Oil Steadies as Sverdrup Restart eases Geopolitical Jitters
Oil prices traded steady on Tuesday as Norway's Johan Sverdrup oilfield restarted production and there were reports of Iran offering to cap its uranium stockpile, factors that offset investor concerns about escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war.Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell 0.1%, or 7 cents, to $73.23 per barrel by 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 gained 0.1%, or 5 cents, to $69.21 per barrel.Equinor resumed partial production from the Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea…
The Colombian Ministry of Energy says nine companies are interested in the offshore wind project
The Colombian energy ministry announced on Tuesday that seven foreign companies and two local ones had expressed interest in a project to build offshore wind farms and expected to receive formal bids by the first half of 2025. According to the ministry, these companies include Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol, power firm Celsia and Spain's BlueFloat Energy. They also include Denmark's Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and DEME from Belgium, China's PowerChina, China Three Gorges, and Britain's Dyna Energy.
Turkey plans to quadruple its wind and solar power capacity by 2035
Alparslan Bayraktar, the Energy Minister of Turkey, said that $108 billion in public and private investments will be needed to quadruple Turkey's wind and solar power generation capacity to 120,000MW by 2035.Bayraktar, speaking at a conference to announce Turkey's roadmap on renewable energy resources, said that the first tender conditions for this year's renewable energy resource area will be announced next Monday.Bayraktar stated that the energy ministry is working to change…
Norway court rejects environmental order against oil and gas field
The Norwegian Court of Appeal ruled on Monday in favor of the Government in an appeal brought by environmentalists who wanted to stop the development of three gas and oil fields. Greenpeace, among others, sued the Norwegian Government to stop the development of new oil and natural gas resources. This is the latest dispute related to climate change. In January, a lower court found that Norway's Energy Ministry failed to assess fully the climate impact of future oil and gas use in the fields, also known as scope three emissions.
Sources say that a top Kazakh oilfield has reached a record production amid tensions between OPEC+ and the country.
Sources say that Tengiz, Kazakhstan's largest oil field, operated by U.S. giant Chevron, increased output to a new record in October. This could complicate the future efforts of Kazakhstan to meet its OPEC+ quota. OPEC+ named Kazakhstan, Iraq, and Russia among the top 10 oil producers in the world as having repeatedly failed to meet its commitments to reduce oil production for this year. Two industry sources said that Tengiz increased its daily production from 687,000 to 699,000 BPD in early October. The output had risen by 30% since August, after maintenance was completed.
Naftogaz CEO: Ukraine produces 53 mcm gas per day
The CEO of Naftogaz said that Ukraine produces 53 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, including 43-44 Mcm produced by the state energy group. Oleksiy Cernyshov said Naftogaz had prepared for different scenarios in advance of the winter months, and that it ensured appropriate quantities of gas were stored. According to him, Ukraine currently has less than 13 billion cu m of natural gas in underground storage. He added that non-resident investors have about 0.5 bcm in underground storage.
Equinor, Aker BP, Vaar face rising project costs, Norway budget shows
The Norwegian government announced on Monday that Aker BP, Equinor and Vaar Energi had raised their estimates of costs for major oil and natural gas development projects in the Norwegian continental shelf. The government's fiscal budget documents revealed that the cost of Equinor Johan Castberg is expected to rise from 80.3 billion crowns, which was estimated a year ago. Aker BP’s Yggdrasil will likely cost 134.4 billion crowns compared to 120.2 billion crowns a year ago, and Vaar’s Balder Future is expected at 52.2 billion crowns compared to 44.5 billion crowns.
Russia aims to increase coal exports to India
Alexander Novak, Russian deputy prime minister, said that Russia was interested in increasing its coal exports to India in order to meet the growing demand for fuel in Asia. China is still the largest buyer of Russian coal, but Moscow says India could overtake China by the beginning of the next decade due to Beijing's plans for reducing coal use in power generation. India is increasingly relying on coal for its record-breaking power demand. The increase in coal-fired electricity output this year has outpaced renewable energy growth since at least 2019.
Turkish Ship to Start Oil Search Off Somalia This Month
Turkey's Energy Ministry announced on Thursday that a Turkish seismic research ship plans to arrive at the end October off the coasts of Somalia and begin searching for natural gas and oil after the two countries agreed on cooperation in energy. The agreement of March envisaged oil production and exploration, and Turkish Petroleum was granted licenses to operate in three areas within the Somali Seas. The ship Oruc Reis is exploring areas that cover? The ship Oruc Reis will explore areas covering?
Official from the Energy Ministry says Indonesia targets 5GW of wind energy by 2030.
Indonesia plans to increase its wind power capacity from the current 0.5 gigawatts to 5 gigawatts by 2030, according a Friday statement made by an official of the energy ministry. This is a 10-fold improvement over their previous plan. This is also 30 times the current installed wind power capacity in Indonesia, which is only 152.3 megawatts. The Indonesian state-owned utility company Perusahaan Listrik Negara has been revising its decade-long plan for power supply, known as RUPTL, in order to meet the more ambitious targets of the government on renewable energy.
Spain increases green hydrogen goal
Spain has raised its target for green hydrogen production capacity as a sign that it is confident in the industry, which has seen many energy giants cut back their plans due to high prices and an uncertain demand. According to a document released by the Energy Ministry on Monday, an updated version of the government’s strategy has set a target for 2030 of 12 gigawatts of electrolysers that are used to produce green hydrogen. This is up from 11 GW, which was in a previous draft of a new update last year.
Austrian election puts Russian gas habits and a sputtering economic in focus
After the general elections on Sunday, the government in Austria that comes to power will be under increasing pressure to diversify their energy supply and move away from dependence upon Russian gas. This is happening at a time when Austria's economy is in reverse. A majority is not expected from any party. Opinion polls show that the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which is friendly to Russia, has a slight lead. This could affect the speed of energy transition. Since Moscow invaded Ukraine 2022, the European Union is moving to replace Russian gas imports.
The demand for palm oil in Indonesia will increase and the production will decrease by 2024.
An industry official said on Thursday that Indonesian palm oil exports will decline by 2024 because of increased domestic consumption due to a higher biodiesel blend mandate and a small decrease in production. Exports would be limited and benchmark Malaysian prices supported by a lower production in the world's largest producer of tropical oil. Fadhil hasan, the head of the trade division of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association, said at the Globoil Conference that the country's exports may fall by 2,000,000 metric tons compared to a year earlier, and could reach 30.2,000,000 tons in 2024.
As Russia attacks Ukraine's energy infrastructure, the price of gas in Europe is rising.
The Dutch and British wholesale prices of gas closed higher on Monday amid concerns about supply as Russia fired missiles against energy infrastructure in Sumy, a city located north-east Ukraine. LSEG data show that the benchmark front-month contract for the Dutch TTF hub at 1600 GMT was 1.17 euros higher, at 35.37 Euros per Megawatt Hour (MWH), which is $11.81 mmBtu. The benchmark TTF contract fell to its lowest level since July, before recovering slightly in the morning of Tuesday. In the northeast Ukrainian town of Sumy, power was cut in some areas after a drone strike overnight.
The price of gas in Europe is rising on the back of hurricane fears
The wholesale gas prices of the Netherlands and Britain increased on Wednesday morning, as the storm in the United States intensified into a hurricane. This posed a threat to the liquefied gas (LNG), export operations in southern Europe. LSEG data shows that the benchmark front-month contract for the Dutch TTF hub at 0814 GMT was 0.13 euro higher, at 35.65 Euro per megawatt hour. The day-ahead contract in the British market was 1.25 pence more expensive at 86.50 cents per therm.
Ministry: Romania will launch CfD-based support scheme for green energies in mid-November
Romania will launch its first auction of onshore renewable energy projects by mid-November through a contract-for-difference (CfD) support scheme funded by the European Union, the energy ministry said on Monday. It said that the scheme would set a strike-price of 78 Euros per Megawatt Hour for solar projects, and 82 Euros for wind. The long-awaited low carbon energy support scheme will fix the price of electric for providers to an agreed level for a period of 15 years. After the Ministry reduced the scope of the initial 2 GW auction…
Kazakhstan asks for a delay in maintenance of the giant Kashagan Oilfield.
Trading sources familiar with the matter claim that Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry has asked shareholders to delay next year's maintenance, which was scheduled to start at the site on October 1st. Two sources claim that the ministry requested a delay in a letter sent to the partners of the North Caspian Operating Company consortium (NCOC), which operates Kashagan. The letter cited the fear of natural gas shortages during the winter season as the main reason. They added that a decision is expected on September 10.
Energy Minister: Romania could connect 1373 MW of new power by 2024
Sebastian Burduja, Minister of Energy, said that Romania will be able to connect 1,373MW of new electricity to the national grid before year's end, with most of this coming from solar parks. The European Union state wants to reduce its carbon emissions in order to meet the emissions reduction targets of the bloc and to also ensure supply security, which is a growing concern since Russia invaded Ukraine. The country's electricity is generated using a mixture of gas, coal and renewable energy sources. It has also committed to phase out brown coal under the EU-funded recovery aid package.
Kyiv reports that Russia has hit energy facilities in six Ukrainian regions.
Ukrainian officials reported on Wednesday that Russian airstrikes have hit energy and critical infrastructure in nine Ukrainian provinces over the last 24 hours. The energy ministry announced on Telegram that there were attacks against energy facilities in western Lviv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Donetsk East, Dnipropetrovsk Central, Mykolaiv, in the South, and Donetsk. The Ministry did not give any additional information on the extent of damage caused to the grid by Russian airstrikes. The full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022.
Aker BP begins production at Tyrving Oilfield amid legal battle between the government and Aker BP over approval
Aker BP, a Norwegian oil company, has begun production at its Tyrving off-shore oilfield. The Norwegian government is trying to overturn the court's ruling that the project approval was invalid due to the failure to evaluate the climate impact. The Oslo District Court in January ruled that the Norwegian energy ministry failed to assess fully the climate impact of the production and use of oil and natural gas when it approved three offshore projects including Tyrving and that the permits were invalid.
