Is OPEC Locked Into Supply Cuts With Oil Below $75 (30 June 2023): By Julianne Geiger - As oil prices hover underneath the $75 for a Brent barrel, OPEC has likely found itself stuck with the extra supply cuts it took on—mainly Saudi Arabia—a hedge fund manager told Bloomberg on Friday. “It would be too damaging to prices to remove it at this time, given the fragility of sentiment,” hedge fund manager of Black Gold Investors LLC said. Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia voluntarily agreed to downsize its production targets by another 1 million barrels per day for the month of July—although it could be extended. Oil prices reacted by jumping up, but the effects were not long-lasting. Today, crude oil prices are lower than they were prior to the announced cut, putting OPEC in a tricky position. ... (Source: Oil Price)
U.S. Shale Has Finally Grown Up (28 June 2023): By Irina Slav - Last year, U.S. unconventional oil production contributed 7.8 million barrels daily to global supply. This unconventional production—shale oil—had already turned the United States into a new swing producer and a challenger to OPEC. Now, this is changing. Before, U.S. shale producers spent their time working to see just how much oil they could pump out of the ground if they really put their minds to it. Costs did not matter. Neither did cash returns for investors. The big prize was always around the corner. The U.S. became the world’s largest oil producer. It could move prices the way OPEC did. And then came the pandemic, and everything fell apart, with oil prices briefly swinging below zero. Those were U.S. oil prices. No industry could come out of such a trial without learning a lesson, and U.S. shale indeed learned a lesson. Investors helped, too. They decided they didn’t want to wait for the prize around the corner any longer. They wanted their money now after years of patience. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Europe To Face Offshore Wind Tower Deficit By 2028 (28 June 2023): By Rystad Energy - Offshore wind developments are a critical component of Europe’s energy transition plans, but a supply headache could be on the horizon for the industry before the end of the decade. Rystad Energy’s modeling shows that in 2028, demand for offshore turbine towers will outstrip manufacturing capacity, signaling that time is running out for the continent to address the issue and ramp up production capabilities. Rystad Energy’s offshore wind capacity outlook shows that wind tower manufacturing capacity will keep pace and exceed demand before 2028. However, that year is the turning point, and in 2029, demand will surpass manufacturing capacity by a significant margin. Steel demand for offshore wind towers will total more than 1.7 million tonnes in 2029, but manufacturing capacity will be a maximum of around 1.3 million tonnes, meaning supply can only meet about 70% of demand. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Supply Worries Drive Oil Prices Higher (27 June 2023): By Irina Slav - Crude oil prices began trade with a gain today as supply worries returned to the table amid the rebellion news from Russia and expectations of demand growth during peak driving season in the United States. In midday trade in Asia Brent crude was moving toward $75 per barrel with West Texas Intermediate climbing above $70 per barrel. News about a rebellion in Russia by private military contractor Wagner added fuel to oil prices at the start of the week. The group was quick to agree to a deal ending the rebellion, basically ending it before it really started, but concern has lingered as the market watches what happens next. “There’s a possibility of supply disruption any time you get a serious geopolitical event in a major oil supplier,” Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, told the Financial Times. “It opens up a can of worms and we’re going to have to see how that plays out.” ... (Source: Oil Price)
Saudi Aramco And TotalEnergies Seal $11 Billion Petrochemicals Deal (26 June 2023): By Charles Kennedy - Saudi Aramco has inked a contract worth $11 billion with French TotalEnergies for the construction of a new petrochemical complex in the Kingdom. The facility will be integrated with a refinery in Jubail and will feature one of the largest steam crackers in the Gulf, Aramco said, with a capacity to produce 1,650 kilotons of ethylene and other hydrocarbon gases. The two companies also awarded construction contracts for the project to several local and foreign companies including South Korea’s heavy industry major Hyundai Engineering & Construction, and China’s Sinopec Engineering. South Korea’s government hailed the deal, which is worth $5 billion, with the country’s land minister noting it would expand the cooperation between South Korea and Saudi Arabia. ... (Source: Oil Price)
New Energy Tech Could Transform The Internet Of Things (24 June 2023): By Brian Westenhaus - A Tohoku University led international research group has engineered a new energy-generating device by combining piezoelectric composites with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP), a commonly used material that is both light and strong. The new device transforms vibrations from the surrounding environment into electricity, providing an efficient and reliable means for self-powered sensors. Details of the group’s research have been published in the journal Nano Energy without a paywall. Energy harvesting involves converting energy from the environment using piezoelectric into usable electrical energy and is something crucial for ensuring a sustainable future. Energy harvesting via vibrations researchers develop highly durable and efficient device. Image Credit: Tohoku University. Click the press release link for more images and information. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Nuclear Fusion Project Sees Cost Overruns, More Delays (22 June 2023): By Julianne Geiger - The old joke that nuclear fusion is perpetually a decade away may seem unfair, but the world’s largest fusion project is once again facing more delays and billions in cost overruns. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, has suffered at the hands of disrupted supply chains and faulty parts. And now, the project’s hopes of achieving fusion by next year is in serious jeopardy. The project has seen a number of setbacks—including Covid-19. When all its ducks were finally in a row again post-Covid, the project was once again struck by disruptions—this time from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions. Then on May 14 of last year, ITER’s director general, Bernard Bigot—a man brought in to set things right after previous delays and cost overruns--died. ... (Source: Oil Price)
New Tech Could Charge EVs In As Little As 6 Minutes (21 June 2023): By Brian Westenhaus - Professor Won Bae Kim and his team at Korea’s POSTECH utilize electron spin of anode material to boost capacity and accelerate charging in lithium-ion batteries. The paper reporting the advance has been published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. The research was recognized for its excellence and was published as a front cover paper in Advanced Functional Materials. Charging an electric vehicle usually takes about 10 hours or longer, and even with fast-charging methods, it takes at least 30 minutes. That is assuming there is an available spot at a charging station. If we could charge electric vehicle batteries as quickly as refueling gasoline-powered cars, it could help alleviate the shortage of EV charging stations. The efficiency of lithium-ion batteries, the type used in electric vehicles, is determined by the anode material’s capability to store lithium ions. Recently, Professor Won Bae Kim, from the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Graduate Institute of Ferrous & Energy Materials Technology at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH, President Moo Hwan Kim), led a research team to develop a new anode material. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Nuclear Fusion: A Clean Energy Revolution Or A Radioactive Nightmare? (20 June 2023): By Kurt Cobb - Fusion reactors, while producing energy, also produce neutron streams that can cause radiation damage, produce radioactive waste, necessitate biological shielding, and even create the potential for weapons-grade plutonium production. Apart from the aforementioned problems, fusion reactors face issues such as tritium release, intensive coolant demands, and high operating costs, which would require the power plant to have at least a one-gigawatt capacity to balance costs. Given the time and resources required for fusion power plant construction, the technology might not be feasible for timely carbon emission reduction, and the prospect of fusion energy might be distracting society from immediate solutions to energy scarcity and climate change. ... (Source: Oil Price)
China And Russia’s Ice-Breaking Ambitions In The Arctic (19 June 2023): By ZeroHedge - Warming temperatures and thawing sea ice could soon allow for the expansion of maritime routes through the Arctic region at certain times of the year. Polar powers looking to capitalize not only on the shortened shipping lanes but also on the natural resources that exist there are eyeing up this geopolitically strategic space, with Russia and also China, which is a part of the Arctic Council and a self-defined 'near-Arctic state', having become two of the most prominent players in the region. Currently, the main shipping route between Asia and Europe passes from China to Rotterdam via the Suez Canal. But the fragility of the transit route was revealed in 2021 when the Ever Given ship blocked the passage, halting traffic for 7 days. And so a new route through the Arctic could save time for the transportation of goods. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Emerging Markets Embrace Innovative Water Management Strategies (17 June 2023): By Oxford Business Group - With extreme weather events such as drought or flooding becoming more common due to climate change, countries around the world are looking to innovative solutions for water management. Water scarcity captured global headlines last summer, as Europe experienced its worst drought in 500 years and China’s Yangtze River reached record low levels, derailing hydropower operations. Elsewhere, widespread flooding affected Nigeria, India, Pakistan and other parts of the world. Due to population growth, climate change and the rise of water-intensive clean energy technologies, the gap between renewable water supply and demand is expected to reach 40% by 2030, according to US investment bank Morgan Stanley. The UN estimates that drought could affect over three-quarters of the world’s population by 2050. ... (Source: Oil Price)
5 Weird Energy Innovations That May Become Reality (14 June 2023): By Charles Kennedy - Scientists are constantly pushing frontiers in search for solutions to the many challenges that human civilization faces, and nowhere is this truer than in energy. With the tone of climate change alarm-sounding growing louder by the day, alternative energy sources have become one of the most active areas of innovation. Some of the results of that innovation are literally eye-watering. Others, you could call eye-opening. Waste-to-power; Cremation as a dual use service; The power of seaweed; Sand batteries; Body heat ... (Source: Oil Price)
Rystad Sees Major Jump In Battery Storage Capacity Through 2030 (14 June 2023): By Rystad Energy - The era of battery energy storage applications may just be beginning, but annual capacity additions will snowball in the coming years as storage becomes crucial to the world’s energy landscape. Rystad Energy modeling projects that annual battery storage installations will surpass 400 gigawatt-hours (GWh) by 2030, representing a ten-fold increase in current yearly additions. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are a configuration of interconnected batteries designed to store a surplus of electrical energy and release it for upcoming demand. Consequently, BESS offers practical solutions for addressing power intermittency challenges. As the world transitions to greener sources of power generation such as solar PV and wind, battery energy storage developments will be critical in meeting future energy demand. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Looming Copper Shortage Could Be A Wake-up Call For Big Tech (13 June 2023): By Kurt Cobb - I'm certainly not the only person who noticed before now that sustaining our increasing consumption of copper would be difficult as I suggested in my July 2022 piece entitled "Acceleration forever? The increasing momentum of mineral extraction." But the mainstream media now seems to be catching up with the story. The boom in demand for copper for electronic devices, electric vehicles, and energy infrastructure is likely to lead to shortages in the next decade. The Reuters story cited above also tells us that mines take 10 to 20 years to develop AFTER the deposits they are based on are identified. There is, therefore, little prospect that copper production will be dramatically increased in the next decade. (I'm assuming that there are going to be no crash government-subsidized programs and waiving of environmental and permitting regulations. But, even if such programs and waivers emerge, I'm not sure they will have much effect in the next decade or so.) ... (Source: Oil Price)
Nuclear Fusion Remains Decades Away Despite Major Breakthroughs (8 June 2023): By Haley Zaremba - After decades of progress so incremental and expensive that it may have seemed pointless, nuclear fusion technology finally had a breakthrough worth writing home about. Last year, a team of scientists in California was able to achieve ignition, creating more energy from a laser-driven fusion experiment than was beamed into it. The breakthrough has signaled a new era for nuclear fusion, in which the nascent technology shifted from a pipe dream ripped out of the pages of science fiction to a model of clean energy production with actual potential for practical application and scalability. But critics still question whether creating an artificial sun here on Earth will ever be affordable and energy efficient enough to make a real impact on the global energy industry. In the last three years, nuclear fusion breakthroughs have increased exponentially, with scientists making incredible gains across the globe in different fusion experiments, often with completely different approaches. And it all happened nearly simultaneously when looking at the long timeline of nuclear fusion experimentation. All of these breakthroughs have been critical, but three, in particular, have rewritten the narrative and made even the staunchest doubters of nuclear fusion take pause. First, in 2021, a team of researchers at the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in Hefei, China obliterated previous records for a sustained steady-state fusion reaction, achieving fusion for an unprecedented 1,056 seconds – nearly 20 minutes. In the same year, The Joint European Torus (JET) in Oxfordshire more than doubled its 1997 fusion record when it produced 59 megajoules of energy in a single fusion experiment. ... (Source: Oil price)
Is Geothermal Energy The Key To Decarbonization? (11 June 2023): By Felicity Bradstock - As governments and private firms worldwide invest heavily in research and development into alternative clean energy sources, geothermal energy is attracting greater attention. Although still highly underdeveloped, the potential for new geothermal operations is significant, with countries across Europe converting old fossil fuel projects into geothermal energy sites and using new operations to power industry. But other countries, such as Peru and Japan, are finding it hard to get political and public support for these types of projects. Geothermal energy can be produced by converting heat energy from under the Earth’s crust. This energy is accessed through the digging of one-mile wells to access underground reservoirs to use steam and hot water, which can turn turbines connected to electricity generators. There are three types of geothermal energy operations: dry steam, flash and binary. While the potential for geothermal energy is significant, it remains largely untapped in most areas of the world due to the technological limitations of the past. ... (Source: Oil Price)
WoodMac: $30 Billion In UK Energy Investments At Risk Ahead Of Elections (7 June 2023): By City A.M - Some $30bn (£24.2bn) of investment in new UK energy projects is at risk if Labour wins the next election, a top energy consultancy has warned. Consultancy giant Wood Mackenzie believed the growing expectation of a Labour government – which has pledged to ban new North Sea oil and gas developments – was already causing energy firms to pivot from the UK. The Conservative government’s windfall tax has already angered many oil and gas firms, with several currently reconsidering their pipeline of UK projects. But it added that a Labour government also risks sending a message to investors that the UK is not secure for new energy projects more broadly, deterring future investment in renewable energy developments amid an increasingly poor financial climate. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Climate Activists Slam Biden For Breaking Gas Financing Promise (7 June 2023): By Charles Kennedy - A decision by the Biden administration to provide financial help to Poland for securing LNG supplies has prompted a loud reaction from climate activists. Per a Bloomberg report, Washington-owned International Development Finance Corp. promised it would give Poland’s PKN Orlen $500 million as a guarantee for payments due to the European arm of Goldman Sachs for hedging activities for future supply of U.S. liquefied natural gas. Yet the Biden administration has stated it would stop financing hydrocarbon projects outside of the United States, which is the part that got climate activists angry. Bloomberg recalled that the G7 had last year committed to “end new direct public support for the international unabated fossil fuel energy sector by the end of 2022,” except in “limited circumstances.” ... (Source: Oil price)
A Unique Way To Play The Coming $700 Billion Electric Vehicle Boom (June 5 2023): By James Stafford - The global electric vehicle market is a crowded space valued at nearly $194 billion in 2022 and set to reach an astounding $694 billion by 2030. Now it’s time to find more unique opportunities as many of these smaller car manufacturers find the market being overtaken by the traditional auto giants like Ford, Chevy and GM. Opportunity abounds, but phenomenal cash burn and a slower path to profitability have rendered this crowded space rather risky. But the EV market isn’t just about the roadways … The waterways are going electric, too, and the playing field is much less chaotic, with the clear first-mover advantage going to Vision Marine Technologies (NASDAQ:VMAR), with its proprietary PowerTrain outboard motor and the launch of the fastest electric speedboat in its class on the market. ... (Source: Oil Price)
Understanding The Economic Realities Behind Wind And Solar Energy (5 June 2023): By Gail Tverberg - Energy modeling often overlooks important factors when evaluating renewable sources like wind and solar, including the association between high energy prices and the need for increased government debt. There are shortcomings in the Energy Return on Energy Investment (EROEI) model in assessing the value of renewables, particularly the omission of important factors like the mismatch of energy output timing and the necessity of energy storage. The true measure of the feasibility of renewables is the generation of taxable income without the need for subsidies, which, according to the author, is not the case with today's wind or solar energy. A major reason for the growth in the use of renewable energy is the fact that if a person looks at them narrowly enough–such as by using a model–wind and solar look to be useful. They don’t burn fossil fuels, so it appears that they might be helpful to the environment. As I analyze the situation, I have reached the conclusion that energy modeling misses important points. I believe that profitability signals are much more important. In this post, I discuss some associated issues. ... (Source: Oil price)
Oil Demand Outlook Remains Uncertain Ahead Of OPEC Meeting (2 June 2023): By Editorial Dept - Ahead of the upcoming OPEC+ meeting, July WTI oil prices saw a significant increase on Thursday, offsetting rising inventories in the US. The passing of a bill to suspend the US debt ceiling by the House of Representatives also contributed to the positive sentiment. However, overall market performance for the week remained lower. The successful debt ceiling negotiations brought some relief, but the demand outlook for crude oil remains uncertain. The focus now shifts to the June 4 OPEC+ meeting, which has prompted caution due to a warning from the Saudi energy minister. Unexpectedly, US crude oil stockpiles rose last week due to increased imports and a decline in strategic reserves to their lowest level in decades, according to Energy Information Administration data. ... (Source: Oil Price)