Next week my wife and kids are giving me five days of peace to devote to the energy thriller I’ve been trying (ahem) to write.
Those days had been planned for writing up Copenhagen, but Cop15 looks like it will be a wash, so I didn’t go.
Then, in January, there are a hosts of projects. I’ll be back in Calgary for a week at the end of the month, and organising interviews in advance. I’ll be organising an upcoming trip to China, too. And I’ll be in Vienna to interview Abdulla El-Badri, the sec-gen of Opec. The Economist has asked me to start thinking of an Iraq oil story and another natural-gas glut one.
If anyone wishes to contact me about any of the above, please do.
So, busy. But first: a bit of a rest and Christmas with my wonderful family.
Categories: Uncategorized
A forecast piece on what I think will happen in the world of energy next year, for The Economist’s The World in 2010 (aka an opportunity for the journalists to make fools of themselves!).
Meek oil
Nov 13th 2009
From The World in 2010 print edition
By Derek Brower
Consumers will still need to save their energy
Trouble in the pipeline
By comparison with the previous two years of boom and bust, in 2010 it will feel as if stability has broken out in world energy markets. This will be good news for consumers. The makings of more volatility in the years ahead, however, are already in the pipeline, and the potential for future trouble will build up in 2010.
Keep reading →
Categories: Energy · oil markets
A piece on the potential for shale gas in Europe, for The Economist. Full thing is on the website.
Bubbling under
Dec 3rd 2009
From The Economist print edition
Oil firms hope to repeat a trick that yielded big gas supplies in America
ACROSS Europe, a stealthy land-grab is under way. Exxon Mobil is drilling in Germany’s Lower Saxony. ConocoPhillips has joined 3 Legs Resources, a small firm based on the Isle of Man, to explore a large tract of land in Poland. Austria’s OMV is testing geological formations near Vienna. Shell is targeting Sweden. A host of smaller firms is fanning out across other countries, including France. They are all looking for natural gas trapped in shale (a type of flaky sedimentary rock)—a resource that has transformed the market for gas in America and may have a big impact on Europe, too. Keep reading →
Categories: Energy · Europe · Shale gas · Unconventional gas
A piece for Petroleum Economist’s December issue, on the potential for shale gas in Europe. Could be a bigger story next year… Full story on PE’s website.
Unconventional gas discoveries have transformed the North American gas sector. Could the same happen in Europe? Derek Brower reports
AS EUROPEAN gas-consumption growth stalls, a revolution in its domestic upstream could bring hundreds of trillions of cubic feet (cf) of new supply into the picture, transforming the continent’s energy sector – and relations with its neighbours. Keep reading →
Categories: Energy · Europe · Shale gas · Unconventional gas
Gazprom is still in a bullish mood, talking up its LNG goals and talking down the unconventional gas revolution (as Tony Hayward calls it). Here’s a piece based on some interviews with the company in Argentina, for Petroleum Economist’s November issue. The full article is on the website.
The market fundamentals for natural gas producers are weaker than they have been for years. But that is not holding back Gazprom’s ambitions, writes Derek Brower
RUSSIA’S Gazprom plans to entrench its position as the world’s most influential natural gas exporter. The expansion strategy, which would see it strengthen its position in the US market and become a significant exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), is a gamble, because the past 18 months have been difficult for Gazprom. Keep reading →
Categories: Gazprom · Russia
A fruitful stop in NYC and Philadelphia on the way back from Argentina gave me an opportunity to drop in on Stephen Schork, an oil-market expert and an excelletn commentator. This is the profile of him, for Petroleum Economist’s November issue, that followed. The full thing is on the website.
The Schork Report is essential reading for anyone seeking an inside view of global energy markets. Derek Brower meets the man behind it
THE GREAT bull run in energy markets wasn’t kind to consumers. And the crash that followed it last year didn’t do many favours for producers. But one group seemed to do badly on both sides of the oil-price mountain slope. From Wall Street’s finest to the boardrooms of the world’s biggest energy firms, calling the direction of the oil market left many forecasters with egg on their faces. Keep reading →
Categories: oil markets
A piece on Iran’s ambitions, which are huge (when one considers the obstacles), for Petroleum Economist’s October issue I’m afraid Ramezani was sacked after giving me this interview. The full thing is on PE’s website, for subscribers only, I’m afraid.
Iran is determined to join the ranks of the world’s largest gas exporters. But its grand plans look a tall order, writes Derek Brower
IRAN WANTS to fill half of the proposed Nabucco gas pipeline to Europe. It hopes to draw $100bn of foreign capital into its energy sector in the next five years. It is seeking 10% of the global gas market and says it will be exporting almost 40m tonnes a year (t/y) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the world “soon”. Keep reading →
Categories: Iran · Nabucco
In October, I was in Buenos Aires working on a newspaper for the World Gas Conference. We wiped the floor in getting exclusives and scoops against the youngsters from the wires. All of the editions, including scoops about Iran wanting into the Nabucco pipeline, Ukraine and Russia getting chummy, and much more, are here: http://www.wgcnews.com/
Categories: Natural gas prices
A piece for The Economist from the oil sands. The full thing is available on the website: www.economist.com
China invests in Canada’s tar sands
Upgraded
Sep 3rd 2009 | FORT MCMURRAY
From The Economist print edition
Rumours of the death of a controversial oil province prove exaggerated
CRITICS of the exploitation of Canada’s tar sands watched gleefully this year as the collapse in the oil price did what their opposition could not: dent the oil industry’s enthusiasm for this mixture of sand and bitumen, which generates a lot of pollution when it is extracted and “upgraded” into oil. A year after crude markets began their slump, however, there are green shoots appearing in the ravaged muskeg soil. On August 31st PetroChina, a state-owned Chinese oil firm, agreed to pay C$1.9 billion ($1.7 billion) for a majority stake in two tar-sands projects.
Admittedly, the frenzy of recent years is over. By one count, 13 projects that were on the books a year ago have been delayed or cancelled. Investment is falling. Between 2008 and 2010 developers were expected to spend C$128 billion on tar sands projects. Now the outlay will be around C$80 billion, according to the Oil Sands Developers Group (OSDG), an industry body. Forecasts of oil production from the tar sands have also taken a hit. Just a couple of years ago the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers predicted output would reach 4m barrels a day (b/d) by 2020. Now it says 3.3m b/d by 2025.
Categories: Canada · oil sands
I’ve been writing a lot about the global gas glut, which I think is a major story, although its implications haven’t yet been realised. Here’s a piece from Petroleum Economist’s October issue about the source of the whole thing: the US unconventional gas revolution. The full thing is available on the website, for subscribers.
A recent bounce in natural gas prices might prove short-lived. But the longer-term future for the US gas sector is bright, writes Derek Brower
BY THE standards of recent months, the rise in US gas prices in the first two weeks of September was positively exuberant. Having crashed to seven-year lows earlier in the year, Nymex’s front-month contract gained more than 50% in just under a fortnight, surging from $2.50/’000 cubic feet (cf) to around $3.80/’000 cf (see Figure 5, p38). Keep reading →
Categories: Natural Gas · Shale gas · US · Unconventional gas
