Gas Natural SDG SA : Gas Natural Fenosa is to invest 39 million euros in gas distribution in Andalusia in 2013

Gas Natural SDG SA : Gas Natural Fenosa is to invest 39 million euros in gas distribution in Andalusia in 2013
01/23/2013| 07:11am US/Eastern

Gas Natural Andalucía, the energy multinational's distribution subsidiary, invested 34.6 million euros in Andalusia during the last financial year.

With 388,000 supply points in a network of over 4,700 km in that Spanish region, the company plans to invest close to 10 million euros in the Seville province in 2013.

Bechtel awarded FEED contract for a new LNG project in Mozambique

Monday, Jan 21, 2013

HOUSTON, Jan. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Bechtel has been selected by AnadarkoMocambique Area 1, Limitada to perform a front end engineering and design (FEED) for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in the Republic of Mozambique. This is the first LNG project in the country.

Asia Chart Alert: China: Working-age population falls in 2012; sooner than expected

Asia Chart Alert: China: Working-age population falls in 2012; sooner than expected

Potential growth has likely slowed to 7.0-7.5%, while we expect inflation to exceed consensus levels in 2013.

Searching for ‘Safe Spread’ with PIMCO’s Diversified Income Strategy

Searching for ‘Safe Spread’ with PIMCO’s Diversified Income Strategy

· Diversified Income can add yield potential to global credit portfolios while managing risk in different market environments.

· Many investors are reluctant to invest in more volatile asset classes after the financial crisis.

· The search is on for “safe spread” – sectors that we believe are most likely to provide attractive yields while withstanding the fluctuations of a wide range of possible economic scenarios.

· PIMCO’s Diversified Income Strategy, a diversified blend of corporate and emerging market securities, seeks to offer higher yields without taking on excessive additional risk.

Chile: BCCh kept policy rate unchanged at 5.0% and issued little changed statement

Chile: BCCh kept policy rate unchanged at 5.0% and issued little changed statement

Florencia Vazquez - Market Economics
Latam Macro Snapshot | 17 Jan 2013 21:47 |

Chile’s central bank decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 5.0% at today’s monetary policy meeting. The decision stood in line with both our forecast and the consensus. January is the 12th straight month of no changes to the policy rate after the monetary authority eased 25bp in January 2012.

Focus on West Houston: Energy Corridor, Katy and Westchase

Jan 18, 2013, 5:00am CST
Geographic Spotlight
Focus on West Houston: Energy Corridor, Katy and Westchase

Emily Wilkinson
Assistant Managing Editor-
Houston Business Journal

Home to several Fortune 500 companies as well as prominent private businesses ranging from health care to manufacturing, it’s been boom times lately in west Houston. With several significant projects on the horizon bringing hundreds of thousands of jobs to the area, indicators signal west Houston’s growth momentum will not be slowing anytime soon.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/print-edition/2013/01/18/west-houston-energy-corridor-katy.html

China has the capacity to lead in carbon trading

China has the capacity to lead in carbon trading

Pilot schemes launched this year could be the start of a world-class system — if the country can solve its data-gathering problems, says Qiang Wang.

15 January 2013

The value of the world’s carbon market fell for the first time last year. More than one-third was wiped from the price of carbon credits in a plunge that reflects the continued global economic crisis and uncertainty over the future of emissions-trading schemes.

http://www.nature.com/news/china-has-the-capacity-to-lead-in-carbon-trading-1.12212

Fitch affirms Gas Natural at 'BBB+'; stable outlook

Fitch affirms Gas Natural at 'BBB+'; stable outlook

Wed Jan 16, 2013 7:17am EST

Jan 16 - Fitch Ratings has affirmed Gas Natural SDG, S.A.'s Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BBB+' and removed it from Rating Watch Negative (RWN). The Outlook is Stable. A full list of rating actions is below.

The rating actions follow the approval by the Spanish government of a set of measures on 27 December 2012 designed to prevent generation of future tariff deficit (TD) in the electricity system in Spain. The current regulatory scheme presents slight changes compared with the draft measures published in September 2012. The main difference is that a flat 7% tax has been fixed to all power generation compared with the previous proposal of 6%. Fitch does not expect this to have a significant impact on Gas Natural's credit metrics. The other approved measures were largely unchanged.

Germany: 2013 Will be Better Than it Looks

Germany: 2013 Will be Better Than it Looks

Evelyn Herrmann

The German economy grew 0.7% in 2012 compared to the previous year. After adjusting for calendar effects, German GDP grew 0.9% in real terms for 2012, according to the preliminary estimates released by the German federal statistics office yesterday. We typically watch and forecast seasonally and calendar-adjusted growth. The average annual growth would imply a quarterly contraction of 0.3% q/q in Q4 2012, in line with our forecasts.

Turkey: Unemployment rate declined despite the record high participation rate

Turkey: Unemployment rate declined despite the record high participation rate

In October, unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.1% while non-farm unemployment rate decreased 0.2pp to 11.4%. On a seasonally adjusted basis, unemployment rate decreased to 9.3% from 9.4% in September and non-farm unemployment rate declined 0.3pp to 11.7%. The unemployment rate declined in spite of the new record high participation rate which increased to 50.7% from 50.3% in September.