With its choice for Hinkley Point C - a £100 billion boondoggle – its enthusiastic support for expensive and environmentally harmful fracking, and its relentless attack on renewable energy, the UK government’s energy policy is both morally and economically bankrupt, write Peter Strachan, Professor of Energy Policy at the Robert Gordon University, and Alex Russell, Professor and Chair of the Oil Industry Finance Committee. Westminster must … [Read more...]
Energy policies of the U.S. presidential candidates
“There is still much that needs to be investigated in the field of ‘climate change’”, says one. “When it comes to climate change, the science is crystal clear”, says the other. “Save the coal industry”, says one. “Quickly move to make a bridge from coal to natural gas to clean energy,” states the other. Allan Hoffman, author of the blog Thougts of a Lapsed Physicist, investigates the positions of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on climate and … [Read more...]
France, how can you square your ban on fracking with the import of shale oil?
The latest data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) show that exports of shale oil from the US are destined for France and other European countries that have banned fracking, points out shale gas expert Nick Grealy. This is hypocritical, notes Grealy. If fracking is really that bad, why don’t the Europeans care when it’s done in Texas or North Dakota? … [Read more...]
Interview Sir John Scarlett, advisor Statoil, ex-head MI6: “The role of old-fashioned geopolitics will become less important in energy”
Thanks to new energy policies, technologies and market trends the potential to use energy for political purposes has decreased in recent years, says Sir John Scarlett, former Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service MI6 and now Chairman of the Strategy Advisory Council at Statoil, in an interview with Energy Post. At the same time he notes that instability in North Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe has grown and energy security should … [Read more...]
It will take more than a share in shale gas profits to sway public opinion on fracking
The UK government has proposed a scheme under which households in communities affected by shale gas production would be paid directly out of a Shale Wealth Fund financed by company revenues. Joseph Dutton, Research Fellow at the Energy Policy Group, University of Exeter, points out it is impossible to estimate how much they would get paid. According to Dutton, in the absence of a social license to operate, the promise of payments will do little … [Read more...]
Christoph Frei, World Energy Council: “Grand transition” requires new vision of energy security
The energy sector is going through a “grand transition” that will radically change the way energy security should be approached, says Christoph Frei, Secretary General of the World Energy Council, on the eve of the ONS Summit, a high-level meeting on energy security in Stavanger on August 28-29, hosted by the Munich Security Conference and the ONS Foundation. In particular, the role of gas in the European energy system will change, says Frei. … [Read more...]
TTIP and energy security: do Europeans still want US LNG?
When TTIP talks were launched in 2013, Europeans were keen to tap into the United States oil and gas bonanza resulting from the country’s shale revolution to help reduce prices and shake off the continent’s too-heavy reliance on Russian hydrocarbons. But now US shale gas is arrriving in Europe, regardless of TTIP, writes Iana Dreyer, editor of Borderlex, an independent newsletter on EU trade policy. According to Dreyer, national politics in … [Read more...]
On track for a Golden Age of Gas?
The global energy industry must overcome significant new challenges if natural gas development is to achieve the vision of a Golden Age of Gas, writes Geoffrey Styles, Managing Director of independent US-based consultancy GSW Strategy Group. Low energy prices and reduced investment are only half the battle as regulations complexify and organized opposition grows. … [Read more...]
Bakken shows: US tight oil production is up against its limits
Geology, drilling efficiency and increased focus on the best producing areas have all contributed to the dramatic increase in drilling productivity over the last 10 years in the Bakken, argue Jilles van den Beukel (ex-Principal Geoscientist with Shell) and Enno Peters. The contribution from technology is much smaller; for a given well location the well productivity has hardly improved. This has important implications: Van den Beukel and Peters … [Read more...]
Out of reach without nuclear and shale
Contrary to what some politicians are arguing, US emission reduction goals for 2025 cannot be achieved without nuclear power and shale gas, argues Geoffrey Styles, Managing Director of independent US-based consultancy GSW Strategy Group. Recent official revisions from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on estimated methane leaks from gas production and use do not negate the benefits of gas in recducing emssions, he adds. … [Read more...]
Globalisation of the gas market: it has been going on longer than you think
The general view among analysts is that gas prices in North America, Europa and Asia diverged in the period 2005-2014. This was always a bit odd, since regional markets were becoming more interconnected in those years through increased LNG trade, increased market related pricing and gas hub development. Now it turns out that, according to new research from Floris Merison at the Energy Delta Institute, the conventional view of price divergence is … [Read more...]
California cleans up the natural gas sector – a model for the rest of the world
If natural gas is to be a bridge to a future of low greenhouse gas emissions, the problem of methane leakage has to be tackled. The State of California is taking measures that will mean a sea change in the way utility companies deal with methane leakage, writes Tim O’Connor, California Director Oil & Gas at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). According to O’Connor, this should be a model for other States and countries to follow. … [Read more...]
Can Nord Stream 2 be stopped?
Nord Stream 2, the controversial Russian-German pipeline project, is generating fierce opposition in Central and Eastern Europe as well as from the European Parliament and the European Commission. But could the opponents of the pipeline, owned 50% by Gazprom and 50% by some of the largest Western European companies, stop the project? They may be able to follow a complex legal route that could place formidable obstacles in the way of the pipeline. … [Read more...]
Wind and solar’s Achilles heel: what the methane meltdown at Porter Ranch means for the energy transition
Utitlity-scale wind and solar power are typically backed up on-site by gas peakers, or backed up indirectly by gas-fired power plants. These gas plants lead to significant greenhouse gas emissions in the form of methane. So at what point does a renewable-plus-gas combination become worse for the climate than coal-fired power? Mike Conley and Tim Maloney, long-time members of the Thorium Energy Alliance, have calculated what they call a “Worth-It … [Read more...]
The hypocrisy of French shale gas policy: France bans, imports and profits from shale
France has issued a radical ban on the exploitation of shale gas. Yet French companies ENGIE, in which the State has a large share, and EDF, which is 75% state-owned, will soon import and handsomely profit from shale gas imported from the United States, notes UK-based shale gas expert Nick Grealy. This is like banning sweatshops but importing cheap clothes made by child labour, says Grealy. … [Read more...]
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