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Iranian rial drops to weakest ever level versus dollar

22 June 2020

As currency hits 200,000 threshold, officials reportedly warning exporters to bring their hard currency earnings home.

LONG READ: Construction work on Belarus’ Ostrovets nuclear power station almost complete, but is it safe?

19 June 2020

Construction work at Belarus’ Ostrovets NPP is coming to an end and it is expected to come online in July. But the facility remains a bone of contention with its neighbours, who simply don't trust the Belarusians to run a nuclear facility

Europe and Nato’s Libya nightmare outcome would leave Russian and Turkish military bases staring across the Med

16 June 2020

Ankara reportedly discussing lasting military presence with Tripoli ally. Russia has flown fighter jets to desert sites controlled by rebel forces.

Iran ‘plans to make sanctions defying shipping of fuel to Venezuela permanent’

15 June 2020

If successful, the strategy will simultaneously get up the nose of Washington and help to relieve Iranians of an unexpected domestic supply glut.

Romania moves to terminate talks with Chinese partner in nuke project

15 June 2020

Bucharest asked Nuclearelectrica to terminate talks with CGN on expanding Cernavoda nuclear power plant, as discussions yielded no results in seven years.

Green energy companies reach a compromise with the Ukrainian government to avert an energy crisis this summer

12 June 2020

Green energy investors into Ukraine have struck a compromise deal with the government, which wants to drastically cut the green energy tariffs retroactively, sparking a mass protest by Ukraine’s most significant direct foreign investors

Turkey to build gas pipeline to supply Nakhchivan

11 June 2020

The move would sideline Iranian gas sales to the Azerbaijani exclave and help Ankara get back in Washington’s good graces.

Is Libya the new Syria?

11 June 2020

In brazen move, Russia flies squads of fighter jets to desert airfields after Moscow-allied rebel commander is pushed back by Turkish-backed forces in civil war. US now worried Kremlin might shape the conflict.

Ukraine’s green energy disaster is sliding towards a power crisis

10 June 2020

Ukraine is heading towards a power crisis in the next few weeks if the government cannot come to terms with the irate owners of the country’s burgeoning green energy sector

Once-in-a-1,000-year snow melt floods hydropower plant on Russia’s far northern coast

9 June 2020

There were more melting permafrost problems for Russia’s energy infrastructure after the TGK1 power station near Murmansk reported that two of its hydropower units were flooded with “abnormal water inflow” due to melting snow.

Kazakhstan’s wealth fund sells 6.3% stake in world’s biggest uranium miner Kazatomprom

8 June 2020

Privatisation programme of Central Asia’s biggest economy takes another baby step.

Russian fuel spill declared federal emergency

4 June 2020

The Kremlin has declared a spill of diesel fuel at the power plant of Norilsk Nickel metals major in the Krasnoyarsk region as a federal emergency, and heads may start rolling as deep structural ESG dangers are exposed.

Turkey’s electricity consumption collapses 17% in May

2 June 2020

Some analysts see indicator as more reliable than GDP, industrial output and PMI data when it comes to assessing extent of industrial activity in country.

Malta seizes $1.1bn worth of “counterfeit” Libyan dinars printed by Russian state-owned company

1 June 2020

The US State Department has announced that Malta seized $1.1bn worth of “counterfeit” Libyan dinars that were travelling by ship to the Libyan parallel government and were printed by the Russian state-owned company Goznak.

Trump Towers Istanbul partner ‘lobbied White House for vast expansion of US-Turkey trade’

29 May 2020

News service uses documents deposited by PR firm to reveal Mehmet Ali Yalcindag’s activities. Now head of Turkey-US Business Council, the businessman, once called a “close friend” by Donald Trump, is pushing to build up agriculture and LNG shipments.

Czech utility CEZ to expand nuclear plant with state support

28 May 2020

New block at the Dukovany nuclear power plant is expected to come online in 2036.

US pulls waivers on civilian nuclear cooperation with Iran

28 May 2020

Move means Washington has scrapped last remnants of 2015 nuclear deal that it was tolerating. Tehran says move is “desperate” and designed to distract from the failure of the Trump administration’s policy on the Islamic Republic.

For first time Turkey’s LNG imports outstrip pipeline gas imports

28 May 2020

Gas delivered via pipelines from Russia and Iran down 72% y/y and 33% y/y in March. US expanding shipments of liquefied natural gas amid glut as spot prices fall.

Romania to break nuke plant expansion agreement with Chinese partner

27 May 2020

State-controlled nuclear energy producer Nuclearelectrica will begin talks to terminate the agreement signed with China's CGN on the construction of two new reactors at the Cernavoda.