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☆ Governments take action to keep offshore wind projects on track
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Susanna Twidale | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] Scroby Sands offshore wind farm can be seen off of the coast at Great Yarmouth, Britain, October 24, 2018. Investors told Reuters governments have since shown willingness to pay higher prices, helping to restore confidence in the future of the industry. Britain's last auction in September failed to attract any offshore wind projects, with developers saying the guaranteed price on offer was too low. Britain's Octopus launched a dedicated fund with Japan's Tokyo Gas (9531.T) to invest 3 billion pounds ($3.7 billion) in offshore wind projects by 2030. Soeren Lassen, head of offshore wind Research at WoodMac said more than 50 GW of offshore wind tenders globally are planned for 2024.

Persons: Chris Radburn, ”, Jonathan Cole, Corio's Cole, Keith Anderson, Anderson, Marc Hedin, Nathalie Gerl, Germany's RWE, Soeren Lassen, WoodMac, Susanna Twidale, Nichola Groom, Scott DiSavino, Simon Webb, Jane Merriman Organizations: REUTERS, Governments, Investors, Corio Generation, Power, New York, Energy, New York State Energy Research, Development Authority, Aurora Energy Research, Research, Ireland, Aurora, Gas, Thomson Locations: Great Yarmouth, Britain, U.S, New York State, China

Pipes for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, which are not used, are seen in the harbour of Mukran, Germany, on September 30, 2022. Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline had accounted for 15% of Europe's gas imports in 2021, according to the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. A second Nord Stream 2 link was planned but never operated. "Our biggest risk was that Russia can manipulate our energy markets," EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson told Reuters. Across the EU, gas storage caverns are now 95% full, Gas Infrastructure Europe data show.

Persons: Pipes, Fabian Bimmer, Kadri Simson, SEB, Ole Hvalbye, Tom Marzec, Wood Mackenzie, Gergely Molnar, Jacob Mandel, Kate Abnett, Julia Payne, Nora Buli, Barbara Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Reuters Graphics, EU Energy, Reuters, EU, SEB Commodities, Gas Infrastructure, International Energy Agency, Aurora Energy Research, Thomson Locations: Baltic, Mukran, Germany, Russia, BRUSSELS, OSLO, Europe, Ukraine, RUSSIA, Norway, United States, Russian, Greece, Poland, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, France, Reuters Graphics Germany, Belgium, Britain, Portugal, Spain, Paris, Brussels, Oslo

☆ An escalating dispute at major gas facilities in Australia could drive up European prices, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage units at Grain LNG importation terminal, operated by National Grid Plc, on the Isle of Grain on August 22, 2022 in Rochester, England. Jacob Mandel Senior research associate for global energy markets at Aurora Energy ResearchFears of strike in Australia, one of the world's biggest exporters of liquified natural gas (LNG), have recently pushed up European gas prices — and analysts expect near-term volatility to persist. Jacob Mandel, senior research associate for global energy markets at U.K.-based consultancy Aurora Energy Research, said the global natural gas market was currently "very tight" and "very little supply flexibility" means that strike action in Australia could send European gas prices higher. He said that European gas prices could climb to above 40 euros ($42.9) per megawatt hour if the strikes go ahead as planned. The front-month gas price at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) hub, a European benchmark for natural gas trading, traded at 33.5 euros on Tuesday.

Persons: Dan Kitwood, Jacob Mandel, Mandel, we've, Ramesh, Wheatstone, Henning Gloystein, Gloystein Organizations: National Grid, Getty, CNBC, Chevron, Offshore Alliance, Wheatstone, Fair, Aurora Energy, Aurora Energy Research, videoconference, Rystad Energy, Europe, EU, Eurasia Group Locations: Isle, Rochester , England, Western Australia, Chevron Australia, Australia, Europe, Japan, Korea, wean, Ukraine, Russia

North America has seen the largest increase in planned hydrogen projects in the past six months, according to the Oxford-based consulting firm. Clean hydrogen is a small but fast-growing area of the transition to lower-polluting energy sources. However, low-emission hydrogen production is currently small compared with where analysts believe it will need to be. Europe’s shrinking share of hydrogen projects is “a direct consequence of the bloc’s slow response to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and [its] delay in developing concrete regulation for renewable hydrogen,” said Dilara Caglayan, lead hydrogen researcher at Aurora. Only 1% of the one terawatt of planned hydrogen projects have begun construction, while 86% are in the early planning stages of development.

European gas prices rallied in the run-up to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine begun almost exactly a year ago and they leapt to record highs when Russia subsequently cut supplies of relatively cheap pipeline gas. Although European prices have eased to around 50 euros ($53) per megawatt hour (MWh) from last August's peak of more than 340 euros, they remain above historic averages. That was even when they had received significant levels of Russian gas on long-term contracts prior to the shut down of the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany in August. Nord Stream's closure drove up European gas prices, as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices, which also hit record levels of around 70 million British thermal units (mmBtu), compared with around $16 now . That could be tricky as the fall in gas prices this year has reduced the incentive to avoid the fuel.

Companies could also move their gas trading off energy exchanges, where the EU price cap will apply, and instead conduct private transactions. The EU cap will not initially cover these "over-the-counter" (OTC) trades, although the bloc will review next year if they should be included. The EU price cap applies to EU hubs, but not those outside the bloc, such as Britain's National Balancing Point (NBP) trading hub. Front-month TTF prices met the price level required to trigger the EU cap on about 40 days this year. EU gas demand dropped by 20% in August-November this year, compared with the five-year average for the same period, Eurostat said on Tuesday.

☆ Fracking: What's all the fuss about it in the UK?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Reuters Christian Edwards | Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves drilling into the Earth and injecting water and chemicals at high pressure to break rocks and release the gas trapped inside. Since only few test wells have been drilled, there are no estimates of proven reserves to confidently predict how much shale gas would be technically and economically viable to extract by fracking. Cuadrilla, 96% owned by Australia’s AJ Lucas, was the only one of these firms to receive consent to begin fracking. Former British Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said in March when he was Business and Energy secretary gas fracking would not lead to lower British gas prices. “With the best will in the world, private companies are not going to sell the shale gas they produce to UK consumers below the market price,” he tweeted.

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