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- Accidente de tránsito deja siete muertos en Guayas, Ecuador
- Presidente venezolano entrega al Parlamento la Ley Orgánica por la Defensa de la Guayana Esequiba para su debate
- Al menos 13 muertos deja accidente vial en Honduras
- Tribunal de Perú ordena liberación de dictador Alberto Fujimori
- Bolivia ingresará al Mercosur en cumbre de jefes de Estado
- Casos de dengue en Jamaica superan los 1.300 casos
- Mercosur social defiende otro acuerdo comercial con Europa
- Gobierno de Venezuela destaca el mensaje de unidad que dio el referendo sobre el Esequibo
- Fiscal general se defiende de acusaciones ante Congreso de Perú
- Presentan amparo contra Congreso de Guatemala por presupuesto
Turkmenistan picked the lowest possible of hanging fruit at the ongoing COP-28 climate summit in Dubai by announcing it will sign up to the Global Methane Pledge, a voluntary agreement that commits adherents to cut methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030. In his speech to the UN Climate Change Conference on December 1, President Serdar Berdymukhamedov made out that this was the natural outcome of his country’s long-standing concerns over dangers posed by emissions of the greenhouse gas. “As you know, at the 26th Conference…
Global coal-fired power generation is on track to peak in 2023 as new sources of renewable and low-carbon energy expand rapidly. Coal has dominated the global power sector for the past 30 years, but Rystad Energy modeling shows that 2024 will mark the start of the fuel’s decline as solar and wind generation grow in popularity. New electricity supply from renewables is expected to outstrip power demand growth, leading to coal’s displacement starting next year and compounding in the coming years. As a result, coal-fired generation will…
Soaring U.S. LNG exports have made natural gas a global commodity and the United States vulnerable to global price volatility. As American exports of liquefied natural gas are set to grow further this decade, the once-isolated U.S. natural gas prices will become increasingly linked to the pace of LNG exports and global supply and demand. As Europe has been scrambling to replace Russian pipeline gas supply since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, growing volumes of U.S. LNG are making their way to Europe instead of Asia. Exporters are…
Hard to believe, but some global mining and trading houses have been hard at work trying to build up their coal holding, especially coal destined to steel mills. Today we want to take a look at global coal usage but with reference mainly to the production of electricity. There are three related questions here. Who is still building new coal plants; what regions have the most operating coal plants; and where are coal plants actually being retired. Just looking at where coal fired power generation is being added we see a huge divide between Asia…
The Cop28 climate summit has opened in Dubai, yet it is already clear that the world is not on track to meet the climate change targets that governments set themselves in Paris in 2015. In strictly numerical terms therefore, Cop28 will be a failure, like all the climate summits that came before it. The likely response will be much wringing of hands and pointing of fingers as people conclude, once again, that mankind lacks the moral and political will to save the planet and itself. This is the wrong approach to climate change. The energy transition…
BP has bought up full control of solar power developer Lightsource BP in a move demonstrating the former’s ambitions outside of fossil fuels. The oil major announced today that it has acquired 50.03 per cent of the business for an initial fee of £254m, adding to the 49.97 per cent it already owned. BP first took a stake in the company in 2017, expanding the operations to 19 countries from three, built a 61GW development pipeline, and grown to over 1,200 personnel. This was built to a near-50 per cent holding in December…
By Sohrab Darabshaw via AGMetalminer.com A drop in steel demand throughout Europe proved the reason for ArcelorMittal temporarily suspending output at its Bosnia plant. The company remains a leading player in the steel industry, making approximately 700,000 tons of liquid steel every year and employing 2,200 workers. According to this report, company management moved to halt production due to a drop in European demand. The company stated that the decline began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but added that an increase in energy…
The world’s best-performing IPO stock this year is a little known Indonesian coal mining company that’s backed by one of Southeast Asia’s richest men. PT Petrindo Jaya Kreasi has soared more than 2,900% since it listed in March following a $25 million offering. Yet it still has no analyst coverage, is richly valued and has relatively low trading volumes. Counting Indonesian billionaire Prajogo Pangestu as its main shareholder, the company’s market value has grown by more than 25 times to $5.4 billion in just…
The natural gas industry’s domestic sales pattern over the past two decades makes one wonder whether the industry has much of a future. Okay, sales volume has gone up, at a slow pace, but most of that growth is due to increasing sales to wholesale electric power generators. The rest of the market has shown barely any growth. Table 1 shows annual rates of growth for major customer classifications as well as an estimate of the growth in propane usage. The table calculates growth using both compound annual and average annual growth rates. Either…
Europe has intensified efforts this year to protect its clean energy manufacturing industries and reduce dependence on China for its renewable energy rollout. Several proposed EU acts are aimed at boosting Europe’s competitiveness in the global clean energy supply chain and minimize risks to energy infrastructure security. Europe’s wind industry, which accounts for around 16% of the EU’s electricity consumption, has been struggling in the past two years amid slow permitting processes, supply…
This week saw the release of the latest report from the International Energy Agency, which called for a fast reduction in oil and gas investments and production, embracing alternative energy sources instead to help advance the transition. Also this week, media picked up another story that makes the ground for the IEA report a bit shaky. The story came from Deutsche Bank and took the form of a statement by a senior executive involved in the lender's ESG business. The statement: Big Oil stocks should be included in ESG offerings because investors…
Brazil’s Petrobras has high hopes for the country’s oil industry, even under socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as it makes moves that suggest it is in it for the long haul. The state-owned oil major has plans to transform Brazil’s global energy presence, which includes boosting its oil output, solidifying new European partnerships and plans to develop new projects. Brazil was the ninth-largest oil-producing country in the world last year, with an average output of 3 million bpd, growing by 4 percent from…
University of Houston energy researchers suggest hydrogen fuel can potentially be a cost-competitive and environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline and diesel, and that supplying hydrogen for transportation in the greater Houston area can be profitable today. The research team is offering a white paper titled “Competitive Pricing of Hydrogen as an Economic Alternative to Gasoline and Diesel for the Houston Transportation Sector” where they examine the promise for the potential of hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs)…
To underscore its uniqueness, we have to go back to November 2022 for the last personal meeting between the leaders of the two most powerful countries at the moment, the US and China. Back then, Biden and Xi met each other on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia. This meeting in Bali was preceded by a significant period of increased tensions between the US and China following Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Pelosi’s trip was regarded by China as a provocation and a departure from the one China policy. As such, Pelosi’s…
Last December, I wrote Why Tesla’s Market Share Is Set To Plunge In 2023. My logic was straightforward. After buying Twitter, Elon Musk began to alienate the very people most likely to buy a Tesla. Those who were happiest about Musk’s actions were the least likely to buy a Tesla. I did indicate that Tesla had a couple of advantages working for it. One is that competitors are racing to catch up, so even consumers who might want an alternative might have trouble finding one. Further, Tesla orders have historically been backlogged, so…
Some American clean energy and technology startups are struggling to keep afloat while waiting for the U.S. Administration to disburse the pledged loans and funds under the landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Several startups have already filed for bankruptcy, others have flagged the ability to continue as a going concern or hired advisors to evaluate financing and strategic alternatives as soaring construction costs and high interest rates challenge their initial plans and timelines for having production sites up and running. …
Earlier this week, the Financial Times reported Denmark was considering the start of inspections and potential blocks of Russian oil tankers carrying crude across its waters in the EU’s latest attempt to enforce a price cap on oil exports from Russia. Also this week, The White House energy security adviser, Amos Hochstein, told Bloomberg the U.S. federal government was going to tighten the sanction noose around Iran, targeting its oil industry more closely. The aim was to remove about 1 million bpd of Iranian oil exports, Hochstein said,…
It’s earnings season, and with ExxonMobil and Chevron posting big profits, that can only mean one thing. They are once again being blamed for gouging consumers and for causing inflation. As I have argued before, such thinking reveals a massive misunderstanding of economics. Oil prices are set on exchanges based on short term expectations about supply and demand. Neither ExxonMobil nor Chevron can move the needle much on supply, and demand is determined by consumers. Thus, these companies have practically no effect on prices. It is true that…
We're at the point where "EV adoption" is going so well that EV companies have taken to offering fake bonds in order to get tax breaks. At least, that's what's going on over at Rivian, where the company has structured out $15 billion in "phantom bonds," which are employed by businesses to secure a reduction in property taxes in Georgia, according to Bloomberg. The purpose is for the company to build a campus outside of Atlanta and the practice of "phantom bonds", although it sounds shady, actually is quite commonplace. The bond "sale" is required…
France attracts the fourth-highest energy investments in Europe per year, after Germany, Norway and the UK. Rystad Energy expects European capital investments in energy will total $173 billion this year, driven by solar photovoltaic (PV) (25%), onshore wind (23%) and upstream oil and gas (19%) spending. Investments will keep rising next year, by 13% to $196 billion, as activity accelerates in low-carbon industries such as wind, hydrogen and carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). This provides ample opportunities in France's different energy…
Researchers at University of New South Wales Sydney and their collaborators have developed an innovative technique for sustainable ammonia production at scale. With a prototype unit nearing production of ammonia for fertilizers, in a market that has one of the largest carbon footprints among industrial processes, will soon be possible on farms using low-cost, low-energy and environmentally friendly technology. Ammonia also has immense potential as an optimal hydrogen carrier for fuel cells. Up until now, the production of ammonia has relied on…
The return of the Taliban in Kabul looked fatal for the fortunes of Turkmenistan’s dream to build a trans-Afghan natural gas pipeline. With an internationally proscribed militant group in charge of Afghanistan, the idea of raising credit from any major global financial institution to fund work on the TAPI pipeline became remote. But there are indications that Ashgabat is working behind the scenes to change that. Karachi-based news website Business Recorder reported on November 11 that the Turkmenistan-based head of the TAPI consortium, Muhammetmyrat…
The single most abundant element in the Earth's crust is oxygen making up 46.6 percent of the mass. The second most abundant element is silicon making up 27.7 percent, mostly in the form of various molecules combining silicon and oxygen. Silicon dioxide is the kind people are familiar with and it is found on most, but not all beaches of the world. It just doesn't seem reasonable to be concerned that we will somehow run out of sand. After all, the estimated weight of the Earth is 1.3 X 1025 pounds (13 followed by 24 zeros) or 6.5 X 1021 tons. The…
As much as two-thirds of the United States could experience blackouts in peak winter weather this and next year, the North American Reliability Corp has warned. These warnings have become something of a routine for the regulatory agency lately. Earlier this year, NERC issued a blackout warning for some parts of the U.S. over the summer, citing extreme temperatures. This latest warning also has to do with extreme temperatures. Yet it's not just the temperatures themselves that are the problem. It's the power generation mix that is making the…
