Showing posts with label BAJAENERGY TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BAJAENERGY TV. Show all posts
EUROPE: European Union moves to Limit Power of Big Utility Companies [VIDEO]
Published | 24-Sep-2007
The European Commission has adopted draft legislation that would separate power generation from distribution networks. The aim is to restrict the influence of big utility companies. But not everyone is happy.
The idea behind the proposals is to keep large energy providers from exclusive control over the supply of natural gas and electricity to the European bloc.
In part, the initiative is aimed at Russia, which provides around a quarter of Europe's gas, since the proposals would ban foreign firms from owning transmission networks -- unless agreements are reached between the European Union and the companies' home countries.
But the proposals would also force utility companies within the Europea Union -- for instance, Germany's E.on or Electricite de France -- to sell off distribution networks or hand over control to an independent operator. And that has drawn mixed reactions.
Necessary reforms?
The Commission justified the proposals by saying they would boost competition and allow new operators to enter the market.
The president of Germany's Association of Energy Consumers, Aribert Peters, welcomed the initiative, saying in a radio interview that it was the only way to lower prices and to ensure a level playing field.
But both Germany and France would like to see their big utility companies retain more influence and are likely to try to negotiate compromises in the proposed legislation.
The energy spokesman for Germany's governing Christian Democratic Union, Joachim Pfeiffer, said in a radio interview that uncoupling providers from distributors was "a completely wrong path" and that previous liberalizing reforms should be given a chance to take effect.
In part, the initiative is aimed at Russia, which provides around a quarter of Europe's gas, since the proposals would ban foreign firms from owning transmission networks -- unless agreements are reached between the European Union and the companies' home countries.
But the proposals would also force utility companies within the Europea Union -- for instance, Germany's E.on or Electricite de France -- to sell off distribution networks or hand over control to an independent operator. And that has drawn mixed reactions.
Necessary reforms?
The Commission justified the proposals by saying they would boost competition and allow new operators to enter the market.
The president of Germany's Association of Energy Consumers, Aribert Peters, welcomed the initiative, saying in a radio interview that it was the only way to lower prices and to ensure a level playing field.
But both Germany and France would like to see their big utility companies retain more influence and are likely to try to negotiate compromises in the proposed legislation.
The energy spokesman for Germany's governing Christian Democratic Union, Joachim Pfeiffer, said in a radio interview that uncoupling providers from distributors was "a completely wrong path" and that previous liberalizing reforms should be given a chance to take effect.
Via| DW News
EUROPA|proteccionismo|Christian Democratic Union,BAJAENERGY TV,EDF,EON,European Union,France,Germany,protectionist policy,Russia,energyblog
EUROPA|proteccionismo|Christian Democratic Union,BAJAENERGY TV,EDF,EON,European Union,France,Germany,protectionist policy,Russia,energyblog
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eNergy STOCKS: Oil Prices and the $83 to another record [VIDEO]
Published | 21-Sep-2007Energy shares rose Thursday as a storm threat in the Gulf of Mexico and record oil prices stoked buying.
The Amex Oil Index (XOI:1,460.56, +6.14, +0.4%) rose 0.5%, as oil advanced as much as $1.07 to $83.20, another intraday record.
Valero (VLO:70.09, +0.52, +0.7%) rose 1% to $70.32. Exxon Mobil (XOM:92.09, -0.03, 0.0%) rose 25 cents to $92.37.
The Amex Natural Gas Index (XNG:517.94, -0.99, -0.2%) traded little-changed at 518, after natural-gas inventories rose by 63 billion cubic feet for the week ended Sept. 14, the Energy Department said Thursday. Analysts expected a climb of 79 billion. Total natural gas stocks now stand at 3.132 trillion cubic feet, down 32 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level, but 238 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government data said.
The Philadelphia Oil Service Index ($OSX:296.68, +3.58, +1.2%) rose 0.9%. Overall, the energy sector fared better than the overall market, dragged down by a profit warning from FedEx (FDX: 104.45, -3.06, -2.8%) and other economic jitters.
Approximately 27.7% of the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut-in, roughly 360,169 barrels of oil a day, the Minerals Management Service said in an afternoon update. It is also estimated that approximately 16.7% of the natural gas production in the gulf has been shut-in, roughly 1,288 million cubic feet of gas per day.
Personnel have been evacuated from a total of five production platforms in the face of foul weather in the Gulf of Mexico, equivalent to 0.6% of the 834 manned platforms in the gulf. BP (BP: 71.05, +0.52, +0.7%) said Thursday it's begun shutting down some energy production on platforms in the Gulf of Mexico in the face of a storm system off the coast of Florida. The oil giant has evacuated non-essential personnel and it's beginning to move production personnel back to shore. BP did not provide any specific figures on production cuts or the number of people affected.
Other oil and gas producers took similar actions. Cameron International Corp. (CAM:92.74, +0.49, +0.5%) fell 77 cents to $91.48 after Capital One Southcoast Inc. maintained its buy rating on the stock. Fmc Technologies (FTI:55.60, +0.15, +0.3%) rose 5 cents to $55.50 after Capital One Southcoast Inc. cut its rating on the stock to hold from buy.
Rowan Companies Inc. (RDC:37.39, -0.23, -0.6%) fell 8 cents to $37.54 after it released its monthly fleet status, which met Capital One Southcoast Inc.'s target.
Early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said weather patterns suggest a subtropical or a tropical cyclone to form as a storm system moves west into the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Heavy rainfall is possible over portions of the Southeastern U.s. during the next day or two.
Crude futures rally past $83 to another record
Crude-oil futures closed above $83 a barrel Thursday, sending the expiring benchmark contract further into uncharted territory on news that oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico shut down 28% of production ahead of what's expected to become the tenth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Crude oil for October delivery briefly climbed as high as $84.10 a barrel in electronic trading, a level never before seen by a front-month contract. It closed up $1.39, or 1.7%, at $83.32 after reaching $83.90 during the regular trading session on the New York Mercantile Exchange he expiration of the October crude contracts at the end of the day's session likely added to the market volatility. November became the lead-month contract at the close. That contract closed up 93 cents at $81.78.
Also, about 16.7% of natural-gas production in the Gulf has been shut-in, MMS said.
Extended rally
"As long as inventories of crude keep dropping, I think we can expect the price to keep rising," said Charles Perry, chairman of energy-consulting firm Perry Management.
But he said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is concerned about the price climb. The group of key oil producers would "really like to se the price fall, and [that] may cause them to increase production," said Perry.
"What Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries fears is conservation and alternate fuels, both of which are encouraged by higher prices," he said.
Natural-gas futures drop
Two forces really hit the market into the close: the potential storm and the futures contract expiration, said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at Alaron Trading.
An area of low pressure has entered the Gulf of Mexico and could become a tropical depression in the next 12 to 24 hours, Accuweather.com reported Thursday afternoon. The system could become Tropical Storm Jerry on Friday, it said.
The system is expected to move toward Texas or Louisiana over the weekend, threatening gas and oil fields as well as refineries in the northwest Gulf and nearby coastal areas, it said.
"Traders are taking this very seriously," said Flynn. They "learned a lesson from Hurricane Humberto that these things can develop quickly. Producers in the Gulf aren't taking any chances and shutting down production."
Oil and gas operations in the Gulf have started to evacuate platforms and rigs in the path of what's currently called Tropical Area of Investigation 93 L, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service.
MMS estimates that about 27.5% of oil production in the Gulf has been shut in, or roughly 360,169 barrels of oil per day. It points out that estimate oil output from the Gulf as of April 2007 was 1.3 million barrels of oil per day.
Also, about 16.7% of natural-gas production in the Gulf has been shut-in, MMS said.
Extended rally
Still, after hitting consecutive highs, oil prices may be a bit tired.
"There is no doubt that after setting six-consecutive records, crude prices are severely overbought and due for a pullback," said Edward Meir, analyst at MF Global, in a research note.
"However, yesterday did not seem to be the time for such a decline, as the combination of constructive Energy Information Administration numbers, weather concerns, and a continuation of the 'relief rally' engineered by the Fed on Tuesday, all combined to keep the crude complex well bid," Meir said.
Recent storm activity has contributed to declines in U.S. refinery activity. Refinery utilization fell to 89.6% of capacity for the week ended Sept. 14, from 90.5% a week earlier, the Energy Department reported Wednesday.
At the same time, crude supplies fell by 3.8 million barrels, motor gasoline inventories climbed by 400,000 barrels and distillate supplies rose by 1.5 million last week, the report said.
On Thursday, October reformulated gasoline closed at $2.1351 a gallon, up 4.17 cents, or 2%. October heating oil closed up 1.56 cents at $2.2609 a gallon.
"As long as inventories of crude keep dropping, I think we can expect the price to keep rising," said Charles Perry, chairman of energy-consulting firm Perry Management.
But he said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is concerned about the price climb. The group of key oil producers would "really like to se the price fall, and [that] may cause them to increase production," said Perry.
"What Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries fears is conservation and alternate fuels, both of which are encouraged by higher prices," he said.
Crude "supply is still above the five-year average yet because of the talk of global tight supply in the fourth quarter, for now the crude market seems less than impressed," said Alaron's Flynn.
"Still my long-term yearly technical target is within reach, and the fact that supplies are above the five-year average might soon produce a little relief that makes the risks to the consumer defiantly on the upside," he said.
In other energy-related news, the New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (NMX: 123.30, -0.05, 0.0%) said Thursday that it set a daily volume record for crude oil futures on the CME Globex electronic trading platform on Wednesday. Crude-oil futures hit a record 626,447 contracts, exceeding the 616,688 contracts traded on Sept. 6.
Natural-gas futures drop
Also on Nymex, natural-gas futures prices fell to their lowest level in more than a week after the Energy Department reported early Thursday that supplies of the commodity in storage rose 63 billion cubic feet for the week ended Sept. 14. MF Global had said market expectations call for a rise of 58 billion cubic feet to 78 billion cubic feet.
Analysts at Strategic Energy & Economic Research expected to see a climb of 71 billion cubic feet. Overall supplies were still at the upper end of the five-year average and there's still a month and a half left in the supply injection season, said Beth Sewell, a managing partner at Quantum Gas & Power Services. Total stocks now stand at 3.132 trillion cubic feet, down 32 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level, but 238 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government data said.
Analysts at Strategic Energy & Economic Research expected to see a climb of 71 billion cubic feet. Overall supplies were still at the upper end of the five-year average and there's still a month and a half left in the supply injection season, said Beth Sewell, a managing partner at Quantum Gas & Power Services. Total stocks now stand at 3.132 trillion cubic feet, down 32 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level, but 238 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government data said.
Natural gas for October delivery fell 17.2 cents, or 2.8%, to close at $6.008 per million British thermal units. It fell as low as $5.955 earlier. Still, the market is a bit "mixed because of the potential storm that's over Florida right now," said Sewell.
In Thursday's trading in energy equities, oil and gas stocks mainly higher, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index ($OSX: 296.68, +3.58, +1.2%) marking the largest gains.
Elsewhere on the commodity markets, gold futures rallied, as the dollar hit a new all-time low against the euro. Taking a broad measure of the commodities markets, the Dow Jones AIG Commodity Index was up 1% at 177.60 points.
Via| MarketWatch |by Steve Gelsi | by Myra P. Saefong & Polya Lesova
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EUROASIA: Europeans Versus The Rest Of The World [VIDEO]
Published | 20-Sep-2007
Europe Drops Energy Curtain | ¿What´s going on with the europeans and is The proposals on table and building the future for Super European Energy Majors ?| Gazprom Told to Split |
The European Commission’s proposed energy reforms seemed shockingly strict toward investors outside of the European Union. The energy reform suggested by Europe and the reform United Energy Systems of Russia (UES), would close the door on Gazprom buying energy networks in the European Union until Russia and the European Union sign a cooperation agreement and Gazprom is divided into production and transportation components. The project was presented yesterday by the European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes and must still be ratified by the countries of Europe. The reforms’ primary concern is Europe, not Russia.
Three European Commissioners, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, European Commission Competition Commissar Neelie Kroes and European Union Energy Commissar Andris Piebalgs, presented the project to reform the energy market of Europe, initiated in accordance with a European Commission ruling in June. Vladimir Putin, during a visit to Australia, expressed suspicion that the project would include protectionist measures against investment by Russian companies. His suspicions were overwhelmingly justified. The document, if ratified by the Council of the European Union’s 27 energy ministers and the European Parliament, would block Gazprom from investing in European energy.
Kroes began work on the current reform package in June 2007 after the Council of the European Union rejected a previous version. Yesterday Kroes presented the reform package, which is made up of five documents. Two suggest amendments to directives 2003/54/ec and 2003/55/ec concerning EC-wide antimonopoly rules on the electric power and gas market. Another two amend the rules of transborder networks and gaslines (1228/2003 and 1775/2005), while the last would create an Agency for Cooperation among Energy Regulators (ACER).
The idea behind Kroes’ package is to create ACER, a supranational organ with powers to set a single tariff, as well as regulatory and competition policies for the national regulators of European Commission members, thus managing the flow of energy in Europe. The same principle served as the basis for reforms in UES.
The amendments to 2003/54/ec and 2003/55/ec forbid one company to simultaneously manage the production and transport of electric power or gas. The amendment would split regional energy companies (Gaz de France, Electricite de France, E.ON, RWE, Endesa) into generation and distribution companies. The European Commission does not intend to unite the distribution companies into an analogue of the Federal Grid Company, as did UES. Investment in electric power generation and gas production is not limited.
The package does, however, put forth limitations on buying controlling stakes in the grid and pipeline companies; these limitations are extended to third-party nations as well. Barroso explained that division leads to a decrease in size. The energy reform will make them the “pinky” for mergers by companies from third-party countries. “We’re open, but we must not be naïve,” the head of the European Commission said. In order to receive the sanction of ACER and the European Commission to buy shares, companies from third-party countries must operate by the same principles in their home country. Gazprom many lay claim to Britain’s Centrica, in which case United Supply System will be removed and handed over to be managed by an independent company or sold. Discussion of the amendments will begin in early October 2007. If the amendments make it through the bureaucracy they could begin to affect investors beginning in May 2008.
The European Commission’s initiative shocked Gazprom. The company declined to criticize the proposals, although earlier it commented on them negatively. Sergei Kupriyanov, press-secretary for Gazprom, announced yesterday that “We share the main goal of the European Union – to provide longer-term, reliable gas supplies to the European Union. Gazprom plans to bring constructive input into the discussion about energy regulation in Europe and is confident that its voice will be heard.” The company said it has begun a “detailed analysis” of the proposal’s text (about 200 pages) and is consulting with the European Union. The government has also begun a careful study of the document.
Three European Commissioners, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, European Commission Competition Commissar Neelie Kroes and European Union Energy Commissar Andris Piebalgs, presented the project to reform the energy market of Europe, initiated in accordance with a European Commission ruling in June. Vladimir Putin, during a visit to Australia, expressed suspicion that the project would include protectionist measures against investment by Russian companies. His suspicions were overwhelmingly justified. The document, if ratified by the Council of the European Union’s 27 energy ministers and the European Parliament, would block Gazprom from investing in European energy.
Kroes began work on the current reform package in June 2007 after the Council of the European Union rejected a previous version. Yesterday Kroes presented the reform package, which is made up of five documents. Two suggest amendments to directives 2003/54/ec and 2003/55/ec concerning EC-wide antimonopoly rules on the electric power and gas market. Another two amend the rules of transborder networks and gaslines (1228/2003 and 1775/2005), while the last would create an Agency for Cooperation among Energy Regulators (ACER).
The idea behind Kroes’ package is to create ACER, a supranational organ with powers to set a single tariff, as well as regulatory and competition policies for the national regulators of European Commission members, thus managing the flow of energy in Europe. The same principle served as the basis for reforms in UES.
The amendments to 2003/54/ec and 2003/55/ec forbid one company to simultaneously manage the production and transport of electric power or gas. The amendment would split regional energy companies (Gaz de France, Electricite de France, E.ON, RWE, Endesa) into generation and distribution companies. The European Commission does not intend to unite the distribution companies into an analogue of the Federal Grid Company, as did UES. Investment in electric power generation and gas production is not limited.
The package does, however, put forth limitations on buying controlling stakes in the grid and pipeline companies; these limitations are extended to third-party nations as well. Barroso explained that division leads to a decrease in size. The energy reform will make them the “pinky” for mergers by companies from third-party countries. “We’re open, but we must not be naïve,” the head of the European Commission said. In order to receive the sanction of ACER and the European Commission to buy shares, companies from third-party countries must operate by the same principles in their home country. Gazprom many lay claim to Britain’s Centrica, in which case United Supply System will be removed and handed over to be managed by an independent company or sold. Discussion of the amendments will begin in early October 2007. If the amendments make it through the bureaucracy they could begin to affect investors beginning in May 2008.
The European Commission’s initiative shocked Gazprom. The company declined to criticize the proposals, although earlier it commented on them negatively. Sergei Kupriyanov, press-secretary for Gazprom, announced yesterday that “We share the main goal of the European Union – to provide longer-term, reliable gas supplies to the European Union. Gazprom plans to bring constructive input into the discussion about energy regulation in Europe and is confident that its voice will be heard.” The company said it has begun a “detailed analysis” of the proposal’s text (about 200 pages) and is consulting with the European Union. The government has also begun a careful study of the document.