Holiday return weekend roundup
Its pleasing how geeky and obscure energy news seems when you've not been subjected to its nuances for a fortnight. I hear there is a fuss about some rocks being blown up for oil... oh well, here is the round-up.
UK
IGas consults on first shale gas wells
And they don't want to talk about Cuadrilla. “I thought we were talking about IGas,” says their CEO Mr Austin to The Times.
Balcombe drilling may have broken noise rules
A noise monitoring report commissioned by Cuadrilla showed that sound levels during drilling peaked 20pc higher than allowed, but the firm suggested it may have been those pesky protests.
UK to "woe" China over nuclear
We think the WSJ meant to say woo, to 'woo' China in a bid to see Chinese designed nuclear reactors built in Britain. It comes after a similar deal with Russian nuclear giant Rosatom, who have recruited Rolls-Royce to help get their reactors approved for the UK. Chinese and Russian reactors are (relatively) cheap, but, well... anyway.
Go-ahead for Welsh pumped storage
A plan to build a small pumped storage plant in a former Welsh quarry could be the first of many designed to smooth out the peaks and troughs of demand and deal with intermittent sources of energy from wind and solar.
UK urged to back EU biofuels cap
The EU is proposing to limit the amount of biofuels derived from food crops to 5% of total energy use, the UK government's position appears to be MIA.
International
China shale not flowing
In an effort to boost production China opened up it's shale gas reserves to new firms - including a grain trader. But in stark contrast to the US, where independents lead the way, in China nothing much has happened.
"The cost of drilling and the complexity of tapping China's shale reserves have proven a daunting prospect for the shale gas novices," reports Reuters.
"The sector liberalisation looks unlikely to work in shale gas, as its investment is too high and returns are too low," said Chen Weidong, a senior industry analyst.
US could lead world in oil production
The longer-term outlook for the industry will be decided by that battle between geology and human ingenuity, claims the FT... and the oil price staying about $90 a barrel.
Tullow finds arctic oil
The highly successful UK oil explorer has found oil in the North Barents sea off the coast of Norway
Nigeria oil production hit by theft - FT
Oil companies have said the stolen oil amounts to 150,000 b/d – much more than the daily output of Ghana’s petroleum industry – but government officials believe the figure is higher. In 2012, finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said 400,000 b/d was being stolen, costing the country $1bn a month.
Der Spiegel lays into the Energiewende
With the German election on the horizon the influential centre-right magazine lays into Germany's energy transition - in what is at risk of becoming an election issue. The magazine calls the energiewende "aggressive and reckless".
UN to release updated report on climate
"Climate politics has been in a coma since Copenhagen," said Yvo de Boer, former head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, who led work at Copenhagen and now works at auditors KPMG. "I really hope the report can jolt us out of that coma."
