Category Archives: Oil

The sun sets on drilling (Image: Pexels)

Blow for Putin and MBS as oil demand set to slow

Growth forecasts for global oil demand next year have been downgraded as the post-pandemic recovery stalls just as electric vehicle (EV) use surges.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday that demand will rise by only one million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, which is 150,000 bpd less than previously forecast.

This will be a blow to both Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is using oil and gas revenues to fund his war in Ukraine, and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose oil profits are driving the country’s economic diversification.

The IEA said: “With the post-pandemic rebound running out of steam, and as lacklustre economic conditions, tighter efficiency standards, and new electric vehicles weigh on use, growth is forecast to slow to 1m bpd in 2024.”

The Paris-based energy watchdog has forecast that 14 million electric vehicles will be sold by the end of 2023, a 35pc surge compared to 2022.

By 2030, it expects EV use will be displacing five million barrels of oil per day.

But for now, world oil demand is still hitting record highs following China’s post-pandemic reopening and a rebound in global air travel.

In June, demand hit an all-time peak of 103m bpd. The IEA said August demand could surpass this level.

The IEA said global oil demand will jump by 2.2m bpd to hit 102.2m bpd in 2022, with China driving more than 70pc of this growth.

Read more: msn

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

Washington gas stations are leaking toxins into nearby groundwater

Faulty tanks have caused a $20 billion environmental disaster across the U.S. Who will pay for the cleanup — the stations, oil companies, or you?

A black, electric-powered Nissan Leaf pulled up to a gas station – not to fuel up, of course. Matthew Metz, the founder of Coltura, a nonprofit trying to speed the country’s shift away from gasoline, climbed out of his car with printed maps in hand, prepared to give me a tour.

 

Charging Station in Sunderland (Image: Fastned)
Charging Station in Sunderland (Image: Fastned)

It was a sunny spring day, and the Arco station in north Seattle looked like any other on a busy street corner, with cars fueling up and a line of bored people waiting to buy snacks and drinks inside the convenience store. Metz knows a lot about gas stations, and it changes what he sees. Looking around, he marveled at the risks that everyone was taking, even if they weren’t aware of it. “This is a hazardous materials facility,” he told me.

Drivers pumped their tanks with gas, breathing carcinogens like benzene, the source of gasoline’s signature sweet smell. On the east side of the property, tall white pipes that vent toxic vapors from petroleum kept underground stood just 10 feet away from the window of a child care center. Hidden below the station is a tract of contaminated soil that extends underneath a neighboring apartment building.

Read more: Crosscut

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

EVs are avoiding about 3% of global oil demand—a fifth of Russia’s total exports

Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has triggered international sanctions throttling the country’s oil exports, leading to fears of even higher gas prices. But electric vehicle adoption has been helping make the situation less grim.

Plug-in vehicles avoided roughly 1.5 million barrels of oil per day last year, according to new analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. That’s about one-fifth of Russia’s pre-invasion oil exports, Bloomberg NEF said.

 The oil use avoided by EVs has also doubled since 2015, to about 3% of global demand, according to the analysis.

While electric cars tend to get most of the attention, the analysis found that other vehicle types accounted for the most oil avoidance. Electric two- and three-wheeled vehicles—which tend to be popular in Asia—accounted for 67% of the oil demand avoided in 2021, according to Bloomberg NEF.

Those vehicles had an outsized impact on oil demand. Next in rank were electric buses, which accounted for 16% of avoided oil demand, followed by passenger vehicles at 13%. The latter were the fastest-growing segment, Bloomberg NEF noted.

Read more: GreenCarReports

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

Commentary: Why California’s ban on gas-powered cars isn’t all that radical

Climate change is already doing a lot of damage – and the prohibition on the sale of new fossil-fuel cars is 15 years away.

Banning dealers from selling anything but zero-emission cars from 2035, as California Gov. Gavin Newsom decreed this week, sounds pretty radical on first hearing.

Electric vehicles are still a relatively niche pursuit. Charging them up isn’t always straightforward – especially if you live in an apartment – and battery-powered cars tend to cost more than gasoline-powered equivalents (although that won’t be the case for much longer). Predictably, the Trump administration attacked Newsom’s executive order, and the fossil fuel industry is also unhappy.

However, in view of the seriousness of the climate emergency – something Californians need only look out the window to observe – Newsom isn’t being very radical at all.

The truly eye-catching thing about California’s announcement is that the state will allow the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles, whose emissions contribute to wildfires and heat, for another 15 years. Oil-rich Norway, by contrast, wants to ban cars powered by fossil fuels by as soon as 2025. Britain might bring forward its phase-out date from 2035 to 2030.

Speed is of the essence because climate change is already doing enormous damage. And the key question isn’t when we stop selling combustion-engine vehicles, but when the last one is removed from the roads. Think about it: A gasoline vehicle purchased in 2034, a year before California’s ban comes into force, might continue spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for more than a decade after that. Californians will still be able to buy used gas-guzzlers after 2035.

To see why this matters, consider some of the findings of BloombergNEF’s latest Electric Vehicle Outlook. In 2020, about 3 percent of global car sales will be electric models. By 2025, that will hit 10 percent, rising to 28 percent in 2030 and 58 percent in 2040. Despite this incredible growth, these vehicles will amount to only 8 percent of the 1.4 billion cars on the planet’s roads in 2030 and slightly less than a third in 2040.

OPINION Posted September 26INCREASE FONT SIZEResize Font
Commentary: Why California’s ban on gas-powered cars isn’t all that radical
Climate change is already doing a lot of damage – and the prohibition on the sale of new fossil-fuel cars is 15 years away.

BY CHRIS BRYANTBLOOMBERG OPINION
Sharefacebooktweetredditemailprint2 COMMENTS
Banning dealers from selling anything but zero-emission cars from 2035, as California Gov. Gavin Newsom decreed this week, sounds pretty radical on first hearing.

Electric vehicles are still a relatively niche pursuit. Charging them up isn’t always straightforward – especially if you live in an apartment – and battery-powered cars tend to cost more than gasoline-powered equivalents (although that won’t be the case for much longer). Predictably, the Trump administration attacked Newsom’s executive order, and the fossil fuel industry is also unhappy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Bryant is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies.

However, in view of the seriousness of the climate emergency – something Californians need only look out the window to observe – Newsom isn’t being very radical at all.

The truly eye-catching thing about California’s announcement is that the state will allow the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles, whose emissions contribute to wildfires and heat, for another 15 years.

Oil-rich Norway, by contrast, wants to ban cars powered by fossil fuels by as soon as 2025. Britain might bring forward its phase-out date from 2035 to 2030.

Speed is of the essence because climate change is already doing enormous damage. And the key question isn’t when we stop selling combustion-engine vehicles, but when the last one is removed from the roads. Think about it: A gasoline vehicle purchased in 2034, a year before California’s ban comes into force, might continue spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for more than a decade after that. Californians will still be able to buy used gas-guzzlers after 2035.

To see why this matters, consider some of the findings of BloombergNEF’s latest Electric Vehicle Outlook. In 2020, about 3 percent of global car sales will be electric models. By 2025, that will hit 10 percent, rising to 28 percent in 2030 and 58 percent in 2040. Despite this incredible growth, these vehicles will amount to only 8 percent of the 1.4 billion cars on the planet’s roads in 2030 and slightly less than a third in 2040.

Advertisement

BNEF forecasts that – after dipping this year because of COVID-related mobility restrictions – emissions from road transportation will keep rising until 2033. While they’ll decline after that, these emissions will still be higher in 2040 than they were in 2019.

Read more: Press Herald

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

Petrol stations may close due to low demand, warns trade body

Petrol Retailers Association warns dramatic dive in sales during pandemic will make businesses “unviable”

Petrol stations could be the next victim of the coronavirus pandemic, after warnings that a dearth of business will force many to close in the coming weeks.

The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), which represents the independent fuel retailers that make up the majority of UK forecourts, cites a government survey claiming sales of petrol have fallen by an average of 75% across the UK, with diesel down 71%.

“Many petrol stations will have to close in the coming weeks, as sales of fuel dry up and their businesses become unviable,”

the PRA said in a statement.

Stations in hardest-hit rural areas will be most at risk, it claims. Motorists are advised to check that their local station is actually open before leaving the house.

Read more: Autocar

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

Electric cars charging in Milton Keynes (Image: T. Larkum)

The oil industry vs. the electric car

Electric vehicles could make up nearly half the fleet of passenger cars and trucks by 2040. But oil and gas companies are striking back.

The oil industry is trying to crush the booming electric car movement.

Groups backed by industry giants like Exxon Mobil and the Koch empire are waging a state-by-state, multimillion-dollar battle to squelch utilities’ plans to build charging stations across the country. Environmentalists call the fight a reprise of the “Who Killed the Electric Car?” battles that doomed an earlier generation of battery-driven vehicles in the 1990s.

Electric cars charging in Milton Keynes (Image: T. Larkum)
Electric cars charging in Milton Keynes (Image: T. Larkum)

Oil-backed groups have challenged electric companies’ plans in 10 states, according to utility commission filings reviewed by POLITICO, waging regulatory and lobbying campaigns against the proposals. The showdown is taking place as utilities, eager to increase the demand for power, push for approval to build charging networks in locations such as shopping centers and rest stops in more than half the nation.

“Fossil fuel interests control 90 percent of the transportation fuel market in the U.S. and are really feeling threatened,” said Gina Coplon-Newfield, director of the electric vehicle initiative at the Sierra Club.

The counterattack involves an array of trade associations and industry-funded political groups representing every segment of the petroleum sector.

Read more: Politico

Are Electric Vehicles Near a Tipping Point?

Oil consumption continues to rise in the U.S. and around the world, but as electric vehicles keep growing as a percentage of vehicle sales, there will ultimately be a tipping point on multiple fronts.

The first will be manufacturers investing in more EVs to ultimately overtake internal combustion engines, which is happening today from Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) to General Motors (NYSE: GM) to Porsche.

The bigger tipping point will be a peak in oil consumption that the world will (likely) never look back from. We don’t know when peak oil will happen, but given the cost reduction of EVs and the focus on reducing emissions around the world, it’s only a matter of time.

EV sales are still booming

There’s no question that Tesla has led the EV revolution the last decade, and it’s helping drive the industry’s growth. According to the website Inside EVs, Tesla has already sold 99,525 Model 3, S, and X vehicles in the U.S. through July 2019, and total U.S. EV sales across all manufacturers were 176,174 thru seven months of 2018, a 14.5% increase from 153,854 a year ago.

Global electric vehicle sales were 1,105,405 in the first six months of this year, a 46.9% jump from 752,690 a year ago. It’s this growth on a global level that’s going to lead to that tipping point.

No matter where you look, EV sales are going up. And in 2020 and 2021, there will be even more options coming to the market from Porsche, Ford, Kia, Mini, and many more.

Read more: Yahoo

The sun sets on drilling (Image: Pexels)

Economics of Electric Vehicles Mean Oil’s Days As A Transport Fuel Are Numbered

The future is not looking bright for oil, according to a new report that claims the commodity would have to be priced at $10-$20 a barrel to remain competitive as a transport fuel.

The new research, from BNP Paribas, says that the economics of renewable energy make it impossible for oil to compete at current prices. The author of the report, global head of sustainability Mark Lewis, says that “renewable electricity has a short-run marginal cost of zero, is cleaner environmentally, much easier to transport and could readily replace up to 40% of global oil demand”.

The oil industry faces a disruption on the same scale as that which has hit the European utilities sector over the last decade, he adds.

The sun sets on drilling (Image: Pexels)
The sun sets on drilling (Image: Pexels)

The report, Wells, Wires, And Wheels… Eroci And The Tough Road Ahead For Oil, introduces the concept of the Energy Return on Capital Invested (EROCI), focusing on the energy return on a $100bn outlay on oil and renewables where the energy is being used to power cars and other light-duty vehicles (LDVs).

“For a given capital outlay on oil and renewables, how much useful energy at the wheel do we get? Our analysis indicates that for the same capital outlay today, new wind and solar-energy projects in tandem with battery electric vehicles will produce six to seven times more useful energy at the wheels than will oil at $60 per barrel for gasoline powered light-duty vehicles, and three to four times more than will oil at $60 per barrel for light-duty vehicles running on diesel,” says Lewis.

Read more: Forbes

The sun sets on drilling (Image: Pexels)

Why oil needs to plummet in price if it’s to remain competitive in the mobility sector

  • Mark Lewis is global head of sustainability research at BNP Paribas Asset Management.
  • The number of electric cars may be increasing, but there are challenges for charging infrastructure and energy storage.

Oil prices will need to fall to between $10 and $20 per barrel if it is to remain competitive in the mobility sector, according to a recent report from BNP Paribas Asset Management.

The report’s author, Mark Lewis, told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe Friday that such a view reflected how the economics of renewables were changing “very dramatically” and the way in which electric vehicles were becoming more competitive.

The sun sets on drilling (Image: Pexels)
The sun sets on drilling (Image: Pexels)

“We have to be very clear here,” Lewis, who is global head of sustainability research at BNP Paribas Asset Management, added.

“What we’re saying is if you’re comparing investing money in renewable energy in tandem with electric vehicles, you can get six to seven times the energy yield at the wheels – useful energy, mobility – for the same capital outlay as you can spending on oil at the current market price of $60 a barrel, and then refining it into gasoline and using it in an internal combustion engine, which loses 80% of the energy as heat.”

Read more: CNBC

Solar-plus-EVs economics to trigger a ‘relentless and irreversible decline’ for oil, report states

The economics of combining solar and other renewables with electric vehicles is becoming so compelling that the oil sector faces a “relentless and irreversible decline”, a new report from BNP Paribas has concluded.

The report, dubbed ‘Wells, wires and wheels’, examines the link between mobility, energy and capital investments, introducing the concept of ‘energy return on capital invested’ (EROCI).

That metric focuses on how much useful energy or mobility would be returned from a specific capital outlay in competing technologies, with the report squarely focusing on oil’s return for petrol and diesel-fuelled vehicles and renewables alongside battery electric vehicles.

The bank’s analysis concludes that for the same capital outlay, wind, solar and battery EVs can deliver between 6.2 and 7-times more useful energy than oil if it’s priced at US$60 per barrel, roughly the same price as Brent Crude is today.

As a result, BNP Paribas has said that the economic and environmental benefits of combining solar and electric vehicles as “irresistible”.

Furthermore, the report argues that the economics are so compelling that the oil sector has “never before in its history” faced the kind of threat that renewables and EVs now pose, and stressed the need for oil and gas companies to ramp up their investments in renewables and battery storage if they are to survive.

Read more: Solar Power Portal