Wall Street Journal (March 3)
“How in the world did Europe leave itself so vulnerable to Vladimir Putin’s energy extortion?” Less than two decades ago, EU nations “produced more gas than Russia exported. Yet European production has plunged by more than half over the last decade” while Russia “happily filled the supply gap.”
Tags: Energy extortion, EU, Europe, Export, Gas, Plunged, Production, Putin, Russia, Supply gap, Vulnerable
CNBC (October 28)
In what may prove a seminal for Big Oil, activist Dan Loeb is “calling for the breakup of Royal Dutch Shell into a legacy oil and gas company and separate business for renewable energy.” The activists battle with Shell lies “at the heart of how an energy giant of the future shapes its business model during the energy transition and balances higher return fossil fuel projects with clean energy investment.”
Tags: Activist, Big oil, Breakup, Business model, Clean energy, Dan Loeb, Fossil fuel, Gas, Legacy, Oil, Renewable energy, Royal Dutch Shell, Transition
The Guardian (September 28)
“Queues at the petrol pumps are never a good look for a government. They are especially bad in a pandemic, when so many people already have reason to feel anxious.” Panic buying comes natural after “gas price rises that have led to around 2m households losing their energy supplier” and “empty shelves in supermarkets…. There is a palpable sense that Britain is careering from one crisis to another.”
Tags: Anxious, Careening, Crisis, Empty shelves, Energy, Gas, Government, Households, Pandemic, Petrol, Prices, Queues, Rises, Supermarkets
Houston Chronicle (July 15)
“The $3.5 trillion budget proposed by top Democrats represents the biggest move yet by President Joe Biden to attack climate change, including provisions such as clean energy standards for power grids, fees on methane emissions from oil and gas drilling, and increased incentives for electric cars.” If enacted, the legislation, “would set in motion a historic shift from fossil fuels and deliver a blow to the oil and gas producing regions across Texas, which have powered the nation’s economy for a century.”
Tags: $3.5 trillion, Biden, Clean energy, Climate change, Democrats, Drilling, Emissions, EVs, Fees, Fossil fuels, Gas, Historic, Methane, Oil, Power grids, Shift, Texas
Houston Chronicle (May 19)
“The International Energy Agency, the body that advises governments on energy and is widely respected among politicians of all stripes, warned Tuesday that nations need to halt oil and gas development this year if they are to meet their target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and avoid catastrophic climate change.”
LA Times (February 24)
“Baby steps by a handful of oil and gas companies aren’t going to do much to combat overall emissions. Similarly, the Trillion Trees Initiative…won’t do an awful lot, either. In fact, it’s one of those fig-leaf solutions that offers a pretense of significant action against global warming while ignoring the most pressing problem — the burning of fossil fuels in the first place.”
Tags: Baby steps, Emissions, Fig leaf, Gas, Global warming, Oil, Trillion Trees
The Economist (July 6)
A profound “energy transition is under way: from fossil fuels to clean energy. Of all the oil majors, Shell’s attempts to navigate it…are the most intriguing.” With a $52 billion acquisition of BG Group, Shell became “the biggest listed gas producer” while its oil reserves have dropped “lower than those of its Western peers…. Shell is bolder than its rivals in forecasting huge global demand for clean power over the next 30 years. And it is the only firm to link its executive’s pay to progress in reducing emissions across its operations.”
Tags: BG Group, Clean energy, Clean power, Energy, Executive pay, Fossil fuels, Gas, Oil majors, Reserves, Shell, Transition
Financial Times (March 26)
“Ten years ago, you knew where you stood with your energy suppliers. Oil companies sold road fuel, while utilities supplied electricity and gas. Today those lines of demarcation are blurring: utilities can fill up your car and oil companies want to keep your lights on.” This will make for a “period of intensified competition and instability, as companies that were previously able largely to forget about each other are now forced to battle for dominance.”
Tags: Blurring, Competition, Electricity, Energy, Fuel, Gas, Instability, Intensified, Oil, Suppliers, Utilities
The Economist (August 4)
“Earth is smouldering. From Seattle to Siberia this summer, flames have consumed swathes of the northern hemisphere.” And humanity is not rising to the challenge. Three years following the Paris Accord, “greenhouse-gas emissions are up again. So are investments in oil and gas. In 2017, for the first time in four years, demand for coal rose. Subsidies for renewables, such as wind and solar power, are dwindling.” While “it is tempting to think these are temporary setbacks and that mankind, with its instinct for self-preservation, will muddle through to a victory over global warming. In fact, it is losing the war.”
Tags: Coal, Demand, Earth, Emissions, Gas, GHG, Global warming, Humanity, Oil, Paris accord, Renewables, Self-preservation, Setbacks, Smouldering, Solar power, Wind
Institutional Investor (March 1)
New York City “is aiming for full divestment of coal, oil, and gas from its $189 billion retirement system–but could get sued in the process” if such a move is deemed contrary to fiduciary duty. If they successfully divest the roughly $5 billion in assets linked to fossil fuel, however, “New York’s pension funds would be the first major U.S. retirement system to rid itself of fossil fuels.”
Tags: Coal, Divestment, Fiduciary duty, Fossil fuel, Gas, New York, Oil, Pension fund, Retirement
