Category:

EU Sets 30% Energy Savings Target Under New Proposals

BRUSSELS—European Union countries will have to strive to make energy savings of 30% by 2030, according to controversial proposals unveiled by the European Commission on Wednesday. The proposal follows weeks of fierce lobbying and counter-lobbying by governments and industry, and though it is more ambitious than expected, it was immediately derided by green groups as lacking teeth. Under the current proposal, EU governments should improve energy efficiency by 30% compared with 2007 levels. But the commission caved in to enormous pressure from Poland, Hungary and others not to make the targets legally binding for now. The Ukraine crisis has turned energy efficiency into a key policy tool as a means of improving energy security and reducing Europe’s dependence on Russian gas and oil imports . It is also a cornerstone of a broader EU plan to tackle climate change by cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 40% by 2030, compared […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Senate leaders want more Russian sanctions

In light of Russia’s stance on the crash of the Malaysia Airlines plane, three U.S. Senators said broader sanctions on Russia’s energy sector are warranted. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said there was a growing body of evidence to suggest Russia may be tied to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 last week. The passenger jet crashed near the eastern Ukrainian border with Russia, an area of operations for pro-Russian separatists. U.S. Sens. Bob Menendez , D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Dianne Feinstein , D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Carl Levin , D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee called on President Barack Obama to take a tough stance on Russia in light of the tragedy. "We write to express our outrage over the wanton destruction of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, and to ask that you consider imposing […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

British shale debate town snubs permit

A British advocacy group said Wednesday it applauded a decision from a city council at the heart of the country’s shale debate to reject a drilling permit. The West Sussex County Council said it refused an application by Celtique Energy for a three-year oil and gas exploration bid. A drilling site in Balcombe, in West Sussex county, was the target of major protests last year by activists concerned over the drilling operations of Cuadrilla Resources. Demonstrators said the campaign was a prelude to a hydraulic fracturing operation, though the process known also as fracking was not conducted at the site. Brenda Pollack, a campaigner with the British Friends of the Earth, said the latest West Sussex decision was a step in the right direction. "Nobody wants to see Sussex ruined by industrial drilling for dirty fossil fuels," she said in a statement . "If Celtique had […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russian oil company surveying arctic ecosystem

Russian independent oil producer Rosneft said Wednesday it’s working to set an environmental baseline to review as it readies for work in arctic reserves. Rosneft and U.S. energy company Exxon Mobil signed a cooperation agreement in 2011 to develop three reserve areas in the Kara Sea, located within the Arctic Circle. The company said Wednesday it was studying the marine ecosystem to get a better understanding of the potential impact of offshore exploration. "The objective of the said studies is collection of data on marine fauna in Rosneft license areas with a view to building a complete and detailed picture of the baseline environment state and developing a set of environmental controls to be applied during hydrocarbons exploration and production," it said . Advocacy groups like Greenpeace have expressed concern about oil operations in the pristine arctic environment, saying the remote and extreme location may present obstacles to responding […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

EU Confirms Approval of Germany's New Renewable Energy Law

Wind turbines in Altentreptow, Germany. Bloomberg News BRUSSELS—European Union antitrust authorities confirmed Wednesday their approval of Germany’s new renewable energy law, which aims to help the country shift away from nuclear- and fossil fuel-generated power. Earlier this month, the European Commission said it had given backing to the plans after Berlin agreed to make some amendments to the law. The new law "paves the way for more market integration of renewables," Joaquín Almunia, the European Union’s antitrust commissioner, said in a news release. "In the medium term, this should lead to lower costs for consumers. Also the progressive opening up of tenders to operators located in other member states is a very positive development for the internal energy market." The EU had concerns that some German firms producing renewable energy may have benefited unfairly from subsidies in the past. It also said a surcharge imposed on imported electricity equated […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

EU Confirms Approval of Germany’s New Renewable Energy Law

Wind turbines in Altentreptow, Germany. Bloomberg News BRUSSELS—European Union antitrust authorities confirmed Wednesday their approval of Germany’s new renewable energy law, which aims to help the country shift away from nuclear- and fossil fuel-generated power. Earlier this month, the European Commission said it had given backing to the plans after Berlin agreed to make some amendments to the law. The new law "paves the way for more market integration of renewables," Joaquín Almunia, the European Union’s antitrust commissioner, said in a news release. "In the medium term, this should lead to lower costs for consumers. Also the progressive opening up of tenders to operators located in other member states is a very positive development for the internal energy market." The EU had concerns that some German firms producing renewable energy may have benefited unfairly from subsidies in the past. It also said a surcharge imposed on imported electricity equated […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

EU Official Urges Not to Place Sanctions on Imported Russian Oil and Gas

EU Commissioner for Energy, Gunther Oettinger, of Germany, at a news briefing in June. European Pressphoto Agency BRUSSELS—The European Union should target energy sanctions against Moscow on the technology needed to unlock arctic resources, but it shouldn’t restrict oil or gas imports from Russia, the bloc’s energy chief said on Wednesday. "I’ve always said that energy deliveries, such as oil, gas, coal and uranium, from Russia into European markets…shouldn’t be put on a sanctions list," Günther Oettinger told a news conference. "But the Russians see a great potential for offshore oil and gas in the Arctic, which they could unlock with technology, software and hardware…which its own industry can’t produce." EU authorities are drawing up fresh options for sanctions that the 28- nation bloc could impose on Russia if the situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate. On Tuesday, EU foreign ministers said they could adopt trade restrictions on defense, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Ukraine crisis: EU to weigh far-reaching sanctions on Russia

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting in his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, on March 27, 2014.Putin said today Russia should create its own national payment settlement system, in a bid to reduce economic dependence on the West amid the controversy over Moscow’s seizure of Crimea. AFP PHOTO / RIA-NOVOSTI / POOL/ ALEXEI NIKOLSKY (Photo credit should read ALEXEI NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images) EU diplomats will weigh sweeping Russian sanctions on Thursday that include a proposal to ban all Europeans from purchasing any new debt or stock issued by Russia’s largest banks, according to a proposal seen by the Financial Times. The sanctions measure, contained in a 10-page options memo prepared by the European Commission and distributed to national capitals, also proposes barring the Russian banks from listing new issues on European exchanges, preventing them from using London or other EU stock markets to raise funds from non-Europeans. More On this […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Debunking Peak Oil Debunkers

Electric Currents I came across this OpEd this morning by , a former financial advisory and retired attorney, now turned author. Besides turning his ‘pen’ to fiction, he also blogs on energy issues, Peak Oil, in particular, so critics will likely call him, and me, ‘true believers.’ But our particular tribe trusts facts and verifiable numbers, not loose estimations and overly-rosy forecasts, like predicting Americas’ energy independence based on fracking and tar sands. Richard has analyzed the arguments aimed at debunking ‘Peak Oil’ and found that very little substantive data is used. Instead critics turn to the same tactics used by tobacco companies and global warming deniers. I thought his comments and observations worth sharing with EV World readers. Bill Moore Denial Tricks of the Trade On an issue fraught with the potential for so much societal disruption as peak oil presents (like its kin, climate change), and the […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
Category:

Oil Is Getting Harder and Harder to Find

Oil expert James Hamilton has an interesting summary of the current world oil market up today, and it’s worth a read. His bottom line, however, is that $100-per-barrel oil is here to stay: The run-up of oil prices over the last decade resulted from strong growth of demand from emerging economies confronting limited physical potential to increase production from conventional sources. Certainly a change in those fundamentals could shift the equation dramatically. If China were to face a financial crisis, or if peace and stability were suddenly to break out in the Middle East and North Africa, a sharp drop in oil prices would be expected. But even if such events were to occur, the emerging economies would surely subsequently resume their growth, in which case any gains in production from Libya or Iraq would only buy a few more years. The chart on the right shows the situation […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple