Mar 2022

The U.S. Government Should Treat Nuclear Plants Like Military Jets (24 March 2022): By Leonard Hyman & William Tilles - A few weeks ago the Chinese government announced an audacious plan to build 150 new nuclear plants. No specifics were announced but we assume they were planning to build copies of the Chinese-designed 1,000 MW Hualong One reactor, considered an alternative to Westinghouse’s AP1000. No doubt aware of French and US difficulties completing new reactors on time and within budget, they estimated a per reactor cost of between $2.5-3 billion. The question for us here is: what would a comparable US commitment to build several hundred new nuclear reactors over the next two decades look like? Our target number of new reactors for the US is 250 assuming roughly 1,000 MW sized units as opposed to small modular reactors (SMRs), enough to maintain nuclear energy’s 20% share of US-installed electric generating capacity (roughly 1.1 million MWs) while aging reactors could be retired on schedule. (Source: Oil Price)

TotalEnergies: Oil Majors' Exit From Russia Easier Said Than Done (23 March 2022): By Tsvetana Paraskova - Despite pledges from numerous international oil majors to leave Russia, this is easier said than done, and companies from the U.S. and the UK are still stuck with their Russian assets, Patrick Pouyanne, CEO at TotalEnergies, said on Wednesday. In the days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, UK's BP and Shell said they would divest their Russian assets and stop trading with Russian oil. The war in Ukraine "has caused us to fundamentally rethink bp's position with Rosneft. I am convinced that the decisions we have taken as a board are not only the right thing to do, but are also in the long-term interests of bp," BP's chief executive Bernard Looney said just days after the invasion. U.S. supermajor ExxonMobil said it would discontinue operations at Sakhalin-1 and will make no new investments in Russia, deploring "Russia's military action." (Source: Oil Price)

90,000 Dams In America: Just 2,500 Produce Hydropower (22 March 2022): By Alex Kimani - There will not likely be any progress towards net-zero climate goals without hydropower, which could fast become a favorite investment theme–even more so amid a Russian war on Ukraine that has sent oil prices to record highs, with a supply shock looming. But back in the United States, the massive potential of hydropower has been stymied by environmental contradictions. For decades, environmentalists and dam builders in the United States have been locked in a bitter battle. There’s no denying the fact that America’s 90,000 dams serve a very important purpose: they store water, provide renewable energy and prevent floods. In the U.S., hydropower currently accounts for 37% of total U.S. renewable electricity generation and about 7% of total U.S. electricity generation; provides over 90 percent of America’s long-duration energy storage, and powers an estimated 30 million homes. (Source: Oil Price)

What Is Holding U.S. Nuclear Energy Back? (21 March 2022): By Leonard Hyman & William Tilles - Global energy markets are in turmoil over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent energy sanctions imposed by western nations. As we recently wrote, both renewables and nuclear energies are the two immediate beneficiaries of this conflict and the related allied response. For example, on March 19, Belgium announced a ten-year delay in the planned closure of two nuclear plants, Doel 4 and Tihange 3 while doubling its commitment to offshore wind. The most interesting aspect of the Belgian press release, especially for those seeking large amounts of base-load, fossil-free energy quickly, was the government’s emphasis that the life-extended units would not be available for winter heating season until after 2025. We think this underscores a popular misconception about how quickly major capital allocation and operating decisions can be reversed. The ten-year life extension in this case begins sometime in 2026. (Source: Oil Price)

Investment In Tidal Energy Is Growing (20 March 2022): By Felicity Bradstock - Following the pandemic, interest and investment in tidal and wave energy projects went above and beyond pre-pandemic levels. With governments looking to diversify their renewable energy mix and transition away from fossil fuels, ocean energy projects offer a reliable alternative to traditional renewable energy developments. According to studies by Ocean Energy Europe, 2.2 megawatts of tidal stream capacity was installed across Europe in 2021, an increase from 260 kilowatts the previous year. In addition, 681 kW of wave energy was installed, marking a threefold increase. Worldwide the figure totaled 3.12 mW of tidal stream capacity and 1.38 mW of wave energy, at an estimated cost of $76.8 million. (Source: Oil Price)

Oil Prices Spike Nearly 10% As Hopes Of Ukraine Ceasefire Fade (17 March 2022): By Julianne Geiger - As the White House continues to push back against the oil industry over high gasoline prices, WTI and Brent crude rallied on Thursday to gain nearly 10% by 3:30 p.m. ET. Oil prices rebounded substantially on Thursday after a major selloff earlier in the week. That earlier selloff had stripped away nearly all the gains that crude oil had made after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and resulting sanctions. By 4:30 pm, WTI’s gains had eased somewhat, but was still trading up $8.21 on the day at $103.30 per barrel. Brent crude was trading up $8.55 on the day at $106.60. Gasoline prices, which were already on the rise in the latter half of 2021, spiked after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on supply fears surrounding the possibility of sanctions on the world’s third-largest crude oil producer after the United States and Saudi Arabia. When crude oil prices finally began to ease earlier this week on stock builds and hopes of a speedy resolution between Ukraine and Russia, it was hoped by many Americans that gasoline prices would ease in lockstep. (Source: Oil Price)

Chernobyl Could Be Close To New Nuclear Disaster (16 March 2022): By Charles Kennedy - The Chernobyl nuclear facility could be close to a new nuclear accident as Ukrainian personnel at the plant are held hostages by Russian troops and are running out of food and fuel, the mayor of a nearby town which houses workers at the plant has told Daily Mail. The mayor of Slavutych, Yuri Fomichev, warned that there could be a “complete catastrophe” at the Chernobyl plant, the site of the 1986 disaster, as workers are stressed out by being held at gunpoint and are running out of supplies and fuel, including fuel for emergency generators supplying back-up control for the safety systems. Nearly 100 workers at Chernobyl have been held hostage by the Russians for weeks, after Russian soldiers took them hostage on the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Chernobyl is located in the northernmost part of Ukraine, close to the border with Belarus. (Source: Oil Price)

War In Ukraine May Boost Renewables Investment (15 March 2022): By Tsvetana Paraskova - The Russian war in Ukraine exposed Europe’s high energy dependence on Russian oil and gas and made Western governments rethink their energy policy strategies. Some, like the United States and the United Kingdom, which can afford to go without Russian fossil fuels without a massive hit to their energy supply, industries, and economies have banned imports of Russian oil, or in the UK’s case, plan to phase out such purchases by the end of the year. Most others in Europe are not so lucky. Not only cannot they cut themselves off Russian energy supply in the short term, but they are feeling the pain of volatile skyrocketing oil and natural gas prices after Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of a difficult winter in which energy prices had already hit record highs. (Source: Oil Price)

Mission Impossible: Can Biden Bring Oil Prices Down? (14 March 2022): By Simon Watkins - The longer that high oil and gas prices are sustained, the greater the economic damage for highly developed and industrialized countries that are not self-sufficient in energy supplies and it is at times like these that those countries find out who their real friends are, and are not. In this context, the current oil pricing/global economic matrix underlines once again the seismic geopolitical shift that has taken place in the Middle East since the end of the 2014-2016 Oil Price War – broadly away from the U.S. and its allies and towards the China-Russia sphere of influence - with both Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan reportedly unavailable to talk to U.S. President, Joe Biden, about how they could help to lower oil and gas prices. This means that Biden is now considering “all options [for lowering oil and gas prices on a sustained basis] that are not directly connected to Russia,” according to a senior energy source close to the European Union leadership spoken to exclusively by OilPrice.com last week. (Source: Oil Price)

Russia's Ukraine Invasion Is Bad News For China’s Belt And Road Ambitions (12 March 2022): By Eurasianet - Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China has said all the right things in support of Russia, its professed strategic partner. Chinese officials have faithfully repeated Russian propaganda, refusing to describe the unprovoked attack on Ukraine as a “war” or “invasion,” while echoing the Kremlin claim that NATO’s expansionist desires are the root cause of the conflict. But Beijing’s actions are telling a different story, underscored by the March 9 Foreign Ministry announcement that the Chinese Red Cross is supplying almost $800,000 in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. The amount is small, but the gesture is significant in the current context: Chinese leaders are hedging their geopolitical bets. It was just over a month ago that Russian leader Vladimir Putin met with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics. The two issued a joint statement describing bilateral relations as “superior to political and military alliances of the Cold War era,” and cooperation as having “no limits.” (Source: Oil Price)

Why Aren’t Investors Interested In Geothermal Energy? (10 March 2022): By Felicity Bradstock - The need to develop a variety of energy sources has never been so evident. As the global reliance on a few specific oil and gas sources becomes clear, it seems obvious that we should be investing in diversifying our energy mix. But while governments are looking to expand their solar and wind power, is enough being done to develop other options that could help boost the global energy supply? Geothermal energy is one such energy source that needs significantly more funding for it to be better understood and developed so it can become a commercial source of energy. While geothermal energy has been around for decades, a few small startups are finally drawing attention to the little-talked-about green energy source, largely thanks to new technologies making it a more viable source of power. Geothermal energy comes from the conversion of heat energy from under the earth’s crust. To access this energy, producers dig wells of around one mile deep to underground reservoirs to find steam and hot water that can power turbines connected to electricity generators. (Source: Oil Price)

Only OPEC Can Help The West Replace Russian Oil (9 March 2022): By Alex Kimani - Last week, oil and commodity markets recorded their biggest weekly gains in years as shuttering of Ukrainian ports, sanctions against Russia, and disruption in Libyan oil production sent energy, crop, and metal buyers scrambling for replacement supplies. Crude prices have spiked again this week on fears that the U.S. and its allies were seriously mulling a ban on Russian oil and gas. Well, the Russian boogeyman has not been imaginary, after all: on Tuesday, President Biden imposed an immediate ban on Russian energy imports while the United Kingdom said it would phase out imports by the end of 2022. (Source: Oil Price)

Why Easing Sanctions Against Venezuela Would Be A Bad Move For The U.S. (8 March 2022): By Matthew Smith - President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Europe’s second-largest country Ukraine highlights the threat posed by rising authoritarianism in a post-pandemic world afflicted by supply shocks for critical natural resources, notably crude oil. Rising global instability is not only undermining economic certainty, thereby causing commodity prices to spiral higher, but is strengthening authoritarian regimes which pose a threat to the global liberal democratic order. Unsurprisingly, President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela emerged as one of the very few supporters of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, an event that sparked worldwide condemnation. According to the Kremlin, Venezuela’s authoritarian leader called President Putin to assure him of his strong support following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to condemn the destabilizing actions of Washington and NATO. It is easy to understand why Maduro has adopted such a stance. (Source: Oil Price)

Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine Will Benefit China (7 March 2022): By Gregory R. Copley - Russia’s war with Ukraine has, for the time being, saved the Communist Party of China (CPC) and therefore the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The isolation of Russia as part of the US-led global information warfare campaign has completed the process of driving Russia “back into the arms of Beijing”. This was occurring at a time when the economy of the PRC was imploding and the CPC, under General-Secretary Xi Jinping, was attempting to retain global power while essentially ring-fencing its economy from outside influence. The situation does not guarantee the PRC’s revival as a wealthy power, but, even though it now becomes more dependent on Russia, it does at least allow the Communist Party of China to survive. (Source: Oil Price)

Ukraine's Nuclear Power Plants (4 March 2022): by Martin Armstrong - A fire broke out on the site of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant after a Russian attack last night. According to information from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, a training centre of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, located in the immediate vicinity of the reactors, was hit by a projectile. As this infographic shows, the nuclear power plant is located in South-Eastern Ukraine. The region is contested, but as of March 3, not yet occupied by Russia. The IAEA also said that according to the Ukrainian government, no increased radioactivity had been measured in the vicinity of the plant, and that staff had taken "measures to minimize the risk". There had already been fighting last week near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, where the worst nuclear accident in history occurred in 1986. The nuclear ruin is now controlled by Russian troops. The Rivne, Khmelnytskyi and South Ukraine nuclear power plants, on the other hand, are not yet under Russian command. Should Putin continue to pursue his goal of bringing all of Ukraine under his control, these nuclear power plants will also be threatened by combat operations. (Source: Statista)