Three Idle UK, French Plants Allocated $127 -2-

"Once the free allocations are adjusted in the registry, this triggers an obligation of return of excess allowances," the representative said.

OPIS asked about what happens to an installation operator's obligations to return its free allowance allocation if it is in the process of being repurposed while continuing to emit very low levels of carbon, as in the case of Grandpuits. The spokesperson said at the beginning of June that the commission would consult its experts. Roughly two weeks later, it said the consultation was continuing.

The spokesperson also confirmed that TotalEnergies received its 2022 allocation of EUAs for Grandpuits, adding: "We are currently assessing information from the national authorities on possible adjustment to this installation."

TotalEnergies, the French Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the French Deposits and Consignments Fund did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

OPIS reported on May 24 that in February 2022 the Ince ammonia manufacturing plant near Chester in northwest England, was issued 488,602 free allowances worth £38.68 million at average benchmark prices.

The plant, however, was taken offline in September 2021 and has not returned to operation, a CF Industries representative told OPIS last month. In 2022, the company tried to sell the mothballed plant to UK Nitrogen, but the negotiations ended without a deal after the British government refused a request for a loan to help restart the plant, British media reported last summer.

CF Industries has not responded to repeated OPIS inquiries over whether it sold or returned the 2022 allowances it received from the U.K. government.

OPIS also asked the British government for aggregate data on how many 2021 and 2022 free UK allowances were returned by all installation operators.

A DESNZ spokesperson told OPIS in late May that the agency was waiting for the information from the country's Environment Agency and that it "may need to consult lawyers."

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

--Reporting by Humberto J. Rocha, hrocha@opisnet.com and Anthony Lane,

alane@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 22, 2023 08:50 ET (12:50 GMT)

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