Russia finds vast oil and gas reserves in British Antarctic territory – what happens next?

Report: ‘Junior minister David Rutley last week told the EAC that his department had decided to trust Russian assurances it was just conducting scientific research.’ However, ‘reserves 10 times the North Sea’s output’ could be tempting – but not to most UK politicians, who prefer to import anyone else’s oil and gas in order to pose as climate friendly or something, while the government loses another court battle over its self-imposed net zero targets.
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Russia has found vast oil and gas reserves in the Antarctic, much of it in areas claimed by the UK, reports The Telegraph.

The surveys are a prelude to bringing in drilling rigs to exploit the pristine region for fossil fuels, MPs have warned.

Reserves totalling 511bn barrels of oil – about 10 times the North Sea’s entire 50-year output – have been reported to Moscow by Russian research ships, according to evidence given to the Commons Environment Audit Committee (EAC) last week.

Blow for climate worriers as banks consider renewable energy to be a riskier investment than fossil fuels

The article here takes the climate alarm view, as usual with this source, and concludes that ‘risk assessments used by lenders are a boon for the oil and gas industry’. Oh dear! Maybe the fact that oil and gas are still in huge demand and tend to generate large profits, while renewables are expensive and require large subsidies, has something to do with it?
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The financial sector is among the world’s most heavily regulated industries – and for good reason, says The Conversation.

Financial rules, which force banks to hold capital in reserve when making riskier investments, are designed to prevent financial crises. Other financial regulations, such as accounting rules, aim to provide investors with a credible valuation of their financial assets.

However, new research I conducted with my colleagues shows that some of these rules may have unintended consequences for the low-carbon transition.

UK wind power constraint payments cost £920 million in 2023 – and rising

Analysts from an energy storage specialist say £920 million annual cost of ‘curtailment’ could be cut 80% by using existing technologies like battery storage more effectively. But that would obviously require a lot of expensive batteries, and gas power stations could easily do the job on a much more extensive scale. Such is the state of the UK electricity grid thanks to net zero climate obsessions and intermittent wind power dotted all over the place, especially in areas remote from population centres – i.e. the opposite of where that power is most needed.
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Grid capacity constraints added nearly £1 billion of ‘curtailment’ costs to electricity bills for homes and businesses in 2023 as abundant energy from wind farms was unable to be transmitted to areas of demand, says Field Energy.

The majority of this cost was down to a single pinch point in the UK’s electricity grid on the Scottish/English border called the B6 boundary.

Analysis by energy storage developer and operator Field estimates this boundary alone could cause up to £2.2 billion of curtailment costs by 2030 as the UK’s curtailment problem escalates. Overall UK curtailment costs could reach £3.5 billion by that date.

Why is methane seeping on Mars? NASA scientists have new ideas

Only at night though, it seems. “It’s a story with a lot of plot twists”, said a Mars project scientist. Saturn’s moon Titan is awash with methane, but no sign of life present or past, so why should Mars having some be a surprise?
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The most surprising revelation from NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover—that methane is seeping from the surface of Gale Crater—has scientists scratching their heads, says Phys.org.

Living creatures produce most of the methane on Earth [Talkshop comment – really?]. But scientists haven’t found convincing signs of current or ancient life on Mars, and thus didn’t expect to find methane there.

Yet, the portable chemistry lab aboard Curiosity, known as SAM, or Sample Analysis at Mars, has continually sniffed out traces of the gas near the surface of Gale Crater, the only place on the surface of Mars where methane has been detected thus far.

Is it time to abandon the idea of phasing out oil and gas? – asks Saudi oil boss

Can oil bosses be blamed for pointing out real world facts and calling for a ‘transition strategy reset’? At present, wind and solar energy contribute just three percent of the global energy supply, and developing countries can’t afford, and/or don’t want, to have to rely on renewables for power as demanded by climate obsessives with big ‘carbon footprints’.
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Despite feigning interest, Big Oil still appears to oppose the global green transition and could well stand in its way, says OilPrice.com.

As Saudi’s state oil company leader condemns the green transition and calls for long-term oil production, other major industry players are voicing their scepticism around renewable energy and clean tech.

Despite large investments into green energy and carbon-cutting projects from several oil and gas majors, Big Oil still appears to be heavily favouring fossil fuel production.

In the new world of EVs and AI, renewable green energy means more gas or coal capacity, not less

Technology demands are outrunning misguided climate/energy policies. ‘Officials admit – more hogs means a bigger trough’ (Telegraph) but laws of physics can’t be overridden by government demands, however much they insist on barking up the wrong tree with puny renewables and rejecting available fuel sources.
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It is no secret that the expanding suite of AI technologies are becoming powerful drivers of additional demand for electricity, says The Telegraph.

They are, simply put, enormous energy hogs.

This technological revolution seems destined to soon overwhelm and dominate almost every aspect of modern society, but there’s a catch: It is taking place simultaneously with coordinated efforts by national and international governments to prematurely do away with some of the cheapest and most abundant forms of 24/7 power generation.

The energy hogs, in other words, are lined up at the electricity trough, but that trough is being forced to run dry by ill-considered public policies.

UK faces ‘blackouts’ without new gas-fired power stations, ministers claim

That’s more a statement of fact than a claim, but climate obsessives often ignore inconvenient truths. The proposal is for ‘peaker’ type plants (like this) to replace some of the UK’s ageing baseload ones.
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The UK will face “blackouts” without building new gas power stations, ministers have claimed.

The government has said that while it will continue to move forward with its net zero targets and a focus on renewables, gas was needed as a “back-up” – with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saying climate goals must be reached “in a sustainable way that doesn’t leave people without energy on a cloudy, windless day”, reports Sky News.

Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho will outline the plans for new stations in a speech later today, which include a full review of the electricity market and changes to the law to make the plants ready convert to low-carbon alternatives.

Chancellor Hunt ‘bitterly disappointed’ after gas drilling approved in his constituency

Climate obsession can warp the mind if this case is anything to go by. Government policy is to find more UK gas but one of its top ministers opposes the idea in his own constituency.
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Chancellor Jeremy Hunt says he is “bitterly disappointed” after a Court of Appeal ruling gave the green light to a gas drilling project in his Surrey constituency, reports Sky News.

The site in Dunsfold, which energy company UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) wants to explore, has been the source of a protracted legal battle.

The application was approved by the government in June 2022, despite it being refused by the local Conservative council and opposition from Mr Hunt when he was a backbench MP.

‘Hydrogen village’ plan in Redcar abandoned after local opposition

Eco house with hydrogen heating technology. [Image credit: emergingrisks.co.uk]

People power 1, ‘net zero’ 0. Government attempts to browbeat the public into accepting even a trial based on its flaky climate obsessions prove fruitless, on this occasion at least. As for the ‘insufficient local hydrogen production’ excuse: who would want to produce large amounts of hydrogen on spec and then hope to find a buyer nearby?
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A plan to test the use of hydrogen to heat homes in a village in the north-east of England has been abandoned after months of strong opposition from concerned residents, reports The Guardian.

The government said the Redcar “hydrogen village” scheme, which had been expected to start in 2025, would not go ahead because of insufficient local hydrogen production for the trial to replace the home gas supplies with the low-carbon alternative.

The decision ends months of protest against the scheme locals feared could raise energy bills and prove unsafe.

‘Magical’ tech innovations a distraction from real solutions, climate worriers claim

Photosynthesis [image credit: Nefronus @ Wikipedia]

Real ‘solutions’ like degrading entire economies and reducing living standards? How many toytown ‘climate innovations’ does it take in order to grasp that such things are always a dead end, and often an expensive one? The tedium of COP meetings repeating the same worn-out themes grinds on and on.
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Machines to magic carbon out of the air, artificial intelligence, indoor vertical farms to grow food for our escape to Mars, and even solar-powered “responsible” yachts: the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai has been festooned with the promise of technological fixes for worsening global heating and ecological breakdown, says Yahoo News.

The UN climate talks have drawn a record number of delegates to a sprawling, freshly built metropolis, which has as its centrepiece an enormous dome that emits sounds and lights up in different colours at night.

The two-week programme is laden with talks, events and demonstrations of the need for humanity to innovate its way out of the climate crisis.

Climate scare of the day: warming shown to cause methane to be released from the deep ocean

Burning hydrate [image credit: US Office of Naval Research]

This was found to have been going on ‘during past warm periods’ (what caused those?), so we may wonder what difference a bit more now is likely to make. It’s admitted that scientists need to ‘understand better the role of hydrates in the climate system’ – or if they have one worth getting agitated about?
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An international team of researchers led by Newcastle University found that as frozen methane and ice melts, methane – a potent greenhouse gas – is released and moves from the deepest parts of the continental slope to the edge of the underwater shelf, says EurekAlert.

They even discovered a pocket which had moved 25 miles (40 kilometres).

Publishing in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers say this means that much more methane could potentially be vulnerable and released into the atmosphere as a result of climate warming.

Methane hydrate

Methane hydrate, also known as fire-ice, is an ice-like structure found buried in the ocean floor that contains methane. Vast amounts of methane are stored as marine methane under oceans.

The big chill: flights suspended at Glasgow Airport – as warnings for snow and ice in place across UK

One day into meteorological winter and already global warming has gone missing. As ‘cold health alerts’ are activated, renewable energy has all but dried up leaving gas to take the strain of electricity generation. Even coal is outperforming wind power.
Update: Flights resume at Glasgow Airport [announced at 1020 am].
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Weather warnings for snow and ice are in place across swathes of the UK as temperatures plummeted below freezing overnight, reports Sky.com.

Forecasters have warned the wintry conditions could affect some road and rail journeys with icy surfaces posing the risk of injury from slips and falls.

Glasgow Airport has suspended flights due to heavy snow, with passengers urged to check with their airline for updates.

US Watchdog Has Grim Winter Warning: There May Be Blackouts

If it’s climate obsession versus reality in US power supplies, there can only be one winner. Strong opposition to new gas pipelines plus increasing reliance on intermittent renewables can only end badly for consumers of power.
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As much as two-thirds of the United States could experience blackouts in peak winter weather this and next year, the North American Reliability Corp has warned.

These warnings have become something of a routine for the regulatory agency lately, says OilPrice.com.

Earlier this year, NERC issued a blackout warning for some parts of the U.S. over the summer, citing extreme temperatures.

Fossil fuels are back: Shell takes axe to its ‘Low Carbon’ division

High demand for a profitable product is a winning formula for commercial success and oil companies aren’t going to be slow to cash in on current prices, no matter what climate obsessives or politicians may say or think. Hydrogen-related roles get squeezed due to slack market interest. Meanwhile renewables firms seek ever larger handouts.
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Shell has taken another axe to its once lofty decarbonization plans, as the U.K. oil giant’s pivot back to fossil fuels picks up steam, says Climate Change Dispatch.

The group plans to cut at least 15% of staff working in its ‘low-carbon solutions division’ [sic] while scaling back its hydrogen business, Reuters first reported Wednesday.

The move will see 200 jobs go in 2024, with another 130 placed under review by the company, according to a statement from Shell.

The division specializes in solutions to decarbonize the transport and industry sector but is separate from its renewables business.

Britain ‘will need gas to avoid blackouts for decades’

The story here refers to Britain’s ‘gas addiction’, but a renewables addiction will be far more problematic. At present gas power stations are being made ever more uneconomic by government net zero policies, but low wind days and hours are a given. Energy intensive carbon capture plans will only make matters worse.
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The man running Britain’s gas network has said the country will need fossil fuels to prevent blackouts for decades to come despite calls for the Government to begin shutting off the pipes. — The Telegraph reporting.

Jon Butterworth, chief executive of National Gas, said a growing reliance on intermittent power sources such as wind and solar meant Britain would be increasingly reliant on gas to make up for shortfalls when renewable energy sources are not generating power.

Mr Butterworth said: “In 2022, the wind didn’t blow enough or at all for 262 days. And in those 262 days, we would have had rolling blackouts, or a full blackout across the UK if it wasn’t for gas.”

Rosebank: Biggest untapped UK oil field approved by regulators – net-zero climate obsessives chew the wasp

North Sea oil platform [image credit: matchtech.com]

Opponents don’t have much to say about where they think the essential oil and gas should come from, but churn out the usual dogmatic moans anyway. Even by 2050 under net-zero policies, large quantities of these products are still expected to be needed keep the country functioning. Renewables just don’t scale up enough to replace them.
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Summary (by BBC News).

— The UK’s largest untapped oil field has been approved by regulators

— It’s estimated that Rosebank, 80 miles west of Shetland, could produce 300 million barrels of oil [or more]

— The UK government welcomes the decision, saying it will raise billions of pounds and “make us more secure against tyrants like Putin”

— “As we make the transition to renewables, we will still need oil and gas – it makes sense to use our own,” says Rishi Sunak

— But Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf says he’s “disappointed”, while the Green Party calls the decision “morally obscene”

BBC Live Reporting here.
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Sky News reports:
The GMB Union agrees with the government’s approach to granting new oil and gas licences in the North Sea and similarly believes it will make the UK less reliant on imported gas.

Their general secretary, Gary Smith, even took a swipe at Labour’s stance, claiming: “We need a plan, not bans.”
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UK wind power hype fails the reality test

‘Wind power triumphs: UK’s energy mix breezes past fossil fuels’ – trumpets Energy Live News. But turning to Gridwatch this morning, the current picture is totally different: wind minimal, gas nearly half of total electricity generation. As usual, reports misleadingly highlight wind *capacity*, which is merely the theoretical maximum output in ideal conditions. Of course in windier conditions the numbers can be a lot different, but the point is we’re not seeing anything like the runaway success being claimed by the wind lobby, and never will as the weather always decides how well or poorly it can perform. No amount of capacity changes that – unlike on-demand gas.
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Wind power has overtaken fossil fuels in installed capacity, says Energy Live News.

The analysis from Imperial College London, conducted for Drax Electric Insights, reveals that wind capacity reached 27.9GW in June, surpassing the 27.7GW installed capacity of gas generation.

This marks the first time in more than a century that the UK has more installed wind capacity than gas generation, according to experts.

Sunak unveils expansion of North Sea oil and gas drilling, opponents prefer imports

North Sea oil platform [image credit: matchtech.com]

Opponents say the UK should be cutting fossil fuel production but ignore the reality of continuing demand, meaning imports would have to increase. All they do is whine about the climate and call for ever more part-time wind power, which isn’t a direct replacement anyway. The carbon capture announcement is a bit of a joke when heavily subsidised but supposedly ‘green’ Drax wood burners are the UK’s biggest emitters of CO2.
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Summary – from BBC News.

The government will issue hundreds of new oil and gas licences for the North Sea, Rishi Sunak confirms

The first will be issued this autumn – with at least 100 in the next round

“We’re choosing to power up Britain from Britain,” says Sunak

And he says even when the UK reaches net zero in 2050, it will still need oil and gas

Domestic oil and gas production would unlock funding for energy transition, fossil fuel firms tell government

North Sea gas rig [image credit: safety4sea.com]

Climate dogmatists can’t bear such ideas, but money doesn’t grow on trees. Meeting oil and gas demand mainly from imports is poor policy in many ways, but fixed ideas about trace gases in the atmosphere may prevail despite a glaring lack of economic rationality.
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Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), the trade body for the UK’s oil and gas companies and contractors, has today announced the sector could invest £200bn in technologies and projects critical to delivering on climate targets by the end of this decade – provided the government enables new oil and gas fields as well as offshore wind projects, reports Business Green.

In a new report released this morning, OEUK said the government can maximise the development of the UK’s offshore energy supply chain if it delivers on the policies set out in its British Energy Strategy, including its controversial promise to grant licenses for new domestic oil and gas production.

Mud volcano discovered in the Barents Sea

Credit: Norman Einstein @ Wikipedia

An expedition co-leader said the team found thousands of methane seeps. The ocean floor is still very much unexplored territory.
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Scientists from UiT, the Arctic University of Norway, in partnership with REV Ocean, have discovered the second ever mud volcano found within Norwegian waters.

This unusual geological phenomenon was discovered onboard the research vessel Kronprins Haakon with the piloted submersible vehicle ROV Aurora in the Southwestern Barents Sea at the outer part of Bjørnøyrenna (Outer Bear Island Trough).

It lies at approximately 70 nautical miles south of Bear Island and at 400m depth.

“Seeing an underwater mud eruption in real time reminded me how “alive” our planet is,” says Professor Giuliana Panieri, expedition leader and Principal Investigator of the AKMA project.