China is doubling down on solar power production, making the West’s chances of catching up even slimmer. China has been outspending the rest of the world in clean energy deployment for years now, out-investing other economic superpowers by a factor of four. Not only is the window closing for the United States and Europe to produce solar energy competitively in China, the West is increasingly dependent on imports of Chinese clean energy components and raw materials for their own renewable energy expansion strategies. Читать дальше...
Despite pretty much the entire country making it clear that EV mandates are hurting the industry (with major automakers like Ford and GM slashing investment), President Biden is forging forward with his "green agenda" even further. This go-round, Biden is "preparing to roll out the toughest-ever" emissions restrictions, according to Bloomberg. The report says that the Environmental Protection Agency is poised to implement emissions limits that (Biden thinks) could significantly boost electric vehicle sales... Читать дальше...
Gas prices in Europe could plunge as low as $6.70 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) this summer thanks to a mild winter and ample gas inventories, Wood Mackenzie has said in a new report. The report states that gas markets kicked off the current year on a more bullish note as colder weather swept through Europe while industrial demand maintained its recovering trend, increasing 12% year-on-year in January and around 6% in February. WoodMac has forecast that household gas demand in Europe... Читать дальше...
Via Metal Miner By mid-March, copper prices hit their highest level since April 2023. Prices previously found a bottom in early February before strong upside momentum saw them topple previous peaks within their long-term sideways trend. While prices clocked a moderate1.74% month-over-month decline throughout February, they rose 4.12% during the first two weeks of March. Overall, the Copper Monthly Metals Index (MMI) remained sideways, with a modest 0.55% decline from February to March. Copper Ore... Читать дальше...
With gasoline demand rising, U.S. gasoline prices increased last week for a third week in a row, up by 4.4 cents from a week ago to an average $3.44 per gallon, GasBuddy said on Monday. As of today, the national average is up 18.7 cents from a month ago and 1.6 cents per gallon higher than a year ago, according to GasBuddy, which has compiled price data from more than 12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations. Ongoing refinery maintenance and the switch to the more... Читать дальше...
Many tech analysts have accused the oil industry of being too slow to adopt new technology. Yet the industry is itself the source of much technological progress in its narrow, specialized field. Over the past ten years, however, oil and gas have started to open up for digital technology and automation. In fact, the energy industry has very much embraced all things digital and AI. And now, these technologies are helping it produce more oil and gas for less money. Bloomberg recently reported how the... Читать дальше...
CNOOC Limited has made a major oilfield discovery in the Bohai Sea offshore China, with more than 100 million tons of oil equivalent of in-place volume proved, the Chinese state-held oil and gas giant said on Monday, days after announcing a sizeable discovery in the South China Sea. The Bohai Sea discovery, dubbed Qinhuangdao 27-3 Oilfield, is located in the north-central waters of the Bohai Sea, at an average water depth of approximately 25 meters (82 ft). The oil is medium to heavy, according to the Chinese oil giant. Читать дальше...
Norway launched early on Monday local time its debut offshore wind auction, targeting up to 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of power capacity in the North Sea south of its coasts. “I hope for a good auction with several strong players who want to develop offshore wind at Soerlige Nordsjoe II,” Astrid Bergmål, State Secretary in the Norwegian Energy Ministry, told Reuters ahead of the auction start on Monday. Norway, whose first area up for grabs for offshore wind development, Soerlige Nordsjoe II, is close... Читать дальше...
Nearly 50 countries, including the EU, Canada, and Pacific island nations most affected by climate change, are proposing a fee on carbon emissions in the shipping industry, while others are opposed to such charges, according to documents from ongoing talks reviewed by Reuters. The United Nations agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), is holding this month's meetings to discuss ways of cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships, including talks on economic GHG pricing mechanisms and technical fuel standards. Читать дальше...
In mid-December, I wrote here that the U.S. had set a new annual oil production record: “The U.S. set a new annual oil production record on December 15, based on data from the Energy Information Administration. Although the official monthly numbers from the EIA won’t be released for a couple of months, we can calculate that a new record has been set based on the following analysis.” I could project that new record based on the weekly production numbers from the EIA, but I noted that official confirmation... Читать дальше...
China is expected to import record-high oil volumes from Russia in March as the world’s top crude importer is mopping up cargoes shunned by India, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing tanker-tracking data from Kpler. China is expected to welcome this month as much as 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Russia as refiners are on track to import record-high volumes of the Russian grade Sokol, from which India has been shying away recently. Chinese imports of Sokol are expected to hit... Читать дальше...
Germany’s state-controlled firm Securing Energy for Europe (Sefe) has signed a deal with ADNOC, under which Abu Dhabi’s national oil company will supply LNG to Germany for 15 years beginning in 2028. ADNOC signed the 15-year Heads of Agreement with Sefe for the delivery of 1 million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the UAE’s state energy firm said on Monday. LNG deliveries will be made from ADNOC’s Ruwais LNG project, which is currently under development in Al Ruwais... Читать дальше...
Venture Global LNG is buying nine ships to transport liquefied natural gas as it seeks to boost global sales of the super-chilled fuel, the U.S. LNG provider said on Sunday. The nine vessels will also be LNG-powered and primarily fueled by Venture Global's liquefied natural gas, the company said. The new fleet of LNG vessels is currently under construction in South Korea and will be delivered starting later this year. Six vessels will have a cargo capacity of 174,000 cubic meters and three a cargo... Читать дальше...
China has started the construction of a $3.9-billion electricity transmission and storage project aimed at enhancing the resilience of its grid, which has come to rely heavily on wind and solar generation capacity. According to a Bloomberg report, the project involves building a transmission line of over 1,000 km, or 664 miles, across three provinces and its connection to a pumped hydro storage site. The transmission line will carry electricity produced from wind and solar installations backed up by coal. Читать дальше...
Crude oil prices held on to their gains from last week, moving higher still in mid-morning trade in Asia today amid continued concern about supply. Last week, an IEA report fueled a 4% gain for benchmarks, with Brent crude topping $85 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate advancing above $81. The IEA said in its report that the oil market this year will swing into a deficit—a radical revision of its stance from last month when it said the market would be oversupplied. The IEA revised its oil demand forecast higher... Читать дальше...
Iran has signed new contracts for the development of oil fields worth $13 billion, planning to add 350,000 bpd to daily production. The deals are the biggest in the energy space for the past decade, state news agency Shana reported. They were all signed with local companies, according to oil minister Javad Owji. The production increase effort will focus on six fields, including the biggest one that Iran shares with neighbor Iraq—Azadegan—and its oldest producing field, Masjed Soleyman. The latter... Читать дальше...
For decades, Saudi Arabia has been regarded as the de facto leader of OPEC and a swing-producer critical to curtailing large price overshoots in either direction. Over the past few years, the Arab nation has borne the lion’s share of OPEC+ production cuts after recently agreeing to cut 1 million barrels per day or nearly half of the group’s 2.2 mb/d in pledged cuts. Well, it appears that Saudi Vision 2030 is already bearing fruit, and Riyadh might not be feeling the pinch from those cuts as much as many feared. Читать дальше...
During the latest financial reporting season, the car manufacturing industry did not have a lot of good news to report to their shareholders regarding their EV ventures. Sure, sales hit a record, but they were leading to no profits. In fact, GM and Ford kept losing money on every EV they produced. It was a cold shower, and it had a sobering effect. Slowly but surely, carmakers are beginning to rearrange their priorities in the electric transport space, revising manufacturing targets and even sealing joint venture deals with Chinese EV makers. Читать дальше...
