Organic Cathode Batteries: A Leap Forward in Eco-Friendly Energy Storage (31 January 2024): By Brian Westenhaus - Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers announced a new organic battery material that could offer a more sustainable way to power electric cars. The lithium-ion battery includes a cathode based on organic materials to replace the cobalt or nickel. The reporting paper has been published in ACS Central Science. For now many electric vehicles are powered by batteries that contain cobalt – a metal that carries high financial, environmental, and social costs. In a new study, the researchers showed that the organic material, which could be produced at much lower cost than cobalt-containing batteries, can conduct electricity at similar rates as cobalt batteries. The researchers also reported the new battery also has comparable storage capacity and can be charged up faster than cobalt batteries. ... (Source: Oil Price)
BP Taps Cutting-Edge 4D Seismic Tech to Survey Azerbaijani Oil Field (30 January 2024): By Eurasianet - Faced with declining production from Azerbaijan's main Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oil field, field operator BP has launched what it says is "globally" its biggest-ever seismic survey program aimed at maximizing output. Launched on January 23rd, the new survey will cost $370 million over five years and will cover an area of 740 square kilometers, focusing on the Balakhany and Fasila oil reservoirs, the two main reservoirs in the ACG field. The survey itself will be conducted by sub-contractor Caspian Geo LLC using two specialized vessels, the Murovdag and the Guba using a survey technique called 4D seismic surveying. Seismic surveying is a technique that uses controlled explosions on the seabed to send seismic waves through kilometers of rock below. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Investor Group Seeks to Steer BP Back to Oil and Gas (29 January 2024): By City A.M - A leading London activist investor group is pressuring oil giant BP to ditch renewable energy and maintain its fossil fuel operations for shareholders, reports suggest. The Financial Times this morning reported that Bluebell Capital Partners wrote to BP chair Helge Lund in October after taking a small stake in the company. The letter decried BP’s commitment to reduce oil and gas production by 25 per cent by 2030 against 2019 levels as an “irrational strategy” that has depressed its share price. The target is a legacy commitment from former chairman Bernard Looney, who resigned last year over inappropriate relationships with colleagues. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Navigating the Land Crunch in Renewable Energy Expansion (27 January 2024): By Haley Zaremba - Building out solar and wind power generation capacity at the scale and pace needed to meet global climate pledges will require some serious problem-solving. There are a handful of key challenges facing renewable scaling, the three most prominent of which are aging and unsuitable power grids, arduous and lengthy permitting processes, and securing enough land to build utility-scale solar and wind farms. This last one is a doozy. “Utility-scale solar and wind farms require at least ten times as much space per unit of power as coal- or natural gas–fired power plants, including the land used to produce and transport the fossil fuels,” states a 2022 insight report from strategy & management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. “Wind turbines are often placed half a mile apart, while large solar farms span thousands of acres.” And climate goals will require a whole lot of those kinds of farms, presenting serious land-use quandaries in a world with increasingly less undeveloped land to go around. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Oman Is Looking To Become a Green Energy Hub (25 January 2024): By Alan Mammoser - Like other Gulf countries, Oman is dependent on oil and gas revenues for the major part of its export income, leaving it vulnerable to energy transition. It is therefore looking at large-scale production of carbon-free or ‘green’ hydrogen. With its magnificent renewable energy resources, huge areas of open land, and strategic location at the nexus of Arabia, Africa and South Asia, Oman enjoys natural advantages in its ambition to become a major hydrogen producer and exporter. And its plans are realistic, according to the International Energy Agency. In a report last summer, the IEA wrote that Oman could well become one of the world’s most competitive producers of renewable H2, and the largest exporter in the Middle East. ... (Source: Oil Price)
IEA To Expedite 2025 Oil Demand Forecast in OPEC Competition (24 January 2024): By Alex Kimani - The International Energy Agency (IEA) has announced that it will publish its 2025 oil demand forecast report in April, about three months earlier than its former schedule after OPEC expedited its equivalent report by six months. Last week, OPEC released its 2025 oil demand forecast wherein it maintained its earlier prediction of robust demand growth in 2024 and 2025 led by China and the Middle East. OPEC has forecast that oil demand will grow by 1.85 mb/d in 2025 to hit 106.21 million bpd. For the current year, OPEC maintained its earlier prediction that demand growth will clock in at 2.25 million bpd. OPEC’s 2025 forecast came out on the same day OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais published an article that disputed a commonly held view that global oil demand is close to a peak, and reiterated earlier calls for continued investments in the industry. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Early 2024 Product Tanker Rates May Crush Even 2022 Records (23 January 2024): By Julianne Geiger - Product tanker rates are showing signs of strength, and have the potential to crush even the records set in 2022—and the number of oil cargoes transiting through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is falling. The number of ships carrying crude or dirty petroleum products such as fuel oil has dropped 25% in the year to January 19, Vortexa data compiled by Bloomberg show, and the rising shipping rates are starting to eat into the profits of manufacturers, including Tesla, which announced a two-week production halt at its facility in Germany due to the supply chain shortages caused by delays in shipments. According to Bloomberg, about 2,300 vessels are taking the long way around to steer clear of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea—a situation that could lead to inflationary surges. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Copper and Gold: Key Indicators for Predicting Economic Trends (22 January 2024): By ZeroHedge - The copper/gold ratio is diverging from its usual correlation with 10-year Treasury yields, indicating a possible decline in yields. The Federal Reserve's dovish policy shift, with rate hikes slowing down, aligns with the ratio's implication of lower Treasury yields. Historical reliability of the copper/gold ratio as a leading indicator for economic trends suggests a downward trajectory for interest rates in the coming year. In the realm of institutional asset management, the copper/gold ratio (blue line) has served as a key indicator for some, providing insights into the potential trajectory of 10-year Treasury yields (red line). There are unique dynamics at play between these two metals, with copper being an industrial necessity and gold serving as a stable safe-haven. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Next-generation electric fracturing system improves efficiency, ESG performance (January 2024: SPECIAL FOCUS- Hydraulic Fracturing) - Hydraulic fracturing has experienced rapid transformation over the last several years. The market of the early 2000s and 2010s is a distant memory. In today’s energy economy, operators are seeking to increase value while reducing cost and non-productive time (NPT). Traditional oil and gas energy sources are competing against other investment opportunities and investors are asking energy companies to focus more on returns, cash flow and capital discipline. This focus on financial performance starts at the wellhead, where energy producers look at the cost of a barrel of oil and focus on levers that allow them to reduce the cost of production. This pressure is pushed down through the supply chain, including service companies, suppliers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). An ongoing change in the industry is underway to ensure greater better returns. ... (Source: World Oil)
Space-Based Solar Farms Could Power the Planet from Orbit (18 January 2024): By Haley Zaremba - The variability of renewable energy is one of the key hurdles standing between us and a net-zero future. Unlike baseload fossil fuels, which can be easily manipulated to produce enough supply to meet demand at any given time, renewable energy sources like solar and wind power depend on uncontrollable elements like the weather and the time of day. Finding a way to better match renewable energy supply with demand will therefore be critical to meeting global decarbonization goals. The leading solution for this problem of variability is long-term energy storage. While the sector is still in its infancy, energy storage is on course to become an incredibly lucrative industry. Law firm Morgan Lewis has referred to the storage sector as “the technology that will cash the checks written by the renewable energy industry,” and described that “the global energy storage market will continue its rapid growth, with an estimated 387 gigawatts (GW) of new energy storage capacity expected to be added by 2030—a 15-fold increase in global energy storage capacity compared to the end of 2021.” ... (Source: Oil price)
Europe's Nuclear Power Renaissance (17 January 2024): By Felicity Bradstock - Several European powers are rapidly progressing plans to expand their nuclear energy sectors, despite a lack of support from major EU powers, such as Germany. The U.K. recently announced plans for its biggest nuclear expansion in 70 years, as well as plans to extend the life of several existing facilities. France continues to back its longstanding approach to nuclear power, with plans to build several new reactors in the coming years. Sweden recently voted in favour of the expansion of its nuclear power sector, and Hungary is moving forward with the construction of a massive nuclear plant. This month, the U.K. government announced plans to make the biggest expansion to British nuclear power in 70 years, aimed at enhancing energy security, reducing consumer energy bills, and creating thousands of jobs. This move comes after the U.K. experienced greater energy volatility following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and subsequent sanctions on Russian energy. The government’s Civil Nuclear Roadmap outlines the country’s nuclear power ambitions, including plans for the major Sizewell C development and its small modular reactor (SMR) strategy. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Shell to exit Nigeria's troubled onshore oil after nearly a century (16 January 2024): (Reuters) - Shell is set to conclude nearly a century of operations in Nigerian onshore oil and gas after agreeing to sell its subsidiary there to a consortium of five mostly local companies for up to $2.4 B. The British energy giant pioneered Nigeria's oil and gas business beginning in the 1930s. It has struggled for years with hundreds of onshore oil spills as a result of theft, sabotage and operational issues that led to costly repairs and high-profile lawsuits. Since 2021, Shell has sought to sell its Nigerian oil and gas business but will remain active in Nigeria's more lucrative and less problematic offshore sector. Shell's exit is part of a broader retreat by western energy companies from Nigeria as they focus on newer, more profitable operations. Exxon Mobil, Italy's Eni and Norway's Equinor have struck deals to sell assets in the country in recent years. ... (Source: HP)
Natural Gas Is Set to Play a Major Role in the Energy Transition (15 January 2024): By City A.M - Getting the world’s richest and most powerful nations to unilaterally agree to a move away from fossil fuels earned the recent COP28 summit in Dubai praise of the kind not seen since Glasgow in 2021. Decarbonization, it was officially determined, was written as the goal and though the speed and logistics of getting there remain fraught with innumerable logistical and political hurdles, the groupthink at least appeared positively green. That may not, though, mean the end for natural gas. After all, it doesn’t carry the same collective animosity that oil has managed to accrue, and is likely set for a new act. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Researchers Propose $2 Trillion Plan to Transform the Shipping Industry (14 January 2024): By Brian Westenhaus - Researchers at the University of Oxford have found that green ammonia could be used to fulfill the fuel demands of over 60% of global shipping by targeting just the top 10 regional fuel ports. That suggests that the fuel could be a viable option to help decarbonize international shipping by 2050. The study report has been published in IOP Publishing’s journal Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability. The researchers at the University of Oxford looked at the production costs of ammonia which are similar to very low sulfur fuels. Their early estimate has a cost of about $2 trillion would be needed in a transition to a green ammonia fuel supply chain by 2050, primarily to finance supply infrastructure. ... (Source: Oil Price)
China Reports Record Oil and Natural Gas Production in 2023 (11 January 2024): By Irina Slav - China produced a record amount of crude oil and natural gas last year, the National Energy Administration has said. The authority added that the increase in shale and other unconventional gas output was especially remarkable. That was the same year that imports of crude oil also broke several records and natural gas imports remained robust. In crude oil, domestic production rose by more than 3 million metric tons last year, the NEA said, as cited by China Daily. This brought the total to 208 million tons, equal to about 4.2 million barrels a day, using a conversion factor of 7.33 barrels per 1 million metric tons. Natural gas production in China went up to 230 billion cubic meters last year, with so-called unconventional gas, including shale, coal-bed methane, and natural gas hydrates, accounting for 96 billion cubic meters. The unconventionals represented 43% of China’s total gas output, highlighting the importance of developing such resources. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Suez Canal Crisis: A New Catalyst for Global Inflation (10 January 2024): By City A.M - The number of container ships transiting through the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal tumbled 90 per cent year-on-year through the first week of January, as attacks from Yemeni Houthi rebels continue to disrupt one of the world’s busiest trade routes. New figures from industry tracker Clarksons Research showed the collapse in traffic into the Gulf of Aden, which is used as an entry point for container ships travelling between the Suez Canal. Key shipping giants such as Maersk, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have restricted traffic through the region since attacks from Iran-backed Houth rebels began in mid-November, sparking fears over the impact on global supply chains and inflation. The Red Sea is a vital shipping route, connecting the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal. Maersk resumed crossings between December 25 and 2 January under a US-led naval coalition. But Hapag-Lloyd has warned it plans to continue diverting traffic away from the Suez Canal, despite the international military operation to keep the area safe. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Scientists Present New Solid State Lithium Battery That Lasts 6000 Cycles (9 January 2024): By Brian Westenhaus - Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences researchers have developed a new lithium metal battery that can be charged and discharged at least 6,000 times. That’s more than any other pouch battery cell – and can be recharged in a matter of minutes. The cycle count equals more than 16 years of daily charge /discharge cycles. The research not only describes a new way to make solid state batteries with a lithium metal anode but also offers new understanding into the materials used for these potentially revolutionary batteries. The research report has been published in Nature Materials. Xin Li, Associate Professor of Materials Science at SEAS and senior author of the paper said, “Lithium metal anode batteries are considered the holy grail of batteries because they have ten times the capacity of commercial graphite anodes and could drastically increase the driving distance of electric vehicles. Our research is an important step toward more practical solid state batteries for industrial and commercial applications.” ... (Source: Oil Price)
3 Catalysts That Could Push Gold Prices Even Higher (8 January 2024): By ZeroHedge - Gold just wrapped up its best year since 2020 with a 13 percent gain, and the yellow metal has new records in its crosshairs as we move into 2024. Gold faced significant headwinds throughout most of 2023 with dollar strength and a higher interest rate environment. But as the markets began to anticipate an end to the Federal Reserve’s inflation fight, gold rallied during the fourth quarter. Gold surged to a new record high in early December topping out at just over $2,125 an ounce. It couldn’t sustain those highs, but it has since built strong support at $2,000 an ounce, creating a foundation for gold to test new highs in the coming year. Saxo Bank's Ole Hansen told Reuters he sees three significant demand factors boosting gold as we move into the new year. Following on from a surprisingly robust performance in 2023 we see further price gains in 2024, driven by a trifecta of momentum-chasing hedge funds, central banks continuing to buy physical gold at a firm pace, and not least renewed demand from ETF investors. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Canada's Oil Sands Set for Expansion as Pipeline Nears Completion (6 January 2024): By Tsvetana Paraskova - Canada’s oil producers plan higher output for this year and expect to earn more from their heavy crude once the long-delayed expanded Trans Mountain Pipeline enters into service. The start date of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) is the key uncertainty this year for the Canadian oil industry, the benchmark Canadian heavy oil prices, and the revenues for the oil-producing province of Alberta. Despite this uncertainty about the additional export capacity from Alberta’s oil sands, some of the biggest Canadian producers plan to boost production in the short to medium term. The top liquids producer, Canadian Natural Resources, for example, announced last month its 2024 capital budget that targets exit 2024 production levels of around 1.455 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), up by around 40,000 boepd from the targeted exit 2023 production levels. The company also targets 2025 average annual production growth of approximately 4% to 5% compared to the 2024 average annual production levels. ... (Source: Oil Price)
From Black Gold to Tech Marvel: Coal's New Role in Electronics (4 January 2024): By Brian Westenhaus - A joint research effort from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has shown how coal can play a vital role in next-generation electronic devices. Coal is an abundant resource in the United States that has, unfortunately, contributed to air pollution through its use as a combustible fossil fuel. As the country transitions to other means of energy production, it will be important to consider and reevaluate coal’s economic role. Coal may actually play a vital role in next-generation electronic devices. Qing Cao, a U. of I. materials science & engineering professor and a co-lead of the collaboration said, “Coal is usually thought of as something bulky and dirty, but the processing techniques we’ve developed can transform it into high-purity materials just a couple of atoms thick. Their unique atomic structures and properties are ideal for making some of the smallest possible electronics with performance superior to state-of-the art.” ... (Source: Oil Price)
New Tech Transforms Greenhouse Gases into Industrial Resources (3 January 2024): By Brian Westenhaus - Ruhr-University Bochum researchers are constantly pushing the limits of technology by breaking new ground in CO2 conversion. The goal is to turn the harmful greenhouse gas into a valuable resource. A novel catalyst system could help reach the CO2 recycling goal. Research groups around the world are developing technologies to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into raw materials for industrial applications. Most experiments under industrially relevant conditions have been carried out with heterogeneous electrocatalysts, i.e. catalysts that are in a different chemical phase to the reacting substances. However, homogeneous catalysts, which are in the same phase as the reactants, are generally considered to be more efficient and selective. To date, there haven’t been any set-ups where homogeneous catalysts could be tested under industrial conditions. A team headed by Kevinjeorjios Pellumbi and Professor Ulf-Peter Apfel from Ruhr University Bochum and the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT in Oberhausen has now closed this gap. ... (Source: Oil Price)
U.S. Now World’s Largest LNG Exporter (2 January 2024): By Julianne Geiger - The United States is now the world’s LNG exporter, after overtaking Australia and Qatar, according to new data compiled and shared by Bloomberg on Tuesday. The United States exported 91.2 million metric tons of LNG last year, after the country’s primary export facility, Freeport LNG, resumed operations after an eight-month hiatus following a fire in June 2022. Meanwhile, EU countries were looking to reduce their reliance on Russian gas and compensate for Russia’s curtailment of pipeline gas into Europe. Australia was the second-leading LNG exporter in 2023, while Qatar, the leading LNG exporter in 2022, reduced its exports by 1.9% in 2023, came in third. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Beyond Batteries: What’s Really Driving the Energy Transition? (1 January 2024): By ZeroHedge - Authored by Tom Albanese via RealClear Wire - The world is becoming increasingly electric and connected, transitioning towards a future powered by batteries and running on electronics that will require an ever-growing supply of critical minerals and materials. From the Ford F-150 Lightning to the F-35 fighter jet, these minerals and materials already power our most advanced technologies and nearly every facet of our everyday lives. In the race to transition from a fossil-based to a minerals-based economy, the Biden Administration has been focused on semiconductors and battery materials. The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Act and CHIPS Act is providing an unprecedented influx of government funding to spur domestic manufacturing. This is especially true for dual-use minerals and materials needed for the green energy transition and defense applications. However, there is much more at stake than just the lithium, cobalt, and nickel we hear about for EV batteries. ... (Source: Oil Price)