The most important message from the 2016 edition of the annual World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) flagship publication released today, is that “policies will determine where we go from here”. “Paris” has given the international energy sector “a new sense of direction”, notes the IEA. But much stronger policies are needed to keep global warming limited to 2 degrees Celsius, it adds. Its message takes on extra importance … [Read more...]
Can Trump revive the US coal industry? Will he even benefit oil and gas?
The election of Donald Trump is likely to benefit the US oil and gas sector, though his stand on international trade could hurt economic growth and thereby oil demand, writes Gregory Brew, analyst at Oilrpice.comTrump has been positively exuberant about coal, but according to Brew it is by no means certain that he will able to revive the US coal industry. Article courtesy of Oilprice.com. … [Read more...]
Oil companies’ climate initiative lacks initiative
The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) formed by ten of the world’s largest oil companies including Shell, BP, Total, Statoil and Saudi Aramco, has announced it will spend $1 billion over the next ten years “to accelerate the development of innovative low-emission technologies”. According to Stuart Haszeldine, Professor of Carbon Capture and Storage, at the University of Edinburgh, this is “small change compared to the size of the problem. … [Read more...]
The Nordic countries on Nord Stream 2: between scepticism and neutrality
Sweden, Finland and Denmark are unlikely to block or slow down the procedures of issuing national approvals for the construction of Nord Stream 2, write Justyna Gotkowska and Piotr Szymaáą…ski of OSW, the Centre for Eastern Studies, in Poland. But according to the authors the Nordic countries do expect the European Commission to assess the compliance of Nord Stream 2 with the EU’s Third Energy Package. In addition, Stockholm and Copenhagen in … [Read more...]
Who is afraid of Nord Stream 2?
Nord Stream 2, the new gas pipeline that Gazprom is planning to build from Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany, has been criticised for reducing Europe’s diversification of energy sources and energy security. But according to Energy Post’s editor in chief Karel Beckman, the EU should welcome the pipeline, despite deteriorating relations with Russia. According to Beckman, Nord Stream 2 has a sound economic rationale behind it and the EU’s … [Read more...]
Visions clash at World Energy Congress in Istanbul
The World Energy Council gave out a clear message at the World Energy Congress that took place this week in Istanbul: the world needs to move away from fossil fuels much faster than it is doing today. That contrasted sharply with the message given out by most of the high-level speakers from government and business at the Congress, who stressed that the world needs more oil and gas. Mohammad Barkindo, the new Secretary General of oil cartel OPEC … [Read more...]
Interview IEA Chief Fatih Birol: “We are once again increasing our expectations for renewables”
In its upcoming World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency (IEA) is “once again happily increasing our growth projections of renewable energy”, says Executive Director Fatih Birol in an interview. But a world without fossil fuels is not yet in sight. “There are fossil fuels and fossil fuels. Coal and oil should be discouraged. Natural gas will continue to play an important role in even our most stringent scenarios.” This interview was … [Read more...]
Interview Spencer Dale, BP Group Chief Economist: “The energy transition could come faster than we think”
The energy industry faces uncertainties of daunting magnitude on many levels, says Spencer Dale, BP’s Group Chief Economist, in this exclusive interview: the pace of climate change policy, the growth of renewables, the apparent demise of coal, falling energy prices, the role of natural gas in the energy mix, and the likely impact of energy efficiency on demand growth. According to Dale, “it’s possible that we will see forces leading to a faster … [Read more...]
The “new realities for energy”: peak demand, stranded assets
"The world is undergoing a Grand Transition driven by a combination of factors including the fast-paced development of new technologies, an unstoppable digital revolution, global environmental challenges and changing growth and demographic patterns", according to a statement from the World Energy Council, a UN-accredited global energy network with over 3,000 member organisations in over 90 countries. According to the World Energy Council, the … [Read more...]
World Energy Scenarios show: Strong government policies needed to limit climate change
The world will find it difficult to meet the 2°C target set in the Paris Agreement unless it goes down a path of strong enforcement by national governments of international agreements to curb greenhouse gas emissions. That's one of the key conclusions of the World Energy Scenarios 2016 report from the World Energy Council, which looks at how global trends will shape the energy industry over the next 45 years. The report was launched today at the … [Read more...]
Interview Maroš Šefčovič, VP Energy Union: “I made the promise 2016 would be year of delivery and I intend to keep it”
“If we want a cost-effective transition to a low-carbon economy, we have to create an internal energy market where European rules apply”, says Maroš Ĺ efÄŤoviÄŤ, the European Commission’s Vice President for the Energy Union, in an exclusive interview with Energy Post. According to Ĺ efÄŤoviÄŤ, “big parts of our energy market are [still] overregulated”. To take a decisive leap towards the Energy Union, the Commission has decided to put all its energy … [Read more...]
What’s holding Russia back from ratifying the Paris Climate Agreement
Russia is now the largest greenhouse gas emitter not to have ratified the Paris Climate Agreement and it is unlikely to do so this year. The country is still deeply divided on climate policy, explains Angelina Davydova, Senior Lecturer at St Petersburg State University, in a fascinating article highlighting the forces in Russian society that are working against and in favour of the Paris Agreement. Courtesy of The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Climate change becomes prime investment driver
BlackRock, the world’s largest private investment fund, has announced that it will include climate change as an important factor in how it assigns risks to its investment portfolio, writes Fereidoon Sionshansi, president of Menlo Energy Economics and publisher of the newsletter EEnergy Informer. According to Sionshansi, this decision has huge implications for the energy sector. … [Read more...]
The economic and moral bankruptcy of UK energy policy
With its choice for Hinkley Point C - a ÂŁ100 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...]
Chinese national oil companies: giants built on shaky foundations
Chinese state-owned enterprises, China’s national oil companies foremost among them, have incurred phenomenal debts – higher than the country’s total GDP. So far they have been bailed out by the government, but this just shifts the problem one level up,  to China Inc as a whole, writes geophysicist  (ex-Shell) Jilles van den Beukel. Van den Beukel explains how China’s national oil companies Sinopec, CNPC and CNOOC got into this fix and why the … [Read more...]
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