February 8 (SeeNews) - Slovenian energy group Interenergo, part of Austria's Kelag, said that the construction of its solar power plant Bukovica in Zadar country, southern Croatia, is in the final phase.
“With 6.25 MW of nominal power this plant will provide sustainable energy for some 3,500 households annually,” Interenergo said on Tuesday in its Linkedin profile without disclosing the volume of the investment in the plant.
By the time this story was published, the company did not respond to an email by SeeNews asking details about the plant.
The plant is Interenergo's first ground-mounted solar power project and will be among the five largest in Croatia, according to the company.
“Located next to our (10 MW) Jasenice wind park in a degraded area, the two projects represent a prime example of smart use of these areas for renewable energy production,” it said, adding that the combination of the two technologies will allow Interenergo to ensure a more constant supply of green electricity to the distribution network.
Interenergo's main activities include electricity trading, construction and management of energy facilities running on renewable energy sources and energy services.
Interenergo is an investor in solar power plants in Slovenia and Croatia, a 10.25 MW wind farm in Omis, southern Croatia, and in hydropower projects in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Kosovo, according to its website.
(Bloomberg) -- US government bond investors pushed two-year yields above 10-year yields by the widest margin since the early 1980s Thursday, a sign of flagging confidence in the economy’s ability to withstand additional Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes.
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The yield on the shorter-dated Treasury reached 4.46% during the session and at one point exceeded the longer-dated note’s by as much as 86 basis points. The two-year rate was 4.10% on Feb. 2, before stronger-than-expected January employment data sparked a reassessment of how much higher the Fed’s policy rate might need to go to stifle inflation.
Overnight index swaps have pushed pricing for a peak in the federal funds rate to about 5.1% in July, suggesting a target range of 5% to 5.25%. But it’s trades in options this week that have weighed heavily on the policy-sensitive two-year note, anticipating the risk of a shift higher toward 6%.
Ten-year yields lower than two-year yields — the status quo since July — signify expectations that elevated policy rates will take an economic toll. A portion of the latest curve shift is attributable to the debut via an auction on Wednesday of a new 10-year Treasury note that trades at a yield slightly lower than the previous one, and thus at a wider negative spread to the current two-year.
“The trend has been a flatter curve and more inversion since the Fed started tightening,” said Gregory Faranello, head of US rates trading and strategy for AmeriVet Securities. “There’s nothing, when looking at the charts, that says we can’t go further with the inversion.”
Cases of shorter-term rates trading higher than longer-term ones are called curve inversions. They typically arise when central banks are in the process of raising policy rates, a maneuver that pushes up the short-term yields while weighing on longer-term yields by damping expectations for inflation and growth. In the US, they have a track record of preceding economic downturns by 12 to 18 months.
For the two- to 10-year spread, a one-percentage-point gap is in reach following strong demand for Wednesday’s auction, rates strategists at BMO Capital Markets said.
Investors bought nearly 95% of the auction, a record share since at least 2003, according to available data.
Consumer price data for January to be released Feb. 14 could be decisive for the curve, Faranello said.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasury-yield-curve-inversion-reaches-140649287.html
Horizonte Minerals PLC has announced that it has entered into a five-year mining services agreement, thereby securing services for mining, stockpile generation, plant feeding and slag handling activities for its 100%-owned Araguaia Nickel Project in Brazil, where construction is underway and first production remains on track to commence in Q1 2024.
The contract has been awarded to Fagundes Construção e Mineração, a leading Brazilian company with a strong track record of providing mining services in Pará State. The five-year contract (with an option to extend for a further five years) Horizonte says is in line with its operating cost assumptions stated in the feasibility study, and “represents another key de-risking milestone, ensuring that the operational costs will be in the lower quartile of the nickel cost curve.”
Fagundes will provide a mining fleet consisting of over 70 units at any one time linked to the phase of mining sequence and seasonality, comprising leading brands in terms of safety, embedded technology, performance and reliability. The core mining fleet will include 45 t hydraulic excavators, 35 t dump trucks, 28 t articulated trucks and 18 t wheel loaders.
All services provided by Fagundes will comply with Horizonte’s health, safety and environmental standards (HSE), in addition to the current legislation. HSE was a core focus for the company during the tender and now the mobilisation process, with Horizonte able to select from a broad group of pre-qualified equipment operators active in the region.
Horizonte says its management will work closely with Fagundes to provide direction, governance and support as mobilisation of the mining services team is completed and pre-stripping activities begin in early Q2 2023.
https://im-mining.com/2023/02/09/horizonte-awards-mining-services-contract-for-araguaia/
Turkey’s energy infrastructure has suffered severe damage from the two earthquakes that shook Turkey and neighbor Syria yesterday, killing more than 3,000 people, according to the country’s government.
The first 7.7-magnitude quake damaged a big port on the Mediterranean, Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez said, as quoted by news agencies, and later in the day, a fire broke out at the same port.
Operations at the Ceyhan oil terminal were halted as a result of the quake but Turkey’s oil pipelines—Kirkuk-Ceyhan and Balku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan—were undamaged.
Despite the fact that the oil pipelines are intact, there could be delays to operations at the Ceyhan oil terminal, the endpoint of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, a major export line from Kirkuk in Iraq.
What’s more, the Kurdistan Regional Government said it had suspended flows along the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline in the wake of the quake.
"Due to the earthquake that hit Türkiye and Syria, and to ensure the safety of oil exports and prevent any undesirable incidents, oil exports through the pipeline connecting the Kurdistan region to Türkiye have been suspended," the KRG said.
Kurdistan normally transits some 450,000 barrels of crude daily through Turkey via the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. An official from the Kurdistan government said on Twitter that the flow of oil will only resume after careful inspection of the pipeline to make sure it has sustained no damage.
Meanwhile, electricity transmission lines and gas distribution pipelines in Turkey have also suffered damage, according to Donmez, confirming information provided earlier by Turkey’s national pipeline operator BOTAS. The company said gas flows to three provinces had been halted following the quake.
"We have sent our mobile power plants to the region. In particular, we will try to supply natural gas and power to sites such as hospitals, kitchens and bakeries, both through the method of transporting compressed natural gas (CNG) and through mobile generators," the Turkish Energy and Natural Resources minister said.
The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal is expected to almost double its gross merchandise value (GMV) to Rs 2 trillion in FY23, having already surpassed the Rs 1.5 trillion mark last week. In FY22, the GMV of GeM was Rs 1.06 trillion.
Cumulatively, GeM has surpassed GMV worth Rs 3 trillion since its inception in 2016 and the number of transactions on GeM has exceeded 13 million.
“About Rs 12,000 crore worth transactions are already in the pipeline and by the end of the financial year, GeM is expected to achieve its target of Rs 2 trillion,” Prashant Kumar Singh, director and chief executive officer of GEM, told reporters on Wednesday.
Singh said minimum savings on the platform are about 10 per cent, which translates into a savings of over Rs 30,000 crore worth of public money, so far.
The largest order worth Rs 20,400 crore placed on GeM until now is by for mine development and operations services, a unique category used for the first time on GeM.
Among the CPSEs that procured the most via GeM are (Rs 22,159 crore), Steel Authority of India (Rs 8,083 crore), Indian Oil Corporation (Rs 7,404 crore), BHEL (Rs 5,235 crore), and ONGC (Rs 5,064 crore) in FY23 until February 5.
The top five central ministries (including respective CPSEs & allied bodies) in terms of GMV are power (Rs 25,544 crore), defence (Rs 22,081 crore), petroleum & natural gas (Rs 21,646 crore), steel (Rs 10,518 crore) and health & family welfare (Rs 6,041 crore).
The portal has reduced the turnaround time for awarding contracts and the percentage of cancelled tenders in comparison to state-specific portals, data released by GeM showed.
Cumulative procurement from micro and small enterprises on the portal stands at 55 per cent of total transacted on the portal.
In terms of value, Uttar Pradesh is the top state in procuring from the portal, followed by Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh.
A new technical paper titled “Thickness scaling down to 5 nm of ferroelectric ScAlN on CMOS compatible molybdenum grown by molecular beam epitaxy” was published by researchers at University of Michigan, with DARPA funding.
“Ferroelectric semiconductors stand out from others because they can sustain an electrical polarization, like the electric version of magnetism. But unlike a fridge magnet, they can switch which end is positive and which is negative. This property can be used in many ways—including sensing light and acoustic vibrations, as well as harvesting them for energy,” states this University of Michigan news article. The team used molecular beam epitaxy, controlled every layer of atoms in the ferroelectric semiconductor, and minimized losses of atoms from the surface to finally scale down to 5nm.
Find the open access technical paper here. Published January 2023.
Ding Wang, Ping Wang, Shubham Mondal, Mingtao Hu, Danhao Wang, Yuanpeng Wu, Tao Ma, and Zetian Mi , “Thickness scaling down to 5 nm of ferroelectric ScAlN on CMOS compatible molybdenum grown by molecular beam epitaxy”, Appl. Phys. Lett. 122, 052101 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0136265.
Related Reading
Ferroelectric Memories: The Middle Ground
What is it, why is it important, and why now?
Ferroelectrics: The Dream Of Negative Capacitance
First in a series: Why FeFETs and ferroelectric memory are suddenly so interesting.
https://semiengineering.com/nanoscale-5nm-ferroelectric-semiconductor-university-of-michigan/
U.S. oil production hit levels not seen since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a development driven by a continuing rebound in demand for gasoline and other fuels.
Daily crude oil production averaged 12.3 million barrels per day during the week ending Friday. The last time field production was that high was April 2020.
BIDEN’S COMMENTS ON NEEDING OIL AND GAS FOR ‘A WHILE’
The sector has been gradually increasing output over the last year and a half as the economy recovers from the worst of the pandemic.
Production began tanking in spring 2020 as COVID-19 spread and lockdown policies ensued, destroying demand for gasoline and other transportation fuels. Benchmark oil prices briefly went negative, and output eventually fell to a low of 9.7 million barrels in February 2021.
Production has recovered but remains below its peak above 13 million barrels per day that was sustained during the first few months of 2020, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Production levels have been a big political issue over the last year since Russia invaded Ukraine, which spiked oil prices to a high of about $130 per barrel.
Oil traded above $100 per barrel for much of the first half of 2022, leading President Joe Biden to implore oil companies to bring more barrels to market to reduce high retail gasoline prices.
Gas prices hit a new nominal record in June 2022 before falling alongside falling oil prices.
Biden repeated his criticisms against major oil companies during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, accusing them of doing too little to increase production and padding their profits by buying back their own stock.
Major oil companies, including Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and Shell, earned more money in 2022 than ever before, causing some Democrats in Congress to push again for a windfall tax on their profits.
The corporations have rebutted critics and pointed to plans to increase production. Chevron posted record annual oil and gas production in the U.S. for 2022.
Executives have also demanded the Biden administration back away from policies designed to restrict or penalize production, including production on federal lands, and said the industry needs more signals from the government that its products will be in demand to expand more quickly.
By Dan Molinski
U.S. commercial inventories of crude oil rose more than expected last week and domestic oil production surged to its highest level in 34 months, according to data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration.
Benchmark U.S. oil prices that were higher before the report was released reduced those gains afterward. The Nymex front-month crude contract for March delivery was recently up 0.4% at $77.36 a barrel.
Commercial crude-oil stockpiles increased by 2.4 million barrels to 455.1 million barrels, and remain 4% above the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted crude stockpiles would rise by 1.8 million barrels from the prior week.
Oil stored at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for U.S. stocks, increased by 1.1 million barrels from the previous week, to 39.1 million barrels, the EIA said in its weekly report.
U.S. crude-oil production rose by 100,000 barrels a day from the previous week to 12.3 million barrels a day, the highest since April 10, 2020, according to the EIA.
Gasoline stockpiles climbed by 5 million barrels to 239.6 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations of a 1.4-million-barrel increase.
Distillate stocks, which are mostly diesel fuel, rose by 2.9 million barrels to 120.5 million barrels, and are now about 15% below the five-year average, the EIA said. Analysts had forecast distillates inventories would rise by just 200,000 barrels from the previous week.
The refining capacity utilization rate jumped by 2.2 percentage points from the previous week, to 87.9%. Analysts were forecasting a smaller, 0.5-percentage-point increase from the week prior.
U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Feb. 3: Crude Gasoline Distillates Refinery Use EIA data: +2.4 +5.0 +2.9 +2.2 Forecast: +1.8 +1.4 +0.2 +0.5
Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.
Write to Dan Molinski at dan.molinski@wsj.com
In order to circumvent Western sanctions, certain Indian refiners, including Reliance Industries Ltd., Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., and Nayara Energy Ltd., use United Arab Emirates dirham to pay for some shipments of Russian oil.
The Bloomberg report claims that buyers have switched certain purchases to the currency. The report claimed that payments fluctuate from cargo to cargo and are partially based on the requirements of particular dealers.
India has become an even more significant consumer for exports as a result of the recent embargo by the European Union on the importation of refined oil products from Russia. Since June, Russia has been India's main source of crude oil as cargoes intended for Europe have been diverted to Asia and frequently sold at prices substantially below the $60 per barrel ceiling.
The pegged UAE dirham offers both Indian buyers and Russian sellers a generally predictable currency without the possible sanctions issues associated with the dollar. Some intermediary banks frequently go above and beyond to avoid any dangers to other financial ties abroad, even on transactions that don't explicitly breach US and EU rules.
Officials are working on a mechanism to increase trade in rupees and dirhams because India is the UAE's second-largest trading partner.
In a Monday interview in Bengaluru, Hardeep Singh Puri said, 'If you are asking me officially am I aware of these payment channels, no, I'm not. He indicated that officials are willing to discuss the matter with other nations. 'We'll need to talk if the necessity arises,'
However, a departure from the US currency would put some Washington authorities on edge. Brian Nelson, the senior sanctions official for the US Treasury Department, visited Abu Dhabi last week and expressed worries about the UAE's close financial ties to Russia.
For feedback and suggestions, write to us at editorial@iifl.com
By Nidhi Verma and Shariq Khan
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - (OVL) Ltd, the overseas exploration arm of India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp, is looking for exploration and production investment opportunities in and Latin America, such as in Ghana and Surinam, managing director Rajarshi Gupta said.
The company already has a presence in both continents through stakes in projects in Mozambique, Brazil and Venezuela among others.
"It's better to invest in bigger hot spots where you can get larger discoveries... and still hold a lot of potential. Ghana is there, Suriname is there, all of the continental shelf. Brazil is also an interesting proposition," Gupta told reporters at the India Energy Week in Bengaluru.
Some of the hydrocarbon assets in and hold large volumes, he said, adding his company is also looking for assets in southeast Asia and Middle East.
OVL currently has a stake in 32 oil & gas projects in 15 countries, spanning projects in various phases, including exploration, development, producing and pipelines.
OVL's crude and gas output will decline from 12.5 million tonnes in 2021/22 due to lower production in Russia's Sakhalin 1 project, in which ONGC has a stake.
Output at Sakhalin 1 collapsed after the exit of its previous operator Exxon Mobil Corp due to Western sanctions against Russia after it invaded Ukraine in late February last year.
Gupta said current production at Sakhalin 1 is about 150,000 barrels per day and the production would rise to 200,000 bpd by June. ONGC's has a 20% stake in Sakhalin 1 project.
He said ONGC does not face any issues in raising funds, and has debt of $3-4 billion compared to net worth of more than $6 billion.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma and Shariq Khan. Editing by Jane Merriman)
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
U.S. natural gas production in 2023 forecast to hit record high
U.S. natural gas production will hit a record high in 2023, though demand will fall, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected on Tuesday.
In its February Short-Term Energy Outlook report, the agency forecast that dry gas production will rise to 100.27 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) this year and 101.68 bcfd in 2024 from a record 98.09 bcfd in 2022.
U.S. natural gas production growth has been outpacing demand growth the past several months, helping reduce natural gas prices, the report noted.
The Henry Hub natural gas spot price will average 3.40 U.S. dollars per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2023, down almost 50 percent from last year, the report forecast, calling it a result of significantly warmer-than-normal weather in January that led to less-than-normal consumption of natural gas for space heating and pushed inventories above the five-year average.
Temperatures across the United States in January were the mildest since 2006, according to the report.
Natural gas prices remain very volatile, said the report. Extreme weather events and production freeze-offs could still potentially cause price spikes at both the Henry Hub and in regional markets, but that potential diminishes as spring approaches, particularly now that inventories have moved back above the five-year (2018-2022) average.
The EIA now expects U.S. natural gas inventories will close the withdrawal season at the end of March at more than 1.8 trillion cubic feet, 16 percent more than the five-year average.
In the EIA forecast, U.S. LNG exports will rise once the Freeport facility is back online, and LNG exports will increase by 11 percent on an annual basis in 2023 compared with 2022.
Global liquid fuels consumption will increase by 1.1 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2023 and by 1.8 million b/d in 2024, driven primarily by growth in China and other non-OECD countries, the report projected.
Based on the S&P Global macroeconomic model, the U.S. real GDP will contract slightly in the first half of 2023, partly resulting from a decline in residential fixed investment, but is expected to pick up later this year and reaches an annual average of 2.1 percent in 2024, according to the report.
https://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=4381&mn=6544&pt=msg&mid=23892974
The North Sea minnow informed investors today that it had made a “significant oil and gas discovery” at the Pensacola exploration well it is drilling in partnership with Shell.
It looks set to vindicate the decision by Deltic to focus on parts of the North Sa overlooked by other companies following the downturn in the oil and gas industry from 2014, while also boosting efforts to ramp up domestic energy supplies in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Deltic has in recent years persuaded major operators such as Shell and Capricorn Energy (formerly Cairn Energy) to buy into acreage on licences it holds in the Central and Southern North Sea. The Pensacola prospect is contained within the P2252 licence, in which Shell has a 65% working interest and is also the operator. Deltic holds a 30% interest and ONE-Dyas 5%.
READ MORE: Fresh blow for IOG in bid to bring Southwark on stream
Deltic said work on the exploration well had opened a new Zechstein play in this mature basin.
Graham Swindells, chief executive of Deltic, said: "Deltic's first exploration well at Pensacola has resulted in a highly positive outcome and, at approximately 300 BCF (billion cubic feet), would represent one of the largest natural gas discoveries in the Southern North Sea in over a decade. This discovery is a major milestone in the development of our company as we continue to execute our exploration led strategy and progress our portfolio of high-quality drilling opportunities as we seek to create value for our shareholders.
READ MORE: Investment firm vows to build presence in Scotland
“We believe that the Pensacola discovery will open a new Zechstein play in this mature basin and highlights the remaining potential of the North Sea as a source of further discoveries which can provide domestically produced natural gas, supporting UK energy security while we transition toward a net-zero economy.
“As we continue our preparations for drilling the Selene well, we are now looking forward to working with our partners as we continue to progress this exciting and significant gas discovery at Pensacola and look forward to updating the market on our future plans."
Shares in Deltic closed up 18.5% at 3.2p.
FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RANGE RESOURCES CORPORATION (NYSE: RRC) today announced that fourth quarter 2022 production averaged approximately 2,204 Mmcfe per day. In addition, Range realized $24.5 million in contingent derivative settlement gains in fourth quarter 2022.
Production and Pricing
Fourth quarter 2022 daily natural gas production averaged approximately 1,517 Mmcf per day. The average natural gas realization, including the impact of basis hedges, was $5.71 per mcf. The average natural gas price, including all settled hedges, was $4.06 per mcf.
Fourth quarter 2022 daily NGL production averaged approximately 107,806 barrels per day. Pre-hedge NGL realizations were $27.17 per barrel. The average NGL price, including settled hedges, was $27.83 per barrel.
Fourth quarter 2022 daily oil and condensate production averaged approximately 6,696 barrels per day. Crude oil and condensate price realizations, before realized hedges, averaged $75.66 per barrel. The average condensate price, including settled hedges, was $55.83 per barrel.
Contingent Derivatives
In fourth quarter 2022, Range realized a total of $24.5 million in contingent derivative settlement gains related to the North Louisiana divestiture. This represents the maximum amount that Range could receive pertaining to 2022 commodity prices, and Range expects to receive the cash proceeds in the first half of 2023. Range has the potential to receive an additional $21.0 million in contingent payments based on natural gas, NGL and oil prices in 2023. At year-end 2022, the fair value of these remaining contingent payments was approximately $13.1 million.
RANGE RESOURCES CORPORATION (NYSE: RRC) is a leading U.S. independent natural gas and NGL producer with operations focused on stacked-pay projects in the Appalachian Basin. The Company is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. More information about Range can be found at www.rangeresources.com.
SOURCE: Range Resources Corporation
Range Investor Contact:
Laith Sando, Vice President – Investor Relations
817-869-4267
lsando@rangeresources.com
Range Media Contact:
Mark Windle, Director of Corporate Communications
724-873-3223
mwindle@rangeresources.com
The EU has awarded €5.3 million ($5.6 million) to an Israeli-led project that puts solar panels on greenhouse roofs. The Regace Consortium, a group of international research institutes and businesses, will use the funds to further develop the innovative technology.
Israeli startup TriSolar developed a prototype using software, sunlight tracking, and sensors to control the amount of light plants receive, and maximize the electricity the panels generate.
The Regace plan is for greenhouse owners to produce clean energy, as an alternative to clearing large swaths of land for rows of solar panels. This creates new value chains for food growers, who become an important part of the energy economy, creating solar energy jobs in farm economy regions.
The Regace system will enrich greenhouses that don’t receive a lot of sunshine with carbon dioxide, so as to increase crop yields and maximize solar energy production. The consortium consists of research institutes and businesses from Germany, Austria, Greece, Italy, Belgium, and Israel
Read more at nocamels.com
https://www.hortidaily.com/article/9502178/eu-awards-eur5-3m-to-greenhouse-solar-panel-project/
PARIS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - A rise in wind and solar production, together with more nuclear electricity, will dominate growth in global power supply over the next three years, curbing the emissions impact of greater energy use, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday.
"The good news is that renewables and nuclear power are growing quickly enough to meet almost all this additional appetite, suggesting we are close to a tipping point for power sector emissions," IEA director Faith Birol said.
The share of wind and solar in the power generation mix is seen rising to 35% in 2025 from 29% in 2022.
Growth in global electricity demand meanwhile is expected to rise by one percentage point from 2022 to an average of 3% over the next three years to 29,281 terawatt-hours (TWh), or double the current consumption of Japan, the report said.
Highlighting the need for more clean energy, the IEA linked the rise in the world's energy demand to climate change as heatwaves in India caused the highest peak power demand yet in the country and summer droughts reduced hydropower supplies in Europe.
The largest gains in renewable power expected in the Asia Pacific region, with an 11.6% yearly average growth rate, followed by Europe with a 9.4% yearly growth rate, and the Americas, with a 5% growth rate average per year.
The IEA's forecast for renewable growth globally from 2022 to 2025
Asia also dominates demand growth, with more than 70% expected from China, India and south-east Asia, although trends in China are uncertain, the report said.
The IEA's forecast for global demand growth by region from 2022 to 2025
Nuclear supply was seen rising by 3.6% per year on average to 2025, with the largest yearly growth rate in the Middle East at 24.5%, from 26 to 50 TWh, followed by Asia Pacific and Europe, up 6.6% and 4.2% on average per year respectively.
Production from gas-fired power plants in Europe is forecast to fall, but significant growth in gas-fired production in the Middle East is likely to limit the decrease, the report said.
The IEA projects European gas-fired production falling from the 822 TWh recorded in 2022 to 581 TWh, down 29% in three years, with emissions falling 1,023 million tonnes (Mt) of CO2 to 763 Mt CO2, down about 10% per year.
Gas-production in the Middle East was forecast to rise from 973 TWh in 2022 to 1,094 TWh in 2025, up 12.4%, though emissions are expected to fall by 14 Mt CO2 over that same period, down 1.9%, as coal power's share is expected to drop to just 4 TWh.
Tomato plants treated with water, Glycyrrhiza glabra leaf extract, and a Cu-based product as a control and infected with sporangia of Phytophthora infestans—assessed 7 days after challenge. Credit: Sophie Hermann, Marc Orlik, Petra Boevink, Elke Stein, Andrea Scherf, Ina Kleeberg, Annegret Schmitt, and Adam Schikora
Pesticides have proven effective in protecting crop yield against plant pathogens, but the environmental detriment to nontarget organisms has prompted a tug-of-war between organic and conventional agriculture practices. This poses the question: How can growers and farmers sustain their business in the safest, most responsible way?
While copper, a naturally occurring pesticide, has been widely implemented in response to this question, finding additional biocontrol methods will reduce copper use and further contribute to sustainable solutions.
A study by Sophie Hermann and colleagues, recently published in Plant Disease, reveals another promising biocontrol alternative. Since the licorice plant has broadly benefitted other industries, the researchers tested its impact as a pesticide—discovering that the licorice leaf extract is a potent bactericide and fungicide.
Corresponding author Adam Schikora explains, "In the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industries, the interest focuses primarily on roots of the licorice plant. The leaves and upper parts of the plant are byproducts and often neglected. However, we show their potential as a base for plant protection products, which may be utilized in both conventional and organic agriculture systems."
Using plant efficacy trials, the researchers tested the impact of licorice leaf extract on the virulence of common, highly pathogenic bacteria in the model plant Arabidopsis and in tomato. Their results demonstrate that licorice leaf extract modulates plant immune responses to pathogens, involving both salicylic acid and ethylene-based responses. The extract also acts against a particular late blight-causing oomycete that is resistant to metalaxyl, the active ingredient in several synthetic fungicides.
Altogether, these exciting results offer a potential way to naturally control plant diseases caused by a vast range of pathogens, including bacteria and oomycetes. Schikora comments, "The possibility to develop biological alternatives for plant protection that are sustainable and employ otherwise unused materials will not only help in our agricultural approaches, but also support local, circular economies."
Further studies can help extract every bit of potential that licorice leaf extract holds as an alternative plant protection measure in the production of economically important crops.
More information: Sophie Hermann et al, Biocontrol of Plant Diseases Using Glycyrrhiza glabra Leaf Extract, Plant Disease (2022). DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-12-21-2813-RE
Provided by American Phytopathological Society
https://phys.org/news/2023-02-licorice-leaf-conventional-agriculture.html
NASHIK: Maharashtra’s first community biogas plant has come at Andarsul village in Yeola taluka of Nashik district.The plant, set up a cost of Rs 50 lakh provided by the Centre, has been implemented under the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen-Phase II and is already operational.Nashik ZP CEO Ashima Mittal said the plant has been set up under the Centre’s Gobardhan scheme that was launched to ensure cleanliness in villages by using bio-waste such as cattle manure, kitchen leftovers, crop residue and market waste.“The installation of the biogas plant in Andarsul could lead the way for others to follow,” Mittal said.Deputy CEO Varsha Phadol and district engineer Sagar Rode told TOI that the announcement of the Gobardhan scheme was made by Union minister of finance and corporate affairs Nirmala Sitharaman during her budget speech.Andarsul was one of the villages selected under the Gobardhan scheme because it has a decently-sized population of around 12,000 residents, a higher number of livestock and several threshing machines.The daily wet garbage collection in the village is around 14,190 kg, with waste being generated from nearly 2,000 small and big animals and kitchen waste from 2,759 houses and 25 restaurants. This helps produce 36 kg biogas, 400 kg dry manure and 3,600 litres of bio-slurry daily.The biogas plant would ensure piped gas connections to around 20 restaurants and anganwadis, besides operating streetlights. The monthly income from the project would be Rs 1.53 lakh while the monthly expenditure would be roughly around Rs 1.09 lakh.Andarsul sarpanch incharge Kishor Bagul said the residents were happy that the project would support the village in safely managing its cattle waste and other organic waste, besides earning an income. They were also glad that the village would be clean.
3 Mins Read
Agri-tech company Better Seeds has developed the first black-eyed peas for mechanized harvesting in a bid to reduce the environmental impact of soybean cultivation.
Black-eyed peas, also called cowpeas or lubias, are high in protein and highly efficient to grow. Now, Better Seeds, Israel’s largest and leading plant genome editing company, says it has engineered black-eyed peas in order to enhance the crop’s productivity for mass-scale production.
The modified black-eyed peas now stand up straighter and can be harvested the same way as soybeans. Better Seeds uses a unique genome editing technology, EDGE (Efficient Delivery of gene Editing), that enables the broad application of CRISPR across crops.
The problem with soy
The soybean is used predominantly in animal feed. But it’s also a key ingredient in a range of foods as oil and protein. according to Better Seeds, the soybean faces threats from global warming, which is expected to lead to yield declines of at least 30 percent over the next decade.
Soy also requires large quantities of water and fertilizer and is more climate-dependent than other legumes, including the cowpea.
Soybeans | Photo by Polina Tankilevitch
Better Seeds says the black-eyed pea is “exceedingly sustainable” offering “enormous nutritional and agronomic value.” It says the black-eyed pea is a leading legume candidate that can “fill the gap” soybean yield.
“If I had to choose one crop to focus on, its cowpea, since we are facing a huge shortfall in the supply of plant-based proteins, namely soybean, due to climate change,” Ido Margalit, Better Seeds CEO said in a statement. “Cowpea has the capability to fill in this gap pending its redesign to make it fit for mass-scale cultivation which is exactly what Better Seeds is doing. Cowpea will help to feed the world,” Margalit said.
“Better Seeds is committed to providing better crops which will solve the World’s looming food security problems. I believe that we will make an enormous impact.”
Redesigning a staple crop
Prior to Better Seeds’ gene editing, the black-eyed pea was not a candidate for mechanized harvesting, which prevented mass-scale production. Instead, the crop must be hand harvested and often grown in developing countries where hand-harvesting is less expensive.
Better Seeds was able to redesign the black-eyed pea by targeting the gene that alters the plant’s architecture, allowing for it to stand upright like the soybean.
Mechanical soy harvesting | Courtesy Pixabay
“With this redesigned cowpea farmers can both increase their versatility of legume cultivation, utilize their land all year round, and also ensure the market of sustainable supply of plant-based protein,” Better Seeds said.
Better Seeds says it is also bringing another key trait to the bean: herbicide resistance, which will further enhance its ability to meet the planet’s growing food security challenges.
https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/better-seeds-sustainable-black-eyed-peas/
The Brazilian firm is scouting for a strategic partner for the new entity. Credit: PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay.
Automaker General Motors is considering acquiring a stake in Brazilian mining giant Vale’s base metals unit, reported Bloomberg News citing people familiar with the matter.
The move comes as the automaker intends to access the materials needed to manufacture electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
GM has advanced to the next bidding round for a minority stake in Vale’s business, sources said.
A potential stake sale could fetch $2bn for Vale, reported the news agency.
Last November, Bloomberg News reported that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Japanese trading house Mitsui were also considering offers for a stake in Vale’s nickel and copper operations.
Although talks are in progress, Vale has not made a final decision about the stake sale.
Last December, Reuters reported that Vale was in advanced talks with undisclosed potential partners for its new base metals investment vehicle.
Vale intends to place its copper and nickel mines into a new legal structure, Vale Base Metals.
The Brazilian firm is looking to announce a strategic partner for the new entity in the first half of this year.
Last year, General Motors signed an agreement with Vale whereby the automaker will buy battery-grade nickel sulfate equal to 25,000mtpa of contained nickel for use in its Ultium battery cathodes to power EVs.
Vale Canada would start nickel sulfate deliveries from its proposed plant in Becancour, Quebec, Canada, in 2026.
Vale currently serves as a direct nickel supplier for Tesla batteries.
https://www.mining-technology.com/news/general-motors-stake-vale/
As of January 24, 2023 Marubeni Corporation has become a partner of the Copper Mark, it says to support the vision and goals of this framework and it will also encourage its own suppliers to participate in the Copper Mark Assurance Processes.
The Copper Mark, founded by the International Copper Association (ICA), is a comprehensive, credible assurance framework that demonstrates the copper industry’s responsible production practices and industry contribution to the United Nations’ SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). Copper Mark partners are companies that promote the vision and goals of this framework.
All copper mines in which Marubeni participates – namely Minera Centinela (30%), Minera Antucoya (30%), and Minera Los Pelambres (9.21%) have received the Copper Mark. As a partner of the Copper Mark, Marubeni will promote responsible copper production in the copper industry and spread responsibly produced copper products that have received the Copper Mark from both the investment and trading business, and then pursue the establishment of sustainable and resilient value chains.
In its Mid-Term Management Strategy GC2024, Marubeni has set aspiring to become a forerunner in green business by expanding green business and creating new green business as one of its key policies. Going forward, Marubeni says it will focus on the continuous improvement of responsible copper production in the copper industry and aims to strengthen the company’s commitment to the SDGs.
https://im-mining.com/2023/02/09/copper-mining-stakeholder-marubeni-becomes-copper-mark-partner/
By Joe Hoppe
Anglo American PLC said Wednesday that it will buy a 9.9% minority interest in Canada Nickel Co., worth around 22.6 million Canadian dollars ($16.9 million).
The FTSE 100 mining company said that it will provide technology expertise to the owner of the Crawford nickel project in Ontario, Canada, and has the exclusive right to purchase up to 10% of nickel concentrate, iron and chromium, and corresponding carbon credits from the project.
The investment is part of the company's approach to expand its nickel product offering, it said. The private placement and related agreements are subject to customary closing conditions, including approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange, and is targeted for completion around Feb. 28.
Based on Canada Nickel's market cap at 1328 GMT of C$228.6 million, a 9.9% stake is worth around C$22.6 million.
Shares in Anglo American at 1329 GMT were down 26.0 pence, or 0.8%, at 3,361.0 pence.
Wednesday, 08 February 2023 00:10:23 (GMT+3) | San Diego
Although rebar is the finished steel product with the highest production in Mexico, in consumption it ranked fourth place in 2022 with 3.56 million metric tons (mt), 0.3 percent or 9,000 mt more compared to 2021, according to data from the Mexican Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry (Canacero), reviewed by SteelOrbis.
Rebar production is the one with the highest production in Mexico with 4.16 million mt, 1.0 percent or 41,000 mt more than in 2021. Production in 2022 exceeded consumption of the same year by 16.9 percent or 601,000 mt.
Rebar exports totaled 614,000 mt, a figure higher by 5.9 percent or 34,000 mt more than in 2021. This product was the second most exported, only surpassed by the volume of seamless steel tubes with 735,000 mt. Of the 10 imported finished steel products, there are no records of rebar imports.
According to another Canacero report, the steel producers that manufacture rebar are ArcelorMittal, DeAcero, Gerdau Corsa, Grupo Acerero, Simec (through Aceros San Luis, Aceros DM and Siderurgica del Golfo, Sigosa), Ternium, and Talleres y Aceros (TYASA).
Steel manufacturer MSS Steel Tubes plans its first US plant in Memphis
MSS Steel Tubes USA plans to open its first U.S. plant in Memphis, the Greater Memphis Chamber announced Wednesday.
The manufacturer, part of a Portuguese-owned company, is looking to hire 129 employees who will be offered an average wage and benefits of $47,000 annually. The company plans to invest about $6 million in the plant at 4129R Outland Road.
The company uses an induction welding process to turn flat steel into tubing, including as support structures for solar panels. Much of the company's U.S. customer base is in the solar panel industry.
Margarida Caetano, chief financial officer of Metalogalva, the parent company of MSS Steel Tubes, said the company was "thrilled to open this new plant in Memphis."
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“Our business is heavily reliant on quick, affordable, and reliable transportation, and no city fit our needs better than Memphis. This region is a destination of choice for manufacturers, and we’re excited to become part of the fabric of this community," Caetano said.
Greater Memphis Chamber President Ted Townsend thanked the company for its investment in the Mid-South.
"The Greater Memphis region continues to be a juggernaut of steel production, and we expect more manufacturing projects to choose Memphis as we build up our innovation economy and establish the Digital Delta as a global hub of inclusive jobs and advanced industries," he said.
Corinne S Kennedy covers economic development, real estate and healthcare for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached via email at Corinne.Kennedy@CommercialAppeal.com.
Colombia’s 1.15tn-peso (US$247bn) national development plan (PND), set to be voted by congress in May, includes a ban on new open-pit coal mining concessions.
Key pillars of the plan are poverty reduction and the clean energy transition.
President Gustavo Petro promised to ban open-pit coal mining last year, and energy and mines minister Irene Vélez reiterated the plans recently in Davos.
According to the PND, the ban would not be retroactive. But holders of large-scale open-pit thermal coal mining contracts that ended would be required to move toward the definitive closure of operations, including reaching agreements with mining and environmental authorities to define closure conditions.
Coal producer association Fenalcarbón identified thermal coal is Colombia's second largest export, exceeding US$9.5bn in 2022. Exports go mainly to Turkey, India, China, Central America, Brazil and Mexico.
The industry is also grappling with a tax reform that was approved last year, which prevents miners from deducting royalties. An overall economic slowdown represents another problem.
In an interview with BNamericas in November, Fenalcarbón president Carlos Cante said the main challenge is political, with public policy and the PND potentially impacting sector development.
https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/will-colombia-ban-open-pit-coal-mining
(Bloomberg) -- Rail disruptions on the key line to Africa’s biggest coal-export terminal are intensifying, choking off more than half the fuel the facility is capable of shipping.
Deliveries to Richards Bay Coal Terminal on South Africa’s east coast slumped to a three-decade low of 50.4 million tons in 2022 as armed gangs sabotaged the line and rail operator Transnet SOC Ltd. struggled to keep cargoes flowing. Since the start of the year, the pace of shipments has dropped further to a rate of 44 million tons, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.
The disruptions to a key South African export industry come as the appetite for coal in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushes prices to a record. Some producers — including Glencore Plc, Thungela Resources Ltd. and Exxaro Resources Ltd. — have resorted to sending coal by truck to alternative ports, even though they are also shareholders in RBCT.
A Transnet spokeswoman wasn’t immediately able to comment.
While RBCT has been expanded to an annual export capacity of 91 million tons, the troubled rail corridor is hobbling its operations. Transnet said Thursday that it will take as long as three years to recover from the corruption that engulfed the state-owned company under President Jacob Zuma’s rule.
Alongside security issues, underinvestment in infrastructure and a lack of locomotives are curbing rail capacity. Exports may only grow to about 60 million tons by 2025, depending on the outcome of certain initiatives.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/south-africa-coal-export-snags-090013366.html