by Chris Becker Aussie Aussie Aussie! Another record for the ages with the Bureau of Meteorology revealing that 2018 was the third hottest year on record, with global temperatures in 2018 to be the fourth-warmest year on record since 1880 (2015-2017 being the warmest): Drought prevention and relief, plus water security issues have never been more important, but
Via Platts: A total of 16,900 MW of U.S. power generation capacity retired in 2018, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, far more than the 11,569 MW retired in 2017. Coal-fired capacity made up nearly 70% of the capacity retired in 2018, totaling about 11,800 MW, despite efforts by the Trump administration to ease regulations
Via the AFR: Gas producers are privately voicing reservations about proposals that would require them to report on sales contracts, reserves and export prices, worried that the measures intended to increase transparency in the under-pressure east coast market could put them at a commercial disadvantage. The recommendations, released by the national competition regulator and the
by Chris Becker Those crazy Norwegians! Saving money from a sovereign wealth fund and then investing in their future with huge incentives to electrify the transportation grid. It’s not like they spend over $42 billion a year importing oil to power their cars like Australia – which has less than two weeks of strategic reserve
by Chris Becker From Commsec’s latest report: Crude oil’s sharp fall since October is helping to put some extra coin in consumers’ pockets, in the form of falling unleaded petrol prices. Aussie motorists on the East Coast are enjoying the lowest pump prices in 15 months as the discounting cycle continues. According to MotorMouth and
Released into the holidays as usual: Australia has a target of reducing emissions to 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels in 2030. The current estimate is that cumulative emissions reductions of 695 Mt CO2-e (26 per cent reduction) to 762 Mt CO2-e (28 per cent reduction) will be needed over the period 2021–2030
Yes, it’s gas cartel gouge time once again. After the treasonous ACCC did nothing again yesterday on the gas market, the cartel is making hay charging Aussies $11Gj spot prices across the eastern seaboard while Asian prices are in the $9Gjs. Meanwhile, according to the disastrous ACCC, contract prices are: …offered and agreed in mid-2018
The ACCC was out with its gas market update yesterday and not once, not once in a 120 page document, did it mention the word “reservation”. Despite this hilarious chart: 71% of east coast demand is the gas export cartel. If we held just 10% of that back then all our energy problems would be
From QLD Resources today: Queensland has given the green light to a new Surat Basin based project which will see more gas made available for the domestic market. “Last month I announced that a joint venture between Santos and Shell had won the right to explore for gas in Surat Basin – gas which will
Via Nature: Policymakers have less time to respond than they thought. Governments need to invest even more urgently in schemes that protect homes from floods and fires and help people to manage heat stress (especially older individuals and those living in poverty). Nations need to make their forests and farms more resilient to droughts, and
Yes, it’s back. The east coast gas cartel is once again charging Australians more for their own gas than the Japanese, Chinese, Koreans or anybody else that happens along. Via the FT: Liquefied natural gas prices in Asia have hit a six-month low as warmer than normal winter weather and forward buying by Chinese importers
Via Domain: ExxonMobil has made a final investment decision on its Bass Strait gas project, which will bring more gas to Victoria in the next five years. The decision backing the West Barracouta field, located off Victoria’s shores, boosts ExxonMobil’s Gippsland Basin output. Exxon did not disclose the volumes but this gas is not for
Via the US Studies Centre: Australia and the United States have much in common: liberal, democratic institutions; technologically advanced, largely open economies; growing populations; demanding infrastructure; and above all, abundant energy resources. But with respect to energy, Australia and the United States are on radically different paths. Australia faces an energy crisis, stressing households and
Via the AFR comes Australia’s BCA head and chief energy wrecker, Grant King: “In the last four terms of parliament, two under Labor and two under Coalition governments, we have lurched from one extreme to the other in terms of policy outcomes,” Mr King said on Monday night. “The most recent idea from government has been
Via the AFR: Energy producers and investors are regarding a possible Labor government after next year’s general election as offering the prospect of a defined energy policy that, while potentially tougher for the industry in some areas, will at least bring an end to what some have described as “almost uninvestable” situation under the Morrison
How? How did they do it? From the EIA: EIA expects total U.S. coal consumption in 2018 to fall to 691 million short tons (MMst), a 4% decline from 2017 and the lowest level since 1979. U.S. coal consumption has been falling since its peak in 2007, and EIA forecasts that 2018 coal consumption will
From Oxford Economics: In 2017, a gas crisis emerged in Australia’s East Coast gas market. Gas prices had increased rapidly from mid-2016 as the full effect of the three LNG projects starting operations on Curtis Island worked through the gas market, putting domestic energy users under pressure. In March 2017, the Australian Energy Market Operator
Can Australia’s gas catastrophe get any more stupid? Yes, it can: Australia’s fifth LNG import terminal has been proposed by a South Korean developer, striking a preliminary deal with the Port of Newcastle to boost gas supplies to the nation’s east coast as part of a $US430 million ($586m) facility. EPIK, described as a Seoul-based LNG
And surely it will do so. Two stories today show the lunacy, via AFR: The Morrison government has responded to backbench and industry anger by softening its proposed “big stick” laws to forcibly divest energy companies, but business remains hostile and there is no guarantee the laws will pass Parliament. In another day of energy
Great stuff today from Australia’s best contemporary political leader, Jay Weatherill: Jay Weatherill has accused Malcolm Turnbull of intervening to “politicise a state emergency” after South Australia’s devastating statewide blackout in 2016, saying this ultimately led to his demise as prime minister because he was needlessly wedged “between the Labor states and his right-wing partyroom”
So says the ABC: Renewable generation installation has accelerated to such an extent it is on track to provide almost 80 per cent of the electricity market by 2030, according to research from consultancy Green Energy Markets. GEM director Tristan Edis said the renewable energy industry has built itself up to such a significant scale
Via the AFR: Indian energy giant Adani has finally pulled the trigger on its controversial $2 billion Carmichael mine and will fund the project itself, with construction planned to begin before Christmas. After eight years of court challenges from environmental activists and delayed approvals, Adani Australia chief executive Lucas Dow on Thursday said the company
Via the UN: Current commitments expressed in the NDCs are inadequate to bridge the emissions gap in 2030. Technically, it is still possible to bridge the gap to ensure global warming stays well below 2°C and 1.5°C, but if NDC ambitions are not increased before 2030, exceeding the 1.5oC goal can no longer be avoided.
Via the AFR: East coast manufacturers are voicing frustration as domestic gas prices fail to follow international LNG prices lower, leaving them paying up to 25 per cent more for spot gas than equivalent export “netbacks” despite the dive in crude oil prices. A combination of cool spring weather in Victoria and an apparent reduction
Liberal candidate for Frankston Michael Lamb says his party will get the private industry to build a power station in Victoria, if elected, but admits it will be at least partly taxpayer-funded. MORE: https://t.co/vMF1BfEI9c #Speers pic.twitter.com/8S4kxVdyvI — Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 21, 2018 Enough said.
Via the AFR: Labor says the certainty created by having an energy policy and the falling cost of renewable energy means emissions can be cut and prices lowered at the same time. Speaking ahead of the launch of Labor’s energy policy on Thursday, shadow climate change and energy minster Mark Butler said asking people to
It’s all so horribly predictable. Via the AFR: After announcing that the world has arrived at a “new era for energy”, Coleman asked: “Where is the vision from our leaders today?” …”as renewables achieve scale, we risk wasting money on building more power into the system, resulting in generation overload. We risk ending up in
From John Kemp: Full report.
By Phil Soos, cross-posted from Independent Australia: The Government has prioritised economically supporting the fossil fuels industry instead of tackling urgent climate change issues, writes Philip Soos. AUSTRALIA’S CLIMATE CHANGE culture war is a hideous spectacle. Despite the obvious reality of human-caused climate change and the urgent need to act, the powerful fossil fuels industry (FFI)
Whether its credit or Trump it’s a slowdown in China: The latest Caixin China Composite PMI™ data (which covers both manufacturing and services) signalled only a marginal increase in overall Chinese business activity at the start of the fourth quarter of 2018. Furthermore, the Composite Output Index fell from 52.1 in September to a 28-month
