Natural Gas Prices Could Soar Even Higher As Europe Braces For A Cold Winter (30 October 2021): By Tsvetana Paraskova - As Europe enters the heating season with natural gas inventories at the lowest level in a decade, policymakers, consumers, and industries are left at the mercy of the weather, hoping for a mild winter to avoid further tightening of the already tight European gas market. Following the colder than usual 2020/2021 winter, Europe has been struggling to fill gas storage sites to adequate levels in recent months as Asian buyers have been snapping up LNG cargoes. Buyers prefer to ship LNG to Asia where the price of gas per million British thermal units is higher than the equivalent prices in Europe. Despite the fact that the global gas price surge originated from woefully low inventories in Europe and led to record Asian LNG spot prices, Asia is winning the bidding war for spot LNG supply, leaving Europe undersupplied. (Source: Oil Price)
Supply Chains Need $100 Trillion To Become Net-Zero By 2050 (28 October 2021): By Tsvetana Paraskova - Supply chains, which account for 80 percent of the world’s total carbon emissions, would require as much as $100 trillion of investment if they are to become net-zero emission by 2050, new research by HSBC and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) showed. BCG and HSBC teamed up to understand what it will take for global supply chains to most effectively transition to net zero. The analysis found that $100 trillion is needed, of which between $25 trillion and $50 trillion will need to be directed to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While separate organizations and companies are racing to pledge net-zero emissions across their operations, they have not done enough to address the indirect emissions from their suppliers, the paper noted. (Source: Oil Price)
The True Cost Of The Energy Crisis Is Yet To Be Seen (27 October 2021): By Tsvetana Paraskova - Consumers all over the world have already started to feel the pinch of the global natural gas crisis and surging prices in Europe and Asia. Households in Europe are paying much higher gas and power prices, while nearly half of U.S. consumers are bracing for a 30-percent jump in winter energy bills as they primarily use natural gas for heating. The pain for consumers won’t stop with higher winter energy bills. The natural gas price surge has also triggered price increases for global food and fuel. Both are set to jump in the coming months, partly due to the indirect effect of record-high gas prices, which are curtailing production of critical components for the food industry and agricultural commodities. “This winter’s big chill could be felt far, long and wide,” The Wall Street Journal’s Jinjoo Lee wrote in an article this week.
Aramco CEO: Underinvestment In Oil Is A ‘’Huge Concern’’ (26 October 2021): By Charles Kennedy - Crude oil production capacity is dwindling globally, and more investments in new production are needed urgently, Aramco's chief executive told Bloomberg. "It's a huge concern," Amin Nasser said, adding that "If there's aviation pick up next year, that spare capacity will be depleted. It's now getting to a situation where there's limited supply -- whatever is left that's spare is declining rapidly." The International Energy Agency defines spare oil production capacity as production that can be started within 30 days and sustained for at least 90 days. Aramco is already working on boosting its spare capacity to 13 million bpd over the next five years. (Source: Oil Price)
Grid Operator: France Needs Nuclear Power For Net-Zero (25 October 2021): By Tsvetana Paraskova - France could reach net-zero emissions by 2050 if it continues to keep a large nuclear generation fleet in the long term and develop significantly renewable energy sources, the operator of the French grid, RTE, said in a report on Monday on the pathways to reaching carbon neutrality. Nuclear power generates most of France’s electricity. France currently gets more than 70 percent of its total electricity from nuclear power generation and is a major exporter of electricity, including to the UK. France cannot meet its goals by nuclear energy alone, or by renewables only, the grid operator said. The country will need 14 new nuclear reactors and a lot more renewable energy developments if it is to reach net-zero by 2050 at the cheapest cost, it added. (Source: Oil Price)
Renewables And Roller Coasters: How To Recycle An Oil Well (24 October 2021): By Felicity Bradstock - With offshore oil rigs falling into disuse as the oilfield dries up and new developments pop up elsewhere, oil companies are left with a giant structure that they must repurpose or pay huge amounts to decommission and dismount. Now, some countries and private companies are coming up with alternative uses for deserted rigs. In Saudi Arabia, there are now plans to convert an offshore rig into a 1.6 million-square-foot extreme park, to be known as The Rig, targeted at attracting thousands of tourists. With investment coming from the national Public Investment Fund, the massive structure will house three hotels offering 800 rooms, 11 restaurants, roller coasters and other rides, adventure activities – such as ziplines, and water sports. (Source: Oil Price)
The Commercial Case For Green Hydrogen (21 October 2021): As the world has grown to recognize the seriousness of climate change and the ever-intensifying need to develop new forms of green, clean, energy production, there have been a number of new technologies that have been hyped up in the headlines as the energy of the future, but which never quite got out of the R&D stages. Think algal biofuel, which was all over the news for years, touted as a sort of green-energy silver bullet but which has never been able to reach anything close to commercial viability. Nuclear fusion, too, continues to be the subject of endless news reports and think pieces, but is still lightyears away from being a viable means of energy production. And now, the viability of another green energy wunderkind is being thrown into question: green hydrogen. (Source: Oil Price)
Major Oil And Gas Projects To Appease ESG Investors (20 October 2021): By ZeroHedge - Ever since the arrival of the ESG craze, we have discussed the change in "optics" that Exxon has been trying to pull off in order to placate some of the most vocal activist shareholders, some of whom now happen to be on the company's board. But now, instead of just purely superficial changes, Exxon may be on the cusp of making fundamental changes as well as the oil and gas major is considering whether or not to shutter "several major oil and gas projects", according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. The company's board, which includes three directors nominated by activist investors, has "expressed concerns about certain projects, including a $30 billion liquefied natural gas development in Mozambique and another multibillion-dollar gas project in Vietnam," the WSJ reports, while caveating that the impact from these projects coming online likely wouldn't have been felt for years to come. (Source: Oil Price)
Long-Term LNG Becomes Sellers Market As Prices Soar (19 October 2021): By Tsvetana Paraskova - Surging spot prices of liquefied natural gas in Asia are giving LNG producers and sellers an advantage in contract negotiations for long-term supply with buyers, industry participants with knowledge of ongoing talks have told Reuters. Buyers in Asia, which relied very much on spot supply last year when LNG spot prices plummeted to $2 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), are now looking to lock in more long-term gas supply as spot prices hit a record of over $50/mmBtu for some cargoes traded earlier this month. Energy security and emissions reduction targets, especially in China, are prompting more buyers to seek long-term contracts. The sellers, for their part, now ask for higher prices in the discussions, according to Reuters’s sources. The need of buyers to hedge against future extreme volatility in LNG spot prices – as it has happened over the past year – gives advantage to sellers. (Source: Oil Price)
China’s Coal And Power Crisis Hits Global Economy (18 October 2021): By Tsvetana Paraskova - Surging coal prices and power shortages in China slowed the growth of the world’s second-largest economy in the third quarter and threaten to spill over to the global supply chains in the fourth quarter. Last week, coal futures in China closed at a record high after sixty coal mines in the country’s top coal-producing region were forced to shut amid heavy rain, flooding, and landslides, worsening the energy supply crisis. Later in the week, colder than normal weather in parts of China sent coal prices surging to new highs, while electricity demand soared. The rising power demand with cooler weather and industrial recovery after the pandemic has led to shortages of coal in the country, which has been rationing power supply in at least 17 of the mainland regions since last month. Year to date, the price of the most actively traded Chinese coal futures has soared by over 200 percent, according to Reuters estimates. (Source: Oil Price)
Coal Generation In UK Jumps As Wind Speed Drops (15 October 2021): By Charles Kennedy - Coal met some 3 percent of the UK’s electricity demand on Friday morning, reaching its highest level of Britain’s power generation in one month, amid lower wind speeds this week and an outage at a gas-powered plant, Bloomberg reports. The last time the UK generated 3 percent of its electricity from coal was in early September when low wind generation reduced renewable power supply and triggered the massive spikes in UK wholesale electricity prices. Utility Uniper fired up its coal-powered plant in Ratcliffe early on Friday, while the gas-fired plant in Pembroke, Wales, operated by RWE, suffered an unplanned outage. (Source: Oil Price)
Australia Is Making The Most Out Of The Coal Boom (14 October 2021): By Felicity Bradstock - Australia continues to back its coal industry as many Western nations have turned their back on the dirtiest fossil fuel, approving its third coal mine extension in a month and bolstering partnerships for long-term coal exports. We already know the demand is there, with China requiring increasing coal to bridge its fuel demand gap, but Australia is one of the few remaining nations outside of Asia to continue to back coal as a major energy source. Earlier this month, Australia approved its third coal mine extension within a month. In September, Environment Minister Sussan Ley approved extensions for the Whitehaven Coal and Wollonggong Coal mines. The latest extension approval was for the Glencore Mangoola thermal coal mine in New South Wales, allowing it to continue production for eight more years, mining approximately 52 million tonnes of coal. (Source: Oil Price)
Putin Dismisses Accusations That Russia Is Weaponizing Natural Gas (13 October 2021): By City A.M - Vladimir Putin has dismissed claims that Russia is weaponizing its supplies of natural gas to speed up Germany’s approval of the completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline and to destabilize European energy prices. The Russian president has described the accusations as “politically motivated blather with nothing to support it”. He believes that European governments are looking to blame Russia for the poor energy planning and worldwide shortfalls in supply, which he considers the primary factors in the “hysteria” engulfing European energy markets. He also defined the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which extends from Germany to the Baltic sea and is pending Germany’s certification, as a ‘purely commercial project’. (Source: Oil Price)
France Bets On Nuclear, Hydrogen For Zero-Emission Power (12 October 2021): By Tsvetana Paraskova - France aims to become a leader in green hydrogen production and reinvent nuclear power by building a small modular reactor by 2030 as part of a wider $34.6 billion (30 billion euro) plan to decarbonize industry and slash emissions, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday. France currently gets around 70 percent of its total electricity from nuclear power generation and is a major exporter of electricity, including to the UK. By the end of this decade, France will look to be a leader in green hydrogen production as it plans to build two massive factories for producing green hydrogen, Macron said. France’s nuclear power generation will be essential in producing green hydrogen, which is hydrogen produced from zero-emission electrolysis. (Source: Oil Price)
A Successful Energy Transition Will Need Oil Demand Destruction (11 October 2021): By Irina Slav - There’s a dark secret about the energy transition that politicians and energy regulators all too frequently shy away from. Unfortunately, unless this issue is dealt with the energy transition may never take place. The world consumes ever-growing amounts of energy as its total population increases, led by emerging markets that, in addition to strong population growth, are seeing an increase in the average wealth of their citizens. Any increase in wealth leads to more consumption of everything, energy included. And if countries are distracted by climate change discussions and rush into emission targets and renewable capacity, a shortage of energy supply follows. (Source: Oil Price)
Construction begins on multi-megawatt scale baseload H2 power plant in French Guiana (October 2021) - Ballard Power Systems unveiled that its partner, Hydrogene de France (HDF Energy), commenced construction of the CEOG Renewstable Power Plant (CEOG) in French Guiana. CEOG is the world's first multi-megawatt, baseload hydrogen power plant, and the largest green hydrogen storage of intermittent renewable electricity sources. Also, CEOG is the first order for a new generation of megawatt power fuel cell systems dedicated to stationary applications, which will be mass produced in the HDF facility in Bordeaux. This project is part of a multi-staged development agreement between Ballard and HDF, as initially announced in December 2019 by Ballard. CEOG is the first commercial project for HDF under this agreement. The $200 MM French Guiana CEOG project will combine a solar park, long-term hydrogen and short-term battery storage and fuel cells specified by HDF, based on Ballard’s ClearGen architecture. (Source: H2 Tech)
Southeast Asia Needs $2 Trillion To Realize Its Green Economy Ambitions (7 October 2021): By Ag Metal Miner - Investing $2 trillion over the next decade in sustainable infrastructure can greatly reduce Southeast Asia’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report from Bain & Company, Microsoft and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings. The report, titled “Southeast Asia’s Green Economy: Opportunities on the Road to Net Zero,” emphasized investments in areas such as renewable energy, electric vehicles, and waste management. According to the report, green investments totaled only U.S. $9 billion last year. The report’s authors said Southeast Asia’s corporate, public, and philanthropic sectors must work together to attain the $2 trillion investment figure, the report noted. Southeast Asia is highly vulnerable to climate change, as it suffers from disproportionately large numbers of climate disasters. (Source: Oil Price)
The Electricity Crisis Was Not Caused By A ‘Perfect Storm’ (6 October 2021): By Leonard Hyman & William Tilles - Recent news from the global electricity sector looks grim. South Americans, heavily dependent on hydroelectricity, face drought-induced scarcity. Hard to believe in a continent laced by three enormous river systems. The alternatives for South American electricity users are an increased reliance on fossil fuels or turning off the lights (conservation). And unlike relatively inexpensive hydroelectricity, generating electricity with fossil fuels (apart from the ecological consequences) incurs fuel expense, which raises prices. (Source: Oil Price)
The Energy Transition Will Take Decades Not Years (05 October 2021): By Tsvetana Paraskova - This year’s global demand for all three fossil fuels has sent a message to overly enthusiastic proponents of the energy transition - hold your horses. Those who predicted last year the demise of oil, gas, and coal after the pandemic and those who said that peak oil demand was already behind us because lasting changes in consumer behavior would reduce the use of crude are now facing reality. Global oil demand is just a few months away from reaching pre-pandemic levels, while natural gas and coal demand have already exceeded the 2019 volumes. Sure, international airline travel is still struggling because of COVID-related travel restrictions in place in many countries. But economies are bouncing back, industries are growing, and the world needs a lot of energy, once again. (Source: Oil Price)
China Can’t Keep Up With Surging Energy Demand (4 October 2021): By Ag Metal Miner - Much is being made of Beijing’s efforts to meet its environmental emissions targets — the country states it will hit peak emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 — and its restricted steel and aluminium production. But a recent Reuters post by John Kemp suggests output is being impacted more by a widening electricity crisis than by enforced shutdowns to meet environmental goals. China’s electricity generation increased by 616 Terawatt-hours (13%) in the first eight months of 2021 compared with the same period last year. The largest rises came from the service sector and primary industries. However, most of the increase has been supplied by thermal generators, principally coal-fired power stations, Kemp explains. Those generators increased output by 465 TWh (14%) in the first eight months. (Source: Oil Price)
America’s Oil Capital Is Diving Into The Crypto Space (3 October 2021): Oil and gas firms have been using blockchain technology and working with digital start-ups to modernise and improve efficiency across operations at an increasing rate. As blockchain booms, will it soon be a vital component of oil and gas operations? As the oil and gas industry turns towards blockchain firms to digitalise their systems to boost security, increase transparency across the company and improve operational efficiency, the incorporation of the new technology is slowly becoming the norm rather than the exception. (Source: Oil Price)