Energy News Beat

Nigeria, the biggest oil producer in Africa, is considering ways to curb soaring inflation, including by giving the central bank powers to use gold to boost reserves.

Nigerian lawmakers are discussing a bill to create a so-called Gold Reserve Authority and give the central bank the powers to be the automatic off-taker for all the gold produced in Nigeria, according to a draft document seen by Bloomberg.

Lawmakers are also proposing boosting the share of gold of Nigeria’s foreign reserves to a minimum of 30%, compared to 4% at present.

Nigeria is heavily reliant on oil and gas for its budget revenues. So far, it has failed to boost significantly oil output to get more revenue, or to diversify its economy to make it less dependent on oil production, exports, and prices.

Inflation in the country has been running high over the last year, since Nigeria’s central bank dropped the peg of the local currency to the U.S. dollar. The Nigerian currency, the naira, has lost 70% of its value against the dollar over the past year.

Nigeria’s inflation hit a new 28-year high in May, and was at an annual rate of 33.95%, with food and non-alcoholic beverages – which make a large part of the inflation basket – the biggest contributors to inflation, as in previous months.

The IMF said in May that near-term risks in Nigeria are tilted to the downside. [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]

“Adverse shocks to oil production or prices would hit growth, the fiscal and external position, and exacerbate inflationary and exchange rate pressures,” the IMF said.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s national oil company NNPC Ltd has declared a state of emergency on production in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry as the country struggles to boost output. NNPC believes that Nigeria needs to take urgent action to address the challenges that have plagued the oil and gas industry for years, NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, said at an industry event last week.

Source: Oilprice.com

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Projection is blaming someone else for your own bad behavior.

We saw a classic case of projection in Thursday’s presidential debate, when President Biden—who is overseeing annual budget deficits of $2 trillion—asserted that his predecessor, Donald Trump, added more to the federal debt than anyone else.

It’s part of the latest leftist argument: that if Trump wins the election, he will run deficits twice as large as Biden would.

Debate moderator Jake Tapper joined the chorus of federal finance falsehoods when he claimed Trump had “approved $8.4 trillion in new debt,” while Biden’s actions will increase the debt by (merely) $4.3 trillion over a decade.

Tapper was referencing a recent report by the left-leaning Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which twisted and turned the debt statistics in every contortionary way it could to reach its incredible conclusion.

CRFB, by the way, is a group that opposed the successful Trump tax reform in 2017—yet supported several of Biden’s multitrillion-dollar spending bills.

It’s not nonpartisan, but a front group for the policies of the political left.

The fundamental flaw of the CRFB analysis is revealed if we examine the projections of the Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO’s projection for 2021, the last fiscal year of the Trump administration, forecast the federal debt to reach about $35.3 trillion by 2031, that is, over the next decade.

Today, 3½ years into the Biden administration, the latest estimates from the CBO project the debt will hit over $42.5 trillion by 2031.

The Congressional Budge Office forecasts an increase in debt.

In other words, the CBO now expects the debt to be $7.2 trillion higher than it had projected when Trump left office—all because of Biden’s reckless spending policies.

Treasury Department figures also show the debt growing much faster under Biden.

Over Trump’s entire term, including the 2020 spate of emergency COVID spending, the debt increased by $7.7 trillion—a staggering total, to be sure.

However, about 15% of that debt total was the result of Treasury’s choice to keep additional cash on hand during the pandemic.

Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, unsure how much tax revenue would be collected, borrowed well over $1 trillion—but kept it in reserve, without ever spending it.

Biden, however, spent that reserve, then borrowed another $7 trillion on top of it.

Instead of simply allowing that one-time emergency COVID spending to expire, Biden and the Democratic Congress continued spending at that same COVID-era level, thus institutionalizing multitrillion-dollar deficits.

Accounting for the changes in cash balances at the Treasury, the debt actually rose $6.5 trillion during Trump’s entire term—and is up $7.9 trillion in less than four years of Biden’s tenure.

Worse, the Treasury has announced that it anticipates needing to borrow another $800 billion from July through September of this year, followed by hundreds of billions more from October to December as federal finances further deteriorate.

All told, Biden will likely oversee a net increase in the debt of more than $9 trillion in a single term—a new record.

Biden wanted to spend $2 trillion more in the last year and a half, but conservatives in the House blocked the added bloat.

You can bet the farm that if the radical left wins the White House and Congress in 2024, that $2 trillion outlay will be first on their legislative agenda.

Biden’s other big lie, backed by the CRFB analysis, is that extending Trump’s tax reform will drown the economy in debt.

Yet federal tax revenues have increased since that tax reform was enacted—and federal revenues as a share of GDP have not fallen.

All of the increase in today’s debt has been due to massive, out-of-control federal spending—by both parties.

Trump spent and borrowed too much, full stop.

But with a debt headed to $50 trillion if reelected and a political agenda that stifles economic growth, Biden has set America on an unsustainable fiscal path that will lead to financial oblivion.

Source: Heritage.org

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The post The Left’s $7 Trillion Lie: Biden Far Outpaces Trump in Racking Up the National Debt appeared first on Energy News Beat.

 

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Shares in BP fell by as much as four percent this morning after it warned it was expected to post an impairment of up to $2bn (1.6bn) and was operating under “significantly” lower refining margins.

The FTSE 100 oil major, which in April surprised investors with a better-than-expected oil and gas trading performance in the first three months of the year, maintained much of its momentum in the second quarter, but said that “onerous contract provisions” meant it was setting aside up between between $1bn (£780m) and $2bn (£1.6bn).

BP shares were down 3.5 percent in early market trading at 9 30am BST.

In a trading update published this morning, the company said upstream production was flat compared to the prior quarter, and realised oil prices had a favourable impact on its bottom line.

However, BP was still hit by “significantly” lower realised refining margins—which had been unexpectedly healthy in the first quarter—due to narrower North American heavy crude oil differentials and weaker middle distillate margins.

The energy giant expects these to have an adverse impact of up to $0.7bn (£0.55bn).

BP also said its second-quarter results expected on July 30 will include the post-tax adverse adjustments from the firm’s ongoing review of its Gelsenkirchen refinery in Germany.

Analysts at Jeffries said the trading update should result in an earnings downgrade of approximately 20 percent, “mainly driven by a lower trading contribution” and the negative revisions in refining.

Source: Oilprice.com

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Dive Brief:

The year-over-year inflation rate for U.S. electricity prices reached 5.9% in May, up from 3.8% in January, according to Bank of America Institute, a think tank utilizing proprietary data to develop insights into consumer behavior and the economy.
Utility payments — including electricity, gas, waste removal and water — declined 1.4%  in the early months of 2024, but growth in electricity demand from artificial intelligence and industrial onshoring means any bill respite is likely short-lived, BofA analysts said in a July 2 research note, “Powering the revolution.”
Electric vehicles and heat pumps are driving consumer electricity demand higher, while industrial onshoring and the rise of data centers and artificial intelligence are also putting upward pressure on prices, the analysts said. BofA Global Research estimates AI computing will require an additional 18 GW to 28 GW of generation capacity by 2026.

Dive Insight:

Consumers got some relief on utility bills early this year but electricity prices are expected to continue rising, according to BofA.

“Electricity demand is actually increasing, pressuring supply, and it may continue to do so for a long time as industrial onshoring and the AI revolution are both turbo-charging the need for generating capacity,” analysts wrote. “This demand for significant investment in generation and related distribution infrastructure could be a headwind to consumers’ utility bills for the foreseeable future.”

U.S. electricity demand stagnated over the last decade, but the U.S. Department of Energy says some grid operators are now expecting annual demand growth of 5% to 6%.

And there is little consumers can do to reduce power consumption because electricity “is not really a discretionary item for households,” BofA said. “And usage is also being driven by some trends such as the need for increased cooling in response to longer and more frequent heatwaves.”

Industrial onshoring, driven in part by incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act and the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors Act, is raising U.S. manufacturing capacity and its demand for electricity. “Given the long timelines in building large plants there is probably much more to come,” analysts said. “The AI revolution and industrial onshoring are likely to be multi-year — perhaps multi-decade — trends, so the demand for electricity may continue to ramp up from these sources for a long while yet.”

Rising demand means investment in new generation capacity and distribution infrastructure “will need to be sustained,” BofA analysts said. And despite fluctuations in fossil fuel prices, “the need for extra capacity in the electricity generation system may well act as a headwind to any prolonged drop in their utility bills.”

Data centers could consume 9% of the United States’ electricity generation by 2030 — double the amount consumed today, according to research from the Electric Power Research Institute. That rise is being led by AI queries and generation, which requires about ten times the electricity of traditional internet searches, according to EPRI.

AI, however, “can also be part of the solution to rising electricity demand, helping drive ‘smarter’ power grids that distribute electricity more efficiently to regions where demand is highest,” BofA said.

AI can help lower grid costs and reduce emissions from electricity generation, according to DOE — but the technology also poses significant risks if deployed “naïvely,” the agency said in an April report. Four categories of grid risks have emerged, including adversarial attacks against AI systems, unintentional failures of AI models, the use of AI to execute cyber or physical grid attacks, and supply chain compromises, the agency said.

Source: Utilitydive.com

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The desire to control so much of other people’s lives is inconsistent not only with liberalism, but with the U.S. Constitution.

Government has controlled so much of our lives for so long, it now seems normal, even rational. Where we live. Where we work. Whom we hire. What becomes of our labor. What we eat. The precise share of our contraceptives bill that our health insurance will cover. Prices and other terms of innumerable economic exchanges.

Congress has passed so many laws, regulating almost every aspect of our lives, that it cannot possibly manage them all. Most governments are even worse, mind you: According to the Cato Institute’s Human Freedom Index, only 16 countries have more overall freedom than the United States. Only four have more economic freedom. Yet Congress still has not the time, knowledge, or other resources necessary to specify the precise rules it demands the people follow. Like every legislature throughout history, Congress relies on executive agencies to fill in the details.

But the more rules a legislature imposes on the people, the less able it is to specify the details itself, and the more it must abdicate to executive agencies its power — its duty — to write the laws.

Likewise, the more rules a legislature imposes on the people, and the more executive agencies fill in the details, the more often people will dispute an agency’s interpretation of exactly what duties or benefits the law creates. Under the U.S. Constitution, when there is a dispute over what the law says, it is the duty of Article III courts — the judiciary — to decide.

In Chevron and subsequent cases, the Supreme Court abdicated that duty. It chose to let executive agencies decide what the law says, even if the agency’s interpretation was not the best, so long as the courts found that interpretation “reasonable.” The Supreme Court responded to Congress abdicating its essential legislative duty by abdicating the Court’s essential judicial duty.

Chevron thus shifted massive power from elected legislatures and unelected (but independent) judges to unelected (but often explicitly political) bureaucrats. It so accustomed agencies to getting their way, one agency thought little of claiming that the U.S. government counts as a “State” — even though the statute defines “State” to mean “each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.”

That absurd interpretation, by the way, would just happen to allow the agency to tax and spend billions of dollars that it otherwise could not. Straight-faced government lawyers then argued that the Supreme Court should defer to that interpretation. (Nuts, right? Keep reading.)

In Loper Bright, the Supreme Court finally discarded Chevron. The Court held that judges must discharge their constitutional duty to say what the law is.

Those who advocate massive government intervention in the economy are apoplectic. They believe that if Congress cannot delegate such massive powers to executive agencies, then the federal government cannot competently direct the economy, redistribute income, and enrich their favorite special interests.

And they are right.

The uncomfortable truth that Chevron supporters do not want to admit is that their desire to control so much of other people’s lives is inconsistent not only with liberalism but with that most magnificent manifestation of liberalism, the U.S. Constitution. In Loper Bright, the Supreme Court faced a decision between liberalism and the rule of law on the one hand, and an anti-liberal ideological agenda on the other. It made the right choice.

And not a moment too soon. In his 1944 book The Road to Serfdom, Nobel Prize–winning economist Friedrich Hayek explained that when legislatures attempt to direct the economy, their incompetence will increasingly lead to calls to concentrate power in the hands of government officials who have increasingly less regard for liberal values such as individual liberty, the separation of powers, the rule of law, or democratic accountability. Loper Bright restores the separation of powers and thereby strips power from any bureau-cum-auto-crats.

Loper Bright does not dismantle the administrative state. It does not even mean we are no longer heading down the road to serfdom. But it does tap the brakes.

Or maybe it won’t even do that. In King v. Burwell, the case where the agency said the federal government is a state, the Supreme Court discarded Chevron — but nevertheless adopted that absurd interpretation.

Requiring judges to do their job is no guarantee that they will do it well. But it’s a start.

Source: Nationalreview.com

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The post The End of Chevron Deference: Tapping the Brakes on the Road to Serfdom appeared first on Energy News Beat.

 

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Germany is nearing a decision on what to do with the local units of Russian oil major Rosneft PJSC that the government seized two years ago after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The future of the assets will be determined soon, a government official familiar with the matter told reporters Monday. The state-controlled Russian energy giant agreed with Germany earlier this year to try to find a buyer for its local subsidiaries, but a deadline to do so will expire in two months.

Two to three interested parties have started sounding out a possible investment, according to people familiar with the discussions. Talks about a potential purchase of Rosneft Deutschland and RN Refining & Marketing GmbH have already been held in Berlin, the people added, asking not to be named because the matter is private.

Spokespeople for the German economy ministry and Rosneft Deutschland declined to comment.

In September 2022, at the height of an energy crisis, Germany put Rosneft’s local units under temporary trusteeship, which has since been extended three times. The deal that closed in March allowed the company to find its own buyers for the entities while avoiding a nationalization. That option is not off the table, with parts of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition supporting such a move.

The Rosneft units have shares in three refineries in Germany, including the PCK Raffinerie GmbH in Schwedt near Berlin, which was cut off from Russian crude supplies two years ago.

German deputy economy minister Michael Kellner told reporters that the PCK refinery would not fall back under Russian control. He didn’t specify how far Rosneft’s negotiations had progressed with interested parties or whether he would prefer a Polish buyer for the shares.

“It’s important to me that we create an ownership structure so that we have the refinery on a secure footing in the long term,” Kellner said.

Source: Rigzone.com

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Ed Miliband, the UK’s new Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, has outlined his priorities in a message to staff, which was posted on the UK government website.

“Our department will be at the heart of the new government’s agenda, leading one of the Prime Minister’s five national missions, to make Britain a clean energy superpower with zero carbon electricity by 2030, and accelerating our journey to net zero,” Miliband said in the message.

“The job of our department will be to deliver our mission so we can make the UK energy independent, bring down energy bills for good, create good jobs, and tackle the climate crisis,” he added.

“We will get started right away, and my priorities are – delivering our mission to boost energy independence and cutting bills through clean power by 2030; taking back control of our energy with Great British Energy; upgrading Britain’s homes and cutting fuel poverty through our Warm Homes Plan; standing up for consumers by reforming our energy system; creating good jobs in Britain’s industrial heartlands, including a just transition for the industries based in the North Sea; leading on international climate action, based on our domestic achievements,” Miliband continued.

Miliband highlighted in the message that the department will be “mission-driven … mobilizing citizens, businesses, trade unions, civil society and local government in a national effort, where everyone has a role”.

Miliband was appointed Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on July 5. The Secretary of State has overall responsibility for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, according to the government’s website. Claire Coutinho previously held this role from 2023 to 2024. Prior to that, Grant Shapps held the role in 2023.

In a statement posted on his X page on July 5, Miliband said, “it is a privilege and honor to have been appointed as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero”.

“This government has won a mandate to deliver a bold plan for energy independence, lower energy bills, good jobs and to tackle the climate crisis. That work begins now,” he added.

Sarah Jones was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and the Department for Business and Trade, on July 8. The minister is responsible for – geospatial plan and wider planning policy, grid, review of electricity market arrangements (REMA), oil and gas, COP and international climate policy, Net Zero Strategy, carbon budgets, international climate finance, multilateral negotiations (G7 and COP), carbon leakage, Ofgem (shared with the Minister for Energy Consumers and Affordability), the UK government site states.

In a statement posted on her X page on July 8, Jones said “such an honor to be appointed by the Prime Minister to be Minister of State for Industry and Decarbonization in @biztradegovuk and @energygovuk”.

“Lots to do,” Jones added.

A UK General Election took place on July 4. With all 650 seats declared, Labour won 411 seats, the UK Parliament website showed, highlighting that this was up 209 on Labour’s total from the previous UK election in 2019.

Industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) congratulated Labour Party leader Keir Starmer on the UK General Election result in a release sent to Rigzone by the OEUK team. The organization also warned in the release, however, that “many of the industry’s skilled people and investors remain deeply concerned about Labour proposals for a further windfall tax on homegrown oil and gas production and to end new oil and gas licenses in UK waters”.

Rigzone has asked the Labour Party for comment on OEUK’s release. At the time of writing, the party has not yet responded to Rigzone’s request.

Source: Rigzone.com

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There’s a dark side to ‘The Next AI Trade’—at least for some landowners.

Powering up America and upgrading power grids for artificial intelligence data centers, onshoring trends, and the electrification of the economy will require thousands of miles of new transmission lines nationwide. Existing lines will be upgraded, but new lines will also be needed, resulting in the seizure of private property via eminent domain.

According to Fox 45 Baltimore, the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (MPRP) is a new plan to build a 70-mile 500,000-volt transmission line across three counties: Frederick, Baltimore, and Carroll. The line will connect a substation in southern Frederick County and supply the area with additional load capacity to handle surging power demand from AI data centers.

MPRP’s website explains that the new transmission lines will require the acquisition of private property through the use of an eminent domain, or government-mandated seizure to complete the construction.

“If PSEG and a property owner cannot agree on mutually acceptable value, PSEG may seek to use the power of eminent domain using the process set forth by the state of Maryland to acquire the necessary property rights,” the developer’s website states.

A local conservation group, The Valleys Planning Council, explained on Facebook that the new transmission system, which will tear up forests and farmland, is only being planned because lawmakers in Annapolis “do not allow new fossil fuel power stations, Maryland must import electricity from surrounding states.”

It’s becoming clear that the dark side of powering up America for AI data centers will be land grabs by the government through eminent domain.

In Maryland’s case, residents who do not comply with MPRP will see parts of their farms and forests snatched up for the infrastructure project.

However, the only reason the new transmission line plan exists is because of the so-called state managers in Annapolis, lawmakers, who are truly awful at their jobs. The genius in Annapolis waged war on fossil fuels and banned any new development of fossil fuel power plants at a time when power demand is rising.

So, instead of building clean NatGas power generation plants near the AI data centers, Maryland must import power from other states. Real efficient, eh?

In a recent report from ESG Legal Solutions, LLC, titled “Maryland’s Energy Crisis: The Critical Need to Boost In State Electricity Generation,” the authors state, “Maryland consumes about 40% more electricity than it generates.”

To sum up, the dark side of the next AI trade will involve land grabs of private property. That’s likely to happen in Maryland and elsewhere. But also, we have to point out that the only reason this is happening are the progressives in Annapolis who push green policies.

Sigh, for the Maryland residents who have to deal with progressives not rooted in reality.

Source: Zerohedge.com

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About half the countries in the region are experiencing a rush in oil exploration that threatens the global drive to achieve net zero. But many argue that they have a right to enrich themselves in the same way the west has

His raised hands dirty with oil, the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – then in his first term – stood in front of the cameras with a broad smile on his face during the inauguration of Platform P50, located in Campos, Rio de Janeiro. Petrobras, a state-controlled national company, had discovered immense oil and gas deposits in the Atlantic Ocean’s depths.

“Today we are celebrating another independence,” said Lula. “We are witnessing a milestone that will mark a new era to Brazil’s development.”

That was 21 April 2006. Eighteen years later, amid fears for the impact on the climate crisis, a new oil rush is underway in Latin America and the Caribbean as the region is heading for a boom in exports of “black gold”.

At least 16 of the 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries are involved in about 50 major new oil and gas onshore and offshore projects.

Two new powerhouses, Brazil and Guyana, are expected to register two of the three largest increases in fossil fuel exports by 2035.

According to the latest report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), production in Latin America and the Caribbean, which stood at 8m barrels a day (mb/d) in 2022, will grow by 5.8 mb/d by 2028. With increased production in countries such as Brazil and Guyana and new projects all over the region, non-Opec countries are strengthening their foothold in the oil and gas market, playing a crucial role in the shifting geopolitics of oil and gas worldwide.

Even if the world market for fossil fuels starts shrinking by the end of the decade, countries like Brazil, Guyana, Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico and Suriname are betting on oil as a source of wealth, economic growth and development – despite its impact on the planet and thanks to the international community’s inertia in “transitioning away” from the oil era.

According to the latest report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), production in Latin America and the Caribbean, which stood at 8m barrels a day (mb/d) in 2022, will continue to grow above demand, adding 2 mb/d destined for export by 2030. With increased production across the region, non-Opec countries are strengthening their foothold in the oil and gas market, playing a crucial role in the shifting geopolitics of oil and gas worldwide.

Brazil and Guyana, are expected to register two of the three largest increases in fossil fuel exports by 2035. The region currently accounts for 15% of the world’s oil and gas resources and could increase its share if other historical producers transition away from the oil market, reducing their production and exports.

Brazil, which used to be a modest oil producer until the discovery of its pre-salt deposits in 2006, has become one of the top ten largest oil producers. More than 100 wells have been drilled, with production increasing from 41,000 barrels a day in 2010 to 2.2m a day last year, according to Petrobras.

Petrobras has identified new fields in the “equatorial margin” region, which stretches from Rio Grande do Norte to Amapá. It is also considering the extraction of fossil fuels at the mouth of the Amazon River, which the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) and environmental groups such as Greenpeace have spoken out against.

Petrobras is considering extracting fossil fuels at the mouth of the Amazon River, home to the Amazon Reef. Photograph: Greenpeace

Petrobras plans to invest $6bn from its own budget in exploring new deposits over the next five years, adding another 10bn barrels to its reserves – almost doubling its current capacity.

“You have oil in one place. Guyana is exploring, Suriname is exploring and Trinidad and Tobago are exploring. Will you stop exploring yours?” asked Brazilian Lula at a recent event in Rio de Janeiro organised by the Future Investment Initiative Institute (FII Institute) from Saudi Arabia.

In neighbouring Guyana, one of the poorest countries in Latin America, the economy has grown quickly since ExxonMobil discovered oil in 2015. GDP per capita is soaring, growing by 33% in 2023. It is expected to increase by 34% in 2024.

Ashni Singh, Guyana’s finance minister, says: “We’re using this period [of oil exploitation] to ensure Guyana’s long-term competitiveness, to secure long-term economic growth, and to invest in the things that matter most to improving the quality of people’s lives – and in particular, the most vulnerable.”

Part of a 152-mile gas pipeline in Guyana, where ExxonMobil discovered oil in 2015. Photograph: Keisha Scarville

Meanwhile, Suriname has become a “rising star” in the oil market with some big offshore discoveries, including new deposits in Block 58 by TotalEnergies and APA, estimated at 700m barrels, with the potential to transform the economy of South America’s smallest nation.

In addition to oil giants Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and even the environmentally exemplary Costa Rica have ambitions to expand their oil and gas industry. “We must carefully assess these resources,” said Costa Rica’s president, Rodrigo Chaves. “This is a multibillion-dollar industry. And, as a nation, we should discuss its potential.”

We have more than enough oil to destroy the climate many times over, and we have to reduce fossil fuel emissions

However, there is a danger in Latin America and the Caribbean investing heavily in fossil fuels while the oil demand is declining. According to the International Energy Agency, if the international community fulfils its promises and goals of “transitioning away” from oil and gas by expanding the space for renewable energies – as established at Cop28 in Dubai in December 2023 – there is a good chance that the oil market will peak at the end of the decade and gradually decline. According to the IEA, oil use is expected to fall by half by 2050, thanks to efficiency gains, transportation electrification and the use of cleaner fuels.

“Any new projects would face major commercial risks if the world is on track to deliver net zero emissions by 2050, as oil demand declines rapidly,” says the IEA in a report.

A crude oil shipping terminal, run by the state-operated company PDVSA, on Lake Maracaibo in Cabimas, Venezuela. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP

Marcelo Mena, Chile’s former environment minister and the former director of the Climate Action Center at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV), says that the strategy of investing in oil is a mistake.

“We have more than enough oil to destroy the climate many times over, and we have to reduce fossil fuel emissions,” he says. “Fossil fuel demand, including oil production, is peaking and decreasing. Coal demand is down. Breakthroughs in electromobility and battery storage costs are making many regions in Latin America, including Brazil and Chile, approach cost parity with electric mobility. It’s a risky business to explore business models with expiration dates.”

The post ‘Will you stop exploring yours?’: Latin America forges ahead on new oil frontier appeared first on Energy News Beat.

 

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US LNG terminal operator Freeport LNG has shut down its three-train liquefaction and export plant in Texas due to Hurricane Beryl.

“We safely ramped down production at our liquefaction facility on Sunday, July 7, ahead of Hurricane Beryl making landfall,” a Freeport LNG spokeswoman told LNG Prime in an emailed statement on Monday.

“We intend to resume operations once it is safe to do so,” she said, adding that the “safety of our personnel and the community is Freeport LNG’s top priority”.

Hurricane Beryl made landfall near Matagorda, Texas early Monday morning local time with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kmh), according to the National Hurricane Center.

“Steady weakening is expected as the center moves inland, and Beryl is expected to weaken to a tropical storm later today and to a tropical depression on Tuesday,” it said.

Cheniere’s 15 mtpa Corpus Christi LNG export facility in also located in Texas, but the facility continues to produce LNG.

“Cheniere continues to monitor Beryl’s progress. Based on the storm’s projected path, our Corpus Christi Liquefaction (CCL) facility in Gregory, Texas has implemented its severe-weather preparedness plan. The facility is secure, and LNG production continues uninterrupted,” a spokeswoman for Cheniere said on Monday.

“All non-essential personnel have been released from work. Our Gulf Coast assets, including our CCL and Sabine Pass liquefaction facilities, have robust and proven severe-weather preparedness plans and procedures in place, as the safety of our people, community and environment is our top priority,” she said.

In May, Freeport LNG resumed operations at all of its three liquefaction trains.

Prior to that, the LNG terminal operator said on March 20 that only the third liquefaction train was operating.

Freeport LNG also used the outage to accelerate a debottlenecking project that will result in the installation of additional compressor capacity across the facility’s three liquefaction unit trains.

The debottlenecking project will increase Freeport LNG’s production capacity from an excess of 15 mtpa to just over 16.5 mtpa.

Freeport LNG’s spokeswoman previously said that the LNG terminal operator has completed the “vast majority of the work related to our debottlenecking project and are working to implement the benefits of those efforts”.

The spokeswoman said on Monday that Freeport LNG has “no further comment at this time”.

Besides the debottlenecking project, Freeport LNG’s planned train 4, which has received all regulatory approvals, would add an additional 25 percent LNG production capacity.

Of the 15 mtpa of Freeport LNG’s export capacity, 13.4 mtpa has been sold to Osaka Gas, Jera, BP, TotalEnergies, and SK E&S.

(Article updated to include a statement by Cheniere.)

Source: Lngprime.com

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The post Freeport LNG terminal in Texas shut down due to Hurricane Beryl appeared first on Energy News Beat.