Top News

Seaport: Weak coal export markets to plague eastern railroads' Q4'19 earnings

CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. may take a hit from the "absolute dearth of activity" in the seaborne steam coal space, wrote two Seaport Global Securities analysts in a Dec. 9 report. They project that CSX's fourth-quarter coal revenue will sequentially decline by about $24 million and Norfolk Southern's will fall $33 million, though they acknowledged that the decrease might be even worse.

'We want to learn from other people's mistakes': Poland's PGE on offshore wind

A partnership deal with Ørsted is on track for completion, says Monika Morawiecka, the CEO of PGE Baltica, the offshore wind unit of Polish state-owned utility PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA. For PGE's first projects, the European Investment Bank will "hopefully" be one of its "pillars of financing."

Gas gathering regulation fuels debate as industry awaits new pipeline rules

Among other regulatory moves, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration plans to collect data on all gathering lines, with an eye toward future regulation based on what the regulator learns from that data. The decision is a major concern to companies that will shoulder compliance costs and safety advocates who want expansive rules.

The 2-year plunge: Independent shares battered since the start of 2018

Independent oil and gas producers have tried over the past two years to convince investors that the days of overspending and growth at the expense of shareholder returns are over and that fiscal discipline is the new mantra. Skeptical that those promises would be kept, investors have bailed out on independents in droves anyway.

Other energy headlines

* Investors rewarded Antero Resources Corp.'s asset sale announcement and the renegotiation of Antero Midstream Corp.'s gathering fees, boosting both companies' equity even as Appalachian gas prices stayed low. On Dec. 9, Antero Resources said it plans to unload a combination of lease acreage, minerals, producing properties, hedge restructuring or Antero Midstream shares in 2020 that will shore up the independent driller's credit, resulting in anticipated proceeds of up to $1 billion.

* National Grid PLC told Britain's energy regulator in its final business plans for 2021-2026 that it is planning baseline investment of £7.1 billion into power transmission and £2.8 billion into gas transmission over the five-year regulatory period, dubbed RIIO-T2. On an annual basis, planned spending for its power and gas grids has shrunk by £60 million and £46 million, respectively, since the company released its initial draft plans in July.

* Policy changes introduced as economies adapt to climate change could wipe up to $2.3 trillion off the value of major global companies by 2025, and investors need to reflect that policy risk in their strategies, according to research conducted for the U.N.-backed group, Principles for Responsible Investment.

ChartWatch

Energy Capital Partners-sponsored Volt Parent Lp was a new entrant to the 10 largest owners of gas-fired power generating capacity list with 24.12 GW of capacity after closing the acquisition of gas plant operator Calpine Corp., landing in the third spot. Others on the list include Duke Energy Corp., Vistra Energy Corp., Volt Parent Lp, Southern Co., NextEra Energy Inc., Entergy Corp. and Dominion Energy Inc.

Research and data

* RRA Regulatory Focus: Assessing regulatory risk for energy utilities: States stable for the most part

* Data Dispatch: Duke Energy tops operating US coal, gas capacity ownership

Top pick of the day

Overpowered: Eyeing zero-carbon grid, California seeks a gas exit strategy

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