Today’s Key Takeaways: Qilak LNG targets Asia to ship LNG cargo. Millennials avoid fossil fuel industry because it has a negative image. Cold weather wreaks havoc with EV adventures.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
Alaska’s Qilak LNG targets Asia with $5 bln project to compete with Russia
Katya Golubkova, Reuters, March 8, 2023
Qilak LNG plans to invest $5 billion in a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Alaska’s North Slope to compete with Russia’s Yamal project for Asian customers towards the end of this decade, its chief executive said.
Major LNG importers such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are rethinking Russian supplies after sanctions on Moscow after it invaded Ukraine and more natural gas could be needed to produce lower emission and alternative fuels as nations try to reduce their carbon emissions.
Qilak is 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) closer to Asian markets than its biggest competitor, the Novatek-led NVTK.MM Yamal LNG in the Russian Arctic. The Alaskan projects aims to ship a LNG cargo to Asia in 14 days, about twice as fast as shipments from the U.S. Gulf Coast, Mead Treadwell, Qilak’s CEO and chairman, told Reuters in an interview this week.
“This project could open up a whole new province of supply for LNG, ammonia and hydrogen… There are geopolitical advantages and diversifying Arctic gas supplies away from Russia is generally a well received concept,” Treadwell said.
OIL & GAS:
Are Enough Young People Entering the Oil and Gas Workforce?
Andreas Exarheas, Rigzone, March 8, 2023
There are simply not enough young people entering the oil and gas workforce in recent times.
That’s what Neil Bradshaw, Petroplan’s EMEA Head of Permanent Recruitment, told Rigzone, adding that “it’s set to be a real potential challenge in upcoming years for companies within a global industry that has traditionally experienced challenges with skills shortages.”
“In a recent study, 58 percent of millennials questioned said that they would avoid working in a particular sector solely because they believe it had a negative image, with oil and gas being regarded as the most unappealing globally,” Bradshaw said.
“Over the past five years, it is reported that the number of Petroleum Engineering graduates has dropped by 83 percent. In addition, the University of Calgary and Imperial College London both eliminated their oil and gas engineering majors last year,” he added.
“In October last year, Harvard and MIT had students disrupting on-campus recruiting events for ExxonMobil … in addition to three British Universities recently placing a ban on oil companies attending their recruitment events … so on the other side there is a wavering ability of oil and gas companies to be able to ‘sell’ their space to the younger generation of candidates,” he continued.
POLITICS:
Cold weather nearly wrecked our 2,500-mile electric car adventure
Joann Muller, Axios, March 8, 2023
Just when we thought we’d figured out how to master a long road trip in an electric vehicle (EV), Mother Nature imparted one final lesson.
Why it matters: We almost ruined our 2,500-mile electric adventure from Michigan to Florida and back because we were overconfident in our car’s driving range.
- As we approached home in metro Detroit, a quick drop in temperature, along with snow and sleet, gave us range anxiety all over again.
We blame Ohio. The state bills itself as a growing hub for battery and electric vehicle manufacturing, and yet the stretch of I-75 from Cincinnati to Toledo is pretty much a charging desert when it comes to DC fast-charging — the kind you want on a road trip.
Catch up fast: My husband and I drove from Michigan to Florida last month in a Kia EV6 on loan from the carmaker’s press fleet.
- We took four days to get there — not due to the car’s limitations, but because we planned stops in Washington, D.C.; Wake Forest, North Carolina; and Charleston, South Carolina.
- After three weeks working remotely in the Sunshine State, we headed north along a different route, with a planned stop in Nashville.
We used route planning apps like PlugShare, A Better Routeplanner and Chargeway to figure out when and where to charge.
- A built-in route planner (like Teslas have) would have been better, but our ad hoc system worked just fine.
- It was a remarkably stress-free trip for the most part — until we hit Ohio.
Details: We were hungry and tired as we left Kentucky and crossed the Ohio River into Cincinnati around dusk on Sunday.
- We could have been home by midnight if we were driving a gas car, even if we stopped for dinner.
- But since we had to add time for charging — and there were limited options down the road — we decided to get a hotel room for the night.
Yes, but: Our charging options didn’t look any better in the daylight.
- We had to choose between going slightly out of our way to find a DC ultra-fast-charger or waiting around at a much slower charging station at a car dealership or an adult education center.
- The Kia’s 800-volt charging system is the fastest in the industry, so we opted to stick with Electrify America and EVGo’s fast-chargers, even if it meant taking a couple little detours.
- We had to get off I-75, for example, and head east on I-70 for about five miles to reach an Electrify America station in a Walmart parking lot in Huber Heights, east of Dayton.
- We charged to 96%, good for 249 miles of range. Home was 215 miles away, so we figured we’d arrive with about 34 miles, or 15%, left on the battery.