Germany Warns of Gas Refill Risk as EU Taps Deeper Into Reserves

Energy News Beat

Europe is dipping into its gas storage faster than expected, and with the fuel turning pricier for summer, top consumer Germany has warned of refilling risks for the next heating season.

The spread between contracts for the next summer and winter 2025-26 is widening, making it unprofitable to buy fuel to shore up inventories. The premium jumped to the highest since the peak of the energy crisis two years ago earlier this month.

Read also: Europe’s Hair-Trigger Gas Market Risks Lasting Beyond the Winter

Stockpile withdrawals across the European Union accelerated this week, hitting levels last seen in January — normally a month when the region’s heating demand peaks — data from Gas Infrastructure Europe show. Chillier weather, coupled with a slump in wind generation, boosted gas needs across the continent.

Traders are already looking to next winter and the European Union’s mandatory target of keeping its storages at least 90% full by next November. If higher costs make private market players — from utilities to trading houses — delay refills next summer, governments may need to step in, adding uncertainty to an already volatile market.

Germany’s gas storage group INES warned earlier this week that the cost efficiency of mandatory refill levels “should be reviewed and ensured.”

“The current negative summer-winter spread is causing concerns that the price signals are not providing sufficient incentives for the market to refill,” Sebastian Heinermann, INES managing director, said in a statement.

In Germany, which requires reserves to be at 95% every November, the market manager Trading Hub Europe GmbH is obliged to ensure the target is reached if traders fail to do so in time. It can pass the expenses on to the grid users, already facing high energy costs. During the peak of the crisis, the government had set aside credit lines of more than €15 billion to cover the operator’s losses.

Traders can still add to storage later this winter — on days when demand is low — but much depends on the weather. Freezing conditions could create the risk of German stockpiles being depleted by mid-February, according to INES. EU’s average storage levels could drop to about 20% in that case, according to BloombergNEF estimates. Currently it’s 92% for Europe — below last year’s levels — and about 96% for Germany.

Still, the market should ease if there are no extremes this heating season, according to BNP Paribas. “While a harsh winter would create genuine concern, all our other scenarios point to relatively comfortable levels that don’t justify the current summer premium,” Aldo Spanjer, senior commodities strategist, wrote in a recent note.

— With assistance from Priscila Azevedo Rocha – Source: Bloomberg 

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COP29: At Least $1.2 Trillion Needed to Fill Climate Finance Gap

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A yawning gap still exists between the demands of developing countries, led by India, Brazil and South Africa, for climate finance and the amount that Western governments are willing to offer as COP29 enters a fourth day of negotiations.

Both rich and poor nations are playing hardball, Energy Intelligence has learned, based on conversations with officials from the EU, India, Bangladesh, South Africa and other participants at the climate summit in Baku.

A difference of at least $1.2 trillion in demands between the Global North and South raises questions as to whether host country Azerbaijan can get the warring parties to meet halfway toward a unified goal at COP29.

A primary task of countries attending the UN summit is to forge an agreement that ensures up to trillions of dollars in climate finance. Rich donor countries pledged in 2009 to collectively contribute $100 billion a year to support developing nations in their climate actions.

Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are tasked with getting the draft text on the climate finance goal ready by Saturday for finalization next week.

But there are disagreements on the total finance number and how much should come from public money, loans and private finance, with rich donor countries digging their heels in.

A report published Thursday by the UN-backed Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance concluded that developing countries would need $1.3 trillion a year by the 2030s to cope with worsening climate impacts.

Funds from the budgets of rich OECD nations will cover for adaptation and resilience, while private sector funds can be used for clean energy projects, the report said.

The Global South, which accuses wealthy nations of exhausting half the earth’s carbon budget, is pushing for a minimum funding target of $1.3 trillion annually in public financing, according to South Asian officials and other participants. However, developing countries have not given an official figure. After including other funding sources, the bill soars to around $5 trillion, officials from developing nations said.

Indian officials say reparations are huge due to the historical destruction of the planet by rich countries.

Lowball Figure

EU negotiator Jacob Werksman, who is also principal adviser to the European Commission’s Directorate General for Climate Action, told Energy Intelligence that the EU has fixed a floor of $100 billion as a starting number.

This is the same as the existing floor pledged by rich donor countries in 2009 in Copenhagen. Those payments were only fully met in 2022.

“The big outcome is, of course, the delivery of the New Collective Quantified Goal [NCQG]” for climate finance, said Werksman, an attorney specializing in global environmental law. That will indicate what developed countries and other parties are prepared to contribute in the form of private finance — both from public sources but also by mobilizing essential private sector forces. Such resources will be necessary for parties to implement their nationally determined contributions — or climate actions plans, he said.

“And of course, the crucial number. How much beyond the $100 billion for the private sector goal and the private sector money that immediately mobilizes?’’

Rich nations may agree around $300 billion in core public financing for climate, said RR Rashmi, a distinguished fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute global think tank and a former Indian negotiator at COP summits.

He cited a 2023 G20 Independent Experts Group report that estimated developing countries would need annual incremental investment for climate of $1.8 trillion by 2030.

Two-thirds of that would be raised domestically by developing countries and the remaining $600 billion from multilateral development banks (MDBs), divided equally between official development finance and private capital. That would leave $300 billion on the table for developing countries under the NCQG from public funds.

Wide Divisions

Meanwhile, a top negotiator from a Central American country at COP29 talks said the wide divisions between Global North and South were reflected in the slow pace of negotiations.

Two key officials from the US and India, familiar with NCQG talks, said the text on climate finance negotiations began as a two-page document, drafted in the UNFCCC secretariat. In June, it ballooned into a 30-page booklet at the Bonn SB 60 climate meeting after parties introduced several conditions.

Werksman said that negotiations cannot proceed in the current form, so officials are trying to cut it down to a two-page document, hopefully by Saturday and may conclude a deal next week. But “from the voices in the negotiating rooms, you can tell that parties are still significantly far apart on the key elements of the design of NCQG,” he added.

Werksman told Energy Intelligence that the NCQG was not a single fund but a number that would be mobilized from various sources. The nature of the financing means there would be no sectoral allocations for adaptation, for example, or loss and damage or mitigation, he explained.

Public Funds

Asked if the $100 billion floor would be in the form of public funding or private investment, Werksman said that the core number, as yet undecided, would be publicly funded. Of the existing $100 billion annual funding provision for climate finance, agreed in 2009, 85% was public finance.

A similar arrangement may be in place in the NCQG. Beyond the core, he explained there would be guarantees and that public financing would enable MDBs and the private sector to raise much more money in the markets to lend to climate projects in developing nations.

The Copenhagen-designed climate finance arrangement channels part of the $100 billion via a Green Climate Fund (GCF), managed by both developing and developed nations in the UNFCCC, said the official from Central America.

An official from South Asia involved in several COP talks said that only around $20 billion of the $100 billion was public funding, of which just $11 billion was distributed via the GCF. The rest made its way via multilateral funding institutions.

He said the EU and US channel most of the funds via the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank and European Investment Bank because they control the board. They try to avoid the GCF because developing countries have an equal say, the official added.

Werksman confirmed that $100 billion in climate finance had been fully disbursed, something that rich countries claimed in private talks with other parties at COP29, the Central American official said.

Of the $115.9 billion disbursed in 2022, only around $22 billion was mobilized private finance attributed to developed countries, according to a UNFCCC document. The rest comprised bilateral public finance, multilateral public finance attributed to developed countries and export credits.

Nonprofit Oxfam disagrees, showing disbursals toward climate finance of $28 billion-$35 billion that year, comprising $16 billion-$23 billion of bilateral grants and the rest as multilateral grants.

“Who will be joining the current developed country donor base as contributors to the public sector and up to that goal? Another issue that’s still open for negotiation,” said Werksman.

Given the forthcoming change of administration in Washington, the Central American official said whatever number may be finalized next week, finding donors for the NCQG may take years.

Source: Energy Intelligence

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ENB Pub Note: A post from X and the Wealth Transfer of the Green Energy Policies – WorldBank lost track of at least $24 Billion in funds fighting climate change. Now they want trillions. 

 

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Putin tells Scholz that Russia is willing to look at energy cooperation, Kremlin says

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ENB Pub Note: I have stated that we would see an end to the war in Ukraine, and Germany would be buying Russian Gas again – and we are on target. You can go green and de-industrialize or buy cheap Russian gas to get started and fire your nuclear reactors back up, or you will be thrown out of office when the people have had enough. 


MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday that Russia was ready to look at energy deals if Berlin was interested, the Kremlin said, in their first phone conversation since December 2022.

It said the two men had a “detailed and frank exchange of views” on Ukraine and that Putin had set out the same position he has been stating for months: any peace deal must address Moscow’s security interests and be based on “new territorial realities” – a reference to the fact that Russian troops control a fifth of the country.

Putin also spoke of an “unprecedented degradation” in relations between the two countries, for which he blamed unfriendly actions by Germany, a Kremlin statement said.

“It was emphasized that Russia has always strictly fulfilled its treaty and contractual obligations in the energy sector and is ready for mutually beneficial cooperation if the German side shows interest in this.”

Germany was heavily reliant on Russian gas before the war, but direct shipments ceased when the Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea were blown up in 2022.

Germany and other European Union countries have imposed successive waves of sanctions on Russia over the war and taken steps to wean themselves off their dependence on Russian oil and gas.

On Ukraine, the Kremlin said Putin’s stance was the one that he stated in June, when he said that the war could end if Kyiv gave up its NATO ambitions and handed over the entirety of four regions claimed by Russia. Ukraine rejected those conditions as tantamount to surrender.

“Possible agreements should take into account the interests of the Russian Federation in the field of security, proceed from new territorial realities, and most importantly, eliminate the root causes of the conflict,” the Kremlin said.

Source: SwissInfo

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Why Iran is willing to pay any price for resisting Israel

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In the eyes of many, the Islamic Republic remains the last bastion in the Muslim world against unchecked Israeli aggression

Apart from flexing its military muscle as a power to reckon with in the Middle East, Iran is showcasing a robust foreign policy by becoming a full-fledged BRICS+ member. Tehran is likely to further assert itself by enhancing its military relationship with Russia and trade ties with China to end its global isolation. Slowly but surely Iran’s affiliation with the BRICS+ bloc will cause more anxiety to the United States of America and its Western allies.

At the same time, the latest Israeli attack on several Iranian military facilities on 26 October has the potential to escalate the ongoing conflict in West Asia (aka the Middle East, for the Western world). According to Iranian officials, four servicemen of the Iranian Armed Forces and a civilian were killed in the recent Israeli aggression. After Iranian drone and missile strikes on Israel in mid-April and early October, an Israeli reaction was on the cards.

Given the recent history of Iranian resistance, it is a given that Tehran will neither be cowed down nor act in anger but there will be a suitable response at some point. American security officials believe that Iran launched missile attacks on Israel on October 1 with “intent to cause destruction” but, due to Israel’s “significant air defense capabilities,” there was “minimal damage on the ground.” By moderate estimates, about 180 ballistic missiles were fired, all of these launched from Iranian soil. The West claims that most missiles were intercepted by Israel’s robust air defense system and the US-led allied forces.

For its part, Tehran maintains its earlier stance that, unlike Israel, Iran does not believe in causing harm to the civilian population. Iran also claims a higher moral ground by saying that it hit military targets and avoided civilian casualties, but that it can hit Israeli defense targets at will.

At the back of the latest escalation, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stated the obvious at a cabinet session on October 27: “We do not seek war, but we will defend the rights of our nation and country. We will give an appropriate response to the aggression of the Zionist regime.”

Here, the emphasis is on “not seeking war” but on delivering “an appropriate response” to a regime that stands accused of killing more than 42,000 people in Gaza since October 2023, the majority of identified victims being women and children. The Israeli ground and air campaign in different parts of Lebanon has also resulted in the killing of about 2,000. West Jerusalem maintains a rhetorical line that it has a “right to defend itself.”

At any rate, actions that cause widespread mayhem and inflict unimaginable pain on civilians should not go unpunished. If they did, Israeli aggression would become normalized and rationalized in the entire region. That is why Iran’s resistance to it stands out and is necessary.

Pravin Sawhney, an acclaimed author on defense and security matters, told RT that the “status of Tehran in the region has shot up.” “Israelis cannot defeat Iran. The whole idea of ‘escalation dominance’ by the Israeli military has been knocked out by Iran,” Sawhney, a former officer in India’s military, said, adding that “this war will not end.”

For challenging Israel on multiple fronts, its daring foreign policy and its refusal to dance to America’s tune, Tehran continues to pay a massive cost in the shape of economic and other sanctions imposed by the US. Over three years ago, then-Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif estimated that sanctions enforced by the US had inflicted $1 trillion worth of damage on Iran’s economy. Currently, Zarif is serving as Vice President for Strategic Affairs.

Sawhney feels that “Iran has reshaped the entire security architecture in the region.” According to the security expert, with Iran becoming a full member of the BRICS+ bloc, the idea is to have a military partnership with Russia and to cement its economic bond with China.

In 2021, China and Iran signed a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement aimed at extending trade, economic and transport collaboration. The agreement is said to have passed the implementation stage. Experts say that this trade cooperation will be a game changer in reshaping Tehran’s economy.

Western powers accuse Tehran of lending financial, political, military, diplomatic and moral support to armed groups such as Hamas (Palestine), Hezbollah (Lebanon) and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The US and member states of the European Union also level criticism at China and Russia for supporting Iran.

Why is Tehran willing to pay a cost in the shape of sanctions and international isolation, for what reason, and for how long can it sustain its stance? The answer lies in what Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei said in a rare sermon on October 4. Khamenei took everyone by surprise by making a rare public appearance to lead the mandatory Friday congregation in Tehran, his first sermon of this nature in nearly five years. With an assault rifle by his side, his appearance was a statement of defiance and irrefutable evidence of his mass popularity and spiritual stature in Iran and beyond.

Addressing a passionate crowd of thousands in a Persian-speaking country, Khamenei delivered parts of his sermon in the Arabic language: “The resistance in the region will not back down with these martyrdoms (referring to the killings of Ismail Haniyeh and others), and will win.” He also had advice for the rest of the Arab world: “Double your efforts and capabilities…and resist the aggressive enemy.”

In the aftermath of the latest Israeli aggression inside Iranian territory, Khamenei said that the Benjamin Netanyahu-led regime had made a wrong move, and warned it of serious repercussions. Besides this note of caution, Iran also called on the United Nations Security Council to hold an emergency session following Israel’s missile strike inside Iran in the early hours of October 26.

Iran is perhaps the only country in West Asia that is not only challenging Israel’s hegemony and expansionist ambition in the region but also making the Sunni Arab world appear timid and lacking in the political will to have either an unambiguous stance on the issue of Palestine or to come forward to help the pulverized Palestinians in a real way.

The desire of predominantly wealthy Arab nations to appear neutral or pragmatic in the ongoing conflict involving Palestine, Lebanon, Israel and Iran is perceived as a ‘sign of weakness and corruption’ by many Muslim intellectuals of repute. At the same time, a few Arab strategists are of the view that taking sides in the current war entails an unimaginable cost, and that the idea of resistance is perhaps ‘suicidal’ in the contemporary geopolitical setting.

Currently, without a whisker of doubt, Iran has been the world’s most powerful voice against the violent Israeli aggression and its genocidal campaign against Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank. Tehran’s morals-based foreign policy is a post-1979 Iranian Revolution phenomenon, though. For most of the last 45 years or so, Iran and Israel have been sworn enemies and known as such. This wasn’t the case before the 1979 Revolution, when the Pahlavi dynasty ruled the country.

The royal dynasty ruled Iran for over five decades between 1925 and 1979. After Mohammad Reza Shah replaced his father Reza Shah Pahlavi on the throne in September 1941, he became a loyal ally of the Western powers. Iran maintained diplomatic relations with Israel during his rule, of course, at the behest of the West.

A dramatic shift took place in the early 1970s during and after the Yom Kippur War or the Ramadan War of 1973, when, surprisingly, the Shah opened airspace to Soviet planes to deliver military supplies to neighboring Egypt. Iran’s foreign policy vis-à-vis Israel witnessed a paradigm shift after 1979. Till then, Iran was only the second Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel. Turkey was the first. At the time, Iran was a major oil provider for Israel. In return, Israel helped Tehran in matters of security.

At present, Tehran is the face of resistance and defiance in the entire Muslim world.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

Source: Rt.com

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Israel bombs Beirut airport area as passenger plane taxis to take-off (VIDEO)

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Footage recorded by a Sputnik Arabic reporter shows an Israeli bomb leveling a building just meters from the runway

The Israeli military bombed a target dangerously close to Beirut’s airport at the moment a large passenger jet was taxiing nearby, a video published by Sputnik Arabic on Thursday shows. A massive Israeli bomb destroyed a building located just a few dozen meters from the tarmac, according to the footage.

The clip starts with an airliner moving along the tarmac at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport. At one point, a massive blast rocks the area, leveling a low-rise building nearby. The surrounding area is quickly covered by plumes of thick gray smoke and dust.

The aircraft appears undamaged and continues taxiing after the strike. It is unclear if it was preparing for takeoff or was maneuvering after landing. The media has reported for weeks that only one commercial airline still operates out of Beirut – Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines (MEA). The company still makes dozens of flights to and from the Lebanese capital despite frequent Israeli shelling that sometimes hits targets close to the airport.

Israel launched a major offensive in Lebanon in September, pounding Beirut with a wave of airstrikes. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have also begun a ground incursion. The campaign followed a dramatic escalation between West Jerusalem and the Lebanese-based Hezbollah militant group.

The two sides sporadically exchanged fire over the past year, with Hezbollah seeking to punish Israel for operations against the militant group Hamas in Gaza. The subsequent IDF invasion of Lebanon also followed a sabotage operation targeting Hezbollah’s handheld communication devices that injured thousands.

The Israeli military killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in an airstrike. In late September, Israel stated that almost all of the group’s military leaders were eliminated, but has continued its operation.

IDF actions in Lebanon have sparked international concern, particularly due to attacks hitting UN peacekeepers stationed in the south of the country. The US said it was “deeply concerned” by reports of the attacks last month. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described one such incident as an “inadmissible act, for which there is no justification.”

Source: Rt.com

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Milei and Trump to announce Argentina-US pact – media

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Milei and Trump to announce Argentina-US pact – media

Argentine President Javier Milei intends to announce a new pact with the US while visiting President-elect Donald Trump at his Florida residence, according to the media in Buenos Aires.

The Libertarian politician has made major cuts to Argentina’s government apparatus in less than a year since he’s been president. He arrived at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday for an investor event scheduled to run till Saturday.

In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) investor summit, Milei is expected to call for the formation of a “league of conservative nations,” according to Argentine media reports. He reportedly wants a pact with the US committing to “freedom of trade and military cooperation.”

Milei hopes that Trump’s victory in the US presidential election last week will make it easier for Argentina to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund over $44 billion worth of debt, reports said. Economy Minister Luis Caputo has said he would like a $10 million disbursement to strengthen Central Bank reserves and remove capital controls.

Argentina is interested in forging closer ties between the US Central Intelligence Agency and its State Intelligence Secretariat.

Earlier this week, Milei praised Trump for “copying our model” for slashing government bureaucracy, revealing that his deregulation and state transformation minister, Federico Sturzenegger, had been in touch with tech billionaire Elon Musk “to see how to deregulate the US economy.”

Trump recently named Musk to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an extra-governmental initiative tasked with cutbacks and reforms in Washington, with a mandate through July 4, 2026. Milei and Musk are reportedly set to meet in Florida.

Milei’s trade pact with the US would be a body blow for Mercosur, the Southern Common Market organization which includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The bloc is currently attempting to negotiate a trade deal with the EU.

Following his trip to Mar-a-Lago, Milei is scheduled to host French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday in Buenos Aires, attend the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brazil on Monday, and fly back to Argentina to host Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni next Wednesday.

On Thursday, after speaking with Trump, Milei recalled his delegation from the UN climate conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan.

Source: Rt.com

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Texas man arrested for plotting ‘9/11 style attack’ – FBI

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A Houston resident told an informant about his plans to become a suicide bomber, officials have said

Texas man arrested for plotting ‘9/11 style attack’ – FBI

A man in Houston, Texas has been indicted for attempting to provide material support to Islamic State (formerly ISIS) terrorists, the US Department of Justice announced on Thursday.

Anas Said, 28, has admitted to planning a terrorist attack from his apartment in Houston, the authorities said. Said was born in the US, but spent his childhood in Lebanon before returning to America at around the age of 14, Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Alamdar Hamdani told reporters at a press conference on Thursday.

Said was arrested by the FBI last week, after being on the agency’s Houston Joint Terrorist Task Force radar since 2017. When confronted by FBI agents, he smashed his phone on the ground before he was wrestled to the ground, officials said.

The authorities found pro-ISIS images and communications on Said’s devices, as well as information pointing to involvement in the terrorist organization’s recruiting and propaganda efforts. He created and edited propaganda videos and images, Hamdani said.

The FBI explained that while Said had been on the agency’s radar for years, his “behavior began to mobilize towards violence” after the attack by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023.

Said “admitted to wanting to use explosives to commit a mass killing here in Houston,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams Jr. said at Thursday’s news conference.

“He offered his home as a safe sanctuary to ISIS operatives,” and “bragged that he would commit a 9/11 style attack if he only had the resources,” the FBI agent added.

The suspect allegedly expressed the desire to enlist in the US military to commit an act of terrorism, Williams said.

Said told an undercover FBI asset that he would use a suicide vest, according to court documents.

“If I did, it would be very easy. I would shave my beard and hair, put on a military uniform for camouflage, and go inside and push the button. Everything will turn into grilled meat,” Said allegedly told the FBI agent.

Court documents also state that Said offered his home to ISIS members who previously attempted to assassinate former US President George W. Bush.

“The defendant went on to say that former president Bush and President Biden were too old, and it would be wasteful to use a bullet on them,” the case documents said.

Source: Rt.com

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Musk secretly met with Iran’s UN envoy – NYT

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The Trump-friendly businessman is reportedly working to “defuse” tensions between Washington and Tehran

Musk secretly met with Iran’s UN envoy – NYT

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, a close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, met with the Iranian ambassador to the UN earlier this week, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing two unnamed Iranian officials.

According to the NYT, Musk’s meeting with Amir Saeid Iravani took place in New York on Monday and was described by the paper’s Iranian sources as an attempt to “defuse tensions” between the US and Iran. The conversation was “positive” and “good news,” Iranian sources said.

Musk, who owns SpaceX, Tesla, and the social media platform X, has not commented on the matter. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung told the NYT that the president-elect would not comment on “reports of private meetings that did or did not occur.” The Iranian mission to the UN also declined to comment, according to the Washington Post.

The South African-born businessman is increasingly seen as one of the most important people in Trump’s inner circle. The incoming president recently announced that Musk would lead a newly created extra-governmental department tasked with increasing government efficiency.

Trump has picked several Iran hardliners and staunch supporters of Israel for top government positions as part of his ‘peace through strength’ doctrine, including Senator Marco Rubio for secretary of state and Congressman Mike Waltz for national security adviser.

During his first term in office, Trump tore up the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and unleashed a ‘maximum pressure’ campaign of economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. In January 2020, he ordered a drone strike in Iraq that killed Iran’s top commander, Qassem Soleimani, who the US accused of orchestrating attacks on American personnel in the Middle East. Tehran denied the allegations and called the assassination “an act of terrorism.”

In September, the Trump campaign said that he was briefed by US intelligence officials about “specific threats from Iran to assassinate him.” No details about these claims have been released, however.

Both Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said recently that Tehran would be open to negotiations if the US demonstrates “in practice” that it is not hostile to Iran.

Any future negotiations will likely be complicated by the ongoing war in Gaza and Washington’s military and diplomatic support of Israel. Trump enacted multiple pro-Israel policies during his first term, moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and facilitating the normalization of relations between Israel and Arab states.

Source: Rt.com

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Ukrainian state-run agency scrubs posts bashing Trump’s intel chief pick

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Kiev’s “anti-disinformation” body has accused Tulsi Gabbard of working “for Kremlin money”

Ukrainian state-run agency scrubs posts bashing Trump’s intel chief pick

Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) has quietly removed its news bulletins accusing former US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of spreading fake news on behalf of Russia.

The change came after US President-elect Donald Trump nominated Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel of the US Army Reserve, to oversee the CIA and the NSA as the director of national intelligence.

Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council set up the CCD in March 2021 with the stated goal of fighting disinformation in news reports and on social media. In practice, the agency focuses on flagging and “debunking” stories that are critical to Ukraine and has accused many Russian and Western officials of spreading “fake news.”

According to the news website Strana.ua, the CCD took down four of its bulletins mentioning Gabbard from social media, including one from April 2022 that described her as someone who “for several years, has been working for foreign audience for the Kremlin money.”

In a bulletin from June 2024, Gabbard was accused of spreading disinformation about Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, and a bulletin from February 2023 said that the politician was “espousing pro-Russian rhetoric.”

The posts were removed on Thursday morning, Strana.ua said. As of the time of writing, the CCD’s 2022 post accusing Gabbard of taking “the Kremlin money” is still up on the National Security and Defense Council’s account on X. The link to the CCD bulletin is inactive, however.

Kiev has repeatedly lashed out at Western public figures critical of Ukraine, including journalist Tucker Carlson and tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Gabbard, who has long opposed US military interventions in the Middle East and has accused Washington of warmongering, left the Democratic Party in 2022. Last month, she announced that she had joined the Republican Party and was backing Trump.

In 2022, Gabbard argued that the conflict in Ukraine could have been avoided if the US “had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns” regarding Kiev’s aspirations to join NATO. She has since insisted that the conflict should be resolved through negotiations and that Ukraine should become a neutral country.

Gabbard slammed Zelensky last year, accusing him of seizing “absolute control of Ukrainian media, outlawing opposition political parties.”

Source: Rt.com

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Petronas, CNPC strengthen LNG ties

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Malaysia’s Petronas and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen collaboration in various fields, including LNG.

The two companies signed the MoU in Shanghai on November 6.

According to a statement by Petronas, the MoU for strategic partnership will strengthen collaboration, among others, in the upstream exploration and production of oil and gas internationally, as well as the liquefied natural gas (LNG) value chain.

The MoU will also focus on ventures in fields such as specialty chemicals, renewable energy, green hydrogen technology, and carbon capture utilization and storage (CCS).

Additionally, the two parties aim to establish an open communication platform to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, insights, and best practices, Petronas said.

Over the years, Petronas has provided China with a “stable” energy supply, including LNG, petrochemical products, crude oil, petroleum products, and lubricants.

CNPC and Petronas are partners in the Shell-led LNG Canada project which is over 95 percent complete.

Last year, Petronas signed an LNG supply deal with a subsidiary of CNPC’s PetroChina.

This deal is is the first medium-to-long-term LNG purchase and sale agreement between PetroChina and Petronas.

In Malaysia, Petronas operates the giant Bintulu LNG complex with a capacity of about 29.3 mtpa.

Also, the company operates two floating LNG facilities, namely the 1.2 mtpa PFLNG Satu, and the 1.5 mtpa PFLNG Dua, both located offshore Sabah.

It is also working on the nearshore floating LNG project in Sabah, its third FLNG.

Source: Lngprime.com

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The post Petronas, CNPC strengthen LNG ties appeared first on Energy News Beat.