How The Inflation Reduction Act Will Benefit The Oil Industry


Editor OilPrice.com
Wed, March 8, 2023 

A few years ago, carbon capture was an eccentric, massively expensive way of reducing emissions, or so the talking point went. By 2022, carbon capture had in fact become one of the few ways in which oil companies could defend themselves against the onslaught of accusations of being the sole perpetrators of climate change. And then the Biden administration decided to support that.

For many environmentalists, the participation of the oil and gas industry in the transition is not simply impossible because of the very nature of the business but also very much unwanted. The only way oil and gas can take part in the transition, according to these activists who block traffic and vandalize works of art across Europe, is if the industry ceases to exist. Apparently, the Biden administration's opinion differs.

The Inflation Reduction Act is a piece of legislation that quickly became the target of as much praise as criticism for its generosity in funding low-carbon technologies and infrastructure. It is the biggest piece of legislation aimed at addressing climate change, stipulating spending of $369 billion in total.

Some of that money will likely go to oil companies to develop more carbon capture capacity, retrofit refineries to produce biofuels, and pursue the dream of cheap and clean hydrogen.

This week at CERAWeek, Chevron and Talos Energy said they were going to make their planned carbon capture and storage hub in Texas three times as large as originally intended.

"The market is huge," Chevron's vice president for carbon capture, utilization, and storage, Chris Powers, told media, as quoted by Reuters. "In order to meet the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, we are going to do CCUS at massive scale, with multiple hubs like this."

Exxon's Darren Woods echoed the sentiment last month. Speaking to investors, the chief executive of Exxon said, "There's a lot of activity in this space [carbon capture], a lot of interest, particularly with the IRA. I think we're very well positioned there," he said.

"This is not a game for start-ups. These are large, world-scale projects that require the kind of project expertise that we have, require the kind of size and balance sheet capacity that we have," Woods also noted.

Indeed, carbon capture and storage—or utilization—projects are large-scale undertakings that cost a lot of money, even though they are not as massively expensive as their opponents allege them to be. If the federal government wants to share some of that burden, the companies already active in this space would only be too happy to get the help.

According to the International Energy Agency, the transition to net zero would be impossible without carbon capture and related activities, be they reuse or storage. And it would need to be deployed on a huge scale, globally.

"The scale of the climate challenge means we need to act across a wide range of energy technologies. Carbon capture is critical for ensuring our transitions to clean energy are secure and sustainable," the IEA's Fatih Birol said at the release of the report three years ago.

This is why the IRA subsidy stipulations include carbon capture—because it appears to be critical for the transition. Yet opposition against it remains loud. More than a hundred groups earlier this month urged Congress to drop plans to provide further, targeted support to carbon utilization projects in the form of tax credits.

"This bill does not advance climate solutions, but is rather a giveaway to fossil fuel companies and other corporate polluters under the guise of climate action," the group wrote in a letter to the sponsors of the legislation, as quoted by Common Dreams.

"Promoting the utilization of captured CO2 in petrochemicals, plastics, and fuels, as your legislation would encourage, will perpetuate environmental justice harms and subsidize the oil and gas industry to do it."

According to the chief sponsor of the bill, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the bill would simply expand eligibility for tax credits to cover not only those active in sequestration but in the utilization of carbon dioxide.

"Our bipartisan Carbon Capture and Utilization Parity Act would bring the value of the tax credits for carbon utilization in line with the incentives for sequestration, while supporting continued investment in carbon-neutral products," he said on his webpage.

There are plenty of uses for carbon dioxide—from making soft drinks and beer fizzy to producing synthetic, low-carbon fuels. One could go as far as to say carbon dioxide is an indispensable commodity for a range of industries just as it is indispensable for plant life—and, consequently, all life—on Earth.

Of course, carbon dioxide can - and routinely is - injected back into oil wells to stimulate production, and this appears to be the focus of the opposition against CCUS technology as a whole, because it is used to produce even more oil and gas when we should be producing less.

Yet the tide is changing in the oil and gas rhetoric. Big Oil executives have recently made statements they would hardly have dared make just two years ago. BP's and Shell's chief executives said on separate but recent occasions that oil and gas production remains necessary and will likely remain so over the long term, despite the transition to net zero.

Their counterparts in the United States, normally bolder when it comes to the essential nature of their products, have remained bold, especially amid calls from the federal government for more oil and gas production. And now both American and European supermajors plan to take advantage of the IRA billions, just like wind and solar developers and EV makers.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

US Energy Regains Its Swagger While Rest of World Gets IRA Envy


Jennifer Granholm

Kevin Crowley and Jennifer A. Dlouhy
Wed, March 8, 2023

(Bloomberg) -- Energy executives and Biden administration officials in Houston had a simple message for Europe and other regions griping that US climate spending will starve them of investment: Stop complaining and put up the cash to enact measures of your own

In a standing-room-only luncheon address at the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm boasted the newly enacted infrastructure law and Inflation Reduction Act have made the US “irresistible” for clean energy investments. The more than $360 billion in support for clean energy and advanced manufacturing — as well as preferences for domestic content — have provoked tensions with allies including the European Union

There’s nothing wrong with “a little friendly competition,” she said. “As we keep saying, have at it. You should do the same thing. You should incentivize the production of clean energy in your country as well.”

Democratic President Joe Biden’s signature climate and infrastructure laws received almost universal praise from the world’s top fossil fuel executives at the conference, as they struck a more confident tone than in years gone by.

A year of energy shortages, volatile prices and recalibrating the global supply chain following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has underscored the enduring importance of oil and gas, even as the world attempts to transition to cleaner fuels.

The billions of dollars of fiscal incentives baked into the IRA mean the world’s biggest energy and industrial companies now view the US as the most attractive place to build renewable, carbon capture, and hydrogen facilities. That’s a problem for allies in Europe, Canada and elsewhere who are now playing catch-up to attract the capital for large-scale clean-energy projects.

“My speech to European leaders is: Don’t complain, do the same,” said Patrick Pouyanne, Chief Executive Officer of Paris-based TotalEnergies SE. The IRA is “exactly what we need to do” to accelerate the energy transition. “We say to European governments, since you want us to invest in Europe, you have to put the same incentive schemes as the US, or even more.”

Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Darren Woods said the EU first needs to scrap a “punishing” windfall profits tax on oil companies that will wipe out years of profits from recent investments in its European refineries. As a result, the Texas oil giant has “stepped back and reevaluated” in Europe and is investing more in the US, he said.

EU leaders appear concerned. The war in Ukraine and the withdrawal of Russian gas have supercharged the continent’s push toward clean energy but the long-term strategy could be under threat with companies like Tesla Inc. and Volkswagen AG now prioritizing investment in the US. “Europe’s competitiveness and resilience is in danger,” the EU’s internal market authority said in an initial assessment seen by Bloomberg.

A clean energy arms race would be welcome, said Meghan Nutting, executive vice president of government and regulatory affairs at Sunnova Energy International Inc.

“For years, Europe was asking us to do something to meet the Paris climate agreement requirements, and we finally did, and now they’re worried we’re doing that,” she said on a panel Monday.

It’s not just the sheer size of the IRA that has won the backing of energy leaders, but also its simplicity. Big and small companies alike can access funds, and projects don’t have to wait years to redeem tax credits. Crucially, the legislation comes with few punitive measures that affect the industry’s cash cow, oil and gas.

The IRA is “all carrots, no sticks,” Alex Pourbaix, CEO of Cenovus Energy, said in an interview, picking up a metaphor that’s become ubiquitous at the conference. Pourbaix called on Canada to adopt similar legislation, which he says would accelerate the decarbonization of the country’s oil sands. Australian and Japanese executives also expressed admiration for the IRA.

“If we don’t we’re just going to see that capital flee the country and go to the US,” Pourbaix said.

The full-throated praise for the IRA marked a sharp contrast with recent sniping between oil executives and Biden, who has criticized them for not investing more in production and instead funneling profits into share buybacks.

In Houston, both sides seemed content to accentuate the positive. White House climate adviser John Podesta, a vocal climate hawk, used an appearance at the event to announce new plans to reduce permitting time on major projects, a major concern for energy producers.

Granholm’s rousing address also was well-received, a sharp contrast to her speech last year at the event, when she implored the gathered executives to do more to step up production in the face of energy shortages stemming from Russia’s war with Ukraine.

This time, Granholm stressed that the oil industry can bring its know-how to US investments in clean energy development that will yield worldwide benefits — including lower costs — far beyond American borders.

“We make no apologies for the level of investments that are happening,” Granholm said. “We don’t want to stoke trade wars or anything like that, but we are serious about bringing back supply chains into this country.”

Factbox-Biden budget to target U.S. fossil fuel subsidies


U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to media in Washington

Wed, March 8, 2023

U.S. President Joe Biden will propose a budget that would scrap oil and gas industry subsidies, according to a document seen by Reuters, reviving a perennial debate about whether fossil fuel companies should be receiving lucrative tax breaks.

While the proposal has little chance of making it through a divided Congress, it represents a political signal from the White House, which has repeatedly criticized Big Oil for raking in record profits at a time of high consumer energy costs since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Here are some details about U.S. fossil fuel subsidies:

HOW MUCH ARE THEY WORTH?

Calculating the cost of U.S. subsidies for the fossil fuel industry is complex because the incentives stretch across the U.S. tax code, but estimates range from $10 to $50 billion per year.

Taxpayer advocates and environmental groups argue the subsidies are inappropriate at a time when the federal government is trying to shift the economy to cleaner forms of energy to fight climate change.

The oil industry counters that the support is needed to ensure ongoing investment and reliable supply.

WHAT DO THE SUBSIDIES INCLUDE?

U.S. oil and gas subsidies include provisions ranging from incentives for domestic production, write-offs and deductions tied to foreign production and income, and approved accounting methods that can reduce the stated taxable value of assets.

One specific U.S. tax break on domestic production, for example, called intangible drilling costs, allows producers to deduct a majority of their costs from drilling new wells. The Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan panel of Congress, has estimated that eliminating it could generate $13 billion for the public coffers over 10 years.

Another, the percentage depletion tax break, which allows independent producers to recover development costs of declining oil gas and coal reserves, could generate about $12.9 billion in revenue over 10 years, according to the panel.

WHAT HAS BIDEN SAID?

Before taking office, Biden promised to get rid of fossil fuel subsidies as part of a multi-pronged effort to fight climate change that also included ending new drilling on public lands.

These promises have been impossible to keep. For one, they require an act of Congress, and Republicans and some Democrats oppose the removal of fossil fuel subsidies. Secondly, soaring energy prices since the Russian invasion of Ukraine have led Biden to call for more oil and gas, not less.

Ending subsidies for oil and gas is not a new idea, but it has always been difficult: former President Barack Obama also wanted to ditch tax breaks for fossil fuels to show the world that the United States was serious about speeding a transition to clean energy to tackle climate change.

But even with a commanding Democratic majority in the Senate in Obama's first six years in office, he was unable to kill the subsidies.

WHAT ARE OTHER COUNTRIES DOING?

For many governments, keeping consumer energy prices affordable is the top priority. That's why numerous countries, ranging from Japan to Brazil, last year imposed or increased subsidies to cushion consumers from skyrocketing prices.

The International Energy Agency estimated that so-called consumption subsidies for fossil fuels doubled in 2022 to $1 trillion globally.

(Reporting by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Simon Webb and Sonali Paul)

What's next for marijuana legalization after Oklahoma vote?

GEOFF MULVIHILL
Wed, March 8, 2023

In just over a decade since voters approved state constitutional amendments to make recreational marijuana legal in Colorado and Washington, 19 other states have followed suit.

But voters in Oklahoma, where faith leaders, law enforcement and most of the state's GOP leaders campaigned against legalization, on Tuesday rejected a ballot measure that would have legalized it.

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon also saw legalization ballot measures fail before being adopted in later votes.

Here's a look at what happened in Oklahoma this week, and where marijuana legalization stands across the U.S.

WHAT HAPPENED IN OKLAHOMA?

Anti-legalization groups were outspent by a 20-to-1 margin but their message still carried the day when recreational marijuana for people 21 and over was the only item on the statewide ballot.

Gov. Kevin Stitt and much of the state's Republican leadership joined the effort to defeat State Question 820, which was added to the ballot following a signature drive last year by Oklahomans for Sensible Marijuana Laws. The question was moved from the November ballot to March because of legal challenges and a delay in counting signatures.

Supporters spent nearly $5 million, according to campaign finance reports.

Prospective sellers were bullish in part because Oklahoma's neighbor Texas has a huge population and no legal marijuana. The Dallas-Fort Worth area is a little more than an hour from the border. The state would have reaped a 15% excise tax on sales on top of the standard sales tax. Portions of the extra revenue would have been used to boost local governments, the court system, public schools and substance abuse treatment.

THE MARIJUANA THAT IS LEGAL IN OKLAHOMA

The state kicked off a medical marijuana program after voters approved one in 2018 over objections from law-enforcement and religious leaders.

The program is one of the nation's most liberal.

There are more than 2,800 licensed dispensaries and nearly 10% of the state's 4 million residents have medical licenses to buy and consume cannabis.

WHERE DOES MARIJUANA STAND ACROSS THE U.S.?

Twenty-one states, mostly in the West and Northeast, have legalized marijuana for recreational use by adults.

They are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

In Maryland, legal sales have not yet begun and in Missouri, they launched in February. Voters in both states approved legalization measures last year.

Most other states have either medical cannabis programs or laws allowing for sales and use of CBD, one of the chemical compounds in the plant.

Only Idaho, Kansas and Nebraska have no legal use of any component of marijuana.

The drug also remains illegal under federal law, though President Joe Biden is pardoning thousands of people for federal marijuana possession convictions and has directed officials to review how marijuana is categorized under federal law. It's currently listed as Schedule I, alongside heroin and LSD, and more serious than methamphetamine and fentanyl.

THE NEXT BATTLES

There are already pushes to put legalization on the ballot this year in Ohio and in 2024 in Florida and Nebraska, where past measures have not made the ballot because of constitutional concerns or a failure to get enough signatures.

There are also pushes to legalize recreational marijuana without needing to go to voters, an approach that has succeeded in other states.

This week, Hawaii's state Senate passed a bill, though it's not certain it will have a vote in the House.

The Delaware House passed a legalization measure Tuesday and is considering one to allow sales and regulate them. The Senate would still have to weight in.

The New Hampshire House last month passed a legalization bill.

A bill has also been working through the Legislature in Minnesota, where Gov. Tim Walz has pledged to a sign a legalization measure if lawmakers pass it.

Swarm of quakes at Alaska volcano could mean eruption coming


In this photo provided by the Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey is the Tanaga Volcano near Adak, Alaska, on May 23, 2021. A swarm of earthquakes occurring over the past few weeks has intensified at a remote Alaska volcano dormant for over a century, a possible indication of an impending eruption. The Alaska Volcano Observatory raised the alert level to advisory status for Tanaga Volcano late Tuesday, March 7, 2023, after the quakes became very vigorous.

 (Matt Loewen/Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey via AP)

MARK THIESSEN
Wed, March 8, 2023 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A swarm of earthquakes occurring over the past few weeks has intensified at a remote Alaska volcano dormant for over a century, a possible indication of an impending eruption.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory raised the alert level to advisory status for Tanaga Volcano late Tuesday after the quakes became very vigorous.

“We started seeing a whole lot of earthquakes occurring, one after the other, several per minute,” said John Power, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey stationed in Anchorage at the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

There have been hundreds of small earthquakes, none larger than magnitude 2.75, but they are concentrated beneath the summit of the volcano, he said.

“That indicates that we’re seeing significant unrest at the volcano,” Power said.

“Whether or not this will lead to an eruption is something we can’t say at this point in time,” he said. “But we are concerned about it enough that we have gone and elevated the warning level.”

While the increase causes concern, he said many times earthquake activity will drop off with no eruption.

“It’s anybody’s guess as to where this particular round of earthquake activity may end up,” he said.

The volcano is on an uninhabited island in the western Aleutians, about 1,250 miles (2,012 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage. There are no communities or structures there, but Adak, a city of about 170 residents on another island, is about 65 miles (105 kilometers) away and could see ashfall.

If the volcano were to erupt, the biggest threat would be to aircraft. The Aleutians are below the routes that jets fly between North America and Asia. Volcanic ash is angular and sharp and can cause an airplane engine to shut down. Previous eruptions had both ash clouds and viscous lava that moves very slowly away from the mountain, much like what happened at Mount St. Helens in Washington state in 1980.

“It’s very different than what you would see, for example, in Hawaii, Kilauea or Mauna Loa, where you see these beautiful red rivers of lava flowing down the side of the volcano," Power said.

Tanaga is actually part of a three-volcano complex on the island. It’s the tallest of the three at 5,925 feet (1,806 meters). It sits in the middle, with Sajaka, a 4,443-foot volcano to its west. Sajaka had an older cone that collapsed into the North Pacific Ocean with a new cone that has emerged.

To the east of Tanaga is Takawangha, a 4,75-foot (1,449-meter) volcano that is mostly ice-covered except for four craters, the Alaska Volcano Observatory says.

The last known eruption for Tanaga was in 1914. It erupted twice in the late 1700s and again in 1829.

The observatory in a release said there are no known eruptions of Takawangha or Sajaka. However, field work has indicated that eruptions may have occurred from those volcanos and were attributed to Tanaga.

Eruption at Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano stops after 61 days


This photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey shows the inside of the summit crater of the Kilauea Volcano on Jan. 6, 2023. The latest eruption at Kilauea's summit on Hawaii's Big Island has paused after 61 days of volcanic activity. Hawaii News Now reports U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists said Tuesday, March 7, 2023, that lava was no longer flowing on the crater floor of Halemaumau, where all recent volcanic activity had been confined. 

(U.S. Geological Survey via AP, File) 

Tue, March 7, 2023

HONOLULU (AP) — The latest eruption at Kilauea’s summit on Hawaii's has paused after 61 days of volcanic activity.

U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists said Tuesday lava was no longer flowing on the crater floor of Halemaumau, where all recent volcanic activity had been confined, Hawaii News Now reported.

No significant changes have been observed along the volcano’s rift zones. Scientists on Monday observed small “ooze-outs” of lava flowing sluggishly in the lava lake.

Officials said activity diminished in the afternoon, and by Tuesday, there was no active lava in the crater.

USGS said the reduction in activity was related to the “larger deflationary tilt drop” that began Feb. 17, a common process at Kilauea in which the ground deflates for hours or days. The drop in pressure can then cause eruptions to diminish.

Kilauea began erupting again Jan. 5 after scientists detected a glow within Halemaumau Crater. The latest eruption started after a nearly monthlong pause in activity.

Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. A 2018 Kilauea eruption destroyed more than 700 homes.

Before the major 2018 eruption, Kilauea had been erupting since 1983, and streams of lava occasionally covered farms and homes. During that time, the lava sometimes reached the ocean, causing dramatic interactions with the water.

US Federal protection granted for imperiled freshwater mussels


In this undated photo provided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a longsolid mussel. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday, March, 8, 2023, it will designate the longsolid and round hickorynut mussels as threatened. This means they're likely to become in danger of extinction.

 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP)

JOHN FLESHER
Wed, March 8, 2023

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Federal regulators designated two U.S. freshwater mussels as threatened on Wednesday, a further sign of trouble for native mollusks that help cleanse waters by filtering out pollutants as they feed.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it was granting protection to longsolid and round hickorynut mussels, which have declined in many Eastern and Midwestern streams.

The primary cause is habitat damage from urban sprawl, farming, oil and gas development, pipelines and mining. Other factors include competition from nonnative mussels and rising stream temperatures linked to climate change.

“Both of these mussels have suffered proverbial deaths from a thousand cuts,” said Gary Peeples, deputy supervisor of the agency's field office in Asheville, North Carolina. “A lot of little things have added up.”

Flourishing mussel populations signal healthy streams, he said. North America is a historical showcase of mussel diversity, hosting about 300 of the world's roughly 900 types. But about two-thirds of the continent's freshwater mussels are imperiled.

The newly designated threatened species have much wider ranges than many struggling mussels, Peeples said. Both favor stream bottoms with mixtures of sand, gravel and cobble.

The longsolid can reach five inches (12.7 centimeters) in length and live up to 50 years. It's found in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Of 60 known populations, 48 are in a limited area with no indication that young mussels are reaching adulthood, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Previously, there were 160 known populations. The mussel has disappeared from Georgia and Illinois.

The round hickorynut grows as long as three inches (7.6 centimeters) and is found in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Only 69 populations are believed to remain, down from a historical high of 301. Of the survivors, 49 are in a narrow area and show no signs of young mussel maturity. They are no longer found in Georgia, Illinois or New York.

Threatened species are considered likely to become in danger of extinction within much or all of their range.

Protection under the Endangered Species Act will help the mussels "by raising awareness, inspiring conservation partnerships and making funding available for their recovery,” said Mike Oetker, regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The agency will designate critical habitat and work with state wildlife biologists to promote recovery, he said. For the longsolid, protected areas include 12 units along 1,115 river miles (1,794 river kilometers), while the round hickorynut's critical habitat has 14 units along 921 river miles (1,482 river kilometers).

Both species are largely in the same areas as other federally protected mussels. Federal agencies will be required to consult the service before allowing potentially harmful activities.

Under the law, the service can authorize actions that would cause “a minimal level of disturbance” to the mussels, Peeples said. That includes logging with best-management practices such as maintaining buffer zones along streams to prevent erosion.

The Center for Biological Diversity, an advocacy group that filed a lawsuit seeking protection for the mussels, applauded the threatened designation, which takes effect April 10.

But opening the door to commercial tree harvesting in critical habitat is a mistake, staff attorney Perrin de Jong said.

“Logging practices vary widely from state to state and the service hasn’t defined who’s responsible for ensuring that loggers actually follow these rules when they log mussel habitat,” de Jong said. ”These critters need real protection, not just words on a page.”

Why the Stakes Keep Rising In the Battle for Bakhmut in Ukraine



Aliaksandr Kudrytski
Tue, March 7, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine has been fighting to keep control of the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut for months as Russian troops level the area.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed to send reinforcements to the hotspot on Monday, signaling that he will continue Bakhmut’s defense even at the risk of tying down many of his most able troops.


1. What is this city?

Bakhmut is part of the heavily industrialized eastern area of Ukraine called Donbas. The city, situated near a large natural salt deposit, had a population of 70,000 before the war. That plunged to fewer than 4,000 as civilians fled the fighting, which has reduced much of the city to rubble.

2. Why does it matter?

Bakhmut, especially in its current ruined state, has limited strategic importance, according to military analysts. But a Russian victory there would be a symbolic triumph, marking the first major urban center to fall to Moscow’s forces since a string of defeats began in the summer. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also said taking the city would allow his forces to penetrate further into Ukrainian defenses. Both sides also argue that continuing the fight allows them to tie down opposing forces that might otherwise be used for offensive operations in other parts of the front.

3. How long has the battle for Bakhmut been going on?

Russian forces have been shelling the area since May of last year and troops kicked off the siege of the city in early August. After months of slow progress, Russian forces renewed a push to surround the city early this year, capturing settlements to the north and south. But those advances have slowed in recent weeks as Ukraine continues to fight back. Neither side releases casualty figures, but each says the other is suffering massive losses.

4. What is the role of Russia’s Wagner military contractor?

Fighters from the Wagner private military contractor, a company run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, have been concentrated on the siege. The battle has become a key test of their ability to deliver for the Kremlin, which has given them a significant role in the conflict. Lately, however, Prigozhin has complained that ammunition shortages have hamstrung his forces and blamed sabotage by the Defense Ministry.

5. Will Ukraine give the city up?

After months of vowing to defend the city and with Russian forces slowly gaining ground, Zelenskiy in February signaled that Kyiv may ultimately have to cede it. But shortly afterward, he met top generals and agreed with their recommendation that the defense should continue, ordering reinforcements to be sent. Senior commanders have visited the besieged city repeatedly in recent weeks.

--With assistance from Olesia Safronova.

Vatican 'donating' its own 3 Parthenon sculptures to Greece


 The marble head of a young man, a tiny fragment from the 2,500-year-old sculptured decoration of the Parthenon Temple on the ancient Acropolis, is displayed during a presentation to the press at the new Acropolis Museum in Athens, Nov. 5, 2008. The Vatican and Greece were finalizing a deal Tuesday March 7, 2023 to return three fragments of the Parthenon Marbles that have been in the collection of the Vatican Museums for two centuries. 

(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File) 


NICOLE WINFIELD and DEREK GATOPOULOS
Tue, March 7, 2023 

ROME (AP) — The Vatican and Greece finalized a deal Tuesday for the return of three sculpture fragments from the Parthenon that have been in the collection of the Vatican Museums for two centuries, the latest case of a Western museum bowing to demands for restitution.

The Vatican has termed the return an ecumenical “donation” to the Orthodox Christian archbishop of Athens and all Greece, not necessarily a state-to-state transfer. But it nevertheless puts pressure on the British Museum to conclude a deal with Greece over the fate of its much bigger collection of Parthenon sculptures.

The head of the Vatican city-state, Cardinal Fernando Vergez, signed an agreement to implement the “donation” during a private Vatican Museums ceremony with Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni and a representative of the Orthodox Christian archbishop of Athens and all Greece, His Beatitude Ieronymos II.

The envoy, Father Emmanuel Papamikroulis, told The Associated Press that the Greek Orthodox Church and archbishop were grateful to Pope Francis for the deal.

"It has taken place at a difficult time for our country, and it will hopefully provide some sense of pride and happiness. I hope this initiative is followed by others,” he said in a telephone interview from the Vatican, where he was touring the gardens after the signing ceremony.

“This initiative does help heal wounds of the past and it demonstrates that when Christian leaders work together, they can resolve issues in a practical way," Papamikroulis added.

The fragments are expected to arrive in Athens later this month, with a March 24 ceremony planned to receive them.

The British Museum has refused decades of appeals from Greece to return its much larger collection of Parthenon sculptures, which have been a centerpiece of the museum since 1816.

Earlier this month, however, the chair of the British Museum said the U.K. and Greece were working on a deal that would see his institution’s Parthenon Marbles displayed in both London and Athens.

The 5th century B.C. sculptures are mostly remnants of a 160-meter-long (520-foot) frieze that ran around the outer walls of the Parthenon Temple on the Acropolis, dedicated to Athena, goddess of wisdom.

Much of the frieze and the temple’s other sculptural decoration were lost in a 17th-century bombardment, and about half the remaining works were removed in the early 19th century by a British diplomat, Lord Elgin.

___

Gatopoulos contributed from Athens.

\

Greece asks others to 'imitate' Vatican return of Parthenon pieces


 Snowfall in Athens

Tue, March 7, 2023 
By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican Museums gave Greece three 2,500-year-old pieces of the Parthenon on Tuesday and the Greek side said the gesture should be imitated by others, a likely reference to a collection of sculptures from the ancient temple that are held by Britain.

The fragments have been in the papal collections of the Vatican Museums for more than a century and Pope Francis ordered their return last December.

The pope has donated them to Ieronymos II, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, as a gesture of ecumenical dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church.

Ieronymos' representative at Tuesday's signing ceremony at the Vatican Museums, Rev. Papamikroulis Emmanouil, called the pope's gesture "historic".

Emmanouil said there was "much left to do to heal the wounds and traumas suffered by this monument (the Parthenon) because of practices that belong to a distant past".

"The hope is ... that his gesture by the Holy Father will be imitated by others. His Holiness the pope of Rome has proven that this is possible and realistic," he said.

The Parthenon, which is on the Acropolis in Athens, was completed in the fifth century BC as a temple to the goddess Athena, and its decorative friezes contain some of the greatest examples of ancient Greek sculpture.

According to the Vatican Museums website, one piece being returned to Greece is the head of the horse that was pulling Athena's chariot on the west side of the building. The others are from the head of a boy and the head of a bearded male.

In his address at the signing ceremony the governor of Vatican City, Cardinal Fernando Vergez, said the three pieces were acquired by the papacy "correctly" at the start of the 19th century. He did not elaborate.

With the donation to Greece, the Vatican Museums no longer holds any parts of the Parthenon.

The pieces are being returned as London and Athens have entered talks over the a collection known as the Parthenon Sculptures held by the British Museum.

Greece has repeatedly called for the permanent return of the sculptures, which British diplomat Lord Elgin removed from the temple in the early 19th century when he was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Greece's then-ruler.

The British Museum has long ruled out returning the marbles, which include about half of the 160-metre (525-foot) frieze that adorned the Parthenon, and insists they were legally acquired.

Last month, British Museum chair George Osborne said the UK was working on a new arrangement with Greece through which the Parthenon Sculptures could be seen both in London and in Athens.

(This story has been refiled to specify that the Pope ordered the return of fragments last December, in paragraph 2)

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)

Turkey cannot recover ancient 'Stargazer' idol from Christie's -U.S. court


Michael Steinhardt, legendary hedge fund manager, speaks at the Reuters Investment Summit in New York

Wed, March 8, 2023
By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Turkey cannot recover a 6,000-year-old marble idol from Christie's and hedge fund billionaire Michael Steinhardt after waiting an unreasonably long time to claim it had been looted, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said Turkey "had reason to know" by the 1990s that the "Guennol Stargazer" might have been wrongfully removed from its territory.

It said Turkey therefore "slept on its rights" by waiting to sue Christie and Steinhardt, the idol's owner, until April 2017, when the auction house listed the Stargazer for sale.

"Turkey sat on its hands despite signals from its own Ministry of Culture that the Stargazer was in New York City," Circuit Judge Rosemary Pooler wrote for a three-judge panel. "Turkey's failure to bring its claim (or even investigate it) until 2017 was unreasonable."

Lawrence Kaye, a lawyer for Turkey, said the country is considering its next steps, after establishing at trial that it owned the idol and was "diligent" in asserting its rights.

"This decision will not deter the Republic of Turkey from continuing to aggressively seek the return of cultural objects that have been stolen from it," he said.

A lawyer for Christie's and Steinhardt declined to comment.

The Stargazer is about nine inches (22.9 cm) tall, and named because its head tilts slightly upward toward the sky.

In claiming ownership, Turkey cited the 1906 Ottoman Decree, which asserts broad rights to antiquities.

But the country said it would be impossible to investigate everything in its "vast trove of unknown ancient artifacts," and it was "neither aware, nor should it have been aware" of its claim to the Stargazer until Christie's described the idol's limited provenance in its auction catalog.



Pooler, however, said the Stargazer had long been on public display, including more than three decades at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, and that throughout the 1990s the culture ministry published essays and presentations about it.

"The Stargazer has not lived in secrecy," Pooler wrote.

Steinhardt and his wife paid $1.5 million for the Stargazer in 1993. Christie's auctioned it for $14.5 million, but the buyer walked away.

Wednesday's decision upheld a Sept. 2021 ruling by U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan, which followed an eight-day trial. Nathan was later elevated to the appeals court.

The case is Republic of Turkey v Christie's Inc et al, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals No. 21-2485.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Daniel Wallis)

Alex Jones would get $520,000 salary under bankruptcy plan


Infowars founder Alex Jones appears in court to testify during the Sandy Hook defamation damages trial at Connecticut Superior Court in Waterbury, Conn., Sept. 22, 2022. On Tuesday, March 7, 2023, Free Speech Systems, Jones' media company, proposed a plan in its bankruptcy case to pay the conspiracy theorist $520,000 a year while leaving $7 million to $10 million annually to pay off creditors, who include relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting. 

(Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool, File)

DAVE COLLINS
Wed, March 8, 2023 

Alex Jones' media company has proposed a plan in its bankruptcy case to pay the conspiracy theorist $520,000 a year while leaving $7 million to $10 million annually to pay off creditors, including relatives of Sandy Hook shooting victims.

The Sandy Hook families won nearly $1.5 billion in lawsuits last year against the Infowars host, for his calling the 2012 shooting that killed 20 children and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, a hoax perpetrated by crisis actors. The families also said they were harassed and threatened by Jones' followers.

But it remains unclear how much money the Sandy Hook families will actually get from Jones and Infowars' parent company, Free Speech Systems. Jones is appealing the verdicts and has said on his show that he has $2 million or less to his name.

Free Speech Systems, owned solely by Jones, filed a proposed reorganization plan Tuesday in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in Houston that predicts it will have $7 million to $10 million annually after expenses to pay creditors from 2023 to 2027. The judge in the case, which was filed last year, would determine who gets that money and how much.

A bankruptcy lawyer for Jones did not respond to an email message Tuesday. Lawyers in Texas and Connecticut for the Sandy Hook families declined to comment.

The new filing shows the company expects to sell more than $30 million a year in dietary supplements, which Jones hawks on his show and are the company's main source of income.

Meanwhile, Jones and an expected new chief operating officer would each be paid $520,000 per year. The company also would hand out $560,000 to nearly $1.3 million per year in executive incentives and another $352,000 to $677,000 in employee bonuses annually.

Free Speech Systems, which has more than 40 employees, would pay $780,000 to $940,000 per year all together to its workers. It would pay another $839,000 to $1 million annually to contract employees.

Jones, who lives and works in Austin, Texas, also has filed for personal bankruptcy.

“I’m officially out of money, personally,” Jones said on Infowars in December. “It’s all going to be filed. It’s all going to be public. And you will see that Alex Jones has almost no cash.”

That contradicted testimony at one of last year's trials by a forensic economist who said Jones and his company had a combined net worth as high as $270 million.

The Sandy Hook families are contesting parts of Free Speech System's bankruptcy, including a more than $50 million debt the company says it owns to another creditor, PQPR Holdings Limited LLC. Free Speech Systems buys dietary supplements from PQPR to sell on the Infowars website.

Jones has an ownership stake in PQPR, which is managed by his father, David Jones, according to the filing by Free Speech Systems.

During a hearing related to Jones' personal bankruptcy case on Wednesday, lawyers for both Jones and his creditors expressed frustration with difficulties in obtaining accurate financial information from Jones that have caused delays in the filing of required court documents.

Starfish Space captures new funding ahead of orbital servicing demo mission



Aria Alamalhodaei
Wed, March 8, 2023
In the present moment, if a critical component on a satellite malfunctions or it runs out of fuel, satellite operators have no choice but to consider that asset caput.

Starfish Space is one of a handful of companies that wants to change that. The four-year-old company is developing a satellite servicing vehicle called Otter, which will be able to conduct life extension missions in geosynchronous orbit, or deorbit the satellite once it reaches the end of its useful life in low Earth orbit.

While it’s developing the Otter, the company is planning on launching a demonstration version of the vehicle, playfully called Otter Pup, this summer. That spacecraft will hitch a ride on a Launcher Orbiter 3 space tug (which itself will hitch a ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket); once in orbit, Otter Pup will deploy from Orbiter, then attempt to rendezvous and dock with the spacecraft.

“If successful, this will be the first ever time that two separate commercial satellites have docked in low Earth orbit,” Starfish operations lead Ari Juster told TechCrunch.

In advance of this first mission, Starfish announced today that it has closed $14 million in new funding led by Munich Re Ventures, with participation from Toyota Ventures and from all the major investors from Starfish’s seed round: PSL Ventures, NFX, and MaC VC.

The money will accelerate the development of the Otter servicing vehicle and the Otter Pup mission. The new capital will also help the company grow, from its present workforce of 27 to upward of 10 to 15 more people before the year is out.

Starfish says orbital servicing could unlock tons of value for satellite operators, who could use Otter to get additional operational years out of an asset already in space. Juster said the company’s been able to bring its costs down, in part, because of the declining costs of launch and the greater availability of types of components needed to enable its missions. Juster also said its team has been able to focus on the core breakthrough technologies — like guidance, navigation and control (GNC) — needed to execute something as complex as satellite capture and docking.

This very initial mission, though, will focus not just on docking but also on the moments just before that, Juster explained. “What’s the distance at which we can actually acquire contact with the Orbiter 3? How can we use computer vision to recognize it, to understand its orientation? How do you use Cephalopod [Starfish’s GNC software] to continue to optimize the trajectory?” he said.

It could take multiple tries to dock with Orbiter 3. Depending on how much fuel is leftover on Otter Pup, Juster said the company may try different maneuvers while in space.

Starfish frequently hears from potential customers on the need for orbital servicing capabilities, Juster said.

“This is actually a common refrain we get from customers on the commercial and government side, [which] is, ‘Oh boy, if you guys had Otters in space today we could have really used you,’” he said. While he declined to comment on Starfish’s customer contracts, he said the reception to Otter has been even better than anticipated.

“We've frankly been pleasantly surprised,” he said. “We're obviously optimists about the business case here and the demand but we've even been pleasantly surprised by the reception from customers.”

The story was updated to reflect that the round was solely led by Munich Re Ventures. The originally story also misstated the name of the Orbiter mission; it will be Orbiter 3, not Orbiter 2.