Today’s Key Takeaways: Gleason hands environmental groups another loss on Willow. Oil recruitment surprises in 2023. South Korea over-investing in LNG? Visualize this: critical minerals to China, EU, and U.S. National Security. Amassing a huge carbon footprint to pressure countries to reduce their emissions.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
Judge rejects calls to halt winter construction work on Willow oil project during appeal
Becky Bohrer, Associated Press, December 1, 2023
A federal judge in Alaska on Friday rejected requests from environmental groups to halt winter construction work for the massive Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope while the groups’ legal fight over the drilling project wages on.
U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason just last month upheld the Biden administration’s approval in March of the ConocoPhillips Alaska project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and dismissed lawsuits brought by environmentalists and a grassroots Iñupiat group challenging Willow’s approval.
Those groups are appealing that decision and asked Gleason to block winter construction work planned by ConocoPhillips Alaska while the appeal is pending. She denied those requests Friday.
Gleason said that while environmental impacts related to winter activities are of “legitimate concern” to the groups, “only a small area of the Reserve will be impacted.”
She wrote that the “strong legislative support at both the state and federal levels to proceed with the 2023-2024 winter construction activities tips strongly against the issuance of an injunction pending appeal.”
The lawsuits raised concerns about greenhouse gas emissions from Willow and argued federal agencies failed to consider how increased emissions from the project could affect ice-reliant species such as the polar bear, Arctic ringed seals, and bearded seals, which already are experiencing disruptions due to climate change.
Willow has widespread political support in Alaska, and many Alaska Native leaders on the North Slope and groups with ties to the region say Willow is economically vital for their communities. But climate activists have said allowing the project to proceed flies in the face of President Joe Biden’s pledges to combat climate change. The administration has defended its climate record.
OIL:
Experts Discuss Oil, Gas Recruitment Surprises in 2023
Andreas Exarheas, Rigzone, December 4, 2023
As the year draws to a close, Rigzone asked oil and gas recruitment experts if oil and gas recruitment surprised them in 2023, and if so, how.
“What surprised me about oil and gas recruitment in 2023 is that the upstream oil and gas sector thrived as well as it did,” Gladney Darroh, the Founding Partner and President of Houston, Texas, based Piper-Morgan Associates Personnel Consultants, told Rigzone, responding to the question.
“In fact, the May 2023 employment report by the Texas Workforce Commission showed an increase of 6,900 jobs, which was ‘the highest single month reported job growth in 33 years’,” Darroh, an energy search specialist with 47 years of experience, who developed and coaches the interview methodology Winning the Offer, which earned him the ranking of #1 technical and professional recruiter in Houston for 17 consecutive years by HAAPC, added.
GAS:
IEEFA report warns of overinvestment risks in South Korea’s LNG infrastructure expansion
Editorial Team, Safety4Sea, December 4, 2023
A new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) finds that South Korea is rapidly developing liquefied natural gas (LNG) import and storage terminals, presenting a high risk of overinvestment and overcapacity.
As informed, IEEFA estimates the country’s LNG industry is pouring ₩11.3 trillion (US$8.7 billion) into an infrastructure build-out that has projects at the construction or planning stage to boost receiving capacity for the fossil fuel.
Our analysis demonstrates a growing mismatch between LNG import infrastructure and projected LNG demand based on the country’s net-zero goal says Michelle Chaewon Kim, the report author and an Energy Finance Specialist, South Korea, at IEEFA.
Kim’s report identifies reasons why state-owned and private-sector firms are overly developing LNG import infrastructure, and the issues worsening the overinvestment risks. The report also suggests how the South Korean government and companies can mitigate those risks.
MINING:
The Critical Minerals to China, EU, and U.S. National Security
Bruno Venditti, Visual Capitalist, November 30, 2023
POLITICS:
The Irony of COP 28: Amassing a Huge Carbon Footprint to Pressure Countries into Reducing Carbon Emissions
Institute for Energy Research, November 3, 2023
Key Takeaways
1 The U.N.’s 28th climate meeting is attracting a record 70,000 this year, as governments, non-profits, businesses, media, and hangers-on gather in Dubai to argue over how much the United States and other wealthy nations should redistribute around the world.
2 After 27 previous conferences, global carbon dioxide emissions will hit a new record this year, led by China, despite the United States reducing its emissions by 3 percent as it switches from coal to natural gas in the generating sector.
3 Biden has an agreement with China to stimulate more renewable energy deployment, which is good for China since it dominates world production of these products and their inputs.
4 Despite Biden’s enormous subsidies for “green technologies,” they are failing in the market and are increasingly expensive due to inflation, higher interest rates and supply chain problems.