Emc & Associates Limited

03/08/2026

ELECTRICITY METERS FITTED BACKWARDS ‘COST US £100m A YEAR’ (www.thetimes.com/)
Customers are paying extra to operate the National Grid safely, because hundreds meters have been put in incorrectly at hundreds of sites.

Electricity users could be paying up to £100 million a year in extra costs to operate Britain’s national grid safely, because hundreds of power installations have their meters fitted backwards.

The “power flow metering polarity issue”, detailed in policy documents written by the state-owned National Energy System Operator (Neso), means hundreds of meters are telling the grid operator they are consuming power when they are actually generating it, or vice versa.

NESO documents said this made it harder to operate the grid within safe limits, and estimated it could add £100 million a year to its costs.

It also said the issue was contributing to “deteriorating accuracy in [grid] management”, causing “reduced … reliability impacting situational awareness” in the grid control room and is a “potential” breach of grid security standards.

The metering issue affects 416 offshore installations spread across up to 45 sites, all of which likely relate to offshore wind farms, according to an expert. Britain has 45 offshore wind farms, meaning all of them are potentially affected.
There are also backwards meters in a further 402 unidentified installations onshore, which could be anything from medium to large power plants to batteries, power management tools or substations. The issue affects 2.8 per cent of all installations of sufficient size to send real-time data to the grid operator. Neso has not said what total generating capacity they account for.
It has put the cost of fixing the issue anywhere between £4.5 million and £44 million. Although it is in the process of creating new standards to prevent it from getting worse, this will only affect new meters.
Andrew Larkins, an independent energy consultant who has advised Neso in the past, said the grid operator should show a greater sense of urgency. “If it’s costing us a hundred million a year you’d think that would be enough to put 20 people on it and fix it as quickly as possible. And it’s not only costing us, it’s a threat to system reliability,” he said.

Customers are paying extra to operate the national grid safely, because hundreds meters have been put in incorrectly at hundreds of sites

08/07/2026

THE DIGITAL TRADE REVOLUTION IS LEAVING SMALL BUSINESSES BEHIND (www.thetimes.com/)
Businesses meant to benefit from government legislation to digitise trade documents have been “untouched” by the changes, research for the government suggests.

While large companies and shipping carriers have taken advantage of the Electronic Trade Documents Act of 2023 to save money by shifting some transactions from paper to digital formats, smaller exporters have been left behind.

This is despite small and medium-sized businesses having been seen as the primary “beneficiaries of the reforms”, with reduced courier fees and administrative costs, as well as improved access to trade finance among the promised rewards.

Evidence collected across 23 interviews with traders and industry experts in March by Ipsos for the Department for Business and Trade concluded that the adoption of electronic trade documentation would only occur “once Customs authorities, carriers, and ports stopped issuing physical paper.”

They added that the common view of experts was that “voluntary adoption by small businesses would not scale, and that progress depended on co-ordinated action by the government and large supply chain actors.”

It has prompted the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) to call for a “phasing out” of paper-based documentation and more co-ordination with the UK’s leading trading partners to accelerate adoption.

The World Trade Organisation has estimated that a typical cross-border transaction requires the exchange of 36 documents and 240 copies of the paperwork.

The UK government suggested the reforms could generate £1.4 billion in net benefits for importers and exporters over 10 years, with bilateral trade to a country such as the US increasing by 6.8 per cent for non-agricultural goods.

However, the Ipsos researchers found that there was “low” awareness of the reforms among small business owners, who were typically led by the requirements of their couriers rather than instigating changes to trade documentation themselves.

The use of electronic bills of lading — a legally binding document issued by a carrier to a shipper that acts as a receipt, a contract and a document of title establishing legal ownership — has doubled since 2023, the researchers noted.

Large companies and shipping carriers have taken advantage of the recent Electronic Trade Documents legislation to save money by switching away from paper

03/07/2026

https://www.facebook.com/reel/905527712602323/?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V&fs=e&fs=e

17/06/2026

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/massimilianocervo_most-markets-are-still-mid-bridge-on-gas-share-7471531513361166336-rOID?utm_medium=ios_app&rcm=ACoAAAlTElkBAHZqJJrou4RIMDtvIItB607yUCc&utm_source=social_share_send&utm_campaign=facebook

14/05/2026

With the Gulf of Hormuz shut, approximately 50% of the world’s exports of Sulphur are not making it to international export markets. Countries like UAe, Qatar & Iran & Kuwait are major exporters of Sulphur to make SulphuricAcid

Sulphur is the key feedstock for Sulphuric Acid which is used especially in the production of Copper & Nickel, to strip the metal from its’ ore, which may put a halt on many Greentech projects until various oil & gas fields in Arabia return to production that are currently ‘Shut-in’ as ‘sour’ gas and oil fields contain sulphur which is common in Arabia.

Stocks of Sulphur & Sulphuric Acid may last most or all of this year and possibly some of 2027, but prices of both commodities have already risen 400-500% with no end in sight to the Gulf of Hormuz closure.

Copper and Nickel are widely used in electrical, marine and industrial applications as well as BESS & EVs putting a hold on every country’s Energy transition

America is the largest importer of sulphur, for its’ extensive agricultural and industrial needs, particularly Fertiliser production.
Ammonium sulphate is used to boost yields of Corn Wheat Rice & Soyabeans, so expect many country’s agricultural production to be significantly lower this year, possibly even Famines in East Asian countries which rely on Chinese exports of fertilisers.

14/05/2026

The Treasury department issued $25bn of new 30-year bonds on Wednesday, with the high yield at auction reaching 5.046%.

Earlier in the day, yields on US debt, which move inversely to prices, rose after official data showed wholesale inflation had jumped to 6% in April, its highest level since 2022.

“Financing the debt is getting much more expensive,” said Ed Al-Hussainy, a portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle.

The sale comes as the conflict in the Middle East drives a surge in fuel prices that has pushed up costs for businesses across the US. Inflation is corrosive to long-term debt, and concerns about the bout of higher price growth have helped drive the 30-year yield up roughly 0.4% since the start of the war.

April’s producer price index was up sharply from a 4.3% year-on-year gain in March and 3.4% before the war began in February, according to Wednesday’s data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Everything that you buy is going to end up on a truck somewhere — and those trucks have to run mostly on diesel. So you’re seeing the broad-based influence of energy across the economy,” said Brett Ryan at Deutsche Bank. “It’s not looking to be a fun summer for US consumers.”

Wholesale prices are often seen as a forerunner of consumer inflation, which has already risen to a three-year high of 3.8% in April.

Good morning, Asia. While you were sleeping, one of our most-read stories was about the US Treasury department’s $25bn auction and what it means for markets and the economy. https://ft.trib.al/xoOlbh4

14/05/2026

With the Gulf of Hormuz shut, approximately 50% of the world’s exports of Sulphur are not making it to international export markets.

Sulphur is the key feedstock for Sulphuricacid which is used in the production of Copper & Nickel which may put a temporary halt on many Greentech projects until various oil & gas fields in Arabia return to production that are currently Shut-in as ‘sour’ gas and oil fields contain sulphur which are common in Arabia

Copper and Nickel are widely used in electrical, marine and industrial applications.

America is the largest importer of sulfur, for its’ extensive agricultural and industrial needs, particularly Fertiliser production, Ammonium Sulphate which is used to boost yields of corn, wheat, Rice & Soya beans

14/05/2026

With the Gulf of Hormuz shut, approximately 50% of the world’s exports of Sulphur are not making it to international export markets.

Sulphur is the key feedstock for Sulphuricacid which is used in the production of Copper & Nickel which may put a temporary halt on many Green tech projects until various oil & gas fields in Arabia return to production that are currently Shut-in as ‘sour’ gas and oil fields contain sulphur which are common in Arabia

Copper and Nickel are widely used in electrical, marine and industrial applications.

America is the largest importer of sulfur, for its’ extensive agricultural and industrial needs, particularly Fertilizer production. Ammonium sulfate which is used to boost yields of Corn Wheat Rice & Soyabeans

01/05/2026

EXON & CHEVRON DEFY TRUMP PRESSURE TO BOOST OIL PRODUCTION (www.ft.com/)

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email [email protected] to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://help.ft.com/faq/gifting-and-sharing-an-article/what-is-a-gift-article/.
https://www.ft.com/content/2a028e5e-1108-42b0-9733-43a8523d3226?syn-25a6b1a6=1&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQKNjYyODU2ODM3OQABHnQ1tl5NmG0jKfOLUwBX9E4sHayQ93Ug2szPSjDGnHOr0nrLRpqht-Eky7xm_aem_WQXlJFuc6GCoeqTVC2lOmA

Exxon and Chevron defy Trump pressure to boost oil production

US supermajors stick to prewar strategies despite White House plea for more drilling to curb soaring petrol prices

Exxon said there had been ‘no change’ to its strategy in the Permian Basin, while Chevron said ‘the crisis has not prompted any change to any of our plans’ © AFP via Getty Images
Exxon and Chevron defy Trump pressure to boost oil production on x (opens in a new window)
Exxon and Chevron defy Trump pressure to boost oil production on facebook (opens in a new window)
Exxon and Chevron defy Trump pressure to boost oil production on linkedin (opens in a new window)
Exxon and Chevron defy Trump pressure to boost oil production on whatsapp (opens in a new window)

Save
Stephanie Findlay in Houston

Published2 HOURS AGO
79
Print this page
Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world

ExxonMobil and Chevron have defied calls from the White House to increase oil production, resisting pressure from an administration that is struggling to end the biggest energy crisis in decades.

Exxon’s chief financial officer Neil Hansen told the FT there had been “no change” to the company’s strategy in the Permian Basin, the dominant US oil and gas region, while Chevron’s finance chief Eimear Bonner said “the crisis has not prompted any change to any of our plans”.

The Iran war has slashed production across the Gulf and hit refining operations in the Middle East and beyond, triggering an energy shock that threatens to fuel inflation across the world.

Oil prices on Thursday rose to $126 a barrel, the highest level since the start of the war, while US petrol prices have soared to more than $4 a gallon, undermining President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to bring them below $2 and make life cheaper for Americans.

The government has released oil from the strategic petroleum reserve and called for more drilling from the industry, but the two US supermajors are holding firm on their prewar strategies.

“There’s really no need for us to shift up because we’re already up, we’re already in high gear,” Hansen said. “That doesn’t mean we aren’t looking at the potential to expand that but there are limitations.”

Bonner said “we could grow in the Permian but that’s not the strategy we have. Our strategy is to grow free cash flow, not grow production.” She added: “You wouldn’t expect us to be changing our plans significantly on the back of eight weeks of disruption.”

Their comments came as the groups released their first-quarter results on Friday.

Exxon reported net income of $4.2bn in the three months to the end of March, down 46 per cent on the same period a year ago in a drop that was primarily the result of a $3.9bn paper loss on hedges linked to cargoes that have not yet been delivered. The company said it expected the mismatch to unwind in future months as contracts were completed.

The oil group has the highest exposure to the crisis in the Middle East, with operations in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar accounting for 20 per cent of its oil production last year. Exxon in April warned that the conflict would cause a loss of 6 per cent of its global production in the first quarter.

“This quarter demonstrated that ExxonMobil is a fundamentally stronger company than it was just a few years ago, built to perform through disruption and across market cycles,” chief executive Darren Woods said in a statement. Exxon said it would pay a second-quarter dividend of $1.03 a share.

Chevron, which is less exposed, reported net income of $2.2bn in the first quarter, a 37 per cent drop over the same period last year, but said it had $2.9bn worth of paper losses.

The company’s production rose by 500,000 barrels a day compared with the first quarter of 2025 as a result of the integration of US oil and gas producer Hess, higher production in the “Gulf of America” and growth in the Permian Basin.

Chevron shares rose 0.8 per cent in pre-market trading, extending their gain this year to 27 per cent. Exxon stock was up 0.4 per cent.

Both Exxon and Chevron, whose chief executive Mike Wirth was among a group of executives who met Trump this week, said they were running their refineries at record rates, capitalising on the high price of diesel and other refined products.

Breaking news: ExxonMobil and Chevron have defied calls from the White House to increase oil production, resisting pressure from an administration that is struggling to end the biggest energy crisis in decades. https://ft.trib.al/dBbBpSl