Jimmy Carter became craft beer ‘hero’ due to signing 1978 law

Tylor Sorensen
Thu, January 2, 2025 


ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — In 1978, there were about 100 breweries that controlled most of America’s beer output. That year, President Jimmy Carter signed a law that legalized homebrewing and paved the way for the craft beer revolution.

Prohibition ended in 1933, but homebrewing was still off-limits, allowing breweries like Yuengling, Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Schlitz, Pabst, and Coors to dominate the market, controlling around three-quarters of America’s beer volume.

Carter signed HR 1337, which allowed homebrewing for personal use, allowing Americans to brew up to 100 gallons per person and 200 gallons per household.

Those homebrewers eventually started small breweries that transformed the industry. Many craft brewing operations, such as Boston Brewing Co. and Sierra Nevada, began as microbrew operations.

Now, there are over 10,000 breweries nationwide, and that number is growing.

Some of those are located in the Rockford area.

In 2013, Reed Sjostrom opened Prairie Street Brewing Co., at 200 Prairie Street, a building that once housed the Rockford Brewing Company.

“I kind of kicked around some ideas and it kind of dawned on everybody that, hey, this was a brewery here in Rockford, so why not lean into that and kind of lean into the history and make it a brewery again,” Sjostrom said.

Tom Morgan started Cheezhead Brewing, at 414 Pleasant Street, in Beloit, just five years ago.

“I think the thing that draws people here is we’re about a half destination [attraction], where people come because they like to go to brew pubs and breweries. And then we’re half like Cheers, where people come in sometimes by themselves or not knowing exactly who they’re going to meet,” Morgan said. “But if they don’t know each other when they come in, they tend to know each other by the time they leave.”

The irony of Carter’s revolutionary law was that the President himself was a Southern Baptist and did not drink much alcohol at all.

“Cheers, and thank you to an American homebrew hero, President Jimmy Carter,” the American Homebrewers Association said in a statement on Sunday.

DARWIN AWARD

44-year-old zookeeper enters lion's den to ‘impress girlfriend’, accidentally films his own death

ByTrisha Sengupta
Jan 03, 2025 


A man entered into the lion’s den of a private zoo in Parkent district, where he was eaten alive by three lions. He unintentionally recorded his death.

A shocking video has captured the last moments of a man’s life before he was mauled to death by lions. Reportedly, the man who worked as a zookeeper at a private zoo in Parkent, Uzbekistan, entered the enclosure of the lions to record a video of himself to “impress" his girlfriend. His stunt, however, ended tragically, with him losing his life.

A 44-year-old man reportedly entered a lion's enclosure at 5 am to record a video (representative image). (Unsplash/pictagramar)

What did the video show?

According to the Mirror, 44-year-old F. Iriskulov approached the lion’s den at 5 am while working the night shift. The footage captured him opening the padlock and approaching the lions, who were sitting calmly.

As per the video, initially, it seemed like the big cats were not going to attack, but within moments, one of the animals suddenly approached him, and he was heard calling its name “Simba”, telling it to stay quiet. Iriskulov then went ahead to stroke the big cat's mane.

After a few moments, he flipped his camera to show his face and stroked one of the animals that came near him. However, things took a horrifying turn once the lion attacked him, and he kept on shouting, "Be quiet, be quiet.” He unintentionally captured his last moments on camera.

Police statement

Dailystar reported that the police released a statement to the local media about the incident. “Today, December 17, three lions kept in a single cage at the Lion Park private zoo, located in Parkent district of Tashkent Region, escaped into the zoo’s courtyard," the department said.

The lions entered the courtyard, attacking and injuring a 44-year-old keeper born in 1980. Unfortunately, the keeper later died from his injuries,” it added.

Bereaved Orca spotted pushing another dead calf

Jack Burgess
BBC News

Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research
Whale J35 (known as Tahlequah) seen supporting the dead calf in 2018

A killer whale, which captured the world's attention in 2018 when it was spotted pushing the dead body of its newborn calf for 17 days, appears to be grieving again.

The whale, known as Tahlequah, has lost another calf and is again pushing the body, according to the Center for Whale Research.

Tahlequah has this time been spotted off the coast of the US state of Seattle.

Killer whales have been known to carry dead calves for a week but scientists in 2018 said Tahlequah had set a "record".

The Center for Whale Research said the death of any calf was a "tremendous loss" but added that the death of Tahlequah's newborn was "particularly devastating" given its history.

The centre, which studies the Southern Resident killer whale and works on its conservation, said Tahlequah had now lost two out of four documented calves - both of which were female.

Both Canada and the US list Southern Resident killer whales as endangered.

The whales depend on Chinook salmon - which have been in dramatic decline in recent years - for food.

Failures to reproduce are linked to nutrition and access to these salmon, according to research from the University of Washington.

Whales can travel an average of 120km (75 miles) a day.

The 2018 sighting of Tahlequah pushing a dead calf happened when it was off the shores of Victoria, British Columbia.

Musk likely to host German far-right leader for online chat on X


Musk, the world’s richest man, has become vocal in his support for far right and anti-establishment parties in Europe since spending a quarter of a billion dollars to help secure Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and faction co-chairwoman and top candidate for the federal election Alice Weidel looks on during a press conference of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Berlin, Germany, 7 December 2024. [EPA-EFE/CLEMENS BILAN]

Euractiv.com with Reuters 

 Jan 3, 2025 

Elon Musk looks likely to host the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of Germany's 23 February national election in a live interview on X, his social media platform.

In December, the Tesla mogul endorsed the AfD, an anti-immigration, anti-Islamic party labelled as right-wing-extremist by German security services, causing consternation in Berlin, where all other parties have ruled out working with a party they regard as dangerous and undemocratic.


Elon Musk backs AfD party in German newspaper opinion piece

Shortly after the piece was published online, the editor of the opinion section, Eva Marie Kogel, wrote on X that she had submitted her resignation.

A spokesperson for the AfD said on Thursday (2 January) that party leader Alice Weidel was in touch with Musk's office, but said he could give no further details at present. Earlier, newswire dpa reported the two would talk on X, Musk's social media platform, on 10 January.

Musk, the world's richest man, has become vocal in his support for far right and anti-establishment parties in Europe since spending a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump get elected, and has been tasked by him to prune the federal budget as a special adviser.

He called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz an "incompetent fool" and said he should resign after a deadly car attack on a German Christmas market. Musk also described German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier as a "tyrant" for criticising the AfD in a speech.

Now frequently seen with Trump, Musk has posted in support of Britain's anti-establishment Reform party as well as the AfD. Both parties are loosely influenced by economic libertarian and anti-immigration ideas.

In December, Musk hinted that an online encounter between him and the AfD's Weidel was in the works, posting that "when I and Alice do an X Spaces conversation" critics would "lose their minds".

Leaders of other parties have condemned Musk's intervention in German politics. Scholz told voters in a New Year's address that the 23 February election would be decided not by billionaires but by German voters.



German politicians decry Elon Musk's AfD support as 'intrusive' election meddling

The support of the AfD from Musk, who is set to serve US President-elect Donald Trump's administration as an outside adviser, comes as Germans are set to vote on 23 February.

Musk's support AfD is a "logical and systematic" play for a weak Europe that will not be able to regulate as strongly, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said in his New Year's address.

The calls by Musk are not made out of ignorance, said Habeck, who is the chancellor candidate for the Greens party in German national elections due in February.

(Edited by Georgi Gotev)

Prehistoric fossil in museum found to be new species of large carnivorous turtle

By Oliver Chaseling, ABC

Adam Yates said he always had his suspicions the turtle might be a new species.

 Photo: ABC News: Xavier Martin

Scientists have discovered a new species of prehistoric turtle from what was once a lush forest in Central Australia, after re-examining an unidentified fossil on display in the Northern Territory's largest museum.

For years, the fossilised turtle shell sat alongside stuffed birds, insects, lizards and marsupials at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT).

Ever since senior curator and palaeontologist Adam Yates had started at the museum it had caught his eye, as he suspected it was unique.

"I'd had my eye on this particular fossil, but it was on display and I had many other jobs to be getting on with," he said.

In early 2023, Yates was encouraged to re-examine the specimen by an interested turtle expert from the US, herpetologist Mehdi Joseph-Ouni.

To do that, he had to spend months painstakingly extracting the fossil from its plaster display.

"I had lots of other projects on the go, so it's one that I would come back to every now and then when I had a spare moment," he said.

"I would go and work in the prep lab in removing a little bit more plaster."

When the process was finished, the pair were able to study an unusual protrusion on the underside of the fossil's shell.

That led to them discovering the specimen was a completely new species of snapping turtle - a large carnivorous turtle, long extinct, that they named Elseya mudburra.

"[The carapace] is made up of multiple bones that are joined together. Of particular interest is the first costal, which is actually a modified rib," Yates said.

"The way the lower part of the shell joins to the first costal … is really significant and varies a lot in different turtles.

"In our one, it had a peculiar thick shape with an extra little process sticking down, that told us that it wasn't like anything that had been found before."

Yates said Elseya mudburra was alive during the Miocene period of 13 to 14 million years ago and lived in rivers surrounded by lush forests in what is now the savannah country of the northern Tanami Desert.

The fossil was originally unearthed at a limestone deposit called Bullock Creek, near the remote community of Kalkarindji, which has previously yielded unique fossils of an ancient cassowary, a crocodile and possibly a giant snake.

Bullock Creek's Elseya mudburra predates megafauna found at another Miocene-period fossil deposit in the Northern Territory, the Alcoota fossil beds, by about 5 million years.

Located much further south, bordering the Simpson Desert, the Alcoota fossil beds have yielded what has been labelled a "gold mine" of unique fossil specimens.
Possibility of more undiscovered species in museum collection

Below MAGNT's natural history exhibits are the museum's archives, where there are rows upon rows of labelled boxes and drawers housing taxidermied insects, birds, reptiles and marsupials.

According to MAGNT's head of science and ecologist Kirsti Abbott, the exact number of individual specimens in the collection is unknown, with hundreds of thousands of "lots" in the collection containing multiple specimens, similar to samples extracted from Bullock Creek.

"At MAGNT, we've got just over 830,000 lots. In terms of individual animals, that's millions, probably, when you're thinking about insects," Abbott said.

"For those things that've been there for decades, or we haven't looked at, or we don't know much about that type of animal, there could be hundreds of undiscovered species in museums around the world, including ours."

With there being only a small number of experts for any given type of animal, Dr Abbott said that like the case of Elseya mudburra, discoveries of new species often occurred by chance within large collections.

"You might be casually looking through a drawer or showing somebody around and you notice something that you haven't noticed before," Abbott said.

"[If] you travel down that investigative path, you might find a new species where you might not have looked before."

- ABC

Jurassic highway: Hundreds of dinosaur footprints found in UK quarry


Members of the excavation team working on the footprints at the Dewars Farm Quarry, north of Oxford. Photo: EMMA NICHOLLS/Oxford University Museum of Natural History / AFP

Researchers have uncovered hundreds of dinosaur footprints dating back to the middle Jurassic era in a quarry in Oxfordshire, southern England, showing that reptiles such as the nine-metre predator Megalosaurus moved along enormous tracks.

The dig at Dewars Farm Quarry found five extensive trackways, one of which measured more than 150 metres in length, researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham said on Thursday.

Four of the tracks were made by gigantic, long-necked, herbivorous dinosaurs called sauropods, most likely to be Cetiosaurus, an up to 18-metre-long cousin of the well-known Diplodocus, they said.

The fifth trackway was made by the carnivorous theropod dinosaur Megalosaurus, which had distinctive three-toed feet with claws.

The carnivore and herbivore tracks, which are about 166 million years old, cross over at one point, raising questions about whether and how the two types of dinosaur were interacting, the researchers said.

Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur to be scientifically named and described in 1824, kick-starting the last 200 years of dinosaur science and public interest.

Emma Nicholls, vertebrate palaeontologist ay the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, said: "Scientists have known about and been studying Megalosaurus for longer than any other dinosaur on Earth, and yet these recent discoveries prove there is still new evidence of these animals out there, waiting to be found."

The buried prints came to light when quarry worker Gary Johnson felt "unusual bumps" as he was stripping the clay back with his vehicle in order to expose the quarry floor.

More than one hundred researchers then excavated in the site in June, where they found around 200 footprints, the universities said in a statement.

- Reuters

Canada’s Crypto Industry Is Taking Lessons From US Election Wins

By Monique Mulima, 

Bloomberg News

January 02, 2025

(Bloomberg) -- Following the high-profile successes of the crypto industry in last year’s US elections, digital-asset companies in Canada are already applying what they’ve learned.

In November, Donald Trump, a crypto skeptic turned supporter, won the US presidential election and pro-crypto candidates won the majority of their races. Since then, Trump has nominated digital-asset supporters to his administration and Bitcoin’s price has surged more than 40%, rising above $100,000 for the first time.

Crypto became a large topic in the US election due in part to the roughly $135 million the industry spent backing candidates. Crypto’s Fairshake political action committee and its affiliated super-PACs were funded by industry heavyweights such as Coinbase, Ripple Labs and Andreessen Horowitz.

North of the border, crypto hasn’t been as big of a topic among politicians, but the industry hopes that will change.

In Canada’s political system, companies can’t donate to election campaigns and individual donations for 2025 are capped at C$1,750 ($1,213) to each political party and C$1,750 in total for all candidates of each party. Even with these restrictions, the Canadian industry is still making progress since November.


“Conversations are easier to start today than they were over a month ago, and I think that trend will likely continue regardless of the donations,” said Dean Skurka, chief executive officer of Toronto-based WonderFi Technologies Inc.

Advocacy organization Stand With Crypto also helped make the topic a prominent US election issue, with industry partners like Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini. The campaign launched in 2023 and endorsed candidates in the US election with the aim of getting its 1.9 million supporters to advocate for pro-crypto policies.

Stand With Crypto expanded to Canada in July, but the Canadian branch isn’t looking to endorse candidates in the upcoming election. Instead it aims “to galvanize communities of crypto advocates” and create a grassroots movement of supporters who can speak with other Canadians and their members of parliament.

The next Canadian federal election is due by October 2025, but could happen earlier under Canada’s parliamentary system. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party holds a minority government and opposition parties are expected to put forward and support a non-confidence motion this year, which would topple the government.

Canada’s crypto industry would like to see digital assets become a bigger focus in that election, similar to how it was in the US.

“We’re hopeful, but it hasn’t quite played out that way in Canada historically, and obviously in the US this is the first time that it’s really become an election issue,” Skurka said. “Hopefully the positive response that it has seen the start of will be a signal to Canadian politicians to take it seriously.”

Canadian Crypto Regulation

While crypto may not be a political focus in Canada, the country has played an important role in the industry. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, was started in the country and Canada was home to the first Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the world.

“For a long time, Canada was quite ahead when it came to crypto regulation,” said Sophia Cote, head of public policy at Montreal-based crypto trading platform Shakepay Inc. “But I think we’ve now reached a very interesting critical juncture where there are still some areas where we have not yet decided how we want to proceed.”

Canadian Securities Administrators announced new rules for crypto asset trading platforms in 2023. The guidelines, which took effect on Dec. 31, limit trading platforms’ ability to list stablecoins and require platforms to file a pre-registration undertaking. The requirements contributed to an exodus of crypto platforms from the country; Gemini was set to leave at the end of 2024 and Binance, Bybit and OKX left in 2023.

“In Canada right now we’re still having conversations around how do we regulate stablecoins within our securities framework versus actually having a conversation around the fact that stablecoins around the world are used for payments,” Cote said.


Some of the other issues that are the focus of crypto-industry lobbying in Canada include allowing exposure to Bitcoin in retirement savings plans and tax-free savings accounts and including crypto in open banking laws. So far no political party in the country has come out in support of the industry, but digital-asset companies have been trying to position crypto as a way to improve affordability — a key focus in Canadian politics.

Coinbase Canada CEO Lucas Matheson sees it as imperative for the nation to be competitive with crypto, especially with a Trump administration expected to increase its prominence.

“There are significant changes coming in how the US government and citizens in the US take advantage of the digital economy,” Matheson said. “And it’s incredibly important that Canadians don’t miss out on this and sit on the sidelines and wait until the rest of the world has figured out how to take advantage of digital assets.”

Since the US election, crypto prices and trading volumes have risen in the US and Canada. WonderFi’s platform has seen more customer transactions and Coinbase Canada has seen increased customer sign-ups since November. Matheson expects the interest in crypto to continue to grow in Canada.

“Crypto is here to stay and the US elections cemented crypto in the history books and paved a path for every country around the world to start thinking deeply about how they will advance their own personal strategies,” Matheson said.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Canada's 100 highest-paid CEOs earned $13.2 million on average in 2023: report

By The Canadian Press

January 02, 2025 


Canada’s 100 highest-paid CEOs earned $13.2 million on average in 2023 from salaries, bonuses and other compensation, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

It was the third biggest year for CEO pay since the CCPA began tracking the data in 2007, but a decline after 2021 and 2022 broke records.

“It's still well up from where it has stood historically,” said David Macdonald, report author and senior economist at the CCPA.

Factors leading to the decline included lower profits in 2023 and workers making wage gains after the most recent bout of inflation, he said.

The CCPA calculates that by 10:54 a.m. on Jan. 2, the average CEO on the list had made $62,661 — the average annual income for a Canadian worker.

The gap between CEOs and regular workers has grown significantly, the report found. The 100 top-paid CEOs earned on average 210 times more than the average worker did in 2023, while in 1998, they earned 104 times more.

The highest-paid Canadian CEO in 2023 was Patrick Dovigi of GFL Environmental Inc., whose total compensation was $68.5 million.

He was followed by Joshua Kobza of Restaurant Brands International Inc. at $39.1 million, then R.M. Kruger of Suncor Energy Inc. at $36.8 million.

Salaries were generally not the main source of CEOs’ total compensation, with most of it coming instead from other forms of compensation like share-based awards and option-based awards.

“Salaries make up an ever smaller proportion of their overall compensation,” said Macdonald, adding that sometimes an executive will even take a salary of just a dollar — including Tobi Lütke of Shopify and Murray Edwards of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., both on 2023's list.

The average cash bonus for these CEOs was $2.3 million in 2023, the CCPA said, adding that though in theory bonuses are meant to be tied to the company’s performance, in reality bonuses tend to rise regardless of whether the company is having a good year.

The three main types of non-salary compensation are direct share awards — where a person is paid in shares instead of dollars — cash bonuses, and stock options, said Macdonald.

Most of the CEOs on the list are men, with just three women making the list — outnumbered by both CEOs named Scott (five) and Michael (four).

But the report isn’t all bad news, noted Macdonald — for example, workers’ pay went up substantially in 2023 as it caught up to inflation, he said. As well, those three women on the list made on average more than the Scotts and Michaels.

Since the CCPA has been tracking CEO pay, it’s also been tracking policy changes that could help narrow the gap between executives and regular workers.

One such change happened in 2024, when the inclusion rate for taxing capital gains was increased to more than 66 per cent (compared with 100 per cent for employment income) for gains above $250,000 for individuals, though this of course didn’t affect CEOs in 2023.

However, capital gains don't apply until stocks are actually sold, noted Macdonald, meaning the tax revenue from the change is potential — some people might hold on to those stocks in the hopes the policy will change in the future.

Another such change happened in 2021, when the federal government capped the stock option tax deduction at $200,000 a year.

“We are seeing the impact on CEO pay” from that change, said Macdonald. “Stock options as a means of being paid have been cut in half for CEOs since 2021.”

Instead, there’s a “pretty decisive shift” toward direct share awards, he said.

“It used to be that the stock options ... were, from a tax perspective, a better way to be paid.”

This year’s report also investigated the idea that companies need to offer high compensation to attract top CEOs.

“In the real world, it’s a much more mundane explanation,” said Macdonald.

He said in fact, more than three-quarters of the CEOs on the list got the job from within the company, working at their firms for an average of 21 years.

This “really reveals the bankruptcy of this idea that these insane pay levels are about competition,” said Macdonald.

The report recommends a “wealth tax” on Canadians worth more than $10 million, which it says could raise $32 billion a year. This is a much more direct approach than addressing stock options or capital gains, said Macdonald.

The report also recommends higher top marginal tax brackets.

“Historically speaking, Canada’s marginal tax rate for the richest is low,” the report said, with the top brackets within the 70 per cent range in the postwar years, compared with roughly 50 per cent now.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2025.

Rosa Saba, The Canadian Press

 

OPG says goodbye to Pickering 4

Thursday, 2 January 2025

Ontario Power Generation's Pickering Unit 4 was permanently shut down as planned at the end of 2024.

Pickering (Image: OPG)

"As the year comes to a close and Pickering Unit 4 is removed from service, we extend our gratitude to the thousands of workers who have contributed to its legacy since 1973. For decades, it has played a vital role delivering safe, reliable, and low-carbon electricity for Ontario," the company said on X.

Unit 4 was the last of the four units together known as Pickering A. The four 500 MWe Candu reactors were laid up in 1997. Units 2 and 3 were subsequently retired, but units 1 and 4 were later refurbished to extend their life expectancy, with unit 4 returning to service in 2003 and unit 1 in 2005. Pickering unit 1 was taken offline and out of service on 30 September 2024.

OPG is planning to refurbish Pickering units 5-8 - together known as Pickering B - laying up the reactors in 2026 and aiming for the refurbished reactors to be back in service by the mid-2030s. It is currently refurbishing four Candu units at its Darlington site with completion expected in 2026.

Ceremony marks first concrete for Pakistan unit

Thursday, 2 January 2025

Senior officials from China and Pakistan witnessed the ceremonial start of construction at Chashma unit 5, days after Pakistan's nuclear regulator issued a construction licence for the Hualong One unit.

The ceremony was attended by dignitaries from Pakistan and China (Image: X/@CMShehbaz)

The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission applied to the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) for the construction licence in April, along with the Preliminary Safety Assessment Report and licensing submissions covering design and operational aspects of nuclear safety, radiation protection, emergency preparedness, waste management and nuclear security. "After a thorough review and assessment of the licensing submissions and on satisfactory fulfillment of all regulatory requirements in compliance with the relevant national and international standards, PNRA issued the licence" on 26 December, the regulator said. This cleared the way for construction of the unit - for which a ground-breaking ceremony was held in July 2023 - to officially begin.

The concrete-pouring ceremony held on 30 December at the site at Mianwali in Punjab was attended by Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal, who said the ceremony marked a "milestone" which reflected the strength of Pakistan-China cooperation and reaffirmed the commitment of both nations to sustainable development and energy security. Nuclear energy already contributes a "significant share of the country's clean and green electricity, reducing our reliance on imported fossil fuels and lowering energy costs," he said. "Nuclear energy is not only cost effective, but also dependable".

The ceremony was also attended by Director General of the Strategic Plans Division Yusuf Jamal, Ambassador of China to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong, and CNNC Vice President CNNC Zhang Kai.

 

"Commencement of construction of the most modern and the biggest, C-5 Nuclear Power Plant is another milestone in strategic cooperation between Pakistan and China. The plant will contribute 1200 MW electricity," Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif said on X. "I congratulate PAEC and CNNC on this remarkable achievement."

Pakistan has six operable nuclear reactors, all supplied by China: four CNP-300 pressurised water reactors at Chashma, which were connected to the grid between 2000 and 2017, and two Hualong One units at the Karachi nuclear power plant, connected to the grid in 2021 and 2022. Karachi unit 1, a 100 MWe Canadian pressurised heavy water reactor, operated from 1971 until 2021.

Chashma 5 will be the third Hualong One (HPR1000) reactor to be built in Pakistan. Karachi units 2 and 3 were the first exports of China National Nuclear Corporation's design, which has active and passive safety features including a double-shell containment and reactor filtered venting system, and a 60-year design life. Chashma 5 will also be the largest electricity-producing nuclear power plant in Pakistan with a capacity of 1200 MWe, the PNRA said.

Pakistan signed a USD4.8 billion deal with China for construction of the new unit in June 2023.

Zhangzhou unit 1 enters commercial operation

Thursday, 2 January 2025

Unit 1 of the Zhangzhou nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province - the first of six Hualong One (HPR1000) reactors planned at the site - has been put into commercial operation, China National Nuclear Corporation has announced.

Zhangzhou units 1 and 2 (Image: CNNC)

At 00:17 on 1 January, the 1126 MWe (net) domestically-designed pressurised water reactor completed a series of commissioning tests, including a test run lasting 168 hours, CNNC said.

In May 2014, the local government gave approval for Phase I of the Zhangzhou plant, comprising two AP1000 units. The National Nuclear Safety Administration gave approval in December 2015 for the AP1000 units and confirmed site selection in October 2016. Construction of Phase I had originally been expected to start in May 2017. However, CNNC subsequently decided to use the HPR1000 design instead. Two more Hualong One units are planned for Phase II of the plant and a further two proposed for Phase III.

Construction of Zhangzhou 1 began in October 2019, with that of unit 2 starting in September 2020.

In September 2022, China's State Council approved the construction of two further Hualong One units as Phase II of the Zhangzhou plant. First concrete for the nuclear island of unit 3 was poured on 22 February last year, with that for unit 4 following in October.

Workers in the control room of unit 1 (Image: CNNC)

The process of loading 177 fuel assemblies into the core of Zhangzhou 1 began on 12 October following the issuance of an operating licence by China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment. The reactor achieved first criticality on 20 November and was connected to the grid on 28 November.

CNNC said the start of commercial operation of Zhangzhou 1 "marks a major progress in the mass construction of Hualong One". It plans to construct a total of six Hualong One units at the site. Currently, three further such units are under construction there.

The Zhangzhou project - with a total investment of over CNY100 billion (USD14 billion) - is owned by CNNC-Guodian Zhangzhou Energy Company, a joint venture between CNNC (51%) and China Guodian Corporation (49%).

CNNC noted that the number of power reactors now in operation under its control has increased to 26, and the installed capacity has increased from 23.75 GWe to 24.962 GWe.

India's NPCIL seeks proposals for privately funded small reactor projects

Thursday, 2 January 2025

India's nuclear power operator has issued a Request for Proposals from 'visionary Indian industries' to finance and build a proposed fleet of 220 MW Bharat Small Reactors to help decarbonise Indian industry.

NPCIL invites "visionary" industries to "join hands" in setting up BSRs (Image: NPCIL)

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) describes Bharat Small Reactors - or BSRs - as compact 220 MW pressurised heavy water reactors that are tailored for "captive use". Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the July 2024 budget that the government would partner with the private sector to set up BSRs as part of efforts to open up India's nuclear power sector for private investments as part of its efforts to achieve net-zero goals.

BSRs are planned to be set up with private capital, within the existing legal framework and approved business models. According to the Request for Proposals, the industrial party - referred to as the user - will have the right to the plants' electrical output, but the plant assets, "for purpose of operation, will get transferred to NPCIL". The user is expected to use the power for its own captive power requirements, but could sell the electricity to other customers at a tariff determined by the Department of Atomic Energy, subject to Indian law and regulations.

The user would be responsible for all the capital and operating expenditure for the project from pre-project and throughout its "entire life-cycle including reinstating the assets in case of any damage and decommissioning". The project would be constructed by the user under the supervision and control of NPCIL, and transferred to NPCIL for operation on completion of construction.

The announcement of the Request for Proposals comes after Minister of State Jitendra Singh set out the government's vision for BSRs as part of its nuclear power programme in a written answer to the Lok Sabha on 4 December.

"The standard 220 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR), which has a proven safety and performance record, is being upgraded to reduce the land requirement and make it deployable close to the industries for use as a captive power plant. These reactors, termed as Bharat Small Reactors (BSR) are planned to address the decarbonisation needs of industries like steel, aluminium, metals etc. Setting up of 220 MW Bharat Small Reactors is envisaged within the existing legal framework, broadly envisaging provision of land, cooling water and capital by the private entity, with the design, quality assurance and operation & maintenance by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), based
on agreed business models," he said.

"BARC is developing Small Modular Reactor for repurposing of retiring coal-based power plants and catering to power requirements at remote locations in the country."

BARC is the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India's multi-disciplinary national nuclear research centre. Users have until 31 March to submit proposals to the NPCIL.

Work starts on Taiwanese fuel storage facility

Thursday, 2 January 2025

A groundbreaking ceremony has been held to mark the long-delayed start of construction of an outdoor dry storage facility for used nuclear fuel at Taiwan's shut down Kuosheng nuclear power plant.

The groundbreaking ceremony (Image: Taipower)

In November 2010, Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) signed a contract with US firm NAC International Inc for the supply of its Magnastor used fuel storage system to the Kuosheng plant. The agreement called for a complete dry storage project solution with 27 Magnastor systems (each of which can hold 87 bundles of used nuclear fuel) and included engineering, licensing, hardware, facility design and construction, and fuel loading operations.

The water and soil conservation plan for the facility was approved by the Council of Agriculture in 2014. After nine years of deliberation, the Construction Site Runoff Wastewater Pollution Reduction Plan was approved by the New Taipei City government in August last year, and the construction start application was approved in November.

Civil construction of the facility is expected to be completed in 2026, pending approval from New Taipei City. Once the government issues a completion certificate, commissioning tests (including cold tests and hot tests) will be conducted, and an operation licence will be applied for from the Nuclear Safety Commission. Taipower expects to obtain the licence in 2027.

Kuosheng unit 1 - a 985 MWe boiling water reactor (BWR) - was scheduled to shut down when its 40-year operating licence expired on 27 December 2021, in accordance with Taiwan's nuclear phase-out policy, but was forced to close six months earlier owing to a lack of storage in the unit's used fuel pool.

Unit 2 of the plant - also a 985 MWe BWR - was taken offline in March 2023 following the expiry of its 40-year operating licence.

The plant's decommissioning plan included the construction of a dry storage facility for used fuel. However, construction of the facility had been delayed by a dispute between Taipower and the New Taipei City government, which is opposed to a permanent used fuel storage facility within its jurisdiction.

"Only after completion and obtaining an operating licence can the core fuel of the reactor be gradually withdrawn, and decommissioning operations can be fully implemented," Taipower said.

Cold hydro testing under way at Slovakia's Mochovce 4

Thursday, 2 January 2025

The second stage of cold hydro testing of the primary circuit has begun at Mochovce nuclear power plant's unit 4 in Slovakia.

Mochovce 3 and 4 will each produce 13% of Slovakia's electricity needs (Image: Slovenské elektrárne)

The cold hydro-testing of unit 4 began in early December, Slovenské elektrárne has said. Cold functional tests are carried out to confirm whether components and systems important to safety are properly installed and ready to operate in a cold condition. The main purpose of these tests is to verify the leak-tightness of the primary circuit and components - such as pressure vessels, pipelines and valves of both the nuclear and conventional islands.

Peter Andraško, deputy director of the Mochovce unit 4 project, said: "Following the successful completion of the inactive functional tests, we are entering the second phase of the inactive tests of the plant commissioning process. These are the so-called staged inactive testing programmes. The first of them is the cold hydrotest of the primary circuit."

Martin Mráz, director of completion and commissioning of systems at Mochovce unit 4, said: "A small revision, a hot hydro test and a large revision will follow, which will end the inactive tests. Once the fuel loading application is approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic, we will load nuclear fuel into the reactor and start active tests."

Construction of the first two VVER-440 units at the four-unit Mochovce plant started in 1982. Work began on units 3 and 4 in 1986, but stalled in 1992. The first two reactors were completed and came into operation in 1998 and 1999, respectively, with a project to complete units 3 and 4 beginning ten years later.

Mochovce 3 entered commercial operation in October 2023 and unit 4's schedule has been to follow about two years behind unit 3.  Each of the units will be able to provide 13% of Slovakia's electricity needs when operating at full capacity

In Quotes: What to watch out for in 2025

Thursday, 2 January 2025

What are the main priorities, the key events and the likely big developments in new nuclear capacity in 2025? Here's an edited transcript of World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León's World Nuclear News podcast interview.

You can hear the full episode, including the review of 2024, below. The section looking ahead to 2025 begins from 31 minutes in.

 

What do you think are the main priorities for the year ahead?
 

One of the things that has been keeping me a little bit awake at night is to make sure that we, the global nuclear industry, make the most of the perfect alignment of the stars that we are seeing right now. We haven't seen this ever perhaps, or not in many decades. I keep saying this, but the time is truly now. If we as an industry don't get ready to invest in ourselves, whether it is the supply chain or workforce or everything else, then when will we do this? In the nuclear industry we are still a little bit conservative - we know what we've done for five decades and it's worked really well, so perhaps we are not quite ready to do something different.

So to me that's what we really need to do - to make the most of the moment and have some early wins, some early successes that carry on the momentum to deliver on all these promises.

In terms of planned events what do you think are the key ones?
 

It is going to be a very, very busy year. In every continent people are very interested in talking about nuclear. Of course, I think that everybody is looking at COP30 as an important event. This will be in November 2025 in Brazil. The reason I think COP30 will be particularly important is that countries will need to present their revised National Determined Contributions. This is where many countries need to assess whether what they have put in their future energy plans to reach their climate targets is realistic, and whether they are going to be able to do it. So COP30 will be very important. But there are many moments to COP30 and there are many regions and countries working hard for that.

I'm looking forward to India Energy Week, in February 2025. India is, of course, a huge country with a huge population, so what India does when it comes to energy is going to be very important. India has enormous plans for moving forward with nuclear, not only domestically, but also with a view to potential exports. So we are looking at a lot of nuclear focus in India in 2025, but there are also many other moments in the coming year.

This year will see the 50th World Nuclear Symposium in September in London. For us at World Nuclear Association, and for the global nuclear industry, I think this is going to be a very momentous occasion. We are looking forward to celebrating the 50th anniversary, but also setting the stage for the next 50 years and for what the nuclear industry is going to deliver. So that would be very important. There will also be our first World Nuclear Supply Chain conference that will take place in May in Warsaw in Poland, which is well timed because, as I said, it is essential that we as an industry get our act together. We are aiming for the conference to figure out what is needed from a policy point of view, from a financing point of view, from an industry point of view. We want to make sure this conference becomes a moment in which the industry can work together and figure out together what's needed to really develop the supply chain and the workforce.

Another key milestone will be World Nuclear University's Summer Institute, which goes from strength to strength, taking place in China in June and July. And, of course, in April we will have our World Nuclear Fuel Cycle conference, which this year will be in Montreal, Canada. That not only is a beautiful location, but clearly when we are talking about the fuel cycle in Canada, North America, this is going to be a very important moment given the global complexities in the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle.

And what new capacity can we look forward to?
 

I think in 2025 we will get a few additional Chinese reactors starting operation - the industry there is moving forward on many fronts in terms of large reactors and their first small modular reactor. We will also see Turkey starting up their first reactor and I think we will see Bangladesh, perhaps even this year producing [nuclear] electricity. So those are going to be big moments - it will be great to have these new countries in the global nuclear family.

I really hope that we see progress accelerating in the UK on new nuclear projects, both large reactors and SMRs. It is a very important market and it would set the right precedent so I think it's very important to make sure that all those projects are moving forward. There are many things happening across Europe - Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary. These are projects that are actually happening, so we will see actual milestones being completed in the next year that will take us in the right direction.

A busy year ahead and that's without considering the impact of elections
 

Yes, I think that it's going to be very interesting to see in the year ahead in the US the new President Trump government's policies when it comes to, not only nuclear energy, but also the fuel cycle. I don't think that we expect wild changes, I think that in the US there is clear bipartisan support for nuclear energy so it may be just tweaking some of the things that they are doing. But clearly, we know that US policies will have a lot of impact everywhere else in the world, yes. (And referring to mention of elections due in Germany and Australia) Yes, there could be many interesting opportunities for nuclear, perhaps, in the coming years.

You can read about the review of 2024 from the same interview here:
Podcast: Nuclear energy's key moments in 2024

 World Nuclear News

Iranian Minister in India to Discuss Boosting Energy Trade

By Charles Kennedy - Jan 02, 2025



Majid Takht Ravanchi, the deputy foreign minister of Iran, is on a visit to India to discuss a resumption of energy trade between the two countries.

Bilateral trade between Iran and India has plunged since 2019 as Indian refiners pulled out of purchases of Iranian oil for fear of secondary U.S. sanctions.

Now Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs, is heading the Iranian delegation for high-level talks in India on January 2 and 3, India’s Hindustan Times reports.


Bilateral India-Iran trade plunged from a high of $17 billion in the 2018-2019 fiscal year to just $2.3 billion in 2022-2023, per Hindustan Times’s data.

It has been “unfortunate” that the Iran-India trade has plummeted since 2018, Hindustan Times quoted an anonymous senior Iranian official as saying ahead of the talks in New Delhi.

Iran “understands India’s constraints in respecting the sanctions,” the Iranian official said.

“We need to think how to deal with this issue… We need to see how to work out problems,” the official added.

Until Donald Trump re-imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil exports in 2018, Iran was a major supplier of oil to India, the world’s third-largest crude oil importer. India, which imports about 85% of the oil it consumes, has relied on cheap crude to lower its oil import bill. But Indian refiners stopped importing Iranian oil in 2018 as they were unwilling to run afoul of the U.S. sanctions and come under secondary sanctions for doing business with Iran.

India has now become a large buyer of Russian crude oil, which is being sold at a discount due to the sanctions on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.

For Iran, the biggest buyer of its crude is China, which also seeks cheaper crude and its independent refiners have so far looked unmoved by the U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

Exxon and Chevron Expand Global Hiring Push

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Dec 30, 2024

The U.S. oil and gas supermajors, Exxon and Chevron, have seen their employee numbers grow in the United States in 2024.

The total number of job postings at Exxon and Chevron declined this year, but hiring trends remain positive.

Chevron and ExxonMobil have also ramped up international hiring.



The U.S. oil and gas supermajors, Exxon and Chevron, have seen their employee numbers grow in the United States in 2024, but they have also posted job openings overseas, including in India, the Philippines, and Argentina, new research by data and analytics company GlobalData showed.

Overall, the number of job postings at Exxon and Chevron declined this year, but hiring trends remain positive and relatively better compared to pre-Covid numbers, according to the analytics firm.

These hiring trends are valid for the entire global oil and gas industry, with countries with high job posting numbers, including the United States, India, and the UK. At the same time, countries with high year-on-year growth in job postings included Sweden and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to the GlobalData Job Analytics Database.

“It is noteworthy that even though the US continues to account for a majority of jobs posted by several key players, other countries across different continents are also seeing hiring activity by these companies,” said Sherla Sriprada, business fundamentals analyst at GlobalData.

Most of the job openings at Exxon and Chevron were for the United States, but the supermajors also posted a significant number of jobs for the Philippines, Argentina, and several India locations.

Exxon’s job ads are focusing on EM lithium products in the U.S. and lube operations in Argentina, while Chevron is looking to hire talent for supply and trading bulk operations in Argentina and complying with GHG/methane regulations in the United States, the GlobalData research found.

“Employment trend analysis at Exxon and Chevron from GlobalData’s Company Filings Analytics Database also reveals that Exxon’s worldwide employee counts have declined over the last five years, while Chevron has seen an increase in 2023,” Sriprada said.

“However, Exxon US employee counts have seen a marginal increase in 2023 while Chevron US employee counts had a much healthier growth.”

In the U.S. upstream, Exxon and Chevron, as well as other producers, have been looking to do more with less and have boosted their output even as rig counts have remained relatively flat over the past few months

Despite the coming administration of a President with friendly policies toward the industry, U.S. producers are not expected to embark on a “drill, baby, drill” campaign to boost oil and gas output significantly.

Commodity prices and market fundamentals will be much more important signals for the work and production activity that the companies will be doing in 2025 and beyond, although deregulation and faster permitting for energy infrastructure could help, analysts say.

The priorities of the U.S. oil industry have drastically changed since Trump’s first term.

The U.S. shale patch is drilling, but it is drilling because it wants to distribute more of the profits to shareholders. It has made huge progress in capital discipline and efficiency gains and is getting more bang for its buck. Priorities are now returns to investors and financial frames capable of withstanding oil price volatility.

“We're not going to see anybody in 'drill, baby, drill' mode," ExxonMobil Upstream President Liam Mallon said at the end of last month.

“A radical change (in production) is unlikely because the vast majority, if not everybody, is focused on the economics of what they're doing,” Mallon added.

The other supermajor, Chevron, announced in early December that its 2025 capital expenditure (capex) would be lower than in 2024.

Chevron expects its upstream spending next year to be about $13 billion, of which roughly two-thirds will go to develop its U.S. portfolio.

“Permian Basin spend is lower than the 2024 budget and anticipated to be between $4.5 and $5.0 billion as production growth is reduced in favor of free cash flow,” Chevron said.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

 

U.S. LNG Gas Demand Hits New Record as Europe Looks for New Sources

Freeport LNG marked its 800th shipment as the US set a new production mark (Freeport LNG)

Published Jan 1, 2025 1:48 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

Demand for natural gas and production from the U.S. hit a new high at the end of 2024 according to a report from Reuters. It comes as Europe further looks to replace Russian supplies and the U.S. industry is expanding its exports to new customers including Ukraine.

Citing data from financial firm LSEG, Reuters reports U.S. production topped 15 billion cubic feed three times in the last two weeks and set a new record of 15.2 bcf on December 31. Reuters says it is a sign of a strong year ahead as U.S. producers bring additional capacity and export terminals online.

The U.S. continues to be the largest exporter of LNG becoming a major supplier to both Europe and Asia. Going into the winter season in the northern hemisphere, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasted at the end of November its expectation that the market would remain relatively stable with a supply-demand balance if the weather remains mild as it has in the past two winters. 

Threatening the balance in the market, however, is the end of Russia’s transmission agreement which has seen its gas flowing through Ukraine to the West. Ukraine refused to renew the five-year agreement and Russia’s Gazprom was due to stop the flow today, January 1. While Europe has large stockpiles, it is expected it will turn to the U.S. for increased shipments depending on the weather conditions this winter.

U.S. export operations have been gearing up over the past few weeks. Venture Global reported in the middle of December that the first phase of its second facility, Plaquemines LNG, in Port Sulphur, Louisiana, had achieved its first production becoming the U.S.’s eighth LNG export facility.  When completed the facility will become one of the industry’s largest with a production capacity of 20 MTPA.

Plaquemines LNG loaded its first cargo last week aboard one of the company’s dedicated LNG carriers, the Venture Bayou, a new 174,000 cbm LNG carrier built in South Korea by Samsung Heavy Industries. The vessel which is the first one nine for the company’s fleet is currently bound for Germany.

At the end of last week, Gaslog Savannah (155,000 cbm) arrived from the United States at Greece’s Revithoussa LNG terminal. The consignment of approximately 100 million cubic meters of LNG was purchased by DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company. It was its first purchase from the U.S. 

Because of war-related restrictions on the transit of LNG in the Black Sea, the company is having to use a convoluted method to obtain the gas. It is being re-gasified in Greece and fed into the European network, exchanged through the European Union to reach Ukraine’s gas network. DTEK says it expects to receive additional U.S. shipments and will look to expand its LNG activities into northern Europe and the Baltics.

Freeport LNG highlighted yesterday, December 31, that it had completed its 800th shipment of natural gas. The shipment was loaded for Japan’s JERA which has a large supply agreement and is an investor in the plant. It is the latest sign of recovery for Freeport LNG which was knocked offline in 2022 by an explosion and did not get permission to resume full operations till March 2023. Freeport LNG is moving forward with its plans to add a fourth train to the facility.

Other U.S. companies are also moving forward with their expansion projects. In addition to Venture Global, Cheniere Energy announced on December 30 the first LNG from its Corpus Christi Stage 3 Liquefaction Project. A joint venture between Exxon Mobile and QatarEnergy is also moving forward on the Gulf Coast and is projected to start production possibly in late 2025 or early 2026.

Despite the expansion underway in Qatar, the U.S. EIA forecasts continued steady growth for the U.S. industry. It projected capacity will surpass 20 bcfd by 2026 and 24 bcfd by 2028.

What Next for US LNG After Ukraine Gas

Transit Halts?

By Alex Kimani - Jan 02, 2025,

Exports of Russian gas via pipelines running through Ukraine finally came to an end on New Year's Day.

Ukraine will lose up to $1 billion a year in transit fees from Russia - Gazprom will lose close to $5 billion in gas sales.

The United States is likely to emerge as the biggest winner of the unfolding situation in Europe.


Exports of Russian gas via pipelines running through Ukraine finally came to an end on New Year's Day, marking the end of an era of Moscow's dominance over Europe's energy markets. Russia's gas firm Gazprom said it had supplying gas at 0500 GMT on Wednesday after Ukraine refused to renew a transit agreement. Ukraine will lose up to $1 billion a year in transit fees from Russia-- which it hopes to offset by quadrupling its domestic gas transmission tariffs for consumers--while Gazprom will lose close to $5 billion in gas sales. Ukraine gas amounted to 5% of total EU gas imports.

However, unlike the situation in 2022, natural gas prices have not been majorly impacted by the cut-off thanks to Europe’s success at finding alternative supplies. Energy experts had earlier warned that Austria, Hungary and Slovakia are likely to be the hardest hit when the imports are cut off. Thankfully, Slovakia has already secured alternative supplies: Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, has started supplying natural gas to Slovakia’s Slovenský plynárenský priemysel (SPP), the country’s largest state-owned energy operator. This comes just a month after SPP signed a short-term pilot contract to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan as it prepared for a possible halt to Russian supplies via Ukraine. SPP has pledged to supply its customers mainly via pipelines from Germany and also Hungary, albeit at additional transit costs.

Related: 89% of New Cars Sold in Norway Last Year Were EVs


European natural gas futures climbed to €51 per megawatt-hour, the highest since October 2023, before easing to €50 as the Russia-Ukraine deal came to an end. However, the gas rally could gain momentum in the weeks to come: with inventories currently depleting at the fastest pace since 2021, sub-zero temperatures in parts of Europe could drive up heating demand. On the other hand, U.S. natural gas futures dropped 5.7% to $3.71/MMBtu following a surge to a two-year high as traders took profits. However, U.S. gas prices still booked their largest annual gain since 2016, driven by rising exports to meet overseas LNG demand and expectations of higher consumption during winter.

U.S. LNG Demand Could Surge

The United States is likely to emerge as the biggest winner of the unfolding situation in Europe–if recent developments are any indication. Norway and the U.S. have replaced Russia as Europe’s biggest gas supplier: last year, Norway supplied 87.8 bcm (billion cubic meters) of gas to Europe, good for 30.3% of total imports while the U.S. supplied 56.2 bcm, accounting for 19.4% of total. However, the U.S. is the biggest LNG supplier to Europe: last year, the U.S. accounted for nearly half of total LNG imports by the continent, marking the third consecutive year in which the United States supplied more LNG to Europe than any other country.

What’s interesting here is how fast this has happened: the U.S. supplied 27%, or 2.4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), of total European LNG imports in 2021; 44% (6.5 Bcf/d) in 2022; and 48% (7.1 Bcf/d) in 2023. Obviously, Russia’s war in Ukraine has played a big part in growing Europe’s appetite for U.S. gas. Meanwhile, Europe’s capacity to accept LNG is increasing. Europe’s LNG import, or regasification, capacity is on track to expand to 29.3 Bcf/d in 2024, a 33% increase compared with 2021. Currently, Germany is adding the most LNG regasification capacity in Europe, with developers in the country having added 1.8 Bcf/d in 2023 and on track to add another 1.6 Bcf/d in 2024.

On a global scale, the United States shipped a record 56.9 million metric tons of LNG during the first eight months of 2024, surpassing 54.3 million tons from Australia and 53.7 million tons from Qatar during that period. That marks the second straight year that U.S. exporters have topped global export rankings.

Interestingly, Europe has bought considerably less LNG from the U.S. in the current year, with shipments from January through August dropping by 22% Y/Y. The slowdown has largely been triggered by a sharp climb in European power generation from renewable energy sources, which remain a priority for Europe's power utilities. Solar and wind power's share of electricity generation in Europe jumped from around 16.4% in 2022 to 20.5% so far in 2024 while fossil fuel generation's share dropped from around 44.6% in 2022 to 36.6% so far this year. As you might expect, coal-fired power has taken the biggest hit in Europe’s energy mix, although natural gas generation's share has also declined, from around 26% in 2022 to 22% so far this year. But with Europe now receiving even less Russian gas, we expect U.S. LNG exports to the region to surge again.

The long-term U.S. natural gas outlook is equally bright. According to Morgan Stanley, the U.S. natural gas market is poised to enter a new cycle of demand growth thanks to surging LNG exports and rising electricity demand. Over the past few years, dozens of pundits and industry experts have predicted that the ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution will drive unprecedented electricity demand growth in the United States and globally. Last year, the power sector consulting firm Grid Strategies published a report titled “The Era of Flat Power Demand is Over,” which pointed out that United States grid planners—utilities and regional transmission operators (RTOs)—had nearly doubled growth projections in their five-year demand forecasts. For the first time in decades, demand for electricity in the U.S. is projected to grow by as much as 15% over the next decade driven by the Artificial Intelligence (AI), clean energy manufacturing and cryptocurrency boom.


By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

Hammerfest Shutdown Freezes Europe’s LNG Lifeline

By Julianne Geiger - Jan 02, 2025

Another year, another hiccup at Hammerfest LNG. Equinor’s crown jewel in Arctic Norway is down again, this time thanks to a compressor failure, according to a regulatory statement from Gassco. Output has screeched to a halt until Jan. 9, leaving Europe’s largest LNG export plant offline for a week—because, apparently, the Arctic air isn’t the only thing freezing up.

Hammerfest LNG, or Melkoeya if you prefer its less industrial moniker, packs a punch, delivering enough gas to heat 6.5 million European homes. That’s a hefty 5% of Norway’s gas exports, which is no small potatoes given Norway’s top-dog status in Europe’s gas game post-Russia’s Gazprom tantrum in 2022.

This outage joins a growing list of Hammerfest’s “incidents.” From a gas leak last April to a fire that sidelined operations for 18 months starting in 2020, reliability hasn’t exactly been the plant’s calling card.

Still, Equinor and its co-owners—TotalEnergies, Vaar Energi, Petoro, and Harbour Energy—press on, with the Snoehvit field feeding the beast.

The Hammerfest LNG plant at Melkoeya draws gas from the Snoehvit field in the Barents Sea, and has the capacity to deliver about 6.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, enough to supply about 6.5 million European homes. Exports from Hammerfest represent about 5% of all Norwegian natural gas exports.

In late September, Norway restarted its Kaarstoe processing plant after it was down three weeks for “complex and extensive maintenance”.

Norway is the single biggest provider of natural gas to Europe after Russia’s Gazprom cut off most of its supply to the EU after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

The Hammerfest LNG shutdown comes as winter heating season is in full swing.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

Ukraine To Quadruple Gas Transport Fees After Russia Deal Expires

By Alex Kimani - Dec 30, 2024

Ukraine will quadruple its domestic gas transmission tariffs for consumers from Jan. 1.

Previously, Russia said it’s willing to continue supplying gas to Europe via Ukraine.

The EU has warned member countries to prepare for a world without Russian gas.


Ukraine will quadruple its domestic gas transmission tariffs for consumers from Jan. 1 as it tries to offset the impact of lost revenue after its gas transit deal with Russia came to an end on Monday. The Ukrainian regulator has approved a decision to increase domestic gas transmission tariffs to about 502 hryvnias ($11.95) for 1,000 cubic meters, up from 124 hryvnias ($2.95) previously.

"In 2024, 85% of our revenue came from transporting gas originating in the Russian Federation. It means that only 15% remains for us from domestic customers," Dmytro Lyppa, general director of Ukraine's gas transport operator, said during the meeting to discuss the tariff increase. Ukraine still earns ~$1 billion in transit fees per year from Russian transit.

Previously, Russia said it’s willing to continue supplying gas to Europe via Ukraine if Kyiv and the involved European countries can come to an agreement.

"Of course, in my opinion, the European countries that currently receive gas through this corridor are interested in continuing such cooperation," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who is in charge of Russia's energy policy, told reporters "We are ready to supply (gas), but not much depends on us, so probably this should be negotiated directly between the users and the country through which the transit is provided."

The EU has warned member countries to prepare for a world without Russian gas, with Ukraine gas amounting to 5% of total EU gas imports. Aura Sabadus, a senior analyst at the ICIS market intelligence firm, told Politico that Austria, Hungary and Slovakia are likely to be the hardest hit when the imports are cut off. Thankfully, Slovakia has already secured alternative supplies: Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, has started supplying natural gas to Slovakia’s Slovenský plynárenský priemysel (SPP), the country’s largest state-owned energy operator. This comes just a month after SPP signed a short-term pilot contract to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan as it prepared for a possible halt to Russian supplies via Ukraine.


By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

Sanctioned Russian LNG Cargo Stranded at Sea

By ZeroHedge - Dec 27, 2024, 

The LNG carrier Pioneer, carrying sanctioned Russian LNG, was unable to find a buyer after a four-month global search.

The ship was forced to return to the Koryak floating storage unit in Kamchatka, where the gas will likely be held until a buyer can be found.

The incident highlights the increasing challenges faced by Russia in exporting its energy resources due to Western sanctions and compliance concerns.



The shadow fleet of liquefied natural gas carriers transporting blacklisted Russian LNG has encountered a major setback, with at least one ship's cargo traveling around the world, finding no buyers as the cargo was deemed too risky.

Bloomberg reports that an LNG carrier called "Pioneer," carrying a sanctioned shipment of Russian LNG, circumnavigated the world for four months, failing to find a buyer willing to breach US restrictions.

"This vessel (called Pioneer) was spotted on satellite images picking up the first shipment from the Arctic LNG 2 facility in early August — despite camouflaging the move with misleading location information — but then spent well over four months hunting for a customer," Bloomberg's Stephen Stapczynski wrote on X.

According to ship-tracking data, Pioneer arrived at the Koryak floating storage unit in Kamchatka on Thursday after four months on the seas.

"The gas is likely to be held there until a customer can be found," Bloomberg noted.

Most of Russia's dark fleet consists of oil tankers. However, the West has increasingly targeted LNG carriers as Washington and Brussels race to sever Russian energy flows to Europe.

Regarding global LNG trading - buyers, sellers, charterers, financing banks, and insurers must be extra vigilant when running compliance checks to ensure their ships do not engage in Western-sanctioned activities, and this is likely why Pioneer could not find a buyer.

By Zerohedge.com