Oil
IEA Plans to Revise Down Oil Demand Forecasts Due to Virus
Stephen Cunningham, Bloomberg, March 5, 2020
The International Energy Agency plans to revise down its oil-demand forecasts next week because of the spreading coronavirus. “I am going to announce it Monday morning in Paris,” IEA chief Fatih Birol told a Congressional hearing in Washington on Thursday. “The impacts are already severe mainly because the transport sector is heavily affected.” The IEA will set out two scenarios when it updates forecasts next week, one of which is a base case that will reflect the current impact. “We will have also a worse case because we may well see that this situation may go global beyond China and this may well affect energy markets, especially oil markets, substantially,” Birol said.
Gas
USTDA, U.S. Government Partner With U.S. Industry to Promote Gas Sector Exports
USTDA Newsroom, March 5, 2020
Today, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency in coordination with LNG Allies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Energy Institute and other government partners and industry members, reaffirmed their commitment to the U.S. Gas Infrastructure Exports Initiative and the deployment of U.S. technologies to modernize the global gas sector. “With nearly 30 years of expertise, USTDA has supported more than 300 activities to advance gas infrastructure development in 70 emerging markets, generating more than $7 billion in U.S. exports,” said USTDA Acting Director Thomas R. Hardy. “That’s why USTDA is uniquely positioned to support the global gas sector in the 21st century and beyond.” Launched in November 2017, the Initiative connects American companies to new export opportunities across the gas value chain in emerging economies. Hardy also announced the public release of USTDA’s Natural Gas Project Preparation Guide.
Mining
Murkowski and Manchin introduce American Energy Independence Act
The American Energy Innovation Act (AEIA), co-sponsored by 60 senators, will modernize domestic energy laws to ensure the United States remains a global energy leader while also strengthening national security, increasing our international competitiveness, and investing in clean energy technologies. The key elements of the legislation are:
Keeping Energy Affordable
Making Energy Cleaner
Strengthening our Security
Increasing our Competitiveness
The U.S. Senate voted yesterday, 90-4, to officially begin debate on the Act.
Politics
From the Washington Examiner Daily on Energy:
IEA CHIEF SAYS THAT NUCLEAR AND CARBON CAPTURE, OPPOSED BY SANDERS, ARE CRITICAL FOR EMISSIONS REDUCTION: International Energy Agency Director Fatih Birol said that carbon capture and storage is the most “critical” technology for reducing emissions, and that nuclear power is essential despite not getting the “recognition” it should. Bernie Sanders opposes both technologies.
“If had to pick one technology as the most critical, if I had a magic touch to make this technology mature and [gain] market share,” it would be carbon capture, Birol told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in testimony Thursday. “I cannot think of any technology more crucial.”
Birol added that providing a lifetime extension for existing nuclear plants in the U.S. is the cheapest way to reduce emissions — better than renewables — and he called for policymakers to invest in smaller advanced reactors.
Bernie bets on only renewables: Sanders, running against Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination, thinks he knows better.
His official climate plan calls carbon capture and nuclear power “false solutions.”
His plan would halt construction of new nuclear plants and end license renewals for existing ones, while aiming for the electricity and transportation sectors to be run entirely on renewable power no later than 2030. Biden, by contrast, says addressing climate change should include “all low- and zero-carbon technologies,” including carbon capture and nuclear.
But here’s the bottom-line: “The problems are so huge we need all fuels and all technologies to be on board,” Birol said. “Energy is a good thing. Emissions is a bad thing. Some people confuse it.”