Russian govt must have right to suspend zeroing of fuel damper due to force majeure

The Russian government should have the right to suspend the reduction of the fuel damper subsidy to zero amid force majeure circumstances, the CEO of oil company Gazprom Neft , Alexander Dyukov told reporters on the sidelines of the TNF-2025 Industrial and Energy Forum, as per Interfax.

He said the damper certainly needs to be fine-tuned now. "We are counting on the passage of amendments to the Tax Code to raise the cut-off thresholds as of August 2025, and also to give the Russian government the right to suspend the zeroing of the damper in light of force majeure circumstances," Dyukov said.

He said situations sometimes arise when the fuel damper simply cannot work. "To try to refine the damper so as to factor in all possible scenarios is an unrealistic task," he said.

"In some cases the government should have the right to make a decision to suspend the zeroing of the damper, even if its current parameters are not being fulfilled," Dyukov said.

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A Russian delegation has discussed prospects for trade and economic cooperation with the Iranian leadership, including in the gas sector, during a visit to Tehran, as per Interfax.

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev and the CEO of PJSC Gazprom Alexei Miller held working meetings with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad. Representatives of relevant agencies and companies from both countries participated in the events.

"The parties discussed prospects for trade and economic cooperation, including in the gas sector," Gazprom said.

The Russian Energy Ministry said that the progress in implementing agreements reached following the 18th meeting of the intergovernmental commission (IGC), which took place on April 23-25, 2025, in Moscow, was also discussed. Particular attention was paid to preparations for the 19th meeting of the IGC, which will be held in Iran. Tsivilev and Paknejad co-chair the bilateral IGC.

A meeting was also held with the head of the National Iranian Gas Company, Seyed Tavakoli. A strategic memorandum was signed in 2024 on exploring the organization of supplies of Russian natural gas to Iran, Gazprom said.

Following the April IGC meeting, Tsivilev said that supplies to Iran could begin as early as 2025. At the first stage, using existing infrastructure, they could reach up to 1.8 billion cubic meters per year. The potential for supplies is estimated at 55 bcm per year.

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Moldova has purchased almost all the natural gas needed for the heating season, and will begin to buy electricity in the near future, Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said at a government meeting on Thursday, as per Interfax.

"The purchase of more than 90% of the natural gas required for the next season has been secured. Thus, we are already provided with uninterrupted supplies of natural gas as of now," Recean was quoted by the Moldpres state agency as saying.

He said that the state-owned Energocom has purchased around 700 million cubic meters of gas, which accounts for over 90% of the projected consumption for the 2025-2026 gas year. At the same time, 96% of the required volume was purchased for the heating period from October 2025 to March 2026 inclusive. Purchases were carried out mainly at an indexed price using the TTF quotes of the first month (TTFFM) as part of 54 auctions, in which 13 companies from Switzerland, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany and the Netherlands participated. Twenty-six auctions were successfully completed.

"Let's also prepare for a possible scenario associated with the termination of natural gas supplies to the left bank of the Dniester - we already have mechanisms, we have European financial assistance, we know what needs to be done," Recean said.

With reference to the agency for financial reserves, he said that coal reserves have been fully replenished, and fuel oil reserves are being replenished considering existing storage capacities.

Recean said at the meeting that the electricity needs for the right bank of the Dniester river during the heating period are estimated at 2.8 billion kWh, of which 1.02 billion kWh is expected to produce from local sources and 1.78 billion kWh is planned to be imported. The annual electricity purchase procedures are scheduled to begin before September 30, and prequalification of bidders is currently underway.

Recean also stressed the importance of the planned commissioning of the Vulcanesti-Chisinau electricity transmission line by the end of this year, which will provide an opportunity for direct imports of electricity from Romania.

As previously reported, at the end of last year, the Moldovan parliament declared a state of emergency in the country for 60 days from December 16, 2024 amid the risks of gas supply halt. After the 60-day period ended, the state of emergency in Moldova was not extended.

The Transdniestrian authorities imposed a state of emergency in the economic sector from December 11, 2024 for 30 days, due to the "risk of termination of Russian gas supplies," which materialized on January 1, 2025. After that, the state of emergency was extended seven times, and it was valid until August 31, 2025.

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ExxonMobil, opens new tab is pausing 100 million euros ($118.4 million) of investment in European plastic recycling because of draft EU rules that determine the recycled content in a final product. as per Reuters.

The U.S. energy producer has two projects for chemical recycling at existing plants in Rotterdam and Antwerp to process 80,000 metric tons of plastic waste per year.

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However, Senior Vice President Jack Williams told Reuters in an interview the two projects had now been paused because of the draft EU rules he said discriminated against using existing petrochemicals sites versus standalone facilities.

"Everything else is on track. We've had local support," he said. "We want to make these investments... The only thing standing between us and doing this project is EU policy."
At issue is a draft law to calculate the recycled content based on the mass of waste going into the system and the mass of the output.

ExxonMobil says it significantly favours standalone technologies where the path from plastic waste to output is clearer and penalises more complex integrated facilities into which fossil feedstocks are fed.

Williams said that, based on the draft law, its facilities would get less than half of the credits due.

The draft has been the subject of a public consultation that ended a month ago. Industry groups and companies, including Finland's Neste, share Exxon's view.

The EU has targets to increase plastic recycling rates, such as 30% recycled content in plastic bottles by 2030.
The industry says it needs to combine mechanical recycling that reprocesses waste without changing its chemical structure and chemical recycling, which can process more complex plastics by breaking them down into basic chemicals.

Williams also said that although U.S. import tariffs were not a significant problem for the company, EU regulation was.

He specifically urged the EU to repeal the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) that requires larger companies to check if their supply chains use forced labour or cause environmental damage. Williams said it was complex, bureaucratic, costly, in some cases unachievable and applied beyond the EU. The EU has already eased the rules and delayed its implementation.

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LBB Specialties (LBBS; Norwalk, Connecticut), a specialty chemicals and ingredient distribution company, has announced a partnership with Imerys SA (Paris) to make LBBS the preferred distributor for the Imerys ImerCare product line in personal care and minerals serving the food and nutrition markets across the US and Canada, as per Chemweek.

LBBS will support customers in the personal care, life sciences, and food and nutrition markets with mineral solutions tailored to customers’ unique formulation needs. This partnership enhances LBBS’ portfolio, expanding access to innovative, sustainability-driven mineral technologies, the company said.

“LBBS’ market knowledge, technical expertise and strong customer relationships make them an ideal partner to help us expand our reach and deliver innovative mineral solutions for key segments across North America,” Matthew Centa, Imerys vice president of filtration, ceramics and life sciences, said.

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