Coal Prices Lower on Sluggish Demand
European physical coal prices were lower on Monday afternoon on sluggish demand and as continuing over-supply weighed on prices. Cargoes for delivery in May to the ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp (ARA) were valued at around $73.20 a tonne, almost $4 lower than the previous settlement on Friday. ARA coal for June delivery was valued around $75.65 a tonne, slightly below its previous settlement on March 25 of $76.00. "Buying has been patchy of late - there isn't much demand," one coal trader said. The API2 2015 coal futures contract saw bids of $79.65 a tonne, below Friday's settlement price of $79.91. Analysts said the market was eyeing a psychological support level of $80 a tonne but there were no clear drivers which would push prices up.
Norway to Relaunch Carbon Capture Plan
Norway's government will this spring launch a strategy to develop technology for capturing and burying heat-trapping emissions from polluting industries, aiming to make good on a pledge to build a full-size plant by 2020. Proponents of carbon capture and storage (CCS) hope the oil-rich nation will join Britain and the Netherlands in funding a handful of schemes to keep Europe from falling behind other major economies in adopting the technology. Europe had once aimed to take a global lead in the development of CCS, which bodies such as the International Energy Agency view as essential to meet a globally agreed goal of limiting temperature rises to 2 degrees Celsius.
