Good morning, friends, and welcome to the busiest news day we’ve had in a while. We have a deluge of updates from the Egypt-EU Investment Summit and a lot of M&A ground to cover from Saudi and Kuwait. Let’s dive right in.

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- BP halts offshore wind projects in response to investor pressure: Oil giant BP has paused development on new offshore wind projects on the back of increased pressure by investors criticizing the company’s energy transition strategy. CEO Murray Auchincloss expressed his intention to slow down large low carbon investments that are “not expected to be profitable for years,” sources added. The firm also imposed a company-wide hiring freeze, with only a few exceptions including frontline and safety personnel.

Not BP’s first U-turn: Teams previously working on identifying new renewables opportunities have been reassigned to older projects and some job cuts are to be expected. BP’s EV charging business BP Pulse has already laid off over 10% of its workforce and pulled out of several markets.

The story grabbed headlines in Europe: Reuters | The Guardian |The Sunday Times | The Telegraph

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- Infinity reveals groundbreaking date for Sohag wind farm + eyes Cameroon entry: Construction will begin on Infinity Power, Hassan Allam Utilities, and Masdar’s 10 GW wind project in March 2026, chairman of Infinity Power Mohamed Ismail Mansour told Bloomberg in an interview last Thursday. Construction was initially set for this year but fell behind due to land procurement issues in West Sohag. The project will begin electricity generation in 2032, he added.

REMEMBER- The consortium is working on surveys and studies right now. The consortium inked a land access agreement with the Egyptian government in May for over 3k sq km of land in West Sohag that will allow the group to conduct surveys and studies needed before construction begins. The companies had signed the land allocation agreement in June 2023, eight months after the companies signed an MoU on the sidelines of COP27.

Infinity is also planning expansion in Cameroon: Infinity Power wants to reach 10 GW capacity from its current 1.3 GW by 2030, and is planning to gather USD 2 bn in debt and equity to develop 4 GW of small scale projects in West Cameroon, Mansour said in the interview. The projects could include solar, wind, battery storage, and biomass facilities on a smaller scale to avoid overcrowding the grid.

South Africa is also getting a piece of the action: The company wants to expand further in South Africa after closing its acquisition of Africa-focused wind power platform Lekela Power last year, Mansour added. The transaction gave Lekela an enterprise value of USD 1.5 bn. However, Infinity has experienced obstacles with its five existing wind projects in the country and will study over 10 projects across regions to mitigate other possible risks.

#2- Canada’s NextSource Materials is looking at Saudi as the potential home for a new USD 280 mn battery anode plant, it said in a filing to the Toronto Stock Exchange. The facility could produce up to 20k tonnes of graphite anode active material for lithium-ion batteries per year, according to the filing. NextSource already runs a similar plant in Madagascar that supplies Toyota and Tesla.

Where? While it has yet to make a decision to build here, the company named Yanbu Industrial City as its preferred Saudi location, citing its “extensive infrastructure, access to raw materials, commercial zones and shipping routes.” NextSource is now designing the Saudi facility.

There’s more: The company wants to build battery anode plants in more than one country. In addition to Saudi Arabia, it is also looking at Madagascar, the United Arab Emirates, and North America.

#3- The EU may miss its critical minerals recycling goal: The EU’s recently introduced target to have at least 25% of annual demand of critical rare minerals supplied from recycled materials by 2030 — up from the current 1% — is unlikely to be met, according to analysis by Reuters. “Today you have magnets that are leaving Europe every day because there is no possibility to recycle them here,” founder of French rare earth mining start-up Carester Frédéric Carencotte told the newswire. By 2030, the EU will have about 1.1 bn end-of-life devices containing magnets, each of which only contain about 30 grams of magnets on average, consultant at Adamas Intelligence Ryan Castilloux said, implying that it will take time for there to be enough old EVs and wind turbines for the critical minerals recycling to grow.

But there are some firms leading the way: Carester has been collecting old magnets to have supply prepared for its factory launch scheduled in 2026. The firm plans to process 2k tons a year of old permanent magnets and produce rare earth oxides. Germany's privately-held Heraeus Remloy launched a plant last month to recycle old electronic devices into a magnetic alloy powder that can be used to produce permanent magnets. Carester aims to meet 6% of the EU’s demand for critical minerals, while Heraeus Remloy will meet 1%.

REMEMBER- EU members approved the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) in March. The new regulation — aimed at decreasing reliance on imports of essential energy transition minerals including lithium and nickel — mainly targets Chinese imports that account for 95% of the global supply and sets a target to have the EU domestically produce at least 10% and process at least 40% of strategic materials needed annually by 2030. At least 25% of annual demand will come from recycled materials, and no more than 65% of the annual consumption of each critical mineral will come from abroad. The law is yet to be approved by the bloc’s parliament and council.

***
YOU’RE READING ENTERPRISE CLIMATE, the essential MENA publication for senior execs who care about the world’s most important industry. We’re out Monday through Thursday by 9am in Cairo and Riyadh and 11am in the UAE.

EXPLORE MORE OF ENTERPRISE ON THE WEB — tap or click here to read EnterpriseAM, EnterprisePM, Enterprise Climate, Enterprise Logistics, and The Weekend Edition on our powerful new website packed with reader-friendly features.

Want to subscribe? Get your own subscription without charge here or reach out to us on climate@enterprisemea.com with comments, suggestions and story tips.
***

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Turkey will host the Nuclear Power Plants Summit & Expo from Tuesday, 2 July to Wednesday, 3 July in Istanbul. The event will gather utility companies, independent power producers, government officials, and industry leaders to explore nuclear power projects, plans, products and tech solutions.

Egypt will host the Egypt Mining Forum from Tuesday, 16 July to Wednesday, 17 July in Cairo. The event will convene decision-makers from government, industry experts, new exploration firms, financiers, and investors to explore the challenges and advantages to establish Egypt as a leading global mining hub by 2040.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

Tags: