CNOOC’s proposed bid for Canadian oil-and-gas producer Nexen would increase Asia’s sway and influence over the pricing of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, market analysts said Tuesday. The proposed takeover, which would be China’s biggest foreign acquisition, would put the largest crude stream that feeds into the physical Brent benchmark into Chinese hands. This would mean exclusive insight into North Sea production issues and maintenance that will affect the price of Brent crude and other crudes priced off of it.
Platts
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff.
There is no point at which federal regulators will be able to throw up their hands and say “mission accomplished” when it comes to power capacity markets, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff believes. Keep reading →
Traffic on the Las Vegas strip, where lights were turned off this weekend for Earth Hour.
Tensions between two competing visions of power markets rose to the surface during early discussions among the industry’s elite gathered in Las Vegas today to consider the state of global energy. Keep reading →
Power companies are switching over from coal to natural gas at an accelerating rate, with potential consequences for both the US emissions profile and the industry’s economics.
In his presentation to the Platts Annual Financing US Power conference in New York on Friday, Federal Power Company President Steven Gilliland said the rate of coal to gas switching is increasing dramatically year over year. He said that while a surplus of coal stockpiles at thermal plants required utilities to burn coal even when gas was much cheaper, stockpiles are shrinking and plants are slowly burning more gas instead. Keep reading →
Challenges abound for renewable power companies, especially small and medium-sized firms.
Difficulty obtaining a power purchase agreement, tax incentive uncertainty, the European debt crisis, and the post Lehman financial crisis in the US all continue to pose serious challenges. Keep reading →
The energy sector has turned upbeat in recent weeks despite still-strong economic headwinds and widespread complaints about political and regulatory uncertainty.
Surviving the financial crisis largely intact has bred a sense of having passed through the worst among the power companies, fuel providers and service firms that keep the energy sector ticking. Although there was widespread acknowledgment this week–at energy industry events in Florida and New York–among bankers, analysts and operators that the business cycle remains stuck at a low, the stress was on fundamental support for new investment and new deals to support continued consolidation. Keep reading →
Investors taking positions in US power projects need to educate themselves on a host of regulatory and operational issues as the sector transforms under the pressure of regional market changes, political shifts and increased renewable fuel use.
Unlike in other sectors where financing transactions are relatively transparent and based on easily-forecast cash flow and growth models, the US power sector requires its investors to “take a view” on the state of US electricity markets overall, a panel at the Platts Financing US Power conference in New York said. Keep reading →
Consolidation has only just begun in the US power markets as the sector combines for greater regional and financial heft ahead of potentially-transformative regulatory changes.
There have been 51 deals announced in 2011 to date against the background of 242 deals in the broader energy and mining sector, according to Mergermarket’s Amanda Levin, speaking at the Platts Financing US Power conference in New York. Keep reading →
We’re headed for what could be a California power crisis on a national scale says Napolitano at #platts conf
By Shifra Mincer“We’re headed for what could be a California power crisis on a national scale” says Napolitano at #platts conf @petergardett
Jared Anderson
Conway Irwin
Peter Gardett