Aurelia Butler

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and top Ukrainian finance officials will visit Washington next week during the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, sources familiar with the plans said on Friday.Shmyhal, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and central bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko are slated to meet bilaterally with finance officials from the Group of Seven countries and others, and take part in a roundtable on Ukraine to be hosted by the World Bank on Thursday, the sources said.Thursday’s event will be the first chance for key Ukrainian officials to meet in person with a host of financial officials from advanced economies since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Spillovers from Russia’s war in Ukraine are expected to dominate next week’s meetings of senior economic officials from World Bank and IMF member countries, as well as the G7 and G20, with the IMF poised to downgrade its forecast for global growth as a result of the war.Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine on what he calls a “special military operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies say those are bogus justifications for an unprovoked war of aggression that has driven a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people from their homes and led to the deaths of thousands. Thursday’s meeting will be more of a roundtable than a donors conference, although both the IMF and World Bank have set up separate accounts to be able to process and relay donations, and additional pledges are expected to be announced next week.It will give officials a chance to discuss the physical devastation and economic consequences of the war, as well as the continued functioning of Ukraine’s banking and financial sector.”Without support now, there will be no reconstruction in the future,” one of the sources said. The World Bank had no immediate comment on the event.World Bank President David Malpass told an event in Warsaw this week that the bank was preparing a $1.5 billion support package for Ukraine.The IMF’s executive board last week approved creation of a new account giving bilateral donors and international groups a secure way to send financial resources to Ukraine.Canada, one of Ukraine’s main supporters, has proposed disbursing up to $1 billion Canadian dollars through the new account, which will be administered by the IMF.The account will allow donors to provide grants and loans to help the Ukrainian government meet its balance of payments and budgetary needs and help stabilize its economy as it continues to defend against Russia’s deadly invasion.Marchenko last week said his government was seeking about 4 billion euros ($4.37 billion) in foreign financing in addition to the about 3 billion euros it has already received to deal with a budget shortfall. More

The Biden administration will restart oil and gas leasing on federal lands as it comes under increasing pressure to bring down high petrol prices, backing away from a freeze that had riled industry executives. Around 144,000 acres of public lands will be put up for sale next week, the interior department said on Friday, marking the end of a moratorium on new leases imposed by the president in one of his earliest acts in office. In June last year, a federal court in Louisiana ordered the Biden administration to restart the leasing programme.The new leases will charge higher royalty payments from oil and gas producers than before — 18.75 per cent compared with 12.5 per cent previously — and significantly cut back on the amount of land that will be auctioned compared to what the industry had asked for.“Today, we begin to reset how and what we consider to be the highest and best use of Americans’ resources for the benefit of all current and future generations,” said Deb Haaland, interior secretary.The move comes as President Joe Biden finds himself under intensifying political pressure over high fuel prices, which have driven soaring inflation. The national average price of gasoline on Friday was $4.07 a gallon, down from a recent high last month of $4.33 a gallon, but still more than 70 per cent higher than when the president took office.Biden has pulled various levers at his disposal in an effort to bring down prices. Earlier this month he announced an unprecedented release of 180mn barrels of crude from the government’s strategic stockpiles, which contributed to a recent decline in global oil prices. He has also leaned on allies in the Gulf and American oil and gas producers to raise output, though without much success. The leasing announcement comes just days after the administration’s latest effort to temper prices by lifting seasonal restrictions on ethanol blends in petrol. The energy crisis has taken precedence over the administration’s climate agenda in recent months, frustrating environmentalists.Combating climate change was central to the president’s election campaign, and he had pledged on the trail that there would be “no more drilling” on public lands if he were elected. In January 2021, he signed an executive order freezing new lease sales on the country’s 245mn acres of public lands pending a review. A report published by the interior department last November suggested that the system should be overhauled.Oil and gas production from federal onshore lands makes up less than 10 per cent of total US output and restarting leasing that will take months if not years to yield new output is unlikely to make a big difference to global oil prices, analysts say.Frank Macchiarola, senior vice-president at the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s largest lobbying group, said he welcomed the restarting of leasing but said holding back acreage and raising royalty rates could “discourage oil and natural gas investment on federal lands”.“We are concerned that this action adds new barriers to increasing energy production, including removing some of the most significant parcels,” said Macchiarola. More

Environmental groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil have been staging daily protests in London and across the country which have mainly been focused on oil facilities.Navigator Thames, ExxonMobil and Valero have now secured civil injunctions to allow them to minimise disruption and prevent further problems, Britain’s business department said.”While we value the right to peaceful protest, it is crucial that these do not cause disruption to people’s everyday lives,” energy minister Greg Hands said.”That’s why I’m pleased to see oil companies taking action to secure injunctions at their sites, working with local police forces to arrest those who break the law and ensure deliveries of fuel can continue as normal.”The opposition Labour Party has been calling for nationwide injunctions to stop the activists, who want the government to commit to ending all new fossil fuel infrastructure immediately, saying their protests were leading to shortages at fuel stations.As well as targeting oil refineries and depots, demonstrations have been staged at the London base of oil firm Shell (LON:RDSa) and at the Lloyd’s of London headquarters. In their latest action on Friday, activists said they had blocked off four bridges in central London. Police have arrested 600 people since the protests began this month.The government secured injunctions last year to stop protesters blocking motorways and major roads in London and the southeast. More