Today’s Key Takeaways: Markets not mandates for oil and gas under new Argentinian President. OPEC drops IEA as data source. Innovation makes LNG industry safer. Car dealers ask Biden to pull back EV mandates as vehicles stack up on lots. Overreacting to fossil fuel presence at COP28.
News of the Day:
What Does Milei’s Presidential Win Mean for Oil and Gas in Argentina?
Andreas Exarheas, Rigzone, November 28, 2023
Dominika Rzechorzek, a senior oil and gas analyst at BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, told Rigzone that BMI recognizes “upside risks” to its long-term crude oil and natural gas production forecast under Argentine President-elect Javier Milei, “as his pro-business agenda is set to raise attractiveness of Argentina’s upstream sector and spur investment”.
“During the presidential campaign, Milei was vocal about planned reforms, including efforts to lift capital and currency controls, which continue to be the key challenge for upstream companies operating in Argentina,” Rzechorzek said.
“He also promoted market-based pricing instead of price setting and the removal of oil and gas export taxes that would benefit primarily crude oil exporters and to a smaller extent gas exporters amid limited cross-border pipeline capacity,” the BMI analyst added.
Rzechorzek also highlighted that Milei is supportive of the expansion of LNG export capabilities, which the analyst said, “would likely result in a favorable regulatory framework for this sector”.
“Milei also plans to privatize YPF, the largest oil and gas producer in Argentina, over the next two years according to some of the media reports,” the BMI analyst noted.
OIL:
OPEC head accuses IEA of vilifying fossil fuel industry | Reuters
Maha El Dahan, Reuters, November 27, 2023
- OPEC dropped IEA as a source for data on oil market last year
- OPEC, IEA have disagreed on demand outlooks, energy transition
- IEA called carbon capture an illusion
- COP28 climate summit begins Nov. 30 in Dubai
DUBAI, Nov 27 (Reuters) – OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais on Monday accused the International Energy Agency (IEA) of vilifying the oil and gas industry, in the latest clash between the groups over climate policy.
Al Ghais was referring to a note published by the West’s energy watchdog on Thursday that said the fossil fuel industry was facing a “moment of truth” where producers had to choose between deepening the climate crisis or shifting to clean energy.
“This presents an extremely narrow framing of challenges before us, and perhaps expediently plays down such issues as energy security, energy access and energy affordability,” Al Ghais said in a statement.
“It also unjustly vilifies the industry as being behind the climate crisis.”
The Organization of the Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Paris-based IEA have repeatedly clashed in recent years over issues such as long-term oil demand prospects and investment in new hydrocarbon supplies.
GAS:
Technology Making Today’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Industry Safer
Sarah Martin, Forbes, November 28, 2023
Today’s rapidly evolving energy ecosystem offers diverse ways to power the industries that keep the global economy running. Liquified natural gas (LNG) is one power source gaining increased attention, though it has been around for decades. The world’s first LNG carrier traveled from Louisiana to the U.K. in 1959.
Today, natural gas accounts for roughly 25% of global electricity generation. LNG can be used to fuel homes, commercial buildings, industrial plants, container vessels and cruise ships. To make LNG, natural gas is cooled until it becomes liquid (liquefaction), which shrinks its volume by 600 times; this makes it easier to store and transport. Most LNG is transported by sea in carriers using cryogenic tanks, though it can also be transported by rail, truck or barge. It must then be warmed back into its gaseous form.
Solutions Enhancing Safety In LNG Operations
Advanced safety technologies for the LNG sector—especially when layered together—can increase worker safety and reduce the likelihood of a fire or explosion.
Fixed gas and flame detectors that use infrared sensors, mounted in strategic locations throughout an LNG facility, enable operators to respond quickly to a leak, protecting both assets and people. Infrared technology within the gas detectors gives the devices a long operating life and enables fast detection and response in the event of a leak.
MINING:
Car Dealers Press Biden to Ease US Electric Vehicle Mandates
Keith Laing, Bloomberg Green, November 28, 2023
- Battery vehicles already ‘stacking up on our lots’: dealers
- Customers cite prices, lack of chargers, weather limitations
A group of US auto dealers is calling on the Biden administration to pull back on federal regulations that will mandate that two out of every three vehicles sold in the US in 2032 will be battery electric.
The car dealer group, calling itself EV Voice of the Customer, wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden released Tuesday that most US car buyers are not now interested in buying battery electric vehicles — even with government incentives — and the US should not force them to do so.
“The reality,” the letter said, “is that electric vehicle demand today is not keeping up with the large influx of BEVs arriving at our dealerships prompted by the current regulations. BEVs are stacking up on our lots.”
POLITICS:
Fossil fuel lobbying in the spotlight at COP28
Rebecca Falconer, Axios, November 27, 2023
Fossil fuel lobbying at COP28 is facing scrutiny after a report alleged host country the UAE planned to discuss striking oil and gas deals with other governments at the climate summit, which starts Thursday.
Why it matters: The report — which COP28 organizers categorically deny —includes allegations that a UAE team prepared “talking points” to further the interests of ADNOC, a state oil firm that COP president-designate Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber heads.
- The Centre for Climate Reporting’s report with the BBC comes as environmental groups and some lawmakers raise concerns about fossil fuel lobbyists at the key UN conference in Dubai that’s seen as a last-ditch effort to limit warming to the most ambitious Paris Agreement target of 1.5°C (2.7°F) above preindustrial levels by 2100.
Zoom out: Environmental groups criticized the agreement reached at last year’s COP27 meeting in Egypt for not calling for the phasing down of all fossil fuels.
- Fossil fuel industry representatives have attended UN climate talks more than 7,200 times in the past 20 years, according to a report released by a coalition of advocacy groups last week.
- Sandrine Dixson-Declève, co-president of The Club of Rome, a nonprofit in Switzerland that works on climate change, who wrote last year that she feared the event was “becoming little more than a circus, with the petrostates as the ringmasters,” told NPR this week that the number of lobbyists who attend the COPs had surged.
- A COP28 team spokesperson declined to comment on the lobbying concerns.
Zoom in: The Centre for Climate Reporting and the BBC allege that briefing notes were prepared for UAE team meetings with “at least 27 foreign governments” ahead of the conference that’s due to run until Dec. 12.
- Among them was a “talking points” plan for China that allegedly said UAE state oil firm ADNOC was “willing to jointly evaluate international LNG opportunities” in Mozambique, Canada, and Australia,” per the report.
- The COP28 team spokesperson said in an email on Monday night: “The documents referred to in the BBC article are inaccurate and were not used by COP28 in meetings. It is extremely disappointing to see the BBC use unverified documents in their reporting.”
- Representatives for ADNOC did not immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment.
the UAE does “chart a practical but ambitious path to move the world off of fossil fuels,” per NPR.
Of note: UN officials announced in June that fossil fuel lobbyists would for the first time have to publicly disclose their role when registering for COP in Dubai.
What we’re watching: The world is on course to exceed 2°C of warming by the end of the century at current levels and UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned earlier this month: “Governments are literally doubling down on fossil fuel production.”
- But the UAE presidency has said it is committed to keeping to the 1.5°C goal despite the challenges.
- Al-Jaber, who is also the United Arab Emirates’ top renewable energy official and climate envoy, has described the phasedown of fossil fuels as “essential” and “inevitable.” He’s sought to convey that he can use his oil and gas experience to his advantage at COP28.
- Dixson-Declève said it would be “the perfect scenario” if the UAE does “chart a practical but ambitious path to move the world off of fossil fuels,” per NPR.