Oil & Energy
New Energy Reality, A Massive Opportunity For Investors
Since the very beginning of the novel coronavirus pandemic, it was clear that coronavirus would have a severe and lasting impact on the energy industry. At first, as the worldwide economy ground to a sudden halt, energy demand plummeted, causing oil markets to go haywire. OPEC+ almost immediately turned on each other causing a price war and global oil glut, and in North America oil prices did the previously unthinkable, with the West Texas Intermediate crude benchmark bottoming out way below zero, closing the day at nearly $40 in the hole. In the same month, energy consumption in the United States hit a stunning 16-year low.
Now, although oil markets have recovered in comparison to what some are calling Black April, the outlook is still bleak for fossil fuels. Energy consumption actually continued to get a lot worse, hitting a whopping 30-year low before leveling off. Demand has not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels, and energy consumption will remain impacted for a long time to come. As the months have passed, the complexity of what the pandemic has done to our energy consumption patterns has become more clear.
Some of these effects are no-brainers. Commercial and industrial energy consumption is down (consumption in the commercial sector dropped by 11 percent and the industrial sector dropped by 9 percent year over year). Household energy consumption is up (8 percent nationally and an incredible 21 percent in Arizona and Michigan). But the big picture is a lot more complicated, and a lot more interesting.
A new study from Diana Sabau at CommercialCafe compares the second quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2020 and analyses the contrast from a number of different angles. The study looks at the breakdown state-by-state, and the impact of COVID-19 on energy consumption is surprisingly diverse in different parts of the country. The state with the biggest drop in commercial energy consumption was Hawaii, which clocked a loss of 22 percent thanks in large part to the shutdown of the tourist sector and the islands’ energy-guzzling hotels and restaurants along with other hospitality-related businesses. Hawaii was followed by Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., which saw commercial energy consumption drop by 21% and 20%, respectively.
One of the interesting takeaways from this analysis is that the industrial sector’s plummeting energy usage would have been remarkably lower were it not for hospitals, which were running on overdrive and have the energy footprint to prove it. “Because treatments typically heavily rely upon electrical devices — such as heart and vital signs monitors; IV machines; sequential compression devices; ventilators and so on — energy consumption here has increased sixfold,” Com-mercialCafe reports.
The energy mix has also notably changed year over year, with renewables overtaking coal for the first time, and not by a small margin. Renewables beat out the notoriously dirty fossil fuel by 7 percent in the second quarter. Natural gas, however, remained supreme, accounting for about 40 percent of the total energy mix in the first half of this year.
This sudden and extreme change in the way that energy is consumed in the United States has led to great innovation. “With so much unused or underused space on the market, owners and investors are seeing renewed potential in adaptive reuses of these buildings,” For-bes reported this week. “For instance, thousands of square feet of office space in Boston, San Diego, Houston and New York are currently being converted into lab space as demand for this type of space has been growing since the onset of the pandemic.”
Other experts believe that this unprecedented interruption to the energy industry’s status quo is an invaluable opportunity to redirect the trajectory of energy around the world in order to better our means of production and consumption on the eve of catastrophic climate chan-ge. The bigwigs over at the World Economic Forum have advocated for the use of this cataclysmic shift in momentum to design and implement a “new energy order” and a “great reset.” With countries around the world planning green stimulus packages for post-pandemic economic recovery, it’s looking hopeful that one of the silver linings of this tragic pandemic will be a more intentional, efficient, and responsible energy landscape.
Zaremba writes for Oilprice.com
Haley Zaremba
The Nigerian Navy Units under the auspices of Operation Delta Sanity says it has recorded significant successes against crude oil theft and illegal refining sites in the Niger Delta.
The Navy, in an updated operations, said the successes were recorded between Thursday August 29 and Monday September 2, 2024.
According to the information, on 29th August, seven large cotonou and two fibre boats operated by heavily armed oil thieves loading crude oil from an illegal loading point around Botokiri axis of Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State were seized.
Also, on 31st August, six suspected crude oil thieves with 109 sacks of illegally refined petroleum products, four fibre boats and two wooden boats were arrested and seized along Ogboinbiri-Kasama-Azama-Isoni of Bayelsa State.
Again, on 1st September, two wooden boats and 328 sacks of illegally refined automated Gas Oil were seized at Otuogori community’s river bank in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
Additionally, on 2nd September, 35 sacks of illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil in a wooden boat were seized at Gbaraun area of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
These successes indicate the effectiveness of Operation Delta Sanity, and the resolve of the Nigerian Navy to sustain current efforts to rid Nigeria’s maritime environment of the menace of crude oil theft and enhance crude oil production for the overall growth of the economy.
The Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc. has clarified that the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the Federal Government, including the military, owed the power distribution company N42billion as the cost of electricity consumed and not N144billion.
The Bureau of Public Enterprise(BPE), disclosed this in a Statement signed by the Head, Public Communications, Amina Othman, at the Weekend.
According to the Statement, the Disco affirmed that its total outstanding debt was N144billion, of which the MDAs and the military owe N42billion.
“The Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc has clarified that contrary to earlier reports, the aggregate outstanding debt owed by consumers is N144billion, out of which, ministries, departments, and agencies including the military owe N42billion”, Othman stated.
The Statement said this was against prior reports that the MDAs, including the army, police, and other government agencies, were owing N144billion and had refused to pay.
The Disco said, “the clarification became necessary for proper reportage on the matter and to put the records straight”, it stated.
Recall that during a recent oversight visit by members of the House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, led by its Chairman, Ibrahim, the Acting Managing Director of the EKEDC, Mrs. Rekhiat Momoh, among other things, informed the members about the legacy debts owed the company by MDAs.
The committee had reported the acting MD as stating that the company was owed N144billion by MDAs within its operational area, saying she mentioned that the military, police, and various state government agencies failed to settle their debts, creating financial difficulties for the distribution company.
Energy infrastructure, a crucial part of global oil and gas supply and the energy transition, are set to get a boost after a heavy lifting equipment provider unveiled the world’s strongest crane-equipment capable of lifting 6,000 tons, or 15 fully loaded Boeing 747 aircraft.
Dutch heavy lifting and transport services company Mammoet has launched a new type of crane, the SK6,000, which, the firm said, could be used for modules to be built faster and also “bigger than ever before”.
As oil and gas continue to be a key part of the world’s energy system—and likely will continue for decades to come—and as renewable energy developers aim for bigger wind turbines, the support equipment for installing oil and gas platforms, offshore wind equipment, and even nuclear power stations is becoming bigger.
Bigger cranes such Mammoet’s SK6,000 could remove some of the limitations of engineering and construction firms. These firms are generally limited by how much weight can be lifted when installed on a platform or turbine.
Cranes that can carry 5,000 tons and more can shorten the time of a project being erected on a site, onshore or offshore, Mammoet says.
“Limitations on lifting capacity force engineers to fabricate smaller modules than would be optimal; tying up site space and increasing the complexity and duration of projects,” the company notes.
“This limitation can also narrow the execution choices available during each project’s planning stage and the percentage of each project that can be executed locally.”
These days, energy companies and their contractors seek faster deployment of energy infrastructure, be it wind turbines or floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels and platforms for oil and gas production.
“There are so many supply chain constraints at the moment that need to be de-bottlenecked,” Gavin Kerr, Mammoet’s director of global services, told Bloomberg, commenting on the new crane.
“The bigger everything gets, you need bigger cranes.”
Moreover, the SK6,000 is containerised and can be assembled quickly on-site. This feature allows it to deliver heavy lift capability wherever it is needed, giving contractors greater flexibility in where and how energy projects are completed” Mammoet said.
“With the innovation of the SK6,000 crane, our customers can think bigger than ever before; pushing modules beyond the 4,000t and even 5,000t barriers. Its low ground bearing capacity also means the crane can be used all over the world”, said Mammoet’s Sales Director Giovanni Alders.
“With its long outreach, small minimum footprint and relatively small site impact, the SK6,000 greatly reduces the topside integration time.
“Needless to say, with larger building blocks you spend less time connecting and testing, and more time producing” Alders added
Energy companies do need faster permit-to-production times in both oil and gas and renewable energy to provide the conventional and green energy sources the world will need.
Wind turbine technology is evolving and making the hub height increasingly taller. According to the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, the hub height for utility-scale land-based wind turbines has surged by 83per cent since 1998–1999, to about 103.4 meters (339 feet) in 2023. That’s taller than the statue of Liberty.
The average hub height for offshore wind turbines in the United States is projected to grow even taller from 100 meters (330 feet) in 2016 to about 150 meters (500 feet), or about the height of the Washington Monument, in 2035, DOE said.
In the oil and gas industry, new resource development is needed as demand for LNG grows and legacy oilfields mature and output declines.
If contractors can bring energy projects on stream faster, both oil and gas supply and the energy transition will benefit.
By: Charles Kennedy
