Fossil Fuels

Rural home owners will be hundreds of pounds better off this year being off-grid despite plans to outlaw the use of oil to heat homes not connected to the gas network. Users of heating oil have been hardest hit by the energy crisis since it began. However, a more stable price for oil-based fuel and rising gas prices means rural homeowners will save more than £500 this year compared to those on fixed-price energy tariffs. More than 280,000 homes use oil tanks to heat their homes, most of them located in the countryside. Over the past three months families in these properties have paid up to £100 more for their energy compared to those on the gas network. This is because their heating bills have not been protected by an energy price cap, which limits how much suppliers can charge customers for gas and electricity. However, rural homeowners will end up paying more than £500 less on bills than homes on mainstream fixed-price energy tariffs, Telegraph Money analysis has shown. Even those under the price cap, which will rise twice this year, will pay more then those off-grid.

Telegraph 23rd Jan 2022 read more »

The federal government’s plan to introduce a tax credit for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology hit the top tier of the Canadian climate agenda this week, after more than 400 climate scientists and other academics wrote to Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland urging her to drop the idea. Earlier this week, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson confirmed to Bloomberg News that the tax credit is on the way, and will likely be included in Freeland’s next budget. Yesterday, Freeland spokesperson Adrienne Vaupshas told The Canadian Press the credit was intended to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 15 million tonnes per year.

Energy Mix 21st Jan 2022 read more »

A first-of-its-kind “green” Shell facility in Alberta is emitting more greenhouse gases than it’s capturing, throwing into question whether taxpayers should be funding it, a new report has found. Shell’s Quest carbon capture and storage facility captured 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the hydrogen produced at its Scotf But a new report from human rights organization Global Witness found the hydrogen plant emitted 7.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in the same timeframe—including methane, which has 80 times the warming power of carbon during its first 20 years in the atmosphere, and accounts for about a quarter of man-made warming today.

Vice 20th Jan 2022 read more »

NORTH Sea oil and gas firms received a boost amid challenging times for the sector after environmentalists suffered a setback in their attempt to get Government support for the industry deemed unlawful. Campaigners launched a landmark High Court action last year against the Oil and Gas Authority and business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on the grounds that the official drive to maximise North Sea production is both unlawful and irrational.

Herald 19th Jan 2022 read more »

After it was sidelined in UK government’s zero carbon cluster funding plans, the Scottish government has moved to provide financial support to the country’s flagship carbon capture project. The Scottish government has confirmed it is to provide financial backing of up to £80m to help plans for the Acorn carbon capture cluster advance, despite the high profile project missing out on the initial phase of the UK government’s Zero Carbon Cluster funding programme. Holyrood said the investment would come from the Scottish Government’s Emerging Energy Technologies Fund and would work in conjunction with the UK government’s plans to support the East Coast Cluster around Humberside and Teesside and the Hynet Cluster in north west England so as to develop “three CCS clusters for the price of two”.

Business Green 17th Jan 2022 read more »

Global CO2 emissions from power generation rose 7% year-on-year in 2021, with coal meeting more than half of the increase in electricity demand, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has revealed. The early 2022 edition of the Agency’s bi-annual Electricity Market Report has just been published, revealing how nations are largely turning to fossil fuels to meet the increase in electricity demand as Covid-19 lockdown restrictions are lifting.

Edie 17th Jan 2022 read more »

China’s coal production reached record levels last year as the state encouraged miners to ramp up their fossil fuel output to safeguard the country’s energy supplies through the winter gas crisis. The world’s biggest coal producer and consumer mined 384.67m tonnes of the fossil fuel last month, easily topping its previous record of 370.84m tonnes set in November, after the government called for miners to work at maximum capacity to help fuel the country’s economic growth.

Guardian 17th Jan 2022 read more »

A high-profile UK fracking company has been taken over by a green energy group and now has an anti-fracking campaigner as a director. Yorkshire-based Third Energy was at the forefront of efforts to produce fossil gas and intended to use high-pressure fluids to fracture shale rocks under the county. But it was hampered by permit delays and fierce local opposition. Now the company has been taken over by Wolfland Group, a renewable energy company. It has halted all fossil fuel production from its conventional gas wells and has no plans for further exploration or development. Instead it will focus on green energy, including solar farms, and the use of existing wells for geothermal energy and the burial of captured carbon dioxide emissions.

Guardian 14th Jan 2022 read more »

Yorkshire Post 14th Jan 2022 read more »

Dorset oil site continues to vent hundreds of tonnes of methane. Hundreds of tonnes of climate-warming methane is being released into the atmosphere by the UK’s longest continuously producing onshore oil well, despite curbs ordered by the environmental regulator.

Drill or Drop 14th Jan 2022 read more »

EQUINOR has underlined its confidence in the potential of a huge find off Shetland as shares in oil services heavyweight Wood surged after it boosted hopes of recovery in the North Sea. These had been dented earlier this week when Equinor said the Mariner field east of Shetland may contain around a third, 95 million barrels (mmbbls), less than expected, at 180mmbbls.

Herald 14th Jan 2022 read more »

‘Big Oil’ is showing initial signs of a transition to ‘Small Oil’, as a handful of large European fossil fuel companies invest windfall revenues from high oil prices to begin their shift to lower-carbon investments—even if Canadian fossils still haven’t got the memo. “Surging oil and gas prices in 2021 delivered billions of dollars in profits to top oil companies,” and “typically, companies would invest the lion’s share of that cash in long-term projects to boost oil and gas production and reserves,” particularly after a year of deep cuts brought on by the pandemic, Reuters reports. “But unlike any other time in their history, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, TotalEnergies, Equinor, and Italy’s Eni are focusing on returning as much cash as possible to shareholders to keep them sweet as they begin a risky shift toward low-carbon and renewable energy.”

Energy Mix 12th Jan 2022 read more »

DESPITE “warm words” on climate action during COP26 in Glasgow, HSBC’s continued investment in fossil fuels is “unbelievable”, climate groups have said. Environmental activist group Market Forces has said it has obtained figures which show HSBC is continuing to finance oil and gas deals in 2022.

The National 12th Jan 2022 read more »

The oil and gas industry is failing to convince the public of its green credentials despite setting net-zero goals and investing in renewables. More than 60 per cent of adults in the UK and US had a negative perception of the oil industry, a survey by Barclays found, an increase of 5 percentage points since it last asked the question almost two years ago. “This comes despite the launch of net-zero strategies and record investment in low-carbon businesses,” the bank’s analysts noted, arguing that companies’ green messaging was “not cutting through” and their poor reputation was weighing on their share prices.

Times 12th Jan 2022 read more »