Archives par mot-clé : Resources

energy and fields

Offshore Energy Outlook

by International Energy Agency, May 4, 2018

Energy produced offshore is a major component of global oil and natural gas supply and could provide an increasingly important source of renewable electricity. Resources are enormous, but offshore projects have to prove their worth in a changing market and policy context, amid a variety of pressures on the world’s oceans.

More than a quarter of today’s oil and gas supply is produced offshore, mostly in the Middle East, the North Sea, Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caspian Sea. While offshore oil production has been relatively stable since 2000, natural gas output from offshore fields has risen by more than 50% over the same period. Offshore electricity generation, mainly from wind, has increased rapidly in recent years, notably in the relatively shallow coastal waters of Europe’s North Sea.

(…)

Full report (.pdf, 80 pages)

energy and fields

Congo-Brazzaville and OPEC – A marriage of mutual need

by Andrea Ayemoba, May 05, 2018 in AfricaBusiness

The Republic of the Congo has suffered dearly during the oil collapse; and Congolese President Denis Nguesso has pledged that the country would no longer be sitting on the side lines, suffering the effects of global decision-making in the oil industry without a voice. In an official communiqué announcing the bid for OPEC membership, he stated that he wished to “place our country in the rank of the world’s leaders.”

At nearly 2 billion barrels of crude oil of proven reserves in a vastly underexplored territory, Congo represents a sleeping giant amidst African oil producers. An improved business climate has brought profound benefits to the country’s oil industry. New developments by French oil company Total in Congolese territory are set to expand the country’s oil output from 280,000 barrels per day to 350,000 in 2018.

energy and fields

BP Energy Outlook

by BP Global, March 2018

The Energy Outlook explores the forces shaping the global energy transition out to 2040 and the key uncertainties surrounding that transition. It shows how rising prosperity drives an increase in global energy demand and how that demand will be met over the coming decades through a diverse range of supplies including oil, gas, coal and renewables.

Looking forward to 2040

Extending the Energy Outlook by five years to 2040, compared with previous editions, highlights several key trends.

For example, in the ET scenario, there are nearly 190 million electric cars by 2035, higher than the base case in last year’s Outlook of 100 million. The stock of electric cars is projected to increase by a further 130 million in the subsequent five years, reaching around 320 million by 2040.

Another trend that comes into sharper focus by moving out to 2040 is the shift from China to India as the primary driver of global energy demand. The progressively smaller increments in China’s energy demand – as its economic growth slows and energy intensity declines – contrasts with the continuing growth in India, such that between 2035 and 2040, India’s demand growth is more than 2.5 times that of China, representing more than a third of the global increase.

Africa’s contribution to global energy consumption also becomes more material towards the end of the Outlook, with Africa accounting for around 20% of the global increase during 2035-2040; greater than that of China.

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energy and fields

Les chiffres clés de l’énergie dans le monde

by Connaissance des Energies, 26 septembre 2017

Les énergies fossiles toujours omniprésentes dans le mix mondial

La consommation mondiale d’énergie primaire a encore reposé à 81,4% sur les énergies fossiles en 2015 selon les dernières données de l’AIE. En 1973, cette part atteignait 86,7% (dont 46,2% pour le seul pétrole) et les énergies décarbonées ont ainsi légèrement progressé dans le mix énergétique mondial.

Notons que les productions mondiales de gaz naturel et de charbon ont respectivement triplé et plus que doublé depuis 1973. Les émissions mondiales de CO2 relatives à la combustion d’énergie ont pour leur part doublé durant cette période.

See also here (.pdf 151 pages)

energy and fields

Can Oil Sands Pay Off at Just $50 a Barrel?

by Kevin Orland, August 24, 2017 in BloombergNews

Canada’s tar sands, which contain the planet’s third-largest oil reserves, were a prized possession for global energy companies when crude was trading above $100 a barrel. But since prices fell to $50 in 2015, where they have lingered, Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips, and Marathon Oil have unloaded their holdings amid concerns that these capital-intensive projects would struggle to turn a profit.

(…) In recent earnings announcements, Suncor and rival Cenovus Energy Inc. said they can now sustain production with oil at $40 a barrel without jeopardizing the dividend they pay shareholders.

energy and fields

Peak Oil And Peak Demand Have Entirely Different Outcomes

by Robert Rapier, August 15, 2017 in Forbes

That’s the peak oil argument in a nutshell, but the peak demand argument is entirely different. In this case, oil production falls — not because of geological factors — but because the world turns its back on oil as cleaner, cheaper options become available. Electric vehicles and ride-sharing on a massive scale are envisioned as two of the key factors that will make oil obsolete.

energy and fields

Venezuela : malédiction du pétrole ou du socialisme ?

par Samuel Furfari, 8 août 2017

Le Venezuela se trouve à la croisée des chemins. Se dirige-t-il vers le modernisme ou va-t-il poursuivre sa révolution bolivarienne vers le socialisme qui l’a conduit à la débâcle à laquelle nous assistons aujourd’hui ?

Le pays possède tout ce qu’il faut pour connaitre la prospérité et la paix. Ses abondantes ressources d’hydrocarbures auraient pu en faire la Norvège de l’Amérique latine

better to know...?, energy and fields

…Next Generation of Fossil Fuels…

by Donn Dears, August 2017

As noted in my article four years ago, Japan has a program for producing natural gas from methane hydrates located near its coast, and predicts it will be successful by 2019.

Most people believe that Japan’s objective is highly optimistic, but it does shed light on the efforts currently underway to develop the technology for extracting natural gas from methane hydrates.

energy and fields

Industrie du pétrole : qui sont les « supermajors » ?

by Connaissance des Energies, 8 août 2016

      Les 5 supermajors sont par ordre de chiffre d’affaires en 2015 :
  • Royal Dutch Shell (Pays-Bas) : 272,2 milliards de dollars et une production de 3,0 millions de barils équivalents pétrole par jour contre 421,1 G$ et 3,1 Mbeb/j en 2014);
  • ExxonMobil (États-Unis) : 268,9 G$ et 4,1 Mbeb/j (contre 411,9 G$ et 4,0 Mbeb/j en 2014) ;
  • BP (Royaume-Uni) : 226,0 G$ et 3,3 Mbep/j (contre 359,8 G$ et 3,2 Mbep/j en 2014);
  • Total (France): 165,4 G$ et 2,3 Mbep/j (contre 236,1 G$ et 2,15 Mbep/j en 2014) ;
  • Chevron (États-Unis): 138,5 G$ et 2,6 Mbep/j (contre 200,5 G$ et 2,6 Mbep/j en 2014).
energy and fields

U.S. becomes global fossil energy giant feeding hungry world energy markets

by WUWT, July 25, 2017

U.S. evolves into coal, gas and oil global energy giant supplying world’s hungry energy markets

David Middleton’s excellent WUWT article addressing the resurgence of the American coal industry as well as the growing role of U.S. natural gas production in creating global gas export markets hits the nail on the head in demonstrating how dominant the U.S. has become in producing and supplying global energy markets at home and abroad with growing demands for fossil fuels.

The IEA agency clearly recognizes the U.S. as the global driver of a huge transformation of the world’s natural gas energy markets.

better to know...?, renewable energy

New York Times: World’s nations building huge numbers of new coal plants despite emissions growth

by  NY Times, July 13, 2017 in WUWT

The level of renewable use is now so high in Germany that serious electric grid reliability and stability issues now exist which require both fossil power plant emergency backup for failed renewable production and dictate rejecting renewable energy to ensure operation of fossil plants required for electric grid reliability and stability.

energy and fields

Réserves de gaz dans le monde

by Connaissances des Energies, 17 février 2015

Les cinq pays disposant des plus importantes réserves de gaz au monde sont :

energy and fields

“The World Keeps Not Running Out of Oil”

by David Middleton, July 10, 2017 in WUWT

Hubbert’s fame in peak oil circles comes primarily from the assertion that he accurately predicted the 1970 U.S. peak. Because of this prediction, Hubbert is widely-regarded among peak oil adherents as a visionary. He has been called an oracle and a prophet. A recently published article — What Hubbert And Pickens Got Right About Oil, And What’s Next — recounts the uncanny accuracy of his prediction.

Source: Nuclear Energy and the Fossil Fuels by M. King Hubbert

only geology

Future Global Mineral Resources

by Nicholas T. Arndt et al., April 2017, Geochemical Perspectives

Some scientists and journalists, and many members of the general public, have been led to believe that the world is rapidly running out of the metals on which our modern society is based. Advocates of the peak metal concept have predicted for many decades that increasing consumption will soon lead to exhaustion of mineral resources. Yet, despite ever-increasing production and consumption, supplies of minerals have continued to meet the needs of industry and society, and lifetimes of reserves remain similar to what they were 30-40 years ago.

Full text (171 pages) pdf, here

energy and fields

Pétrole : des découvertes « conventionnelles » au plus bas qui inquiètent l’AIE

by Connaissance des Energies, 28 avril 2017

L’ Agence internationale de l’énergie (AIE) a fait part hier de son inquiétude sur le niveau historiquement bas des découvertes de nouvelles réserves de pétrole « conventionnel ». Le schiste américain pourra-t-il à lui seul compenser le déséquilibre résultant de la baisse des investissements sur le marché ?

only geology

Mining: Bacteria with Midas touch for efficient gold processing

by University of Adelaide, April 28, 2017, in Science News

Special ‘nugget-producing’ bacteria may hold the key to more efficient processing of gold ore, mine tailings and recycled electronics, as well as aid in exploration for new deposits, University of Adelaide research has shown.

Now they have shown for the first time, just how long this biogeochemical cycle takes and they hope to make to it even faster in the future.

only geology

The formation of gold deposits in South Africa

by S.H.J. Fuchs et al., April 2017, Precambrian Research

German-Canadian research team discovers new ore-forming process in ancient marine sedimentary basin
20 April 2017/Kiel. The Witwatersrand basin in South Africa hosts the largest known gold repository on Earth – but how was it formed? Scientists of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre of Ocean Research Kiel and Canadian research institutes were able to figure out how parts of the Earth’s largest gold deposits formed about three billion years ago. Crude oil and hot hydrothermal fluids played a major role. This study has been currently published in the journal “Precambrian Research“
energy and fields

Les ressources naturelles sont-elles inépuisables?

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Les ressources naturelles [1] peuvent-elles satisfaire sans fins nos exigences de bien être ?  À long terme surement pas, les gisements (métaux -uranium, thorium, or … et pierres précieuses –diamants, saphirs, topazes…), les hydrocarbures (gazeux, liquides, solides) et les géomatériaux (roches, sables, granulats…) ne sont pas renouvelables. L’économie internationale étant contrainte en premier lieu par la géologie, il en résulte une distribution inégale des richesses de la Terre et une lutte pour se les approprier, nécessitant un développement technologique pour accroître les volumes récupérables. Certains vont même jusqu’à parier que les futures ressources seront à prendre sur d’autres planètes, sur des astéroïdes ; des équipes y travaillent déjà. En attendant, tentons un bilan de la situation actuelle : reste-t-il assez de ressources sur notre planète? Pour combien de temps ?  Estimer leur volume ultime[2] est assez facile grâce à l’exploration de plus en plus efficace, mais prédire leur durée d’exploitation est une autre paire de manches car elle dépend de facteurs économiques et politiques aléatoires aussi bien dans les court et moyen termes. Les réserves ne peuvent qu’évoluer au cours du temps en fonction des moyens et les déclarer est un acte politique et économique de grande importance.