June 26

BBC - Russia's energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5bn (£1.53bn) deal with Nigeria's state operated NNPC, to invest in a new joint venture.

The new firm, to be called Nigaz, is set to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in Nigeria.

Analysts say the move could further strengthen Russia's role in supplying natural gas to Europe.

The agreement comes during a four-day African tour by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

As well as forming Nigaz, Russia is keen on developing a trans-African pipeline to transport Nigerian gas to Europe.

This could further reinforce Gazprom's already-strong influence over Europe's energy supplies.

Kate Connolly | Berlin | June 17

The Guardian - Twenty blue chip German companies are pooling their resources with the aim of harnessing solar power in the deserts of north Africa and transporting the clean electricity to Europe.

The businesses, which include some of the biggest names in European energy, finance and manufacturing, will form a consortium next month. If successful, the highly ambitious plan could see Europe fuelled by solar energy within a decade.

The consortium behind what would be the biggest ever solar energy initiative will first raise awareness and interest among other investors for the project, known as Desertec, which is estimated to cost around €400bn (£338bn).

Renee Schoof | Washington | June 16

McClatchy - American agriculture has become increasingly dependent on foreign sources of natural gas, a key ingredient in the nitrogen fertilizer that farmers use to get high yields of crops such as corn and wheat.

Now, a California start-up company is preparing to open a plant that will make fertilizer in the U.S. and reduce fossil fuel emissions from agriculture.

Nothing exotic needed, said the company, SynGest of San Francisco. The raw ingredient for the same ammonia-based fertilizer farmers have used for decades is something many already have and don't really need: corncobs.

John Vidal | June 13

The Guardian - Across the globe, as mining and oil firms race for dwindling resources, indigenous peoples are battling to defend their lands – often paying the ultimate price

It has been called the world's second "oil war", but the only similarity between Iraq and events in the jungles of northern Peru over the last few weeks has been the mismatch of force. On one side have been the police armed with automatic weapons, teargas, helicopter gunships and armoured cars. On the other are several thousand Awajun and Wambis Indians, many of them in war paint and armed with bows and arrows and spears.

In some of the worst violence seen in Peru in 20 years, the Indians this week warned Latin America what could happen if companies are given free access to the Amazonian forests to exploit an estimated 6bn barrels of oil and take as much timber they like. After months of peaceful protests, the police were ordered to use force to remove a road bock near Bagua Grande.

...

Peru is just one of many countries now in open conflict with its indigenous people over natural resources. Barely reported in the international press, there have been major protests around mines, oil, logging and mineral exploitation in Africa, Latin America, Asia and North America. Hydro electric dams, biofuel plantations as well as coal, copper, gold and bauxite mines are all at the centre of major land rights disputes.

Christoph Seidler | June 11

Spiegel Online - There are five states competing for control of the Arctic's oil and gas reserves, with Russia leading the pack. The US looks likely to remain on the sidelines, but what opportunities will the natural resource grab present for Canada, Norway and Greenland?

In the game Monopoly, players try to amass as much property as possible. The course of the game quickly becomes clear -- whoever owns Boardwalk is on a winning streak and whoever owns Baltic Avenue is sure to end up empty-handed. Money, meanwhile, is the sole means to reach the game's goal. In real life, however, things aren't always as simple as a board game.

In the case of the Arctic region, the major players use scientific data and the somewhat vague rules of international law. Increasing their territory means a gain in prestige for these countries, and serves to provide energy security as well. It's also a chance for them to take responsibility for the environmental risks in the region that will eventually affect all countries. But which of the nations around the polar region will emerge as the winner of this Arctic Monopoly game? Is there even such a thing as a winner here?

Les Blumenthal | June 1

McClatchy Newspapers - The Obama administration has proposed a 25 percent cut in the research and development budget for one of the most promising renewable energy sources in the Northwest — wave and tidal power.

At the same time the White House sought an 82 percent increase in solar power research funding, a 36 percent increase in wind power funding and a 14 percent increase in geothermal funding, it sought to cut wave and tidal research funding from $40 million to $30 million.

The decision to cut funding for tidal and wave power came only weeks after the Interior Department suggested that wave power could emerge as the leading offshore energy source in the Northwest and at a time when efforts to develop tidal power in Puget Sound are attracting national and international attention.

By some estimates, wave and tidal power could eventually meet 10 percent of the nation's electricity demand, about the same as hydropower currently delivers. Some experts have estimated that if only 0.2 percent of energy in ocean waves could be harnessed, the power produced would be enough to supply the entire world.

Alok Jha | May 29

The Guardian - The battle for the Arctic's hidden mineral riches is likely to intensify after a survey revealing the energy reserves present beneath the ice.

A map of potential oil and gas reserves in the region, published today in Science, shows that about 30% of the world's ­un­exploited gas and 13% of oil lie under the seas around the north pole. Billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of gas lie within the Arctic ­circle, where, until now, permanent ice has prevented drilling.

The report is likely to further stoke international competition for mineral, tourism and shipping rights in the region. Exploration and drilling for oil and gas have become easier as climate change forces the ice to retreat, and all countries with borders inside the Arctic circle are fighting to claim their share. "For better or worse, limited ­exploration prospects in the rest of the world ­combined with technological advances make the Arctic increasingly attractive for ­development," said Paul Berkman of the Scott polar research institute at the University of Cambridge, who specialises in the politics of the Arctic.

Pepe Escobar | May 28

Asia Times - The earth has been shaking for a few days now all across Pipelineistan - with massive repercussions for all the big players in the New Great Game in Eurasia. United States President Barack Obama's AfPak strategists didn't even see it coming.

A silent, reptilian war had been going on for years between the US-favored Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline and its rival, the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, also known as the "peace pipeline". This past weekend, a winner emerged. And it's none of the above: instead, it's the 2,100-kilometer, US$7.5 billion IP (the Iran-Pakistan pipeline), with no India attached. (Please see Pakistan, Iran sign gas pipeline deal, May 27, 2009, Asia Times Online.)

This whole saga started way back in 1995 - about the time
California-based Unocal started floating the idea of building a pipeline crossing Afghanistan. Now, Iran and Pakistan finally signed a deal this week in Tehran, by which Iran will sell gas from its mega South Pars fields to Pakistan for the next 25 years.

Joe Carroll | May 27

Bloomberg - Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest refiner, said the transition away from oil-derived fuels is probably 100 years away.

Petroleum-based fuels including gasoline and diesel, as well as hydrocarbons such as coal and natural gas, will remain the dominant sources of energy for factories, offices, homes and cars for decades because there are no viable alternatives, Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson told reporters today after Exxon Mobil’s annual shareholders meeting in Dallas.

Read the rest

Paris | May 25

Reuters - Solar power plants in deserts using mirrors to concentrate the sun's rays have the potential to generate up to a quarter of the world's electricity by 2050, a report by pro-solar groups said on Monday.

The study, by environmental group Greenpeace, the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association (ESTELA) and the International Energy Agency's (IEA) SolarPACES group, said huge investments would also create jobs and fight climate change.

"Solar power plants are the next big thing in renewable energy," said Sven Teske of Greenpeace International and co-author of the report. The technology is suited to hot, cloudless regions such as the Sahara or Middle East.

The 28-page report said investments in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants were set to exceed 2 billion euros ($2.80 billion) worldwide this year, with the biggest installations under construction in southern Spain and California.

"Concentrating solar power could meet up to 7 percent of the world's projected power needs in 2030 and a full quarter by 2050," it said of the most optimistic scenario.

Nairobi/Abuja | May 25

DPA - Nigeria's main militant group on Monday said it had destroyed oil pipelines linked to a Chevron facility in the oil-producing Niger Delta.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said its fighters attacked in the middle of the night to destroy the pipelines, effectively putting five flow stations out of operation.

Such claims are hard to verify due to travel restrictions to the region.

Fighting has flared up in recent weeks, with the militants and the government issuing claims and counter-claims about military victories.

Rights groups say that hundreds of civilians may have died in the crossfire.

The militant group has issued an ultimatum to oil companies to leave the Niger Delta, and Monday said it would keep attacking oil facilities until 'oil export ceases completely.'

Attacks on oil facilities and workers have cut oil production in Nigeria, one of the world's largest crude oil exporters, by around 20 per cent since 2006.

Simon Romero & Clifford Kraus | Shushufindi | May 20

NYT - Mention to Anita Ruíz the name of the giant oil company Chevron, and she trembles with rage. At her wooden hut here in the Amazon forest, where oil-project flares illuminate the night sky, she points to a portrait of her youngest son, who died seven years ago of leukemia at age 16.

Residents of Shushufindi, Ecuador, wash in the water of the Santa Fe River. The residents say toxic chemicals have leached into the soil, groundwater and streams.

“We believe the American oilmen created the pollution that killed my son,” said Ms. Ruíz, 58, who lives in a clearing where Texaco, the American oil company that Chevron acquired in 2001, once poured oil waste into pits used decades ago for drilling wells.

Texaco’s roughnecks are long gone, but black gunk from the pits seeps to the topsoil here and in dozens of other spots in Ecuador’s northeastern jungle. These days the only Chevron employees who visit the former oil fields, in a region where resentment against the company runs high, do so escorted by bodyguards toting guns.

They represent one side in a bitter fight that is developing into the world’s largest environmental lawsuit, with $27 billion in potential damages.

Nick Miroff | May 16

WaPo -

Deep in the Gulf of Mexico, an end to the 1962 U.S. trade embargo against Cuba may be lying untapped, buried under layers of rock, seawater and bitter relations.

Oil, up to 20 billion barrels of it, sits off Cuba's northwest coast in territorial waters, according to the Cuban government -- enough to turn the island into the Qatar of the Caribbean. At a minimum, estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey place Cuba's potential deep-water reserves at 4.6 billion barrels of oil and 9.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, stores that would rank the island among the region's top producers.

Drilling operations by foreign companies in Cuban waters are still in the exploratory stage, and significant obstacles -- technological and political -- stand between a U.S.-Cuba rapprochement eased by oil. But as the Obama administration gestures toward improved relations with the Castro government, the national security, energy and economic benefits of Cuban crude may make it a powerful incentive for change.

Limited commercial ties between U.S. businesses and the island's communist government have been quietly expanding this decade as Cuban purchases of U.S. goods -- mostly food -- have increased from $7 million in 2001 to $718 million in 2008, according to census data.

Thawing relations could eventually open up U.S. investment in mining, agriculture, tourism and other sectors of Cuba's tattered economy. But the prospect of major offshore reserves that would be off-limits to U.S. companies and consumers has some Cuba experts arguing that 21st-century energy needs should prevail over 20th-century Cold War politics.

by Steven Kopits, Managing Director, Douglas-Westwood, New York | New York | http://www.energycur

Energy Current - NEW YORK: In seeking to explain the run up in oil prices from 2004 to 2008, commentators often turn to "speculation" as the primary cause. While speculation - or at least a kind of piling-on - may have explained the very late stages of the oil price rally, the willingness to attribute oil prices primarily to financial investors - as the CBS news show '60 Minutes' did a few months back - risks drawing the wrong lesson from the period. Let's re-wind the clock and recall the events of the time.

More ...

Tony Halpin | Moscow | May 14

TimesOnlineUK - Russia raised the prospect of war in the Arctic yesterday as nations struggle for control of the world’s dwindling energy reserves.

The country’s new national security strategy identified the intensifying battle for ownership of vast untapped oil and gas fields around its borders as a source of potential military conflict within a decade.

“The presence and potential escalation of armed conflicts near Russia’s national borders, pending border agreements between Russia and several neighbouring nations, are the major threats to Russia’s interests and border security,” stated the document, which analysed security threats up to 2020.

Renee Schoof | Washington | May 6

McClatchy Newspapers - President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced plans to boost the use of biofuels to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and break the country's dependence on foreign oil.

The plan to increase the use of new biofuels would reduce petroleum use by 11 percent in 2022, add jobs and significantly cut climate-damaging emissions, administration officials said. If the country does nothing to curb oil consumption, oil use would increase by 40 percent by 2030 and emissions of heat-trapping gases would rise by a similar amount.

"Our economy is at the mercy of foreign oil producers, and everybody feels that when it hits us at the pump," Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said.

The president's plan calls for $786.5 million in stimulus funding for new refineries that would make advanced biofuels and for research. The administration also will require a complete review of the greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels and for the first time will require that new biofuels emit less than the gasoline and diesel fuels they'll displace. The required reduction ranges from 20 percent to 60 percent, depending on the type of biofuel.

Juhan Tere | Tallinn | Apr 30

The Baltic Course -

At the public discussion on the environmental impact assessment report that was drafted on the Nord Stream gas pipe in the Ministry of Environment, Estonia researchers, particularly the member of the Nature Conservation Committee of the Academy of Sciences Ivar Puura, raised the issue of the quality of the survey.

Puura pointed out that the developers of the gas pipe have only researched the seabed under the gas pipe route at the depth of five centimetres whereas in order to achieve sufficient thoroughness, marine sediments up to 30 centimetres from the surface should be viewed.

"In such a case, the results would be more comprehensive; besides, the impact of dioxins has currently not assessed at all," explained Puura. He added that Russia's data have also not been included in the report, concluding that on the basis of information available, no adequate assessment can be made.

M K Bhadrakumar | Apr 27

Asia Times - Last week, the Barack Obama administration made its first major move in the geopolitics of Eurasia with the appointment of Richard Morningstar as the special envoy for Eurasian energy. The brilliant, devastatingly effective diplomat of the Bill Clinton administration is back on his old beat.

Curiously, despite its extensive ties to Big Oil, the George W Bush administration's performance in energy politics reads dismally. Russia's Vladimir Putin outsmarted the United States in the Caspian. Enter Morningstar. He served the Clinton administration as special advisor to the president and secretary of state on the former Soviet Union, special advisor on Caspian basin energy diplomacy and ambassador to the European Union (EU). He was a key figure in pushing through - against great odds - the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which stands out as an enduring achievement for US energy diplomacy in the post-Soviet period.

Moscow should take note that a formidable adversary has re-entered the arena. With a career background in EU affairs and Caspian energy diplomacy, Morningstar's appointment signifies that Washington is going to take a shot at the Nabucco gas pipeline project. Resolute action to get the project going includes lining up funding, securing the necessary gas supplies, beating back Russian countermoves and least of all rallying European support. Nabucco has the potential to rewrite Russia-EU relations and consolidate the US's trans-Atlantic leadership. The 3,300 kilometer-long pipeline from the Caspian via Turkey to Austria would reduce the EU's growing dependence on Russian energy.

Apr 22

Asia Times - Putin gets to work on Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is demonstrating unprecedented outspokenness and persistence in standing up to Russia to defend its own interests, notably in efforts to evade the close embrace of energy giant Gazprom. In Moscow, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is taking notice.

Germans in groundbreaking Turkmen deal

German energy giant Rheinisch-Westfaelische Elektrizitaetswerk has entered what could become a breakthrough agreement with Turkmenistan on offshore gas field development and gas deliveries. Alongside a public clash on a pipeline explosion, it is a sign of a new era in Turkmenistan's policies.

M K Bhadrakumar | Apr 18 | Asia Times

The global downturn is spreading to Central Asia. It may lead to a marked shift of fortune in the Great Game for control of Caspian energy reserves. On the surface, the intensity of the rivalries may appear to have subsided, as the principal protagonists - Russia and the West - brood over the precarious state of their own finances and prioritize fixing their domestic economies.

But the slowing down of the Great Game bears a deceptive appearance. China gains out of any changing equations. Of all the major economies of the world, it is in China that the government's 4 trillion yuan (US$585 billion) stimulus package may have begun showing results, which puts the economy in a "better-than-expected" shape, as Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday.

China's prospects as the first major economy to recover gives it a crucial role to lead the world economy as a whole and the Central Asian region in particular. Following up on a $25 billion loan to Russia that China dished out in February, it has agreed to lend $10 billion to Kazakhstan. China expects both the recipients to reciprocate by bolstering their energy supplies to China.

We may be witnessing the signs of a seismic shift in the geopolitics of Central Asia. The region faces a grim economic outlook and it instinctively looks up to China to help it figure a way out. That provides a big opportunity for China to take the region under its wings. The implications are deep for the Caspian energy sweepstakes.

Ross-Bethio | Apr 21

IRIN - Given that Senegal's trees are disappearing, finding viable alternatives is a must, a Ministry of Energy official says. At least half of Senegal's 13 million people rely on wood and charcoal for household fuel, while 40 percent relying on petrol products like butane gas, the ministry says.

"You need to cut down 5kg of wood to produce only 1kg of [conventional] charcoal," said Ibrahima Niang, alternative household energies specialist at the Energy Ministry.

"Less than 30 years ago, charcoal consumed in [the capital] Dakar came from 70km away, from the Thiès region. Now you have to go 400km from Dakar to find forests."

According to Senegal's Department of Water and Forestry, 40,000 hectares of forest are cut every year for fuel and other commercial uses.

Deforestation is said to exacerbate soil erosion – already a considerable problem in parts of Senegal. The country is part of the Sahel, a region where erratic rainfall, land degradation and desertification are constant challenges for a population largely dependent on agriculture and livestock.

The "green charcoal" is produced by compressing agricultural waste, like the invasive typha weed, into briquets and then carbonising them using a machine. The product has the look and feel of traditional charcoal and burns similarly.

Apr 13

Gazprom vs. Rosneft in Far East

AND

Pipeline explosion reveals Turkmenistan-Gazprom rift

AND CLOSER TO HOME

Gazprom: A Russian Invasion?

In a deal we expected to get a bit more press, Gazprom (OTC: OGZPY) and Shell (NYSE: RDS) announced a deal on Thursday that will allow Gazprom to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Shell's terminal in Baja California. The gas will then be transported via pipeline to Southern California. From Russia with love.

Cody Lyon | New York City | Apr 10

GlobeSt.com - The US Department of Energy, commercial real estate executives and officers from the Buildings Owners and Managers Assoc. have launched a public-private initiative to reduce energy consumption and the resulting carbon footprint of the nation’s commercial buildings. The kickoff event for the Commercial Real Estate Energy Alliance was a meeting held Thursday afternoon at 7 World Trade Center, the first LEED Gold-certified office tower in Manhattan.

Despite increasingly sour times in the market, 18 representatives from some of the nation’s largest commercial real estate companies took part in the event. "You give evidence to this being the right time for this initiative by looking at who was here," Richard D. Purtell, chair and CEO at BOMA tells GlobeSt.com. Purtell, also portfolio manager at Grubb & Ellis, stresses that "this is the time to do this: right now and not wait."

Sudha Ramachandran | Bangalore | Apr 2

Asia Times -
China has secured an important alternative route for its Middle East oil supplies, bypassing the Malacca Strait, with an agreement with Myanmar to pump oil and gas from the Bay of Bengal to Yunnan province. The energy coup, while benefiting Myanmar's generals, will doubtless upset India.

Mar 27

BBC - In a document published on its national security council's website, Moscow says it expects the Arctic to become its main resource base by 2020.

While the strategy is thought to have been approved in September, it has only now been made public.

Moscow's ambitions are likely to cause concern among other countries with claims to the Arctic.

The document foresees the Arctic becoming Russia's main source of oil and gas within the next decade.

In order to protect its assets, Moscow says one of its main goals will be the establishment of troops "capable of ensuring military security" in the region.