Euro slumps to 20-year low against US dollar as jump in natural gas prices intensifies economic strain
Rising worries about a European recession hit stock markets on Tuesday as the euro slumped to a two-decade low and the pound fell to its lowest since the start of the pandemic.
Shares tumbled in London and across Europe as a jump in natural gas prices intensified the strain on the European economy.
Continue reading...Officials allege contract was corruptly procured by business duo behind P&ID as saga of energy project and secretive tribunal heads for high court
It has been described as one of the most extraordinary cases ever to come before the high court, involving an Irish impresario, an alleged $50,000 bribe stuffed into a bag and potentially one of the biggest payouts in legal history.
The saga of two Irish businessmen, Michael Quinn and Brendan Cahill, who promised to revolutionise Nigeria’s energy sector, will be at the centre of a high court trial early next year.
Continue reading...Policy would ban new ocean drilling but allow up to 11 lease sales in Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s south coast
Joe Biden’s administration on Friday unveiled a five-year offshore oil and gas drilling development plan that blocks all new drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans within US territorial waters while allowing some lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s south coast.
The plan, which has not been finalized, could allow up to 11 lease sales but gives the interior department the right to make none. It comes two days after the US supreme court curbed the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to respond to the climate crisis.
Continue reading...Woodside’s North West Shelf gas development would release more than eight times Australia’s annual emissions if it continues to operate until 2070
Western Australian authorities have recommended a 50-year extension of the country’s biggest polluting fossil fuel development, sparking condemnation from climate campaigners who warned it could add more than 4bn tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
The WA Environment Protection Authority (EPA) advised the state government it should give the greenlight to oil and gas giant Woodside Energy to run its North West Shelf gas development in the Pilbara until 2070.
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Continue reading...‘It’s the wrong policy debate at the wrong time,’ industry says of capacity mechanism
Australia’s peak renewable industry groups say paying coal and gas plants to remain in the electricity market as back-up capacity would be “a retrograde step”, and a lengthy debate about changes could stall much-needed new investment.
Kane Thornton, the chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, said his organisation had “real concerns” about the proposal by the Energy Security Board for a so-called capacity mechanism to be introduced after 2025. Such a scheme would charge consumers for idle generation or supply to reduce risks of potential power shortages, as experienced across eastern Australia this month.
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Continue reading...Fears consumers may have to pay up to three times as much after Nord Stream 1 pipeline flow cut by 40%
German consumers could face a tripling of gas prices in the coming months after Russia’s throttling of deliveries to Europe, a senior energy official has said.
Moscow reduced the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline by 40% last week, citing technical reasons that Berlin dismisses as a pretext, prompting a four to six-fold rise in market prices, said the head of Germany’s federal network agency, Klaus Müller.
Continue reading...Centrica says Equinor will deliver enough gas for next three years to heat 4.5m extra homes
The British Gas owner, Centrica, has signed a major supply deal with the Norwegian state oil company, Equinor, as ministers scramble to secure domestic energy supplies.
Equinor has agreed to deliver an additional 1bn cubic metres of gas supplies to the company for each of the next three years, enough to heat an additional 4.5m UK homes.
Continue reading...Call comes after former UN climate envoy urged African countries to exploit their natural gas reserves
Africa must embrace renewable energy, and forgo exploration of its potentially lucrative gas deposits to stave off climate disaster and bring access to clean energy to the hundreds of millions who lack it, leading experts on the continent have said.
Their call came as the UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned that exploring for gas and oil anywhere in the world would be “delusional”.
Continue reading...Market operator in talks with large consumers as country faces energy crisis mainly due to poorly performing coal-fired generators
Some of Queensland’s biggest consumers agreed to cut their power use on Monday to help the grid avoid blackouts, and similar requests could be made in New South Wales and Victoria on Tuesday if regulators maintain forecasts for potential electricity shortfalls.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) on Monday afternoon started talks with big consumers under its Reliability and Emergency Reserve Trader (Rert) scheme to head off a gap projected at one stage to be 1,454 megawatts in Queensland at 5.30pm.
Continue reading...Britain’s goods exports to EU a record £16.4bn in April despite impact of Brexit
The UK has drastically increased the volume of natural gas being pumped to the EU amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, powering a record monthly rise in goods exports to the continent despite Brexit.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show EU goods exports rose for the third consecutive month to £16.4bn in April, the highest monthly level in current prices since comparable records began in 1997.
Continue reading...Ukraine war and oil company price gouging among factors contributing to surge as president mulls Riyadh rapprochement
US gasoline prices, a key driver of the highest inflation seen in the US in 40 years, hit a record $5 a gallon on Saturday. There was little to suggest they would drop anytime soon but, also on Saturday, Joe Biden said he had “not yet” decided if he will travel to Saudi Arabia, a week after opening the door to a possible trip.
Any such visit would be aimed at bolstering relations with the country at a time when Biden is trying to find ways to lower gasoline prices.
Continue reading...Gas shortages, reported delays to major projects and coal-fired power woes are among the gifts handed to the new energy minister
It’s a shame Chris Bowen can’t harness some of the heat from his baptism of fire as new energy minister because it could come in handy this winter.
Even before he’d been sworn in, Victoria nearly ran out of gas. This week, there were more coal-fired power woes – with AGL Energy down to six of its 11 units operating – and a new winter demand record in Queensland for electricity.
Continue reading...Centrica boss also defends Amber Rudd’s appointment to its board as a non-executive
The British Gas owner, Centrica, has warned that Rishi Sunak’s windfall tax will “damage investor confidence” as Britain attempts to build up green energy supplies.
The Centrica chairman, Scott Wheway, and its chief executive, Chris O’Shea, hit out at the chancellor’s 25% levy on oil and gas operators’ excess profits, which will be used to pay for measures to reduce soaring energy bills.
Continue reading...Ex-UN climate envoy says continent’s need for energy is so great it should be able to widely use the fossil fuel
African countries should be able to exploit their vast natural gas reserves despite the urgent need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions, the former UN climate envoy Mary Robinson has said.
Robinson, the chair of the Elders group of former world statespeople and business leaders, said African countries’ need for energy was so great that they should use gas widely, in contrast to developed countries that must halt their gas use as quickly as possible to stave off climate breakdown.
Continue reading...Prime minister responds to reports of Chinese naval base in Cambodia; nation records 29 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed
There’s no magic fix for inflation, Jason Clare says
Education minister Jason Clare appeared on the Today show this morning alongside Scott Emerson.
Inflation is through the roof. Wages are through the floor. We have got interest rates knocking at the door. The Reserve Bank ... have made it clear there will be a number of interest rate rises, which makes it harder for people with big rate rises already. Especially for people who are ahead in their mortgage, but if you have just signed up and the bank says you have to pay more, it will make it harder and harder.
There is no simple magic fix to this.
The market expects them to increase interest rates because we have an inflation problem in the economy and rising interest rates were something that the Reserve Bank governor flagged before the election and that is the trajectory we are on, but just because these interest rate rises are expected, it won’t make them any less difficult for a lot of people who are already confronting cost-of- living pressures.
That is the unfortunate reality. There is no point mincing words about that. Our job is the government is to make sure that after some of this near-term cost-of-living relief runs out that it is replaced by responsible long-term sustainable cost-of-living relief in areas like medicines and childcare, getting power bills down over time and getting real wages moving again.
Continue reading...Bowen blames decade of inaction on renewables and limitations on gas trigger for preventing a swifter fix
Chris Bowen has rejected Coalition claims Labor is not doing enough to fix the energy crisis, labelling its input “as effective as advice from the captain of the Titanic on navigation skills”.
The climate change and energy minister told Sky News on Sunday the new government was “actively managing” the crisis but a decade of inaction on renewables and limitations on the gas trigger was preventing swifter fixes.
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Continue reading...Aemo has identified a possible shortfall of gas supplies on Thursday in Victoria, SA and Tasmania amid ongoing burst of cold weather
Australia’s energy woes are mounting with the market operator warning of potential gas supply shortages on Thursday, one of the largest generators issuing a profit warning and more retailers turning away customers as wholesale power prices soar.
Just hours after new treasurer, Jim Chalmers, warned of “this perfect storm of energy price spikes … doing enormous damage to our employers, to our households, and to our national economy,” spot power prices were soaring towards $1,000 per megawatt hour in most of the east coast grid after an alert – now cancelled – that Victoria was facing evening reserve shortages.
More concerning, though, was a separate warning by the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) that it had identified a possible shortfall of gas supplies in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania on Thursday amid an ongoing burst of cold weather.
Continue reading...Gazprom raises stakes in sanctions war after EU move to embargo most Russian oil imports and companies miss deadline to pay in roubles
Russia has further cut off gas supplies to Europe, after state energy giant Gazprom turned off the taps to a top Dutch trader and halted flows to some companies in Denmark and Germany.
The intensification of the economic battle on Tuesday over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine follows the EU’s overnight decision to place an embargo on most Russian oil imports as part of its financial sanctions against the Kremlin.
Continue reading...Italy’s PM Mario Draghi suggests big consumers club together to limit how much is paid and raises idea of EU gas price cap
Energy prices are skyrocketing as the world confronts the economic ramifications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, supply chain bottlenecks and the lingering effects of Covid-19 lockdowns. But Italy’s prime minister, Mario Draghi, has a plan.
The celebrated former European Central Bank president recently broached the idea of creating a “cartel” of oil consumers at a meeting with Joe Biden. Just as the biggest oil-producing nations club together through Opec to agree annual oil production quotas, Draghi has suggested big energy consumers join forces to increase their bargaining power.
Continue reading...What happens from here is unclear, but the company’s turmoil can’t be divorced from the Coalition’s policy failures
The spectacular implosion at AGL Energy, Australia’s biggest corporate greenhouse gas polluter, has been years in the making and should have ramifications across Australia’s political and business classes.
The short story is that this is what a disorderly transition to a clean economy looks like – the kind that we have long been warned will happen if governments don’t plan for the future.
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