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Coal met some 3 percent of the UK’s electricity demand on Friday morning, reaching its highest level of Britain’s power generation in one month, amid lower wind speeds this week and an outage at a gas-powered plant, Bloomberg reports.

The last time the UK generated 3 percent of its electricity from coal was in early September when low wind generation reduced renewable power supply and triggered the massive spikes in UK wholesale electricity prices.

Utility Uniper fired up its coal-powered plant in Ratcliffe early on Friday, while the gas-fired plant in Pembroke, Wales, operated by RWE, suffered an unplanned outage.

Over the past week, gas has consistently accounted for the largest share of the UK’s electricity generation, according to data from National Grid ESO. For example, on Wednesday, gas produced 44.8 percent of Britain’s electricity, more than wind with 19.2 percent and nuclear with 12.6 percent.

Surging natural gas prices and warm and still weather in September forced the UK to fire up an old coal plant that was on standby in order to meet its electricity demand.

The UK has pledged to phase out coal-fired power generation by October 2024.

UK power company Drax could have its last two coal-fired plants in the country operating beyond the 2022 deadline it had set for closure if the UK government asks it to keep them operational amid the energy crisis in the country and the whole of Europe.

“If the government wants us to rethink our plans, we need to talk to them in the next few months,” Drax’s chief executive Will Gardiner told the Financial Times at the end of September.

Last week, the UK government committed to decarbonizing the country’s electricity system by 2035.

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Gazprom: We’re Not Withholding Gas To Europe

September 26, 2021

Gazprom: We’re Not Withholding Gas To Europe

Russian gas giant Gazprom dismisses speculation and accusations that it is not supplying enough natural gas via pipeline to Europe, a senior official at Gazprom Export says.

So far in 2021, Gazprom’s gas deliveries to Europe have reached historic highs, Sergey Komlev, Head of the Contract Structuring and Pricing Directorate at Gazprom Export, wrote in an article for Gazprom’s corporate magazine, as carried by Russian news agency TASS.

Germany, Turkey, and Italy—some of Gazprom’s largest customers—all boosted imports of Russian gas in the first half of 2021, the manager said.

Gazprom’s exports to European countries rose by 23.2 percent between January and July, Komlev added.

“These figures prove the absurdity of accusing Gazprom of supply shortage,” the executive noted.

Europe is grappling with soaring natural gas and electricity prices ahead of the winter heating season due to tight gas supplies, very low gas inventories, and low wind power generation amid still weather.

More than 40 members of the European Parliament from all political groups have reportedly urged the European Commission to launch an investigation into Gazprom over alleged market manipulation that could have contributed to the record-high natural gas prices in Europe.

During the summer, even with the strong rebound in European natural gas demand and surging prices, Gazprom did not book additional entry capacity to Europe via Ukraine.

Analysts say that this could have been an opportunistic move from the Russian giant to drive up Europe’s gas prices further and take advantage of the very high prices. Other analysts think that Gazprom’s effective reduction in supplies would force Europe to recognize that gas customers on the continent need the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany bypassing Ukraine.

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Aramco On Lockdown After Houthi Missile Attack

September 7, 2021

Aramco On Lockdown After Houthi Missile Attack

Saudi Arabia had intercepted a ballistic missile attack on facilities owned by state oil major Aramco in the Eastern Region, Reuters has reported, citing the Saudi defense ministry.

Earlier reports said Aramco facilities in Dharan had gone on lockdown because of a suspected attack.

The Iran-affiliated Yemeni Houthi group claimed responsibility for the attacks on Sunday, saying it had used ballistic missiles and drones.

Ras Tanura, which is home to extensive oil infrastructure, was not the only target of the attack: the Houthis also targeted Aramco property in the southern Saudi provinces of Jizan and Najran, according to the rebel group’s spokesman who claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Aramco oil facilities are understandably a preferred target for the Houthis, which Saudi Arabia is trying to oust from Yemen after they removed the Saudi-affiliated government of the country in 2014 and has since then assumed power in most of Yemen. The Yemeni war, which has resulted in the worst humanitarian crisis in modern times, is widely seen as a proxy war between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Saudis most often intercept the Houthi attacks but not always. The most notable attack that the Yemeni rebel group claimed responsibility for was the September 2019 attacks on Saudi Aramco’s oil facilities, including an oil field and a processing plant

That attack cut off 5 percent of the daily global supply for weeks, sending oil prices soaring. But Saudi Arabia and the United States said at the time that it was Iran—and not the Houthis—that was responsible for the attack, even though the Yemeni group again claimed responsibility for the strikes.

Since the start of the Yemen war, several attempts have been made at reaching a ceasefire agreement, but so far, all have failed, locking the Saudis and the Houthis in a stalemate.

U.S. Energy Production Saw Steepest Drop On Record In 2020

May 13, 2021

U.S. Energy Production Saw Steepest Drop On Record In 2020

Due to economic responses to the pandemic, U.S. energy production dropped by 5 percent last year, marking the steepest annual decline on record, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday.

Last year, energy production in the United States fell to just below 96 quadrillion British thermal units (quads), a 5-percent decline from the record production in 2019, according to EIA’s Monthly Energy Review. The decline in absolute terms was the largest annual decrease in U.S. energy production on record, and this decline was primarily due to the pandemic, which slashed demand for energy.

The EIA calculates and compares different types of energy reported in different physical units such as barrels or cubic feet by converting sources of energy to common units of heat, called British thermal units (Btu).

Due to plunging drilling activity amid low oil prices, U.S. crude oil production fell by nearly 1 million barrels per day (bpd) last year, registering the largest annual decline in history, the EIA said earlier this year.

In 2020, U.S. crude oil production averaged 11.3 million bpd, dropping by 935,000 bpd—or 8 percent—compared to the record-high annual average of 12.2 million bpd in 2019.

Less than two months after American crude oil production reached a peak of 12.8 million bpd in January 2020, oil prices collapsed in March, leading to production shut-ins over the following months, and to the lowest average monthly production for 2020 in May, when U.S. output was just 10 million bpd, according to EIA’s estimates.

U.S. coal production also booked its largest annual decline on record last year, falling by 25 percent to less than 11 quads, the EIA said today.

Natural gas production also dropped in 2020, by 0.6 quads, or by 2 percent.

U.S. renewable energy production, however, rose by 2 percent to a record-high 11.8 quads in 2020, due to higher electricity generation from wind and solar, the EIA said.

Nuclear Reactions At Chernobyl “Cause for Concern”

May 12, 2021

Nuclear Reactions At Chernobyl “Cause for Concern”

Sensors have detected increased levels of neutrons in an inaccessible chamber at the Chernobyl site, signaling that nuclear fission reactions are taking place in the entombed reactor hall, Science reports.

The signs that fission reactions are occurring come 35 years nearly to the date when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in what is now Ukraine exploded on April 26, 1986. It was the worst-ever nuclear disaster in the world to date.

The nuclear fission reactions are taking place in a room that is sealed with concrete and contains a large part of the uranium fuel of the former reactor.

Ukrainian scientists are now trying to assess whether the detected nuclear fission reactions will die out or create a larger problem that will require some type of extraordinary intervention.

“It’s like the embers in a barbecue pit,” Neil Hyatt, a nuclear materials chemist at the University of Sheffield, told Science.

Maxim Saveliev of the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants (ISPNPP) in Kyiv, Ukraine, says that the scientists cannot rule out the possibility of an accident.

“We’re talking about very low rates of fission, so it’s not like a fizzing nuclear reactor,” Hyatt told New Scientist.

“And our estimation of fissile material in that room means that we can be fairly confident that you’re not going to get such rapid release of nuclear energy that you have an explosion. But we don’t know for sure,” the nuclear materials chemist noted.

According to Hyatt, the higher level of neutrons is a “cause for concern but not alarm.”

However, if sensors continue to detect rising production of neutrons, the site may need an extraordinary intervention, Hyatt said. One approach could be to drill into the entombed chamber and spray it with a substance such as gadolinium nitrate, which would stop the fission reactions.

China Restricts Electricity Use Amid Coal Shortage

December 22, 2020

China Restricts Electricity Use Amid Coal Shortage

Despite the swift industrial recovery from the pandemic, factories in areas in China are working only part-time, and residents in several provinces are asked to save electricity, while authorities are turning off street lights and billboards, warning of coal shortages this winter.

In at least three provinces in China, authorities have ordered limits on electricity use, saying there could be shortages of coal, The New York Times reports.

At the same time, Chinese authorities vehemently deny that the potential shortages have had anything to do with the diplomatic spat with Australia, which has turned into a true energy trade war, with China banning imports of coal from one of its major suppliers.

Still, China has admitted there is a problem with electricity supply in parts of the country, just ahead of the winter season when Chinese industrial activity has been recovering very well from the COVID-related economic slump earlier this year.

“At the moment, some provinces temporarily do not have enough electricity. This is an objective fact,” the NYT quoted the Chinese authority overseeing state-held firms as saying during the weekend.

As a result of the power shortages with a reduced supply of thermal coal, some factories are cutting working hours and are operational only two or three days a week, while office workers in some cities have had to climb 20 flights of stairs to reach their workplaces because elevators have been shut down to save electricity.

“We are not living a normal life when our factory can only work two days a week and the streets are dark at night,” Mike Li, who owns a plastic flower factory in the city of Yiwu, eastern China, told the Financial Times.

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The Most Dramatic Year In The History Of Oil

June 11, 2020

The Most Dramatic Year In The History Of Oil

There are very few industries in the world that have been hit as hard or are set to face as many consequences as the oil and gas industry in 2020. In a recent report, Fitch Ratings forecast that oil and gas exploration and production companies would lose $1.8 trillion in revenues this year, which is six times more than the retail sector is set to lose. But the long-term consequences are going to be even more devastating. Perhaps the most visible change taking place in the oil and gas industry is the drastic cost-cutting measures being taken by the oil majors. BP has been forced to cut 10,000 jobs, or 15 percent of its workforce, as it tries to control costs in this new low oil price environment. Schlumberger had already slashed salaries and cut jobs in late March, while Shell and Chevron have announced plans to shrink their workforces.

And it isn’t just in the workforce where we are seeing unprecedented cuts. Shell’s decision to cut its dividend for the first time since 1945 was probably the single largest indicator of the long-term impact this pandemic will have on the oil industry. Shell and its fellow oil majors have prided themselves on paying out dividends regardless of market conditions in order to keep their shareholders happy. Its decision to cut its dividends marks a shift in strategy that suggests the oil major is now determined to cut its debt going forward and focus on financial sustainability rather than just pleasing shareholders.

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Can U.S. Shale Add 1 Million Bpd In 2017?

December 27, 2016

Can U.S. Shale Add 1 Million Bpd In 2017?

Oil prices are up on expectations that OPEC will contribute to a faster balancing in 2017, with up to 1.8 million barrels per day in cuts along with some non-OPEC countries. That has put a floor beneath prices, with fears of another downturn largely dissolved after OPEC’s announcement.

But what if U.S. shale comes roaring back and ruins the price rally? Estimates run the gamut on how quickly U.S. shale production can rebound and by what magnitude. Citigroup sees output rebounding by 500,000 barrels per day if oil prices average $60 per barrel. A December 12 report from Macquarie said that oil prices above $60 could spark a 1 million barrel-per-day revival.

U.S. shale is already up about 300,000 barrels per day from a low point in the summer of 2016, at least according to preliminary data. The gains are expected to continue. The industry is producing about as much oil as it was two years ago, with only one-third of the more than 1,700 rigs in 2014. Drillers are producing just as much oil with a lot less effort.

If U.S. shale surges back by 1 mb/d as Macquarie suggests, it would offset most of the cuts from OPEC and non-OPEC countries. Additionally, one would have to assume some degree of non-compliance and/or “cheating” on the cuts from participating countries, plus an expected increase in supply from Libya and Nigeria. Altogether, a rise in oil prices could be self-defeating, leading to prices falling once again later in the year. Related: Oil Price Roulette: Investors Bet On $100 Oil

Then there are also the implications on oil demand to consider. Higher prices might cut into demand growth, leading to an expansion in consumption at a much slower rate. The IEA already thinks oil demand will grow by 1.3 million barrels per day in 2017, one of the weakest in years.

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China Stockpiling Oil At Highest Rate In Over A Decade

April 25, 2016

China Stockpiling Oil At Highest Rate In Over A Decade

China might be in the midst of another round of stockpiling, stepping up crude oil imports to fill its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR).

The slowdown in oil demand in China is one of the chief concerns regarding the state of oversupply in global oil markets. Excess production has driven down prices, but soft demand in China over the past year or so has led to a protracted recovery.

After a period of softness, oil imports could be rising once again. Bloomberg reports that the number of oil supertankers docking at Chinese ports is at a 16-month high. And there are 83 supertankers currently on their way to China, with a capacity of 166 million barrels of crude, the highest number in four months.

In the first quarter of this year China diverted about 787,000 barrels per day into its strategic stockpile, the highest rate since Bloomberg has been tracking the data in 2004. Overall, as of March, China was importing around 7.7 million barrels per day.

The activity makes sense – China needs to fill up its strategic reserve and has had several facilities come online last year, with more storage sites under construction. The timing is fortuitous since China can fill its storage reserves with oil at incredibly low prices.

Another source of additional demand comes from a policy change in the downstream sector. The central government recently loosened the rules on oil imports, allowing smaller refineries to import more crude oil. These so-called “teapot refineries,” with capacities of around 20,000 to 100,000 barrels of production per day, struggled under the old restrictions, producing at only 30 to 40 percent of capacity because of an inability to import oil. That has changed, and domestic refining production is set to rise, and with it, so are imports.

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End Of An Era: Peabody Declares Bankruptcy

April 13, 2016

End Of An Era: Peabody Declares Bankruptcy

The St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp. warned a month ago that it was considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and on Wednesday they made it official. Peabody’s mines will continue to operate uninterrupted through the bankruptcy process. According to Peabody’s court filing, it has obtained $800 million in debtor-in-possession financing facilities.

“Through today’s action, we will seek an in-court solution to Peabody’s substantial debt burden amid a historically challenged industry backdrop. This process enables us to strengthen liquidity and reduce debt, build upon the significant operational achievements we’ve made in recent years and lay the foundation for long-term stability and success in the future,” the company said in a press release.

Peabody has suffered a dramatic fall from grace, after paying $5.1 billion to acquire major coal-producing assets in Australia in 2011. Since then, coal prices have collapsed, coal demand has ground to a halt, and Peabody’s debt has piled up. In the U.S., cheap natural gas and environmental regulation has led to coal’s downfall in the electric power sector. Abroad, a slowdown in China has hurt both thermal and metallurgical coal demand. China’s demand for steel has slowed and it is undertaking a shift away from coal because of air pollution, leaving the world’s top coal producers with a vastly smaller market than they had expected just a few years ago.

U.S. coal exports have declined in recent years, leaving Peabody – who oversees large mining operations in Wyoming – with too much coal and not enough demand. U.S. coal exports fell by 23 percent in 2015 compared to a year earlier.

Peabody’s bankruptcy is the latest in a string of bankruptcies from major coal producers, including Arch Coal, Alpha Natural Resources, Patriot Coal, and Walter Energy.

Export Ban, And Exports Went…Down

March 28, 2016

Export Ban, And Exports Went…Down

According to Clipper Data market intelligence cited by the Financial Times, we’ve seen a 5 percent decline in U.S. crude oil export volumes since the beginning of this year. The data suggests that on average we are exporting (waterborne) 325,000 barrels per day now, compared to 342,000 barrels per day during the first months of 2015.

And there’s no official data yet—not since the beginning of this year, when the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) noted that during the week ending 22 January, the U.S. had exported just shy of 400,000 barrels of oil, which again was 25 percent less than what was exported for the same week in 2014.

An oil tanker that reached a French port in January was the first post-ban delivery of U.S. crude oil, but things haven’t really picked up pace since then.

January’s cargoes, totaling about 11.3 million barrels, marked a 7 percent decline from U.S. crude exports in December, according to data by the U.S. Census Bureau. Shipments during January went to Curacao and France, in addition to Canada, the primary destination. The total number of tankers that have set sail with U.S. crude oil will not be known until comprehensive data on February’s shipments is released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The immediate beneficiaries of the ban suspension are gas and oil companies such as Chevron and Exxon Mobil—among the most tireless lobbyers against the ban—and oil trading giants such as Vitol Group BV and Trafigura Ltd Pet.

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Gulf States Not Willing To Cut Production Despite Asset Depletion

February 24, 2016

Gulf States Not Willing To Cut Production Despite Asset Depletion

The oil exporting countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are likely to report twin deficits due to the downturn in oil prices and a supply glut that could expand, but even as assets are being depleted at an alarming rate none is in enough trouble to cut production.

According to the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD)’s 2016 Global Investment Outlook, the region faces “significant asset depletion” as it will have to further adjust to low oil prices, which the report estimates will remain between $25 and $45 for the remainder of the year.

At the end of 2014, the countries of the GCC—which includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain and Oman—had about $3 trillion in net foreign assets. But by the end of 2015, they had divested some $210 billion in those assets, and the bank is predicting another loss of $180 billion in assets by the end of this year.

The UAE has reduced energy subsidies and put non-critical projects on hold, and is also considering value-added tax (VAT), income and corporate taxes, privatizations and bond sales to add to government coffers.

The UAE is faring better than others, according to NBAD because of its high financial reserves and its move to diversify away from oil and gas to some extent. Oil revenue makes up some 65 percent of the UAE’s government income. And while countries that rely on oil exports alone for revenue will be further hit by the flooding of the market with Iranian oil, the UAE’s diversified economy will benefit to some extent from renewed bilateral trade with Iran.

The UAE’s budget deficit is even expected to improve 4 percent this year. But the bank warns that UAE equities could be oversold, and “cheap in terms of valuation”, and the UAE currency, the dirham, might be overvalued by as much as 25 percent.

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UAE Offers India Free Oil To Ease Storage Woes

February 15, 2016

UAE Offers India Free Oil To Ease Storage Woes

The UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has agreed to store crudeoil in India’s maiden strategic storage facility, sweetening the deal by saying India could take two-thirds of the oil for free.

It’s a great deal for India, which is almost fully reliant on imports to meet its crude oil needs.

India has lured Abu Dhabi in with the building of a massive underground storage facility system that will be able to take on 5.33 million tons of crude as a bulwark against global price shocks and supply disruptions.

ADNOC is eyeing half the storage capacity at one of the new underground facilities, Mangalore, which has a 1.5-million-ton capacity on its own. Abu Dhabi plans to stock 0.75 million tons, or 6 million barrels of oil, here, and 0.5 million tons will belong to India.

The deal is reflective of a wider, global storage panic and talk of what could happen when we reach ‘’peak storage’’. A number of analysts have suggested that oil prices might crash to $20, or even $10 a barrel, if storage tanks become full.

Storage is now at the highest level in at least a decade.

In the U.S., crude storage levels hit 487 million barrels in early November, closing in on the 80-year high of 490 million barrels hit earlier this year.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), about 60 percent of the U.S.’ working storage capacity is filled.

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Iran Signs Oil Deal With Total, Deal Done In Euros

February 9, 2016

Iran Signs Oil Deal With Total, Deal Done In Euros

Deals signed just over a week ago when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met his French counterpart, Francois Hollande, in Paris included some 20 agreements and a $25-billion accord under which Iran will purchase 73 long-haul and 45 medium-haul Airbus passenger planes to update its ageing fleet. Carmaker Peugeot—which was forced to pull out of Iran in 2012–also agreed to return to the Iranian market in a five-year deal worth $436 million.

In the reverse flow of the new deal, Total has agreed to buy between 150,000 and 200,000 barrels of Iranian crude a day, with company officials also noting that Total would be looking at other opportunities as well in oil, gas, petrochemicals and marketing.

According to Iranian media, Total will start importing 160,000 barrels per day in line with a contract that takes effect already on 16 February.

Total never really left Iran, though. While it stopped all oil exploration and production activities there in 2010, making it one of the last to withdraw, it still maintained an office there.

Since 1990, Total has been a key investor in Iranian energy, playing a role in the development of Iran’s Sirri A&E oil and South Pars gas projects. Sanctions also halted its planned involvement in the LNG project linked to Iran’s South Pars Phase 11.

But Total’s work in Iran hasn’t been without its problems—even without sanctions.

In May 2013, Total agreed to pay $398.2 million to settle U.S. criminal and civil allegations that it paid bribes to win oil and gas contracts in Iran.

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