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ENERGY

Iran offers German firms business guarantees

An Iranian official said on Monday Iran is ready to offer investment guarantees to German companies to counter Berlin's efforts to curb business in the country due to its controversial nuclear programme.

Iran offers German firms business guarantees
Photo: DPA

“We will give them guarantees for their investments,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Safari told the Financial Times Deutschland in an interview. “We are open to all kinds of companies.”

Safari, who is to tour Germany in the coming months, said that companies which wished to do so could do business “without a lot of publicity.” A German firm that sought recently to sell a liquified natural gas installation to Iran faced criticism, and the German government subsequently called on others to show “tact” and “moral sense” in its dealings with Tehran.

Iran is subject to international sanctions as a result of its disputed nuclear programme, which the West fears is being used to develop weapons but Tehran claims is only for civilian purposes.

BUSINESS

France’s EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

French energy giant EDF has unveiled net profit of €10billion and cut its massive debt by increasing nuclear production after problems forced some plants offline.

France's EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

EDF hailed an “exceptional” year after its loss of €17.9billion in 2022.

Sales slipped 2.6 percent to €139.7billion , but the group managed to slice debt by €10billion euros to €54.4billion.

EDF said however that it had booked a €12.9 billion depreciation linked to difficulties at its Hinkley Point nuclear plant in Britain.

The charge includes €11.2 billion for Hinkley Point assets and €1.7billion at its British subsidiary, EDF Energy, the group explained.

EDF announced last month a fresh delay and additional costs for the giant project hit by repeated cost overruns.

“The year was marked by many events, in particular by the recovery of production and the company’s mobilisation around production recovery,” CEO Luc Remont told reporters.

EDF put its strong showing down to a strong operational performance, notably a significant increase in nuclear generation in France at a time of historically high prices.

That followed a drop in nuclear output in France in 2022. The group had to deal with stress corrosion problems at some reactors while also facing government orders to limit price rises.

The French reactors last year produced around 320.4 TWh, in the upper range of expectations.

Nuclear production had slid back in 2022 to 279 TWh, its lowest level in three decades, because of the corrosion problems and maintenance changes after
the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hinkley Point C is one of a small number of European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) worldwide, an EDF-led design that has been plagued by cost overruns
running into billions of euros and years of construction delays.

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