Today’s Key Takeaway: Over 75% of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector can be avoided with existing cost-effective technologies and practices. Not to mention that a large majority of methane reduction in the oil and gas industry can occur at virtually no net cost because the gas that isn’t lost can be sold instead.
Fifty oil and gas companies came together at this year’s United Nations climate conference in Dubai to pledge their commitment to reducing their methane emissions to near-zero by 2030, a clear signal that the oil and gas industry is willing and able to continue leading the way on this critical matter.
In the United States, the oil and gas industry accounts for an estimated 29% of total domestic methane emissions, second only to agriculture. This is a problem when considering the fact that methane is more than 80 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over the first 20 years. Basically, reducing methane now means less warming for us in the immediate term.
The great news is that many American oil and gas companies are already leading the way by voluntarily adopting practices that reduce their methane emissions. From 2019 to 2021, methane emissions intensity in the U.S. oil and gas industry declined 28% despite an increase in energy production. The oil and gas industry continues to look for ways to make further progress, and it is supportive of a smart, effective methane rule to help it do that.
The most recent Environmental Protection Agency rule to manage methane, released the same day as the oil and gas industry’s pledge to curb methane emissions, aims to push the industry to adopt advanced technologies to detect and repair leaks and reduce emissions during fuel transport. The result of an effectively implemented rule that works with the oil and gas industry could be cleaner, more secure, and more competitive energy production.
There are some concerns that this rule could harm energy production. Yet reducing methane emissions could be an opportunity to ensure energy security, create economic opportunity, and position the U.S. as a global leader.
The good news is that the rule empowers each state to create its own implementation plan to address existing methane sources, bringing into consideration local needs and circumstances. Conservative governors across the country will now have the opportunity to ensure a smart regulatory framework that will make their states more competitive on the national and international stage.
Addressing methane emissions doesn’t just benefit the environment. A little-known fact is that methane also represents wasted energy. In fact, inefficiencies in the oil and gas industry result in losing $2 billion worth of natural gas through methane venting, flaring, and leaking annually. Believe it or not, this is enough to heat 10 million homes for a year. In light of recent energy reliability challenges and unplanned blackouts, this is a significant amount of energy that could be powering homes instead of being lost to the atmosphere.
It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, over 75% of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector can be avoided with existing cost-effective technologies and practices. Not to mention that a large majority of methane reduction in the oil and gas industry can occur at virtually no net cost because the gas that isn’t lost can be sold instead.
Reducing methane emissions in the oil and gas sector is particularly important in the face of international efforts to source oil and gas imports from countries with low emissions intensity. American oil and gas companies can become more competitive on the global stage by taking action to mitigate their methane emissions while creating more jobs and economic opportunity here at home.
Moreover, supplying our allies with cleaner American oil and gas exports is much better for the environment than relying on dirtier products produced in countries such as Russia .American oil and gas companies produce some of the cleanest fossil energy in the world and are actively working to do their part in mitigating emissions, including methane. They know firsthand the environmental, economic, and energy security challenges posed by methane emissions.
As this EPA rule is implemented, we must make sure that we are empowering, not ostracizing, the oil and gas industry to ensure real progress is made in this space.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Any transition in the world’s energy system will not come from language hammered out in the 11th hour in Dubai, but when it is in the economic self-interest of communities and businesses to pursue cleaner alternatives. The policies that unleash bottom-up innovation and human ingenuity to meet the needs of consumers while reducing emissions are the most durable path forward. “
In what is simultaneously receiving praise for being a historic achievement and criticism for not being ambitious enough, nearly 200 countries closed COP28 by agreeing to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems. The agreement calls for a tripling of renewable energy capacity and expanded use of carbon capture and other low and zero-emissions technologies. The nuance of the language is what one should expect when climate goals run up against the realities of the world needing more affordable energy, particularly when 80 percent of those energy needs are met by fossil fuels.
Any transition in the world’s energy system will not come from language hammered out in the 11th hour in Dubai, but when it is in the economic self-interest of communities and businesses to pursue cleaner alternatives. The policies that unleash bottom-up innovation and human ingenuity to meet the needs of consumers while reducing emissions are the most durable path forward.
Like many previous COP commitments, the promise to transition away from fossil fuels may be as empty as the New Year’s resolutions to eat healthy that are broken by the Super Bowl. Or it could mean transitioning from four Oreos after dinner to three. Energy systems around the world could shift from 80 percent reliance on fossil fuels to 75 percent reliance. While such a gradual transition would likely not achieve the desired target of net zero by 2050, it is a nod to the economic and environmental tradeoffs countries must consider. As the language in the communiqué states, the transition must occur in a “just, orderly and equitable manner.” After all, it may look bad to have sessions at COP on environmentally sustainable yachts while telling people in developing countries it’s okay if their refrigeration is lost for days at a time.
The reality is that climate policies cannot trap people in poverty, prevent upward mobility, and deprive people of the basic energy needs that dramatically improve livelihoods. Of course, the goals of increasing energy access and reducing climate risks do not need to be mutually exclusive, but in some cases, they may be.
The tradeoff of rising emissions from the use of conventional sources is greater energy access and better living conditions. Providing families with electric or propane cookstoves may increase greenhouse gas emissions but significantly reduce indoor air pollution that prematurely kills millions when they use dung and crop residues. Building power systems to eliminate the use of cookstoves altogether would be transformational for communities in developing countries, but that would likely mean the use of more coal or natural gas.
In other instances, decisions to shift from fossil fuels may be economically and environmentally advantageous. This holds true for both developed and emerging economies. As the U.S. demonstrated, shifting from coal to natural gas as a power-generating source has saved families money, created economic opportunities, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. For the developing world, the use of cost-effective renewables or price breakthroughs in nuclear power could allow emerging economies to leapfrog the use of fossil fuels to develop cleaner faster.
In Kenya, more affordable electric bikes with less upkeep could replace diesel bikes with higher fuel costs. The move could save Kenyans money and improve air quality. Critically, the companies deploying the alternative technologies are ensuring they work for the customer. As one recent CleanTechnica article noted,
In an effort to provide the best possible electric option, companies are making alterations to their bikes to be more appealing to African riders. In conversation with Kiri EV Founder Chris Maara, it became evident that specializing bikes for an African market has been a difficult process. This meant several rounds of testing the bikes, including allowing riders to try them and offer feedback as to what they would like to see altered. This has led to Kiri Bikes replacing much of what was previously plastic with metal, so that it is sturdier and not reliant on specific imported parts. Kiri also found that owners wanted a longer seat so as to transport additional people. Lastly, Kiri Bikes wanted the shocks to be strengthened to handle the unpaved roads in rural Kenya.
Innovative solutions will be more durable and viable when they meet the needs of consumers and when they’re not reliant on preferential treatment from the government. Government-mandated transitions will not have staying power if they are costly and unpopular. And they may ultimately hinder the progress toward economically viable clean energy sources by steering public and private money to politically preferred technologies.
Perhaps one of the more encouraging, underreported outcomes of COP28 is that conversations around solutions were more technologically inclusive than ever before. Much of the optimism surrounding COP did not come from what the politicians would do but from the suite of technological solutions available. Whether it was nuclear fission or fusion or legitimate natural solutions – all options should be on the table.
The policies that allow hundreds of climate-friendly solutions to bloom are the ones that broadly encourage innovation, open markets to trade and investment, and empower good ideas to flourish at speed and scale. If leaders and officials fail to recognize and implement these policies, the semantics over the final language at COP28 will largely be wasted breath and, similar to its predecessors, COP will be a lot of talk with little action.
After this deal, I don't think Big Earth is gonna invite us to their next party…. https://t.co/eDiulhP6Hs
Today’s Key Takeaways: 100% support for Ambler Road from Alaska Native Elders who testified. Another oil war over Guyana? Pipeline capacity increasing for natural gas. Glut in copper supply has disappeared. Reading the tea leave on new permitting reform legislation. Carbon Capture Needs Enough Pipelines to Circle Earth Four Times?
On Wednesday, the Bureau of Land Management held a meeting for public commentary on the Ambler Road draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) and ANILCA 810 evaluation, sparking a protest.
Dozens of people gathered in opposition to the proposed road as those part of the nonprofit Native Movement chanted and projected messages like “NO AMBLER ROAD” onto the outside of the Loussac Public Library.
“You can take your interests, your enthusiasm out here tonight and bring it into that hearing, we want you folks to support communities that are against the Ambler Road,” said Austin Ahmasuk, the environmental justice co-director for Native Movement.
Kicking off the meeting, Steve Cohn, the director of Alaska BLM, invited the public who wished to speak or provide comment, calling public input “critical” in the process.
All of the Alaska Native elders who spoke ahead of others were in support of the road, saying the road would create jobs for their people, some of whom struggle to provide for their families.
Craig Jones, the deputy program manager of the Ambler Access Project, spoke of the project being beneficial for the people of his region and the state of Alaska.
“Without opportunity, we’re probably not going to be much of a community,” Jones said. “100% of my graduating class is no longer living in Ambler, that’s the case for many classes before and many classes after. [It] doesn’t seem like a big deal but our knowledge bearers are starting to move on and pass away and then there’s those of us that not only captured what we’re taught but have hopes of someday teaching it to our children.
“Without opportunity, that’s not going to happen.”
Kimberly Fry, an Alaska Native who worked in the mining industry, also fully supported the Ambler access road.
“Any infrastructure, any mining, any roads, we need to support,” Fry said. “We need to better our life in Alaska, we need to create jobs, we need to bring our minerals to resource, to market.”
The escalating Venezuela-Guyana dispute could provide an opportunity for the AUKUS alliance to intervene in the region and counter the influence of China, Russia, and Iran.
US Southern Command has conducted joint operations with the Guyana Defense Forces and the U.S. has said it would support Guyana’s sovereignty.
Geopolitical maneuvering by China, Iran, and Russia has fueled tensions in the region, and with a presidential election looming in Venezuela, the stakes are only getting higher.
Venezuela’s revival of its border dispute with the Cooperative Republic of Guyana may provide an opportunity for the AUKUS pact – Australia, United Kingdom, United States – to reverse or challenge the gains of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Russia, Iran in South America, and the Caribbean.
The territorial dispute over the Essequibo region of Guyana extends back to 1840, ostensibly resolved with the Paris Arbitral Award of 1899, but was revived with the discovery of massive energy reserves off its coast in the early 21“ Century.
This was exacerbated by Venezuela and its allies in 2022-23 for a variety of reasons, and in ways that broke with years of bilateral and multilateral agreements and negotiations between the two states.
The US Southern Command has the new dispute on its radar, and the UK Government and the Commonwealth have been stirred into action. Southern Command, as of early December 2023, had begun conducting joint flight operations with the Guyana Defense Forces, sending a message to Venezuela. And US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Guyana Pres. Mohamed Irfaan Ali that the US would support “Guyana’s sovereignty and our robust security and economic cooperation.”
More than 20.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas pipeline capacity is under construction, partly completed, or approved to deliver natural gas to five U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals that are currently under construction, according to our Natural Gas Pipeline Project Tracker. Some of the new pipeline capacity is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and some is under the jurisdiction of the Railroad Commission of Texas. About 13.5 Bcf/d of pipeline capacity is currently under construction, and each new LNG terminal—Plaquemines in Louisiana and Golden Pass, Port Arthur, Corpus Christi Stage III, and Rio Grande in Texas—has one or more pipelines being developed.
Copper is an essential mineral for Biden’s energy transition, but an anticipated glut has disappeared around the world as politics and technological and economic problems have stopped or stalled projects. A shortage is now predicted by some.
The United States has large copper resources, but mines in Alaska, Minnesota, and Arizona, which would increase national security in an energy transition, have been stopped by Biden.
Copper in scarce supply could elevate prices if demand should suddenly increase.
An expected surplus of copper going into 2024 has suddenly all but disappeared as a series of large new mineral projects that were scheduled to start up around the world are facing problems. Instead of the surplus, the mining industry’s supply has dwindled due to political and social opposition, the difficulty of developing new operations, and the day-to-day challenge of mining. In the past two weeks, one of the world’s biggest copper mines was ordered to close due to public protests, and operational problems has forced one of the leading mining companies to cut its production forecasts. This is another setback for the Biden administration since copper is an essential metal needed to reach net zero carbon dioxide.
Despite mining companies being key to facilitating the shift to green energy, President Biden has stood in the way of expediting that industry in the United States. He has revoked mining leases, delayed, or denied permits, and listed fauna and flora as endangered, stopping mines cold in many cases in Minnesota, Arizona, and Alaska. The “electrify everything” aspect of Biden’s climate promises cannot be done without copper. The International Energy Agency has warned that minerals shortfalls would lead to a slower energy transition.
NEW PERMITTING REFORM LEGISLATION: Democratic Reps. Sean Casten and Mike Levin, co-chairs of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, are out with a new permitting reform measure – likely the last legislative measure overhauling the permitting process to be introduced before the election year.
The bill, dubbed the Clean Electricity and Transmission Acceleration Act (CETA), aims to support the buildout of transmission lines connected to clean energy projects – a key piece of infrastructure that’s critical to the Biden administration’s goals of transitioning away from fossil fuels. However, the industry is facing a series of bottlenecks as it’s struggling to meet demand, with utilities and stakeholders wrestling on where to site lines and who will pay for them.
The measure adopts the language of various Democratic bills, and serves as a “consensus transmission and permitting reform bill of the House Democratic Caucus,” according to Casten.
“Last Congress, Democrats made the single largest investment in climate action in U.S. history,” Levin said. “Now, we must unlock its full potential by addressing the transmission permitting issues that are preventing us from bringing clean energy from where it’s generated to American households.”
What the bill does: By amending the Federal Power Act, the bill would direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to create new rules on improving the interregional planning, siting, and deployment of transmission lines, and would grant FERC the exclusive authority to approve where the projects are placed. The measure also includes provisions to promote the development of renewables with a 30% transmission investment tax credit, and makes changes to improve how the grid is managed.
Other areas the bill touches on:
Renewable energy on public lands: CETA would establish a production goal for clean energy projects, and work to minimize disturbances from the projects for towns and the environment. The bill would also direct revenues to fund conservation efforts.
Offshore wind: The bill would reform the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act – which establishes U.S. jurisdiction over the region – to further build out offshore wind, while creating a compensation fund for those that may be negatively impacted by the development of a project.
Community engagement: CETA would also aim to improve the community engagement process by requiring agencies to complete community impact statements assessing environmental and public health factors, mandating agencies engage with environmental justice and tribal communities, and requiring the consideration of cumulative impacts and greenhouse gases when conducting an environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act. The bill also aims to increase the capacity to complete environmental reviews, and conduct community engagement at the state and local level and at FERC.
Dead in the House: The bill exclusively focuses on the permitting approval of transmission for clean energy – which is a non-starter for Republicans, who want streamlined permitting for fossil fuel projects as well. So, it’s safe to say that it stands a slim to none chance of passing the House as a standalone bill.
Reading the tea leaves (or rather, the jet fumes): Lawmakers are leaving town today for the holiday break, and once they get back in January, much attention will be paid to funding the government. Plus, it’s an election year, so the odds of comprehensive legislation getting passed into law in a divided Washington will plummet.
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy, December 14, 2023
Achieving Biden's net-zero 2050 goal will require 96,000 miles of CO2 pipelines alone. 🖼️by @merrill_dave ⌨️by me Carbon Capture Needs Enough Pipelines to Circle Earth Four Times | Bloomberghttps://t.co/FiFp8hulZ5
Today’s Key Takeaways: Tesla recalls almost all electric vehicles on the road. Fossil fuel holdings in largest ESG fund rise after stricter rules enforced. AK natural gas shortage drawing attention. Northwest Alaska needs Ambler. Reality of COP29 “transition away from fossil fuels” depends on investors, consumers and national governments.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
TESLA NEWS – NEARLY ALL MODELS ON THE ROAD IN U.S. RECALLED: Tesla issued a recall for nearly all its electric vehicles on the road because of the Autopilot failing in some circumstances. The recall, disclosed in a letter made public by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, affects Tesla models Y, S, 3, and X – more than 2 million vehicles – and will be remedied via a software update that will limit use of the autopilot feature.
The NHTSA, which performed an analysis of 956 crashes in which the Autopilot was supposed to be in use, said that there was an increased risk of crashes in situations in which Autosteer is engaged and the driver isn’t paying attention, or when the driver thinks the feature is engaged and it isn’t.
It’s a notable setback in light of CEO Elon Musk’s statements that Tesla’s advancements in autonomous driving set it apart.
More bad news for Tesla: The carmaker said today that it will lose the entire $7,500 tax credit for Model 3 RWD & Long Range vehicles delivered after Dec. 31. The stricter criteria for the subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act are set to kick in with the new year.
Fossil fuel holdings rose after stricter ESG rules enforced
Development coincides with Big Oil dominating COP28 talks
The world’s biggest ESG fund class, which sits on roughly $5 trillion of client assets, has raised its exposure to the oil and gas sector by about two-thirds since stricter regulations were enforced 2 1/2 years ago.
Funds that are registered as “promoting” environmental, social and good governance metrics had about 2.3% of their holdings in fossil fuel assets at the end of the third quarter, up from 1.4% right after Europe introduced a framework for ESG investing in early 2021, according to data provided by Morningstar Inc. Exposure to renewable energy assets slipped to 0.3% of total holdings from 0.4% in the same period, the data show.
Alaska’s looming natural gas shortage is getting increased attention this week along with more talk about negative impacts that might occur as gas supply falls in the coming years.
On Tuesday, Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson announced that he formed a coalition of Southcentral Alaska mayors to study solutions to the potential shortage.
And in its meeting early Wednesday, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska plans to take steps to seek more disclosure from utilities about the issue, Commissioner Robert Pickett said by phone on Tuesday.
His discussion item on the commission’s agenda mentions “forced outages, curtailment of services and rolling blackouts.” A blackout is a full interruption of power in a given area. A brownout is a partial, temporary reduction in power.
Julie Hasquet, spokeswoman for Chugach Electric Association, the state’s largest electric utility, said it is not looking at brownouts or blackouts.
“Chugach Electric is not talking about brownouts or blackouts as a result of diminishing gas,” Hasquet said. “That’s why we’re pursuing options for the future, to include importing LNG (or liquified natural gas) and renewable and clean energy projects.”
A spokeswoman with the Matanuska Electric Association said they are not discussing brownouts or blackouts, as long as Hilcorp meets its contractual obligations, something they’ve assured they’ll do.
The thing about any individual freedom is that it relies on all the others. The right to private property depends on the right to self-defense, which depends on the right to vote, which depends on free speech, and on and on. It’s a lesson of history Alaskans must heed this month as the federal Bureau of Land Management fields public comments about the environmental impact of the proposed Ambler Access Project.
The Biden administration will soon decide whether to greenlight the project, which would build a 211-mile road from the Dalton Highway to the south bank of the Ambler River, finally giving Alaska access to the vast resources embedded in the Ambler Mining District.
To call the project a necessity is an understatement.
It is a necessity to Northwest Alaska, without question. The economic life of the entire region is at stake. The Red Dog zinc mine, currently the area’s principal economic engine, will be depleted by 2031. That’s an eight-year doomsday clock already ticking down. Hundreds of jobs, tens of millions of dollars in annual wages, and more than $100 million in local revenue sharing with Alaskan native corporations are at stake. bureau
The project is a national and global necessity, too. Many of the minerals embedded in the Ambler mining district are copper and rare-earth deposits. The Biden administration says we need an energy transition, but that can’t be accomplished without these minerals.
The COP28 climate talks in Dubai ended in a deal that saw a commitment to transition away from all fossil fuels for the first time.
The president of this year’s UN-sponsored summit, the UAE’s Sultan Al Jaber, brokered an agreement that was strong enough for the US and European Union on the need to dramatically curb fossil fuel use while keeping Saudi Arabia and other oil producers on board.
The agreement calls for countries to quickly shift energy systems away from fossil fuels in a just and orderly fashion, qualifications that helped convince the skeptics. Under the deal, countries also are called to contribute to a global transition effort — rather than being outright compelled to make that shift on their own.
“Together we have confronted the realities and sent the world in the right direction,” said Al Jaber, who’s also chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. He brought the gavel down to confirm the deal on Wednesday, a day later than scheduled. It was met with applause and cheers by delegates.
While the outcome falls short of the phase out most countries wanted, it does break new ground: No previous COP text has mentioned moving away from oil and gas, the fuels that have underpinned the global economy for decades.
How quickly that becomes a reality won’t be decided by the diplomatic horsetrading that clinched today’s deal, but by investors, consumers, and national governments. After a pledge to phase down coal in Glasgow two years ago, consumption has continued to rise, and the world remains very unlikely to limit warming to the Paris Agreement’s target of 1.5C.
As negotiators at the twenty-eighth COP settle on the need to "transition away" from fossil fuels, one more reminder that the world was transitioning away from fossil fuels faster before the first COP than after it. pic.twitter.com/J9wxB4rpmA
Today’s Key Takeaways: Arctic drilling debate highlights differing views from indigenous peoples.’ Guyana moves forward with production plans amid Venezuelan threats. BP challenges FERC on approval of Venture LNG export facility. Australia speeding up mining project approvals. Battle over fossil fuels continues at COP28.
Members of Congress agree that the administration needs to consider the concerns of indigenous communities when taking actions on oil and gas leasing in the Arctic. There is just disagreement on whose concerns should be prioritized.
The Biden administration’s slate of actions announced in September included canceling the remaining oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge issued under President Donald Trump and proposing new protections for over 13 million acres in the neighboring National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
These proposals drew condemnation from many Republicans — already critical of the Biden administration’s leasing policies — that the moves will increase U.S. dependence of foreign sources of oil. Alaska’s congressional delegation, which includes Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, said the administration ignored the wishes of those on the ground.
These frustrations were on display last week when the House Natural Resources Committee approved a bill that would prohibit the Biden administration from enforcing these actions. The bill was introduced by Rep. Pete Stauber, R-Minn., and co-sponsored by Peltola, who was the only Democrat to vote in favor.
The bill also had support from Kaktovik Iñupiat Corporation and Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope. At a Nov. 29 hearing, Doreen Leavitt, director of natural resources for the latter group, said their voices had been “continually dismissed” as the Biden administration considers the fate of drilling in the region.
In their Dec. 7 comments on the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska proposal, ICAS, the North Slope Borough and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation expressed many of the same concerns.
“[The Bureau of Land Management] is failing to fulfill its broader duties to Congress and the indigenous people of the North Slope by capitulating to a political agenda that calls for ending domestic oil and gas development with no regard to the economic and national security consequences of those actions,” the comments said.
Other Democratic members of the committee, though, spoke of their concerns that oil and gas development in the region would both be a major source of emissions and threaten the way of life of the Gwich’in people who depend on the region’s caribou herds for subsistence.
Oil majors operating in Guyana’s waters are “moving ahead aggressively” with production plans despite Venezuela’s threats to take over the region in an escalating border conflict, according to President Irfaan Ali.
Speaking from Georgetown, Ali said Guyana’s troops are prepared to defend the nation’s territory after Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro revived a long-dormant dispute over the Essequibo, a swath roughly the size of Florida where major oil discoveries have been made in recent years. Companies operating there were not intimidated by orders from the Venezuelan leader to leave the region, he added.
“There’s absolutely no slowing down” in production plans, Ali said in a video interview on Monday. “We are on the right side of international law, on the right side of ethics, and on the right side of history.”
Maduro last week told Exxon Mobil Corp. and others to withdraw from the area within three months, leaving Brazil and other Latin American nations on high alert about the possibility of an armed conflict in the region. Exxon leads a joint venture that includes Hess Corp. on Guyana’s Stabroek Block, home to the world’s largest crude discovery of the past decade.
Ali and Maduro are set to meet on Thursday on the island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in a bid to deescalate tension. The dispute intensified in recent years as the massive oil discoveries off the coast of Guyana led the small English-speaking nation to become the world’s fastest-growing economy.
Estimates that Guyana’s economy will grow 25 percent-30 percent a year in the medium-term are “very conservative,” said Ali, who is targeting more than 1.2 million barrels of daily production in the coming years.
“We are continuing to ensure that we are in a position with our international partners to defend what is ours,” Ali said. “But make no mistake, our troops are going to ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Guyana is respected.”
BP PLC (BP.L) has challenged U.S. energy regulators’ approvals of a Venture Global LNG liquefied natural gas export facility, arguing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has failed to enforce its regulations, according to a letter filed with FERC on Monday.
Venture Global LNG has become a major U.S. exporter of the superchilled gas since it started processing at its Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana, plant early in 2022. It has sold more than 200 cargoes of the gas under its own accounts without supplying BP and other long-term contract customers, who have complained they have lost billions in revenue.
“By failing to follow the Commission’s requirements …(Venture Global Calcasieu Pass) has immunized its self-serving assertion that commercial operations must be deferred from the public scrutiny,” BP said in its letter to FERC.
FERC oversight of LNG facility operations has not met the commissions transparency requirements, including the public disclosure of key facts and documents necessary to ensure that commission’s rulings are in fact being followed, BP wrote.
Western Australia said on Tuesday it will overhaul its environmental permit system, aiming to speed up the development of new businesses critical to the transition to greener forms of energy.
As part of the reforms, the state environment minister will be able to fast-track decisions on projects of state significance, while government approvals processes will be able to run concurrent to environmental approvals instead of afterwards.
The state government is also looking to specify timeframes for decisions more broadly and will also take steps to reduce duplication of approvals with other departments, it said.
“Today’s announcement is a massive step forward to remove the green tape that has been holding back our industry and the State economy for years,” the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies CEO Warren Pearce said.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Countries are headed for marathon climate negotiations, after receiving a draft decision text from the COP presidency on Monday that pleased virtually no one.
Why it matters: This summit is likely to be judged by its language on the future of fossil fuels, as well as provisions on climate adaptation and finance.
A majority of countries are hoping to significantly shore up these sections during increasingly high-stakes talks.
State of play: A new draft decision text is expected from the COP president, Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, on Tuesday evening local time.
After that, countries may gather in a plenary session to further hash out differences.
Further text amendments may be made, and countries will be forced to publicly defend their stances.
Between the lines: The biggest point of contention relates to the section setting out expectations for the fate of fossil fuels.
The Monday draft made no mention of “phase out” or “phase down,” instead giving countries a choice from a list of actions they “could” choose to pursue (including none of these options).
Still, the mention of fossil fuels in a COP decision text would be historic since the term has never been included before other than references to oil and gas subsidies.
Climate negotiators — including U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, Germany’s foreign minister, smaller nation envoys and climate activists — say the language introduced Monday would not provide the world a fighting chance to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
What they’re saying: The numerous reactions circulating can be best summarized as: “The draft crosses a red line and is inconsistent with the science.”
Be smart: Wrestling with the future of the fossil fuel economy was never going to be easy. Yet some countries don’t view the COP president, who also heads the UAE’s national oil company, as an honest broker amid opposition from oil- and gas-producing countries.
There is also a fraying of the sense of trust, with many of the talks producing this document and others taking place behind closed doors, without the consultation of each negotiating bloc.
Yes, but: COP28 is not over yet. While some are pronouncing an early demise, a lot may change in subsequent drafts and during public plenary meetings.
What to watch: While the Saudis are known to be adamantly opposed to fossil fuel phaseout language, they are not the only ones.
Many developing countries, particularly in Africa, don’t want to see this in a text without financing commitments from the developed world to help them make the energy transition and adapt to climate impacts.
Monday’s draft also fell short in that regard.
If the climate adaptation and finance sections were bolstered, it could unlock more support for sharp cuts to fossil fuels.
If it fails, there may be reevaluations of the COP process itself, not just recriminations about Dubai’s missed opportunity.
In other words, there’s a distinct chance that the largest COP ever could be the one that ends all COPs.
Oh yes, #Cop28 is STILL going. Week three of champagne & caviar for the climate. How long do your conventions last? 3 days at a Ramada in Greensboro? You should jump on team climate crisis. https://t.co/t4lcnIhpXzpic.twitter.com/z1JTJrycIM
