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Global shipping's chokepoints
With more and more shipping companies extending full or partial closures of Red Sea shipping routes due to attacks by Yemeni rebels, global trade could be seriously affected, reports Statista.
The retreat of glaciers in the 21st century
A recent UNESCO study on protected glaciers around the world highlights the particularly severe impact of climate change on the Arctic region, where glacier and ice cap melting is generally faster than in the Antarctic.
Belarus’ Russian-built nuclear power plant leak in February 2022 reported
Leaked documents seen by Bloomberg suggest that there was an incident at Belarus’ Russian-built Ostrovets (aka Astravets in Lithuanian) nuclear power plant in February 2022
Final COP28 agreement is a cop-out
The final COP28 agreement calls for a "historic" transition away from fossil fuels and a trebling of renewables. But in the end it seems the fossil fuel lobby won.
DMEA: Major oil companies pledge to cut methane emissions
Novatek shares tumble after reports of force majeure delivery problems from Arctic LNG-2 in 2024
Russia’s biggest LNG producer Novatek warned customers that it would not be able to meet all its delivery obligations in 2024 due to a force majeure caused by sanctions imposed on the development of its Arctic LNG-2 project by the US.
Global maritime chokepoints are clogging up
Yemen's Houthi rebels are intensifying their attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, with three commercial ships and a US military unit targeted in the middle of December. All the shipping chokepoints are becoming fouled up.
Kazakhstan: Freezing temperatures cause infrastructure failures – again
Officials have sought to downplay the problems, describing them as “technological disruptions”.
AfrElec: Masdar advances 10-GW Africa energy transition growth plan
NorthAmOil: Occidental to acquire CrownRock for $12bn
Warmest Arctic summer on record is evidence of accelerating climate crisis, says NOAA
The Arctic region is heating up faster than any other part of the world, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2023 Arctic Report Card.
Masdar and OMV to decarbonise refineries
Growing clean energy company Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) has signed a non-binding heads of terms (HoT) development agreement with OMV – an integrated company for energy, feedstock, chemicals, materials and fuels.
REM: COP28 agrees to triple renewables by 2030
COP28 agrees to triple renewables by 2030
COP28 ran overtime, and nearly 200 countries finally agreed to transition away from fossil fuels, and to triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency.
Deal on transition away from fossil fuels struck at COP28
Compromise agreement reached after hottest year on record does not explicitly commit to phase-out of fossil fuels.
South Africa contracts US-sanctioned Russian bank Gazprombank to revive gas refinery
South Africa has picked Russian state-owned bank Gazprombank to help its national oil company PetroSA revive a gas-to-liquids plant, a deal reportedly worth about $265mn.
One year on: laundromat countries allow Russia to dodge oil price cap sanctions
While it is clear that the sanctions have not reduced the Kremlin’s resolve for war one year on, a CREA analysis revealed that the EU oil import ban and G7 price cap have cut the country’s export earnings from oil by only 14%.
Iran’s petchem exports down 18% in first seven months
Iranian petrochemical exports plunged 18% in the first seven months of the current Persian calendar year (March 21-October 22), with exporters blaming the noticeable drop on the monetary policies of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI).
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