Welcome to the ODAC Newsletter, a weekly roundup from the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre at nef dedicated to raising awareness of peak oil.
BP took a gamble this week, entering into partnership with the Russian state backed energy company Rosneft. The deal frees the company from a stormy relationship with its oligarch partners at TNK BP. At the same time, it effectively makes BP business partners with the Kremlin. The words frying pan and fire may spring to mind. The deal, which sees Rosneft take over the TNK subsidiary, while BP gains a 20% stake in the Russian company, demonstrates the huge risks that major oil companies are forced to take to feed the production pipeline.
While BP was busy on the eastern front, the signs from the wild west are that the bottom is falling out of the shale gas boom. The New York Times picked up the story this week in an article about the Haynesville formation. The tale is one of gold rush style land deals with "use it or lose it" drilling rights, which forced huge amounts of drilling at uncommercial prices. With the gas price now lower than the cost of production, the rigs have moved on to drill for oil where prices still comfortably cover average production costs. The estimates for how much oil can be produced at what cost vary wildly; see more on this at The Oil Drum.
In the UK the battle over energy policy continued this week. Ousted Energy Minister Charles Hendry warned in the Observer on the dangers of over reliance on gas for future energy security — in his view, there may be shale gas, but it won’t come cheap. The Renewable Energy Association (REA) took up the fight releasing a briefing note on how renewables subsidies had added only 2% to energy prices in the last two years with gas prices driving much of the increase. Add to that the uncertainty over new nuclear where the lack of bidders looks to be pushing up the likely cost and forcing the government into crazy contortions to honour its no-subsidies pledge, and it is easy to see why Ed Miliband said that UK energy policy is "unravelling" — although it could hardly have been described as "ravelled" under New Labour. With so much political lobbying on the topic the message that the government is not into picking winners is wearing thin.
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Oil
BP’s Bob Dudley risks an even grizzlier Russian bear hug
Bears are not as cuddly as they look — particularly the Russian variety.
So, who wouldn"t get the jitters at what Bob Dudley"s up to? The BP chief executive is swapping a lucrative but dysfunctional relationship with four baby-bear oligarchs for a full-on embrace with old daddy bear himself, Vladimir Putin — a man who doesn"t even look that huggable, judging by those delightful holiday snaps of the Russian president half-naked with his gun…
Oil Set for Second Weekly Drop on Demand Outlook as Supply Rises
Oil fell, poised for the biggest weekly drop in a month, on speculation U.S. economic growth won"t be enough to boost demand amid increasing stockpiles.
Futures dropped as much as 1.2 percent before a U.S. government report today that may show the economy of the world"s biggest crude user expanded by 1.8 percent in the third quarter. That would cap the first back-to-back readings of growth lower than 2 percent since 2009. Stockpiles in the country have climbed to the highest for this time of year since 1982…
Insight: Is Ohio’s "secret" energy boom going bust?
Dozens of wells drilled this year across rural Ohio are quietly pumping out the answer to the U.S. energy industry’s most loaded question: Is the Utica shale formation, touted as a potentially $500 billion frontier, a boom or a bust?
Yet the answer is likely to remain concealed for some time…
North Sea oil and gas licensing round ‘successful’
The UK government has claimed the North Sea remains a "fertile landscape for investors" after awarding 167 licences for oil and gas projects on the UK Continental Shelf.
The new licenses offered by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) cover 330 North Sea blocks…
Saudi, Iran and Iraq clash over OPEC top job
Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq are vying to gain leadership of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), with all three countries putting forward nominees for the next term as secretary-general of the energy body.
OPEC members gathered in Vienna on Monday to interview nominees, with Ecuador, the smallest member of the energy bloc, making up the fourth nominee in the running to replace Libya"s Abdalla el-Badri…
Gas
After the Boom in Natural Gas
THE crew of workers fought off the blistering Louisiana sun, jerking their wrenches to tighten the fat hoses that would connect their cement trucks to the Chesapeake Energy drill rig — one of the last two rigs the company is still using to drill for natural gas here in the Haynesville Shale.
At its peak, Chesapeake ran 38 rigs in the region. All told, it has sunk more than 1,200 wells into the Haynesville, a gas-rich vein of dense rock that straddles Louisiana and Texas. Fed by a gold-rush mentality and easy money from Wall Street, Chesapeake and its competitors have done the same in other shale fields from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania…
Putin tells Russian gas exporters to look east
President Vladimir Putin ordered a rethink of Russia’s natural gas export policy to take advantage of rising Asian demand, as giant producer Gazprom launched a huge Arctic field to supply Europe, where demand is falling.
Putin has tightened his personal grip on Russia’s gas export policy since the formal launch of a European Commission probe into pipeline gas export monopoly Gazprom’s pricing under its standard long-term contracts, which are linked to the oil price…
Nuclear
Future of UK nuclear power hangs in the balance, says EDF boss
The future of nuclear power in the UK is hanging in the balance, the chief executive of the company charged with building new reactors has said.
Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of EDF Energy, told MPs at a select committee hearing on Tuesday that he had still not made up his mind whether to go ahead with a construction programme that would see the first new nuclear power stations in the UK for decades…
EON Withdraws From Finnish Nuclear Project on Price Slide
EON AG, Germany"s biggest utility, plans to withdraw from the Fennovoima Oy nuclear reactor in Finland after European energy prices declined, threatening the viability of the project.
Fennovoima, in which EON owns a 34 percent stake, plans to begin construction of a 1,600 to 1,800-megawatt reactor at Pyhaejoki in northern Finland in late 2016, Timo Kallio, executive vice president of construction, said today in an interview in Tampere, Finland. EON, the sole provider of nuclear expertise to the project, will exit the venture in the first quarter, Roger Strandahl, a spokesman for EON in Malmoe, Sweden, said today by telephone…
Japan struggling to store radioactive water
Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant is struggling to find space to store tens of thousands of tonnes of highly contaminated water used to cool the broken reactors, the manager of the water treatment team has said.
About 200,000 tonnes of radioactive water, enough to fill more than 50 Olympic-sized swimming pools, are being stored in hundreds of gigantic tanks built around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant…
Government considers ‘blank cheque’ nuclear subsidies
The Government has been accused of planning a U-turn on energy policy by writing "blank cheques" for new nuclear power stations after promising it would offer no subsidies to the industry.
The Government has previously promised not to subsidise the nuclear energy industry but a group of leading academics have accused it of planning a U-turn. It is said to be considering "underwriting" the cost of budget over-runs or delays in the construction of new power stations in the UK…
China to approve only "small amount" of nuclear reactors before 2015
China will restrict the number of new nuclear reactor approvals to a "small amount" before 2015, and will only allow them to be built in coastal regions, the government said on Wednesday.
At a meeting of the State Council chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, the Chinese government passed new nuclear safety and industry development plans which raised the safety standards for the nuclear sector…
Renewables
Renewable subsidies add just £4 to energy bills, REA says
The cost of supporting renewable energy projects has added £4 to energy bills over the last two years — equating to a two per cent increase — analysis by the Renewable Energy Association (REA) shows.
The renewables trade body said the figures show that green energy subsidies are having a negligible impact on energy price rises, compared to other factors such as wholesale gas price rises. And because energy firms are increasing their prices still further this year, the REA claimed renewable supporting schemes will account for an even smaller proportion of energy bills this year…
WWF makes case for targeted renewables support
Adopting an economy-wide carbon price is unlikely to provide the surge in investment required to decarbonise the UK’s energy sector, according to a major new report from WWF that makes the case for the continuation of targeted support for renewable energy projects.
The new paper, entitled On picking winners: The need for targeted support for renewable energy, was written by Dr Rob Gross of Imperial College London and argues that growing calls for so-called "technology neutral" green energy policies such as carbon pricing are immature…
Is the Chancellor preparing to cap new onshore wind farms?
Negotiations over the precise content of the Energy Bill could yet result in a cap being placed on new onshore wind farm developments, according to reports in The Times.
Columnist Rachel Sylvester yesterday reported that a "possible compromise" between Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey and Chancellor George Osborne was on the cards, which could see the Lib Dem agree to a limit on the expansion of onshore wind farms in return for a "wider Treasury commitment on funding" for low carbon energy projects…
London Array seeks consent for 240MW extension
The developers behind the giant London Array offshore wind farm have submitted an application to build the second phase of the project, which would increase the facility’s overall capacity to 870MW.
The initial planning approval for the £2bn scheme granted in 2006 stated the second phase could not go ahead unless London Array provided satisfactory evidence that the legally protected population of Red Throated Divers in the Outer Thames Estuary would not be adversely affected by the construction…
Green energy would save EU trillions by 2050 -report
A green revolution to make EU energy almost totally carbon-free by 2050 would generate 3 trillion euros ($3.9 trillion) in fuel savings, a report commissioned by environmental campaigners said.
The energy shift would already create around half a million extra jobs by 2020, researchers from German aerospace centre DLR, which also specialises in energy and transport, found…
UK public favours wind turbines over shale gas wells, poll finds
More than two-thirds of people would rather have a wind turbine than a shale gas well near their home, according to a new opinion poll published on Tuesday.
Asked to choose between having the two energy sources within two miles of their home, 67% of respondents favoured a turbine, compared to just 11% who would support the gas development…
Biofuels
Centrica bails on British biomass plants
Centrica Energy has pulled the plug on two planned biomass power plants, citing the government’s "preference" for alternative biomass and coal technologies.
Neither the proposed 80MW biomass power station on the site of Centrica’s existing Roosecote gas-fired power station, nor a 137MW biomass power station adjacent to the company’s existing gas-fired plant at Brigg will now go ahead…
Algae biofuel not sustainable now-U.S. research council
Biofuels made from algae, promoted by President Barack Obama as a possible way to help wean Americans off foreign oil, cannot be made now on a large scale without using unsustainable amounts of energy, water and fertilizer, the U.S. National Research Council reported on Wednesday.
"Faced with today’s technology, to scale up any more is going to put really big demands on … not only energy input, but water, land and the nutrients you need, like carbon dioxide, nitrate and phosphate," said Jennie Hunter-Cevera, a microbial physiologist who headed the committee that wrote the report…
UK
Energy: We must mix to match future demands in Britain
Energy is vital for our everyday needs, it is one of the largest household costs, it is core to our economic recovery — but rarely has it been the focus of political and media attention.
Straight after the 2010 election, David Cameron came to the department of energy and climate change to set our mission. We had to deliver new investment to keep the lights on, we had to respond to consumers’ concerns about prices and, of course, we had to be the greenest government ever…
Charles Hendry was minister of state for energy and climate change 2010-2012.
Big Energy Saving Week aims to stoke consumer interest
A slick shopping centre full of Armani, Prada and L’Occitane stores — not to mention a casino with a 150-seat poker room — is a strange place to hold an event aimed at helping people save money on energy bills.
But Citizens Advice hopes its Big Energy Saving Week, which kicked off at Stratford’s Westfield centre on 22 October, will help cash-strapped families around the country avoid falling into fuel poverty. And to have that kind of effect you have to go where the people are — the shops…
Climate
US presidential debates’ great unmentionable: climate change
No mention of global warming for the first time since Congress was briefed on the threat in 1988
The Pentagon ranks it as a national security threat and, left unchecked, climate change is expected to cost the US economy billions of dollars every year — and yet it has proved the great unmentionable of this election campaign…
EU inflates CO2 achievement, ignores imports
The author is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own.
The European Union is inflating its position as a leader in tackling global climate change by ignoring the impact of its fall in industrial competitiveness, which means the region is now importing more carbon-intensive goods…
UK makes biggest emissions cuts in Europe
The UK cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than any other European country last year, over-achieving on targets under the Kyoto protocol on climate change. Some of the reduction was owing to milder weather and an increase in renewable energy generation, but the sluggish economy is also likely to have contributed.
France and Germany also made sizeable cuts in emissions, but Spain and Italy are lagging and are in danger of missing their Kyoto targets, according to figures released by the European Environment Agency on Wednesday…
