Wind Power Accounted For 25% Of Texas’ Electricity Generation In 2022 (28 February 2023): By Michael Kern - Texas has long been known for its oil and gas industry, but in recent years, it has become a leader in renewable energy, particularly wind power. According to ERCOT, wind energy accounted 25% of the state’s electricity generation in 2022. The growth of wind power in Texas can be attributed to several factors. First and foremost is the state's abundant wind resources. Texas has some of the strongest and most consistent winds in the country, particularly along its western and southern coasts. Another factor contributing to the growth of wind power in Texas is government support. The state offers a number of incentives for renewable energy development, including tax credits and grants for research and development. Finally, advances in technology have made wind turbines more efficient and cost-effective than ever before. Today's turbines are taller and more powerful than those used just a decade ago, allowing them to capture more energy from the wind. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Inflation Reduction Act: Opening Up Green Hydrogen Possibilities (27 February 2023): By Rystad Energy - If 2022 turbocharged the green hydrogen economy, then 2023 is the start of a long slog for this nascent sector that is set to be the backbone for decarbonization, transition and energy security strategies. Rystad Energy research has found that electrolyzer capacity is expected to grow by 186% from 2022 to 2023. Attention is therefore turning to the supply chain capacity necessary for electrolyzer production. Even though many of the raw materials needed for the sector’s growth have seen high price tags in recent years, Rystad Energy expects a 10-15% decrease in electrolyzer service price inflation between 2022 and 2027, as green hydrogen adoption grows, and cost cuts are realized. Rystad Energy’s latest projection for green hydrogen production by 2030 is 24 million tonnes from 212 gigawatts (GW) of electrolyzers, fueled by the latest round of incentives such as Inflation Reduction Act and Europe’s multitude of support schemes. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Kuwait to ramp up refined products exports from the 615,000-bpd Al Zour refinery (24 February 2023): Kuwait is set to ramp up refined oil product exports from its new Al Zour refinery in the second half of 2023 to plug Russian shortfalls in Europe and meet growing demand in Asia and Africa, industry sources and analysts said. The much delayed 615,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery is one of several new complexes coming online this year across the world to churn out more oil products and cool refining margins from record levels last year following the disruption of supplies from top exporter Russia. Kuwait is boosting oil products exports to Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas after Western sanctions on Russia reshuffled energy trade routes globally. The OPEC producer is expected to reduce crude exports and crank up product shipments as it starts up another two crude distillation units (CDUs) at Al Zour later this year to operate the refinery at full capacity, the sources said. ... (Source: HP)
Which Countries Have Planned A Phase Out Of Gasoline Cars? (23 February 2023): By ZeroHedge - The European Union last week approved a law that will ban the sale of combustion engine cars in its member states from 2035. For Germany and Italy as well as for Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Hungary, the new bill sets a first deadline for the sale of gasoline-powered cars. Other European Union countries had already embraced the phase-out of gasoline cars: The Netherlands, Belgium's Flanders region, Sweden, Greece and Slovenia are all looking to end the sale of gas-powered cars even earlier, between 2029 and 2030. The only country in the world beating this is Norway, an electric mobility pioneer from outside of the European Union, where around 80 percent of new cars sold are already fully electric and 100 percent are scheduled to be in 2025. Similarly, voluntarily formed blocks of uniform vehicle standards could be dissolved in the U.S. over the issue of combustion engine cars. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Scientists May Improve Perovskite Solar Cell Efficiency By Up To 250% (22 February 2023): By Brian Westenhaus - A University of Rochester research team has proposed a novel, physics-based approach, using a substrate of either a layer of metal or alternating layers of metal and dielectric material for perovskite based solar cells. Researchers typically synthesize perovskites in a wet lab, and then apply the material as a film on a glass substrate and explore various applications. Their reported findings have been published in Nature Photonics. The competition, silicon, the standard semiconducting material used in a host of applications – computer central processing units (CPUs), memory and semiconductor chips, detectors, and solar cells – is an abundant, naturally occurring material. However, it is expensive to mine and purify. Perovskites – a family of materials nicknamed for their crystalline structure – have show extraordinary promise in recent years as a far less expensive, equally efficient replacement for silicon in solar cells and detectors. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Saudi Arabia’s Oil Company Slips To World’s 3rd Largest Company (21 February 2023): By Julianne Geiger - Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil giant, Saudi Arabia, is now the world’s third-largest company by market capitalization, according to the companiesmarketcap.com list. Aramco, with a market cap of $1.903 trillion, slid to the number three position behind Apple ($2.413T) and Microsoft ($1.920T). Just two months ago, in mid-December, Aramco held the Number two position with a market cap of $1.81T, behind only Apple. And before that, In May of last year, Aramco was sitting at the top of the list with a $2.38 trillion market cap. ... (Source: Oil price)
Will Shell And BP Use Their Mammoth Profits For Green Energy? (20 February 2023): By City A.M - The mammoth profits of the world’s oil and gas giants will pass £200bn when Saudi Aramco unveil their record results next month – with the state-backed energy titan on course to post the most lucrative results in the history of business. Closer to home, BP and Shell unveiled their own mega earnings, announcing record annual profits of £23bn and £32bn respectively, fuelled by soaring fossil fuel prices and rebounding post-pandemic demand last year. When pressured over their bumper profits, the energy giants position themselves as major players in the UK’s drive for energy independence and for reaching its ambitious climate goals. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Highlights of API 685 3rd Edition, Sealless Pumps—Part 3 (February 2023): API 685, “Sealless Centrifugal Pumps for Petroleum, Petrochemical and Gas Industry Process Service,” has been updated to the 3rd Ed. and was published in July 2022. It addresses both magnetic drive pumps (MDPs) and canned motor pumps (CMPs). This work (Part 3) focuses exclusively on secondary containment/secondary control, along with associated instrumentation requirements. Due to the nature of the extensive work done to compose the 3rd Ed., there are three parts to this article. Part 1, published in November 2022, addressed the significant changes in API 685 3rd Ed. Part 2 covered the “other changes of interest to the reader” in understanding revisions from the previous API editions, including the influences and reasons behind each. This work (Part 3) focuses exclusively on secondary containment/secondary control, along with associated instrumentation requirements. The contents of this article were first published at the Turbomachinery and Pump Symposium held in Houston, Texas (U.S.) in September 2022. ... (Source: HP)
European LNG demand to drive competition for new supply and dominate trade in the long term (16 February 2023): Europe’s increased need for LNG looks set to intensify competition with Asia for limited new supply available over the next two years and may dominate LNG trade over the longer term, according to Shell’s LNG Outlook 2023. European countries, including the UK, imported 121 MMt of LNG in 2022, an increase of 60% compared to 2021, which enabled them to withstand a slump in Russian pipeline gas imports following its invasion of Ukraine. A 15 MMt fall in Chinese imports combined with reduced imports by South Asian buyers helped European countries to secure enough gas and avoid shortages. Europe’s rapidly rising appetite for LNG pushed prices to record highs and generated volatility in energy markets around the world. ... (Source: Gas Processing)
Global Oil And Gas Industry Sees Profits Soar To $4 Trillion (14 February 2023): By Michael Kern - The combined income of the global oil and gas industry surged to nearly $4 trillion last year, up from an average of $1.5 trillion in recent years, Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said during a conference on Tuesday. Despite the record industry earnings, the major oil-producing countries, especially those in the Middle East, need to start working on diversifying their economies, the head of the IEA said via video link at an energy conference, as carried by Reuters. “You cannot anymore run a country whose economy is 90% reliant on oil and gas revenues because oil demand will go down,” Birol said. The next climate summit, COP28, which will be held in Dubai, “could be an excellent milestone to change the destiny of the Middle East countries,” said the head of the IEA, one of the international agencies most active in advocating for an energy transition. ... (Source: Oil Price)
INEOS secures $3.7 B in financing for Project One: The greenest cracker in Europe (13 February 2023) - INEOS Olefins Belgium has today announced it has raised ($3.7 B) €3.5 B to support the construction and operation of the most environmentally sustainable cracker in Europe. This is the largest investment in the European chemical sector for a generation. The plant will have the lowest carbon footprint in Europe, three times lower than the average European steam cracker, and less than half that of the 10% best performers in Europe. The plant also has the capability of operating entirely with low carbon hydrogen as well as room for a carbon capture facility and future electric furnaces. Jason Meers, CFO INEOS Project ONE says “Project ONE is a game changer for Europe. It will bring new opportunities to the chemical cluster in Antwerp as well as strengthen the resilience of the whole of the European chemical sector”. ... (Source: HP)
AI-powered bots have entered the chat (12 February 2023): Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in November, millions have witnessed firsthand the power of generative AI. But what exactly is generative AI? And is all the hype around it warranted? In short, yes. The business uses abound, write Michael Chui, Roger Roberts, and Lareina Yee, but executives should remain acutely aware of the many ethical and practical challenges that exist at this early stage of the technology’s development. Dive into these insights to understand how generative AI systems work, what tools like ChatGPT could mean for your business, and other technology trends taking the world by storm. ... (Source: KcKinsey)
The Correlation Between Oil Prices And Inflation Isn’t Straightforward (12 February 2023): By Alex Kimani - For decades, the conventional wisdom in macroeconomics has been that high oil and gas prices are frequently the leading cause of high inflation. In fact, many analysts have blamed the two major oil price shocks of the 1970s for high inflation during the decade. The argument has been that oil prices and inflation are connected in a cause-and-effect relationship, therefore, as oil prices climb, inflation tends to follow in the same direction higher and vice-versa. This is supposedly the case because oil is a major input in the economy, and if input costs rise, so should the cost of end products. But a new study has found that high gas prices have a much lower impact on U.S. core inflation than earlier assumed. A deep dive into the latest wave of high inflation in the United States reveals that the relationship between high energy prices and inflation is hardly straightforward nor is it supported by available data. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Climate Crisis Tide Turns For Big Oil (8 February 2023): By Irina Slav - Constant accusations of knowing the effects of their products on the environment and lawsuits have become constant companions of oil companies in the last few years. The successes that activists have had—such as Friends of the Earth’s court win that obliged Shell to cut its emissions by 45 percent—have been celebrated loudly and globally. Naturally, Big Oil tends to be the target of choice because of its size, but with governments in Europe and much of North America pledging their total support for an energy transition, the whole industry has become a target. And has been quiet about it all, probably on the assumption that trying to defend itself would make things worse. Until recently. ... (Source: Oil Price)
TotalEnergies wins two CO2 storage licenses in Danish North Sea (7 February 2023): World Oil Staff - TotalEnergies has been awarded two licenses to explore CO2 storage potential in the Danish North Sea. The licenses are located 250 km off the west coast of Denmark and cover an area of 2,118 km2. The acreage includes the Harald gas fields, currently operated by TotalEnergies, for which the company is already assessing CO2 storage opportunities within the framework of the Bifrost project, as well as a saline aquifer that could increase CO2 storage volumes and bring a competitive solution to the market. Alongside state-owned Nordsøfonden (20%), TotalEnergies (80%) will be the future operator of the offshore CO2 storage licenses. The company will carry out evaluation and appraisal work to develop a project that could ultimately transport and permanently store more than 5 Mt CO2 per year, by repurposing existing infrastructure in the Danish North Sea and building new facilities. ... (Source: World Oil)
Will OPEC+ Abandon Its Output Cuts Amid Soaring Chinese Demand? (6 february 2023): By Tsvetana Paraskova - A strong rebound in China’s oil demand this year may lead to the OPEC+ group reconsidering its production targets and quotas, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). China’s reopening is putting upward pressure on global oil demand, and half of this year’s demand growth is set to come from the Chinese growth in consumption, the IEA says. In case of a strong rebound in Chinese demand, OPEC+ may have to reconsider their output policy, the IEA’s Executive Director Fatih Birol told Reuters this weekend. “If demand goes up very strongly, if the Chinese economy rebounds, then there will be a need, in my view, for the OPEC+ countries to look at their (output) policies,” Birol told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference in India. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Energy Workforce & Technology Council: oilfield services employment highest since March 2020 (5 February 2023): World Oil Staff - (WO) — Employment in the U.S. oilfield services and equipment sector rose by an estimated 3,069 jobs to 652,090 in January, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) after adjustments to December numbers and analysis by the Energy Workforce & Technology Council (Energy Workforce). December adjusted number of 649,022 is down slightly from the preliminary number of 650,587. Gains in November were made in four of the seven categories tracked by Energy Workforce. The January increases make OFS employment the highest since March 2020, and continues to reach closer to the pre-pandemic numbers in February 2020 of 706,528. Overall, U.S. employers added 517,000 jobs, exceeding expectations and significantly higher than the 260,000 gains in December. ... (Source: World Oil)
Monthly Highlights, February 2023: McKinsey - The first month of the new year is in the rearview, and we didn’t quite get the fresh start we were hoping for. Between geopolitical stress, climate change, and macroeconomic uncertainty—topics that were front and center at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos—the business environment remains turbulent in 2023. Where does the world go from here? Our two featured stories this month attempt to provide some clarity. In a new article, senior partners Michael Birshan, Homayoun Hatami, Ida Kristensen, and coauthors offer potential scenarios to help business leaders set their top priorities and prosper in a 3 × 3 world where uncertainties are multiplied. And the McKinsey Global Institute’s Olivia White, Jonathan Woetzel, Sven Smit, and Jeongmin Seong assess the future of globalization as we know it—and outline why leaders must take a granular approach when deciding whether to double down, decouple, or diversify. Other highlights in this month’s issue include the following topics.
EEFA North America: British Columbia LNG project costs rising again (1 February2023): Cost overruns on the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline, rising construction costs for the Woodfibre LNG plant, and new uncertainties for gas production in the Montney Basin are creating financial challenges for liquified natural gas (LNG) projects in western Canada, according to a new Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) report. In early 2022,the IEEFA reported that rising construction costs and policy challenges had eroded LNG Canada’s financial underpinnings, casting a pall on proposals to build more LNG export capacity on Canada’s west coast. The latest report, “British Columbia LNG Project Costs Rising Again,” follows up on the previous report and shows that the dour assessment may have not have been nearly grim enough. ... (Source: Gas Processing)