IEA chief criticizes ‘artificial tightness’ in energy markets, says some failed to help cool prices

Published

2 years ago

November 26, 2021

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Petroleum pump jacks are pictured in the Kern River oil field in Bakersfield, California.

Jonathan Alcorn | Reuters

The head of the world’s leading energy authority has said that some countries had failed to adopt a helpful position to calm soaring oil and gas prices, criticizing “artificial tightness” in energy markets.

“[A] factor I would like to underline that caused these high prices is the position some of the major oil and gas suppliers, and some of the countries did not take, in our view, a helpful position in this context,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said Wednesday during a press webinar.

“In fact, some of the key strains in today’s markets may be considered as artificial tightness … because in oil markets today we see close to 6 million barrels per day of spare production capacity lies with the key producers, OPEC+ countries.”

His comments come as energy analysts assess the effectiveness of a U.S.-led pledge to release oil from strategic reserves to stymie surging fuel prices.

In the first such move of its kind, President Joe Biden announced a coordinated release of oil between the U.S., India, China, Japan, South Korea and the U.K.

The U.S. will release 50 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Of that total, 32 million barrels will be an exchange over the next several months, while 18 million barrels will be an acceleration of a previously authorized sale.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers, an influential group often referred to as OPEC+, have repeatedly dismissed U.S. calls to increase supply and ease prices in recent months.

Birol said the IEA recognized the announcement made by the U.S. parallel with other countries, acknowledging surging oil prices had placed a burden on consumers around the world.

“It also puts additional pressure on inflation in a period where economic recovery remains uneven and still faces a number of risks,” he added.

Birol said he wanted to make clear that this was not a collective response from the IEA, however. The Paris-based energy agency only acts to tap energy stocks in case of a major supply disruption, he said.

‘A new and unchartered price war’

Oil prices have jumped more than 50% year-to-date, hitting multi-year highs as demand outstripped supply. The momentum behind the price rally has even tempted some forecasters to predict a return to $100-a-barrel oil, although not everyone shares this view.

International benchmark Brent crude futures traded at $82.27 a barrel on Monday afternoon in London, down around 0.1%, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures stood at $78.47, little changed for the session.

“A new and unchartered type of price war is brewing in the oil market,” Louise Dickson, senior oil markets analyst at Rystad Energy, said on Wednesday in a research note.

“The world’s biggest consumers of oil have pledged an unprecedented and relatively sizeable release of strategic reserves onto the market to quell high oil prices amid pandemic recovery.”

Rystad Energy said that if the oil set to be released from the U.S., China, India, Japan, South Korea and the U.K. started as early as mid-December, it could be enough to outpace crude demand as soon as next month.

“This begs the question of just how strategic the timing is from Biden, Xi and others if fundamental reprieve is already just around the corner in 1Q22,” Dickson said.

“The release may be a case of too much, too late, as the oil market was tightest and needed supply relief in September,” she added.

— CNBC’s Pippa Stevens contributed to this report.

Environment

Daily Ev Recap: Ultra-fast charging adds 370 miles of range in 10 minutes

Published

6 hours ago

April 26, 2024

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Daily Ev Recap: Ultra-fast charging adds 370 miles of range in 10 minutes

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from Electrek. Quick Charge is now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded Monday through Thursday and again on Saturday. Subscribe to our podcast in Apple Podcast or your favorite podcast player to guarantee new episodes are delivered as soon as they’re available.

Stories we discuss in this episode (with links)

Everrati rebrands B2B EV conversion arm to ‘Powered by Everrati’ amid clientele increase

Tesla Cybertruck owner gets quoted over $30,000 for Powershare installation

CATL unveils world’s first LFP battery with 4C ultra-fast charging for 370-mi in 10 mins

Tesla (TSLA) surges on Elon Musk trying to ride AI wave

Tesla expects its 4680 battery cells to be cheaper than suppliers by end of year

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Environment

Watch the world’s first artificial energy island being built [video]

Published

12 hours ago

April 25, 2024

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Watch the world's first artificial energy island being built [video]

The first of 23 caissons for Princess Elisabeth Island, the world’s first artificial energy island, is nearly complete.

Princess Elisabeth Island will be an electricity grid at sea that will connect offshore wind farms to the Belgian mainland and also serve as a hub for future interconnectors with the UK and Denmark. Belgian electricity transmission system operator Elia is the project’s developer.

The 20,000-ton caissons, which will form the energy island’s outer walls, are being built at Jan De Nul Group and DEME’s construction site in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. It takes around three months to build one caisson. The production process is split into five 20-day stages. The caissons are moved between the different work sites using “runners,” which takes about six hours.

When the caissons are ready, a semi-submersible vessel will transport them further down the harbor, where they’ll be temporarily stored in the water. They’ll then be moved to their final location in the North Sea this summer, weather allowing, said maritime infrastructure company Jan de Nul.

You can watch a time-lapse video of Princess Elisabeth Island’s first caisson being built here:

[embedded content]

Princess Elisabeth Island is part of the larger Princess Elisabeth Zone, a future 3.5 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm in the North Sea, around 45 km (28 miles) off the Belgian coast. The world’s first artificial energy island will receive power from the wind turbines via undersea cables, and it will then be converted to high-voltage electricity and distributed to the Belgian mainland and other European countries. The energy island will combine both direct current (HVDC) and alternating current (HVAC).

The energy island will be finished in late 2026 when the electrical equipment will start to be installed. Princess Elisabeth Island is expected to be fully connected to all wind farms and the mainland by 2030.

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Environment

Honda joins EV race with historic $11B investment to build 240K EVs a year

Published

14 hours ago

April 25, 2024

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Honda joins EV race with historic B investment to build 240K EVs a year

Honda is finally joining the EV race after announcing a massive $11 billion (CAD$15 billion) investment to build four new EV plants in Canada. The historic investment will be used to build Canada’s first EV supply chain, enabling 240,000 Honda EVs to be made for the US and Canada annually.

Honda reveals game changing investment to build EVs

Honda announced its largest investment in Canada ever as it prepares for the electric era. The plans for a new Honda EV plant and stand-alone EV battery factory in Alliston, Ontario.

Once fully operational, the EV facility will be able to produce 240,000 EVs a year, while its battery plant will have capacity of 36 GWh per year. Production is expected to begin in 2028.

According to a press release from the prime minister’s office, Honda will build Canada’s first comprehensive EV supply chain. The project will include four new manufacturing plants in Ontario.

In addition to the EV plant and battery factory, Honda will build a cathode active material and precursor plant through a joint venture with POSCO Future M. A second is planned with Asahi Kasei Corp.

Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada, said Honda’s investment is a “game changer for manufacturing in Canada.” With a full supply chain, Honda expects to cut costs by over 20%.

Honda aims for EVs and FCEVS to account for 100% of vehicle sales by 2040. Honda also invested $700 million to retool three Ohio plants to serve as its hub for future EV and EV battery production.

Meanwhile, Honda’s first electric SUV, the Honda Prologue, went on sale earlier this year. Starting at $47,400 (excluding destination), the Prologue offers up to 296 miles range.

2024 Honda Prologue trim	Starting Price (w/o $1,395 destination fee)	Starting price after tax credit (w/o $1,395 destination fee)	Starting price after tax credit (with $1,395 destination fee)	EPA Range (miles)
EX (FWD)	$47,400	$39,900	$41,295	296
EX (AWD)	$50,400	$42,900	$44,295	281
Touring (FWD)	$51.700	$44,200	$45,595	296
Touring (AWD)	$54,700	$47,200	$48,595	281
Elite (AWD)	$57,900	$50,400	$51,795	273