The effects of the precipitous decline in oil and gas prices after mid-2014 are well chronicled, but are still unfolding. Although oil prices have risen recently, the current price environment continues to adversely affect a broad range of energy-industry and related-industry businesses, including exploration and production, service and supply, and midstream companies, as well as those that directly or indirectly support or contract with those businesses ...
Pemex is considering offering to the private sector up to six of its refineries to obtain some liquidity for its financial restructuring. As announced by Pemex’s CEO, José Antonio González Anaya, estimated individual transaction values may range from US$500 million to US$1.5 billion per refinery. The six refineries are currently operating at a collective, estimated annual loss of MX$100 billion (approximately US$5.8 billion) ...
The Mexican Secretary of Energy (“SENER”) has received 62 applications from 32 companies during the first 15 days of April 2016. As of April 25, it has granted 16 permits for the importation of gasoline and 26 permits for the importation of diesel. Read the full alert ...
On May 2, 2016, the Colorado Supreme Court issued two anticipated opinions that are important to the oil and gas industry in Colorado, and could be precedent for similar efforts pending in a number of states where local governmental entities are trying to rein in fracking ...
On April 29, 2016, the National Center for Energy Control (“CENACE”) announced the second auction for long-term supply and purchase contracts to satisfy the need of basic service suppliers (for the time being, the Federal Electricity Commission, perhaps better known for its acronym, “CFE”), for power, capacity, and clean energy certificates. The standard commercial operation date of the projects awarded under the auction is scheduled for January 1, 2019 ...
TheSarajevo Business Forum2016(SBF) was, among hosting a number of lectures and discussions, a platform for one of the largest post-war investments in the energy sector in Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH) ...
On March 1st, 2016, Supreme Decree N° 62 of the Ministry of Economy, introduced in 2006 (hereinafter, the “Decree 62”), that regulates capacity transfers among power generation companies entered into force, modifying the methodology used to calculate transfers.IntroductionThe Chilean electric system remunerates power generation companies for two products: energy and capacity ...
One of the liveliest parts of the recently held panel discussion organised by the Association for Sustainable Development and the Youth Forum of the European Movement, was revolving around Serbia's obligation to reach 27% of its total consumption of energy to be coming from renewable energy sources (RES) by year 2020 ...
Last week, Governor Snyder wrote Michigan's congressional delegation to stress the importance of fully funding upgrades to the Soo Locks. Snyder urged Congress to replace the Davis and Sabin Locks with a single, larger lock that would provide redundancy should the Poe Lock fail. The Poe Lock is currently the only lock capable of handling the 1,000-foot freighters used to transport raw materials like iron ore ...
With more than 6-months of delay, the Government of the Republic of Serbia finally adopted the following package of decrees setting out the new incentive scheme for green energy:Decree on the Power Purchase Agreement, ("PPA Decree");Decree on incentive measures for the production of electric energy from renewable energy sources and from high-efficiency cogeneration of electric energy and thermal energy (" View More
Recent news reports are informing us that an Anglo-Chinese consortium, consisting of British company Scarborough Group International and the Chinese owned China National Electric (CNEEC) company, has signed a contract to build a thermal power plant in Loznica, in the amount of EUR 230 million. The consortium received additional financial support from the China Development Bank, while the Chinese insurance company Sinosure also showed interest in participating in the project ...
According to latest news reports, Plinovodi – the company managing Slovenian gas pipelines, will be brought under majority state control, while the energy company, Petrol, is due to secure a majority stake in the gas wholesaler Geoplin under a contract signed this month. It should be noted that the Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH) and Petrol are currently the largest Geoplin shareholders. Geoplin, in turn, is the sole shareholder of Plinovodi ...
The July 2016 issue of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) included an international briefing article entitled “Renewable energy projects”. The article was contributed by SyCipLaw partner Rafael L. Encarnacion. The article discussed the challenges that the national legal regime poses to foreign investors seeking a higher equity stake for renewable energy projects, and the difficulty of procurement with either-end users or distribution utilities ...
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 ("CDM 2016") come into force on 1 August 2016. The legislation includes transitional provisions, so that, where a project has already started by 1 August 2016, the Client must appoint a Principal Designer before 1 August 2017 (unless the project ends before that date). In the meantime, the existing CDM Co-ordinator must comply with the duties of a Principal Designer ...
On July the 27th 2016, Law No. 20.936 that establishes New Power Transmission Systems and creates an Independent Coordinating Body for the National Power System (the “Transmission Law” or “New Law”) was published. Its stated objectives are to ensure that transmission does not become an obstacle to power generation, increase competition in the electrical market and boost the development of non-conventional renewable energies ...
The Act of 22 July 2016 Amending the Energy Law and Certain Other Acts was published on 2 August 2016. The act is intended to eliminate the black market in fuels, strengthen competition on the market, and improve Poland’s energy security. The amendments introduced by the act primarily concern the market for natural gas and liquid fuels ...
The Mexican government announced the second bid of Round 2 on August 23, 2016. This will be the seventh upstream bid round in Mexico since passage of the energy reform in mid-2014. The new bid round (named Round 2.2), comprises 12 onshore blocks for exploration in the Burgos and Southeastern Basins, covering collectively 5,006 km2 , with prospective resources of approximately 643.2 million barrels of crude equivalent and an original volume of approximately 93 ...
Recent news reports from Bosnia tell us that the BiH government, represented by the federal prime minister for economic issues and investments, Suvad Osmanagic, paid a visit to Bihac with Ludovico Camozzi, the president and owner of Camozzi – an Italian company that produces industrial automation machinery. The main purpose of this visit was to see Kombiteks, a textile production company that has been in bankruptcy and in and out of operation for the past 15 years ...
According to latest media reports, the governments of Serbia and Bulgaria have agreed on the formulation of a new memorandum for the task of building a gas pipeline between the two countries, during a recent meeting of the group for gas connections in Central and South East Europe that was held in Budapest ...
Media reports are letting us know that the "Serbia - A Strategic Crossroads between Western and Eastern Europe," conference was held in Paris on 15 September, where the French companies were presented with the political and economic environment in Serbia, as well as with the ensuing investment opportunities and the possibility of financing economic projects ...
In the past several years, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and other government bodies have mandated recall of hundreds of products from the market.In some cases, companies have voluntarily recalled products due to their potential for risk of injury ...
Recent news bring us an update from the Energy Community (EC), whose latest report has outlined that Serbia has not resolved the key issue of non-compliance with the aquis – something that presents a continuous violation of obligations under the EC Treaty – by not completing the separation of Srbijagas and Yugorosgaz activities in accordance with the "Second Energy Package" ...
The European Commission has opened an in-depth merger investigation into the planned acquisition of Cemex Croatia by Duna-Drava Cement ('DDC'). Registered in Hungary, DDC is jointly controlled by German construction material producers HeidelbergCement and Schwenk. DDC inter alia operates a cement plant in Kakanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Cemex Croatia, an arm of the international cement heavyweight Cemex, controls three cement plants in the Croatian coastal city of Split ...
Latest news reports are informing us that the European Energy Community (EC) went back on their threats of suspending Serbia's membership, after a series of fruitful negotiations between EC's representatives and the Serbian Ministry of Energy. The agreement which allowed for this development stipulates that Serbia has accepted the plan of action regarding the restructuring of Srbijagas, at the same time complying with the requirements of the Third Energy Package ...
