Energy Ministers News

Canada and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are among the first countries to back a new initiative aiming to advance the production, export and import of low-carbon fuels for shipping.The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), along with the CEO-led Clean Energy Maritime Taskforce, unveiled the ‘Clean Energy Marine Hubs Initiative’ on Friday at the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) in Pittsburgh. The Initiative will be a convening platform for public and private senior-level stakeholders from the ports…

OPEC, Russia and other allies outlined plans on Thursday to cut their oil output by more than a fifth and said they expected the United States and other producers to join in their effort to prop up prices hammered by the coronavirus crisis.But the group, known as OPEC+, said a final agreement was dependent on Mexico signing up to the pact after it balked at the production cuts it was asked to make. Discussions among top global energy ministers will resume on Friday.The planned output curbs by OPEC+ amount to 10 million barrels per day (bpd) or 10% of global supplies…

OPEC and it allies held talks on Thursday on record oil output curbs of about 15 million barrels per day (bpd) or more, roughly 15% of global supplies, to support prices hammered by the coronavirus crisis, sources involved in the discussions said.They said the plan included cuts of about 5 million bpd from producers outside the group known as OPEC+ and could be made gradually, as the group seeks to overcome resistance from the United States whose involvement they see as vital to a deal.Talks have been complicated by friction between OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia…

Ships must be allowed to change over overworked and exhausted crews to help to keep trade flowing as coronavirus lockdowns shut many transit points across the globe, shipping industry officials said on Tuesday.About 90% of world trade is transported by sea but a deepening lockdown in many countries and suspended air travel have disrupted supply chains, especially for ship owners who rely on the free movement of crews to keep ships moving.The International Chamber of Shipping association (ICS)…

The EU Commission’s big goals for offshore wind – between 230 and 450 GW by 2050 – are achievable provided the right investments in electricity grids and Governments take the right approach to maritime spatial planning, said a report.According to the WindEurope report examines where 450 GW of offshore wind could be deployed most cost-effectively around Europe, bearing in mind there is only 20 GW today. 450 GW of offshore wind is part of a European Commission scenario to deliver climate neutrality by 2050.The report is a remit from the Energy Ministers of the 10 ‘North Seas’ countries who coordinate their work on offshore wind with each other and the Commission.The report concludes that 212 GW should be deployed in the North Sea…

Energy ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group will discuss climate change and business opportunities at a meeting in the Philippines next month but not the South China Sea. China claims most of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims. The Philippines has filed a case with an international arbitration tribunal over rival claims in the South China Sea but China has rejected the proceeding and says disputes must be handled bilaterally. China is a member of APEC.

Oil-market watchers are struggling to reconcile the large estimated oversupply in the market with the much smaller buildup of reported inventories and narrowing contango in futures prices. Some blame the barrel counters who compile official statistics on supply, demand and stocks. But the truth is that information on the world oil market is incomplete and it is easy for hundreds of millions of barrels of oil to disappear from the supply chain without being counted. According to the three main statistical agencies, the global market has been oversupplied by between 1.5 million and 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) since the start of the year. Stockpiles should have increased by between 200 million and 350 million barrels, according to the International Energy Agency, OPEC and the U.S.

EU ministers agreed on Friday to send their formal promise on how much they will cut greenhouse gas emissions to the United Nations ahead of climate change talks starting in November. The European Union is the first bloc to agree its position before the talks in Paris aimed at seeking a new worldwide deal on global warming. It has called on other big polluters also to deliver early pledges to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. French Energy Minister Segolene Royal said Europe was leading by example. "A very important step was taken today," she told reporters after a meeting of EU climate and energy ministers in Brussels. She had said on Thursday agreement had to be reached by March 20 at the latest.

Europe's Energy Commissioner said on Monday Ukraine and Russia had made further progress in a dispute over gas prices and his proposal that Ukraine to pay $2 billion of back debt by Thursday could pave the way for further talks on Friday. Speaking after three-way talks with Russia's and Ukraine's energy ministers, Guenther Oettinger said the two governments would study his proposal that Ukraine pay Russia $2 billion by Thursday and a further $500 million by June 7. Oettinger, acting as a mediator in the capital of his home country Germany, said if the governments agreed to the deal, further talks about the gas price from April could then be held from Friday. "We've achieved progress but we didn't achieve a breakthrough," Oettinger told reporters at a news conference in Berlin.

Experts from the offshore energy industry around the world came together May 6-9 for the 2013 Offshore Technology Conference at Reliant Park in Houston. Attendance at the conference reached a 30-year high of 104,800, the second highest in show history and up 17% from last year. Attendance surpassed the 2012 total of 89,400 and the sold-out exhibition was the largest in show history at 652,185 ft², up from 641,350 ft² in 2012. The event had 2,728 companies representing 40 countries, including 244 new exhibitors in 2013. International companies made up 39% of exhibitors.

Transportation, Energy Ministers from Asia-Pacific Nations Pledge Cooperation on Cleaner, More Energy-Efficient Transportation. Transportation and energy ministers from 21 economies in the Asia-Pacific region today agreed to continue progress on initiatives to make transportation in the region cleaner and more energy-efficient, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today. The announcement came during the first-ever joint Transportation and Energy Ministerial Conference held by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)…

Shell’s Perdido Development, the world's deepest offshore oil platform, won the ENR Energy Construction Project of the Year award at the Platts Global Energy Awards Ceremony on December 3, 2009. In addition, Shell was a finalist in three other categories. Members of the Shell project management team as well as chief scientists were at the ceremony to accept the award. Shell designed the Perdido host spar, a floating production facility, which is jointly owned by Shell (35%, operator), Chevron (37.5%), and BP (27.5%).

European Union member governments agreed on Tuesday that the EU should launch World Trade Organization (WTO) action against South Korea unless Seoul changes the way it funds its shipbuilders within months. The EU has accused South Korea of paying its shipbuilders illegal subsidies, which are threatening the existence of European competitors and it set a deadline of next May to get satisfaction from Seoul before triggering a WTO case. It was reported that French Energy Secretary Christian Pierret, who chaired the meeting of EU industry and energy ministers, said they were sending a strong message to South Korea that it had just a few months to act before facing a WTO challenge.

The world's biggest gas producers agreed to set up a committee to look into pricing, in what could be the first step toward setting up an OPEC-style group to control supplies. Energy ministers from Russia, Iran and Qatar, holders of the world's biggest gas reserves, and envoys from 10 other nations, met today in Doha, the capital of Qatar, for the Gas Exporting Countries Forum. They agreed to set up a working committee that will examine the relationship between producers and consumers as well as pricing. The European Union, which relies on Russia for a quarter of its gas, has warned that a group modeled on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may spur consumers to switch to alternative sources of energy.