+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
California Lifts Ban on Trading Renewable Energy Credits
2011-01-14 21:58:47.128 GMT
By Ehren Goossens
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- California utilities can resume
trading renewable energy credits separately from the power
associated with the credits.
The California Public Utilities Commission yesterday
reversed a ban on such deals, a decision that may make it easier
for utilities to meet the country's highest renewable energy
targets.
Utilities in the state were required to be deriving a total
of 20 percent of their power from renewable sources by the end
of 2010, under the state's renewable portfolio standard, or RPS,
and 33 percent by 2020.
When utilities purchase electricity generated from wind,
solar and other renewable sources, they also receive an
accompanying renewable energy credit, or REC.
The CPUC's decision yesterday reversed a ban, imposed in
May, on buying and selling the RECs without including the power
in the deal. Utilities can now buy the so-called unbundled RECs
from renewable energy generated and used outside their service
territories.
The power must still be delivered to California to be
eligible, with some exceptions. Utilities can only use unbundled
RECs to meet 25 percent of their renewable energy obligations.
"The immediate implications are limited, as the three major
investor-owned utilities are already at or near the allowed
limit," Michel Di Capua, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy
Finance, said today in a e-mailed statement. "In the longer
term, the implications are more meaningful, as it creates a
tradable market around California's renewable obligations, by
far the most significant in the country."
The 25 percent cap was initially imposed in March, when the
CPUC first authorized the state's three largest utilities,
Southern California Edison Co., Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and
San Diego Gas and Electric Co., to trade unbundled RECs.
Trading Moratorium
After the utilities petitioned for eliminating the cap, the
CPUC instead placed a moratorium in May on trading unbundled
RECs so regulators could study the practice. Yesterday's
decision ends that ban and reinstates the 25-percent cap through
2014.
The CPUC said the cap would give it time to evaluate the
use of RECs, and the relationship between bundled and unbundled
energy contracts.
Cindy Pollard, a spokeswoman for PG&E, the state's largest
utility, said in an e-mailed statement today that the San
Francisco-based company will "closely monitor how limits on the
procurement of out-of-state resources, when combined with
development challenges in California, affect our ability to
reach the RPS goals."
For Related News and Information:
For top news on renewable energy: TOP ENV <GO>
Most-read renewable energy news: MNI ALTNRG <GO>
For U.S. renewable energy news: TNI ALTNRG US <GO>
--Editor: Will Wade, Jessica Resnick-Ault
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ehren Goossens in New York at +1 212-617-7155 or
egoossens1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net.
2011/01/17
(BN) Supply of UN Offsets to Reach Weekly Record, New Energy Says
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Supply of UN Offsets to Reach Weekly Record, New Energy Says
2011-01-17 11:19:20.419 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The supply of credits under the
United Nations emissions program will be a record 24 million
tons this week, analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.
For Related News and Information:
Top Energy Stories:{ETOP<GO>}
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:
Mike Anderson at +44-20-7673-2718 or
manderson34@bloomberg.net
Supply of UN Offsets to Reach Weekly Record, New Energy Says
2011-01-17 11:19:20.419 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The supply of credits under the
United Nations emissions program will be a record 24 million
tons this week, analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.
For Related News and Information:
Top Energy Stories:{ETOP<GO>}
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:
Mike Anderson at +44-20-7673-2718 or
manderson34@bloomberg.net
(BN) EU Carbon Little Changed After Reaching 10-Day High; Power Rises
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EU Carbon Little Changed After Reaching 10-Day High; Power Rises
2011-01-17 11:22:25.594 GMT
By Ewa Krukowska and Mathew Carr
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon-dioxide
permits were little changed after reaching the highest price in
10 days as rising German power and U.K. natural gas prices
boosted demand for emission rights.
Allowances for delivery in December increased less than 0.1
percent to 14.50 euros ($19.26) a metric ton as of 10:40 a.m. on
London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. They gained as much as 1
percent earlier today to 14.63 euros, the highest price since
Jan. 7.
"Power and gas are up," said Carine Hemery, an analyst in
Paris for Orbeo, the emissions-trading venture of Societe
Generale SA and Rhodia SA. Futures rose on Jan. 14 to close
above a "strong resistance" level of 14.41 euros, Hemery said
today in a phone interview.
Power utilities buy carbon permits to match forward sales
of electricity, locking in profits on those deals. They require
twice as many permits when they burn coal instead of cleaner-
burning gas. The benchmark contract for coal this year has
advanced 2.3 percent in the past year.
German electricity for settlement next year rose 0.4
percent to 53 euros a megawatt-hour, according to broker data
compiled by Bloomberg. Higher power prices can boost the
incentive to sell power forward, stimulating purchases of
emission permits. U.K. natural gas for the six months through
September this year, the summer contract, rose 0.6 percent.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ECREDITS <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
Sustainability, environmental indexes SEI <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, John Buckley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ewa Krukowska in Brussels +32-2-237-4331 or
ekrukowska@bloomberg.net;
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
EU Carbon Little Changed After Reaching 10-Day High; Power Rises
2011-01-17 11:22:25.594 GMT
By Ewa Krukowska and Mathew Carr
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon-dioxide
permits were little changed after reaching the highest price in
10 days as rising German power and U.K. natural gas prices
boosted demand for emission rights.
Allowances for delivery in December increased less than 0.1
percent to 14.50 euros ($19.26) a metric ton as of 10:40 a.m. on
London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. They gained as much as 1
percent earlier today to 14.63 euros, the highest price since
Jan. 7.
"Power and gas are up," said Carine Hemery, an analyst in
Paris for Orbeo, the emissions-trading venture of Societe
Generale SA and Rhodia SA. Futures rose on Jan. 14 to close
above a "strong resistance" level of 14.41 euros, Hemery said
today in a phone interview.
Power utilities buy carbon permits to match forward sales
of electricity, locking in profits on those deals. They require
twice as many permits when they burn coal instead of cleaner-
burning gas. The benchmark contract for coal this year has
advanced 2.3 percent in the past year.
German electricity for settlement next year rose 0.4
percent to 53 euros a megawatt-hour, according to broker data
compiled by Bloomberg. Higher power prices can boost the
incentive to sell power forward, stimulating purchases of
emission permits. U.K. natural gas for the six months through
September this year, the summer contract, rose 0.6 percent.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ECREDITS <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page EPWR <GO>
Sustainability, environmental indexes SEI <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, John Buckley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ewa Krukowska in Brussels +32-2-237-4331 or
ekrukowska@bloomberg.net;
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
2011/01/14
(BN) Norway’s $186 Billion Gas Loss to Cement Russian Grip
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Norway's $186 Billion Gas Loss to Cement Russian Grip on Supply
2011-01-14 00:01:02.1 GMT
By Marianne Stigset and Ben Farey
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Europe may face a shortfall of
Norwegian natural gas as soon as 2015 after the country slashed
its estimate for undiscovered resources because of a dearth of
discoveries from companies such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Europe's second-largest supplier yesterday cut its estimate
for gas yet to be discovered by 31 percent, or 570 billion cubic
meters. That's equal to more than five years of production at
current rates and would be valued at about $186 billion based on
today's prices at the U.K's trading hub.
"This will rack up the pressure on the European Union to
develop and secure access to reliable energy," Thina Saltvedt,
an analyst at Nordea Markets in Oslo, said by e-mail. "The EU
will be forced to increase imports from the Middle East and
Africa to compensate for and reduce Russia's domination."
Shell, Statoil ASA and other companies have been finding
smaller and smaller amounts or striking out in drilling off
Norway, casting in doubt Norway's status as reliable supplier of
the fuel and its goal of transforming itself into a gas nation
as oil production slumps. The troubles may help Russia, Europe's
biggest supplier, cement its grip on the market and provide an
opening to exporters from the Middle East, where Qatar has
become the largest producer of liquefied natural gas.
"It is the estimates for the gas resources in the North
Sea and the Norwegian Sea that have been written down," Bente
Nyland, head of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, said
yesterday in an interview in Stavanger, estimating a potential
decline in gas production after 2015. "Our gas production will
go down and other countries will pass us by."
Undiscovered Gas
Norway's undiscovered gas resources may total 1.26 trillion
cubic meters, down from an estimated 1.82 trillion cubic meters
last year. The country had total gas proven reserves of 2
trillion cubic meters in 2009.
As fields in the North Sea become depleted four decades
after Norway first discovered oil, companies are moving north
into the Norwegian Sea and the Arctic Barents Sea. Norway is
counting on gas output to make up for declining oil production,
which has dropped 50 percent in the past decade.
The "revised estimate of undiscovered reserves should be
taken seriously, although it should also be remembered that it's
part of their job to be ultra-cautious in assessing the nation's
future hydrocarbons wealth," said Patrick Heren, founder of
European price-information service ICIS Heren. The implication
may be that exporters in Central Asia or the Middle East will
find it easier to sell their gas in Europe, he said.
Challenges
Statoil, Norway's biggest oil and gas producer, has a goal
of maintaining Norwegian production at current levels until
2020, which Chief Executive Officer Helge Lund on Nov. 3 called
"ambitious."
"Our goal hasn't changed from what we've previously
communicated," Statoil spokesman Ola Anders Skauby said today.
"The 2020 target is based in large part on discovered
resources. The Norwegian shelf is definitely still interesting
to Statoil."
Shell drilled a dry well at the Dalsnuten prospect in the
Norwegian Sea in November, a further blow to its nearby Gro
discovery. An appraisal well at Gro had earlier indicated the
find could be at the lower end of the 10 billion to 100 billion
cubic meters estimate. Total SA also reduced the size of its
Victoria field after more drilling in 2009.
Ormen Lange
"The fact that Gro didn't deliver means that other
surrounding prospects also decline and thereby the totality is
gone," said Nyland. "The question is whether Statoil will find
profitability in the gas discoveries they've made."
Shell last year had to cut the estimated reserves at its
Ormen Lange field, Europe's third largest, by 24 percent to
about 302 billion cubic meters.
Norway may have to pin its hopes on the Barents Sea, where
it's preparing to map out an exploration area after reaching a
maritime border agreement with Russia in September. Some seven
to eight exploration wells are expected this year in the area,
where there has been little exploration to date. So far this
year, Eni SpA on Jan. 5 announced a dry well near its Goliat
field in the Barents Sea, the directorate said on Jan. 5.
Norway estimates the Barents Sea holds 520 billion cubic
meters and the Norwegian Sea 455 billion cubic meters in
undiscovered gas resources.
"Most geologists are more optimistic than the Norwegian
Petroleum Directorate about the prospects for large gas
discoveries in the Arctic, where the Russians have already made
a colossal find at Shtokman," Heren said.
--Editors: Jonas Bergman, Will Kennedy.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Marianne Stigset in Oslo at +47-22-99-61-09 or
mstigset@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Will Kennedy at +44-20-7073-3603 or
wkennedy3@bloomberg.net;
Norway's $186 Billion Gas Loss to Cement Russian Grip on Supply
2011-01-14 00:01:02.1 GMT
By Marianne Stigset and Ben Farey
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Europe may face a shortfall of
Norwegian natural gas as soon as 2015 after the country slashed
its estimate for undiscovered resources because of a dearth of
discoveries from companies such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
Europe's second-largest supplier yesterday cut its estimate
for gas yet to be discovered by 31 percent, or 570 billion cubic
meters. That's equal to more than five years of production at
current rates and would be valued at about $186 billion based on
today's prices at the U.K's trading hub.
"This will rack up the pressure on the European Union to
develop and secure access to reliable energy," Thina Saltvedt,
an analyst at Nordea Markets in Oslo, said by e-mail. "The EU
will be forced to increase imports from the Middle East and
Africa to compensate for and reduce Russia's domination."
Shell, Statoil ASA and other companies have been finding
smaller and smaller amounts or striking out in drilling off
Norway, casting in doubt Norway's status as reliable supplier of
the fuel and its goal of transforming itself into a gas nation
as oil production slumps. The troubles may help Russia, Europe's
biggest supplier, cement its grip on the market and provide an
opening to exporters from the Middle East, where Qatar has
become the largest producer of liquefied natural gas.
"It is the estimates for the gas resources in the North
Sea and the Norwegian Sea that have been written down," Bente
Nyland, head of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, said
yesterday in an interview in Stavanger, estimating a potential
decline in gas production after 2015. "Our gas production will
go down and other countries will pass us by."
Undiscovered Gas
Norway's undiscovered gas resources may total 1.26 trillion
cubic meters, down from an estimated 1.82 trillion cubic meters
last year. The country had total gas proven reserves of 2
trillion cubic meters in 2009.
As fields in the North Sea become depleted four decades
after Norway first discovered oil, companies are moving north
into the Norwegian Sea and the Arctic Barents Sea. Norway is
counting on gas output to make up for declining oil production,
which has dropped 50 percent in the past decade.
The "revised estimate of undiscovered reserves should be
taken seriously, although it should also be remembered that it's
part of their job to be ultra-cautious in assessing the nation's
future hydrocarbons wealth," said Patrick Heren, founder of
European price-information service ICIS Heren. The implication
may be that exporters in Central Asia or the Middle East will
find it easier to sell their gas in Europe, he said.
Challenges
Statoil, Norway's biggest oil and gas producer, has a goal
of maintaining Norwegian production at current levels until
2020, which Chief Executive Officer Helge Lund on Nov. 3 called
"ambitious."
"Our goal hasn't changed from what we've previously
communicated," Statoil spokesman Ola Anders Skauby said today.
"The 2020 target is based in large part on discovered
resources. The Norwegian shelf is definitely still interesting
to Statoil."
Shell drilled a dry well at the Dalsnuten prospect in the
Norwegian Sea in November, a further blow to its nearby Gro
discovery. An appraisal well at Gro had earlier indicated the
find could be at the lower end of the 10 billion to 100 billion
cubic meters estimate. Total SA also reduced the size of its
Victoria field after more drilling in 2009.
Ormen Lange
"The fact that Gro didn't deliver means that other
surrounding prospects also decline and thereby the totality is
gone," said Nyland. "The question is whether Statoil will find
profitability in the gas discoveries they've made."
Shell last year had to cut the estimated reserves at its
Ormen Lange field, Europe's third largest, by 24 percent to
about 302 billion cubic meters.
Norway may have to pin its hopes on the Barents Sea, where
it's preparing to map out an exploration area after reaching a
maritime border agreement with Russia in September. Some seven
to eight exploration wells are expected this year in the area,
where there has been little exploration to date. So far this
year, Eni SpA on Jan. 5 announced a dry well near its Goliat
field in the Barents Sea, the directorate said on Jan. 5.
Norway estimates the Barents Sea holds 520 billion cubic
meters and the Norwegian Sea 455 billion cubic meters in
undiscovered gas resources.
"Most geologists are more optimistic than the Norwegian
Petroleum Directorate about the prospects for large gas
discoveries in the Arctic, where the Russians have already made
a colossal find at Shtokman," Heren said.
--Editors: Jonas Bergman, Will Kennedy.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Marianne Stigset in Oslo at +47-22-99-61-09 or
mstigset@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Will Kennedy at +44-20-7073-3603 or
wkennedy3@bloomberg.net;
2011/01/13
Fwd: New Zealand Carbon Credits Decline on CER Pressure, Broker Says
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
New Zealand Carbon Credits Decline on CER Pressure, Broker Says
2011-01-14 03:44:51.393 GMT
By Stuart Biggs
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The spot price of emission credits
in New Zealand's carbon market is falling because of a decline
in United Nations Certified Emission Reduction credits,
Auckland-based broker OMFinancial Ltd. said.
Spot carbon credits traded at NZ$19.25 ($14.82) a metric
ton last week, the broker said in an e-mailed statement today.
That compares with 10.90 euros ($14.53) for December CERs,
Bloomberg data show. Companies in New Zealand that emit
greenhouse gases have the option to pay a tax of NZ$25 a ton of
emissions or buy the contracts.
"Prices for New Zealand Units have crumbled due to the
plunge in CER prices over the last few weeks - this will be the
new cap in our local market," OMFinancial's statement said.
"The cap of NZ$25 is irrelevant at present."
The global market for carbon may remain "subdued" in the
short and medium term after the UN issued a record number
credits issued for projects, the statement said.
For Related News and Information:
Bloomberg New Energy Finance Carbon Model: CARX <GO>
Emissions Market Monitor: EMMK <GO>
Most-read environmental news: MNI ENV <GO>
Most-read renewable-energy news: MNI ALTNRG <GO>
--Editors:
To contact the reporter on this story:
Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-3093 or
sbiggs3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net.
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
New Zealand Carbon Credits Decline on CER Pressure, Broker Says
2011-01-14 03:44:51.393 GMT
By Stuart Biggs
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The spot price of emission credits
in New Zealand's carbon market is falling because of a decline
in United Nations Certified Emission Reduction credits,
Auckland-based broker OMFinancial Ltd. said.
Spot carbon credits traded at NZ$19.25 ($14.82) a metric
ton last week, the broker said in an e-mailed statement today.
That compares with 10.90 euros ($14.53) for December CERs,
Bloomberg data show. Companies in New Zealand that emit
greenhouse gases have the option to pay a tax of NZ$25 a ton of
emissions or buy the contracts.
"Prices for New Zealand Units have crumbled due to the
plunge in CER prices over the last few weeks - this will be the
new cap in our local market," OMFinancial's statement said.
"The cap of NZ$25 is irrelevant at present."
The global market for carbon may remain "subdued" in the
short and medium term after the UN issued a record number
credits issued for projects, the statement said.
For Related News and Information:
Bloomberg New Energy Finance Carbon Model: CARX <GO>
Emissions Market Monitor: EMMK <GO>
Most-read environmental news: MNI ENV <GO>
Most-read renewable-energy news: MNI ALTNRG <GO>
--Editors:
To contact the reporter on this story:
Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-3093 or
sbiggs3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net.
(BN) Commodity Speculation Divides CFTC as Deadline Looms
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Commodity Speculation Divides CFTC as Deadline Looms (Update1)
2011-01-13 15:46:50.614 GMT
(Adds CFTC vote in fifth paragraph, statement from CFTC's
Chilton in 11th paragraph, Dunn in 18th, Sommers in 20th.)
By Asjylyn Loder
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Curbing speculation in raw materials
including oil, gold and wheat has touched off a battle at the
top U.S. commodities regulator with a legal deadline to rein in
traders just four days away.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is divided over
how to meet the requirements of the Dodd-Frank financial
overhaul that became law last year. A lack of data on the $583
trillion global over-the-counter derivatives market has
complicated the agency's efforts to limit speculation this
month, as directed by the law.
Commissioner Scott O'Malia said today fellow commissioners
are attempting a "Trojan horse" move that would impose limits
without proper debate. Chairman Gary Gensler last month directed
the agency's staff to gather data from firms that exceed certain
thresholds, while Commissioner Bart Chilton advocated "position
points" beyond which the agency might push traders to reduce or
freeze their holdings.
"Much of the pressure to immediately implement position
limits/'position points' comes from those who advocate the need
for price controls," O'Malia, a Republican, said in a
statement. "It is not the role of the commission to control
prices."
The CFTC today voted 4-1 to propose rules that would limit
the number of contracts a single firm can hold. The public has
60 days to critique the caps. O'Malia said he's "very
skeptical" about the proposal, though he voted to put it out
for comment. No date is for a final vote on the rules.
Legal Directive
The Dodd-Frank Act gave the CFTC until Jan. 17 to curb
speculation in the energy and metals markets and until April in
agricultural commodities. Last month, Gensler, a Democrat, said
the commission wouldn't meet the deadline because it doesn't yet
have sufficient data. The commission delayed a vote on the
proposal at a Dec. 16 public meeting.
Today he responded to O'Malia's statement, disputing the
notion that he and Chilton, also a Democrat, were trying to
regulate prices.
"The CFTC does not set or regulate prices," Gensler said
in a statement. "Rather, the commission is directed to ensure
that commodity markets are fair and orderly to protect the
American public."
More Data
He said gathering additional information will help the
commission understand the role of large traders in the market
and how proposed limits may affect them. "These levels, or
points, are the positions at which CFTC staff will brief the
commission under its existing authority," he said.
The plan under discussion would limit traders to 25 percent
of deliverable supply in the contract nearest to expiration,
followed by an all-month ceiling of 10 percent of open interest
up to the first 25,000 contracts and 2.5 percent thereafter.
Chilton said the commission "should have proposed much
earlier in a way that would have implemented the provision as
Congress intended. That's not happening."
Regulators and lawmakers are attempting to rein in
commodity speculation amid concern that investors contributed to
oil reaching the record high of $147.27 a barrel in 2008. The
CFTC received hundreds of public comments on position limits and
held at least 75 meetings on the subject since July, according
to its website.
"I do not believe that the absence of position limits has
had any impact on prices in the past," O'Malia said. "And I do
not believe that setting them now will be effective in
preventing a barrel of oil from going over $100 per barrel."
CFTC Oversight
The financial overhaul expanded the CFTC's authority to the
over-the-counter derivatives market for the first time since
swaps were introduced 30 years ago. Before the law passed,
traders could buy futures on regulated exchanges or they could
privately negotiate for unregulated, look-alike contracts.
The commission in October proposed a rule to gather
information on the previously unregulated swaps. The 60-day
public comment period closed in December, and the agency hasn't
approved the rule.
Without that data, the agency can't impose or enforce
aggregate position limits across exchange-traded futures and
economically equivalent derivatives, Gensler said last month.
The CFTC limits would impose a uniform set of rules across
exchanges and the over-the-counter market, replacing a patchwork
of inconsistent restrictions for different venues and
commodities. Trading in some agricultural contracts is already
capped, while there are few controls on speculation in energy
and precious metals.
Dunn Skepticism
"To date, CFTC staff has been unable to find any reliable
economic analysis to support either the contention that
excessive speculation is affecting the markets we regulate, or
that position limits will prevent excessive speculation," said
Commissioner Michael Dunn.
At the Dec. 16 meeting, Gensler directed commission staff
to gather information on the derivatives positions of any trader
that exceeded 10 percent of open interest in exchange-traded
futures or similarly regulated contracts up to 25,000 contracts,
and 2.5 percent thereafter.
Commissioner Jill Sommers, who cast the only vote against
publishing the proposal, said the commission should wait for a
complete analysis of the swaps market before moving ahead on
limits.
Chilton Plan
Chilton's proposal is similar to accountability levels now
policed by regulated exchanges like the New York Mercantile
Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade. Traders that exceed
those levels may come under increased scrutiny, and be asked to
freeze or reduce their bets. The exchanges also impose
restrictions in the last few days before a contract expires.
O'Malia said those actions will create uncertainty about
limits, chase traders off of the transparent exchanges and open
the CFTC up to legal challenge because the public wasn't given
proper notice or opportunity to comment.
The financial overhaul, named for its primary authors,
Democratic former Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and
Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, aims to stem systemic
risk by requiring most interest-rate, credit-default and other
swaps be processed by clearinghouses after being traded on
exchanges or swap-execution facilities.
Related News and Information: CFTC Related News: NI CFT <GO>
Top Oil Market News: OTOP <GO> Top Commodity Market News:
CTOP <GO>
--With assistance from Silla Brush in Washington. Editors: Dan
Stets, Charlotte Porter
To contact the reporter on this story:
Asjylyn Loder in New York at +1-212-617-5771 or
aloder@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at 212-617-4403 or dstets@bloomberg.net.
Commodity Speculation Divides CFTC as Deadline Looms (Update1)
2011-01-13 15:46:50.614 GMT
(Adds CFTC vote in fifth paragraph, statement from CFTC's
Chilton in 11th paragraph, Dunn in 18th, Sommers in 20th.)
By Asjylyn Loder
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Curbing speculation in raw materials
including oil, gold and wheat has touched off a battle at the
top U.S. commodities regulator with a legal deadline to rein in
traders just four days away.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is divided over
how to meet the requirements of the Dodd-Frank financial
overhaul that became law last year. A lack of data on the $583
trillion global over-the-counter derivatives market has
complicated the agency's efforts to limit speculation this
month, as directed by the law.
Commissioner Scott O'Malia said today fellow commissioners
are attempting a "Trojan horse" move that would impose limits
without proper debate. Chairman Gary Gensler last month directed
the agency's staff to gather data from firms that exceed certain
thresholds, while Commissioner Bart Chilton advocated "position
points" beyond which the agency might push traders to reduce or
freeze their holdings.
"Much of the pressure to immediately implement position
limits/'position points' comes from those who advocate the need
for price controls," O'Malia, a Republican, said in a
statement. "It is not the role of the commission to control
prices."
The CFTC today voted 4-1 to propose rules that would limit
the number of contracts a single firm can hold. The public has
60 days to critique the caps. O'Malia said he's "very
skeptical" about the proposal, though he voted to put it out
for comment. No date is for a final vote on the rules.
Legal Directive
The Dodd-Frank Act gave the CFTC until Jan. 17 to curb
speculation in the energy and metals markets and until April in
agricultural commodities. Last month, Gensler, a Democrat, said
the commission wouldn't meet the deadline because it doesn't yet
have sufficient data. The commission delayed a vote on the
proposal at a Dec. 16 public meeting.
Today he responded to O'Malia's statement, disputing the
notion that he and Chilton, also a Democrat, were trying to
regulate prices.
"The CFTC does not set or regulate prices," Gensler said
in a statement. "Rather, the commission is directed to ensure
that commodity markets are fair and orderly to protect the
American public."
More Data
He said gathering additional information will help the
commission understand the role of large traders in the market
and how proposed limits may affect them. "These levels, or
points, are the positions at which CFTC staff will brief the
commission under its existing authority," he said.
The plan under discussion would limit traders to 25 percent
of deliverable supply in the contract nearest to expiration,
followed by an all-month ceiling of 10 percent of open interest
up to the first 25,000 contracts and 2.5 percent thereafter.
Chilton said the commission "should have proposed much
earlier in a way that would have implemented the provision as
Congress intended. That's not happening."
Regulators and lawmakers are attempting to rein in
commodity speculation amid concern that investors contributed to
oil reaching the record high of $147.27 a barrel in 2008. The
CFTC received hundreds of public comments on position limits and
held at least 75 meetings on the subject since July, according
to its website.
"I do not believe that the absence of position limits has
had any impact on prices in the past," O'Malia said. "And I do
not believe that setting them now will be effective in
preventing a barrel of oil from going over $100 per barrel."
CFTC Oversight
The financial overhaul expanded the CFTC's authority to the
over-the-counter derivatives market for the first time since
swaps were introduced 30 years ago. Before the law passed,
traders could buy futures on regulated exchanges or they could
privately negotiate for unregulated, look-alike contracts.
The commission in October proposed a rule to gather
information on the previously unregulated swaps. The 60-day
public comment period closed in December, and the agency hasn't
approved the rule.
Without that data, the agency can't impose or enforce
aggregate position limits across exchange-traded futures and
economically equivalent derivatives, Gensler said last month.
The CFTC limits would impose a uniform set of rules across
exchanges and the over-the-counter market, replacing a patchwork
of inconsistent restrictions for different venues and
commodities. Trading in some agricultural contracts is already
capped, while there are few controls on speculation in energy
and precious metals.
Dunn Skepticism
"To date, CFTC staff has been unable to find any reliable
economic analysis to support either the contention that
excessive speculation is affecting the markets we regulate, or
that position limits will prevent excessive speculation," said
Commissioner Michael Dunn.
At the Dec. 16 meeting, Gensler directed commission staff
to gather information on the derivatives positions of any trader
that exceeded 10 percent of open interest in exchange-traded
futures or similarly regulated contracts up to 25,000 contracts,
and 2.5 percent thereafter.
Commissioner Jill Sommers, who cast the only vote against
publishing the proposal, said the commission should wait for a
complete analysis of the swaps market before moving ahead on
limits.
Chilton Plan
Chilton's proposal is similar to accountability levels now
policed by regulated exchanges like the New York Mercantile
Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade. Traders that exceed
those levels may come under increased scrutiny, and be asked to
freeze or reduce their bets. The exchanges also impose
restrictions in the last few days before a contract expires.
O'Malia said those actions will create uncertainty about
limits, chase traders off of the transparent exchanges and open
the CFTC up to legal challenge because the public wasn't given
proper notice or opportunity to comment.
The financial overhaul, named for its primary authors,
Democratic former Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and
Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, aims to stem systemic
risk by requiring most interest-rate, credit-default and other
swaps be processed by clearinghouses after being traded on
exchanges or swap-execution facilities.
Related News and Information: CFTC Related News: NI CFT <GO>
Top Oil Market News: OTOP <GO> Top Commodity Market News:
CTOP <GO>
--With assistance from Silla Brush in Washington. Editors: Dan
Stets, Charlotte Porter
To contact the reporter on this story:
Asjylyn Loder in New York at +1-212-617-5771 or
aloder@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at 212-617-4403 or dstets@bloomberg.net.
(BN) Green Exchange May Offer 2013 Contract for UN Offsets (Update1)
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Green Exchange May Offer 2013 Contract for UN Offsets (Update1)
2011-01-13 13:31:53.823 GMT
(Adds Hasselknippe comment from second paragraph.)
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Green Exchange LLC, an emissions
market owned by CME Group Inc.'s New York Mercantile Exchange,
may offer a United Nations offset contract starting next month.
The emissions contract would "ensure that buyers get what
they need for compliance purposes," Henrik Hasselknippe, a
London-based managing director at the exchange, said today by
phone. Green Exchange is asking clients what they need, he said.
The UN's Certified Emission Reductions can be used by
emitters in the European Union's cap-and-trade program, the
world's largest, as a less-expensive alternative for compliance
with their pollution limits. So-called CERs are created along
with projects to curb emissions in developing nations. The EU
has proposed restricting credits from certain projects starting
in 2013.
Green Exchange's CER contract is "written very
specifically to cover EU eligibility," when phase three of the
trading system begins in 2013, Hasselknippe said. "To create
something that is flexible enough to deal with any regulatory
outcome."
ICE Futures Europe, the exchange with the biggest share of
the carbon market, proposed last month that offsets used for
settlement against its contracts must comply with European
trading rules.
For Related News and Information:
Top Energy Stories:ETOP<GO>
Link to Company News:CME US <Equity> CN <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Randall Hackley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie in London at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net
Stephen Voss at +44 207 7073 3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net
Green Exchange May Offer 2013 Contract for UN Offsets (Update1)
2011-01-13 13:31:53.823 GMT
(Adds Hasselknippe comment from second paragraph.)
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Green Exchange LLC, an emissions
market owned by CME Group Inc.'s New York Mercantile Exchange,
may offer a United Nations offset contract starting next month.
The emissions contract would "ensure that buyers get what
they need for compliance purposes," Henrik Hasselknippe, a
London-based managing director at the exchange, said today by
phone. Green Exchange is asking clients what they need, he said.
The UN's Certified Emission Reductions can be used by
emitters in the European Union's cap-and-trade program, the
world's largest, as a less-expensive alternative for compliance
with their pollution limits. So-called CERs are created along
with projects to curb emissions in developing nations. The EU
has proposed restricting credits from certain projects starting
in 2013.
Green Exchange's CER contract is "written very
specifically to cover EU eligibility," when phase three of the
trading system begins in 2013, Hasselknippe said. "To create
something that is flexible enough to deal with any regulatory
outcome."
ICE Futures Europe, the exchange with the biggest share of
the carbon market, proposed last month that offsets used for
settlement against its contracts must comply with European
trading rules.
For Related News and Information:
Top Energy Stories:ETOP<GO>
Link to Company News:CME US <Equity> CN <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Randall Hackley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie in London at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net
Stephen Voss at +44 207 7073 3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net
Firms in Japan, Korea Oppose $212 Billion Carbon Trade
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Firms in Japan, Korea Oppose Start of Carbon Trading (Update1)
2011-01-13 14:07:36.323 GMT
(Adds Orbeo comment in 18th paragraph.)
By Stuart Biggs, Chisaki Watanabe and Mathew Carr
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese and South Korean companies,
adopting arguments that helped block carbon trading in the U.S.,
are opposing government plans to set up emission markets worth a
potential $212 billion by 2020.
The Federation of Korean Industries said Jan. 11 that
starting emissions trading in 2013 would add to the cost of
doing business and put the country at a disadvantage unless
Japan and China do the same. Keidanren, Japan's largest business
lobby, said 61 of 64 companies that responded to a survey in
September opposed introducing carbon trading.
Japan and South Korea, Asia's third- and-fourth-biggest
polluters, would be critical to the United Nations plan to make
carbon trading a "pillar" of the global effort to slow climate
change. Concerns about costs and competition derailed national
carbon markets in the U.S. and Australia and raised doubts about
so-called cap and trade catching on outside Europe.
"The U.S. reluctance to embrace emissions trading might
easily spread to Asia," said Georgina Edwards, an analyst at
Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London. "They're almost like
dominos at this stage."
The U.S. and China, the world's largest emitters, balked at
legally binding emission targets at last month's climate summit
in Cancun, Mexico. The U.S. won't commit unless China, India and
Brazil are willing to do the same, U.S. negotiator Todd Stern
said last month.
'Reflection Period'
The European Union, which started its cap-and-trade program
in 2005, said yesterday it may need a "reflection period" on
continued participation in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Its
emissions market was valued at about 80 billion euros ($104
billion) last year, or 81 percent of the global total, New
Energy Finance said in a Jan. 6 report.
Cap-and-trade puts a price on carbon by setting limits on
the amount of emissions polluters can produce. Those producing
more than the limit must buy credits to offset their emissions,
while those that emit less can sell their balance in the market.
The worldwide market could reach 1.7 trillion euros by the
end of the decade if the U.S., Japan and other countries started
"meaningful" cap-and-trade programs, New Energy Finance said.
The Japanese carbon market may be worth 106 billion euros
in 2020, while South Korea's could reach 56 billion euros, New
Energy Finance estimated. The forecasts assume their programs
start in 2013, which is "ambitious," Edwards said.
Japan's Environment Minister Ryu Matsumoto declined to
commit to the 2013 date in a press conference in December after
a meeting to discuss the nation's emissions trading plans. In
August, an environment ministry panel had recommended starting
emission trading in fiscal 2013.
'Extra Burdens'
Japanese companies are more focused on economic recovery
than fighting climate change, said Satoshi Hashimoto, a senior
researcher at the Mitsubishi Research Institute in Tokyo.
"The economic situation has drastically changed and
businesses are strongly opposed to policies that would add extra
burdens on them," Hashimoto said in an interview yesterday.
"There is intensifying competition from emerging countries.
Environment policies had to take a step back."
In the U.S., cap-and-trade opponents stopped President
Barack Obama's proposal for a national carbon market from
passing Congress.
Republicans, who won control of the U.S. House of
Representatives and narrowed Democrats' majority in the Senate
in elections last year, say they will now try to thwart Obama's
back-up plan to use Environmental Protection Agency regulations
to curb greenhouse gases.
Ishihara Leads
Tokyo started a cap-and-trade program confined to the
capital last April as part of Governor Shintaro Ishihara's plan
to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent this decade. The
Tokyo market had its first emissions trade in August.
In South Korea, the Chamber of Commerce & Industry said
carbon emissions trading will increase costs for domestic
companies and make them less competitive than rivals from Japan
and China.
South Korea's government plans to present its emissions
trading law to parliament next month, according to Jung Do Hyun,
an official on the Presidential Committee on Green Growth, which
oversees climate change policy. The proposal will first be
reviewed by the Regulatory Reform Committee composed of
academics and business groups that can request more lenient
regulations.
Korea may seek to use carbon trading to win a competitive
advantage, said Emmanuel Fages, the Paris-based head of carbon
research at Orbeo, the emissions-trading venture of Societe
Generale SA and Rhodia SA. "Korean manufacturers are partly
convinced that being green is one way they will manage to
compete," he said yesterday by phone. "They want it to be a
distinctive feature in their products."
Ignoring China
The argument that businesses will face unfair competition
ignores measures China is taking, according to Roger Raufer, an
independent emissions and energy consultant in New Jersey.
"It's hard to make an argument that China is dragging its
feet," Raufer said in a phone interview.
China's government plans pilot programs to cap and trade
emissions in five provinces including Guangdong and Shaanxi, as
well as eight cities including Tianjin, Xiamen and Shenzhen,
Anthony Bailey, a Hong Kong-based China carbon analyst at New
Energy Finance, said in a phone interview.
It also introduced a law in January requiring utilities to
reinvest a percentage of profit into projects to improve energy
efficiency, he said.
"South Korea is looking at China as more of the issue
because a lot of their industry would be at a disadvantage,"
Trevor Sikorski, a London-based analyst at Barclays Capital,
said in a telephone interview. "For Japan, the real issue is
probably not so much China as the U.S.," he said.
"If you saw a robust North American trading scheme, and if
you saw what China's pledging to do brought into a legal
framework, that'd probably be enough for most countries."
For Related News and Information:
Most-read alternative energy stories: MNI ALTNRG <GO>
New Energy Finance news and analysis: BNEF <GO>
Renewable energy, environment page: GREEN <GO>
Top Environment stories: TOP ENV <GO>
--With assistance by Shinhye Kang in Seoul, Ewa Krukowska in
Brussels, and Catherine Airlie and Alex Morales in London.
Editors: Mike Anderson, Todd White, Peter Langan
To contact the reporters on this story:
Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-3093 or
sbiggs3@bloomberg.net;
Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-2541 or
cwatanabe5@bloomberg.net;
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-78624 or
landberg@bloomberg.net
Firms in Japan, Korea Oppose Start of Carbon Trading (Update1)
2011-01-13 14:07:36.323 GMT
(Adds Orbeo comment in 18th paragraph.)
By Stuart Biggs, Chisaki Watanabe and Mathew Carr
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese and South Korean companies,
adopting arguments that helped block carbon trading in the U.S.,
are opposing government plans to set up emission markets worth a
potential $212 billion by 2020.
The Federation of Korean Industries said Jan. 11 that
starting emissions trading in 2013 would add to the cost of
doing business and put the country at a disadvantage unless
Japan and China do the same. Keidanren, Japan's largest business
lobby, said 61 of 64 companies that responded to a survey in
September opposed introducing carbon trading.
Japan and South Korea, Asia's third- and-fourth-biggest
polluters, would be critical to the United Nations plan to make
carbon trading a "pillar" of the global effort to slow climate
change. Concerns about costs and competition derailed national
carbon markets in the U.S. and Australia and raised doubts about
so-called cap and trade catching on outside Europe.
"The U.S. reluctance to embrace emissions trading might
easily spread to Asia," said Georgina Edwards, an analyst at
Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London. "They're almost like
dominos at this stage."
The U.S. and China, the world's largest emitters, balked at
legally binding emission targets at last month's climate summit
in Cancun, Mexico. The U.S. won't commit unless China, India and
Brazil are willing to do the same, U.S. negotiator Todd Stern
said last month.
'Reflection Period'
The European Union, which started its cap-and-trade program
in 2005, said yesterday it may need a "reflection period" on
continued participation in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Its
emissions market was valued at about 80 billion euros ($104
billion) last year, or 81 percent of the global total, New
Energy Finance said in a Jan. 6 report.
Cap-and-trade puts a price on carbon by setting limits on
the amount of emissions polluters can produce. Those producing
more than the limit must buy credits to offset their emissions,
while those that emit less can sell their balance in the market.
The worldwide market could reach 1.7 trillion euros by the
end of the decade if the U.S., Japan and other countries started
"meaningful" cap-and-trade programs, New Energy Finance said.
The Japanese carbon market may be worth 106 billion euros
in 2020, while South Korea's could reach 56 billion euros, New
Energy Finance estimated. The forecasts assume their programs
start in 2013, which is "ambitious," Edwards said.
Japan's Environment Minister Ryu Matsumoto declined to
commit to the 2013 date in a press conference in December after
a meeting to discuss the nation's emissions trading plans. In
August, an environment ministry panel had recommended starting
emission trading in fiscal 2013.
'Extra Burdens'
Japanese companies are more focused on economic recovery
than fighting climate change, said Satoshi Hashimoto, a senior
researcher at the Mitsubishi Research Institute in Tokyo.
"The economic situation has drastically changed and
businesses are strongly opposed to policies that would add extra
burdens on them," Hashimoto said in an interview yesterday.
"There is intensifying competition from emerging countries.
Environment policies had to take a step back."
In the U.S., cap-and-trade opponents stopped President
Barack Obama's proposal for a national carbon market from
passing Congress.
Republicans, who won control of the U.S. House of
Representatives and narrowed Democrats' majority in the Senate
in elections last year, say they will now try to thwart Obama's
back-up plan to use Environmental Protection Agency regulations
to curb greenhouse gases.
Ishihara Leads
Tokyo started a cap-and-trade program confined to the
capital last April as part of Governor Shintaro Ishihara's plan
to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent this decade. The
Tokyo market had its first emissions trade in August.
In South Korea, the Chamber of Commerce & Industry said
carbon emissions trading will increase costs for domestic
companies and make them less competitive than rivals from Japan
and China.
South Korea's government plans to present its emissions
trading law to parliament next month, according to Jung Do Hyun,
an official on the Presidential Committee on Green Growth, which
oversees climate change policy. The proposal will first be
reviewed by the Regulatory Reform Committee composed of
academics and business groups that can request more lenient
regulations.
Korea may seek to use carbon trading to win a competitive
advantage, said Emmanuel Fages, the Paris-based head of carbon
research at Orbeo, the emissions-trading venture of Societe
Generale SA and Rhodia SA. "Korean manufacturers are partly
convinced that being green is one way they will manage to
compete," he said yesterday by phone. "They want it to be a
distinctive feature in their products."
Ignoring China
The argument that businesses will face unfair competition
ignores measures China is taking, according to Roger Raufer, an
independent emissions and energy consultant in New Jersey.
"It's hard to make an argument that China is dragging its
feet," Raufer said in a phone interview.
China's government plans pilot programs to cap and trade
emissions in five provinces including Guangdong and Shaanxi, as
well as eight cities including Tianjin, Xiamen and Shenzhen,
Anthony Bailey, a Hong Kong-based China carbon analyst at New
Energy Finance, said in a phone interview.
It also introduced a law in January requiring utilities to
reinvest a percentage of profit into projects to improve energy
efficiency, he said.
"South Korea is looking at China as more of the issue
because a lot of their industry would be at a disadvantage,"
Trevor Sikorski, a London-based analyst at Barclays Capital,
said in a telephone interview. "For Japan, the real issue is
probably not so much China as the U.S.," he said.
"If you saw a robust North American trading scheme, and if
you saw what China's pledging to do brought into a legal
framework, that'd probably be enough for most countries."
For Related News and Information:
Most-read alternative energy stories: MNI ALTNRG <GO>
New Energy Finance news and analysis: BNEF <GO>
Renewable energy, environment page: GREEN <GO>
Top Environment stories: TOP ENV <GO>
--With assistance by Shinhye Kang in Seoul, Ewa Krukowska in
Brussels, and Catherine Airlie and Alex Morales in London.
Editors: Mike Anderson, Todd White, Peter Langan
To contact the reporters on this story:
Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-3093 or
sbiggs3@bloomberg.net;
Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-2541 or
cwatanabe5@bloomberg.net;
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-78624 or
landberg@bloomberg.net
(BN) India to Make States Buy Solar Power Starting in 2013
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
India to Make States Buy Solar Power Starting in 2013 (Update1)
2011-01-13 13:47:59.135 GMT
(Updates with details starting second paragraph.)
By Natalie Obiko Pearson
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- India will require state power
distribution companies to start buying solar-generated
electricity beginning in 2013.
The Cabinet has approved a revision of India's power-tariff
policy to require that at least 0.25 percent of the electricity
the utilities distribute be generated by solar plants, Ashok
Lavasa, additional secretary at the power ministry, said in an
interview today in the western Indian city of Gandhinagar. That
solar purchase obligation will rise to 3 percent by 2022.
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>
Top solar energy news NI SOLAR <GO>
To contact the reporter on this story:
Natalie Obiko Pearson in Mumbai at +91-22-6120-3650 or
npearson7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net
India to Make States Buy Solar Power Starting in 2013 (Update1)
2011-01-13 13:47:59.135 GMT
(Updates with details starting second paragraph.)
By Natalie Obiko Pearson
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- India will require state power
distribution companies to start buying solar-generated
electricity beginning in 2013.
The Cabinet has approved a revision of India's power-tariff
policy to require that at least 0.25 percent of the electricity
the utilities distribute be generated by solar plants, Ashok
Lavasa, additional secretary at the power ministry, said in an
interview today in the western Indian city of Gandhinagar. That
solar purchase obligation will rise to 3 percent by 2022.
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>
Top solar energy news NI SOLAR <GO>
To contact the reporter on this story:
Natalie Obiko Pearson in Mumbai at +91-22-6120-3650 or
npearson7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net
(BN) Sindicatum Carbon Sells 5.5 Million UN Credits for $84 Million
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Sindicatum Carbon Sells 5.5 Million UN Credits for $84 Million
2011-01-13 03:05:21.785 GMT
By Dinakar Sethuraman
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Sindicatum Carbon Capital Ltd., the
developer of clean-energy projects that's partly owned by
Citigroup Inc. and Cargill Inc., sold 5.5 million United Nations
emissions permits to European buyers.
The company sold UN Certified Emission Reductions on a
forward basis to two energy groups in June and December for
delivery in 2011 and 2012, Chief Executive Officer Assaad
Razzouk said in an interview in Singapore yesterday. The value
of the deal based on current prices is $84 million, he said.
"The conditions for registration and issuance of credits
have improved materially over the past six months," Razzouk
said. "We have a strong Asian pipeline of projects around
biomass and biogas."
The buyers have paid about 25 percent of the value and will
settle the rest at a variable price when the credits are issued,
either at a premium or discount to spot rates, Razzouk said. He
declined to identify the companies. Seven of the Sindicatum's
nine committed projects have been registered, he said.
Global supply of new emissions credits will reach 200
million metric tons this year, 52 percent more than the 132
million tons issued last year, when supply rose 8.2 percent,
according to Barclays Plc.
UN prices will average 13 euros ($17) a ton in the six
months through June, less than a previous forecast of 14.50
euros, Trevor Sikorski, a London-based analyst at Barclays
Capital, said on Jan. 10.
CERs Drop
UN Certified Emission Reductions for December fell 0.1
percent to 10.93 euros a ton yesterday on the ICE Futures Europe
exchange in London. The permits, which slid as low as 10.90
euros, matching the lowest intraday level since March 2009, have
declined 4.1 percent this month. European Union carbon
allowances for December fell 6 cents to 14.25 euros a ton.
Sindicatum, which employs 170 people including engineers,
technicians and climate-change experts, specializes in helping
mining companies use methane from coal extraction and showing
factories how to burn industrial gases rather than release them
into the atmosphere where they would trap heat.
The company's emissions permits will come from ventures
including six projects in China, and the rest in Thailand and
Indonesia where methane is captured from coal mines and
landfills, Razzouk said. Sindicatum is developing 28 projects.
In return, the company earns UN certified emission-
reduction credits, or CERs, for investing in the projects that
eliminate emissions from greenhouse gases such as methane. Power
stations and factories in the EU, the world's largest carbon
market, can use UN credits for compliance.
For Related News and Information:
Climate-change stories: NI CLIMATE <GO>
EU emissions-trading news: TNI EU ECREDITS <GO>
Global carbon dioxide emission: EMDA <GO>
--With assistance from Mathew Carr in London. Editors: Alexander
Kwiatkowski, Jane Lee
To contact the reporter on this story:
Dinakar Sethuraman in Singapore at +65-6212-1590 or
dinakar@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jane, Ching Shen Lee at +60-3-2302-7855 or
jalee@bloomberg.net
Sindicatum Carbon Sells 5.5 Million UN Credits for $84 Million
2011-01-13 03:05:21.785 GMT
By Dinakar Sethuraman
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Sindicatum Carbon Capital Ltd., the
developer of clean-energy projects that's partly owned by
Citigroup Inc. and Cargill Inc., sold 5.5 million United Nations
emissions permits to European buyers.
The company sold UN Certified Emission Reductions on a
forward basis to two energy groups in June and December for
delivery in 2011 and 2012, Chief Executive Officer Assaad
Razzouk said in an interview in Singapore yesterday. The value
of the deal based on current prices is $84 million, he said.
"The conditions for registration and issuance of credits
have improved materially over the past six months," Razzouk
said. "We have a strong Asian pipeline of projects around
biomass and biogas."
The buyers have paid about 25 percent of the value and will
settle the rest at a variable price when the credits are issued,
either at a premium or discount to spot rates, Razzouk said. He
declined to identify the companies. Seven of the Sindicatum's
nine committed projects have been registered, he said.
Global supply of new emissions credits will reach 200
million metric tons this year, 52 percent more than the 132
million tons issued last year, when supply rose 8.2 percent,
according to Barclays Plc.
UN prices will average 13 euros ($17) a ton in the six
months through June, less than a previous forecast of 14.50
euros, Trevor Sikorski, a London-based analyst at Barclays
Capital, said on Jan. 10.
CERs Drop
UN Certified Emission Reductions for December fell 0.1
percent to 10.93 euros a ton yesterday on the ICE Futures Europe
exchange in London. The permits, which slid as low as 10.90
euros, matching the lowest intraday level since March 2009, have
declined 4.1 percent this month. European Union carbon
allowances for December fell 6 cents to 14.25 euros a ton.
Sindicatum, which employs 170 people including engineers,
technicians and climate-change experts, specializes in helping
mining companies use methane from coal extraction and showing
factories how to burn industrial gases rather than release them
into the atmosphere where they would trap heat.
The company's emissions permits will come from ventures
including six projects in China, and the rest in Thailand and
Indonesia where methane is captured from coal mines and
landfills, Razzouk said. Sindicatum is developing 28 projects.
In return, the company earns UN certified emission-
reduction credits, or CERs, for investing in the projects that
eliminate emissions from greenhouse gases such as methane. Power
stations and factories in the EU, the world's largest carbon
market, can use UN credits for compliance.
For Related News and Information:
Climate-change stories: NI CLIMATE <GO>
EU emissions-trading news: TNI EU ECREDITS <GO>
Global carbon dioxide emission: EMDA <GO>
--With assistance from Mathew Carr in London. Editors: Alexander
Kwiatkowski, Jane Lee
To contact the reporter on this story:
Dinakar Sethuraman in Singapore at +65-6212-1590 or
dinakar@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jane, Ching Shen Lee at +60-3-2302-7855 or
jalee@bloomberg.net
(BN) Brisbane Residents Tell of Despair as Flood Leaves ‘War Zone’
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Brisbane Residents Tell of Despair as Flood Leaves 'War Zone'
2011-01-13 13:00:01.1 GMT
By Jacob Greber
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Nick Turnbull's two-story Brisbane
home sits three-quarters submerged in floodwaters swamping
riverside suburbs across Australia's third-biggest city.
"Stuff's everywhere -- kids' toys floating on brown, dirty
brackish water," the 38-year-old police detective said from the
suburb of Graceville, one of more than 60 Brisbane neighborhoods
inundated by the worst floods since 1974. "It's a real dengue-
fever breeding ground for mosquitoes. A good place to avoid."
Turnbull's family joins thousands preparing to clean up
after what Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh describes as a
disaster of "post-war proportions." About 30,000 homes and
businesses may need to be demolished or repaired after a surge
of water this week burst the banks of the Brisbane River, the
waterway slicing through the heart of the city.
At least 26 people are dead and 60 missing after six weeks
of floods left the coal- and sugar-producing state of Queensland
in the nation's northeast corner with a disaster area bigger
than Texas and California combined. About 70 towns and cities
have been affected, disrupting almost every state resident,
Bligh said.
Bridges and arterial roads are cut off, more than 100,000
homes and businesses were without power, and public transport
remains hamstrung as the waters linger. The cost to the nation
may total as much as A$13 billion ($12.9 billion), or 1 percent
of gross domestic product, Stephen Walters, chief economist for
Australia at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Sydney, says.
Emergency Housing
Essam Al-Quraishi, 36, who moved his wife and seven-year-
old son from Baghdad four months ago, fled his ground-floor
apartment in the suburb of St Lucia two days ago. They've lost
all their possessions, he said from an evacuation center at the
Brisbane show grounds.
"My son came from the political chaos in Iraq," he said.
"He thought 'my misery will end' and now he is in shock."
More than 4,000 people are being housed in emergency
centers around Queensland. Many may need temporary accommodation
for months because houses and apartments that survived the
inundation may need to be demolished, authorities said.
Gary Hutton, 37, was caught in the floods after bringing
his wife from their rural home in northern New South Wales to a
Brisbane hospital where she gave birth to twins on Monday as the
flooding intensified.
"They told us to get out the hostel we were staying in,"
he said as two of his children, aged four and six, played
nearby. "We had no time to take anything."
Survival Stories
Higher-lying areas of the city of 2 million people were
unaffected by the flooding, enjoying the second sunny day of the
year yesterday while riverside areas including parts of the
central business district lay submerged.
Stories of survival and tragedy emerged as the water
receded from towns battered to the west of Brisbane.
A 13-year-old boy trapped in a car with his family when the
water struck died with his mother after insisting his younger
brother be rescued first, the Brisbane Times reported. News
channels showed images of a family of three sitting on a car
roof drifting in a sea of brown water west of Brisbane; only the
mother and the child were rescued, Bligh told reporters.
A 24-year-old man died yesterday while checking his
father's inundated property in a Brisbane suburb when he was
sucked down a storm drain.
Residents used canoes, tin boats and other craft to paddle
around submerged houses, barely fitting under power lines.
Others began clearing away rubbish, muddy sludge and sodden
belongings from backyards, living rooms and store fronts.
1974 Floods
Elsewhere, Australian humor showed as someone placed water
wings and a snorkeling mask on a bronze statue of Queensland
rugby league hero Wally Lewis, which stands in front of
waterlogged Suncorp Stadium football ground.
At 4 a.m. yesterday, the Brisbane City gauge peaked at 4.46
meters, the Bureau of Meteorology said on its website. That was
below the 1974 high of 5.45 meters and about a meter lower than
authorities had warned earlier this week.
In the floods of 36 years ago, 14 people drowned as some
were trapped in offices by rising waters. In the wake of that
deluge, much of Australia was sodden with vast inland areas
submerged for weeks and even months, destroying crops and
sparking disease outbreaks such as Murray Valley Encephalitis,
according to the weather bureau.
As waters receded, authorities remained concerned the town
of Goondiwindi in Queensland's south faces a record flood. Towns
in the north of neighboring New South Wales were also bracing
for rising waters.
Back in Graceville, Turnbull, who works in the Brisbane
police drug squad, was yesterday praising his fiancé, Kate
Johnson. A month ago, Johnson convinced him to buy flood
insurance.
"Nature really has its own way of rearranging things," he
said.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories: TOP <GO>
Top commodity stories: CTOP <GO>
Most read Australian news: MNI AUD <GO>
Most-read natural disaster stories: TNI MOSTREAD NAT <GO>
--Editors: Malcolm Scott, Iain Wilson.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jacob Greber in Brisbane at +61-2-9777-8635 or
jgreber@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Philip Lagerkranser at +852-2977-6626 or
lagerkranser@bloomberg.net
Brisbane Residents Tell of Despair as Flood Leaves 'War Zone'
2011-01-13 13:00:01.1 GMT
By Jacob Greber
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Nick Turnbull's two-story Brisbane
home sits three-quarters submerged in floodwaters swamping
riverside suburbs across Australia's third-biggest city.
"Stuff's everywhere -- kids' toys floating on brown, dirty
brackish water," the 38-year-old police detective said from the
suburb of Graceville, one of more than 60 Brisbane neighborhoods
inundated by the worst floods since 1974. "It's a real dengue-
fever breeding ground for mosquitoes. A good place to avoid."
Turnbull's family joins thousands preparing to clean up
after what Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh describes as a
disaster of "post-war proportions." About 30,000 homes and
businesses may need to be demolished or repaired after a surge
of water this week burst the banks of the Brisbane River, the
waterway slicing through the heart of the city.
At least 26 people are dead and 60 missing after six weeks
of floods left the coal- and sugar-producing state of Queensland
in the nation's northeast corner with a disaster area bigger
than Texas and California combined. About 70 towns and cities
have been affected, disrupting almost every state resident,
Bligh said.
Bridges and arterial roads are cut off, more than 100,000
homes and businesses were without power, and public transport
remains hamstrung as the waters linger. The cost to the nation
may total as much as A$13 billion ($12.9 billion), or 1 percent
of gross domestic product, Stephen Walters, chief economist for
Australia at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Sydney, says.
Emergency Housing
Essam Al-Quraishi, 36, who moved his wife and seven-year-
old son from Baghdad four months ago, fled his ground-floor
apartment in the suburb of St Lucia two days ago. They've lost
all their possessions, he said from an evacuation center at the
Brisbane show grounds.
"My son came from the political chaos in Iraq," he said.
"He thought 'my misery will end' and now he is in shock."
More than 4,000 people are being housed in emergency
centers around Queensland. Many may need temporary accommodation
for months because houses and apartments that survived the
inundation may need to be demolished, authorities said.
Gary Hutton, 37, was caught in the floods after bringing
his wife from their rural home in northern New South Wales to a
Brisbane hospital where she gave birth to twins on Monday as the
flooding intensified.
"They told us to get out the hostel we were staying in,"
he said as two of his children, aged four and six, played
nearby. "We had no time to take anything."
Survival Stories
Higher-lying areas of the city of 2 million people were
unaffected by the flooding, enjoying the second sunny day of the
year yesterday while riverside areas including parts of the
central business district lay submerged.
Stories of survival and tragedy emerged as the water
receded from towns battered to the west of Brisbane.
A 13-year-old boy trapped in a car with his family when the
water struck died with his mother after insisting his younger
brother be rescued first, the Brisbane Times reported. News
channels showed images of a family of three sitting on a car
roof drifting in a sea of brown water west of Brisbane; only the
mother and the child were rescued, Bligh told reporters.
A 24-year-old man died yesterday while checking his
father's inundated property in a Brisbane suburb when he was
sucked down a storm drain.
Residents used canoes, tin boats and other craft to paddle
around submerged houses, barely fitting under power lines.
Others began clearing away rubbish, muddy sludge and sodden
belongings from backyards, living rooms and store fronts.
1974 Floods
Elsewhere, Australian humor showed as someone placed water
wings and a snorkeling mask on a bronze statue of Queensland
rugby league hero Wally Lewis, which stands in front of
waterlogged Suncorp Stadium football ground.
At 4 a.m. yesterday, the Brisbane City gauge peaked at 4.46
meters, the Bureau of Meteorology said on its website. That was
below the 1974 high of 5.45 meters and about a meter lower than
authorities had warned earlier this week.
In the floods of 36 years ago, 14 people drowned as some
were trapped in offices by rising waters. In the wake of that
deluge, much of Australia was sodden with vast inland areas
submerged for weeks and even months, destroying crops and
sparking disease outbreaks such as Murray Valley Encephalitis,
according to the weather bureau.
As waters receded, authorities remained concerned the town
of Goondiwindi in Queensland's south faces a record flood. Towns
in the north of neighboring New South Wales were also bracing
for rising waters.
Back in Graceville, Turnbull, who works in the Brisbane
police drug squad, was yesterday praising his fiancé, Kate
Johnson. A month ago, Johnson convinced him to buy flood
insurance.
"Nature really has its own way of rearranging things," he
said.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories: TOP <GO>
Top commodity stories: CTOP <GO>
Most read Australian news: MNI AUD <GO>
Most-read natural disaster stories: TNI MOSTREAD NAT <GO>
--Editors: Malcolm Scott, Iain Wilson.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jacob Greber in Brisbane at +61-2-9777-8635 or
jgreber@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Philip Lagerkranser at +852-2977-6626 or
lagerkranser@bloomberg.net
(BN) Coal at 28-Month High to Beat Oil, Gas on Floods:
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Coal at 28-Month High to Beat Oil, Gas on Floods: Energy Markets
2011-01-13 11:51:44.314 GMT
By Dinakar Sethuraman and Ben Sharples
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Coal for producing power may beat
oil and natural gas this year as disruptions from Australia to
South Africa drive prices for the fuel to a 28-month high.
Thermal coal may climb about 14 percent to $150 a metric
ton in coming weeks, while increased stockpiles limit gains for
oil and natural gas, Joachim Azria, a New York-based analyst at
Credit Suisse Group AG, said in a Jan. 10 report. Helen Lau, a
Hong Kong-based analyst at UOB Kay Hian Ltd., said on Jan. 4
coal may advance as much as 15 percent. Prices at the Australian
port of Newcastle were at $131.80 a ton on Jan. 7, the highest
since September 2008, according to IHS McCloskey data.
"There's definitely more possible upside in the coal
market at the moment than there is in the oil market," Ben
Westmore, an energy economist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in
Melbourne, said in a Jan. 12 interview.
Spot prices at Newcastle, the world's biggest coal-export
facility, have jumped 20 percent in less than six weeks,
according to Petersfield, England-based McCloskey. The worst
floods in Queensland state in 50 years shut mines and closed
transport lines, disrupting supplies. Coal shipped via South
Africa's Richards Bay, Africa's largest terminal for the fuel,
gained about 18 percent. Oil in New York rose 6.1 percent in the
same period, while natural gas added 5.1 percent.
"Coal should continue to outperform oil and gas in 2011,"
said Azria, who estimates as much as 2 million tons of thermal
supplies have been disrupted by the Australian floods.
Asian Economies
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. increased its
spot thermal coal price forecast to $140 a ton, from $120 a ton,
for the three months to March 31, Mark Pervan, head of commodity
research in Melbourne, said in a note on Jan. 7.
Demand for coal is growing faster than oil and gas as China
and India boost imports to feed economies that are outpacing the
rest of the world. China, which relies on the fuel for 70
percent of its energy, may increase overseas purchases by 30
percent this year, according to Lau, while imports to India may
double, India Coal Market Watch said. Coal will remain the
world's most-used fuel for power generation through 2035, the
International Energy Agency said in November.
Prices at Newcastle jumped 43 percent last year, while oil
futures in New York gained 15 percent. Natural gas dropped 21
percent.
While coal is rising, the fuel is still more than 30
percent below the record set more than two years ago. Newcastle
coal traded at $192.50 a ton in July 2008 as floods hampered
supplies, according to McCloskey data on Bloomberg.
Disaster Zone
An area bigger than Texas and California covering more
than 75 percent of Australia's Queensland state has been
declared a disaster zone. Fifteen people are dead and 61 missing
after a flash flood smashed through Toowoomba on Jan. 10, taking
the total killed to 26 since the deluge started in November.
Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city, was inundated with
muddy water, flooding 15,000 properties, smashing roads and
shuttering the city center.
The flooding has cut coal output by about 4.5 million tons
since the start of December, about 3 million tons of which is
coking coal, used by steelmakers, and the rest thermal coal,
according to Colin Hamilton, a London-based analyst at Macquarie
Group Ltd. The state exports about 50 million tons of thermal
coal a year, according to Macquarie.
"It was a perfect storm for coal, with cold weather in the
northern hemisphere boosting demand and excessive rainfall first
in Colombia, Indonesia and now in Australia creating vast
shortfalls in supply," Amrita Sen, a London-based analyst for
Barclays Plc, said in an e-mail on Jan. 10.
World's Biggest Supplier
Indonesia, the world's biggest supplier of thermal coal,
increased the reference price for the fuel by 8.7 percent in
January to $112.4 a ton, the Directorate General of Coal and
Minerals said on its website. Prices have climbed 25 percent
since September.
Coal shipped through Richards Bay was disrupted last month
by derailments that depleted stockpiles at the terminal,
threatening to curtail first-quarter exports, port Chief
Executive Officer Raymond Chirwa said on Jan. 4. India bought
almost a third of Richards Bay's exports last year.
Prices at the port were at $126.39 a ton on Jan. 7, after
rising 60 percent last year.
Asian Driver
"You have strong underlying fundamentals for coal," said
Emmanuel Fages, a Paris-based analyst at Societe Generale SA.
"Bottlenecks remain on the supply side, so Asia is sucking up
resources even more from traditional suppliers of the West, like
Colombia or South Africa. You are bound see price increases over
the medium term."
China's coal imports may rise to 210 million tons in 2011
from an estimated 166 million last year, according to Lau. The
country, which became a net importer of the fuel for the first
time in 2009, boosted overseas purchases by 35 percent through
November 2010, according to government data.
While oil imports to China will continue to increase this
year, they may not match last year's 17 percent pace, as growth
in refining capacity slows, Lawrence Eagles, a New York-based
analyst with JPMorgan Chase & Co., said in a Jan. 10 note.
India may double imports of thermal coal to 104 million
tons in the year ending March 2012, according to Coal Minister
Sriprakash Jaiswal. That compares with 3 percent growth in oil
consumption, according to the Paris-based IEA.
"Long-term fundamentals for coal are more robust than for
oil or gas, because the price increases are really driven by
speculative expectations at present for oil and gas," Fages
said. If growth slows in China, it would take only about a month
for oil and gas "to come down to much lower levels," he said.
For Related News and Information:
Top commodity stories: CTOP <GO>
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
Coal menu: COAL <GO>
For Indian coal sector stories TNI INDIA COAL <GO>
--With reporting by Yoga Rusmana in Jakarta and Grant Smith in
London. Editors: Jane Lee, Mike Anderson.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Dinakar Sethuraman in Singapore at +65-6212-1590 or
dinakar@bloomberg.net;
Ben Sharples in Melbourne at +61-3-9228-8732 or
bsharples@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jane, Ching Shen Lee at +60-3-2302-7855 or
jalee@bloomberg.net
Coal at 28-Month High to Beat Oil, Gas on Floods: Energy Markets
2011-01-13 11:51:44.314 GMT
By Dinakar Sethuraman and Ben Sharples
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Coal for producing power may beat
oil and natural gas this year as disruptions from Australia to
South Africa drive prices for the fuel to a 28-month high.
Thermal coal may climb about 14 percent to $150 a metric
ton in coming weeks, while increased stockpiles limit gains for
oil and natural gas, Joachim Azria, a New York-based analyst at
Credit Suisse Group AG, said in a Jan. 10 report. Helen Lau, a
Hong Kong-based analyst at UOB Kay Hian Ltd., said on Jan. 4
coal may advance as much as 15 percent. Prices at the Australian
port of Newcastle were at $131.80 a ton on Jan. 7, the highest
since September 2008, according to IHS McCloskey data.
"There's definitely more possible upside in the coal
market at the moment than there is in the oil market," Ben
Westmore, an energy economist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in
Melbourne, said in a Jan. 12 interview.
Spot prices at Newcastle, the world's biggest coal-export
facility, have jumped 20 percent in less than six weeks,
according to Petersfield, England-based McCloskey. The worst
floods in Queensland state in 50 years shut mines and closed
transport lines, disrupting supplies. Coal shipped via South
Africa's Richards Bay, Africa's largest terminal for the fuel,
gained about 18 percent. Oil in New York rose 6.1 percent in the
same period, while natural gas added 5.1 percent.
"Coal should continue to outperform oil and gas in 2011,"
said Azria, who estimates as much as 2 million tons of thermal
supplies have been disrupted by the Australian floods.
Asian Economies
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. increased its
spot thermal coal price forecast to $140 a ton, from $120 a ton,
for the three months to March 31, Mark Pervan, head of commodity
research in Melbourne, said in a note on Jan. 7.
Demand for coal is growing faster than oil and gas as China
and India boost imports to feed economies that are outpacing the
rest of the world. China, which relies on the fuel for 70
percent of its energy, may increase overseas purchases by 30
percent this year, according to Lau, while imports to India may
double, India Coal Market Watch said. Coal will remain the
world's most-used fuel for power generation through 2035, the
International Energy Agency said in November.
Prices at Newcastle jumped 43 percent last year, while oil
futures in New York gained 15 percent. Natural gas dropped 21
percent.
While coal is rising, the fuel is still more than 30
percent below the record set more than two years ago. Newcastle
coal traded at $192.50 a ton in July 2008 as floods hampered
supplies, according to McCloskey data on Bloomberg.
Disaster Zone
An area bigger than Texas and California covering more
than 75 percent of Australia's Queensland state has been
declared a disaster zone. Fifteen people are dead and 61 missing
after a flash flood smashed through Toowoomba on Jan. 10, taking
the total killed to 26 since the deluge started in November.
Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city, was inundated with
muddy water, flooding 15,000 properties, smashing roads and
shuttering the city center.
The flooding has cut coal output by about 4.5 million tons
since the start of December, about 3 million tons of which is
coking coal, used by steelmakers, and the rest thermal coal,
according to Colin Hamilton, a London-based analyst at Macquarie
Group Ltd. The state exports about 50 million tons of thermal
coal a year, according to Macquarie.
"It was a perfect storm for coal, with cold weather in the
northern hemisphere boosting demand and excessive rainfall first
in Colombia, Indonesia and now in Australia creating vast
shortfalls in supply," Amrita Sen, a London-based analyst for
Barclays Plc, said in an e-mail on Jan. 10.
World's Biggest Supplier
Indonesia, the world's biggest supplier of thermal coal,
increased the reference price for the fuel by 8.7 percent in
January to $112.4 a ton, the Directorate General of Coal and
Minerals said on its website. Prices have climbed 25 percent
since September.
Coal shipped through Richards Bay was disrupted last month
by derailments that depleted stockpiles at the terminal,
threatening to curtail first-quarter exports, port Chief
Executive Officer Raymond Chirwa said on Jan. 4. India bought
almost a third of Richards Bay's exports last year.
Prices at the port were at $126.39 a ton on Jan. 7, after
rising 60 percent last year.
Asian Driver
"You have strong underlying fundamentals for coal," said
Emmanuel Fages, a Paris-based analyst at Societe Generale SA.
"Bottlenecks remain on the supply side, so Asia is sucking up
resources even more from traditional suppliers of the West, like
Colombia or South Africa. You are bound see price increases over
the medium term."
China's coal imports may rise to 210 million tons in 2011
from an estimated 166 million last year, according to Lau. The
country, which became a net importer of the fuel for the first
time in 2009, boosted overseas purchases by 35 percent through
November 2010, according to government data.
While oil imports to China will continue to increase this
year, they may not match last year's 17 percent pace, as growth
in refining capacity slows, Lawrence Eagles, a New York-based
analyst with JPMorgan Chase & Co., said in a Jan. 10 note.
India may double imports of thermal coal to 104 million
tons in the year ending March 2012, according to Coal Minister
Sriprakash Jaiswal. That compares with 3 percent growth in oil
consumption, according to the Paris-based IEA.
"Long-term fundamentals for coal are more robust than for
oil or gas, because the price increases are really driven by
speculative expectations at present for oil and gas," Fages
said. If growth slows in China, it would take only about a month
for oil and gas "to come down to much lower levels," he said.
For Related News and Information:
Top commodity stories: CTOP <GO>
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
Coal menu: COAL <GO>
For Indian coal sector stories TNI INDIA COAL <GO>
--With reporting by Yoga Rusmana in Jakarta and Grant Smith in
London. Editors: Jane Lee, Mike Anderson.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Dinakar Sethuraman in Singapore at +65-6212-1590 or
dinakar@bloomberg.net;
Ben Sharples in Melbourne at +61-3-9228-8732 or
bsharples@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jane, Ching Shen Lee at +60-3-2302-7855 or
jalee@bloomberg.net
(APW) 21 Dead, 270,000 Homeless in Sri Lankan Floods
ap
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
21 Dead, 270,000 Homeless in Sri Lankan Floods
2011-01-13 10:23:44.364 GMT
Colombo, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Three more people have been
killed in Sri Lanka by widespread floods and mudslides,
bringing the death toll from days of heavy rain to 21, the
government said Thursday.
The Disaster Management Center said more than a million
people have been affected by the rains, with 270,000 becoming
homeless.
Many villages in Eastern Province have been inundated, with
some cut off from supplies.
Nine villages in the Muttur area of eastern Trincomalee
district are isolated with only sea access, said N.
Selvanayagam, a local government official.
Tens of thousands of people are in need of food and medical
supplies and stocks are quickly running out, said Mohammad
Jihad, a community leader in Muttur.
-0- Jan/13/2011 10:23 GMT
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
21 Dead, 270,000 Homeless in Sri Lankan Floods
2011-01-13 10:23:44.364 GMT
Colombo, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Three more people have been
killed in Sri Lanka by widespread floods and mudslides,
bringing the death toll from days of heavy rain to 21, the
government said Thursday.
The Disaster Management Center said more than a million
people have been affected by the rains, with 270,000 becoming
homeless.
Many villages in Eastern Province have been inundated, with
some cut off from supplies.
Nine villages in the Muttur area of eastern Trincomalee
district are isolated with only sea access, said N.
Selvanayagam, a local government official.
Tens of thousands of people are in need of food and medical
supplies and stocks are quickly running out, said Mohammad
Jihad, a community leader in Muttur.
-0- Jan/13/2011 10:23 GMT
(BN) Storm Pounds Boston After Dumping New Snow on New York
yest
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Storm Pounds Boston After Dumping New Snow on New York (Update4)
2011-01-12 21:50:57.720 GMT
(Updates flight cancellations in second paragraph.)
By Brian K. Sullivan
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- A storm that dropped more than 9
inches of new snow on New York City pounded Boston with blizzard
conditions, disrupting travel and prompting Massachusetts'
governor to declare a state of emergency.
Almost 3,300 flights were canceled, mostly in the
Northeast, according to airline reports compiled by Bloomberg.
Amtrak suspended service between New York and Boston after a
tree fell on an overhead power line near Sharon, Massachusetts,
and the National Weather Service reported downed trees and power
lines across the area.
Heavy snow will fall in waves on Boston and eastern New
England for the rest of the day, said Alan Dunham, a weather
service meteorologist in Taunton, Massachusetts. The storm was
off the coast of Massachusetts at midday and strengthening,
Dunham said.
"It will take a couple of hours for some these heavier
bands to come through," Dunham said. "There will be spots that
see a foot and a half to two feet of snow by the time it is all
said and done."
Boston officials shut public schools, asked non-essential
city workers to stay home and urged other businesses to let
employees work from home, according to the city website.
Governor Deval Patrick mobilized 250 National Guard troops and
opened three shelters.
Power Failures
More than 71,000 customers were without power in
Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to statements from
NStar and National Grid. Heating oil futures surged to a 27-
month high on the New York Mercantile Exchange on speculation
that snow and cold in the Northeast will increase demand for
heating fuel.
In Maine, state offices closed early because of the snow,
according to a statement. About 29 inches of snow had fallen in
Newtown, Connecticut, by 1 p.m., according to that state's
Department of Emergency Management & Homeland Security.
As the storm moves north it is expected to bring about 10
inches of snow to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and 8 inches to Moncton,
New Brunswick, according to Environment Canada. Snow warnings
have been issued for most of Nova Scotia and parts of New
Brunswick and Newfoundland, the weather agency said.
Snow Preparations
Cities across the U.S. Northeast deployed thousands of
plows and sand-spreaders to tackle the second major snowstorm in
a little more than two weeks.
New York City declared a weather emergency, urging people
to stay off the roads, as the storm moved in. Public schools
remained open.
More than 12 inches of snow fell on parts of the Bronx and
northern New Jersey while Central Park received 9.1 inches by
daybreak, when skies over Manhattan began to clear, the weather
service said.
The storm combined two systems, one from the Midwest and
another that dropped snow across the South earlier this week,
forcing the governors of Georgia and South Carolina to declare
emergencies. Snow was the ground today in 49 of the 50 states,
with Florida the only exception, according to the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The blizzard that struck New York and the Northeast Dec. 26
and Dec. 27 dropped at least 20 inches of snow on Central Park
and forced the cancellation of more than 8,000 flights. Some New
York City streets were unplowed for days and garbage pickups
were backlogged.
NYC Cleanup
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said today that the city's 6,000
miles of streets would be plowed twice by the end of the day.
Bloomberg is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, parent
of Bloomberg News.
"Our goal for this storm was not merely to get back to
business as usual," Bloomberg said during a news conference at
Emergency Operations headquarters in Brooklyn. "Our goal was to
deploy a more effective snow response operation than ever, more
aggressive and more accountable, based on the lessons learned
from the last storm, and that's what we've done."
Forecasters are already looking ahead to a system that may
arrive by the middle of next week, said Matt Rogers, president
of Commodity Weather Group LLC, a commercial forecaster in
Bethesda, Maryland.
Rogers said the computer models aren't clear on the exact
track the storm will take.
"But the bottom line is that by next week, we'll be
battling another winter storm threat," he said.
Andy Mussoline, a meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. in
State College, Pennsylvania, said a system out of the Gulf of
Mexico will combine with one moving down from the Great Lakes.
How much cold air is added to the mix will determine how much
rain will change to snow, he said.
For Related News and Information:
Natural Gas Prices: NG1 <COMMODITY> GP <GO>
Top Energy Stories: ETOP <GO>
Top Oil Stories: OTOP <GO>
--With assistance from Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta; Henry
Goldman, Martin Z. Braun and Esme E. Deprez in New York;
Terrence Dopp in Trenton, New Jersey; and Barbara Powell and
Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas. Editors: Charlotte Porter,
Richard Stubbe.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at +1-617-210-4631 or
bsullivan10@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at +1-212-617-4403 or
dstets@bloomberg.net
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Storm Pounds Boston After Dumping New Snow on New York (Update4)
2011-01-12 21:50:57.720 GMT
(Updates flight cancellations in second paragraph.)
By Brian K. Sullivan
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- A storm that dropped more than 9
inches of new snow on New York City pounded Boston with blizzard
conditions, disrupting travel and prompting Massachusetts'
governor to declare a state of emergency.
Almost 3,300 flights were canceled, mostly in the
Northeast, according to airline reports compiled by Bloomberg.
Amtrak suspended service between New York and Boston after a
tree fell on an overhead power line near Sharon, Massachusetts,
and the National Weather Service reported downed trees and power
lines across the area.
Heavy snow will fall in waves on Boston and eastern New
England for the rest of the day, said Alan Dunham, a weather
service meteorologist in Taunton, Massachusetts. The storm was
off the coast of Massachusetts at midday and strengthening,
Dunham said.
"It will take a couple of hours for some these heavier
bands to come through," Dunham said. "There will be spots that
see a foot and a half to two feet of snow by the time it is all
said and done."
Boston officials shut public schools, asked non-essential
city workers to stay home and urged other businesses to let
employees work from home, according to the city website.
Governor Deval Patrick mobilized 250 National Guard troops and
opened three shelters.
Power Failures
More than 71,000 customers were without power in
Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to statements from
NStar and National Grid. Heating oil futures surged to a 27-
month high on the New York Mercantile Exchange on speculation
that snow and cold in the Northeast will increase demand for
heating fuel.
In Maine, state offices closed early because of the snow,
according to a statement. About 29 inches of snow had fallen in
Newtown, Connecticut, by 1 p.m., according to that state's
Department of Emergency Management & Homeland Security.
As the storm moves north it is expected to bring about 10
inches of snow to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and 8 inches to Moncton,
New Brunswick, according to Environment Canada. Snow warnings
have been issued for most of Nova Scotia and parts of New
Brunswick and Newfoundland, the weather agency said.
Snow Preparations
Cities across the U.S. Northeast deployed thousands of
plows and sand-spreaders to tackle the second major snowstorm in
a little more than two weeks.
New York City declared a weather emergency, urging people
to stay off the roads, as the storm moved in. Public schools
remained open.
More than 12 inches of snow fell on parts of the Bronx and
northern New Jersey while Central Park received 9.1 inches by
daybreak, when skies over Manhattan began to clear, the weather
service said.
The storm combined two systems, one from the Midwest and
another that dropped snow across the South earlier this week,
forcing the governors of Georgia and South Carolina to declare
emergencies. Snow was the ground today in 49 of the 50 states,
with Florida the only exception, according to the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The blizzard that struck New York and the Northeast Dec. 26
and Dec. 27 dropped at least 20 inches of snow on Central Park
and forced the cancellation of more than 8,000 flights. Some New
York City streets were unplowed for days and garbage pickups
were backlogged.
NYC Cleanup
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said today that the city's 6,000
miles of streets would be plowed twice by the end of the day.
Bloomberg is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, parent
of Bloomberg News.
"Our goal for this storm was not merely to get back to
business as usual," Bloomberg said during a news conference at
Emergency Operations headquarters in Brooklyn. "Our goal was to
deploy a more effective snow response operation than ever, more
aggressive and more accountable, based on the lessons learned
from the last storm, and that's what we've done."
Forecasters are already looking ahead to a system that may
arrive by the middle of next week, said Matt Rogers, president
of Commodity Weather Group LLC, a commercial forecaster in
Bethesda, Maryland.
Rogers said the computer models aren't clear on the exact
track the storm will take.
"But the bottom line is that by next week, we'll be
battling another winter storm threat," he said.
Andy Mussoline, a meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. in
State College, Pennsylvania, said a system out of the Gulf of
Mexico will combine with one moving down from the Great Lakes.
How much cold air is added to the mix will determine how much
rain will change to snow, he said.
For Related News and Information:
Natural Gas Prices: NG1 <COMMODITY> GP <GO>
Top Energy Stories: ETOP <GO>
Top Oil Stories: OTOP <GO>
--With assistance from Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta; Henry
Goldman, Martin Z. Braun and Esme E. Deprez in New York;
Terrence Dopp in Trenton, New Jersey; and Barbara Powell and
Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas. Editors: Charlotte Porter,
Richard Stubbe.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at +1-617-210-4631 or
bsullivan10@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at +1-212-617-4403 or
dstets@bloomberg.net
(APW) Hundreds Dead in Brazil Slides, Search to Continue
ap
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Hundreds Dead in Brazil Slides, Search to Continue
2011-01-13 06:35:52.401 GMT
By JULIANA BARBASSA
Rio De janeiro (AP) -- Driving rains sent tons of rusty red
earth sliding into mountain towns, killing at least 257 people
and leaving dozens more missing -- lives rescuers hope to save
when they resume searches Thursday.
In the hardest-hit town of Teresopolis, where the local
civil defense agency said at least 130 people died, hundreds of
family members crowded around the town's morgue Wednesday night
waiting to identify bodies.
Before rescue attempts were called off because of darkness,
searchers used heavy machinery, shovels and bare hands trying
to find survivors. How many were saved was not known. In one
town, firefighters rescued a 25-year-old man who held his
6-month-old son for 15 hours until they were both pulled out
alive. The man's wife and mother-in-law were feared dead.
Heavy rains and mudslides kill hundreds of people across
Brazil each year, especially during the South American summer.
The worst hit are the poor, whose rickety homes are often built
on steep slopes with weak or no foundations.
In Teresopolis, 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Rio de
Janeiro, deluges filled creeks and the overflows swept over
already water-logged mountainsides. Brick and wooden shacks
built on hillsides stripped of trees washed away in surging
earth and water, leaving behind only a long trail of mud.
The mountains saw 10 inches (26 centimeters) of rain fall
in less than 24 hours.
Floodwaters continued to gush down the mountains for hours
after rainstorms ended Wednesday. Survivors waded through
waist-high water, carrying what belongings they could, trying
to reach higher ground. Many tried desperately to find
relatives, though phone service was out in the region and many
people were still missing hours after the rain stopped.
"There are so many disappeared -- and so many that will
probably never be found," said Angela Marina de Carvalho Silva,
a resident of Teresopolis who feared she may have lost 15
relatives, including five nieces and nephews.
"There was nothing we could do. It was hell," she said in a
telephone interview.
Carvalho Silva took refuge in a neighbor's house on high
ground with her husband and daughter, and watched the
torrential rain carry away cars, tree branches and animals and
rip apart the homes of friends and family.
"It's over. There's nothing. The water came down and swept
everything away," said her husband, Sidney Silva.
In the neighboring mountain town of Nova Friburgo, at least
107 people died, according to an e-mailed statement from the
Rio state civil defense department. Among the dead were four
firefighters who were helping in the rescue effort. Three other
firefighters were listed as missing after their fire truck was
hit by a mudslide.
With the new disasters, more than 300 people have died
since Christmas across the southeastern portion Brazil.
President Dilma Rousseff signed a measure Wednesday sending
$461 million to towns in Rio and Sao Paulo states that were
damaged during the recent rains. The money will go to repairing
infrastructure and preventing future disasters.
The president planned to fly over the most severely damaged
areas Thursday.
The mayor of Teresopolis, Jorge Mario Sedlacek, decreed a
state of emergency, calling the calamity "the worst to hit the
town." About 800 search-and-rescue workers from the state's
civil defense department and firefighters dug for survivors.
In neighboring Petropolis, 20 people were confirmed dead by
the Rio state civil defense department.
The death toll in the region was expected to rise as
firefighters reached remote valleys and steep mountainsides
where neighborhoods were destroyed, Teresopolis's mayor said.
About 1,000 people there were left homeless.
"This is the largest catastrophe in the history of this
town," Sedlacek said in an interview with Globo TV.
Heavy rainfall also caused havoc earlier in Minas Gerais
state north of Rio, where 16 people died in the past month and
dozens of communities are in a state of emergency.
In Sao Paulo, flooding paralyzed main thoroughfares in the
capital city since Sunday and 21 people died in collapsed
homes, mudslides and flooding throughout the state.
Rio state Gov. Sergio Cabral called on the navy to lend
helicopters to firefighters working as rescuers.
"We mourn the loss of lives in this tragedy caused by the
rain," Cabral said in a statement.
---
Associated Press writer Bradley Brooks in Sao Paulo
contributed to this report.
-0- Jan/13/2011 06:35 GMT
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Hundreds Dead in Brazil Slides, Search to Continue
2011-01-13 06:35:52.401 GMT
By JULIANA BARBASSA
Rio De janeiro (AP) -- Driving rains sent tons of rusty red
earth sliding into mountain towns, killing at least 257 people
and leaving dozens more missing -- lives rescuers hope to save
when they resume searches Thursday.
In the hardest-hit town of Teresopolis, where the local
civil defense agency said at least 130 people died, hundreds of
family members crowded around the town's morgue Wednesday night
waiting to identify bodies.
Before rescue attempts were called off because of darkness,
searchers used heavy machinery, shovels and bare hands trying
to find survivors. How many were saved was not known. In one
town, firefighters rescued a 25-year-old man who held his
6-month-old son for 15 hours until they were both pulled out
alive. The man's wife and mother-in-law were feared dead.
Heavy rains and mudslides kill hundreds of people across
Brazil each year, especially during the South American summer.
The worst hit are the poor, whose rickety homes are often built
on steep slopes with weak or no foundations.
In Teresopolis, 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Rio de
Janeiro, deluges filled creeks and the overflows swept over
already water-logged mountainsides. Brick and wooden shacks
built on hillsides stripped of trees washed away in surging
earth and water, leaving behind only a long trail of mud.
The mountains saw 10 inches (26 centimeters) of rain fall
in less than 24 hours.
Floodwaters continued to gush down the mountains for hours
after rainstorms ended Wednesday. Survivors waded through
waist-high water, carrying what belongings they could, trying
to reach higher ground. Many tried desperately to find
relatives, though phone service was out in the region and many
people were still missing hours after the rain stopped.
"There are so many disappeared -- and so many that will
probably never be found," said Angela Marina de Carvalho Silva,
a resident of Teresopolis who feared she may have lost 15
relatives, including five nieces and nephews.
"There was nothing we could do. It was hell," she said in a
telephone interview.
Carvalho Silva took refuge in a neighbor's house on high
ground with her husband and daughter, and watched the
torrential rain carry away cars, tree branches and animals and
rip apart the homes of friends and family.
"It's over. There's nothing. The water came down and swept
everything away," said her husband, Sidney Silva.
In the neighboring mountain town of Nova Friburgo, at least
107 people died, according to an e-mailed statement from the
Rio state civil defense department. Among the dead were four
firefighters who were helping in the rescue effort. Three other
firefighters were listed as missing after their fire truck was
hit by a mudslide.
With the new disasters, more than 300 people have died
since Christmas across the southeastern portion Brazil.
President Dilma Rousseff signed a measure Wednesday sending
$461 million to towns in Rio and Sao Paulo states that were
damaged during the recent rains. The money will go to repairing
infrastructure and preventing future disasters.
The president planned to fly over the most severely damaged
areas Thursday.
The mayor of Teresopolis, Jorge Mario Sedlacek, decreed a
state of emergency, calling the calamity "the worst to hit the
town." About 800 search-and-rescue workers from the state's
civil defense department and firefighters dug for survivors.
In neighboring Petropolis, 20 people were confirmed dead by
the Rio state civil defense department.
The death toll in the region was expected to rise as
firefighters reached remote valleys and steep mountainsides
where neighborhoods were destroyed, Teresopolis's mayor said.
About 1,000 people there were left homeless.
"This is the largest catastrophe in the history of this
town," Sedlacek said in an interview with Globo TV.
Heavy rainfall also caused havoc earlier in Minas Gerais
state north of Rio, where 16 people died in the past month and
dozens of communities are in a state of emergency.
In Sao Paulo, flooding paralyzed main thoroughfares in the
capital city since Sunday and 21 people died in collapsed
homes, mudslides and flooding throughout the state.
Rio state Gov. Sergio Cabral called on the navy to lend
helicopters to firefighters working as rescuers.
"We mourn the loss of lives in this tragedy caused by the
rain," Cabral said in a statement.
---
Associated Press writer Bradley Brooks in Sao Paulo
contributed to this report.
-0- Jan/13/2011 06:35 GMT
(BN) RWE Offers to Curb $24 Million Worth of Electricity in
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
RWE Offers to Curb $24 Million Worth of Electricity in U.K.
2011-01-13 00:01:00.4 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- RWE AG will offer power reduction
and generation services to the U.K.'s major energy users via a
National Grid Plc mechanism that pays when electricity use is
curtailed at times of peak demand.
The system could generate up to 15 million pounds ($24
million) a year for British businesses, RWE said.
RWE npower, the U.K business of Germany's largest
electricity producer, and Flextricity, an Edinburgh-based power
management company, started the service to manage businesses'
demand and generation at times of peak consumption, according to
an e-mailed statement today. National Grid pays companies to cut
use or supply power when required.
"We are the first energy supplier to offer this type of
remotely operated service and it really is win-win for
customers, providing them with opportunities to earn extra money
and increase asset reliability, while reducing carbon emissions
and risk in the national electricity system," David Cockshott,
director of industrial and commercial markets at npower, said in
the statement.
National Grid currently has 2,600 megawatts of contracts in
its so-called Short Term Operating Reserve, Graham McQuarrie, a
spokesman for the grid operator, said by telephone. That
includes 200 megawatts of demand side reduction, he said. This
is triggered at times when there are insufficient conventional
supplies to meet demand.
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: Alex Devine, Rob Verdonck.
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:
Stephen Voss at +44 207 7073 3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net
RWE Offers to Curb $24 Million Worth of Electricity in U.K.
2011-01-13 00:01:00.4 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- RWE AG will offer power reduction
and generation services to the U.K.'s major energy users via a
National Grid Plc mechanism that pays when electricity use is
curtailed at times of peak demand.
The system could generate up to 15 million pounds ($24
million) a year for British businesses, RWE said.
RWE npower, the U.K business of Germany's largest
electricity producer, and Flextricity, an Edinburgh-based power
management company, started the service to manage businesses'
demand and generation at times of peak consumption, according to
an e-mailed statement today. National Grid pays companies to cut
use or supply power when required.
"We are the first energy supplier to offer this type of
remotely operated service and it really is win-win for
customers, providing them with opportunities to earn extra money
and increase asset reliability, while reducing carbon emissions
and risk in the national electricity system," David Cockshott,
director of industrial and commercial markets at npower, said in
the statement.
National Grid currently has 2,600 megawatts of contracts in
its so-called Short Term Operating Reserve, Graham McQuarrie, a
spokesman for the grid operator, said by telephone. That
includes 200 megawatts of demand side reduction, he said. This
is triggered at times when there are insufficient conventional
supplies to meet demand.
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: Alex Devine, Rob Verdonck.
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:
Stephen Voss at +44 207 7073 3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net
(BN) Land-Surface Temperatures Set Record High in 2010, NOAA Says
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Land-Surface Temperatures Set Record High in 2010, NOAA Says
2011-01-12 17:33:52.69 GMT
By Tony C. Dreibus
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Land temperatures worldwide were the
highest on record last year as heat waves caused droughts, the
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
Land-surface temperatures averaged 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit
(1 degree Celsius) above the 20th-century average, the NOAA said
in a report today. The average land temperature from 1901 to
2000 was 47.3 degrees Fahrenheit, it shows. Ocean-surface
temperatures were the third-highest ever at 0.88 degree
Fahrenheit above the 1901-2000 average, according to the NOAA.
Higher temperatures resulted in a drought in Russia,
devastating crops and pushing wheat and corn prices to two-year
highs. China and South America also suffered from droughts, and
hot weather caused thousands of deaths, according to the report.
"Several exceptional heat waves occurred during 2010,
bringing record-high temperatures and affecting tens of millions
of people," the NOAA said. "The massive heat wave brought
Russia its warmest summer (June-August) on record. At least
15,000 deaths in Russia were attributed to the heat."
Combined land and ocean surface temperatures averaged 1.12
degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average last year,
tied with 2005 as the highest ever, the report shows.
The annually averaged sea-surface temperature for the 20th
century was 60.9 degrees Fahrenheit, and the combined land and
ocean temperature was 56.9 degrees Fahrenheit, the Washington-
based NOAA said.
For Related News and Information:
Top Commodity Stories: CTOP <GO>
Crop Calendars: CCAL <GO>
Stories Mentioning Food Shortages: NSE FOOD SHORTAGE <GO>
--Editors: Dan Weeks, John Deane.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Tony C. Dreibus in London at +44-20-3216-4753 or
tdreibus@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Carpenter at +44-20-7330-7304 or
ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.
Land-Surface Temperatures Set Record High in 2010, NOAA Says
2011-01-12 17:33:52.69 GMT
By Tony C. Dreibus
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Land temperatures worldwide were the
highest on record last year as heat waves caused droughts, the
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
Land-surface temperatures averaged 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit
(1 degree Celsius) above the 20th-century average, the NOAA said
in a report today. The average land temperature from 1901 to
2000 was 47.3 degrees Fahrenheit, it shows. Ocean-surface
temperatures were the third-highest ever at 0.88 degree
Fahrenheit above the 1901-2000 average, according to the NOAA.
Higher temperatures resulted in a drought in Russia,
devastating crops and pushing wheat and corn prices to two-year
highs. China and South America also suffered from droughts, and
hot weather caused thousands of deaths, according to the report.
"Several exceptional heat waves occurred during 2010,
bringing record-high temperatures and affecting tens of millions
of people," the NOAA said. "The massive heat wave brought
Russia its warmest summer (June-August) on record. At least
15,000 deaths in Russia were attributed to the heat."
Combined land and ocean surface temperatures averaged 1.12
degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average last year,
tied with 2005 as the highest ever, the report shows.
The annually averaged sea-surface temperature for the 20th
century was 60.9 degrees Fahrenheit, and the combined land and
ocean temperature was 56.9 degrees Fahrenheit, the Washington-
based NOAA said.
For Related News and Information:
Top Commodity Stories: CTOP <GO>
Crop Calendars: CCAL <GO>
Stories Mentioning Food Shortages: NSE FOOD SHORTAGE <GO>
--Editors: Dan Weeks, John Deane.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Tony C. Dreibus in London at +44-20-3216-4753 or
tdreibus@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Carpenter at +44-20-7330-7304 or
ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.
2011/01/12
EU Carbon Permits Fall Near Lowest in Week as German Power
By Mathew Carr
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon dioxide
permits declined near their lowest in a week as German power
dropped for the second day in three.
Allowances for December 2011 lost as much as 0.6 percent to
14.22 euros ($18.44) a metric ton on the ICE Futures Europe
exchange in London. They were at 14.26 euros a ton as of 11:42
a.m. after reaching as low as 14.20 euros yesterday, the
cheapest since Jan. 4.
Generators buy permits when selling power forward. German
power for next year dropped 0.7 percent to 53.80 euros a
megawatt-hour, according to broker data compiled by Bloomberg.
The benchmark contract has fallen 1 percent over the past year.
Permits in the EU carbon market, the world's largest
greenhouse-gas reduction program by traded volume, gained 6.3
percent in the period, curbing profits from generation.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories ETOP <GO>
------------------------------------------------------------
Mathew Carr, emissions markets, energy reporter. London Bloomberg News ph +44 207 073 3531 yahoo ID carr_mathew
indigestion?EU to Assess Its Post-2012 Commitment to Kyoto,
comments our way folks
------------------------------------------------------------
Mathew Carr, emissions markets, energy reporter. London Bloomberg News ph +44 207 073 3531 yahoo ID carr_mathew
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EU to Assess Its Post-2012 Commitment to Kyoto, Delbeke Says
2011-01-12 10:25:25.618 GMT
By Ewa Krukowska
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union may need a
"reflection period" on greenhouse gas-reduction commitments
under the Kyoto Protocol after 2012, as some countries
signaled they don't want to sign up for the mechanism.
Jos Delbeke, director general for climate at the European
Commission, the EU regulatory arm, told a seminar in Brussels
today that the bloc was flexible at the climate summit in Cancun
last month on the second commitment period under the treaty and
continues to be open.
"The U.S. has made it very clear they'll never join the
Kyoto Protocol treaty, and we have heard Japan, followed by
Russia and other major players, have made clear they are not
going to sign up for a second commitment period," Delbeke
said. "So for the EU, there's a very important question how
much we like the Kyoto Protocol, how much it's pointless to find
ourselves alone under the protocol. We have to digest that."
Delbeke said an international agreement to cut greenhouse
gases is still "desirable and achievable," though a binding
deal is not going to happen in an "immediate future."
For Related News and Information:
Top Energy Stories:{ETOP<GO>}
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ewa Krukowska in Brussels 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
------------------------------------------------------------
Mathew Carr, emissions markets, energy reporter. London Bloomberg News ph +44 207 073 3531 yahoo ID carr_mathew
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EU to Assess Its Post-2012 Commitment to Kyoto, Delbeke Says
2011-01-12 10:25:25.618 GMT
By Ewa Krukowska
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union may need a
"reflection period" on greenhouse gas-reduction commitments
under the Kyoto Protocol after 2012, as some countries
signaled they don't want to sign up for the mechanism.
Jos Delbeke, director general for climate at the European
Commission, the EU regulatory arm, told a seminar in Brussels
today that the bloc was flexible at the climate summit in Cancun
last month on the second commitment period under the treaty and
continues to be open.
"The U.S. has made it very clear they'll never join the
Kyoto Protocol treaty, and we have heard Japan, followed by
Russia and other major players, have made clear they are not
going to sign up for a second commitment period," Delbeke
said. "So for the EU, there's a very important question how
much we like the Kyoto Protocol, how much it's pointless to find
ourselves alone under the protocol. We have to digest that."
Delbeke said an international agreement to cut greenhouse
gases is still "desirable and achievable," though a binding
deal is not going to happen in an "immediate future."
For Related News and Information:
Top Energy Stories:{ETOP<GO>}
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ewa Krukowska in Brussels 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
(BN) Delbeke Says No Strong Case for Early Carbon Auctions in 2011
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Delbeke Says No Strong Case for Early Carbon Auctions in 2011
2011-01-12 11:45:18.741 GMT
By Ewa Krukowska
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Carbon emitters, investors, experts
and lobby groups seem to agree that the European Union should
auction early up to 300 million tons of emission permits for the
post-2012 trading period, said Jos Delbeke, director for climate
at the EU's regulatory arm.
Delbeke said he observed that at the stakeholder debate
with the European Commission last month expectations regarding
the amount of permits to be auctioned before the next phase
starts in 2013 were "much lower compared to where we started."
He reiterated that he did not see a "strong case" for early
auctions this year.
"People seem to agree that the amount of early auctioning
the commission should foresee is somewhere between zero and 300
million allowances," he told a briefing organized by Deutsche
Bank in Brussels today. "2011 is not a break or make year.
There's liquidity. We also have 300 million allowances in
auctions prepared by the European Investment Bank that are going
to be brought to the market before 2013," he said.
Link to Company News:{2539Z GR <Equity> CN <GO>}
For Related News and Information:
Top stories: {TOP <GO>}
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ewa Krukowska in Brussels at +32-2-237-4331 or
ekrukowska@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jones Hayden at +32-2-285-4312 or
jhayden1@bloomberg.net
Delbeke Says No Strong Case for Early Carbon Auctions in 2011
2011-01-12 11:45:18.741 GMT
By Ewa Krukowska
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Carbon emitters, investors, experts
and lobby groups seem to agree that the European Union should
auction early up to 300 million tons of emission permits for the
post-2012 trading period, said Jos Delbeke, director for climate
at the EU's regulatory arm.
Delbeke said he observed that at the stakeholder debate
with the European Commission last month expectations regarding
the amount of permits to be auctioned before the next phase
starts in 2013 were "much lower compared to where we started."
He reiterated that he did not see a "strong case" for early
auctions this year.
"People seem to agree that the amount of early auctioning
the commission should foresee is somewhere between zero and 300
million allowances," he told a briefing organized by Deutsche
Bank in Brussels today. "2011 is not a break or make year.
There's liquidity. We also have 300 million allowances in
auctions prepared by the European Investment Bank that are going
to be brought to the market before 2013," he said.
Link to Company News:{2539Z GR <Equity> CN <GO>}
For Related News and Information:
Top stories: {TOP <GO>}
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ewa Krukowska in Brussels at +32-2-237-4331 or
ekrukowska@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jones Hayden at +32-2-285-4312 or
jhayden1@bloomberg.net
(BN) Low-Carbon Energy Investment Hit Record $243 Billion
yest
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Low-Carbon Energy Investment Hit Record $243 Billion in 2010
2011-01-11 12:23:03.272 GMT
By Alex Morales
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Global investment in low-carbon
energy surged to a record $243 billion last year, boosted by a
30 percent spending increase in China and a burst in small-scale
solar-power installations.
The figure eclipses the $186.5 billion spent in 2009 and is
more than double the level in 2005, Bloomberg New Energy Finance
said today in a statement. The investment came even as clean
energy shares had a "lackluster performance" last year, the
London-based research company said.
The investment "flies in the face of skepticism about the
clean-energy sector among public market investors," New Energy
Finance Chief Executive Officer Michael Liebreich said. "We
have been saying for some time that the world needs to reach a
figure of $500 billion per annum investment in clean energy if
we are to see carbon emissions peak by 2020. What we are seeing
in these figures for the first time is that we are halfway
there."
Asset financing for utility-scale projects such as wind
farms, solar parks and biofuel plants expanded 19 percent last
year to $127.8 billion, more than half of expenditure, New
Energy Finance said. Enel Green Power SpA's initial share sale
led $17.4 billion of investments from the public markets, while
small-scale projects including rooftop solar panels surged 91
percent to $59.6 billion.
Investment in China expanded 30 percent to $51.1 billion,
according to the study.
The figures cover technologies including wind and solar
power, energy efficiency, smart-grid equipment, biofuels and
carbon capture and storage. Mergers and acquisitions data aren't
included in the study, because they're not considered new
investment.
While the expansion of investment is "very good news," it
has been "in fairly direct response" to government incentives,
ranging from cheap debt in China to feed-in tariffs --
guaranteed above-market rate prices -- for solar power in
Europe, Liebreich said.
"The industry needs to continue to drive down its costs
and reduce its reliance on this sort of support," he said.
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: 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.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Low-Carbon Energy Investment Hit Record $243 Billion in 2010
2011-01-11 12:23:03.272 GMT
By Alex Morales
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Global investment in low-carbon
energy surged to a record $243 billion last year, boosted by a
30 percent spending increase in China and a burst in small-scale
solar-power installations.
The figure eclipses the $186.5 billion spent in 2009 and is
more than double the level in 2005, Bloomberg New Energy Finance
said today in a statement. The investment came even as clean
energy shares had a "lackluster performance" last year, the
London-based research company said.
The investment "flies in the face of skepticism about the
clean-energy sector among public market investors," New Energy
Finance Chief Executive Officer Michael Liebreich said. "We
have been saying for some time that the world needs to reach a
figure of $500 billion per annum investment in clean energy if
we are to see carbon emissions peak by 2020. What we are seeing
in these figures for the first time is that we are halfway
there."
Asset financing for utility-scale projects such as wind
farms, solar parks and biofuel plants expanded 19 percent last
year to $127.8 billion, more than half of expenditure, New
Energy Finance said. Enel Green Power SpA's initial share sale
led $17.4 billion of investments from the public markets, while
small-scale projects including rooftop solar panels surged 91
percent to $59.6 billion.
Investment in China expanded 30 percent to $51.1 billion,
according to the study.
The figures cover technologies including wind and solar
power, energy efficiency, smart-grid equipment, biofuels and
carbon capture and storage. Mergers and acquisitions data aren't
included in the study, because they're not considered new
investment.
While the expansion of investment is "very good news," it
has been "in fairly direct response" to government incentives,
ranging from cheap debt in China to feed-in tariffs --
guaranteed above-market rate prices -- for solar power in
Europe, Liebreich said.
"The industry needs to continue to drive down its costs
and reduce its reliance on this sort of support," he said.
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: 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) South Africa Drafting Policy to Manage Climate Change, Emissions
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
South Africa Drafting Policy to Manage Climate Change, Emissions
2011-01-11 15:44:51.507 GMT
By Lauren van der Westhuizen
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- South Africa, the world's 17th
largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is preparing a white paper
on climate change that will outline the country's strategy to
reduce emissions and manage its contributions to climate change.
"A draft of the white paper will be finalized toward the
end of March and the final document will be published in
April," Irene Koenze, a spokeswoman for the Department of
Environmental Affairs, said in a telephone interview today.
The agency announced in November that it was preparing its
National Climate Change Response Green Paper, and is accepting
public comments through Feb. 11.
South Africa committed at a United Nations summit on
climate change in Copenhagen in 2009 to reduce its greenhouse
gas emissions by 34 percent by 2020, contingent on receiving
sufficient finance, technology and support from the
international community.
For Related News and Information:
Top renewable energy news: GREEN <GO>
Emissions market monitor: EMMK <GO>
Most-read stories about climate change: MNI CLIMATE <GO>
--Editors: Will Wade, Rob Verdonck
To contact the reporter on this story:
Lauren van der Westhuizen at +27-21-441-7602 or at
lvanderwesth@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net.
South Africa Drafting Policy to Manage Climate Change, Emissions
2011-01-11 15:44:51.507 GMT
By Lauren van der Westhuizen
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- South Africa, the world's 17th
largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is preparing a white paper
on climate change that will outline the country's strategy to
reduce emissions and manage its contributions to climate change.
"A draft of the white paper will be finalized toward the
end of March and the final document will be published in
April," Irene Koenze, a spokeswoman for the Department of
Environmental Affairs, said in a telephone interview today.
The agency announced in November that it was preparing its
National Climate Change Response Green Paper, and is accepting
public comments through Feb. 11.
South Africa committed at a United Nations summit on
climate change in Copenhagen in 2009 to reduce its greenhouse
gas emissions by 34 percent by 2020, contingent on receiving
sufficient finance, technology and support from the
international community.
For Related News and Information:
Top renewable energy news: GREEN <GO>
Emissions market monitor: EMMK <GO>
Most-read stories about climate change: MNI CLIMATE <GO>
--Editors: Will Wade, Rob Verdonck
To contact the reporter on this story:
Lauren van der Westhuizen at +27-21-441-7602 or at
lvanderwesth@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net.
(BN) U.S. Carbon-Dioxide Output May Fall 0.6% This Year, EIA Says
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
U.S. Carbon-Dioxide Output May Fall 0.6% This Year, EIA Says
2011-01-11 17:43:32.792 GMT
By Simon Lomax
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions from
energy use will fall 0.6 percent this year, according to a
forecast by the Energy Information Administration.
After this year's predicted drop, the result of falling
electricity production from power plants, carbon dioxide output
should climb by 2.4 percent in 2012 on "improvement in economic
growth," the EIA said today in its January Short-Term Energy
Outlook.
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>
--Editors: Steve Geimann, Andrea Snyder
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:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or LLiebert@bloomberg.net.
U.S. Carbon-Dioxide Output May Fall 0.6% This Year, EIA Says
2011-01-11 17:43:32.792 GMT
By Simon Lomax
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions from
energy use will fall 0.6 percent this year, according to a
forecast by the Energy Information Administration.
After this year's predicted drop, the result of falling
electricity production from power plants, carbon dioxide output
should climb by 2.4 percent in 2012 on "improvement in economic
growth," the EIA said today in its January Short-Term Energy
Outlook.
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>
--Editors: Steve Geimann, Andrea Snyder
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:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or LLiebert@bloomberg.net.
(BN) Brisbane Floods Worsen as Queensland Death Toll Rises (Update1)
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Brisbane Floods Worsen as Queensland Death Toll Rises (Update1)
2011-01-12 05:53:40.43 GMT
(Updates death toll in first paragraph.)
By Jacob Greber and Rebecca Keenan
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Floodwaters in Brisbane are rising
after the river that runs through the city burst its banks,
threatening 40,000 properties and worsening a six-week crisis
that's killed 23 people and left 67 missing in Queensland state.
The center of Australia's third-largest city is being
shuttered, with buses and trains halted, major roads blocked,
and workers making final efforts to sandbag office towers, some
of whose car parks are already inundated. The Brisbane River --a
torrent of brown water filled with shattered pontoons, trees and
boats broken from moorings -- is expected to peak tomorrow in
what may be the city's worst flood since 1893.
An area bigger than Texas and California making up more
than 75 percent of Queensland has been declared a disaster zone.
The death toll doubled Jan. 10 as a flash flood smashed through
Toowoomba, tearing away cars, roads, homes and people. Police
and volunteers today continued to rescue those stranded on roofs
and pockets of higher ground, and to search for bodies.
"The hardest times are still ahead of us," Queensland
Premier Anna Bligh said in a press conference today. "Our
emergency search and rescue teams today may face a very
difficult and emotional task as they search for and possibly
find bodies in some of those isolated areas."
The rain that closed coal mines, cut railways and forced
the Australian dollar down may cost the economy A$7 billion
($6.9 billion) Ausbil Dexia Ltd. estimated. The currency fell to
a one-month low on concern the floods will slow growth and deter
the central bank from raising interest rates.
La Nina
Mining companies including Rio Tinto Group, BHP Billiton
Ltd. and Xstrata Plc have deferred deliveries of coal, driving
up the price for steelmaking and power coal. Thermal coal prices
have already risen to the highest since September 2008 as the
rain curbs output.
John Honan, chief economist at Ausbil Dexia in Sydney, cut
his forecast for Australia's first-quarter economic growth to
0.4 percent, from 0.9 percent before the floods, and doubled his
inflation forecast to 1.6 percent. The Reserve Bank of Australia
won't raise interest rates until the third quarter this year, he
said in an e-mail response to questions.
A La Nina weather event has brought record rainfall to the
coal- and sugar-producing state and is expected to last into
Australia's autumn, Bureau of Meteorology Head of Climate
Monitoring and Prediction David Jones said today by phone from
Melbourne. Rains were easing today, with the bureau forecasting
"a few showers" for Brisbane and a mostly fine weekend.
As residents of metropolitan Brisbane, home to 2 million
people, evacuate from lower-lying suburbs, workers continue to
place sandbags outside downtown businesses, where the basements
of many buildings are already filling with water. The Stamford
Plaza hotel, which overlooks the city's botanical gardens, has
closed as water laps at the ceiling of its underground car park.
Power Cut
As many as 40,000 properties in Brisbane may be affected by
tomorrow, including 19,700 homes, the city council said in a
media statement today. The city center and low-lying areas had
their power cut today, Queensland electricity supplier Energex
said on its website. There are 3,585 people in 57 evacuation
centers around the state.
The Brisbane River, which flows through the center of the
city, will surge to 4.5 meters (15 feet) at 3 p.m. local time,
from a current level of 3.75 meters. The river may tomorrow
exceed 5.45 meters, the height that devastated the city during
flooding in 1974, the Bureau of Meteorology said on its website.
On Eagle Street, a restaurant district in the city center
that overlooks the river, business owners cleared stock to
higher ground.
Business Impact
Rob Kelly, 39, who runs the Jude cafe in a complex of bars,
brasseries and nightclubs, said he opened four weeks ago after
spending A$400,000 on a fit out. Much of that may soon be
damaged, he said.
"They tried sandbagging the building, but water has filled
the basement car park already through drains," he said in an
interview outside his cafe.
Retailers, banks and insurers are already counting the
costs. The Reject Shop Ltd. placed its shares in a trading halt
as it assesses the impact on its discount stores. Caltex
Australia Ltd. shares fell 5.7 percent after the shutdown of a
refinery that supplies about a third of Queensland's fuel needs.
Port of Brisbane, Australia's third-busiest container
harbor, was shut to maritime traffic as debris littered the
waterway. Suncorp Group Ltd., the biggest Brisbane-based
insurer, may face net costs from claims stemming from the floods
of about A$555 million in the year ending June 2011, UBS AG said
in a report today.
Past Floods
The Jan. 10 flash-flood through Toowoomba, home to 90,000
people about 127 kilometers (79 miles) west of Brisbane, was
described by police as an "inland instant tsunami." Twelve
people have been confirmed dead from that deluge, with 67 still
missing, according to the state's emergency services department.
The deaths take the toll since the end of November to 23, the
police said.
The Lockyer river, which burst its banks to cause the
devastation in Toowoomba, feeds into the Brisbane River. Some
parts of Brisbane have had up to 461 millimeters of rain in the
past week, more than five times the city's average for January.
The record 1893 floods dumped the gunship Paluma on the
Brisbane Botanical Gardens. The 1974 torrent, triggered by near-
record rainfall and a tropical cyclone, killed 16 people and
inundated a third of the city's metropolitan area, according to
the website of the Attorney General's department. Following that
deluge, the state built the Wivenhoe Dam to protect the capital.
The dam was at 190 percent capacity at 10 p.m. local time
last night and controlled releases were underway, according to
authorities.
The floods are moving south, forcing the evacuation of as
many as 850 people in the New South Wales state towns of
Boggabilla and Toomelah.
Other Hazards
La Ninas, characterized by a cooling of temperatures in the
central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, are associated with
above-normal winter, spring and summer rain in eastern and
northern Australia. The current La Nina is one of the strongest
in recorded history and is the biggest since 1917.
The event also raises the cyclone risk for northern
Australia from November to April, according to the bureau. A
cyclone off the north coast of Western Australia, where most of
the nation's oil and gas production is located, has formed and
may intensify this week, the weather bureau said.
Further south in Western Australia, a bushfire that
destroyed nine homes is under control in the Lake Clifton area.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday offered defense
force resources to Queensland for the rescue operation. The
U.S., China, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand are among nations
that have offered help, she said.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories: TOP <GO>
Top commodity stories: CTOP <GO>
Most read Australian news: MNI AUD <GO>
Most-read natural disaster stories: TNI MOSTREAD NAT <GO>
--With assistance by Angus Whitley in Canberra, Wendy Pugh and
Ben Sharples in Melbourne, and Dan Petrie in Sydney. Editors:
Malcolm Scott, Iain Wilson
To contact the reporters on this story:
Jacob Greber in Sydney at +61-2-9777-8635 or
jgreber@bloomberg.net;
Rebecca Keenan in Melbourne at +61-3-9228-8721 or
rkeenan5@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Andrew Hobbs at 02 9777 8642 or ahobbs4@bloomberg.net;
Philip Lagerkranser at +852-2977-6626 or
lagerkranser@bloomberg.net
Brisbane Floods Worsen as Queensland Death Toll Rises (Update1)
2011-01-12 05:53:40.43 GMT
(Updates death toll in first paragraph.)
By Jacob Greber and Rebecca Keenan
Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Floodwaters in Brisbane are rising
after the river that runs through the city burst its banks,
threatening 40,000 properties and worsening a six-week crisis
that's killed 23 people and left 67 missing in Queensland state.
The center of Australia's third-largest city is being
shuttered, with buses and trains halted, major roads blocked,
and workers making final efforts to sandbag office towers, some
of whose car parks are already inundated. The Brisbane River --a
torrent of brown water filled with shattered pontoons, trees and
boats broken from moorings -- is expected to peak tomorrow in
what may be the city's worst flood since 1893.
An area bigger than Texas and California making up more
than 75 percent of Queensland has been declared a disaster zone.
The death toll doubled Jan. 10 as a flash flood smashed through
Toowoomba, tearing away cars, roads, homes and people. Police
and volunteers today continued to rescue those stranded on roofs
and pockets of higher ground, and to search for bodies.
"The hardest times are still ahead of us," Queensland
Premier Anna Bligh said in a press conference today. "Our
emergency search and rescue teams today may face a very
difficult and emotional task as they search for and possibly
find bodies in some of those isolated areas."
The rain that closed coal mines, cut railways and forced
the Australian dollar down may cost the economy A$7 billion
($6.9 billion) Ausbil Dexia Ltd. estimated. The currency fell to
a one-month low on concern the floods will slow growth and deter
the central bank from raising interest rates.
La Nina
Mining companies including Rio Tinto Group, BHP Billiton
Ltd. and Xstrata Plc have deferred deliveries of coal, driving
up the price for steelmaking and power coal. Thermal coal prices
have already risen to the highest since September 2008 as the
rain curbs output.
John Honan, chief economist at Ausbil Dexia in Sydney, cut
his forecast for Australia's first-quarter economic growth to
0.4 percent, from 0.9 percent before the floods, and doubled his
inflation forecast to 1.6 percent. The Reserve Bank of Australia
won't raise interest rates until the third quarter this year, he
said in an e-mail response to questions.
A La Nina weather event has brought record rainfall to the
coal- and sugar-producing state and is expected to last into
Australia's autumn, Bureau of Meteorology Head of Climate
Monitoring and Prediction David Jones said today by phone from
Melbourne. Rains were easing today, with the bureau forecasting
"a few showers" for Brisbane and a mostly fine weekend.
As residents of metropolitan Brisbane, home to 2 million
people, evacuate from lower-lying suburbs, workers continue to
place sandbags outside downtown businesses, where the basements
of many buildings are already filling with water. The Stamford
Plaza hotel, which overlooks the city's botanical gardens, has
closed as water laps at the ceiling of its underground car park.
Power Cut
As many as 40,000 properties in Brisbane may be affected by
tomorrow, including 19,700 homes, the city council said in a
media statement today. The city center and low-lying areas had
their power cut today, Queensland electricity supplier Energex
said on its website. There are 3,585 people in 57 evacuation
centers around the state.
The Brisbane River, which flows through the center of the
city, will surge to 4.5 meters (15 feet) at 3 p.m. local time,
from a current level of 3.75 meters. The river may tomorrow
exceed 5.45 meters, the height that devastated the city during
flooding in 1974, the Bureau of Meteorology said on its website.
On Eagle Street, a restaurant district in the city center
that overlooks the river, business owners cleared stock to
higher ground.
Business Impact
Rob Kelly, 39, who runs the Jude cafe in a complex of bars,
brasseries and nightclubs, said he opened four weeks ago after
spending A$400,000 on a fit out. Much of that may soon be
damaged, he said.
"They tried sandbagging the building, but water has filled
the basement car park already through drains," he said in an
interview outside his cafe.
Retailers, banks and insurers are already counting the
costs. The Reject Shop Ltd. placed its shares in a trading halt
as it assesses the impact on its discount stores. Caltex
Australia Ltd. shares fell 5.7 percent after the shutdown of a
refinery that supplies about a third of Queensland's fuel needs.
Port of Brisbane, Australia's third-busiest container
harbor, was shut to maritime traffic as debris littered the
waterway. Suncorp Group Ltd., the biggest Brisbane-based
insurer, may face net costs from claims stemming from the floods
of about A$555 million in the year ending June 2011, UBS AG said
in a report today.
Past Floods
The Jan. 10 flash-flood through Toowoomba, home to 90,000
people about 127 kilometers (79 miles) west of Brisbane, was
described by police as an "inland instant tsunami." Twelve
people have been confirmed dead from that deluge, with 67 still
missing, according to the state's emergency services department.
The deaths take the toll since the end of November to 23, the
police said.
The Lockyer river, which burst its banks to cause the
devastation in Toowoomba, feeds into the Brisbane River. Some
parts of Brisbane have had up to 461 millimeters of rain in the
past week, more than five times the city's average for January.
The record 1893 floods dumped the gunship Paluma on the
Brisbane Botanical Gardens. The 1974 torrent, triggered by near-
record rainfall and a tropical cyclone, killed 16 people and
inundated a third of the city's metropolitan area, according to
the website of the Attorney General's department. Following that
deluge, the state built the Wivenhoe Dam to protect the capital.
The dam was at 190 percent capacity at 10 p.m. local time
last night and controlled releases were underway, according to
authorities.
The floods are moving south, forcing the evacuation of as
many as 850 people in the New South Wales state towns of
Boggabilla and Toomelah.
Other Hazards
La Ninas, characterized by a cooling of temperatures in the
central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, are associated with
above-normal winter, spring and summer rain in eastern and
northern Australia. The current La Nina is one of the strongest
in recorded history and is the biggest since 1917.
The event also raises the cyclone risk for northern
Australia from November to April, according to the bureau. A
cyclone off the north coast of Western Australia, where most of
the nation's oil and gas production is located, has formed and
may intensify this week, the weather bureau said.
Further south in Western Australia, a bushfire that
destroyed nine homes is under control in the Lake Clifton area.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday offered defense
force resources to Queensland for the rescue operation. The
U.S., China, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand are among nations
that have offered help, she said.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories: TOP <GO>
Top commodity stories: CTOP <GO>
Most read Australian news: MNI AUD <GO>
Most-read natural disaster stories: TNI MOSTREAD NAT <GO>
--With assistance by Angus Whitley in Canberra, Wendy Pugh and
Ben Sharples in Melbourne, and Dan Petrie in Sydney. Editors:
Malcolm Scott, Iain Wilson
To contact the reporters on this story:
Jacob Greber in Sydney at +61-2-9777-8635 or
jgreber@bloomberg.net;
Rebecca Keenan in Melbourne at +61-3-9228-8721 or
rkeenan5@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Andrew Hobbs at 02 9777 8642 or ahobbs4@bloomberg.net;
Philip Lagerkranser at +852-2977-6626 or
lagerkranser@bloomberg.net
2011/01/11
(BN) European Airline Emissions Fell 9.4% in 2010, RDC Says (Update1)
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
European Airline Emissions Fell 9.4% in 2010, RDC Says (Update1)
2011-01-11 13:31:07.430 GMT
(Adds comment in fourth paragraph, data in fifth.)
By Mathew Carr and Catherine Airlie
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Carbon dioxide emissions from
European airlines fell 9.4 percent to 171.5 million metric tons
last year as planes were more efficient, RDC Aviation Ltd. said.
"We are accrediting the reduction to strike action,
volcanoes, technological advances, newer equipment and a general
gearing up for ETS Trading," Ian Robins, a researcher for RDC
Aviation, said today in an e-mail. The figures are for scheduled
commercial aviation and may exclude some flights that starting
in 2012 will fall under Europe's emissions trading system, the
world's biggest carbon-reduction program.
The volume of freight and passengers carried last year will
determine the portion of free allowances each airline receives
in the nine years through 2020. The measurements come in a year
when planes were grounded by volcanic ash, snow and strikes.
"Airlines were certainly more effective at filling planes,
probably to increase their metric ton per kilometers and also to
be more efficient, thereby saving fuel and carbon dioxide,"
said Peter Hind, managing director of RDC, a Nottingham,
England-based provider of airline research and software.
Airlines probably dropped freight rates to help boost volumes
and achieve a higher proportion of free allowances, he said.
European airlines increased so called freight-ton-
kilometers, a measure of how full planes were, by 12 percent in
the 11 months through November 2010, according to latest figures
published on the website of the International Air Transport
Association, the lobby group based in Montreal, Canada.
The passenger load factor, a measure of how many seats were
used, was 79.6 percent in the period, compared with 76.5 percent
in the previous period, the data show.
For Related News and Information:
Top environment stories: GREEN <GO>
News about climate change: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Top transport stories: TOP TRN <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Rob Verdonck.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
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
European Airline Emissions Fell 9.4% in 2010, RDC Says (Update1)
2011-01-11 13:31:07.430 GMT
(Adds comment in fourth paragraph, data in fifth.)
By Mathew Carr and Catherine Airlie
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Carbon dioxide emissions from
European airlines fell 9.4 percent to 171.5 million metric tons
last year as planes were more efficient, RDC Aviation Ltd. said.
"We are accrediting the reduction to strike action,
volcanoes, technological advances, newer equipment and a general
gearing up for ETS Trading," Ian Robins, a researcher for RDC
Aviation, said today in an e-mail. The figures are for scheduled
commercial aviation and may exclude some flights that starting
in 2012 will fall under Europe's emissions trading system, the
world's biggest carbon-reduction program.
The volume of freight and passengers carried last year will
determine the portion of free allowances each airline receives
in the nine years through 2020. The measurements come in a year
when planes were grounded by volcanic ash, snow and strikes.
"Airlines were certainly more effective at filling planes,
probably to increase their metric ton per kilometers and also to
be more efficient, thereby saving fuel and carbon dioxide,"
said Peter Hind, managing director of RDC, a Nottingham,
England-based provider of airline research and software.
Airlines probably dropped freight rates to help boost volumes
and achieve a higher proportion of free allowances, he said.
European airlines increased so called freight-ton-
kilometers, a measure of how full planes were, by 12 percent in
the 11 months through November 2010, according to latest figures
published on the website of the International Air Transport
Association, the lobby group based in Montreal, Canada.
The passenger load factor, a measure of how many seats were
used, was 79.6 percent in the period, compared with 76.5 percent
in the previous period, the data show.
For Related News and Information:
Top environment stories: GREEN <GO>
News about climate change: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Top transport stories: TOP TRN <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Rob Verdonck.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
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) Trading Emissions Is Approached by Potential Bidders for Assets
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
BN 01/11 07:11 *TRADING EMISSIONS IN PROCESS OF ENGAGING WITH PARTIES :TRE LN
BN 01/11 07:11 *TRADING EMISSIONS RECEIVED SEVERAL EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
BN 01/11 07:11 *TRADING EMISSIONS WOULD CONSIDER OFFER FOR ENTIRE BUSINESS
BN 01/11 07:10 *TRADING EMISSIONS GOT EXPRESSIONS OF INT. IN CARBON PORTFOLIO
BN 01/11 07:10 *TRADING EMISSIONS TRE REALISATION UPDATE :TRE LN
RNS 01/11 07:00 Trading Emissions TRE Realisation Update
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Trading Emissions Is Approached by Potential Bidders for Assets
2011-01-11 14:44:18.698 GMT
By Todd White and Louise Downing
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Trading Emissions Plc, an investment
company focused on clean energy and emissions credits, said it
received several "expressions of interest" in its private
equity investments
The company's adviser, Liberum Capital, is contacting
potential bidders, Trading Emissions said today in a statement.
The London-based company also said it received interest in its
carbon investments and would consider an offer for the entire
business.
"Trading Emissions seeks to either sell the company in its
entirety or sell the assets or carbon business separately,
depending on what is best for shareholders," Simon Shaw, adviser
to the company, said today by e-mail. The target date is the end
of 2012, "and this may be accelerated," he said.
At the end of June 2010, the carbon unit was valued at
150.4 million pounds ($233.5 million), Shaw said. About 150
million pounds has been invested in private equity. He declined
to disclose the value of a potential sale or what type of buyer
the company is talking to.
Trading Emissions's largest private equity holding is its
40 million pound investment in Bionasa Combustivel Natural SA, a
Brazilian bio-diesel company, Shaw said. The second-biggest is
in TEP Solar Holdings, which received about 30 million pounds.
The next-largest investments are in biogas and biofuels in
Thailand and Africa, he said.
At the end of May 2010, Trading Emissions private equity
holdings comprised 14 investments spanning wind, solar,
biofuels, biomass and hydro companies. This includes a 19
million-pound investment in Asia Biogas Company Ltd., which now
has 39 renewable energy projects operating in the region
Trading Emissions bought Deutsche Bank's interest last year
in a 320-megawatt wind farm to be built near the north coast of
Poland. It will be one of the largest wind projects in Poland
when it starts operating, Trading Emissions said in its results
for the year ended June 30, 2010.
Link to Statement:{NSN LEUJGC3HBS3R <GO>}
Link to Company News:{TRE LN <Equity> CN <GO>}
For Related News and Information:
Top Environment Stories: GREEN<GO>
Editors: Mike Anderson, Rob Verdonck.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Todd White at +34-91-700-9604 or
twhite2@bloomberg.net or
Louise Downing in London at +44-20-3216-4633 or
Ldowning4@bloomberg.net
BN 01/11 07:11 *TRADING EMISSIONS IN PROCESS OF ENGAGING WITH PARTIES :TRE LN
BN 01/11 07:11 *TRADING EMISSIONS RECEIVED SEVERAL EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
BN 01/11 07:11 *TRADING EMISSIONS WOULD CONSIDER OFFER FOR ENTIRE BUSINESS
BN 01/11 07:10 *TRADING EMISSIONS GOT EXPRESSIONS OF INT. IN CARBON PORTFOLIO
BN 01/11 07:10 *TRADING EMISSIONS TRE REALISATION UPDATE :TRE LN
RNS 01/11 07:00 Trading Emissions TRE Realisation Update
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Trading Emissions Is Approached by Potential Bidders for Assets
2011-01-11 14:44:18.698 GMT
By Todd White and Louise Downing
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Trading Emissions Plc, an investment
company focused on clean energy and emissions credits, said it
received several "expressions of interest" in its private
equity investments
The company's adviser, Liberum Capital, is contacting
potential bidders, Trading Emissions said today in a statement.
The London-based company also said it received interest in its
carbon investments and would consider an offer for the entire
business.
"Trading Emissions seeks to either sell the company in its
entirety or sell the assets or carbon business separately,
depending on what is best for shareholders," Simon Shaw, adviser
to the company, said today by e-mail. The target date is the end
of 2012, "and this may be accelerated," he said.
At the end of June 2010, the carbon unit was valued at
150.4 million pounds ($233.5 million), Shaw said. About 150
million pounds has been invested in private equity. He declined
to disclose the value of a potential sale or what type of buyer
the company is talking to.
Trading Emissions's largest private equity holding is its
40 million pound investment in Bionasa Combustivel Natural SA, a
Brazilian bio-diesel company, Shaw said. The second-biggest is
in TEP Solar Holdings, which received about 30 million pounds.
The next-largest investments are in biogas and biofuels in
Thailand and Africa, he said.
At the end of May 2010, Trading Emissions private equity
holdings comprised 14 investments spanning wind, solar,
biofuels, biomass and hydro companies. This includes a 19
million-pound investment in Asia Biogas Company Ltd., which now
has 39 renewable energy projects operating in the region
Trading Emissions bought Deutsche Bank's interest last year
in a 320-megawatt wind farm to be built near the north coast of
Poland. It will be one of the largest wind projects in Poland
when it starts operating, Trading Emissions said in its results
for the year ended June 30, 2010.
Link to Statement:{NSN LEUJGC3HBS3R <GO>}
Link to Company News:{TRE LN <Equity> CN <GO>}
For Related News and Information:
Top Environment Stories: GREEN<GO>
Editors: Mike Anderson, Rob Verdonck.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Todd White at +34-91-700-9604 or
twhite2@bloomberg.net or
Louise Downing in London at +44-20-3216-4633 or
Ldowning4@bloomberg.net
(BN) Barclays Cuts CO2 Price Forecasts on Lower Emissions, New Supply
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Barclays Cuts CO2 Price Forecasts on Lower Emissions, New Supply
2011-01-11 15:33:53.258 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc scaled back its 2011
price forecast for European Union carbon, predicting lower
emissions from factories and power stations and more permits
coming to market from a reserve for new projects.
Barclays Capital, the London-based investment bank,
forecasts EU permits will average 16.50 euros ($21.30) a metric
ton in the first half of the year, analyst Trevor Sikorski said
in a research report e-mailed today. That's 8 percent less than
he estimated in November. Prices in the second half of 2011 may
be 20 euros, down from his earlier forecast of 22 euros.
Sikorski also posted his first forecasts for 2013,
predicting an average price of 30 euros for EU permits and 22
euros for United Nations credits eligible in the EU system, the
world's largest cap-and-trade program. Carbon prices will rise
as utilities are required to buy most of their allowances
starting in 2013 after receiving most of them for free since
2005, Sikorski said.
This will alter "forward hedging strategies and raise
volatility in the market sooner rather than later," Sikorski
said. "While these stronger carbon prices and the return of
trend volatility should help renew some interest in the market,
2011 is likely to be just the warm-up act for some real
volatility in 2012," he said.
EU permits for December traded between 12.95 euros and
16.92 euros a ton last year on London's ICE Futures Europe
exchange. They were up 0.5 percent at 14.30 euros a ton at 3
p.m. The low volatility last year reduced the carbon market's
appeal to investors and emitters, he said.
'Political Failure'
"The added political failure to introduce meaningful
carbon prices in other geographies has resulted in scaled-down
interest in the market, with people and money exiting,"
Sikorski said.
Barclays cut its 2011 price forecasts after raising its
estimate of how many surplus allowances will be available in the
next two years to 468 million tons, 13 percent more than before.
Barclays also reduced its estimate of how much greenhouse gases
European factories and power stations will release.
Sikorski cited a "slight writedown in the macroeconomic
picture and the outlook for industrial output." He also said
more permits from the New Entrants Reserve would enter the
market, even though some nations have pledged to cancel any
surplus permits.
"We have consistently assumed that most of the NER would
come to market," Sikorski said in the report. "We still expect
this is the case, but now expect even those states that
expressed an intention of cancelling the volumes to reconsider
that position, given the precarious fiscal situations of most EU
governments."
For Related News and Information:
Top Environment Stories:GREEN<GO>
Link to Company News:BARC LN <Equity> CN <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, John Buckley.
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
Barclays Cuts CO2 Price Forecasts on Lower Emissions, New Supply
2011-01-11 15:33:53.258 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc scaled back its 2011
price forecast for European Union carbon, predicting lower
emissions from factories and power stations and more permits
coming to market from a reserve for new projects.
Barclays Capital, the London-based investment bank,
forecasts EU permits will average 16.50 euros ($21.30) a metric
ton in the first half of the year, analyst Trevor Sikorski said
in a research report e-mailed today. That's 8 percent less than
he estimated in November. Prices in the second half of 2011 may
be 20 euros, down from his earlier forecast of 22 euros.
Sikorski also posted his first forecasts for 2013,
predicting an average price of 30 euros for EU permits and 22
euros for United Nations credits eligible in the EU system, the
world's largest cap-and-trade program. Carbon prices will rise
as utilities are required to buy most of their allowances
starting in 2013 after receiving most of them for free since
2005, Sikorski said.
This will alter "forward hedging strategies and raise
volatility in the market sooner rather than later," Sikorski
said. "While these stronger carbon prices and the return of
trend volatility should help renew some interest in the market,
2011 is likely to be just the warm-up act for some real
volatility in 2012," he said.
EU permits for December traded between 12.95 euros and
16.92 euros a ton last year on London's ICE Futures Europe
exchange. They were up 0.5 percent at 14.30 euros a ton at 3
p.m. The low volatility last year reduced the carbon market's
appeal to investors and emitters, he said.
'Political Failure'
"The added political failure to introduce meaningful
carbon prices in other geographies has resulted in scaled-down
interest in the market, with people and money exiting,"
Sikorski said.
Barclays cut its 2011 price forecasts after raising its
estimate of how many surplus allowances will be available in the
next two years to 468 million tons, 13 percent more than before.
Barclays also reduced its estimate of how much greenhouse gases
European factories and power stations will release.
Sikorski cited a "slight writedown in the macroeconomic
picture and the outlook for industrial output." He also said
more permits from the New Entrants Reserve would enter the
market, even though some nations have pledged to cancel any
surplus permits.
"We have consistently assumed that most of the NER would
come to market," Sikorski said in the report. "We still expect
this is the case, but now expect even those states that
expressed an intention of cancelling the volumes to reconsider
that position, given the precarious fiscal situations of most EU
governments."
For Related News and Information:
Top Environment Stories:GREEN<GO>
Link to Company News:BARC LN <Equity> CN <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, John Buckley.
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 Carbon Price Gains Cut Interest in Market, Barclays Says
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Low Carbon Price Gains Cut Interest in Market, Barclays Says
2011-01-11 08:47:03.494 GMT
By Mathew Carr
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- A lack of strong price rises in
European Union carbon-dioxide allowances has reduced interest in
the market, said Barclays Plc.
Permits for December have risen 3.9 percent in the past
year. That's reduced the market's appeal to investors, as well
as factories and power stations needing them for compliance,
Trevor Sikorski, a London-based analyst at Barclays Capital,
said in an e-mailed report dated yesterday.
"The added political failure to introduce meaningful
carbon prices in other geographies has resulted in scaled-down
interest in the market, with people and money exiting," he
said.
Link to Company News:{BARC LN <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
Low Carbon Price Gains Cut Interest in Market, Barclays Says
2011-01-11 08:47:03.494 GMT
By Mathew Carr
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- A lack of strong price rises in
European Union carbon-dioxide allowances has reduced interest in
the market, said Barclays Plc.
Permits for December have risen 3.9 percent in the past
year. That's reduced the market's appeal to investors, as well
as factories and power stations needing them for compliance,
Trevor Sikorski, a London-based analyst at Barclays Capital,
said in an e-mailed report dated yesterday.
"The added political failure to introduce meaningful
carbon prices in other geographies has resulted in scaled-down
interest in the market, with people and money exiting," he
said.
Link to Company News:{BARC LN <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
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