Energy News Beat

A new law in Seattle marks the latest in a wave of local efforts to electrify homes and other buildings. Under the city’s Building Emissions Performance Standard, signed into law last week, all existing commercial and multifamily residential buildings over 20,000 square feet will need to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Meeting that target will effectively require building owners to replace oil and gas-powered furnaces, water heaters, gas stoves, and other appliances with electric alternatives like heat pumps and induction stoves. Buildings in Seattle generate 37 percent of the city’s total emissions, and the new law is expected to slash that number by more than a quarter.

Seattle’s ordinance reflects a growing push to eliminate the use of fossil fuels in buildings, which would reduce indoor air pollution and cut carbon emissions. But some other local electrification policies have hit a wall. In April, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Berkeley, California’s first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas in new buildings. The ruling caused several cities across the 9th Circuit region, which spans 11 western states and territories including California, Oregon, and Washington, to suspend similar policies. Yet despite the setback, clean energy experts told Grist that governments still have plenty of options to electrify buildings. Cities and states like Seattle; Ashland, Oregon; and Washington state are sidestepping Berkeley’s legal challenges by finding creative alternatives to banning gas outright — including by setting emissions targets, updating building codes, and restricting indoor air pollution.

“Elected officials’ and regulators’ resolve to address this issue has not gone away,” said Dylan Plummer, a senior field organizing strategist with the Sierra Club. “They just need to work through new avenues that are legally defensible.”

In 2019, Berkeley became the first city in the country to ban new buildings from connecting to natural gas lines. The California Restaurant Association quickly mobilized to file a lawsuit against the city for its policy. In 2021, a federal district court ruled against the restaurant industry, but in April 2023, a panel of three judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s decision, shooting down Berkeley’s ordinance. The judges ruled that because national efficiency standards for appliances under the federal Energy Policy Conservation Act prevent cities and states from setting their own standards, local governments can’t ban infrastructure to prevent the use of fossil fuel-powered appliances.

Outside the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, California, in 2017. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

“The decision does not make a lot of sense legally,” Jan Hasselman, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, wrote at the time. Since the ruling, other cities in California, including Encinitas, Santa Cruz, and San Luis Obispo, have pulled back their own natural gas bans. Eugene, which was the first city in Oregon to adopt a natural gas ban modeling Berkeley’s, also suspended its ordinance in June. The Berkeley city attorney’s office has requested a rehearing of the case before 11 judges on the 9th Circuit, which could result in a new decision.

In the meantime, Hasselman told Grist that building emissions standards like the one passed in Seattle are one way for cities to dodge legal hurdles by avoiding an explicit ban on gas. The Seattle policy sets benchmarks that ramp up every five years for large buildings to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and lets building owners decide how they want to reach those standards. Theoretically, they could hold onto their oil and gas appliances, though Plummer pointed out that avoiding electrification will likely become more and more difficult over time. Commercial buildings covered under Seattle’s new law must reach net-zero emissions by 2045, and multi-family buildings by 2050 — a requirement that would effectively require swapping out fossil fuel appliances with heat pumps and other electric options. (Carbon offsets purchased by utilities would be allowed to count toward buildings’ net-zero calculations.) A handful of other cities have also passed building performance standards to cut emissions, including Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C.

Updating building energy codes is another viable way for cities to pursue electrification without running afoul of the 9th Circuit ruling, Hasselman said. Recent changes to Washington state’s building energy codes, which set minimum efficiency standards for buildings, will soon require new buildings to achieve the same energy performance as buildings that use electric heat pumps. Much like Seattle’s new building standards, the update does not explicitly require builders to install heat pumps, although “it also actively makes gas pretty impractical,” said Hasselman. The legal somersault was intentional: Washington state policymakers delayed and revised the new codes in response to the 9th Circuit’s ruling, since a previous draft would have mandated heat pump installation.

Solaris Energy employees install a heat pump at a home in Folkestone, U.K., on September 20, 2021. Andrew Aitchison / In pictures via Getty Images

Creating stricter indoor air quality standards is another option to phase out fossil fuel appliances without explicitly banning them, Hasselman said. Ashland, Oregon, is currently considering setting maximum thresholds for indoor air pollutants like carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and methane emissions that would effectively eliminate the burning of fossil fuels in buildings. In March, California’s Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which regulates air pollution in nine counties in the San Francisco metropolitan area, adopted rules to phase out sales of gas furnaces and water heaters that produce nitrogen oxide emissions, citing health impacts including coughing, wheezing, and a higher risk of asthma attacks.

Meanwhile, opposition from the gas industry continues to loom over the movement to “electrify everything.” In the past few years, at least 24 states have passed laws to prevent local governments from banning gas in buildings, galvanized by support from trade groups like the American Gas Association and gas utilities like Dominion Energy. In Eugene, Oregon, the gas utility NW Natural funded a highly coordinated campaign to oppose the city’s natural gas ban. But even with ongoing legal challenges and industry pushback, Hasselman said that Seattle’s new law “reflects how unstoppable the shift is towards electrification.”

“Momentum was slowed for a bit, but it’s picking back up as cities and local governments lead into the future, away from burning gas in homes,” he said. “And that is the future. It’s just a matter of how fast it’s going to happen.”

Source: Grist.org

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Many Global South states were already struggling to deal with COVID-connected debt problems prior to the West’s anti-Russian sanctions worsening their food insecurity, so an energy price crisis on top of that could have pushed them over the edge into an uncontrollable polycrisis that would have also destabilized the West.

A representative of India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry told a department-related parliamentary standing committee that their country’s Russian oil imports helped stabilize the global energy market and prevent havoc from breaking out according to a recent report from the The Indian Express. What follows are the excerpts that they cited from that event, which will then be analyzed so that the reader can fully appreciate India’s latest contribution to the world:

“If they (Indian refiners) had not imported Russian oil into India, which may be a big number of 1.95 million barrels per day, that deficiency would have created a havoc in the crude oil market and the prices would have shot up by about $30-40.

The crude oil market is such that in the market of 100 million barrels per day, if the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) says that they are going to reduce it by one or two million barrels per day, prices increase by 10 to 20 per cent and reach up to $125-130.

If India does not absorb–I would call it absorption–1.95 million barrels per day, these prices would have reached $120-130. It would have created a havoc. Diplomatically, we are a sovereign country and could say that we have been doing what is good for the country as well as the world.”

This insight aligns with what was earlier shared in these five analyses from June 2022-March 2023:

* 14 June 2022: “Russian-Indian Energy Diplomacy Helps Delhi Balance Washington”

* 30 November 2022: “Russia’s Energy Geopolitics With China & India”

* 16 January 2023: “The US Discredited Its Own Sanctions By Buying Refined Russian Oil Products Via India”

* 8 February 2023: “The West’s Anti-Russian Sanctions Made India Indispensable To The Global Energy Market”

* 1 March 2023: “Russia Will Keep Up The Pace Of Oil Exports To India Despite Increased Chinese Demand”

If India hadn’t resisted Western pressure, then the whole international community would have suffered.

To explain, many Global South states were already struggling to deal with COVID-connected debt problems prior to the West’s anti-Russian sanctions worsening their food insecurity, so an energy price crisis on top of that could have pushed them over the edge into an uncontrollable polycrisis. Not only could this have led to spiraling unrest that could have spread throughout this swath of the world, but the security and humanitarian consequences would have also destabilized the West as well.

Those countries among that New Cold War bloc that are dependent on resources and markets there might have felt compelled to launch unilateral military interventions, while large-scale refugee flows could have crashed into their societies with all that entails for exacerbating preexisting tensions. This worst-case scenario was averted through India’s principled neutrality towards the Ukrainian Conflict, which saw this globally significant Great Power resist Western pressure to boycott Russian energy.

If Delhi had capitulated to their demands, then the abrupt removal of so much energy from the market would have plunged it into chaos. The remaining producers couldn’t have replaced Russia’s lost share, thus leading to a competition among the wealthiest countries (namely China and the EU) to purchase their remaining resources. All the while, the debt-beleaguered and newly food-insecure Global South would have been unable to maintain its minimum energy needs, thus setting the polycrisis into motion.

As the unnamed Indian official told parliament, “we have been doing what is good for the country as well as the world”, which highlighted the growing convergence between India’s national interests and those of the international community. This South Asian Great Power practices what can be described as a hyper-realist grand strategy wherein India not only prioritizes its national interests as policymakers conceive them to be, but candidly acknowledges this approach and also details those same interests.

By doing so, India removes all ambiguity about its interests, which therefore makes it the most predictable partner that anyone can have. This policy is premised on the trust that India has cultivated with everyone since they don’t have any reason to question its representatives’ sincerity whenever they speak about their national interests. Some might have different views and even dislike India’s policies, but nobody can credibly claim that those representatives are lying about what that they want and why.

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov praised this approach and the multi-alignment that it naturally led to during a press conference with his Indian counterpart on Wednesday when saying that “I believe this policy is not just important for Russia and all other countries around the world, but it is the only policy worth conducting that will ensure respect and reputation and be beneficial in India’s cooperation with other countries that show similar respect to all members of the international community.”

The West will never appreciate what India did for the world, but the Global South is beginning to realize that the polycrisis that many of their officials feared would unfold shortly after the anti-Russian sanctions were promulgated was largely averted through India’s drastically scaled imports of that country’s oil. This stabilized the market, which made it easier for them to manage their debt and food security problems, thus preventing this swath of the world from slipping into full-scale instability to everyone’s detriment.

Source: Korybko.substack.com

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Energy News Beat

What’s Inside a Lithium-Ion Battery?

Winning the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2019, the lithium-ion battery has become ubiquitous and today powers nearly everything, from smartphones to electric vehicles.

In this graphic, we partnered with EnergyX to find out how these important pieces of technology work.

Looking Inside

Lithium-ion batteries have different standards in various regions, namely NMC/NMCA in Europe and North America and LFP in China. The former has a higher energy density, while the latter has a lower cost.

Here is the average mineral composition of a lithium-ion battery, after taking account those two main cathode types:

Material% of Construction

Nickel (Ni)4%

Manganese (Mn)5%

Lithium (Li)7%

Cobalt (Co)7%

Copper (Cu)10%

Aluminum (Al)15%

Graphite (C)16%

Other Materials36%

The percentage of lithium found in a battery is expressed as the percentage of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) the battery contains. On average, that is equal to 1g of lithium metal for every 5.17g of LCE.

How Do They Work?

Lithium-ion batteries work by collecting current and feeding it into the battery during charging. Normally, a graphite anode attracts lithium ions and holds them as a charge. But interestingly, recent research shows that battery energy density can nearly double when replacing graphite with a thin layer of pure lithium.

When discharging, the cathode attracts the stored lithium ions and funnels them to another current collector. The circuit can react as both the anode and cathode are prevented from touching and are suspended in a medium that allows the ions to flow easily.

Powering Tomorrow

Despite making up only 7% of a battery’s weight on average, lithium is so critical for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries that the U.S. Geological Survey has classified it as one of 35 minerals vital to the U.S. economy.

This means refining lithium more effectively is critical to meeting the demand for next-generation lithium-ion batteries.

EnergyX is powering the clean energy transition with the next generation of lithium metal batteries with longer cycle life, greater energy density, and faster charging times.

The post Visualized: Inside a Lithium-Ion Battery appeared first on Elements by Visual Capitalist.

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Energy News Beat

US LNG exporting giant Cheniere now plans to build two instead of three liquefaction trains as part of the Sabine Pass expansion project in Louisiana. Cheniere said the company is not reducing its growth ambition at Sabine Pass, and with this move it would achieve similar production with an optimized unit/cost footprint.

Sabine Pass currently has a capacity of about 30 mtpa following the launch of the sixth train in February last year, while Cheniere’s three-train Corpus Christi plant in Texas can produce about 15 mtpa of LNG and is undergoing expansion.

Earlier this year, Cheniere initiated the pre-filing review process with the US FERC for the Sabine Pass Stage 5 expansion project.

The original plans included the construction of three large-scale liquefaction trains, each with a production capacity of about 6.5 mtpa of LNG, a boil-off-gas (BOG) reliquefaction unit with a production capacity of 0.75 mtpa of LNG, and also two 220,000-cbm LNG storage tanks.

However, Cheniere now aims to construct two LNG trains with a nameplate capacity of about 7 mtpa each using ConocoPhillips liquefaction technology, according to a draft resource report filed with the FERC in November.

The Houston-based firm did not say in the report why it decided to build two trains as part of the project.

LNG Prime invited Cheniere to comment on the matter.

“The short answer is that we are best-sizing the trains and configuration of our proposed SPL expansion project to, together with estimated debottlenecking and growth opportunities, achieve similar production with an optimized unit/cost footprint,” a Cheniere spokesman said later on Wednesday.

“We are focused on long-term and durable value creation. As such, we are continuously optimizing the configuration of this brownfield expansion to maximize its economics, scale, and speed to market,” he said.

“In short, we are not reducing our overall growth ambition at Sabine Pass. We continue to progress the commercialization of the expansion – an up to approximately 20 mtpa increase in capacity at our Sabine Pass facility, inclusive of estimated debottlenecking opportunities – and we look forward to advancing on our financial, regulatory and construction milestones to have it producing LNG by the end of this decade,” the spokesman said.

The proposed Sabine Pass expansion facilities will be interconnected and operated with the existing terminal, while Cheniere is also proposing an increase in the authorized maximum loading rate of LNG carriers and simultaneous loading capabilities for the three existing jetties.

Sabine Pass is proposing to increase loading to about 14,000 cbm per hour of LNG from the two new storage tanks to the existing marine berths.

To deliver about 2.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas to the expansion project, Cheniere’s unit Sabine Crossing proposes to build a new, 48-inch diameter natural gas pipeline of about 5.3 miles in length extending from Jefferson County, Texas, and into the LNG terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

The Sabine Pass LNG terminal currently has approval to produce and export 1661.94 Bcf/y of LNG (33.01 mtpa).

Cheniere said in the report the expansion project would produce an additional 843.15 Bcf/y of LNG, equivalent to about of 16.83 mtpa of LNG for export or 2,050 MMscfd.

Also, the marine berths would be able to accommodate the total project exports of 49.84 mtpa, it said.

Cheniere said that engineering for the expansion project has progressed from preliminary design and is currently in the front-end engineering and design stage.

Cheniere engaged Bechtel to complete FEED.

The firm expects detailed engineering to start in the third quarter of 2025.

According to Cheniere, the LNG exporter aims to start construction in February 2026 and to complete it in October 2030.

Cheniere plans to complete the commissioning and launch the new project in June 2031.

(Article updated to include comments by a Cheniere spokesman.)

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Energy News Beat

Russian LNG exporter Novatek was granted Russian patents for a large-scale ammonia process and a large-scale pure hydrogen process based on ammonia cracking.

The low-carbon ammonia process, which Novatek developed in cooperation with Russian design institutes, is based on steam reforming of natural gas, according to a statement by Novatek.

Novatek said the now-patented process design “enables ammonia production capacities of over 1 mmtpa per process train, as well as a smaller carbon footprint, which is achieved through energy-efficient solutions and 90 percent plus carbon capture and geological storage.”

“The large-scale ammonia cracking process is a major step towards a value chain that would allow bringing pure hydrogen to end consumers at a competitive and affordable price,” the firm said.

In June, Novatek also obtained a Russian patent for its proprietary technology called “Arctic Mix” for large-scale natural gas liquefaction using mixed refrigerants.

According to Novatek, the firm developed this LNG process technology to implement the company’s large-scale projects on gravity-based structures with a production capacity of 6+ mtpa per LNG train.

Novatek currently exports LNG via its 17.4 mtpa Yamal LNG plant and the mid-scale facility with a capacity of 660,000 tons in Vysotsk.

The firm is also building the 19.8 mtpa Arctic LNG 2 plant and in August completed the installation of the first of three trains which will serve the project.

According to reports in Russia, Novatek started production of LNG from this unit last week and expects to complete commissioning early next year.

However, the firm also issued force majeure on Arctic 2 LNG supplies to its customers due to US sanctions imposed on the project in November this year, the reports said.

Novatek is the LNG project’s operator with a 60 percent stake, France’s TotalEnergies owns 10 percent, while CNPC and CNOOC of China have 10 percent, each.

Japan Arctic LNG, a consortium of Mitsui & Co and Jogmec, owns a 10 percent stake in the project as well.

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Italy’s Eni has introduced the first gas into its Tango floating LNG (FLNG) facility moored in Congolese waters.

Eni said in a statement on Thursday that gas introduction had been achieved in record time– only twelve months after the final investment decision.

Following completion of the commissioning phase, Tango FLNG would produce its first LNG cargo by the first quarter of 2024, placing the Republic of Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, on the list of LNG-producing countries, it said.

In August last year, Eni signed a deal to buy the 144 meters long Tango FLNG from Belgium’s Exmar.

The floating LNG producer, delivered in 2017 by China’s Wison, has a liquefaction capacity of about 1 billion cubic meters per year of gas, or 0.6 mtpa, and a storage capacity of 16,100 cbm.

In October, officials from Eni, Exmar, Congo’s SNPC, and Drydocks World gathered to celebrate the sail away of the FLNG and also the Excalibur FSU from Dubai to Congo.

The unit arrived in Angola in November onboard Seaway 7’s heavy-lift vessel, Seaway Swan, and was subsequently towed to its location offshore Pointe Noire, Congo.

Exmar serves as the engineering, procurement and conversion (EPC) contractor for this project, and has designed the mooring system and performed the refurbishments on both vessels at the Drydocks World yard.

Also, Exmar provides the FSU on a long-term charter and will be responsible for all terminal operations on the Congo LNG project.

ENI said that the FLNG is moored alongside the Excalibur FSU using an innovative configuration called “split mooring,” implemented here for the first time in a floating LNG terminal.

The Congo LNG project leverages Marine XII gas resources and existing production facilities in a new, phased approach that will allow to reach about 4.5 bcm per year of gas liquefaction capacity at plateau, as well as zero routine gas flaring, Eni said.

A second FLNG vessel with a capacity of about 3.5 bcm per year of gas, or 2.4 mtpa, is under construction in China and is expected to begin production in 2025.

Wison Offshore & Marine won a contract from Eni in December last year to build the 380 meters long FLNG and officially started work on the project on January 17, 2023.

The unit will be able to store over 180,000 cubic meters of LNG.

Eni said the Congo LNG project will help Congo meet its energy needs while seizing the opportunity to exploit surplus gas through LNG production.

The entire volume of LNG produced will be marketed by Eni.

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3 Podcasters Walk in a Bar – Episode 42 with Dr Ed Ireland

Highlights of the Podcast:

02:02 – The international energy transition and then the energy question

02:54 – The Brant Natural gas expected to generate half of U.S

03:47 – The Supreme Court voted down

04:38 – The reduction of coal plants and the increase of natural gas

05:57 – The grid managers from the regional grids in the United States were in Las Vegas

07:01 – The most economic way to build is with natural gas right now

10:12 – The new regulations are trying to do carbon capture

19:28 – For the government to convince people to switch from gas cars to. EVs

23:23 – Netflix movie with Julia Roberts

24:15 – The big movie market is over in China

With 3 unique personalities, backgrounds, and one horrible team sense of humor, it makes for fun talks around the energy markets.

David Blackmon is a Forbes author and currently writes Energy Absurdities of the Day. He has several active podcasts with ….. His industry leadership is evident, but a dry, calm way of expressing himself adds a different twist.

R.T. Trevillon is the podcast host of The Crude Truth filmed in Fort Worth Texas and runs an oil and gas E&P company. Pecos Country Operating has been in business for ….years and has a constant commitment to all of their stakeholders and is actively working in this oil and gas market.

Stu Turley is the co-podcast host of the Energy News Beat Podcast. While Stu is a legend in his own mind, [email protected]

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David Blackmon LinkedIn

DB Energy Questions 

The Crude Truth with Rey Trevino

Rey Trevino LinkedIn

Energy Transition Weekly Conversation

David Blackmon LinkedIn

Irina Slav LinkedIn

Armando Cavanha LinkedIn

Follow Stuart On LinkedIn and Twitter

If you have any questions, please reach out to us. We want to answer all questions, and if you have what it takes to be a podcast host and you want your show reach out.

Also, sponsor slots are available. There is excellent reach with the four podcasts.

DB Energy Questions 

David Blackmon LinkedIn

The Crude Truth with Rey Trevino

Rey Trevino LinkedIn

The Energy News Beat Podcast

Stu Turley LinkedIn

Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.

3 Podcasters Walk in a Bar – Episode 42 with Dr Ed Ireland

Stuart Turley [00:00:13] Hello, everybody. You ever heard that crazy old uncle. Now that it’s Christmas time and he’s sitting there and the uncle’s going at these three guys walk into the bar. Well, I have to know the other two crazy guys that walk into a bar. Hello. My name’s Stu Turley, president and CEO of the Sandstone Group. Today is a Fantastic episode of The Crude Truth. Oh, wait a minute. That’s his. This is RT RT is the podcast host for the Crude Truth, and he’s one of the big dogs over there at Pecos operating Country Country. How are you doing?

Rey Treviño [00:00:49] Good, Stu. How are you doing?

Stuart Turley [00:00:51] That root beer was a little tough today.

Rey Treviño [00:00:53] It’s good, though, that one Said Arnold Drake. It’s a good. Ah, yeah.

Stuart Turley [00:00:59] And we have a special guest that stopped by the podcast today. I mean, he is a myth. He is a legend. He is the Dr. Ireland. And you’ve got to follow him on his substack. Dr. Ireland, thank you for coming by.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:01:15] Thank you Stu, Glad to be here

Stuart Turley [00:01:16] I’ll tell you what, for our podcast listeners, I love his haircut, by the way. Just thought I’d share that with you, We have David Blackmon remote. He’s on assignment today and David Blackmon is one of them gigantic guys. He is a legend in my mind,

David Blackmon [00:01:35] And I’m getting Bigger all the time.

Stuart Turley [00:01:35]  Oh, yes. In fact, he’s had to order another ten gallon had so we can get 20 gallon in it. Pretty soon he’ll be there doing a barrel of oil in his hair. David is a Substack author. He’s on the crude tru, No. He’s on the crude.

David Blackmon [00:01:53] I am not . I wasn’t on the Crude Truth.

Stuart Turley [00:01:54]  And he was on the energy question. All that is, was the energy question. And when he’s also on the international energy transition and then the energy question. So, David, thank you for stopping by.

David Blackmon [00:02:10] Hey, I’m just so happy to be here and not there where you are and you just can’t imagine.

Stuart Turley [00:02:17] You sound like

David Blackmon [00:02:18] I’m kidding, I’m joking, I’m joking.

Stuart Turley [00:02:19] Okay. You sound like you had a hemorrhoid, but we’ll leave that.

Rey Treviño [00:02:23] That’s a good podcast.

Stuart Turley [00:02:24] That’s a whole lot. Yeah. The three hemorrhoids walked into a bar.

David Blackmon [00:02:27] There you go,.

Rey Treviño [00:02:28] Well,.

Stuart Turley [00:02:29] Okay,.

Rey Treviño [00:02:29] I’ll tell you what, I’m excited. I mean, to have David on as always, and to have Dr. Ed Ireland, who stumbled into the bar here a little while ago. We go Ed come on in and come join us today,.

Stuart Turley [00:02:40] And then we’re going to hand the tab to him.

Rey Treviño [00:02:42] Yes.

Stuart Turley [00:02:42] One of the things that I thought was this here is is for our folks at home, Ed Ireland Substack. He put out a heck of a substack in our team. We’re out in the Brant Natural gas expected to generate half of U.S. electricity in 2024 and the EPA announces new methane rules that will reduce natural gas supplies

David Blackmon [00:03:12] Changes. That’s genius. Government planning.

Stuart Turley [00:03:12] They’re genius.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:03:14] You just can’t make this stuff up.

Stuart Turley [00:03:16] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. What were you thinking when you wrote that?

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:03:20] I was. I was irritated because the EPA has despised natural gas for years and they want to shut it down and they’re trying it again. They tried it last with the you know, during Obama President Obama, they that EPA, which by the way, is mostly the same people still hanging around and writing the same regulations that the Supreme Court voted down. But they’re doing it again and I’m sure it’ll be voted down again or squashed by the Supreme Court. But yet here they are. They’re saying natural gas, you know, we’re going to do away with it, at least make the supplies tighter than we would otherwise be the case. And. At a time when natural gas is expected to generate more than half of the electricity in the United States. And that’s just a formula for disaster. It’s crazy.

Stuart Turley [00:04:23] Now the EIA, the same chatter heads excuse me, the same folks we were talking about did last year. They said the only reason that the U.S. reduce their carbon output and David has had this on his stuff was because of the reduction of coal plants and the increase of natural gas. And so you would think that they’d be kind of happy about it, but they snuck in under the rug right before all these new regulations. Right.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:04:53] That’s right.

Stuart Turley [00:04:53] Holy smokes.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:04:55] And you know, in the background, too, there, they’re continuing to try to make the use of natural gas, illegal natural gas stoves, natural gas generators, natural gas heaters, net water heaters, furnaces. They just can’t help themselves. They just want to get rid of natural gas because it’s too good. And otherwise, they, you know, they would let the market work. But they’re not going to let the market work because they know the market is going to support natural gas and needs more gas. And that’s that’s their response.

Rey Treviño [00:05:31] You Know, David, I’m seeing you. You’re nodding your head more than I’ve seen. You agree with somebody in a lot, what your thoughts.

David Blackmon [00:05:38] Well, I finally got somebody on this show. Just make it sit with me here. You know, I’m usually with just you two guys, you know. Ed knows what he’s talking about. I just you know, it’s a joke, but it’s true, you know? And it’s no accident that all of the grid managers from the regional grids in the United States were in Las Vegas at a conference two weeks ago. And every one of them is talking about we’re going to have a hard time getting through this winter without blackout problems because we don’t have enough baseload. And why don’t we have enough baseload generating capacity? It’s because the federal government has cracked down on the building of new coal and new natural gas plants, and the going after the gas plants is insane. And it’s it’s a an intentional effort, I think. I mean, I don’t even know what to think about it. You have to believe it’s intentional that they want to have power blackouts during winter months. And because everyone knows what this is all leading to. There’s no mystery here. And you can’t build it. I mean, you can build all the windmills and solar arrays you want to build when the weather gets bad, they’re not going to perform and you have to have the baseload capacity. And the only way the the best way to build it, the most economic way to build is with natural gas right now. You know, maybe nuclear will have a nuclear revolution some point in the future that can also provide real 24 seven power generation. But, you know, we can’t we can’t have stability on our power grid with just renewables and everyone knows it. So all I can conclude from all what they’re doing is that they want, for whatever reason, for us to have an unstable grid and frequent blackouts.

Rey Treviño [00:07:35] You Know, one thing I’ll say and David, I know you’ve been a guest in Dr. Ireland’s class before. There

David Blackmon [00:07:43] Yes thats Great kids every semester.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:07:45] Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. David does a good job. They always love him.

Rey Treviño [00:07:50] Well, He I mean, it was the classic teachings of energy and entrepreneurship are entrepreneurship of energy. And God knows we need more of it, whether it’s clean burning or oil and gas. You need more jobs than we did yesterday. So I think it’s a very important class. But one thing I do know that in his class, it’s almost like every week he shows the power that ERCOT is being provided, whether it’s from wind, solar or natural gas. And, you know, you always look at it that natural gas is always the major provider of energy for ERCOT. And so my question really is, why is it that all they’re going to continue to do is, you know, demonize this natural gas when it provides us this real clean burning fuel source, and yet, you know, why? Why do they only continue to do that, especially when it’s so cheap? Right now, it’s less than $2 and it’s well, it’s about $2 to that sides.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:08:48] But I agree with David. I mean, it it it has to be intentional. Otherwise

Stuart Turley [00:08:53]  that the other ball.

Rey Treviño [00:08:55] I know.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:08:58] I’m sorry.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:09:00] No, and it has to be intentional to to want to destabilize the power grids in the United States. And otherwise it the only sane thing to do is let the market work, that we have plenty of natural gas and we have the so far we have the operating facilities to to move the gas around and generate electricity with it. But at every turn, you know, you look at the state, not only the EPA, but California, New York, trying to shut down pipelines, trying to shut down the use of natural gas. I mean, everywhere you turn, natural gas is the enemy and it makes no sense at all.

Stuart Turley [00:09:44] David, you brought up the coal plants. The the new regulatory issues are with having to I can’t remember the name of the coal plants that are going to be only approving or you have a term for them

David Blackmon [00:10:03] Unabated. Yeah, I mean, yeah, but you know, we don’t build unabated coal plants in the United States that have it for half a century now.

Stuart Turley [00:10:10] And so when we sit back and the new regulations are trying to do carbon capture or they’re trying to do this, but they won’t build they’re gonna they approved any time they want. They need 7000 miles of pipelines to haul the carbon off in the new regulatory agency, and they won’t approve any of that. Where’s the oxymoron in this? It takes a village to raise an idiot mom. I don’t know.

David Blackmon [00:10:38] Well, that’s debatable without but Denbury resources because Denbury has that extensive pipeline system for carbon dioxide and that will facilitate ExxonMobil’s carbon capture operations. But, you know, I mean, you got everyone else wants to do it, too, and you’re going to have to have a lot more pipe and crap.

Rey Treviño [00:10:57] Well, You know, you mentioned how everybody else is doing this natural gas. You know, what about the fact that the Chinese actually the Japanese company just came in and bought that? What did they buy? A natural gas.

David Blackmon [00:11:08] U.S. Steel they bought U.S. steel.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:11:12] U.S. steel.

Rey Treviño [00:11:13] No, That was no, that’s that’s one of them.

Stuart Turley [00:11:15] Right. There was another one that just bought a natural gas.

David Blackmon [00:11:19] Oh. I didn’t see that. I misspoke.

Rey Treviño [00:11:21] Yeah, No, that’s that’s a whole other subject right there. I mean, the fact that they’re buying U.S. Steel that was, you know, created by Carnegie and continued by J.P. Morgan, the original J.P. Morgan. Right. Now, is that a place where the I mean, if that doesn’t really show where we’re going in America, I just I don’t know what does anymore. I mean, you know, there’s always something else. And then, you know, as as your great substack articles are always talked about absurdities. I mean, I think just a total absurdity right there, the fact that we’re now selling a company called U.S. Steel.

Stuart Turley [00:11:55] Dr. Ireland, an absurdity.

Rey Treviño [00:11:56] No,.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:11:57] No,.

Stuart Turley [00:11:57] You’re talking about David Substack.

Rey Treviño [00:12:02] Yeah. No. So anyway, but there’s also a Japanese company that’s buying the natural gas. So it just shows that natural gas, just like oil, is not going away anytime soon.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:12:13] On its own so they have to force it.

Rey Treviño [00:12:15] Yeah. Yeah. They have to force it

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:12:17] Let the market work.

Rey Treviño [00:12:17] Yeah  I mean because if the market work, you would have so much more natural gas and you know, you were on my, my show the Crude Truth and we were talking about that the best price that natural gas could really be at is $5. And in MCF, where everybody’s happy, it’s not too expensive. And the M.P. companies can make a dollar, right? Yeah.

David Blackmon [00:12:38] Well, think about it. I mean, we’re in Texas, right? And Texas produces 30 to 35% of all the natural gas in the United States, the Permian Basin, second biggest natural gas producing basin in the country, second only to the Marcellus Shale. The Eagle Ford shale alone has enough natural gas in it, recoverable natural gas, or about a hundred years supply just in the Eagle Ford shale in this country. And so there’s there’s no reason why the Texas grid should ever have any stability issues and reliability issues. And yet we do. And the reason we do is because the federal government and to a lesser extent our state government, there’s all these incentives, disincentives in place for the building of new natural gas capacity. And that’s got to change before we start killing people with blackouts on the power grid.

Rey Treviño [00:13:35] You know and speaking of the Barnett Shale, you know, I want to highlight, you know, David, that you and Dr. Ireland have both been in the Barnett Shell since basically its inception. Well, you know, it’s been around for I’m sorry that that is probably the wrong word. It’s been around for a long time.

David Blackmon [00:13:52] It’s the horizontal drilling in.

Rey Treviño[00:13:54] Yeah, it’s all drilling. Inception. Yes. In about 2006 and now the Barnett Shale, it’s looking like it’s reaching all the way out to the Permian Basin. So, you know, just how much more natural gas could we even add to what we already have? We got big with good natural gas, our drilling in the Barnett in West Texas. Oh.

David Blackmon [00:14:14] Yeah. I mean, that’s just another another formation that’s going to be productive in the in the Permian Basin. But you know what? It’s a lot more liquid in the Barnett Shale rock out there in West Texas than there is up here in North Texas. And so it’s going to be a lot more associated condensate in that natural gas. And that’s a good thing, too, for the producers.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:14:36] Which also will keep the price of natural gas down.

David Blackmon [00:14:39]  right.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:14:39] More associated gas. Basically, marginal cost is zero.

Rey Treviño [00:14:43] Yeah , Ed and then, of course, you know, you figure any wells that were drilled on a straight oil, that’s just an ancillary benefit. It’s the natural gas. Because at $2 in MCF, I mean, I can’t see myself drilling just natural gas day in less than now if you’re going well. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. But no to get back to this, the Japanese company is Tokyo Gas is buying Rockcliffe energy for about $2.7 billion. So, I mean, obviously the world knows that natural gas is not going away anytime cheaper. And again, just like oil, I mean, you know, in fact, isn’t that one of the first questions you ask your students every semester is what would you ask your students?

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:15:27] I don’t know.

Stuart Turley [00:15:29]  What’s your name?

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:15:30] Right, Right, right. What do I ask my students?

David Blackmon [00:15:35] So what do I ask?

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:15:37] I as I ask them if. I said I have a question, my first question. Can renewables replace oil and gas? And the answer is yes. And in fact, I will say this. Everybody type it in. You have a laptop in front of you type in. Can renewables replace oil and gas? And if you type that in, it says yes, in capital letters. That’s what Google says. Yes. And of course, if you get in and read what? Is under that they they give the fans and but but the the answer will be yes. And for most people that’s where they stop. You know, they don’t go to the next level in the in the search. But so yeah it’s it’s no wonder that these students end up in college with, you know, 18 years being pounded into them. Climate change and fossil fuels back.

Rey Treviño [00:16:33] What a I can’t imagine by not coming in helps that having a bunch of students are like oh yeah, renewables can do that. They it’s like how how dumb can you be? Like I don’t mean to be. That’s the best way I could put it, I think.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:16:50] Yeah. You know, my view is it was not their fault. This one pounded into them, you know, from the beginning. So

David Blackmon [00:16:56]  I mean what else are they supposed to think? Every media outlet tells them that every the Google tells them that when they Google it. I mean. There’s no. No effort by the industry or or people, well-meaning people in politics or anywhere else to counter that message. And so, you know, I mean, smartest kids in the world, if they’re propagandized or not, not enough like they have been there, that’s what they’re going to believe. It’s not their Fault.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:17:24] Yeah, That’s right.

Rey Treviño [00:17:24] David,  I want to you have written two Substack articles in the past week since our last episode of three podcasts that were just downright hilarious, the first of which is the one about the incident that happened over in Washington, D.C. with a staffer. And you use the word drill.

David Blackmon [00:17:49] Well, yeah, we probably shouldn’t, but.

Stuart Turley [00:17:52] Did you guys see the GUTFELD show? You know, they. Oh, it was hilarious. The one liners in that bed.

Rey Treviño [00:17:59] And yours was hilarious talking about that. And then the other one that you wrote just yesterday was on that meme where it said, I broke up with him because he wanted to go buy an electric vehicle and he got huffing and puffing and put his hair up. And a man waited for the EV to charge. He drove off.

David Blackmon [00:18:19] As soon EVs charge in an hour. I’m out of here..

Stuart Turley [00:18:22]  Yeah.

Rey Treviño [00:18:25] Oh, my gosh. What made you write that article? I mean, that one was like I said, this week you have had. So that.

David Blackmon [00:18:32] Article was about, You know. You know, I came across this ad from from Tesla or it was a promo that they’re sending out to all their customers who have bought their cars, offering them free sessions with a charging consultant. Okay. Because ensuring you’re able to charge your Tesla and knowing where to do it and how to do it and and when the Chargers are going to be working and when they’re not is such a complicated matter. Tesla has to offer consulting services to their customers. And I thought my. First thought was, you know. I don’t have to have a consultant tell me where the gas station is and how to turn the pump on. It’s a whole lot. And this is one of the reasons why. And it’s serious. I mean, I’m serious about this. One of the reasons why it’s so hard.

Stuart Turley [00:19:26] It’s funny when it’s serious.

David Blackmon [00:19:28] Yeah, well. For the government to convince people to switch from gas cars to. EVs. Is owning a me really is complicated, man. And people have enough complications in their lives already. I don’t need, you know, at my age, I don’t need anybody confusing me or offering or complicating my life anymore, much less my damn car doing. Right. So you’re never going to convince me to buy an electric vehicle. But but it really is a problem for the electric vehicle industry. And Tesla recognizes that. And to their credit, they’re offering this consulting. Service to help people. Figure it all out. I mean, it’s just it’s just one thing on top of another with electric vehicles. And it’s no wonder people don’t want to buy.

Rey Treviño [00:20:16] Well, I enjoyed just the opening of that of your article which said, I don’t wake up in the morning and have to worry about basically where I’m going to go find a gas station. But that’s where your article opened up. And let’s not forget how many times we made fun of the Department of Energy. Granholm When she was trying to do that tour across America.

Stuart Turley [00:20:34] Oh, yeah.

Rey Treviño [00:20:34] And, you know, and she got arrested and staffers had to go ahead just to save her spot.

Stuart Turley [00:20:40] I think it’s the same one that was in the Senate.

David Blackmon [00:20:43] I don’t think it was the same guy. I think there was.

Stuart Turley [00:20:47] I don’t want to touch that. Okay. All right. I do. Okay. We’re out of that one. But but, you know, when you sit back and take a look at the EVs, Dr. Ireland, did you hear about when all the EV cars, the remote car, the driverless cars, the delivery cars all ganged up and met in one place? They hacked into.

David Blackmon [00:21:11] That. Was it San Francisco one or was it L.A.?

Stuart Turley [00:21:14] Yes, I believe so. I’ve got a video of it. And it was it was funny. All these cars are all lined up there, the driverless cars. And then Tesla just announced their recall on on almost all their cars. And that is bad. I got an inside scoop, some of it security, a whole bunch of security people can steal the Tesla and run over people with it. So it is a frightening we. I’m serious.

Rey Treviño [00:21:47] They recalled all of them.

Stuart Turley [00:21:49] There’s a big joke of it.

David Blackmon [00:21:51] It’s a download over the web. I mean. Right. They have to call it a recall. But you’re not having to take your Tesla Tesla.

Rey Treviño [00:22:00] Download the information to your car wow.

David Blackmon [00:22:03] You just downloaded.

Stuart Turley [00:22:05] Still there’s a whole. And and I’m telling you, it it ain’t in the Senate. It’s a hole in the in the firewall. So

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:22:13]  We’ll also I think one of the vulnerable places are the charging stations. They say that it’s easy tip apparently to hack into a charging station. And then when you plug your car in, you’re basically plugging in to the Internet and and your car is in communication can be hacked into at that point.

Stuart Turley [00:22:32] Exactly. Yeah, you’re up, bro.

Rey Treviño [00:22:35] Oh, David. Just like my job right there. What are whatever the days of the 1982 Chevrolet pickup. Just put the key and start.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:22:44] That’s right

David Blackmon [00:22:46] Now. I want my 66 Buick station wagon back and I

Stuart Turley [00:22:51] I like my Cuda

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:22:56] 66 Impala that’s what I had.

David Blackmon [00:22:56] There you go. Such a classic.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:22:59] Yeah, it is. I wish I still had it.

Stuart Turley [00:23:01] Yeah, but now this tells you how old I am. I actually had a 43 Willis love my 43 Willis.

David Blackmon [00:23:10] Truck the Willis truck.

Stuart Turley [00:23:13] No, it was 43 Willis. It was the first year they made a world War.

Rey Treviño [00:23:18] I will say this with all the Tesla. No, I did just get done watching that Netflix movie with Julia Roberts, where I don’t leave nobody behind. I remember.

Stuart Turley [00:23:29] Pretty Woman.

Rey Treviño [00:23:30] No, no.

David Blackmon [00:23:30] No levers behind. Right. Lever behind.

Rey Treviño [00:23:32] Lever something. But there was a scene where all of a sudden there’s nothing but Teslas on the highway. And they were all automatically charged, automatically driven to the same spot over and over and over again. It’s where it built up. Basically,.

David Blackmon [00:23:51] It’s about Cyber attack.

Rey Treviño [00:23:51] Yeah. Yeah, they couldn’t escape.

David Blackmon [00:23:52] We watched we watched that movie last weekend. Didn’t know it was an Obama production.

Rey Treviño [00:23:56] Either did I when I watched it. Yeah.

David Blackmon [00:23:59] But my favorite part of that movie was when they’re talking about Julia Roberts and the other fellow are talking about who’s behind the cyber attack and did you catch that? They say Korea’s behind not North Korea, not South Korea, and certainly not where the big movie market is over in China. They blame Korea, nebulous Korea, because if they got China, which is where it would come from if we had one. Well, in that movie, you know, nobody in China would be watching and then they’d lose hundreds of millions of dollars. That was my favorite part of the movie, aside from all the product placement from.

Stuart Turley [00:24:39] The Christmas was horrible. And then any don’t get me wrong, Julia Roberts is doing her own action in the past. But that same scene, this movie was made 20 years ago, Ethan Hawke would have been the one to get out of the car, go see what was going on, because she got out to go see what was going on. But, you know, 20 years ago, Ethan Hawke, her husband in the movie, would have been the one to get out, go see what’s going on, and would have ran back and drove the car. But she drove the car and it’s like there’s just certain things there that it’s like those don’t add up. Say, No, honey, you stay in the car, Let me go see what’s going on. And, you know, it’s so definitely it was definitely a 2023 movie. I won’t say.

Stuart Turley [00:25:15] I can’t imagine my wife doing anything like that. She was like, Oh, wait, hey, I heard something. You know, figure out if it’s a bear.

Rey Treviño [00:25:21] Yeah.

Stuart Turley [00:25:22] I’m like, All right, I don’t know about you, but know. But it’s a bear.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:25:28] Yep.

Stuart Turley [00:25:29] Yes,.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:25:29] Yes, dear.

Rey Treviño [00:25:34] Well, you know, Dr. Ireland, I cannot thank you enough, but you had a great opportunity to come and be on this show.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:25:43] I will. I appreciate. The opportunity.

Stuart Turley [00:25:43] I’ll tell you what I thought of a brand new show. If your y’all every y’all, every box of Sunday sports. They used to do this little bit with Barry Switzer and Jimmy Johnson. It was called the Angry Coaches Point. And I think you two would be great for the angry energy gone old man energy corner with you. I think.

Stuart Turley [00:26:07] Our first guest on the three podcasters and it’s one thing to insult me and David because that’s what you do anymore, but not ever great again. David, help me out here.

David Blackmon [00:26:20]  I didn’t insult anybody it was RT.

Stuart Turley [00:26:23] It’s RT. And I thought I was the squirrel. Oh, my, Doctor Ireland tell us how people can find you. Substack.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:26:32] Well, it is at Ireland dot substack dot com and please check it out.

Stuart Turley [00:26:37] Sounds fantastic in. And I’ll tell you what, I’m going to go take some of your classes just so I can get the ambiance and the aura of Dr. Ireland.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:26:50] You’ll get to hear David Blackmon talk to my class again.

Stuart Turley [00:26:54] Oh, I’m so sorry. And give us your laughs and give us your last words.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:27:00] Last words. Well, I’ll start. I’ll. I’ll get back to natural gas.

c [00:27:04] Okay.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:27:04] Just because that that’s my career is a natural gas. So I like to talk about it. But I will say it is and I emphasize this to my students. It is the fuel of the future. It’s not the transition fuel. It’s the future of the future. And one reason is we have a lot of it. And another. And therefore, it’s cheap. But in other news, it is clean. It is the cleanest burning fossil fuel, which, by the way, I think is exactly why that the EPA and other governments will not leave a decision about natural gas to the market because they know the market will. Ask for more natural gas, not less. So they’re out to make it illegal any way they can. And I always you know, you say, you know, it’s ch4. It’s almost pure hydrogen. It just has one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms and strip out the carbon. You got hydrogen. That’s, that’s the hydrogen that, that fires off the rockets that Elon Musk used.

Stuart Turley [00:28:12] I knew I liked. So.

Dr. Ed Ireland [00:28:15] I’ll stop there.

Stuart Turley [00:28:16] Oh, we’re all doing we’re not worthy. David, thank you so much. And we always appreciate you and thanks for letting me stalk you and RT. Thank you as well. Appreciate you guys. And thank you to all our wonderful listeners and I appreciate everybody. Stand, I’m going to sheet to that note. After the last one, I’ll answer your question. It was pretty embarrassing. All right. With that, we’ll thank you guys later. We’ll see guys soon.

The post 3 Podcasters Walk in a Bar – Episode 42 with Dr Ed Ireland appeared first on Energy News Beat.

Energy News Beat

The “rush-to-green” policies of the Biden administration and congressional Democrats are based on a false premise that intermittent power generation can meet energy demand in the United States. This belief, and its forced reliance on China for the components necessary to implement the policy, is detrimental to Americans’ standard of living as well as our safety.

As the chairman of the House Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, most of my colleagues and I support renewable energy from sources like wind, solar, geothermal, and, potentially, hydrogen. We also support clean, renewable energy that comes from one of the oldest sources of energy production — hydropower.

Renewables will be a part of our energy matrix, but they must work in tandem with always-on baseload power generation. This is due to renewables’ ability to only generate power intermittently, not 24/7/365. From households to municipalities to manufacturing, America relies upon always-on, always available electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Currently, renewables cannot provide that always-on, always-available energy that our nation requires. In its “rush-to-green,” the administration forced certain energy generation, like coal and natural gas, to be taken offline or made it extremely difficult to operate.

The Biden administration hampers coal and natural gas power generation through excessive regulation, slow permitting and the failure to allow the buildout of delivery infrastructure like pipelines.

Meanwhile, the administration is using subsidies to fast-track renewable projects like wind and solar, picking them as winners in the energy market despite their clear disadvantages compared to conventional power generation.

This is a problem, even for people who like renewables, because of two words — intermittent and dispatchable.

Wind and solar are intermittent producers, generating electrical energy when the wind blows and the sun shines. Dispatchable energy sources are those that are readily available to be ramped up or down to produce power to meet demand — ergo coal, natural gas, fuel oil, hydroelectric generation and, hopefully soon, small modular reactors.

The post Biden’s crazy rush to green energy will push us to endless blackouts appeared first on Energy News Beat.

Energy News Beat

Absent official confirmation of those Chinese companies’ decision, the veracity of Kommersant’s claim can only be speculated upon, but it was noteworthy that RT raised awareness of this report among their global audience.

RT reported on Monday that Russia’s reputable business daily Kommersant claimed that “French TotalEnergies, Chinese CNOOC and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), and a consortium of Japanese Mitsui and JOGMEC declared force majeure on their participation” in Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project. This decision was allegedly in response to new US sanctions from early November “banning third countries in Asia and Europe from purchasing LNG produced by the plant when it starts operating in 2024.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning was asked about this the day after on Tuesday, to which she responded as follows according to the ministry’s official transcript of her press conference:

“China and Russia conduct normal economic and trade cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit. Such cooperation should not become the target of any intervention or restriction by a third party.

What has happened shows that sanction and pressuring does not serve to achieve anything but can only cause negative spillover.

We oppose unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction that lack basis in international law and UN Security Council mandate. China and Russia will remain committed to normal economic and trade cooperation based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.”

As can be seen, while she condemned unilateral sanctions and defended Chinese-Russian trade in consonance with her country’s consistent position, she nevertheless didn’t deny that report.

Absent official confirmation of those Chinese companies’ decision, the veracity of Kommersant’s claim can only be speculated upon, but it was noteworthy that RT raised awareness of this report among their global audience. This in turn hints that there’s some truth to those two complying with the US’ new sanctions against a Russian LNG project. The structural reasons for why they might be doing so were addressed in this analysis here from September 2022 that was written on this general subject.

To summarize, China’s export-driven economy remains in a relationship of complex economic interdependence with the US, which makes Beijing reluctant to risk secondary sanctions against its companies and any further escalation of their trade war that’s largely stabilized over the past few years. These concerns are especially sensitive nowadays after the latest Xi-Biden Summit in mid-November led to an incipient thaw in their ties, which the People’s Republic is seriously committed to maintaining.

The US is equally serious about it too as suggested by the curious worsening of ties with India in the weeks after that aforesaid event, which these analyses here and here assessed to be a signal showing Washington’s commitment to resuming talks on a New Détente with China. If that’s indeed the case, then it would therefore follow that the US might also request similar such proof of commitment from China as a reciprocal “goodwill gesture”, ergo its informal compliance with the latest sanctions.

This would explain why Mao condemned these sanctions and defended Chinese-Russian trade but conspicuously didn’t deny Kommersant’s report that RT amplified on their website. In other words, while Indo-US and Sino-Russo ties still maintain their strategic substance, the US and China might have requested tacit concessions from the other’s partnership with their rival in exchange for taking their thaw to the next level. As this process apparently unfolds, Russian-Indian relations have strengthened.

The timing of External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s seemingly impromptu ongoing five-day trip to Moscow in the last week of the year, the strategic importance of which was analyzed here and here, shows that both understand the need to expand relations as much as possible in this context. India’s top diplomat himself praised their ties as “exceptional” when addressing the Russian-based diaspora and noted that they’ve been the “one constant in world politics” “for 70-80 odd years”.

Those who’d like to learn more about India and Russia’s complementary balancing acts, especially vis-à-vis China, should reference these analyses here and here since it’s beyond the scope of the present one. The purpose in drawing attention to this is to inform the reader that China’s reported compliance with the latest US sanctions, which might have been done as a “goodwill gesture” to aimed at advancing the greater good of its incipient thaw with Washington as Beijing sees it, is already being balanced out.

The same goes for the latest trouble in Indo-US ties, which altogether confirms the multipolar nature of International Relations since it shows that all key actors in the global systemic transition actively attempt to balance one another whenever one of them takes certain steps towards or away from others. Accordingly, while the US might dislike India’s outreaches towards Russia just like Russia might dislike China’s reported compliance with the new sanctions, each nevertheless accepts and understands it.

Neither of these four moves – the incipient Sino-US thaw, the subsequent worsening of Indo-US ties, Chian reportedly complying with the US’ new anti-Russian sanctions, and the latest strengthening of Russian-Indian relations – has irreparably upset the geopolitical balance in the world. They’re all unfolding in sequence and none of them is a game changer, at least not yet, with the end result being that the international equilibrium remains and multipolarity therefore continues marching on.

Source: Korybko.substack.com

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