It is no secret that the nation of Greece has suffered greatly from economic woes in recent years. Greece has struggled with high unemployment and severe economic depression for years with some parties saying the country is worse off than the United States was during the great depression in the 1930s. Yet into this bleak situation hope has emerged, in the form of the energy markets.
For months, OPEC has been attempting to put a floor under the price of oil, with little success. Last week the countries of OPEC renewed their commitment to this goal by extending production cuts an additional 9 months. Recognizing their inability to do this alone, OPEC brought in Russia and a host of smaller players in the oil production market. The main player’s motivation for this effort is obvious, next year the Russian elections take place and the Saudi Arabian oil IPO, Armco comes out. What is less obvious to some people, is that all of this could be an exercise in futility.
There are parties who feel oil is near it’s high point and within a few decades the sun will set on oil as an energy source. Some people who believe most strongly in alternative energy sources and electric vehicles argue that the future lies outside of oil.
With the nine-month extension of the OPEC led production cuts the consensus among traders is that oil will likely stay between $50-$60 a barrel this year. But beyond that there a number of different viewpoints as to where prices will go. Some parties feel the medium term future for oil has already been written by the lack of investments made upstream and within a few years the price of oil may nearly double.
India’s coal-power plant developers are reconsidering several projects after the plunge in the cost of solar panel improved the economic viability of renewable energy projects. After a series of federal auctions solar has become the cheapest source of electricity in India and the coal industry is suddenly struggling to make projects economically viable.
The production cuts deal lead by OPEC and Russia have received a great deal of publicity lately, but in reality it is the Chinese economy that could make or break the oil markets this year. While these supply side players have promised to do “whatever it takes” to support the price of oil, in large part the rise or fall of the world’s most traded commodity lies with their largest customer.
The Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania has been a symbol of the dangers of nuclear power for nearly four decades. However, the plant which survived a partial meltdown in 1979 has become a symbol for the new danger threatening nuclear power in the United States, namely, cheap natural gas. The operators of Three Mile Island say the plant hasn’t been profitable in five years and without state subsidies they will be forced to shutter the plant.
Australia’s Bass Strait on the southern end of the country may come to be the site of the country’s first offshore wind farm and a model for the future of green energy in the land down under. The Star of the South project could have as many as 250 turbines which generate enough renewable energy to power over a million homes.
Over the course of the last half century, the image of smoke stacks spewing soot from a coal plant on the western edge of Jersey City have become ingrained in the consciousness of it’s residents. The Hudson Generation Station has provided electricity for the region longer than most of it’s residents have been alive but that all changed this week. The power plant which sits on a 250 acre site along the Hackensack River has long been in the crosshairs of environmental activists.
The British oil giant continues to expand its presence in natural gas announcing Friday three different deals which will provide the company with natural gas resources. Two of the deals are based off islands on the northern coast of South America.
