits while
recognizing carbon-capture technology isn't ready yet, McManus
said.

'More Rational'

"We really need legislation that comes up with a more
rational system," he said.
The agency's decision won't be binding on state and local
air quality agencies, Bill Becker, executive director of the
National Association of Clean Air Agencies, said in a telephone
interview.
Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA's definition of best-
available technology is a guidance document for the state and
local authorities who decide on a case-by-case basis which power
plants, factories and refineries need to install new pollution
controls, Becker said.
"It's guided by EPA materials but it is a decision by the
permitting authority, not by EPA," he said.

For Related News and Information:

Top environment stories: GREEN <GO>
Stories about U.S. and climate: TNI US CLIMATE <GO>
Global emissions data: EMIS <GO>
Northeast U.S. trading: RGGI <GO>


--Editors: Dan Stets, Bill Banker

To contact the reporter on this story:
Simon Lomax in Washington at +1-202-654-4305 or
slomax@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at +1-212-617-4403 or dstets@bloomberg.net.

(BN) Malaysia’s Khazanah Becomes Camco’s Biggest Shareholder

see attached...earlier story below Camco Swings to First-Half Profit as Revenue More Than Doubles



By Mathew Carr
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Camco International Ltd. , the U.K.
manager of carbon-reduction projects whose biggest shareholder
is a fund linked to Al Gore , swung to a profit in the first half
as revenue more than doubled.
Net income was 133,000 euros ($178,000) in the six months
through June, compared with a net loss of 18.3 million euros in
the year-earlier period, the St. Helier, Jersey-based company
said today in a statement.
It received United Nations credits for 4.3 million metric
tons of carbon dioxide, compared with 1 million tons a year
earlier. Revenue jumped to 11 million euros from 5 million
euros.
Camco yesterday rose 24 percent in London trading, the most
since May 2009, after announcing a venture with the investment
holding arm of the Malaysian government to expand its carbon-
trading and renewable energy operations in Asia. It is down 40
percent from a year ago as the recession sapped demand for
emission credits and UN regulators clamped down on supply of new
credits that the company relies on for revenue. Camco was unchanged today at 18 pence, valuing the company
at 31.7 million pounds ($50.06 million).
Generation IM Climate Solution Fund LP owns about 18.3
percent of Camco's shares and is its biggest holder, Bloomberg
data show. The fund is managed by Generation Investment
Management LLP, which is chaired by Gore, the climate campaigner
and former U.S. vice president.

For Related News and Information:
Camco stories CAO LN <Equity> CN <GO>
Camco relative value graph CAO LN <Equity> RVG <GO>
Emissions-trading news NI ENVMARKET <GO>


--Editors: Stephen Cunningham, Alex Devine.


To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

BN 09/28 11:53 *CAMCO INTL.: KHAZANAH NASIONAL BERHAD'S STAKE WILL BE 23.59%
BN 09/28 11:53 *CAMCO INTL: PAYAR INVESTMENTS BOUGHT 19.56% OF SHR CAPITAL
RNS 09/28 11:51 Camco International CAO Holding(s) in Company


+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Malaysia's Khazanah Becomes Camco's Biggest Shareholder
2010-09-28 12:56:00.525 GMT


By Mathew Carr
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Khazanah Nasional Berhad of
Malaysia became the biggest shareholder of Camco International
Ltd. after buying shares on the market yesterday and forming a
venture with the developer of emission reduction projects.
Payar Investments Ltd., a unit of Khazanah, yesterday
bought 34.5 million shares representing 19.56 percent, Camco
said today in a statement distributed by the Regulatory News
Service. After 9.28 million shares received via a joint venture
agreement, Khazanah will own 23.59 percent of the company,
according to the statement. Khazanah is the investment holding
arm of the Malaysian government.

Link to Statement:{NSN L9GGYD3HBS3K <GO>}

Link to Company News:{CAO LN <Equity> CN <GO>}
Link to Company News:{KNBZ MK <Equity> CN <GO>}

For Related News and Information:
Top Stories:{TOP<GO>}

To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Rob Verdonck at +44-20-3216-4149 or
rverdonck@bloomberg.net

(BN) Deutsche Bank Says EU CO2 May Rise as High as 58 Euros

Under a base-case scenario, with the looser target, the
price will be 32 euros a ton in the eight years, Deutsche Bank
said. "Our worst-case scenario could become our base-case
scenario over the next six to twelve months."

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Deutsche Bank Says EU CO2 May Rise as High as 58 Euros by 2020
2010-09-28 13:59:19.873 GMT


By Mathew Carr
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- European Union emission permits may
rise as high as 58 euros ($78.10) in the eight years through
2020 assuming the bloc sets a tighter emission target, Deutsche
Bank AG analysts said today in an e-mailed report.
Under a "worst case" scenario, the EU will increase its
emissions target in 2020 to a 30 percent cut from 1990 levels
instead of 20 percent, analysts Mark Lewis and Isabelle Curien
said. The region may impose within about six months restrictions
on the use of United Nations offset credits in the period, the
third phase of the EU emissions trading system, they said.
Under a base-case scenario, with the looser target, the
price will be 32 euros a ton in the eight years, Deutsche Bank
said. "Our worst-case scenario could become our base-case
scenario over the next six to twelve months."
EU carbon has jumped 24 percent this year on utility buying
and supply restrictions. The market is the world's biggest
greenhouse gas program by traded volume. Emission permits for
December rose as much as 1.8 percent to 15.66 euros a ton today
and were at 15.60 euros as of 2:42 p.m. on London's European
Climate Exchange.
The price may rise to 20 euros by the end of the year,
Lewis and Curien said.

For Related News and Information:
Top Power Stories: PTOP <GO>
Emissions-trading stories: NI ENVMARKET BN <GO>
Today's top energy news: ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page: EPWR <GO>

--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Mike Anderson

To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss on +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net

2010/09/27

Fwd: + Camco Surges in London on Venture With Malaysian Fund (Update1)

Update yest



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+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

BN 09/27 06:09 *CAMCO JV WILL BE CAPITALISED WITH UP TO $46.05M :CAO LN
BN 09/27 06:09 *CAMCO FORMS JV WITH KHAZANAH NASIONAL :CAO LN
BN 09/27 06:09 *CAMCO INTL. CAO RE JV
RNS 09/27 06:07 Camco International CAO Re Joint Venture


+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Camco Surges in London on Venture With Malaysian Fund (Update1)
2010-09-27 14:34:37.467 GMT



(Adds CEO comment starting in fifth paragraph.)

By Mathew Carr
Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Camco International Ltd. rose the
most since December 2008 in London trading after announcing a
venture with the investment holding arm of the Malaysian
government to expand its carbon-trading operations in Asia.
Khazanah Nasional agreed to buy 9.28 million new shares of
Camco at 20 pence each, according to a statement distributed by
the Regulatory News Service. Stock in the London-based manager
of emission-reduction projects jumped as much as 41 percent to
20.5 pence and traded at 17.50 as of 3 p.m. The purchase would
give Khazanah a stake of about 5 percent.
Camco is down 42 percent from a year ago as the recession
sapped demand for emission credits and United Nations regulators
clamped down on the supply of new credits that the company
counts on to increase revenue. The UN program was created by the
1997 Kyoto Protocol, which capped emissions from rich nations.
Negotiators failed to extend the treaty at last year's summit in
Copenhagen, raising concern that the program may cease to exist
after 2012.
"This is a very clear commitment by a developing market
looking beyond 2012," said Andrew Shepherd-Barron, an analyst
at KBC Peel Hunt Ltd. in London, Camco's house broker. Asia will
continue to be a key supplier of credits, including from forest
protection, Shepherd-Barron said today in a phone interview.
The venture will receive a "significant portion" of its
revenue from selling products other than carbon credits,
including power and previously wasted heat and gas, said Scott
McGregor, Camco's chief executive officer. Projects will include
industrial-energy-efficiency investments and renewable-power
stations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, he said
today by phone. "We're not a pure carbon player."

'Not Pre-2012'

The agreement "is not a pre-2012 venture," McGregor said.
The deal, about a year in the making, is the first such
investment from a nation without a target in the Kyoto Protocol,
he said.
The joint venture will be capitalized with as much as
$46.05 million. At the start, it will have $30 million, made up
of $14.7 million from Khazanah as equity, $10.15 million as a
convertible bond and $5.15 million from Camco as equity, the
statement said.
"This is a nice way of financing new bits of business"
for Camco shareholders, said Gus Hochschild, an analyst in
London for Mirabaud Securities LLP. The dilution brought on by
Khazanah's purchase of the new shares is a "small price" for
those holders to pay, he said today by phone. He increased his
target price for the stock to 27 pence from 25 pence.

Camco Holding

Camco will hold a warrant, or option to subscribe for
additional equity of $3.7 million, the statement said. At the
start Camco will have a 60.1 percent holding and, assuming the
exercise and conversion of all outstanding options and
convertible bonds, a 51 percent interest, it said.
On Aug. 10, Camco bought a portfolio of waste-to-energy
projects in the agriculture industry in the U.S.
In the Malaysia venture, it will contribute its existing
carbon projects in Southeast Asia, excluding its China
portfolio, the statement said. Khazanah said it might contribute
an additional $16 million through 2013 subject to performance of
the transferred existing and future carbon contracts.

For Related News and Information:
European power-market stories TNI EUROPE PWRMARKET <GO>
Today's top power news PTOP <GO> and energy news ETOP <GO>
European electricity-markets home page EPWR <GO>
Asia emissions-trading stories TNI ASIAX ENVMARKET <GO>

--Editors: Mike Anderson, Alex Devine.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net

Fwd: Black Soot Offers Climate-Talks Opportunity, UN Official Says

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Black Soot Offers Climate-Talks Opportunity, UN Official Says
2010-09-27 12:45:31.100 GMT


By Jeremy van Loon
Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Negotiators at climate change talks
can make progress in setting limits on air pollutants by looking
beyond carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, the United
Nations top environment official said.
Black soot, methane and other non-CO2 gases contribute
almost half of global warming substances in the atmosphere and
reducing output of many of them can be solved without legally
binding agreements, Achim Steiner, executive director of the
United Nations Environment Programme, said in an interview.
"We're looking for policy makers to give support to
accelerated action through bilateral and private sector
partnerships," he said today in Berlin. "This is not an
alternative to limiting CO2."
Negotiations aimed at limiting CO2 emissions set to resume
in November in Cancun, Mexico, have been bogged down by
conflicts over money for poor countries to adjust to climate
change and greenhouse gas limits for countries such as China and
India. There may be "no hope" for reaching an agreement this
year in the Mexican coastal resort if disagreements persist,
U.S. lead negotiator Jonathan Pershing said last month.
Current pledges by all nations remain insufficient to limit
the average increase in global temperature to 2 degrees Celsius
(3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), which was also agreed to in Copenhagen
last year. The UN estimates that commitments amount to a cut of
12 percent to 19 percent from 1990 levels, short of the 25 to 40
percent needed.
Black soot is formed by partial combustion of fossil fuels,
burning forests and biofuels. It remains in the atmosphere for
several days or weeks, less than carbon dioxide, which remains
in the atmosphere for about a century.

For Related News and Information:
Top environment stories: GREEN <GO>
News stories about climate change: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Locations of global energy facilities: BMAP <GO>
Top Stories: TOP<GO>

--Editors: Todd White, Alex Devine

To contact the reporter on this story:
Jeremy van Loon in Berlin at +49-30-70010-6231 or
jvanloon@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net

Fwd: Weather Disasters ‘Exceptionally High’ in 2010, Munich Re Says

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+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Weather Disasters 'Exceptionally High' in 2010, Munich Re Says
2010-09-27 16:00:12.79 GMT


By Aaron Kirchfeld
Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Weather-related natural
catastrophes are at an "exceptionally high" level this year,
causing more than $65 billion of losses, Munich Re said.
There have been 725 weather-related catastrophes, the
second-highest figure recorded for the first nine months of the
year since 1980, the Munich-based company said in an e-mailed
statement today. About 21,000 people died in the disasters and
insured losses totaled $18 billion, Munich Re said.

For Related News and Information:
Top insurance news: TINS <GO>
Allianz's earnings: ALV GY <Equity> TCNI ERN <GO>
Top environment page: GREEN <GO>
Most-read climate-change stories: MNI CLIMATE <GO>

--Editors: James Amott, Dylan Griffiths

To contact the reporter on this story:
Aaron Kirchfeld in Frankfurt at +49-69-92041-145 or
akirchfeld@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Frank Connelly at +33-1-5365-5063 or fconnelly@bloomberg.net
Edward Evans at +44-207-073-3190 or eevans3@bloomberg.net

Fwd: Birley Will Join London Stock Exchange, Carbon Finance Says

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+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Birley Will Join London Stock Exchange, Carbon Finance Says
2010-09-27 17:21:58.842 GMT


By Mathew Carr
Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Patrick Birley, former chief
executive officer of the European Climate Exchange, will
probably accept a post next month at the London Stock Exchange,
the Carbon Finance website reported.
Birley's role may be linked to the stock market's plans to
start a clearing house that wouldn't be directly related to
carbon trading, the London-based news service reported
without saying how it obtained the information. Birley declined
to comment today when contacted by Bloomberg.
The Intercontinental Exchange Inc. completed its purchase
in July of Climate Exchange Plc, which owned London-based ECX,
the world's biggest carbon market, the report said.

For Related News and Information:
Emissions-trading stories: NI ENVMARKET BN <GO>
Today's top energy news: ETOP <GO>
Natural-gas markets menu: NATG <GO>
Link to Company News: ICE US <Equity> CN <GO>

--Editor: Mike Anderson

To contact the reporters on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net

Fwd: + LDK Solar Agrees to Borrow $8.9 Billion for Expansion (Update3)

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+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

LDK Solar Agrees to Borrow $8.9 Billion for Expansion (Update3)
2010-09-27 19:31:22.456 GMT


(Adds shares in second paragraph.)

By Bloomberg News
Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) --LDK Solar Co., a Chinese solar wafer
maker whose shares have risen more than 80 percent this quarter,
agreed to borrow as much as 60 billion yuan ($8.9 billion) from
China Development Bank to help fund its expansion.
The 5-year credit facility will support the Jiangxi-based
company's growth plans and strengthen its market position, it
said today in a statement. LDK Solar rose 14 percent to $10.09
at 3:20 p.m. in New York trading, set for its biggest one-day
gain since Nov. 18.
The loan brings to at least $42.8 billion the total
announced deals state-owned China Development Bank has signed to
support a domestic expansion in clean-energy companies. LDK
Solar's loan is the largest that the bank has extended in 2010
to the country's integrated solar product makers.
The Beijing-based bank has already agreed to $21.4 billion
of loans to four solar manufacturers including JA Solar Holdings
Co., Trina Solar Ltd., Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. and
Suntech Power Holdings Co.
The bank is also providing financing for Chinese wind
turbine makers as China pushes to fund growth in cleaner energy
technologies. China Development Bank this year agreed to loan
$6.5 billion to Sinovel Wind Co. and $6 billion to Xinjiang
Goldwind Science & Technology Co. for their overseas businesses.
The Development Bank's financing plans are in line with the
nation's strategic priorities as China's State Council in May
said it would improve financing services to push private
investment in clean energy.

For Related News and Information:
Most-read alternative energy stories: MNI ALTNRG <GO>
New Energy Finance top news: TNEF <GO>
Renewable energy, environment page: GREEN <GO>

--With assistance from Todd White in Madrid; Editors: Randall
Hackley, Josh Fellman

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story:
Feifei Shen in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7527 or
Fshen11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net.

Fwd: + South Korea Requires Companies to Set Carbon Targets (Update1)

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+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

South Korea Requires Companies to Set Carbon Targets (Update1)
2010-09-28 03:40:31.831 GMT


(Updates with comments from analyst in fourth paragraph.)

By Shinhye Kang
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea, Asia's fourth-biggest
polluter, said more than 300 companies including Samsung
Electronics Co. and Posco must set energy-saving and greenhouse
gas-reduction targets by September 2011 to fight global warming.
They will face fines of as much as 10 million won ($8,708)
if the targets aren't met, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy
said in an e-mailed statement today. Only companies with
factories producing at least 25,000 metric tons of carbon
dioxide a year are required to set goals, the ministry said,
without specifying the size of the reduction targets.
South Korea said in November it plans to voluntarily cut
emissions by 30 percent by 2020 under a "business as usual"
scenario. The 374 companies identified by the government
produced 361 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2007, or
58 percent of the nation's emissions, according to the ministry.
"It's positive that the government is starting to
implement actual measures," Choi Seung Kook, secretary general
of Green Korea United, a non-profit group, said by telephone.
"Still, I'm not sure whether this will be effective as the fine
is too small to spur large companies to reduce emissions."
The government will also adopt a carbon-offset system under
which companies imparting technical knowledge on carbon
reduction to smaller firms can earn emissions credits, the
ministry said.
Of the 374 companies identified, 78 are petrochemical
producers, 57 are paper and wood-processing companies and 36 are
power generators, the ministry said. On the list are also 34
steel companies and 31 electronic chip makers. The targets must
be implemented starting 2012, according to the ministry.
South Korea's annual emissions may rise to 813 million tons
by 2020 in the absence of measures to curb carbon output, a
committee under the presidential office said on Aug. 4. That
would be an increase of 37 percent from the 594.4 million tons
produced in 2005.

For Related News and Information:
Top environment news page: GREEN <GO>
Most-read climate-change stories: MNI CLIMATE <GO>
South Korea's energy statistics: ENST <GO>
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>

--Editors: Ryan Woo, John Chacko.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Shinhye Kang in Seoul at +82-2-3702-1638 or
skang24@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or
aprakash1@bloomberg.net.

up 41%/Camco International Forms Joint Venture With Khazanah

Camco International Forms Joint Venture With Khazanah Nasional 91) ☆



By Louisa Fahy
Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Camco International said today it
formed a joint venture with Khazanah Nasional, the investment
holding arm of the Government of Malaysia, to expand its
operations in South East Asia.
The joint venture will be capitalized with as much as
$46.05 million to invest in the emissions to energy market in
South East Asia, it said.


Link to Statement:{NSN L9E6CA3HBS3K <GO>}


Link to Company News:{KNBZ MK <Equity> CN <GO>}
Link to Company News:{CAO LN <Equity> CN <GO>}

2010/09/26

Fwd: + Australia Sets Up Committee to Study Price on Carbon (Update1)

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+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Australia Sets Up Committee to Study Price on Carbon (Update1)
2010-09-27 05:56:09.143 GMT


(Updates with meeting plans in fifth paragraph.)

By James Paton
Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Australian Prime Minister Julia
Gillard established a multi-party committee to study options to
introduce a price on carbon to curb greenhouse gas emissions and
encourage investment in renewable energy technologies.
Gillard will chair the group, with Climate Change Minister
Greg Combet serving as deputy and Deputy Prime Minister Wayne
Swan also representing the government, she said in a statement
today. Greens Party Senator Christine Milne is a co-deputy chair.
The government will invite two lawmakers from the
opposition Liberal-National coalition, two from the Greens Party
as well as independent lawmakers, to be on the committee,
Gillard said. One of the independent legislators, Tony Windsor,
is willing to sit on the body, set to meet for the first time
next month, Gillard said at a press conference in Canberra.
"Parliamentary members of the committee will be drawn from
those who are committed to tackling climate change and who
acknowledge that effectively reducing carbon pollution by 2020
will require a carbon price," Gillard said in her statement.
The committee will consider proposals including a market-
based emissions-trading system, a carbon tax or a "hybrid" of
both and will meet "usually" monthly, according to the
statement.
Ross Garnaut, a professor and a climate change adviser to
the Australian government under Kevin Rudd, is one of four
independent experts who will advise the committee.

Greens Surge

The group includes Will Steffen, the executive director of
the Australian National University's Climate Change Institute,
and Rod Sims, a director of consulting firm Port Jackson
Partners Ltd. Patricia Faulkner, chair of the Australian Social
Inclusion Board, is the fourth adviser.
Gillard pledged to set up the committee as part of an
agreement with the Greens Party. The Greens received a surge in
voter support in Australia's August election after the ruling
Labor Party deferred its cap-and-trade plan to reduce carbon
pollution until after 2012 amid opposition from lawmakers.

For Related News and Information:
Top stories: TOP AU <GO>
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>

--Editors: John Viljoen, Amit Prakash.

To contact the reporter on this story:
James Paton in Sydney +61-2-9777-8698 or jpaton4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or aprakash1@bloomberg.net.

2010/09/24

EU Carbon Poised to Rise on Stochastic Cross: Technical Anal

and from earlier today...see graphic attached EU Carbon Poised to Rise on Stochastic Cross: Technical Analysis

By Catherine Airlie
Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon permits are poised to advance as so-called stochastic indicators cross, according to Orbeo.
The slow stochastic oscillators ``will probably cross over today and provide a buying signal to the market,'' Carine Hemery, a Paris-based analyst at Orbeo, a carbon venture between Societe Generale SA and Rhodia SA, said by telephone today.
The oscillator measures the closing price of a security relative to its highs and lows during a particular period to try to predict whether it will rise or fall. The chart signals prices may increase when its ``k-line,'' based on a formula that uses the highest and lowest prices in a set period, climbs above its own moving average, or ``d-line.'' Carbon's 10-day k-line may climb above the three-day d-line, Hemery said.
EU permits for December rose 17 cents, or 1.1 percent, to 15.06 euros ($20.17) a metric ton as of 10:41 a.m. on London's European Climate Exchange. Permits hit a one-month low of 14.76 euros on Sept 21.
In technical analysis, investors study charts of trading patterns to predict changes in prices. Traders also gauge permit prices by looking at fuel prices. The U.K. and Germany have a mixture of coal and natural gas-fueled power plants and can switch between the two depending on costs.
Natural gas for delivery in Britain next month gained 1.6 percent to 44.65 pence a therm, according to broker data on Bloomberg. The contract has risen 5.9 percent so far this week. Higher gas prices may encourage more power generation from coal plants, which require almost double the number of permits as natural gas plants.

For Related News and Information:
For a Stochastic Chart on EU Carbon: {MOZ0 <CMDTY> TAS <GO>}
Stories on technical analysis: {NI TA BN <GO>}
Most read technical analysis stories: {MNI TA <GO>}

--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Mike Anderson.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie in London at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net

(BN) Low-Emission Shale Gas to Displace Carbon Tech,

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Low-Emission Shale Gas to Displace Carbon Tech, Chatham Says
2010-09-23 23:01:04.83 GMT


By Colin McClelland
Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Cheap, low-emission shale gas, with
double the global reserves of conventional sources, will
discourage investment in nuclear reactors and carbon storage
that would fight climate change, a British study shows.
"In a world where there is the serious possibility of
cheap, relatively clean gas, who will commit large sums of money
to expensive pieces of equipment to lower carbon emissions?"
Paul Stevens, senior research fellow at Chatham House, a London-
based institute for the study of international affairs, wrote in
the report published today.
Global shale gas reserves are estimated to be 456 trillion
cubic meters (16,110 trillion cubic feet) compared with 187
trillion cubic meters for conventional gas, the London-based
World Energy Council said in a 2010 report. More than 60 percent
of shale gas deposits, or plays, are in North America and
Russia.
Shale gas is considered unconventional because it is found
in sedimentary rock, not in reservoirs. Tapping it requires
more wells, advanced horizontal drilling and chemicals that can
pollute ground water.
A confluence of drilling history, tax credits, emission
goals, technology, and incentives for landowners to allow wells
has reduced U.S. shale gas production costs to less than half of
conventional gas in some places, Stevens wrote. That is shaking
investor confidence in conventional gas.

Cheaper Than Conventional

The cost of producing shale gas is $3 or less per million
British thermal units in the Texas plays of Barnett and
Haynesville, Stevens wrote. Conventional gas drilling is about
$10 per million Btu, said Chris Rowland, executive director of a
research unit of Ecofin Ltd., a London-based investment
management company.
"If gas is available at $5 per million Btu, the all-in
price for gas-fired plants would fall to around 50 euros ($67)
per megawatt-hour without carbon capture and storage, or 70
euros with it," Rowland said. That compares with 160 euros for
a coal plant with CCS, perhaps falling to 130 euros in 10 years,
and 85 euros for a nuclear plant, Rowland said.
Natural gas has averaged $4.63 over the past year. Gas for
October delivery settled at $4.019 yesterday on the New York
Mercantile Exchange.
CCS involves trapping emissions of CO2, a greenhouse gas
blamed for climate change, from sources including power stations
and pumping it into underground reservoirs such as oil and
natural-gas fields or saline aquifers for permanent storage.
Rowland said European shale exploration is growing. Germany
and Sweden are planning to drill within 18 months. Exxon Mobil,
ConocoPhillips and Chevron Corp., the three largest U.S. oil
companies, are negotiating exploration contracts for shale in
the Lublin and Podlasie Basins in southeast Poland.
Stevens said "the list of constraints is formidable" for
developing shale gas in Europe, including poor geology, high
population density, low numbers of drilling rigs, tougher local
environmental legislation and opposition to hydraulic
fracturing.

For Related News and Information:
Top Gas Story Page: TGAS <GO>
Natural Gas Prices: NG1 <COMMODITY> GP <GO>
Top Energy Stories: ETOP <GO>
U.K. Gas Prices: UGAS <GO>
Carbon capture and storage stories: NI CARBCAPT <GO>
Emission market news: NI ENVMARKET <GO>
European power-markets home page: EPWR <GO>
Climate-change news: NI CLIMATE <GO>

--Editors: Richard Stubbe, Charlotte Porter.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Colin McClelland in Toronto at +1-416-203-5725 or
cmcclelland1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at +1-212-617-4403 or
dstets@bloomberg.net