QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We have no problems with this. These 10 factories will implement the recommended
corrective measures without hampering their production.”
Shahidullah Azim, Vice president, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association Article, 1D
Railroads add engines amid cargo jam
BNSF Railway Co., owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is leading an effort by U.S. railroads to add hundreds of locomotives to ease a cargo jam caused by bad weather and surging crude shipments.
BNSF increased engines by 250 in the past two months and will add another 125 in the next two months, the company said. Union Pacific Corp., the largest U.S. railroad by total operating revenue, has deployed as many as 250 stored locomotives this year, and Norfolk Southern Corp. has pulled more than 100 out of storage to help increase train speeds that have dropped about 9 percent in recent months.
“For now, we and other railroads are essentially flooding the network with power, and that’s one of the things that you do to get back up on your feet,” James Squires, president of Norfolk Southern, said during a JPMorgan Chase conference Tuesday.
Carloads of petroleum and related products surged 31 percent last year to an average of 13,623 per week as railroads have been tapped to transport crude from a shale drilling boom, according to the Association of American Railroads.
Poland moves to free shale gas deposits
WARSAW, Poland - Poland’s government has adopted a draft law designed to speed up shale gas exploration and reduce dependence on Russian supplies, the prime minister said Tuesday.
Poland, which imports about 70 percent of its gas from Russia, is seeking to exploit its shale gas deposits, but complicated legislation has been an obstacle and discouraged some foreign energy firms.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Ukraine’s conflict with gas supplier Russia adds to the importance of the legislation.
Put on fast track, it could take effect this year.
“The idea behind the draft law is to make possible intensive exploration and extraction of shale gas,” Tusk said.
Tusk said the draft law will simplify and accelerate license procedures for companies. Taxes on exploration will begin in 2020 and should not be higher than 40 percent.
A number of major international exploring firms have given up on shale gas in Poland in the past because of tough licensing terms and lack of sufficient data on deposits. Because of the country’s geological makeup, exploring in Poland is also more technically demanding than in the United States, where the shale gas industry boomed in the 1990s, lowering gas prices.
Early estimates by the U.S. Energy Information Administration that put Poland’s shale gas reserves at 5.3 trillion cubic meters were revised down sharply by Poland’s geology experts to less than 800 billion cubic meters.
Luxembourg holds up EU bank proposal
BRUSSELS - The European Union on Tuesday again failed to agree on a key policy to fight tax evasion because of resistance from Luxembourg, a tiny country that has long prospered from its secretive banking culture.
The failure is “disappointing” because the legislation on an EU-wide automatic exchange of data on bank deposits would allow governments to “identify and chase up tax evaders,” said EU Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta.
Luxembourg, a country of about 500,000 people, was able to shelve the legislation for the 28-nation bloc and its 500 million citizens because the decision required unanimous approval at a finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels.
Luxembourg Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna said he could not yet vote in favor and asked for the matter to be decided by EU leaders at their summit next week.
Luxembourg has insisted for years that it would only agree to the new law once banking hubs that aren’t EU members, such as Switzerland, also sign up. But talks with Switzerland, Liechtenstein and three other nations on signing the agreement have advanced, according to EU officials, leading Luxembourg to cite additional reasons for its opposition.
- The Associated Press
Militia seeks U.S. aid in oil dispute
TRIPOLI, Libya - A Libyan commander whose militia took over vital oil terminals in the country’s east said Tuesday that he is seeking help from the United States in a standoff with the government over the seizure.
Ibrahim Jedran said in a televised statement carried by his private network that U.S. help in monitoring his militia’s management of oil exports and revenue would be “welcome.”
The militia prompted a three-day crisis when it attempted to load oil into a North Korean-flagged tanker that docked without government permission in the port of al-Sidra. The militia seized the port last summer.
The government said Monday that its forces had taken control of the tanker, but the militia denied that. A spokesman for Jedran’s group, Essam Jehani, said it had already sailed into international waters without facing resistance and that he would post a video of the ship leaving port. It was not possible to verify his account.
U.S. Ambassador Deborah Jones has said the militia’s action was “counter to law and amounts to theft.”
“Any oil sales without authorization from these parties places purchasers at risk of exposure to civil liability, penalties and other possible sanctions in multiple jurisdictions,” she posted on her Twitter account Saturday, adding that the tanker was loading “illicitly obtained oil.” She said the oil belongs to the Libyan National Oil Company and its partners, including U.S. companies.
- The Associated Press
Technical glitch halts Euronext trading
Euronext NV is investigating the cause of a technical glitch after trading on its European exchanges was halted for more than an hour Tuesday, preventing transactions in companies such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Sanofi.
Citing a problem with market data, Euronext paused trading just after noon in Paris, according to a notice on its website.
Technology errors might jeopardize credit ratings for exchanges, Standard & Poor’s said in September. The hour long closure at Euronext follows a three-hour pause Aug. 22 for thousands of U.S. stocks, including Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp., because of a glitch at Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. In response, U.S. regulators demanded exchanges make their systems more reliable.
Intercontinenta lExchange Group Inc. is in the process of spinning off Euronext, which runs markets in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon, Portugal. Atlanta-based ICE bought it in November with the Liffe derivatives market and New York Stock Exchange.
- Bloomberg News
Business, Pages 26 on 03/12/2014