Coal that’s being priced out of the US market by cheap natural gas is being burned instead in Europe, where it’s cheaper than natural gas with prices traditionally linked to oil.
The resulting pressure is beginning to break down those links, and the differential between natural gas prices in the US and Europe could diminish significantly before any US liquefied natural gas (LNG) can be exported. Keep reading →
Over a billion people people worldwide have no access to the electricity that is a crucial facilitator of modern education, human health, economic development, etc.
The UN estimates that universal access to electricity by 2030 could be achieved for less than $50 billion per year – which is roughly equivalent to a $1.5 billion annual investment per OECD member country, 0.3% of 2011 US GDP, or approximately 10% of ExxonMobil’s 2011 revenue. Keep reading →
International Energy Agency IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol (C) talks as Brazil’s state-controlled energy giant Petrobras CEO Jose Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo (R) and and Italian energy giant Enel CEO Fulvio Conti (L) listen at the end of a press briefing at the IEA ministerial meeting at the OECD headquarters in Paris on October 18, 2011.
Oil and gas industry advocacy groups differed in their reaction to a new unconventional gas development report, highlighting the importance of a major US election issue and the messaging that surrounds it. Keep reading →
In its recent International Energy Outlook 2011, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated that global energy consumption would grow 53% from 2008 to 2035, with about half of that demand coming from rapidly-developing economies like China and India.
This AOL Energy infographic breaks down some of the most relevant numbers, which show electrical generation far exceeding consumption, particularly in non-OECD countries, as natural gas production grows significantly in the United States and nuclear power generation increases significantly in China and India. Keep reading →
Chinese Recession: Real or Not?
By Peter GardettProbably the best indication that the Chinese economy has entered a meaningful recession is the Chinese central government’s urgency to reassure everyone it isn’t so.
There have been rumblings since the end of last year that the Chinese economy was slowing, with poor lending practices, a property bubble and poorly managed internal migration all part of the new scenario sketched out for a possible recession. If it wasn’t for Europe’s unceasing convulsions over the credibility of its currency union the outlook for Chinese growth would be the central question for global economic trend-watchers. Keep reading →