Ireland approves FSRU terminal

Energy News Beat

The state-led strategic gas emergency reserve will address Ireland’s energy security needs while avoiding fossil fuel lock-in, Ireland’s Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications said in a statement.

Ireland is one of five EU member states without domestic gas storage, something which has been identified as a “considerable risk” in the event of damage to one or both of Irealnd’s subsea gas interconnections.

The delivery of a temporary gas reserve is “critical to Ireland’s energy security as we continue to transition to indigenous, clean renewable energy,” the statement said.

“Crucially, the strategic gas emergency reserve will also ensure compliance with EU standards and regulation,” it said.

According to the Department, the emergency reserve will be in the form of a floating storage and regassification unit (FSRU), to be owned on behalf of the state by the system operator, Gas Networks Ireland (GNI).

This is a similar approach to that used for oil security by the National Oil Reserves Agency.

“In identifying this as the optimal approach, the Department has built upon the extensive review of security of Ireland’s gas and electricity systems which was approved by government in the ‘Energy Security in Ireland to 2030’ plan in November 2023,” it said.

Under Action 17 of that plan, GNI was tasked with reviewing and recommending the optimal approach to deliver the strategic gas emergency reserve.

“The development of a state-led reserve in the form of an FSRU is consistent with Ireland’s climate law. It is a transitional measure – reducing the risk of stranded fossil fuel assets, for emergency use only, and does not support increased gas demand,” the Department said.

Accordin to the Department, the appropriate location for the FSRU will need to be a coastal site suitable for development with access to the gas network and sheltered deep-sea access.

“There is a limited number of locations in Ireland that are likely to meet the required site conditions for berthing a transitional FSRU,” it said.

The FSRU will have capacity of 170,000 cubic meters of LNG when full, which would be sufficient to supply 200,000 average domestic gas customer demand for six months, the Department said.

Alternatively, the FSRU would have the ability to supply the entire gas demand for Ireland for seven days and would be refilled to continue to supply the national gas network, it said.

“GNI will ensure appropriate contractual arrangements are in place to refill the FSRU throughout an emergency situation to provide consistent gas supplies via the FSRU for the duration required,” the Department said.

According to the Departmnet, GNI have advised that the FSRU “may be procured on a long-term leasing arrangement or an outright purchase.”

Previously, there were proposals to install an FSRU in Ireland.

Back in 2021, UK-listed Predator Oil & Gas joined forces with Norway’s floating LNG player Hoegh and Dutch contractor Jumbo Offshore on its planned FSRU-based import project in Ireland.

The company was looking to install an FSRU some 50km off the Cork coast, and it named the 2.6 Bcm/year project Mag Mell after the mythical Irish kingdom beneath the ocean.

US LNG player New Fortress Energy also previously planned to build an LNG import terminal in Ireland.

 

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Dominion gets approval for Virginia LNG facility

Energy News Beat

Virginia State Corporation Commission said in a final order dated February 24 that it has granted the construction of the facility which will provide backup fuel supply for Dominion’s Greensville County and Brunswick County power stations.

In June 2024, Dominion filed its application to amend the certificates of public convenience and necessity (CPCNs) for the two power stations to construct and operate the LNG facility and related
transmission facilities adjacent to Greensville.

Brunswick is a 1,358 megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired combined-cycle electric generating facility located in Brunswick County that entered commercial operations in April 2016.

Moreover, Greensville is a 1,588 MW natural gas-fired combined-cycle electric generating
facility located in Greensville County that entered commercial operations in December 2018.

Dominion said that together, the stations generate enough electricity to power over 700,000 homes.

Dominion plans to build the LNG storage facility on 20 acres owned by Dthe company – directly adjacent to the Greensville station, while Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative will provide retail electric service to the storage facility.

Natural gas from the Transco pipeline that currently serves the station will be liquefied on site, stored in the facility and turned back into gas for use in the event of an emergency fuel shortage at Greensville County and Brunswick County power stations, it said.

Also, the facility would provide approximately 2 billion cubic feet of LNG storage capacity, 15 million standard cubic feet per day of liquefaction capacity, and 500 mmscfd of regasification capacity.

When at full capacity, the facility would enable both stations to operate at full load for about four days, or keep one station operating at full load for about eight days, according to Dominion.

The firm previously said that the total estimated costs are about $547 million.

Dominion anticipates that the LNG storage facility would commence operations during the fourth quarter of 2027.

It’s worth mentioning here that Dominion sold its 50 percent non-controlling limited partner interest in Cove Point LNG, to Berkshire Hathaway Energy in 2023.

The deal was worth $3.3 billion.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy, via BHE GT&S, now has a total ownership interest of 75 percent.

A subsidiary of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners holds the remaining 25 percent limited partnership interest in Cove Point LNG.

The plant has a storage capacity of 14.6 billion cubic feet and a daily sendout capacity of 1.8 bcf, or about 5.25 million tons of LNG per year coming from one liquefaction unit.

 

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Five Takeaways From Trump’s Fateful Decision To Freeze All Military Aid To Ukraine

Energy News Beat

ENB Pub Note: This article is from Andrew Korybko, a Russian author who had some excellent thoughts on the President Trump and Zelensky meeting. I do recommend following Andrew on his Substack HERE. While I don’t always agree with his viewpoints, he has solid research and great insights. Thank you, Andrew. 


Transatlantic ties, Russian-US relations, and the nature of American hegemony are all transforming before everyone’s eyes as Trump makes bold moves to force Zelensky to the peace table with Putin.

An unnamed senior Defense Department told the media on Monday evening that Trump decided to freeze all military aid to Ukraine until its leaders demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace. This comes just several days after Zelensky picked his fight with Trump and Vance at the White House. The Wall Street Journal earlier predicted that Ukraine could only continue fighting at its current level till this summer in such a scenario. Here are five takeaways from this monumental development:

———-

1. Trump Is Serious About Brokering Peace

Zelensky made it clear during his disastrous visit to the White House last Friday that he’s dead-set on fighting till the last Ukrainian unless his country either gets NATO membership or Western troops. Neither of those demands is acceptable to Trump since they’d risk World War III, but so too could that risk continue rising if the conflict doesn’t soon end. Trump therefore realized that the only way to force Zelensky to the peace table with Putin is to freeze all military aid until he moderates his extreme stance.

2. He & Putin Likely Have A Secret Agreement

Trump said last week that “A ceasefire could take place immediately”, which was arguably an inadvertent admission of a secret agreement with Putin. No lasting peace can be reached until after the next Ukrainian presidential elections, but they can’t be held during martial law, ergo the need for a ceasefire. Although Putin earlier conditioned this on Ukraine withdrawing from the disputed regions, he might support a ceasefire to justify the US’ curtailed aid to Ukraine and legitimize Russian-US economic deals.

3. But It’s Not Yet A Comprehensive One

If the aforesaid speculation is accurate, then it doesn’t mean that those two have a comprehensive agreement. Serious issues such as the final Russian-Ukrainian border and the question of peacekeepers have yet to be agreed to and might not be resolved till after the next Ukrainian presidential and parliamentary elections. It’s therefore premature to predict that the Line of Contact will become the final border and that Western peacekeepers will be deployed there, especially since Russia opposes both.

4. Poland Might Have A Pivotal Role To Play

About 90% of Western military aid to Ukraine transits through Poland so Trump might ask it to stop the Europeans from using its territory to arm Ukraine during a ceasefire in exchange for post-conflict perks. He doesn’t want the Brits, French, or Germans emboldening Ukraine to violate the ceasefire or provoke Russia into doing so and can incentivize Poland to prevent this by promising to keep American troops there, possibly redeploy some from Germany to Poland, and turn Poland into its top partner in Europe.

5. The “New Détente” Is Trump’s Top Priority

Every major move that’s taken place since Trump’s call with Putin in mid-February has been predicated on advancing his grand strategic goal of a RussianUS “New Détente”, the gist of which is to revolutionize International Relations through a game-changing comprehensive partnership between them. Readers can learn more about its details from the three preceding hyperlinked analyses, but it’s the pursuit of this goal that ultimately drove Trump to make the fateful decision to freeze all military aid to Ukraine.

———-

Transatlantic ties, Russian-US relations, and the nature of American hegemony are all transforming before everyone’s eyes as Trump makes bold moves to force Zelensky to the peace table with Putin. His latest one was literally one of the worst-case scenarios from Ukraine’s and Europe’s perspective but there’s little that they can do in response other than capitulate to his demands. The US holds all the cards like Trump reminded Zelensky last Friday and those who think otherwise risk paying the price.

Source:  Andrew Korybko’s Newsletter

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Nigeria LNG working on LNG carrier order

Energy News Beat

NLNG plans to book three firm 174,000-cbm LNG carriers, according to the sources.

“Many” yards are now bidding to build these vessels, the sources said.

The sources did not provide further details.

LNG Prime invited NLNG to comment on the matter.

NLNG is a joint venture owned by state-controlled Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (49 percent), Shell (25.6 percent), TotalEnergies (15 percent), and Eni (10.4 percent),

Its giant Bonny Island liquefaction plant currently hs six train and a capacity of 22 mtpa.

Besides the six existing trains, Nigeria LNG is also adding the seventh production unit at the Bonny Island plant.

The NLNG Train 7 project consists of the construction of one complete LNG train and one additional liquefaction unit.

The new unit will add around 8 mtpa of capacity to the Bonny Island facility for a total of about 30 mtpa.

The new move is part of NLNG’s fleet renewal initiative, which aims to diversify and reduce the carbon footprint of the company’s shipping portfolio.

According to NLNG’s website, the firm operates a fleet of 23 vessels under long-term time charters, dedicated to transporting LNG from its Bonny plant.

These include 13 vessels (six TFDE and event steam ships) owned by its shipping unit Bonny Gas Transport (BGT).

The remaining vessels are owned by Japan’s NYK (eight steam ships), and BW Gas (two steam ships).

As part of its fleet renewal, NLNG’s BGT chartered newbuild vessels Aktoras and Axios II.

These 174,000-cbm LNG carriers, built in 2024, are owned by Capital Clean Energy Carriers.

It is worth mentioning here that, last year, NLNG’s biggest shareholder started delivering cargoes to Japan and China on a delivered ex-ship basis

NNPC said at the time that its subsidiary NNPC Shipping intends to build a shipping portfolio, including owned vessels.

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CMA CGM books more LNG-powered containerships in China

Energy News Beat

CSSC Holdings said in a stock exchange that its unit Jinagnan has signed a contract on Friday to build LNG dual-fuel container vessels.

The order is worth between 18 billion yuan and 19 billion yuan, or $2.47 billion to $2.6 billion.

CSSC Holdings said the deliveries will take place in 2028 and 2029.

The group said that the shipowner is Jiangnan’s long-term partner, but it did not provide further details.

Shipbuilding sources told LNG Prime that France’s CMA CGM has ordered these vessels.

Last month, LNG Prime was the first to report that CMA CGM and CSSC’s Jiangnan signed a letter of intent for 12 LNG dual-fuel vessels with a capacity of 18,000 teu.

This means that the partners have now finalized the shipbuilding deal.

Based on the CSSC Holdings announcement, each of the LNG dual-fuel containerships is worth between $205 million and $215 million.

Jianganan and CMA CGM have been cooperating for years. Jiangnan previously built, along Hudong-Zhonghua, the first batch of CMA CGM’s giant 23,000-teu LNG-powered containerships, as well as other sizes such as the six 15,000-teu LNG-powered containerships, which were completed last year.

The sources previously said that the new vessels are expected to be similar to the ones CMA CGM recently ordered at South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries.

In January, CMA CGM booked 12 LNG dual-fuel vessels with a capacity of 18,000 teu at HD Hyundai Heavy.

This order is worth about 3.72 trillion won ($2.59 billion) or some $216 million per vessel.

HD Hyundai Heavy will deliver these containerships by December 2028.

Also, these ships are said to feature MAN dual-fuel engines and GTT’s Mark III containment tech.

CMA CGM is one of the world’s largest backers of LNG fuel, and it has set a goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Pioneering the use of alternative fuels, the group has invested more than $18 billion in orders for more than 131 dual-fuel vessels, which will be operational by 2028.

Most of these container vessels are powered by LNG.

 

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Venture Global plans LNG fleet expansion

Energy News Beat

Sources told LNG Prime that Venture Global is interested in booking three firm LNG carriers with more options at yards in South Korea and China.

However, there is no certainty that this order will be finalized.

No further information has been revealed.

LNG Prime invited Venture Global to comment on the fleet expansion plans.

In March last year, Venture Global announced that it had nine LNG carriers on order in South Korea, further advancing its business integration across the entire LNG supply chain.

Six of these vessels have a cargo capacity of 174,000 cbm, and three have a cargo capacity of 200,000 cbm.

The LNG carriers are being built at South Korea’s Samsung Heavy and Hanhwa Ocean.

Last year, Samsung Heavy delivered the 174,000-cbm Venture Gator and Venture Bayou to the US LNG exporter, the first two vessels in Venture Global’s fleet.

The remaining LNG tankers are scheduled to be delivered on a rolling basis through 2026.

In addition, Venture Global revealed in its IPO statement last year that it has chartered two LNG carriers, adding to its fleet of owned vessels.

The vessels were delivered in August and September 2024, bringing its total shipping portfolio to a total of eleven LNG carriers.

Venture Global currently produces LNG at its 10 mtpa Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana.

The company expects to launch commercial operations at its Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal on April 15, some 68 months from its final investment decision and 38 months after production start.

In addition, Venture Global started producing LNG at the Plaquemines LNG plant in Louisiana on December 13, 2024, and the first shipment left the facility for Germany some two weeks later.

Venture Global is targeting a COD (commercial operations date) for the Plaquemines project in the third quarter of 2026 for Phase 1 and the second quarter of 2027 for Phase 2.

It recently also received approval from FERC to boost the capacity of its Plaquemines LNG terminal to 27.2 mtpa.

Besides these two projects, Venture Global is working on the proposed CP2 LNG project in Louisiana, the Delta project, and its fifth project, CP3.

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IMO flagged about new register created in tiny uninhabited South Pacific island

Energy News Beat

Operations

Wily, shady entrepreneurs are scanning world maps to seek ever more distant outposts to establish ship registers to help grease the flows of the dark fleet.

France and the Netherlands have submitted a paper to the International Maritime Organization’s legal committee about the emergence of two new shipping flags with questionable credentials, one in the Caribbean and the other, a disputed, uninhabited volcanic island in the South Pacific.

The submission hits out at what is described as the “fraudulent” registers of Sint Maarten and Matthew Island.

MSTA Registry – International Maritime Registries & Regulatory Inc is “posing” as the register of Sint Maarten, the paper warns. Sint Maarten, part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is a country on the southern part of a Caribbean island shared with Saint Martin, a French overseas collectivity.

More perverse is the new Maritime Administration of Matthew Island, a flag created on a 0.7 sq km rocky outcrop (pictured) where there are no inhabitants. Matthew Island is located in the South Pacific, 300 km east of New Caledonia and southeast of Vanuatu. The island is claimed by Vanuatu, and considered by the people of Aneityum as part of their custom ownership, but also claimed by France as part of New Caledonia.

The IMO has had to contend with a raft of fraudulent registers emerging in step with the growth of the shadow fleet this decade. The UK has been leading a bid to stamp out falsely flagged ships at the IMO. 

In a January submission to the IMO’s legal committee, backed by 21 other countries, the UK counted that the number of falsely flagged vessels has more than doubled to 223 ships in the space of just 22 months. Tankers and general cargo ships are the worst offenders.

“This is clear evidence that there is an adverse impact from fraudulent ship registration and fraudulent registries of ships in terms of maritime safety, security, environmental consequences and most importantly the human element, especially seafarers on board ships which are fraudulently registered,” the paper said.

The investigation suggested that many flag states were under-resourced, while the decision by some states to outsource flag administration was also seen as a reason for the soaring number of falsely flagged ships. 

The UK said guidelines are needed to assist flags and developing states in improving registration quality and standards, thereby potentially preventing fraud.

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The thousand faces ship: how Chinese vessels change names mid-voyage

Energy News Beat

Greater ChinaOperations

The latest ship accused of damaging cables off Taiwan had a simple way of changing identity. 

Taiwan’s coast guard detained a cargo ship and its Chinese crew a week ago. The vessel is suspected of damaging the cable connecting Taiwan to its outlying Penghu Islands. 

The Togo-flagged Hongtai68 was able to change its name many times as the crews simply replaced three steel plates (pictured) at its stern and on its bow whereby it has also recently traded as theHongtai 58 and Shanmei 7.

The captain of the vessel – dubbed in local media as the ‘thousand faces ship’ – had on an earlier occasion been caught entering Taiwan with false documents.

While this Chinese-backed ship shuffled steel plates to create new names, over in Europe efforts to cover up shadow ship identities are often extremely slapdash. 

Russian-linked ships often get crews to crudely obscure vessel identities, contravening laws established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). 

Yörük Işık, who describes himself on social media as an obsessive ship spotter along the Bosporus, has tracked “dozens” of vessels where original names – and even IMO numbers – have been painted over. 

Işık told Splash last year that Russians increasingly did not care about how the repainted ship names looked. 

Yörük Işık

“There are more and more homemade efforts to write names, ridiculously small, crooked, or written by people who are not familiar with Latin letters,” Işık said. 

Back in Taiwan, the island blacklisted 52 Chinese-owned ships in January that operate under flags of convenience in the wake of the severing of another subsea communications cable. Taiwan’s National Coast Guard Administration identified a Cameroon-registered cargo ship, Shunxin 39, as the suspect in the earlier incident.

Taiwan’s National Security Bureau has said ships which have previously been found to misreport information will be put on a list of ships for priority inspection at ports.

Moreover, if these ships enter within 24 nautical miles of Taiwan’s coast and are close to where undersea cables are, the coast guard will be dispatched to board them and investigate.

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Trump’s trade war steps up a gear

Energy News Beat

US president Donald Trump’s new round of tariffs against his country’s top three trading partners has sparked retaliatory action, launching new trade conflicts.

On Tuesday, Trump imposed 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports, as well as a 20% duty on Chinese goods.

China responded in kind, imposing extra 10%-15% tariffs on some US imports beginning in March, as well as a series of new export restrictions for certain US firms.

Canada, which has had an almost tariff-free trade relationship with the US for about three decades, was ready to strike quickly against its long-time partner, while Mexico with similar trade ties with the US is expected to announce its response later today.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa would respond with 25% tariffs on about $21bn worth of US imports and another $86bn if Trump’s tariffs were still in place in 21 days.

“Tariffs will disrupt an incredibly successful trading relationship,” Trudeau said, adding that they would violate the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement signed by Trump during his first term.

Two of the biggest commodities coming out of Canada that are likely to be impacted by US tariffs are fuel and lumber. Canada is America’s largest foreign supplier of crude.

The additional 10% duty on Chinese imports adds to the 10% tariff imposed by Trump in February. The cumulative 20% levy is in addition to tariffs of up to 25% imposed by Trump during his first term on about $370bn in US imports.

As part of its retaliatory action against the US, China’s new tariffs target a wide range of US agricultural products, including certain meats, grains, cotton, fruit, vegetables, and dairy products. Trump’s first-term trade wars hit US farmers hard, costing them about $27bn in lost export sales.

China’s commerce ministry said the US tariffs violated World Trade Organization rules and “undermine the basis for economic and trade cooperation between China and the US”

Trump has maintained a blazing pace of tariff acts since taking office in January, including fully reinstated 25% duties on steel and aluminium imports, which go into force in March.

“We argue that higher costs from fresh tariffs could hurt consumer demand, albeit this may lead to some front-loading in the near term until clarity emerges, followed by inventory drawdowns during 2H 2025. This would likely further pressure shipping rates,” analysts at HSBC Global Research said.

“These new tariffs are compounding rapidly. Amid other hints at hitting hard on the EU and other allies as well, each HTS code of tariffs snowballs into a growing – and potentially crushing – burden on American businesses and hardworking American families,” remarked Steve Lamar, American Apparel & Footwear Association president and CEO.

Tariffs have been a feature of Trump’s first administration as well as by his successor, Joe Biden and yet data from Linerlytica shows loaded container imports into the US outpaced exports by 2.4 times in 2024, a statistic that analysts at Linerlytica said in a weekly report provides “clear evidence that import tariffs imposed since 2018 have been completely ineffective” in reducing the US trade imbalance.

Total laden imports grew by 24% between 2017 and 2024, the Linerlytica data shows, while laden exports shrunk by 8% over the same period, driving a 54% increase in the number of empty containers repositioned out of the US.

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Global offshore wind additions to hit 19GW in 2025

Energy News Beat

The global offshore wind industry is poised for a rebound in 2025, with capacity additions expected to reach 19GW and sector-wide expenditure projected to hit $80bn, a new Rystad Energy report suggests.

This recovery follows a slowdown at the end of last year when new installations dropped to approximately 8GW which is 2GW lower than the year prior.

A record wave of lease auctions is driving the resurgence, with the world’s largest offshore wind market, mainland China, accounting for 65% of new capacity. With this increase, Rystad believes that total additions will exceed the previous peak in 2021 by about 1GW, surpassing the 7.7GW added in 2024, 10.2GW in 2023, and 9.3GW in 2022.

A record 55GW of offshore wind capacity was offered in lease auctions globally in 2024, excluding mainland China. However, not all this capacity has yet been awarded, as offered capacity does not always translate into awarded capacity.

For instance, the US saw no bids for its 3GW floating wind auction in Oregon last year, while the Gulf of Maine auction awarded roughly 7GW of the approximately 13GW offered.

Despite 2024’s record offerings, Rystad claims that the lease auction openings are projected to decline in 2025, with an expected 30-40GW available. While significantly lower than 2024, this projected offered capacity is aligned with levels seen in 2021 and 2022.

The intelligence firm said in the report that the global offshore wind would have a robust year in 2025 but also sees signals that could affect its smooth upward trajectory.

Most important of which is the US federal policy which is creating significant global ripple effects hindering offshore wind development, especially where a large portion of auctioned capacity lies.

President Donald Trump’s executive order from January halting new leasing and approvals on the Outer Continental Shelf, citing environmental and safety concerns, could last throughout his term pausing new developments and creating continued uncertainty for ongoing projects,

“Project delays significantly impacted final investment decisions for new offshore wind projects in 2024, leading to a decline in project approvals. Notably, 2024 saw only a few US projects reach FID, including Empire Wind 1, Sunrise Wind, and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind. We expect to see around the same level of FIDs this year as last in Europe and Asia, and some possible upside in the US with US Wind, Southcoast Wind, and New England Wind projects obtaining offtake agreements and construction and operation approvals. The latter two just postponed signing offtake contracts until March this year,” said Petra Manuel, senior offshore wind analyst at Rystad.

Despite a slower 2024, the year saw developers advance projects like Red Rock Power and ESB’s 1.1GW Inch Cape in the UK, and Equinor’s 810MW Empire Wind 1 in the US. Other wind farms reaching FID in 2024 include Iberdrola’s 315MW Windanker in Germany, RWE and TotalEnergies’ 795MW OranjeWind in the Netherlands, and Orsted’s 924MW Sunrise Wind 1 in the US.

Rystad believes that the UK, Poland, and Germany are set to lead a surge in European FIDs in 2025, reaching 9.5GW with several projects in these countries on track for final approval. Poland is expected to see multiple major wind farms reach FID including Polenergia and Equinor’s Baltyk II and III, following the recent FID for Orsted and PGE’s Baltica 2.

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