Parliamentary committee also recommends cut-off date for sale of diesel and petrol cars
A Victorian parliamentary committee has recommended the Andrews government consider a ban on gas connections in new homes to help accelerate the state’s transition to renewables.
It also urged Victoria to commit to a cut-off date for the sale of new petrol, diesel and gas-fuelled vehicles.
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Continue reading...Russia cut off gas to Bulgaria and Poland last month amid an energy payments dispute sparked by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
Russia has halted providing natural gas to neighbouring Finland, which has angered Moscow by applying for Nato membership, after the Nordic country refused to pay supplier Gazprom in roubles.
Gazprom Export has demanded that European countries pay for Russian gas supplies in roubles because of sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but Finland refuses to do so.
Continue reading...The price is a record high for the state and follows a record high average price nationwide at nearly $4.59 a gallon
The average price of gas in California has surpassed $6 a gallon for the first time ever as fuel costs across the US reach record highs.
Drivers in the Golden state are paying more for a gallon of fuel than anywhere else in the country at an average of $6.06, an all-time high for California and the US, according to AAA. The national average is nearly $4.59 a gallon, also a record, increasing 10 cents since Monday. Meanwhile, in some rural regions of California prices are even higher – fuel costs more than $7 a gallon in Mono county in the state’s east.
Continue reading...European Commission says extra €210bn needed over next five years to pay for phasing out of Russian fossil fuels
The EU plans a “massive” increase in solar and wind power, and a short-term boost for coal, to end its reliance on Russian oil and gas as fast as possible.
In a plan outlined on Wednesday, the European Commission said the EU needed to find an extra €210bn (£178bn) over the next five years to pay for phasing out Russian fossil fuels and speeding up the switch to green energy.
Continue reading...Increasing supply is ‘absolutely part of the solution’ to decarbonising the economy, Appea chair tells conference
Fossil fuel representatives have joined the Morrison government in rejecting scientific warnings that no new oil and gas fields should be opened if the world is to deal with the climate crisis, with a national conference hearing Australia should be “smart enough” to back continued expansion.
Increased gas and oil supply was “absolutely part of the solution” to decarbonising the economy, the annual conference of gas industry group the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (Appea) was told.
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Continue reading...Brussels commissioner says energy ministers accept bowing to Moscow’s demands would breach sanctions, as payment date looms
Europe is facing a crunch point in mid-May when EU member states will have to reject Moscow’s demands for fuel payments to be made in roubles – despite being without alternative gas supply, Brussels has warned.
Kadri Simson, the European commissioner for energy, said on Monday that the Kremlin’s demands had to be rebuffed despite the risks of an interruption to supply at a time that the shortfall cannot be made good.
Continue reading...AGL says it’s determined to go ahead with the merger despite the purchase, which has made Cannon-Brookes the company’s largest single shareholder
AGL Energy, Australia’s biggest electricity generator, says it remains determined to pursue its plan to split despite a bid for a blocking stake by technology billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.
In a second tilt at the company in three months, Cannon-Brookes bought 11.28% of the AGL shares through his family’s Grok Ventures firm, making him the largest single shareholder.
Continue reading...Energy minister Kwasi Kwarteng believed to be open to extension in response to leap in gas prices and energy security concerns
Nuclear power advocates believe energy minister Kwasi Kwarteng is open to extending the life of the Hinkley Point B plant to help wean the UK off gas imports and prevent a faster-than-expected decline in Britain’s fleet of atomic reactors.
Soaring gas prices and the war in Ukraine have already spurred the government to ask coal power plant owners to stay open longer, while ministers also revisited their staunch opposition to fracking in the light of energy supply concerns.
Continue reading...The jolt in costs is being blamed mostly on more expensive fossil fuels and falling reliability of coal-fired power plants
Wholesale power prices in Australia’s main electricity market continued to rise in the first three months of 2022, more than doubling the cost a year earlier, with the increase blamed mostly on more costly fossil fuels and the falling reliability of coal-fired power plants.
Renewable energy, meanwhile, grew its share of the market to more than one-third, pushing carbon emissions from the largest polluting sector to new lows, according to the quarterly energy dynamics report from the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo).
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Continue reading...Energy suppliers in Germany and Austria confirm they are looking at sanctions-compliant methods
Energy companies in Europe are considering opening Russian accounts to pay for gas from Gazprom after Vladimir Putin’s regime cut off supplies to Poland and Bulgaria and insisted other countries must pay in roubles.
Big gas distributors in Germany and Austria confirmed they were seeking ways to continue to make payments after Putin signed a decree at the end of March calling for a “special procedure for foreign buyers’ fulfilment of obligations to Russian suppliers of natural gas”.
Continue reading...EU hits out at move that Kremlin says is response to countries’ failure to pay in roubles
Europe appears to be on the brink of an energy crisis that could further drive up household bills after Russia halted gas supplies to two EU countries and threatened others, in a move condemned by European leaders as blackmail.
The immediate consequence of Gazprom’s decision to stop supply to Poland and Bulgaria while warning other nations opposed to Russia’s war in Ukraine that they could soon be hit was a 20% rise in the wholesale gas price.
In an address in St Petersburg, Vladimir Putin said any countries attempting to interfere in Ukraine or creating “unacceptable strategic threats for us” would be met with a “lightning-fast” response from Moscow. He claimed he had “all the tools for this – ones that no one can brag about … We will use them if needed. And I want everyone to know this. We have already taken all the decisions on this.”
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, arrived in Ukraine committing to evacuate civilians and seek a diplomatic way to end the war, after his controversial meeting with Putin and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow on Tuesday.
Serhiy Volyna, the acting commander of the 36th marine brigade in the besieged port city of Mariupol, said hundreds of civilians including children were living in unsanitary conditions and running out of food and water.
The interior ministry of Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria issued a statement claiming it had come under attack from Ukraine, raising fears that the country would now be dragged into active conflict.
Continue reading...Analysis: Putin is determined to use resource as a weapon, as shown in move to cut off Poland and Bulgaria
The unavoidable truth looming over Europe’s response to the invasion of Ukraine is that Russian gas heats the continent’s homes and powers its industries.
While European leaders have vowed to wean themselves off Kremlin-controlled supplies, both of gas and oil, the reality is that this is very hard to do in short order. There will be at least one more cold winter to come before major energy-hungry economies that rely heavily on Russia, such as Germany and Italy, can tap other sources.
Continue reading...Interior department raises royalty rates by 50% as administration juggles high oil prices and climate impact
As federal officials weigh efforts to fight the climate crisis against pressure to bring down high gasoline prices, the interior department is moving forward with the first onshore sales of public oil and natural gas drilling leases under Joe Biden.
The move also calls for a sharp increase in royalty rates for companies, ostensibly to limit global emissions driving the climate crisis, though economists say the effect will be relatively small.
Continue reading...Germany is bracing for supplies to be cut by Moscow in retaliation for sanctions or as part of an energy embargo
In Germany, they call it “Day X”. Businesses up and down the land are making contingency plans for what is seen as a growing likelihood that Russian gas will stop flowing into Europe’s biggest economy.
“It would be a disaster – one which would have seemed almost unthinkable just two months ago, but which right now feels like a very realistic prospect,” the owner of a hi-tech mechanical engineering company in western Germany said. The firm produces everything from battery cases for electric cars to train clutch systems.
Continue reading...Chancellor declines to endorse claim by Boris Johnson during London visit that goal will be achieved by mid-2024
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said his country is doing all it can to wean itself off Russian energy, but declined to endorse a claim by Boris Johnson that it would stop importing Russian gas by the middle of 2024.
Scholz said only that the goal would be achieved very soon, and that Germany would stop using Russian coal by the summer and Russian oil by the end of the year.
Continue reading...Plan will not please environmental campaigners, who say it fails to meet government’s net-zero targets
Boris Johnson is to put nuclear energy at the heart of the UK’s new energy strategy, but ministers have refused to set targets for onshore wind and vowed to continue the exploitation of North Sea oil and gas.
Amid deep divisions among senior Conservatives, the strategy will enrage environmentalists, who say the government’s plans are in defiance of its own net-zero targets and neglect alternative measures that experts say would provide much quicker relief from high energy bills.
Increasing nuclear capacity from 7 gigawatts to 24GW
Offshore wind target raised from 40GW to 50GW (from 11GW today)
Solar could grow five times from 14GW to 70GW by 2035
An “impartial” review into whether fracking is safe
Up to 10GW of hydrogen power by 2030
Continue reading...Joe Biden links new measures directly to accounts of atrocities committed by Russian forces in Bucha
The US has announced a new round of sanctions targeting Russia’s top public and private banks and two daughters of Vladimir Putin, following mounting global accusations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
The sanctions targeted Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova, two adult daughters of Putin’s with his former wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva.
Continue reading...Conservatives seek to examine latest techniques, citing rising energy costs
Ministers have paved the way for a reconsideration of the moratorium on fracking in England by commissioning a new study to examine safety concerns about the controversial practice.
In an effort to decrease Britain’s reliance on imported energy given spiralling costs, the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said it was “absolutely right that we explore all possible domestic energy sources”.
Continue reading...New rules could allow Arena to back developments that use CCS, such as that of ‘blue’ hydrogen made with gas, Senate hears
The Morrison government has launched a third attempt to change the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) to allow it to fund a broader range of technologies, including some using fossil fuels.
The Senate has twice in the past year used a disallowance motion to block new regulations introduced by the energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, to expand Arena’s remit to include backing technologies such as hydrogen made with gas and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Continue reading...Investigation began after discovery of ‘deviated’ wells drilled from neighbouring properties
The Queensland government has fined coal seam gas company Arrow Energy $1m for breaches of land access rules over four years, after an investigation into allegations the company drilled diagonally beneath farmland without notifying the landholders.
The fine is among the most significant non-compliance penalties ever issued to a resources company in Queensland. Groups that have raised concerns against the rapid spread of the coal seam gas wells in Queensland’s farming communities say the penalty is a “small start”, but that landholders’ rights to object to gas drilling must now be strengthened.
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