HOUSTON (ICIS)–The US Department of Energy (DoE) has picked seven hubs scattered through the country to become its main centres of hydrogen production, it said on Friday. Among the chosen is Houston’s Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub, called HyVelocity. It will receive up to $1.2bn to develop clean hydrogen. The hydrogen hub programme is part of […]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Australian energy union umbrella group the Offshore Alliance (OA) said on 6 October it has voted to renew industrial action at Chevron’s Wheatstone and Gorgon LNG facilities alleging the company “reneged” on the commitment they gave the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to incorporate its mediated recommendations into enterprise agreements (EA) covering workers. OA, the […]

LONDON (ICIS)–Moldova’s state-owned energy wholesaler Energocom is committed to securing gas transparently and at competitive prices, the company said, rejecting recent concerns expressed by traders over its tendering process. Energocom bought 280 million cubic meters of gas over the period 4 September to 5 October at a weighted average price of €35.77/MWh, according to a […]

LONDON (ICIS)–Energocom’s rise to prominence in the last two years has been significant. The Moldovan state wholesaler was tasked by the government to secure electricity and natural gas amid growing concerns that the historic supplier Gazprom would cut deliveries amid growing political tensions. Over the last two years the company faced not only the formidable […]

LONDON (ICIS)–European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic has called for the AggregatEU joint purchasing mechanism to be retained and extended to other commodities claiming success after a third matching round closed on 4 October. Speaking on 6 October the Commission’s vice-president said companies have snapped up 11.86 billion cubic meters during the latest round, noting there was […]

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US automaker General Motors (GM) agreed on Friday to include its electronic vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing under the national master negotiating agreement, preventing a strike at the automaker’s Arlington, Texas assembly plant, the president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union said during a livestream broadcast. GM’s Arlington assembly plant produces the full-size sport […]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Vietnam’s economy grew by 5.33% year on year in the third quarter, aided in part by improved exports in September, preliminary official data showed on Friday. The reading was higher than the annualized 4.05% expansion in the previous quarter but represented a sharp deceleration from the 13.7% pace recorded in the same period last […]

The war in Ukraine has caused oil and especially gas price volatility, as restricted flows from Russia to Ukraine caused values to spike to record-breaking levels before collapsing to pre-war levels. Since December 2022, unseasonably mild winter weather hit demand, reversing gas prices. However millions of tonnes of chemical and fertilizer production remain offline across […]

SAO PAULO (ICIS)–Brazil’s economy started 2023 on the backfoot and GDP growth expectations at barely 1%, but nine months later most economists and analysts now expect growth to be around three times higher. Even the beleaguered industrial sectors, which were lagging agriculture and services, are posting a “moderate reacceleration”, the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) […]