The Daily Bulletin - October 29, 2014 By Editors IS THE US ABOUT TO PASS SAUDI ARABIA AS THE TOP PRODUCER? Katy Barnato of CNBC thinks it can be done. She writes: The fracking revolution could open the way for the U.S. to overtake Saudi Arabia as the worlds number one oil producer, energy research provider Platts said in a report on Tuesday. ‘Another clear theme this year remains the dramatic upheaval, and for most, growth, that the American shale-led boom continues to thrust on energy players,’ said analysts Robert Perkins and Henry Edwardes-Evans in Platts annual report on the worlds top 250 energy companies. Extracting oil and gas from shale rock through hydraulic fracturing has transformed the U.S. energy industry, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration sees the countrys shale oil production hitting 9.6 million barrels per day by 2019.’ So we’re back on top again. Does that mean we can export? EUROPE’S BOLD PLAN TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS Europe only produces about 2/3 of the carbon emissions of the United State. While Europe has been steadily reducing, the U.S. was actually increasing carbon emissions until 2009 when President Obama took hold. Now they want to reduce even further - another 20 percent by 2020 and 40 percent by 2035. According to Eric Pianin of the Fiscal Times, A decision announced last week by European leaders to slash their countries’ greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 poses a serious dilemma for the 28-nation bloc that signed on. The deal was hailed by government leaders and some environmentalists as an important step towards combatting climate change and a good example for other world leaders set to meet next year in Paris to try to hammer out an international climate agreement. It was not easy, not at all, but we managed to reach a fair decision, said European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, according to the Associated Press. It sets Europe on an ambitious yet cost-effective climate and energy path. Judging from past experience, however, it could be done. decision announced last week by European leaders to slash their countries’ greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 poses a serious dilemma for the 28-nation bloc that signed on. The deal was hailed by government leaders and some environmentalists as an important step towards combatting climate change and a good example for other world leaders set to meet next year in Paris to try to hammer out an international climate agreement. - See more at: thefiscaltimes/2014/10/27/Europe-s-Bold-Plan-Help-Environment-Could-Hurt-Their-Economy#sthash.n64V8QnL.dpuf Eric Pianin, The Fiscal TimesA decision announced last week by European leaders to slash their countries’ greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 poses a serious dilemma for the 28-nation bloc that signed on. The deal was hailed by government leaders and some environmentalists as an important step towards combatting climate change and a good example for other world leaders set to meet next year in Paris to try to hammer out an international climate agreement. ‘It was not easy, not at all, but we managed to reach a fair decision,’ said European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, according to the Associated Press. ‘It sets Europe on an ambitious yet cost-effective climate and energy path.’” Judging from past experience, however, it could be done. thefiscaltimes/2014/10/27/Europe-s-Bold-Plan-Help-Environment-Could-Hurt-Their-Economy LITHUANIA BEATS THE RUSSIANS WITH THE ARRIVAL OF LNG Tiny Lithuania is taking the initiative against Russia by importing liquid natural gas that will make it completely independent of Gazprom. According to Keith Johnson of Foreign Policy, “With the arrival Monday of the liquefied natural gas terminal Independence to the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda, the tiny Baltic countries have thrown up a gleaming steel gibbet to dissuade Russia from using energy to hold the region hostage. The floating, nearly 1,000-foot-long LNG terminal will for the first time allow Lithuania and its neighbors to import liquefied natural gas for domestic consumption, rather than relying on Russias Gazprom for every ounce of gas. The ship has the capacity to take in and regasify 4 billion cubic meters of gas annually, surpassing Lithuanias own demand, and could supply, in theory, more than 75 percent of all the natural gas needed by the three Baltic states. Full commercial operations are expected to begin later this year; the Independence already has a five-year deal with Norways Statoil for limited shipments of LNG. Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite hailed the $500 million vessels arrival as a ‘strategic geopolitical project that may decide the future of the whole region.’” But it would take many tankers to feed the rest of Europe. OHIO WANTS TO RAISE FRACKING SEVERENCE TAX Ohio Governor John Kasich, who has guided his state through development of the Utica Shale, is now campaigning to raise the fracking severance tax, calling the current 20 cent rate “a complete rip-off.” A week before he’s expected to easily win a second term, a combative Gov. John Kasich voiced readiness to increase taxes and regulations on Ohio’s oil and gas industry. Writes Darrel Rowland of the Columbus Dispatch: Thwarted twice already by his fellow Republicans in the legislature — many of whom receive substantial campaign contributions from oil and gas interests — Kasich called the current 20-cents-a-barrel severance tax ‘a total and complete rip-off to the people of this state. It’s outrageous.’ He said he would use the higher tax revenue to help communities where fracking is taking place and to give ‘everyone in Ohio’ a tax cut.” It’s still better than New York, where they don’t frack at all. DOES OFFSHORE WIND HAVE A FUTURE IN THE US? John Connor Cleveland of RealClearPolitics believes that offshore wind has a promising future. A fixture off the Maine coast since its deployment in May 2013, VolturnUS is a one-eighth scale prototype floating wind turbine -- or, a miniature version of the 300-foot tall turbines that ultimately may populate some of Americas windier coastal regions. Developed by a consortium of researchers under the name DeepCWind, the VolturnUS is the only operational offshore turbine in the United States, and the only floating turbine in the world. In June 2013, VolturnUS was linked to an onshore power grid, successfully harnessing enough offshore wind energy to power homes on the mainland. To its creators, VolturnUS is the near-perfect child of necessity and ingenuity. Meet Habib Dagher of the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, which spearheaded the project’s design. He is deadpan, but decidedly enthusiastic. ‘We’ve had excellent results with the program,’ he said. ‘The unit is essentially a floating laboratory -- there are 60 sensors on it that measure the motion of the unit, stresses in the unit. We compared the data to our predictive models and it turned out very accurate.’ ” So we should get used to looking at those windmills. CHINA STILL FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH CHINA SEA India and Vietnam have signed a memorandum of understanding where they will cooperate over natural gas development in the South China Sea. But China remains the wild card, so far unwilling to share with other nations. “For the past several years, writes Chris Horton of the New York Times, China has been throwing its weight around the South China Sea, a body of water studded with coral reefs that laps at the shores of not only China but also Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan. China has sent ships to stake claims across the area, notably when a flotilla that included the country’s most advanced amphibious assault vessel arrived at James Shoal, 50 miles east of Malaysia’s coast, in 2013. Much of this muscle-flexing is political. China is a rising power and the South China Sea is a logical place for it to exercise its growing strength. The sea is a vital freight lane, through which a third of global shipping traffic passes. It is also a main focus of geopolitical jockeying for both Beijing and the United States, which has been strengthening its relations with the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.” They’re going to be tough to get along with out there.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 15:16:45 +0000
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