Energy News Beat

At the meeting of the Standing Committee of the State Council, chaired by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, approval was granted for units 3 and 4 at China General Nuclear’s (CGN’s) existing Taipingling nuclear power plant in Guangdong province, as well as units 1 and 2 at China National Nuclear Corporation’s (CNNC’s) new Jinqimen nuclear power plant in Zhejiang province.

The Taipingling plant will eventually have six Hualong One reactors. The construction of the first and second units began in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Unit 1 is scheduled to start up in 2025, with unit 2 following in 2026.

Cold functional tests began at Taipingling 1 on 22 December, CGN announced. The tests mark the first time the reactor systems are operated together with the auxiliary systems. Cold functional tests are carried out to confirm whether components and systems important to safety are properly installed and ready to operate in a cold condition. The main purpose of these tests is to verify the leak-tightness of the primary circuit and components – such as pressure vessels, pipelines and valves of both the nuclear and conventional islands – and to clean the main circulation pipes.

Units 1 and 2 of the Jinqimen plant – which CNNC notes have been included in the national plan and have undergone a comprehensive safety assessment review – have also been approved. CNNC subsidiary CNNC Zhejiang Energy Co Ltd will be responsible for project investment, construction and operations management of the new plant.

On 31 July last year, China’s State Council approved the construction of six nuclear power units: units 5 and 6 of the Ningde plant in Fujian Province; units 1 and 2 of the Shidaowan plant in Shandong Province; and units 1 and 2 of the Xudabao plant in Liaoning Province. The latest approvals bring the total number of nuclear power projects approved in 2023 to ten, the same number approved in 2022.

Construction milestones

The Hualong One design features a double-layered containment structure. The main function of the containment building is to ensure the integrity and leak tightness of the reactor building, and it plays a key role in the containment of radioactive substances.

Installation of the inner dome at Changjiang 4 (Image: CNNC)

CNNC announced that the inner dome of the containment building of unit 4 at the Changjiang plant in Hainan province and the outer dome of unit 2 at the Zhangzhou plant in Fujian province were hoisted into place on 27 and 28 December, respectively.

Hoisting of the outer dome at Zhangzhou 2 (Image: CNNC)

Meanwhile, the reactor pressure vessel of unit 3 of the Sanmen plant in Zhejiang province was hoisted into place on 25 December. The “open-top method” was used, which involved using a 2600-tonne crane to install the vessel – weighing more than 271 tonnes – prior to the dome of the containment building being hoisted into place.

The reactor pressure vessel is move into place at Sanmen 3 (Image: SNERDI)

The first safety-related concrete was poured for the nuclear island of Sanmen 3 on 28 June, marking the official start of its construction. Phase II (units 3 and 4) of the Sanmen plant – which already houses two operating Westinghouse AP1000 units – will comprise two CAP1000 reactors, the Chinese version of the AP1000. The units are scheduled to start up in 2027 and 2028, respectively.

Source: World-nuclear-news.org

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Energy News Beat

One of the frequent boasts then-candidate Joe Biden made during his 2020 run for the presidency was that his administration would mount a frontal assault on the domestic oil and gas business, outlaw hydraulic fracturing and put policies in place that would assure the industry was out of business within a decade. The President and his energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, made a habit of repeating that gone-within-a-decade promise throughout 2021 and 2022 as they aggressively worked to cement their Green New Deal agenda into place.

Funny thing, though: A number of months have passed since we heard either Biden or Granholm repeat that pledge. In fact, I was unable to find a single instance of either making the statement in 2023 at all. Granholm had a prime opportunity to do that when she participated in a December 12 meeting of the National Petroleum Council, a DOE advisory committee made up largely of oil executives that serves at her pleasure. But rather than go there one more time, the Secretary talked about her belief that the industry has a “trust gap” with the public related to climate issues, and urged the executives to do more to rein in their emissions.

“People on both sides of this are not going to hold hands and sing Kumbaya,” Granholm said. “But I do think there is an opportunity for those represented in this room to continue to amplify what you all are doing in investing and curbing emissions.”

This noticeable moderation in the administration’s anti-oil and gas rhetoric could be a tacit admission of defeat in its initial goals to do away with the prosperity-creating industry. The proof of that failure comes in the form of current data from DOE’s own Energy Information Administration noting that the US industry will finish 2023 by producing all-time record volumes of both oil and natural gas during the year. Mind you, these are not just records for the United States, but higher volumes than have ever been produced by any nation on earth in a single year.

Oh.

Not that Granholm and fellow cabinet member Deb Haaland, the life-long anti-oil and gas activist who Biden appointed as his Interior Secretary, haven’t been trying. While Granholm’s Energy Department has invested absurd amounts of time and taxpayer money on efforts to ban gas stoves and other natural gas appliances, Haaland and her staff have spent an amazing amount of their own time and energy devising excuses for refusing to hold federal lease sales and issue permits for energy development on federal lands and waters in a timely fashion.

Efforts at those two departments have been complemented by EPA Administrator Michael Regan and his staff at the EPA, who have worked overtime to target the oil, gas, and coal industries with an array of emissions and other regulations designed to drive up costs and delay projects for precious little environmental benefit. At the same time, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has also worked to delay and obstruct the building of much-needed new interstate pipelines over which it has permitting authority.

Despite this multi-pronged regulatory and permitting assault on its ability to get its business done, the domestic industry managed to not only keep growing and meeting consumer demand, but to set new production records. It’s quite an amazing achievement.

What it all shows is just how limited any president’s or congress’s power really is to override the fundamental workings of the free market. U.S. consumers demand oil and natural gas because they and their related products are so interwoven into the fabric of modern society and prosperity. Try as Biden officials might to force a transition to hand-picked rent seeking industries like wind, solar and electric vehicles, the markets will always make the final determinations related to which products and energy sources succeed or fail.

Until Biden and his fellow Democrat central planners find a way to basically destroy America’s free market system and replace it with one featuring EU-style authoritarian command-and-control, their efforts to put America’s oil and gas industry out of business will always be doomed to fail.

David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Source: Dailycaller.com

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The post DAVID BLACKMON: There’s Only So Much Joe Biden Can Do To Kill Oil And Gas — And Thank Goodness For That appeared first on Energy News Beat.

Energy News Beat
Copper is headed for a price spurt over the next two years, as mining supply disruptions coincide with higher demand for the metal.
Rising demand driven by the green energy transition and a decline in the U.S. dollar strength come the second half of 2024 will fuel support for copper prices.
Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange last saw an all-time record high of $10,730 per ton in March last year.

Copper prices are set to soar more than 75% over the next two years amid mining supply disruptions and higher demand for the metal, fueled by the push for renewable energy.

Rising demand driven by the green energy transition and a likely decline in the U.S. dollar in the second half of 2024 will push copper prices higher, according to a report by BMI, a Fitch Solutions research unit.

Markets are banking on the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut rates this year which will weaken the dollar and in turn make the greenback-priced copper more attractive to foreign buyers.

“The positive view for copper is more on macro factors,” Bank of America Securities’ head of Asia -Pacific basic materials, Matty Zhao, told CNBC, citing likely Fed rate cuts and a weaker U.S. dollar.

Additionally, at the recent COP28 climate change conference, more than 60 countries backed a plan to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, a move that Citibank says “would be extremely bullish for copper.”

In a December report, the investment bank forecast that the higher renewable energy targets would boost copper demand by extra 4.2 million tons by 2030.

This would potentially push copper prices to $15,000 a ton in 2025, the report added, way higher than the record peak of $10,730 per ton scaled in March last year.

“This assumes a very soft landing in the U.S. and Europe, an earlier global growth recovery, significant China easing,” Citi analysts said, while also emphasizing on continued investments in the energy transition sector.

A growing economy tends to boost demand for copper, which is used in electrical equipment and industrial machinery. The metal’s demand is considered a proxy for economic health.

Low supply, high demand

The post Copper could skyrocket over 75% to record highs by 2025 — brace for deficits, analysts say appeared first on Energy News Beat.

Energy News Beat

Greece’s Gastrade expects to receive on January 20 the commissioning cargo at its FSRU-based LNG import terminal in Alexandroupolis.

The firm launched a tender on October 31 for the supply of the commissioning cargo and relevant services. It extended the deadline for two times and the second deadline extension ended on December 15.

“The commissioning cargo is anticipated to arrive on the 20th of January in which then commissioning will begin and will last for 6-7 weeks,” Gastrade told LNG Prime in emailed comments on Wednesday.

Gastrade did not say who won the tender for the commissioning cargo.

“If no major issues arise during commissioning, the project will reach commercial operations in the first week of March, as planned,” the firm said.

Gastrade’s shareholders include founder Copelouzou, DESFA, DEPA, Bulgartransgaz, and GasLog.

Shareholder and Greek LNG shipping firm GasLog told Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine, now Seatrium, in February 2022 to proceed with the conversion of the 2010-built, GasLog Chelsea, to an FSRU.

After that, the vessel entered the yard in February last year and the partners renamed it to Alexandroupolis.

Seatrium’s yard in Singapore completed the conversion work on the 153,600-cbm Alexandroupolis in November last year.

Image: Gastrade

Greece’s first FSRU arrived in Alexandroupolis from Singapore on December 17.

“The FSRU, upon arriving to site on Sunday 17th of December, has been safely hooked up to its mooring system at its permanent mooring position,” Gastrade said.

“Mooring hook-up was completed on the 23rd of December 2023,” the firm said.

The first FSRU is located in the sea of Thrace at a distance of 17.6 km SW from the port of Alexandroupolis and 10 km from the nearest coast of Makri. Also, it will be connected to a high-pressure subsea and onshore gas transmission pipeline.

Once operational, the pipeline will deliver natural gas to the Greek transmission system and onwards to the final consumers in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia and further to Moldova and Ukraine to the East and Hungary and Slovakia to the West, Gastrade said.

The Alexandroupolis LNG terminal will have a capacity of 5.5 Bcm.

With this project, Greece will get its first FSRU and the second LNG import facility, adding to DESFA’s import terminal located on the island of Revithoussa.

In addition to this unit, Gastrade is also planning to install a second FSRU offshore Alexandroupolis.

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The post Greece’s first FSRU to receive commissioning LNG cargo on January 20 appeared first on Energy News Beat.