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Wind developers shoot low in UK auction; Freeport LNG considering spot LNG sales

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Wind developers shoot low in UK auction; Freeport LNG considering spot LNG sales

S&P Global Market Intelligence is excited to announce the upcoming launch of an afternoon edition of our Daily Dose feature for energy. On Sept. 30, subscribers will see this new offering, which will highlight the best of our energy news, data and research, in their inbox and available on the Market Intelligence platform.

Top News

Offshore wind developers shoot low in record-breaking UK auction

The next wave of offshore wind projects in the U.K. will be delivered at prices significantly below the market rate for electricity, in a development that underscores the rapid improvements in the cost of producing renewable power.

Freeport LNG considering spot LNG sales, other options for expansion, CEO says

Freeport LNG Development LP may sell excess LNG on a spot basis rather than through its traditional tolling model, the company's Chairman and CEO Michael Smith said in a Sept. 19 interview.

Long-term metallurgical coal outlook remains 'very attractive,' analyst says

The long-term outlook for metallurgical coal remains "very attractive," B. Riley FBR analyst Lucas Pipes said on a call with the American Coal Council.

Saudi attack highlights particular importance of Abqaiq facility to Aramco, US

A major assault on oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia sent shock waves across the commodities and equities markets but also exposed vulnerabilities for both the Saudi economy and U.S. citizens abroad.

Quoted

"In general, this is a really fast-growing sector and there are currently no systems in place to ensure what retail investors think they're buying is really what they're getting," said Adrienne Buller, an InfluenceMap analyst and author of a report calling for more oversight of exchange-traded funds claiming climate-friendly investments.

Power

* Bankrupt utility PG&E Corp. and its Pacific Gas and Electric Co. subsidiary reached a settlement resolving all insurance subrogation claims relating to the 2017 Northern California wildfires and 2018 Camp Fire.

* Calling a joint bankruptcy reorganization plan recently filed by PG&E Corp. and its utility subsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric Co. inadequate, attorneys representing wildfire victims and bondholders of the companies on Sept. 19 asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California to allow their alternative plan to proceed.

* Seven indigenous communities agreed to acquire a combined 40% equity ownership in Alberta PowerLine LP, a partnership between Canadian Utilities Ltd. and Quanta Services Inc. to design, build, own and operate the Fort McMurray West 500-kV transmission project.

* British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce today the establishment of a £1 billion fund for clean energy technology, according to Reuters.

* Two commissioner-led proposals to reimpose a moratorium on the construction of new gas-fired power plants in Arizona by three investor-owned utilities and a cooperative were rejected by the full commission Sept. 19.

* Germany is proposing new measures to meet greenhouse gas emission goals for 2030 as part of a $60 billion climate package, The New York Times reported.

* Talen Energy Corp. is seeking to install more wells to capture water contaminated by coal ash dumped into leaky holding ponds at the Colstrip power plant in Montana, The Associated Press reported.

* Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. has retired the 100-MW Nucla coal-fired power plant in Colorado ahead of its original retirement schedule by the end of 2022.

* Banks holding $47 trillion in assets have signed up to strategically align their business with goals of the Paris climate pact and the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals.

Natural gas

* Tellurian Inc. and Petronet LNG Ltd. have signed a memorandum of understanding through which Petronet and its affiliates intend to negotiate the purchase of up to five million tonnes per annum of LNG from Tellurian's Driftwood LNG export project in Louisiana.

* A by push by some Democratic presidential candidates to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, could have consequences for the U.S. economy, The Wall Street Journal reported.

* Publicly traded North American energy and water utilities have corporate governance practices that Moody's says are generally supportive of the credit quality of those companies. However, executive compensation designs, and board oversight and effectiveness practices of companies had more mixed alignment with Moody's governance benchmarks.

* South Dakota regulators plan to ask the state legislature to require bigger bonds from oil and gas drillers, the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal reported.

Oil

* A judge prevented South Dakota from putting into effect the largest parts of new state laws designed to protect TC Energy Corp.'s Keystone XL oil pipeline and other pipeline projects from protests that could disrupt construction.

* Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. confirmed that a Singaporean subsidiary expects to book an approximately $320 million loss from its trade of crude oil derivatives after an employee engaged in unauthorized transactions.

* Weeks after CEO David Dickson warned investors that 2019 would be the worst year for the company, McDermott International Inc. stock soared Sept. 20 after the company announced it is considering a recent unsolicited bid to acquire all or part of its Lummus Technology LLC business.

* The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is being criticized for moving its headquarters to a building in Grand Junction, Colo., that also counts Chevron Corp. and Laramie Energy LLC as tenants, The Denver Post reported.

Coal

* Aspen Coal and Energy LLC has offered to buy the idled Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr coal mines from bankrupt operator Blackjewel LLC, the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune reported. Contura Energy Inc., which still owns the mining permits, told the publication that it is not interested in the new offer.

* Peabody Energy Corp. terminated its previously announced tender offers to purchase for $1 billion outstanding notes and concluded its refinancing activities.

* The U.S. Department of Energy is backing 32 projects with a total of $56.5 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development projects for advanced coal technologies and research under six separate funding opportunity announcements.

ChartWatch

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The U.K.'s third contracts for difference auction cleared at between £39.65/MWh and £41.61/MWh, in 2012 currency, with 15-year contracts handed out to nearly 5,500 MW of offshore wind projects, according to results released by the government Sept. 20.

New from RRA

* Eversource Energy subsidiary NSTAR Electric Co. is seeking a $33.6 million rate hike effective Jan. 1, 2020, as part of its second annual rate adjustment under the performance based ratemaking, or PBR, framework adopted in Massachusetts.

The day ahead

* Early morning futures indicators pointed to a mixed opening for the U.S. equity markets. To view more SNL equity market indexes, click here. To view more SNL Energy commodities prices, click here.

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Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.

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