UPDATE 1-MMK Q2 crude steel output up 9 pct q/q

July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

MOSCOW, July 19 (Reuters) – Russian steelmaker Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MAGN.MM) (MAGNq.L) said on Monday it increased second-quarter crude steel output by 9 percent compared with the preceding three-month period.

Rivals Evraz (HK1q.L) and NLMK (NLMK.MM) last week also said they increased output, in the hope that the trend of weaker prices in the last two months will turn around in the autumn, [ID:nLDE66E0P1] while MMK forecast 2011 steel output to rise 20 percent to 12 million tonnes. [ID:nWLA8353]

MMK said in a statement its production of crude steel totalled 2.985 million tonnes versus 2.732 million tonnes in the first quarter. It did not provide year-ago numbers.

The company, Russia’s third-largest steel producer by volume output, earlier forecast flat second-quarter production before it was expected to fall slightly during the quieter summer months of June and July. [ID:nLDE65A07O]

MMK also said finished products output grew 7 percent quarter-on-quarter to 2.623 million tonnes from 2.453 million tonnes, and its domestic and export prices kept on increasing in the April through to June period.

The company, which is controlled by Russia’s ninth richest man Viktor Rashnikov, said average price of steel products increased by 17 percent.

Its Moscow-listed stock opened 0.54 percent higher on Monday, slightly outperforming the broader market index which edged up 0.17 percent. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; editing by Keiron Henderson)

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BP CEO Hayward pulls out of London conference

June 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

June 22 (Reuters) – BP (BP.L) Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward has pulled out of an oil industry conference in London on Tuesday, organisers said.

Stocks

Hayward had been expected to address the conference at a London hotel and scores of journalists had registered to grill him over his handling of the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and his future at BP.

A conference organiser said he was being replaced by Steve Westwell, BP’s group chief of staff.

Hayward has faced a tide of criticism over the oil spill, the biggest in U.S. history.

He has cancelled a series of public engagements while devoting most of his time to tackling the spill, which began in April, and has incurred swingeing criticism for a series of public relations gaffes. [ID:nN19190028] (Reporting by Alex Lawler; writing by Barbara Lewis; editing by Keiron Henderson)

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Enel green arm to build Guatemala hydropower plant

June 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Enel Green Power, Italy’s biggest renewable energy company, will build an 84 megawatt hydropower plant in Guatemala as part of its push to expand in renewable energy in Latin America, the company said on Monday.

Gulf Oil Spill

EGP, which its parent Enel aims to place on the market this year, said the total investment in the project would be 185 million euros ($226.6 million), with 10 million euros coming from Italian public-private holding company Simest.

The new plant will use the natural water flow of the Cotzal river and its three tributaries and produce 370 million kilowatt hours of power a year avoiding emissions of 280,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), EGP and Simest said in a joint statement.

Enel group is already present in Guatemala’s renewables sector and the new plant will boost EGP’s existing “zero emission” generation capacity in the country by more than 140 percent, EGP Chairman Francesco Starace said in the statement.

EGP’s installed capacity totals about 5,700 MW with more than 600 plants in operation in 16 countries in Europe and the Americas and a generation mix that includes wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and biomass.

($1=.8163 Euro) (Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova; Editing by Keiron Henderson)

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Enel green arm to build Guatemala hydropower plant

June 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

May 31 (Reuters) – Enel Green Power, Italy’s biggest renewable energy company, will build an 84 megawatt hydropower plant in Guatemala as part of its push to expand in renewable energy in Latin America, the company said on Monday.

Utilities

EGP, which its parent Enel (ENEI.MI) aims to place on the market this year, said the total investment in the project would be 185 million euros ($226.6 million), with 10 million euros coming from Italian public-private holding company Simest.

The new plant will use the natural water flow of the Cotzal river and its three tributaries and produce 370 million kilowatt hours of power a year avoiding emissions of 280,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), EGP and Simest said in a joint statement.

Enel group is already present in Guatemala’s renewables sector and the new plant will boost EGP’s existing “zero emission” generation capacity in the country by more than 140 percent, EGP Chairman Francesco Starace said in the statement.

EGP’s installed capacity totals about 5,700 MW with more than 600 plants in operation in 16 countries in Europe and the Americas and a generation mix that includes wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and biomass. ($1=.8163 Euro) (Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova; Editing by Keiron Henderson)

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Total says its French refinery ops back to normal

March 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

PARIS, March 1 (Reuters) – Oil major Total (TOTF.PA) said on Monday all of its refineries in France, apart from the Dunkirk plant, have returned to normal operations.

“We are back to a normal situation, back to the level we had before the strike began. This of course is not the case in Dunkirk which continues the strike, but elsewhere, everything is back to normal,” a spokesman at Total said.

Output at Total’s French refineries stopped briefly last week due to strike action. Unions said on Thursday that operations would return to normal within 48 hours.

(Reporting by Marie Maitre and Mathilde Cru, writing by Ikuko Kurahone in London; Editing by Keiron Henderson)

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