Has Tesla Finally Conquered China? (26 December 2019): By Jon LeSage - While new vehicle sales — including new energy/electric vehicles — continued to see a downward slide in November, Tesla broke that cycle with a 14-fold gain in new-vehicle registrations. Model 3 is looking good right as the company prepares to begin deliveries from its Shanghai factory. Registrations of Tesla vehicles climbed to a five-month high of 5,597 in November, compared with 393 vehicles sold a year earlier. The China-built Model 3s are set to start at about $50,000, slightly cheaper than imported versions. Tesla thinks it can lower that price by 20 percent or more next year as it starts using local components and parts, reducing costs. (Source: Oil Price)
Is LNG Actually The Future Of Energy? (22 December 2019): By Anes Alic – Drillers and investors who are getting pummeled in the threadbare LNG market might not be sold anymore on the idea that natural gas is the fuel of the future, but it’s not only the future: It’s the key to every major global energy strategy in the world right now. It’s the key to dominion, and there’s every reason to be patient. Patience is hard when gas prices have tumbled to multi-year lows. Gas futures NGc1 prices have dropped to $2.29 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at the time of this writing, down more than 40% over the past 12 months and the lowest level since May 2016. A big part of the blame can be pinned on a supply glut coupled with not nearly enough pipeline capacity to transport the commodity. (Source: Oil Price)
India Could Become Fastest Growing Energy Market By 2030 (21 December 2019): By Tsvetana Paraskova - India will surpass China to become the world’s largest energy growth driver by 2030, India’s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at a conference on Friday. “We are on our way to become the world’s largest energy consumer,” the minister said, noting that India plans to use a combination of conventional fuel and sustainable fuels to create a “balanced energy mix.” India will also explore the use of other sustainable sources of energy, such as hydrogen, Pradhan said. The energy and steel sectors will play important roles in driving India on the path of becoming a US$5-trillion economy, the minister added on Twitter. India aims to move to a gas-based economy and looks to invest around US$100 billion in energy infrastructure, including renewables, he said. (Source: Oil Price)
Study: Obesity Worsens Carbon Emissions (20 December 2019): By Irina Slav - The growing human population and an increasing average body size is interfering with attempts to arrest and reduce carbon emissions. The growing human population and an increasing average body size is interfering with attempts to arrest and reduce carbon emissions, a new study has suggested—with obesity the latest carbon emissions contributor to be uncovered. According to the study, published in the journal of The Obesity Society, people with higher body mass produce more carbon dioxide, which is a product of metabolism for all oxygen-consuming living organisms. (Source: Oil Price)
Aramco’s Opening Rally Comes To An End (19 December 2019): By Tsvetana Paraskova - Shares in Saudi Aramco dipped 3.27 percent on Thursday as the oil giant was hit by profit-taking, ending the trading week in Saudi Arabia among the top losers today, and wiping out a third of the rally at the start of the blockbuster initial public offering (IPO). Aramco’s shares underperformed on Thursday both the Tadawul All Share Index (TASI) which closed up 0.46 percent, and the MSCI Tadawul 30 Index which gained 0.8 percent. The stock of the world’s largest oil company dropped on Thursday for a third consecutive trading day. Aramco is now down by a cumulative 6 percent compared to the highest closing price it reached this past Monday. On Thursday, Aramco’s shares closed at US$9.46 (35.50 Saudi riyals), down from last week’s closing price of US$9.80 (36.80 riyals). The highest closing price in just over a week of trading was registered on Monday, at US$10.12 (38.00). (Source: Oil Price)
Solar Energy Could Solve Morocco's Largest Energy Problem (18 December 2019): In mid-October government officials inaugurated the village of Id Mjahdi, located near the western city of Essaouira. The first of its kind in Africa, the village, which is capable of housing some 50 people, is completely energy autonomous and is not connected to the national power grid. It is powered by 32 photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, which generate 8.32 KWh of electricity. In addition to powering street lights and domestic water heaters and ovens, the solar station can run a public hammam, water tower, argan workshop and educational centre. To ensure power can be used outside of daylight hours the network is fitted with a battery for electricity storage. (Source: Oil Price)
JP Morgan Raises 2020 Oil Price Outlook (17 December 2019): By Julianne Geiger - Dec 17, 2019, 3:00 PM CSTJP Morgan raised on Tuesday its oil price forecasts for next year, as the investment bank expects OPEC’s production cuts to be effective in conjunction with expectations for better economic growth in emerging markets, Reuters reported. It is estimating that rather than oversupply, the oil market will be in a deficit next year, by 200,000 bpd. This is in stark contrast to its estimates from September, that assumed a 600,000 bpd oversupply situation for 2020. It is expected a 1 million bpd global demand growth—the same as its September forecast. JP’s new forecast for the Brent crude oil benchmark is $64.50 per barrel for next year, up from earlier projections of $59 per barrel. For 2021, the bank is expected prices to fall to $61.50. For the US WTI benchmark, JP Morgan is expecting $60 per barrel next year. (Source: Oil Price)
Wanted: Oil Workers With More Tech, Less ‘Roughneck’ (16 December 2016): By Irina Slav - Oil and gas’s love affair with digital technology is about to get serious. With digital tech’s proven capacity to contribute to the industry’s number-one priority in the post-2014 era—cost control—it’s no wonder that oil and gas companies are fast becoming the biggest fans of all things digital. The change is already showing in job patterns and it could help oil and gas solve their talent shortage problem. The problem is critical for the industry; in January this year, a survey from a recruitment firm in the UK found that many in the industry were concerned there wouldn’t be enough new oil and gas professionals to replace those that were retiring. (Source: Oil Price)
The Two Countries Dictating Oil Prices In 2020 (15 December 2019): By Irina Slav - It’s the end of the year and authorities of various caliber and standing are making oil price forecasts for next year. This wealth of information can be confusing because of its sheer quantity, but here’s a twist: it’s enough to focus on trends in just two countries to catch a glimpse of the immediate future of oil. The two countries, of course, are China and India. They are among the world’s top oil consumers, together accounting for almost a fifth of global oil consumption, as Reuters’ John Kemp noted in a recent column that tackled the issue of oil price forecast complexity. (Source: Oil Price)
For The First Time Ever, Shell Signs $10B Emissions Linked Financing (14 December 2019): By Tsvetana Paraskova - Royal Dutch Shell has signed a US$10-billion revolving credit facility, and the interest and fees paid on it will be linked to the company’s targets to reduce its carbon footprint, in a first for Shell, the oil and gas supermajor said on Friday. The new financing replaces the current US$8.84 billion revolving credit facility and is provided by a syndicate of 25 banks. “This is an innovative deal which also demonstrates Shell’s broad-based commitment to reducing the Net Carbon Footprint of the energy products we sell. We appreciate the strong support and commitment from our relationship banks,” Russell O’Brien, Group Treasurer at Shell, said in a statement. (Source: Oil Price)
Oil climbs to highest in three months on renewed US-China trade deal hopes (13 December 2019): Oil prices extended gains on Friday, hitting three-month highs as the United States and China moved closer to a resolution to the 18-month trade war. Brent crude, the most widely-used benchmark, climbed 47 cents to $64.67 a barrel, its highest since September 23. Whereas, US West Texas Intermediate futures rose 34 cents to $59.52 a barrel, the highest since September 16. "Risk appetite ran wild after [US President Donald] Trump signalled the he made a deal with China and that will only be positive for global demand forecasts for crude," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at New York-based Oanda, which provides currency solutions to corporate clients. A slump in the US dollar against the backdrop of a strong pound also helped to boost commodity prices, said Margaret Yang, market analyst at CMC Markets. (Source: The National (UAE))
Fire at PetroChina's Fushun refinery (12 December 2019): Firefighters have put out a fire caused by a pipeline leak at a refinery in northeastern China operated by PetroChina, media reported. The fire broke out at 9:39 pm local time on Wednesday after an oil pipeline leak at No.2 oil plant PetroChina’s Fushun Petrochemical Corp in northeast China’s Liaoning province, People’s Daily reported. The fire was put out around midnight after more than 40 fire trucks were dispatched to the site. There were no injuries, the report said. A PetroChina spokesman said he was not aware of the accident and couldn’t immediately comment. (Source: Hydrocarbon Processing)
OPEC Reduced Oil Production Ahead Of Deeper Cuts Decision (11 December 2019): By Tsvetana Paraskova - OPEC’s crude oil production declined by 193,000 bpd in November from October, as the cartel’s leader Saudi Arabia cut production ahead of the OPEC+ meeting, Iraq tried to fall in line with its quota, and Iran further suffered from the U.S. sanctions. OPEC’s crude oil production averaged 29.55 million bpd in November, the cartel said in its closely-watched Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) on Wednesday. The previous monthly report showed that OPEC’s production had jumped by nearly 1 million bpd in October compared to September after top producer Saudi Arabia recovered from the mid-September attacks. In October, the OPEC member with the second-largest monthly production boost was none other than Venezuela, which saw its production rise by 42,000 bpd, according to OPEC’s secondary sources which the cartel uses to track production and compliance. (Source: Oil Price)
Russian Oil CEO: OPEC+ Cuts To Keep Oil Between $55 And $65 (10 December 2019): By Tsvetana Paraskova - The efforts of OPEC and its Russia-led non-OPEC allies to cut production further will be positive for oil prices, which will stay in the US$55-US$65 per barrel range in the first quarter, Alexander Dyukov, CEO at Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft, said on Tuesday. Oil prices will be stable within that range, Dyukov told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Moscow, as carried by Russian news agency TASS. Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of gas giant Gazprom, has budgeted an oil price at US$57 a barrel in its budget for 2020, Dyukov said. (Source: Oil Price)
Is This The Only Way To Make Nuclear Energy Work? (9 December 2019): By Haley Zaremba - The need for efficient, affordable, and scalable alternatives to traditional fossil fuels is more pressing than ever. While clean energy alternatives are already existent and abundant, however, there has been a serious lack of investment and any serious sea change towards decarbonizing the global economy. “Do we really want to be remembered as the generation that buried its head in the sand, that fiddled while the planet burned?” the Secretary General of the UN Climate Change Conference asked his audience last week. Indeed, the seriousness of the situation is such that Forbes has accepted the hyperbolic as journalistic, proclaiming that “in recent years the issue of climate change has taken a decidedly apocalyptic turn” and that with the scientific community projecting that we will be hitting a tipping point of carbon emissions with an irreversible trajectory toward catastrophic climate change this century, “the apocalypse had been scheduled.” (Source: Oil Price)
The Best Way To Invest In The Energy Sector In 2020 (8 December 2019): By Alex Kimani - A record number of energy companies filing for bankruptcy coupled with poor performance by the industry in 2019 has made it incredibly hard to find investments in the energy space that can be considered safe or promising. The industry’s favorite benchmark, the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE), which tracks the price and yield performance of companies in the energy sector, has returned just 2.7% compared to the 24.2% produced by the S&P 500 year-to-date, easily one of the biggest laggards in the entire market. Faced with this worrying trend, it’s easy to give up on the sector altogether or feel tempted to short it to the death – both of which would be decidedly short sighted reactions to a struggling energy market. (Source: Oil Price)
The World’s 10 Biggest Polluters (7 December 2019): By Robert Rapier - About 200 countries are presently convened for the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP 25 in Madrid. The Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change (COP) is tasked with making sure the agreements under the Paris Climate Accord are met. Under that 2015 agreement, more than 200 countries agreed to take steps to keep global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels and, to less than 1.5 degrees above if possible. President Donald Trump announced in 2017 that the U.S. would cease participation in the Paris Accord due to the potential negative impacts on the U.S. economy. Last week I received a press release that the U.S. will no longer be able to pressure China into action, given our decision to withdraw from the agreement. (Source: Oil Price)
U.S. Shale Will Grow Regardless Of Oil Prices (5 December 2019): By Irina Slav - U.S. shale oil production will continue growing even if international prices fall, says Rystad Energy. The Norwegian energy consultancy said in a new report that despite a decline in the number of drilling rigs in the U.S. shale patch since the start of the year, the number of spudded wells has not fallen significantly. What’s more, production growth has continued in the face of spending reductions prompted by prices. According to Rystad, investments in shale oil have fallen by 6 percent this year, to some $129 billion and will fall further, by another 11 percent in 2020. (Source: Oil Price)
Why Carbon Capture Is Essential For UK Oil And Gas: Trade body Oil and Gas UK’s (OGUK) new Energy Transition Outlook report, published today, finds that the development of carbon capture use, and storage technology (CCUS) is essential to meeting the sector’s obligations. The paper calls for “urgent action” in the form of government funding to support five key industrial CCUS projects by the end of the fourth quarter next year. If the five projects are realized, the development would allow for up to 30m tonnes of carbon to be captured. In addition, the paper calls for joint action to increase the potential for low carbon hydrogen to be used as a fuel to heat homes and power cars. OGUK also warned that government energy policy should continue to take into account the oil and gas sector’s contribution to the UK’s economy. (Source: Oil Price)
Oil prices continue to climb on prospect of more cuts (3 December 2019): Oil continued to rise ahead of an annual meeting of Opec members and allies in Vienna as early indications point to a possible deepening of production cuts to tackle global oil inventories. Brent, the most-widely used crude benchmark, was up 0.46 per cent trading at $61.20 per barrel at 12.35pm UAE time, while West Texas Intermediate was up 0.61 per cent at $56.30 per barrel. The oil exporters led by Saudi Arabia and Russia have been cutting 1.2 million barrels per day since the beginning of the year, with the pact expected to hold until March 2020. During the meeting at Opec's headquarters in the Austrian capital, the members, as well as producers outside the group including Russia, will review their compliance with the pact and explore the possibility of deepening cuts. (Source: The National (UAE))
Tesla’s Largest Competitor Is Hidden In Plain Sight (2 December 2019): By Jon LeSage - The Tesla Cybertruck is getting the enthusiasm CEO Elon Musk had hoped for, bragging that 200,000 pre-orders have already been placed for the futuristic electric pickup launched Thursday night. But he's yet to respond to Nikola Motors CEO Trevor Milton's offer to share his company's even cooler fuel cell pickup design to reach a "broader market." Nikola Motors is at the center of a surge in support for hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles that had been missing. Musk for years has dismissed and ridiculed hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, but the truck segment is grabbing hold of it — along with cleantech and green power advocates — who had previously always chosen electric vehicles over fuel cell. Consulting firm Cleantech Group calls it a new path to “decarbonize transportation." (Source: Oil Price)
3 Game Changing Electric Vehicle Technologies (1 December 2019): By Irina Slav - Millions of electric cars are to hit the market next year as every self-respecting carmaker submits its lineup of plug-in vehicles for the environmentally conscious. Sales forecasts for these electric gems vary but tend to be generally optimistic, so carmakers’ hopes run high. There is just one small problem with this perfect picture: range anxiety. Very much like storage for renewable energy, range in electric vehicles has become the top priority and with it, charging times. In fact, it is quite possible that charging times will overtake range in terms of importance soon. If you can charge your EV in five minutes, it becomes less of a worry whether its range is 200 or 250 miles, all driven in the city.