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.

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.

Dose of engineering reality needed to counter climate obsessions

Using ‘Green Energy’ To Wreck Our Way Of Life

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Talkshop comment:
Playing the expensive renewable energy game isn’t an option for the majority of ‘non-wealthy’ countries anyway, regardless of promoters of climate alarm. China for example forges ahead with dozens of new coal mines every year to help keep its growing economy functioning, while countries like Britain attempt to survive without any. Somebody has it wrong and it’s not going to be China.

‘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.

Oil-rich Azerbaijan tipped to host COP29 climate talks

The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline (green) is one of several pipelines running from Baku.

Azerbaijan is one of the birthplaces of the oil industry (Wikipedia). It was part of the Soviet Union from 1922-1991. EU countries were unsurprisingly blocked as hosts by Russia. Maybe there aren’t too many ‘renewables-rich’ countries (if such a category even exists) elsewhere, seeking to be the host next time.
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DUBAI, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Azerbaijan is tipped to host next year’s U.N. climate summit, after striking a late deal with longtime adversary Armenia over its bid.

While some diplomats said other countries including Russia – which has blocked other host candidates – were expected to back Baku’s bid, there was no official confirmation from Moscow on Friday.

The issue is still being negotiated at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

The Oil Demand Outlook COP28 Leaders Would Hate

The 28th UN-sponsored attempt to reduce global ’emissions’, in line with its pet climate theories, stares its own failure in the face as emissions keep going up. The renewables industry is running fast to stand still in terms of making a global dent in oil usage, for example. Imposition of ‘net zero’ policies may impact some countries, but oil marches on as demand from the many aspiring – but less developed than the ‘net zero club’ – countries boosts business.
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->> The International Energy Agency said in its recent oil report that oil consumption is close to peaking, thanks to transition efforts and energy efficiency gains.
->> Goehring and Rozencwajg: In 12 of the past 14 years, the IEA has underestimated oil demand by an average annual of 820,000 barrels per day.
->> Goehring and Rozencwajg: “If the IEA’s error were a country, it would be the world’s 21st largest oil consumer”.

This week, a report from a climate organization warned that emissions from the combustion of hydrocarbons are set for a record this year, says OilPrice.com.

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.

US oil production hits all-time high, conflicting with efforts to cut ‘heat-trapping pollution’ (aka vital trace gas)

Another media trip to climate cloud cuckoo land, as they insist on cutting supply of oil as demand increases, without viable alternatives in place, to feed their unrealistic climate obsessions and tired beliefs. But it’s just not happening.
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United States domestic oil production has hit an all-time high last week, contrasting with efforts to slice heat-trapping carbon emissions [Talkshop comment – no ‘heat-trap’ evidence offered] by the Biden administration and world leaders, says AP News.

And it conflicts with oft-repeated Republican talking points of a Biden “war on American energy.”

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration reported that American oil production in the first week of October hit 13.2 million barrels per day, passing the previous record set in 2020 by 100,000 barrels.

Weekly domestic oil production has doubled from the first week in October 2012 to now.

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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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.

The biggest myth about fossil fuels and dinosaurs, debunked by science

Credit: fuelfix.com

In case you weren’t quite sure…
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Is your car really powered by dinosaurs? – asks BBC Science Focus.

Most oil reserves were formed between 65 and 252 million years ago. While this does overlap with the ‘dinosaur times’, oil is a marine sediment made of the remains of algae and plankton.

Skeletons of prehistoric reptiles such as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs (neither of which count as dinosaurs) have been found in the same geological layers as oil and they may have contaminated the oil deposit.

Old Refineries Incapable Of Manufacturing Enough Light Hydrocarbons To Electrify The World

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Check what you own or use that came from a petroleum base, and…mind the impending reality gap.

PA Pundits International

By Ronald Stein ~

The zero-emission movement in the wealthy countries are experiencing a “dangerous delusion” of a global transition to “just electricity” that eliminates the use of the three fossil fuels of crude oil, natural gas, and coal, that made society achieve so much in a few centuries. As old refineries accelerate their closure rates in the coming years, new Asia refineries are coming to the rescue! Does Asia’s rescue represent the good news or the bad news?

The future does not bode well as 20 percent of the 700 worldwide aging refineries are projected to close in the next 5 years that will result in less manufacturing with the loss of 140 sites to meet the ever growing demands of ships, jets, and the derivatives needed for all the products demanded by society. With less manufacturing in wealthy countries in the days ahead, further shortages and…

View original post 1,129 more words

SCOTUS and Climate Free Speech

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Just finished reading this: Shell directors sued over ‘flawed’ climate plan in pioneering shareholder-led legal action
https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4074221/shell-directors-sued-flawed-climate-plan-pioneering-shareholder-led-legal-action

Science Matters

Donald J. Kochan writes at The Hill Climate change consumer deception lawsuits threaten free speech. Will the Supreme Court take note? Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images

Courts are increasingly taking a close look at the validity of climate change lawsuits against oil producers. And for good reason: These cases severely test the boundaries of court jurisdiction, the breadth of tort law, the protections of due process and even the sanctity of free speech.

As one example of this scrutiny, last Oct. 3, the U.S. Supreme Court signaled a serious interest in the proper forum and scope for climate change litigation.

In Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. v. Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County, the Supreme Court invited the solicitor general of the United States to weigh in, even though the United States is not a party to the litigation. The federal government is invited to…

View original post 665 more words

Climate Crisis Tide Turns For Big Oil

Big oil has grown tired of the threats and accusations of activists and governments alike, and in recent months, the executives of large oil companies are starting to fire back. Trying to appease climate obsessives has got them nowhere and some of the big players have had enough.
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Constant accusations of knowing the effects of their products on the environment and lawsuits have become constant companions of oil companies in the last few years, says OilPrice.com.

The successes that activists have had—such as Friends of the Earth’s court win that obliged Shell to cut its emissions by 45 percent—have been celebrated loudly and globally.

Naturally, Big Oil tends to be the target of choice because of its size, but with governments in Europe and much of North America pledging their total support for an energy transition, the whole industry has become a target. And has been quiet about it all, probably on the assumption that trying to defend itself would make things worse. Until recently.

Andrew Neil accuses Keir Starmer of posing as Greta Thunberg over North Sea opposition

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

Another victim of ‘net zero’ numptythink? Whether it’s gas, oil or coal, it’s always better to import fuel than use your own according to climate obsessives.
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Veteran Scots broadcaster Andrew Neil has blasted Sir Keir Starmer over his opposition to new North Sea oil and gas as he accused him of posing as “the British Greta Thunberg”, reports the Scottish Daily Express.

The UK Labour leader came under fire after he told a panel at the World Economic Forum that if he became Prime Minister he would block any new explorations in the north-east of Scotland.

He joined the SNP and the Scottish Greens in agreeing that the oil and gas industry needs to be shuttered in a bid for the country to achieve its net zero goals.

However, this would leave thousands of workers in the north-east jobless, with Rishi Sunak confirming that he is aiming to protect their livelihoods.

In Davos, fuel-powered ‘activists’ warn against climate inaction and greenwashing

Davos

Best daytime temperature forecast for Davos in the next week is -3°C, overnight lows down to -16°C. Get back to us when so-called climate activists don’t use fuel-powered transport and heating, and all the rest of it, anymore.
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As oil and gas executives rub shoulders with government leaders in Davos this week, activists have raised concerns about the risk of greenwashing and further delays in climate action, says Euractiv.

More than 50 heads of states, international organisations and business leaders are meeting in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos this week for the 2023 meeting of the World Economic Forum.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Cooperation in a fragmented world”, a reference to the multiple crises and geopolitical tensions currently shaking the globe as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its second year.

Discussions on the programme are heavily linked to climate change, but activists fear greenwashing will take centre stage as CEOs of oil and gas companies rub shoulders with global leaders.

UAE puts oil company boss in charge of Cop28 climate talks

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company or ADNOC is the state-owned oil company of the United Arab Emirates

Sounds like a sensible chap, on energy matters, but some ‘campaigners’ are already frothing. Pointing out that oil and gas demand is continuing to rise isn’t a crime, it’s just reality.
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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government has appointed Sultan Al-Jaber to be the president of the Cop28 climate talks in November, reports Climate Home News.

Al Jaber heads the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), the twelfth largest oil company in the world, and the emirates’ much smaller renewable energy firm Masdar.

He has been a key figure in national climate and energy policy for over a decade. While Al Jaber has promoted renewable energy, in November 2021 he called for increased global investment in oil and gas.

“The oil and gas industry will have to invest over $600bn every year until 2030 just to keep up with the expected demand,” he told an Abu Dhabi oil conference.

UAE plans to have it both ways as Cop28 climate summit host

Work this one out. Hydrocarbon production is booming in the UAE, due to high demand. Its Dubai International Airport is the world’s busiest by passenger numbers. Next year it will host a conference that in theory at least wants to knock all that on the head, because… climate etc. At COP27 it fielded dozens of oil and gas lobbyists.
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If there was a sign the United Arab Emirates is taking its role as host of the next UN climate talks seriously, the 1,073 delegates it registered to attend the Cop27 summit in Egypt would be it, says Climate Home News.

The Persian Gulf petrostate came out in force in Sharm el-Sheikh with the second largest delegation in the history of climate summits, including 70 oil and gas lobbyists – a flavour of what is to come.

The UAE takes on the UN climate talks presidency from the Egyptians at the end of November next year, when it hosts Cop28 on the site of the Dubai Expo.