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Climate change to slash south Asian GDP, development bank warns

A young Indian man walks across Upper Lake, Asia’s largest artificial lake, west of Madhya Pradesh state capital Bhopal on May 27, 2009. Built by Raja Bhoj during his tenure as a king of Malwa (1005-1055), the lake once served around 40 percent of the surrounding area’s residents with nearly 30 million gallons per day but now lies completely dried up due to a lack of rains for the past three years. AFP PHOTO/STR South Asian economies will be badly squeezed by climate change within a few decades if no action is taken to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming, according to a report published on Tuesday by the Asian Development Bank. The report calculates that the six countries studied – India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives – would on average lose 1.8 per cent of their gross domestic product by 2050 and […]

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China taking on more natural gas

"Natural gas accounted for only 4.9 percent of China’s total energy consumption in 2012, but large investments in domestic natural gas production and infrastructure, along with growing imports, are likely to underpin a significantly larger role in the future," a brief from EIA said. The Chinese government said it’s committed to a low-carbon economy. The share of natural gas in the energy mix should increase by 10 percent by 2020. China is the world leader in emissions. Beijing says it’s readjusted its economic structure in a way that promotes green energy and a low-carbon economy in an effort to combat climate change . EIA said China more than tripled its gas production since 2003. Nevertheless, since 2007, Chinese gas consumption has outpaced production, forcing the company to rely more on gas imports. The brief said China could replace imports by tapping into what could be the largest deposits of […]

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Natural gas serves a small, but growing, portion of China’s total energy demand

China relies heavily on domestic coal (and to a lesser extent oil) to meet rising energy consumption. To reduce air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, the Chinese government is attempting to replace some of the country’s coal and oil use with natural gas. Natural gas accounted for only 4.9% of China’s total energy consumption in 2012, but large investments in domestic natural gas production and infrastructure, along with growing imports, are likely to underpin a significantly larger role in the future. The Chinese government anticipates increasing its natural gas share of total energy consumption to around 8% by the end of 2015 and 10% by 2020. China more than tripled natural gas production since 2003, producing 3.8 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in 2012, and the government is targeting production to reach about 5.5 Tcf of natural gas per year by the end of 2015. Most of the anticipated production […]

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EIA: China to increase natural gas consumption, investment

HOUSTON, Aug. 18 08/18/2014 China more than tripled natural gas production since 2003, producing 3.8 tcf in 2012, and the government is targeting production to reach about 5.5 tcf/year of gas by the end of 2015, according to a recent analysis from the US Energy Information Administration . China is attempting to use more natural gas to reduce air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, which are largely caused by coal and oil usage for energy. Underpinned by large investments in domestic gas production and infrastructure, along with growing imports, the Chinese government anticipates increasing its gas share of total energy consumption to around 8% by yearend 2015 and to 10% by 2020. In 2012, natural gas accounted for only 4.9% of China’s total energy consumption. “Most of the anticipated production growth is from large onshore fields in the western and north-central regions of China as well as from the […]

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China's National Effort in Oil and Gas Fracking Fails

China’s “economic miracle” faces an existential threat now that the nation is the world’s largest importer of oil. The Chinese central authorities mandated a $275-billion crash investment in fracking to develop cheap energy from China’s 30 trillion cubic meters of natural gas trapped in the world’s largest shale fields. But China’s effort to knockoff America’s oil and gas fracking boom appears to have failed. China seems doomed to continue to destroy its industrial competitiveness by relying on high-cost energy imports. The head of China’s National Energy Administration (CNEA) quietly admitted last week that the country’s bold effort to follow the United States’s lead in launching an oil and gas boom based on hydraulic fracking of shale is failing. CNEA central planners promised domestic fracking would produce 80 billion cubic meters of cheap natural gas a year by 2020. But CNEA’s estimate for domestic gas production has been revised down […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China’s National Effort in Oil and Gas Fracking Fails

China’s “economic miracle” faces an existential threat now that the nation is the world’s largest importer of oil. The Chinese central authorities mandated a $275-billion crash investment in fracking to develop cheap energy from China’s 30 trillion cubic meters of natural gas trapped in the world’s largest shale fields. But China’s effort to knockoff America’s oil and gas fracking boom appears to have failed. China seems doomed to continue to destroy its industrial competitiveness by relying on high-cost energy imports. The head of China’s National Energy Administration (CNEA) quietly admitted last week that the country’s bold effort to follow the United States’s lead in launching an oil and gas boom based on hydraulic fracking of shale is failing. CNEA central planners promised domestic fracking would produce 80 billion cubic meters of cheap natural gas a year by 2020. But CNEA’s estimate for domestic gas production has been revised down […]

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Bakken Production Data for June + EIA Data

The Bakken and North Dakota production numbers are in for June. There was a big jump in oil production in June. The Bakken was up 53,162 barrels per day to 1,028,352 bpd. All North Dakota was up 52,148 bpd to 1,092,617 meaning the area outside the Bakken was down about 1,000 bpd. Bakken Barrels Per Day May Sweet Crude Price = $88.31/barrel July Sweet Crude Price = $86.20/barrel Today’s Sweet Crude Price = $79.50/barrel (all-time high was $136.29 7/3/2008) The drilling rig count was up one from May to June, and up two more from June to July. The number of well completions increased as weather impacts eased in June with significant rainfall on 2 days near Minot and 1 day near Dickinson. However, there were still 6 to 8 days with wind speeds in excess of 35 mph (too high for completion work). At the end of June […]

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US Energy Dept Finalizes Overhaul Of Natural Gas Export Reviews

WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) – The U.S. Energy Department has finalized a plan to revamp its process for approving liquefied natural gas exports, and as originally proposed the changes eliminate conditional approvals for LNG projects. Beginning Thursday, the department will only issue final rulings on whether exports are in the public interest after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or another authorized agency, has completed an environmental review of the project. The move will likely shift focus from the Energy Department, which has been criticized for moving too slowly, to the more costly FERC process, which assesses the safety and environmental impacts of LNG export facilities. Making an export application with the DOE costs about $20,000 but companies pay up to $100 million to complete the FERC process, an investment that separates serious projects from those without the financial backing to actually construct what are often multibillion-dollar facilities. The new […]

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Rosneft, Statoil start Barents Sea work

Russian oil company Rosneft said Monday it started an exploration program in the Barents Sea with Norwegian energy company Statoil. "The start of this exploration operation marks an important milestone in developing the cooperation between Rosneft and Statoil," the Russian company said in a statement. "The companies plan to implement their experience of exploration and development of hydrocarbon fields in regions with harsh climate." Rosneft said its subsidiary RN Nordic Oil is working alongside Statoil at the Pingvin license area of the Barents Sea. Statoil last week received approval from the government to move the Transocean rig, Spitsbergen, to the area. Rosneft said both sides would review the drilling results from the region through the end of the year. Statoil was the target of a campaign from Greenpeace , which said exploration in the arctic waters of the Barents Sea puts the region’s ecology at risk. The Norwegian government […]

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Reverse gas flows tested for Ukraine

| License Photo The Ukrainian government confirmed Monday testing was under way for the reversal of gas flows from Slovakia to Ukraine. Russian energy company Gazprom in June cut gas supplies to Ukraine because of lingering debt disputes. The Ukrainian government said testing began to send 70 million cubic feet per day from Slovakia to Ukraine through the joint work of transit companies Uktransgaz and Eustream. Commercial operations from the Slovakian transit system could start as early as Sept. 2. Uktransgaz Chairman Igor Prokopiv credited his company’s professionalism with keeping energy issues in Ukraine in check . "Ukrtransgaz will have a lot of strategic objectives ahead, but I am convinced … we will be able to comply with them," he said in a statement. German energy company RWE in April said it reversed the flow of natural gas from Poland to supply a Ukrainian market under the Kremlin’s influence. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple