Russia & Greens jubilant: Boris Johnson considers ban on UK oil and gas exploration

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

The UK is getting more like California every day in terms of an obsession with phony climate virtue signalling, with its drive to weaken the energy industry wealth creators and subsidise their so-called ‘renewable’ competitors.
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Ministers are considering declaring the beginning of the end for the North Sea oil industry with a ban on new exploration licences, says The Sunday Telegraph (via The GWPF).

The radical move is on the table as part of a decisive shift away from fossil fuels and as part of preparations for the crucial climate summit the Government is due to host in Glasgow in the autumn.

Britain is already legally bound to deliver “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050.

Call to show ‘global leadership’ with North Sea production cuts

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

No end to the manufactured climate hysteria as the oil industry is put in the spotlight once again, on the now usual pretext of net zero ‘carbon emissions’. How tinkering with the tiny 0.04% of the atmosphere belonging to carbon dioxide could make much difference to anything, is not considered relevant and is just presented as a fact, which is not correct.
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The UK and Scottish governments have been urged to set five-yearly targets for North Sea production cuts, using the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to “show global leadership” and “reshape” the industry for net zero, reports Energy Voice.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) made several suggestions as to how ministers could take advantage of the Covid-19 crisis, which has already seen a drop in oil extraction.

But it said the UK Government must take responsibility for the “overwhelming majority of the costs of transition” – as Westminster has “received the overwhelming majority of oil and gas revenues”.

Big oil need not apply: UK raises the bar for UN climate summit – then all head for the airport?

What do these sanctimonious blowhards imagine all the journeys to the conference — without which it wouldn’t take place at all — will be powered by? The hypocrisy is epic.
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The UK government will not accept sponsorship from fossil fuel companies for next year’s UN climate summit in Glasgow, Climate Home News understands.

Like in previous years, the UK hosts of the two-week event are seeking corporate sponsors to shoulder some of the cost, initially estimated at £250 million ($330m).

Unlike in previous years, which have seen large polluters use such deals to bolster their green credentials, sponsors of Cop26 are expected to have a credible plan to cut their emissions to net zero by 2050, the official website states.

Fossil fuels becoming ‘socially challenged’, says BP boss

The greenblob marches on, regardless of the real climate. Message to BP boss: water vapour is by far the major so-called greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide is a minor sidekick. Ergo you are merely playing games.
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The chief executive of BP says he understands why people view the industry as “bad” and that fossil fuels are becoming the subject of social challenge, reports Aol.

Bernard Looney, who took on the role at the oil and gas giant in February, said the industry had “a challenge… with trust” but BP was determined to be a net zero carbon company by 2050.

Investors blast EU’s omission of oil and gas from a definition of fossil fuels

Is this a COVID-19 effect? Economic recovery with oil and gas demonised might be even more difficult than necessary, but cries of ‘energy sources incompatible with Paris goals’ can be heard from climate fearmongers.

Investors, politicians and campaigners have hit out at EU regulators’ “ludicrous” exclusion of oil and gas from a definition of fossil fuels, arguing it will lead asset managers to understate their environmental risks, reports The Conservative Investor Daily.

Under draft proposals for the EU’s sustainable disclosure regime, the European authorities responsible for banking, insurance and securities markets define fossil fuels as only applying to “solid” energy sources such as coal and lignite.

This means asset managers and other financial groups would have to follow tougher disclosure requirements for holdings in coal producers than for oil and gas company exposure.

As oil crashes, ‘America’s untapped energy giant’ could rise

Geothermal Power Plant in Iceland [image credit: Wikipedia]

Geothermal energy is expensive even compared to renewables, but are the economics about to change? Maybe not, as the Russians and Saudis seem to have called off their oil production war, so sudden availability of lots of experienced but out-of-work shale drillers may not happen, although the virus factor continues. Also subsidy rates are biased towards intermittent wind and solar, compared to more reliable geothermal power sources.

The coronavirus oil crash could be good news for this renewable energy underdog, says Grist.

Disruptions to supply chains and slowdowns in permitting and construction have delayed solar and wind projects, endangering their eligibility for the soon-to-expire investment tax credits they rely on.

There’s another form of renewable energy, however, that might see a benefit from the recent global economic upheaval and emerge in a better position to help the United States decarbonize its electricity system: geothermal.

Net zero: The whole policy is based on a massive lie, says Professor

Needless to say, this won’t please either the real or fake climate obsessives.
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In his recent presentation to the Global Warming Policy Foundation, Professor Gautam Kalghatgi answers the question: ‘Is it really the end of internal combustion engines and petroleum in transport?’

Gautam Kalghatgi is currently a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London (Mechanical Engineering) and also at Oxford University (Engineering Science).

He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Society of Automotive Engineers, Institute of Mechanical Engineers and the Combustion Institute and an Honorary Fellow of the International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability.

He worked for 31 years at Shell Research followed by 8 years in Saudi Aramco before retiring in June 2018.

Source: The GWPF

Environmentalists lose new Norway lawsuit over Arctic oil

Norway’s Goliat oil platform [image credit: T3n60 @ Wikipedia]

Another attempt to use the courts to impose the will of climate alarmists bites the dust, at least until the next and final appeal, if it happens. When are they going to take Russia to court over Arctic drilling? Too risky perhaps.

A Norwegian court on Thursday dismissed an appeal by two environmental groups which had sued Norway for granting new oil licenses in the Arctic, reports Phys.org.

A Norwegian court on Thursday dismissed an appeal by two environmental groups which had sued Norway for granting new oil licenses in the Arctic.

Greenpeace and Natur og Ungdom (Nature and Youth) had called for the cancellation of exploration licenses granted in May 2016 to 13 oil companies in the fragile Arctic region, saying the concessions violated the Norwegian constitution which since 2014 guarantees the right to a healthy environment.

They argued that new oil activities in the region would be contrary to the 2016 Paris climate accord, which seeks to limit average global warming to under two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and which Norway has signed.

Norway Names Controversial Climate Change Skeptic As New Oil Minister

Norwegian oil platform, North sea [image credit: Wikipedia]

Sounds like a woman of much commonsense, then. Of course any perceived deviation from climate alarmist orthodoxy translates as ‘controversial’ in much of the media.

Norway appointed on Wednesday a skeptic on wind power and climate change as its new oil minister who will oversee oil and gas drilling and wind turbine installations on and offshore Western Europe’s largest oil producer, reports OilPrice.com.

Sylvi Listhaug of the right-wing Progress Party was appointed Minister of Petroleum and Energy on Wednesday, replacing Kjell-Børge Freiberg who was “honourably discharged from his office,” the Norwegian government said.

Listhaug is taking over one of the most important ministries which oversees one of Norway’s top exports—oil and gas—as well as the government’s majority stake in energy giant Equinor.

Mammoth field fires up Norway’s oil industry

Image credit: ogj.com

In the real world, demand for oil continues unabated. Note for climate squealers: ‘At the production stage, each barrel has a carbon footprint 25 times lower than the global average’. Whoopee!

Under yellow metal legs stretching beneath the sea, billions of dollars lie buried.

As the world tries hard to halt global warming, mutters Phys.org, a huge oil field breathes new life into Norway’s oil sector.

“Massive!”, exclaims a delighted Arne Sigve Nylund, the head of energy giant Equinor’s Norway operations.

“At its peak, it will represent approximately 25-30 percent of the total oil production from the Norwegian continental shelf,” he says as he takes reporters on a tour of the Johan Sverdrup oil field, hardhat firmly secured on his head.

Fossil fuel groups ‘destroying’ climate talks, say NGOs

Climate conference transport

Where’s the logic? Nearly all these folk arrived in Madrid thanks to fossil fuels. They accepted sponsorship – without which there wouldn’t be a conference – from companies that deal in fossil fuels. But now they want to whine about who and what they’re depending on.

Oil and gas groups were accused Saturday of seeking to influence climate talks in Madrid by paying millions in sponsorship and sending dozens of lobbyists to delay what scientists say is a necessary and rapid cut in fossil fuel use.

A day after tens of thousands marched in the Spanish capital demanding climate action, seven environmental groups raised concerns to AFP over the role of fossil fuel representatives at the COP25 summit, reports Phys.org.

Claim: fossil fuel divestment will increase CO2 emissions, not lower them

So what, you may say. But it shows up some of the woolly thinking of so-called climate activists. Lacking viable alternatives, the major role of fossil fuels in the global economy is bound to continue so suppliers will have their market. Believing that trace gases can somehow disturb the climate in a negative way isn’t going to change that.

A global campaign encouraging individuals, organizations and institutional investors to sell off investments in fossil fuel companies is gathering pace. According to 350.org, US$11 trillion has already been divested worldwide.

But, while it may seem a logical strategy, divestment will not lower demand for fossil fuels, which is the key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In fact, it may even cause emissions to rise, argues The Conversation @ Phys.org.

Paris accord pie-in-the-sky ‘climate targets’ undermined by reality

Coal-hungry China [image credit: democraticunderground.com]

Hard to say which is the greater fantasy: the belief in human-caused climate change due to trace gases, or the prescribed attempts to ‘tackle’ the imagined problem. Demand for energy is rising worldwide, meaning attempts to restrict its supply look doomed. One analyst says: “Despite more than two decades of climate policy making, fossil fuel production levels are higher than ever.”

There’s a huge gulf between ambition and reality, reports DW.com.

The world is on track to produce far more fossil fuels than permissible to meet its target of limiting global warming to at most 2 degrees Celsius, and ideally 1.5 degrees C.

That’s the conclusion of the Production Gap Report, created from leading research institutions together with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Russian Oil Giant Prepares Massive $157 Billion Arctic Oil Project

Credit: ecologyway.info

Clearly Russia, China and India expect oil consumption to play a big part in their futures, even if some other countries claim to think otherwise due to their ill-conceived drive to demonise man-made carbon dioxide. Potential protesters may be aware that Russia tends to apply a robust response to any attempt to interfere with its commercial activities.

With the help of a tax relief package, Russia’s largest oil producer is preparing to dive into a $157 billion Arctic oil project, reports OilPrice.com.

Reuters quoted Russia’s Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin as announcing the price tag of the Vostok Oil project to media last week, adding that the Kremlin had already agreed on a tax relief package that would help with the Arctic oil and gas push.

A Call To Arms: Can This World Survive Without Fossil Fuels?

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One for the climate hotheads (and others) to ponder: ‘From one 42-gallon barrel of oil only about half is for fuels while the rest is used to manufacture the chemicals and by-products that are part of our daily lifestyles.’

PA Pundits - International

By Ronald Stein ~

“God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the Courage to change the things I can change; and the Wisdom to know the difference.”

The afore-quoted Serenity Prayer came to mind while I was writing this because it seems applicable to the world’s citizens who are trying to attain the leadership roles in the save the environment movement before understanding the complexities of the energy picture depicted in the book Energy Made Easy and the advantages energy as a whole has provided humanity for the last couple of centuries.

Because developed countries have accomplished much in the last few centuries, they have a responsibility as caretakers for the only planet we live on right now. Understandably, it’s hard to imagine the billions of people in underdeveloped countries who have yet to experience anything like the industrial revolution and who are surviving without…

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Saudi Arabia’s plan for a $500 billion city is as bizarre as you’d expect

They call it ‘the world’s most ambitious project‘. Mind-boggling expenditure if it ever gets built. The solar city aspect of the plan gets panned here.

The riches of Silicon Valley have enabled some extravagant and quixotic projects, but they’ve got nothing on what oil money can do, says MNNOFA News.

A new report from The Wall Street Journal shares some of the proposals for Saudi Arabia’s biggest megaproject yet: a city built in the desert named Neom, where robots will outnumber humans and hologram teachers will educate genetically-enhanced students.

The details are stunning. It’s a mixture of dystopian fiction (AI surveillance cameras everywhere!) and childish imaginings (let’s build a robot dinosaur park!). Taken together, the plans remind of you what a dedicated nine-year-old can achieve in Minecraft. Yes, the scale and ambition are impressive, but it’s not like you could do this in real life, right?

Cloud seeding? Robot servants? A fake moon!? Sure, why not.

Global energy demand to double by 2050

While many richer countries play fake climate games with their so-called ‘virtue signalling’ energy policies, the not-so-well-off majority try to get more access to those same power sources which are so necessary for better living conditions, e.g. air conditioning in hotter countries, and for general prosperity and health: more schools, hospitals, roads and all the rest.

Global power consumption will more than double over the next 30 years, says The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF).

Global oil and gas demand will respectively surge 22% and 66% from 2020 to 2050. There’s an unimaginable urbanization boom occurring around the world that means more energy use.

We, of course, don’t see much of it here in the West, but global cities swell in population by some 80 million people every year: e.g., the rise of the “megacity” with 10 million residents.

Basically all population growth in the decades ahead will take place in urban areas, all of which will be in the still developing nations (non-OECD), where poverty and insufficient access to energy is far more rampant than our worst nightmares could ever imagine.

Permian Pipeline Protesters May Face Decade Behind Bars

Image credit: americaherald.com

Flimsy excuses about ‘saving the climate’ or similar by obstructing lawful work activities won’t pass muster in future, at least in Texas and several other US States. Jail time and financial penalties beckon. Over 40,000 miles of new pipelines are planned in the years ahead. In any case, while the demand for oil and gas is there the supply will go on, one way or another.

If you protest an oil or gas pipeline in Texas, you could face up to 10 years in prison, reports OilPrice.com.

The bill on the verge of becoming law in Texas would classify civil disobedience against the construction of a pipeline in Texas a third-degree felony, putting it on “the same level of felony as attempted murderers,” according to the Texas Observer, or equivalent to sentences handed down to “drive-by shooters who fail to hit their mark,” as Bloomberg put it.

The legislation would elevate pipelines as “critical infrastructure,” classifying them in the same category as power plants and water treatment facilities.

But it would also include projects under construction, going beyond current law, according to the Observer.

Oil and gas majors plan to spend $4.9 trillion on fuel exploration

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

Stating the obvious, but they’re either going to find a lot of fuel or lose a lot of money. Chances of the demand fading any time soon still look remote, with global consumption at or near 100 million barrels of oil *per day*. Many believers in greenhouse gas theories of course continue to swallow the propaganda that climate disaster lurks around every corner.

Plans by oil and gas majors to spend $4.9 trillion on fuel exploration are “poles apart” from the goal of the Paris climate deal to limit the global temperature rise, a new analysis showed Tuesday.

As greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb annually, a string of warnings from the world’s top climate scientists have questioned mankind’s ability to prevent the worst effects of global warming while sticking with an economy geared around fossil fuels.

In October, the UN’s climate change panel (IPCC) issued a landmark report saying that a 1.5 Celsius target laid out in the Paris accord could only be hit with near-immediate and drastic cuts in production and consumption of oil, gas and coal.

Dominic Lawson: Is Extinction Rebellion a Big Oil conspiracy?

Oxford Circus climate demo [image credit: London Evening Standard]

H/T The GWPF
The actors in the eco-farce playing out on our streets beggar belief, writes Dominic Lawson in The Sunday Times.
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Revealed: the contents of a WhatsApp exchange over the past few days between Brett, the Texas-based head of Huge Oil Inc, and his Mr Fixit in London, Sebastian.

“Howdy, Seb. What’s the latest about the demos we’ve planned to discredit those eco-freaks trying to wreck our business?”

“Hi, Brett. All systems go for Operation Piss-take. You wouldn’t believe there are so many out-of-work actors anxious to make a few bucks pretending to be members of something called Extinction Rebellion.”

“Well, that’s the market working in all its divine beauty, Seb.”