Fossil Energy News

The European Council and Parliament have reached a provisional political agreement on a regulation for tracking and reducing methane emissions in the energy sector.The regulation introduces new requirements for the oil, gas and coal sectors to measure, report and verify methane emissions, as well as put in place mitigation measures to avoid such emissions, including detecting and repairing methane leaks and limiting venting and flaring. It also puts forward global monitoring tools to ensure transparency on methane emissions from imports of oil…

Ponant has committed to a unique transoceanic ship design, Swap2Zero, that combines six new energy technologies.The ship is expected to be ready by 2030. Ponant has partnered with naval architect Stirling Design International, and discussions are ongoing to select a shipyard. The sail technology has not yet been decided on, with Ponant considering Ayro Oceanwings or Solid Sail technology.“By 2030, our future ship aims to have zero greenhouse gas emissions when sailing, manoeuvring, in port or at anchor. Her carbon footprint will be reduced throughout her life cycle.

Hydrogen fuel cell supplier PowerCell announced it has signed an agreement to deliver hydrogen fuel cells to two ships operating on Norway's longest ferry route. The order has a value of €19.2 million, and represents the largest non-combustion fuel propulsion project to date in the global marine industry, the company said.PowerCell will work to deliver the solution with Norwegian systems developer and integrator of low- and zero-emission marine solutions SEAM, who will be responsible for the electrical installations on the ferries. Final delivery is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2024.

Yara Birkeland, the world's first electric and self-propelled container ship has set off for its maiden voyage in the Oslo fjord in Norway.No Friday, today, the Norwegian Prime Minister was given a tour by the CEO of Yara, Svein Tore Holsether.Holsether said: "We are proud to be able to showcase the world's first fully electric and self-propelled container ship. It will cut 1,000 tonnes of CO2 and replace 40,000 trips by diesel-powered trucks a year."Friday morning, Holsether welcomed Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Policy Bjørnar Skjæran on Yara Birkeland…

Following Monday's confirmation of the U.S. Representative Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior, the U.S. National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), representing interests of the country's offshore energy industry, said it was ready to work with Haaland and the Biden Administration to "advance America's offshore energy sector."NOIA President Erik Milito said: "NOIA is ready to work with Secretary Haaland and the Biden Administration to advance America’s offshore energy sector.

Italian industrial giants, energy firm Eni and shipbuilding group Fincantieri have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore innovative initiatives in the field of decarbonization and circular economy, including offshore renewable technologies.According to Eni, the activities will focus mainly on waste to energy, production and transport of energy carriers as natural gas, methanol or hydrogen, fuel cells applications, the development and deployment of offshore renewable technologies.Over the three years of the previous agreement…

By Sverre Alvik, Energy transition program director, DNV GLIt is not too good to be true, it is the economic reality that lies ahead of us. The energy transition facing us in the coming decades is an affordable one. In fact, the future energy system is not only affordable, it is cheaper than the energy system we have today. And this creates an opportunity to invest more to achieve the future we want.Let me be more precise: in just one generation, humanity will be spending a much lower share of its GDP on energy than it does today. The main reason is not energy prices, but energy efficiency. Whether you believe in the phenomenon of peak energy…

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) greenhouse gas (GHG) strategy signals a true game changing moment for the shipping industry. External pressure was building, but the IMO strategy sets a time line and goals for shipping to tackle one of the great challenges of our time. The GHG strategy gives our latest Maritime Forecast to 2050 its focus, and with this publication we attempt to set out the different strategies and pathways the industry can take to reach these goals.The first conclusion from the report is a sobering one.

U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) have been growing steadily and reached a new peak of 4.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in May 2019, according to the latest data published by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy.This year, the United States became the world’s third-largest LNG exporter, averaging 4.2 Bcf/d in the first five months of the year, exceeding Malaysia’s LNG exports of 3.6 Bcf/d during the same period.The United States is expected to remain the third-largest LNG exporter in the world, behind Australia and Qatar, in 2019–20.U.S. LNG exports have increased as four new liquefaction units (trains) with a combined capacity of 2.4 Bcf/d—Sabine Pass Train 5…

Texas-based natural gas company Tellurian has announced that the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy has issued the long-term authorisation for Driftwood LNG to export domestically produced LNG from its proposed export facility to non-free trade agreement (non-FTA) countries.U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said, “I am pleased to announce the order signed today authorizing Driftwood, owned by Tellurian Inc., to export up to 3.88 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas as LNG, to any country that does not have a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States.""The United States is now in its third consecutive year as a net exporter of natural gas, now exporting domestic LNG to 35 countries.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) would now only require U.S. LNG exporters to report the country or countries of LNG deliveries, not country of end-use, to satisfy the DOE’s destination reporting requirement.Further, DOE announced additional efforts to streamline the reporting requirements for LNG export supply sales and contracts.“With the United States now being the world’s top producer of oil and natural gas, it is imperative that U.S. LNG companies have all the tools they need to get their American product into the international market,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.“By streamlining the destination reporting requirements, the Department of Energy is taking an important deregulatory step forward in order to better provide reliable U.S.

Six Rotterdam-based parties will investigate how sustainably generated electricity, converted into hydrogen, can be used in the production of fuels. TNO, Stedin, Smartport, Uniper, BP Refinery Rotterdam and Port of Rotterdam Authority will investigate the technical and economic feasibility of a power-to-gas plant in the Rotterdam port area, as well as the necessary amendments to regulations. The parties above signed a cooperation agreement to this end on 18 January 2017. The construction of wind farms in the North Sea means that a large amount of 'green electricity' will become available in the coming decades and will be landed via the Tennet grid at the Maasvlakte among other places. Using electrolysis, this electricity can split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen.

Senior U.S. Coast Guard leaders and liquefied-gas-industry experts from around the country came together the second week of December at Sector Houston-Galveston to prepare for the increased use of liquefied gases throughout the maritime community and gain a deeper understanding of the intricacies each party faces as they adapt to the rapid growth in this multibillion dollar industry. The maritime community is experiencing an international shift with the increased transport and use of liquefied gases. The increased supply created by the U.S.

The Obama administration on Thursday announced a major overhaul of its review process for U.S. liquefied natural gas exports, a change that would benefit companies with strong financial backing for their projects. Under the proposal, the Department of Energy would no longer issue conditional approvals of projects. Instead, the department would decide whether an LNG export project is in the national interest only after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or another agency, had issued a final environmental review. The action would shift emphasis from the department's conditional approval, placing the onus on FERC. The department said that by waiting until the environmental review is completed…

The White House likes to claim a share of the credit for the drilling revolution that has transformed North America's energy production and security. Except the revolution has largely taken place on private rather than public land, and energy producers feel frustrated about the numerous obstacles and long delays in obtaining permission to drill in areas directly controlled by the administration. "Crude oil production has grown each year President Barack Obama has been in office to its highest level in 17 years," the Council of Economic Advisors wrote back in the summer of 2013. "Government-funded research supplemented private industry's work to develop the technology that sparked the boom," the council explained ("Reducing America's dependence on foreign oil", Aug. 29, 2013).

What are the key technologies that will be in play towards the end of this decade? That is the question that DNV tries to answer in 'Technology Outlook 2020'. DNV’s Research and Innovation unit has a long tradition of publishing Technology Outlook, where we try to look into the crystal ball for selected industry sectors. Last time was in 2008, and then we looked towards 2015. Future technologies for shipping, energy and power systems
Technology Outlook 2020 looks at future technologies in four main areas: shipping, fossil energy, renewable and nuclear energy, and power systems.

“In the absence of strong government policies, we project that the worldwide use of oil in transport will nearly double between 2000 and 2030, leading to a similar increase in greenhouse gas emissions,” said Claude Mandil, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) at the launch in Paris today of “Biofuels for Transport: An International Perspective”. This new IEA publication looks at recent trends in biofuel production and considers how the future may look if recent initiatives in IEA countries and around the world are fully implemented. The report takes a global perspective on the nascent biofuels industry, assessing regional similarities and differences as well as the cost and benefits of the various biofuel options and technologies.