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[waldron] 30/11/2020 08:10

Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline project set to restart after year's hiatus
Nov. 29, 2020 9:53 PM ETPublic Joint Stock Company Gazprom (OGZPY)By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor16 Comments

Construction work is set to resume later this week on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline after being stopped for a year because of U.S. sanctions designed to end the pipeline that will bring Russian gas to Germany.

Nord Stream 2 says undersea pipe-laying work will resume on a 2.6-km section of each of the gas pipeline's branches within Germany's exclusive economic zone.

The Gazprom-led (OTCPK:OGZPY) project, designed to deliver up to 55B cm/year when completed, would double the amount of natural gas that Germany can import from Russia, raising the ire of the U.S. government, which says the pipeline will increase European dependence on Russian energy supplies.

The U.S. Congress has been considering another bill that would widen the scope of sanctions to include any individual or entity providing insurance, technical certification or welding services for the project.

But so far, none of Nord Stream 2's European financial backers - Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), Germany's Uniper (OTC:UNPPY) and BASF (OTCQX:BASFY), Austria's OMV (OTCPK:OMVJF) and France's Engie (OTCPK:ENGIY) - have pulled out despite the escalating U.S. anger.

[waldron] 27/11/2020 17:39

Brent Crude Oil NYMEX 48.00 +0.76%
Gasoline NYMEX 1.26 +0.55%
Natural Gas NYMEX 2.84 -2.87%
WTI 45.31 USD +0.78%

FTSE 100
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Dow Jones
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CAC 40
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Euro STOXX 50
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DAX
13,335.68 +0.37%
Ftse Mib
22,343.09 +0.64%



Eni
8.582 +0.28%



Total
37.7 +0.90%



Engie
12.52 -0.04%

Orange
10.69 +1.47%



Bp
262.9 -0.23%

Vodafone
124.9 -0.62%

Royal Dutch Shell A
1,339.4 -0.06%



Royal Dutch Shell B
1,304 +0.40%

Tullow Oil (TLW)
: 28.98: -1.81 (-5.88%)

[waldron] 27/11/2020 15:37

Veolia Environnement SA's deal to buy a 29.9% stake in Suez SA from Engie SA has been in the works since late August, but the process has been anything but smooth.

French waste-and-water-management company Veolia bought the stake in its peer from energy company Engie with its second bid. But Suez has been opposed from the beginning and a legal wrangle has ensued. On Nov. 19, court bailiffs seized documents from the offices of Veolia and Engie, as well as investment firm Meridiam, as part of a court order requested by Suez.

Timeline

August 2020

At the end of August, Veolia launched an initial bid for the 29.9% stake at 15.50 euros ($18.47) a share. Engie had previously initiated a strategic review that included a possible sale of its Suez stake, which meant Veolia's bid was considered likely to succeed.

Analysts at Bryan Garnier said that it made sense for Engie to divest its Suez stake as part of wider streamlining, and that the acquisition would boost Veolia's international profile.

September 2020

Suez, however, was opposed from the beginning of the deal. Management expressed its opposition to Veolia's approach in September, characterizing the bid as "hostile." Suez said the offer undervalued the company, and that it had concerns over antitrust issues and potential job cuts.

On Sept. 17, Engie said it wouldn't accept the offer under the initial terms, but would be open to an improved offer. As expected, on Sept. 30, Veolia increased its bid to EUR18 a share, valuing the 29.9% stake at around EUR3.4 billion.

October 2020

On Oct. 5, Veolia said Engie had accepted the offer. As part of the offer, Veolia would guarantee job security for all Suez employees in France, while Meridiam would acquire Suez's French water-activities arm to preserve competition after analysts raised the prospect of potential antitrust issues.

Suez continued to oppose the deal, warning of "several serious anomalies" in the bid in a letter to French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. It also voiced support for a rival bid from private-equity firm Ardian, which had expressed interest in buying the stake from Engie.

A twist came on Oct. 9, when a French court ordered the suspension of the stake purchase. The legal reasoning behind the suspension, requested by Suez, was that the company's social and economic committees hadn't been consulted over the deal. Veolia called the decision "incomprehensible" and "grotesque," arguing that only Suez management had the capability to organize such a consultation, and that its failure to do so was born of its opposition to the deal. Veolia said it would appeal the decision.

November 2020

Early in November, Veolia confirmed that it still intended to make a full takeover bid for Suez, offering the same EUR18 a share price for the remaining share capital. It said the bid would be launched when the Suez board of directors showed itself amenable. Suez responded by noting the lack of a takeover offer to date, saying the only approach had been via media reports. Suez stressed that any takeover offer would have to reflect the company's value, as well as set out the detail of the combination and any asset sales.

In an apparent further setback, Suez said on Nov. 19 that the Paris Court of Appeal had confirmed the earlier decision suspending the effects of the stake purchase. Since no committee consultation had been carried out before the deal was finalized on Oct. 5, the effects of the sale remained suspended until that took place, according to the ruling, Suez said. "Effects" in this context seems mostly to refer to the voting rights conferred on Veolia as holder of a stake in Suez. The company added that it had not received the necessary information from either Veolia or Engie to carry out the relevant employee consultations.

For its part, Veolia insisted that Suez had told the court that it had finalized the consultation on Nov. 5, and that since the consultation period was three months, it would recover all its rights relating to the stake purchase on Feb. 5 at the latest. Suez, however, disputed this, arguing that the starting date for the consultation hadn't been fixed.

The legal developments took a further twist on Nov. 26, when court bailiffs entered the offices of Engie, Veolia and investment firm Meridiam to seize documents relating to the deal, according to media reports. According to the reports, the court order was requested by Suez, which apparently suspected collusion between Veolia, Engie and Meridiam. Suez is also said to suspect that Meridiam's purchase of Suez Eau was agreed as early as July, even before Engie Chairman Jean-Pierre Clamadieu announced the company was considering selling its stake in Suez.

What's Ahead

Not only do the bones of contention remain unresolved, there isn't yet any agreement between the parties as to when they will be. Veolia says early February is the latest possible end to the consultation period Suez is insisting on; Suez disagrees. If and when these issues are resolved, Veolia will launch a full takeover bid for its peer.

As for the document seizure, Veolia, Engie and Meridiam have the right to request a counter-judgment to the court order, in which case the documents seized would be held pending further legal developments, according to French law.

Write to Joshua Kirby at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 27, 2020 09:44 ET (14:44 GMT)

[waldron] 20/11/2020 17:46

Brent Crude Oil NYMEX 44.34 +0.29%
Gasoline NYMEX 1.17 +0.28%
Natural Gas NYMEX 2.78 +1.98%
WTI 41.86 USD +0.56%


FTSE 100
6,351.45 +0.27%
Dow Jones
29,392.74 -0.31%
CAC 40
5,495.89 +0.39%
SBF 120
4,344.64 +0.32%
Euro STOXX 50
3,467.03 +0.45%
DAX
13,137.25 +0.39%
Ftse Mib
21,698.05 +0.75%


Eni
8.125 +0.59%


Total
34.5 +1.14%



Engie
12.165 +0.91%

Orange
10.41 +0.24%



Bp
244.4 +0.27%

Vodafone
123.18 +1.25%

Royal Dutch Shell A
1,244.8 +1.53%



Royal Dutch Shell B
1,196.8 +1.23%



Tullow Oil (TLW)
25.37 0.62 (2.51%)

[florenceorbis] 19/11/2020 14:03

Suez SA said Thursday that it hasn't received the necessary information to complete an employee consultation that would unfreeze a court-ordered suspension of the effects of the purchase of a stake in the company by Veolia Environnement SA.

The French waste-management company said that a court ruling confirmed Thursday that the effects of Veolia's purchase of a 29.9% stake in Suez's share capital remained suspended pending the completion of an employee consultation.

The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed an earlier ruling that said Suez employees had a right to be informed and consulted regarding the deal. Veolia bought the stake from energy company Engie SA.

Since no consultation had been carried out before the deal was finalized on Oct. 5, the effects of the sale remain suspended until the consultation had been completed, according to the ruling, Suez said.

"At this stage, Suez management still has not received from either Engie or Veolia all the necessary elements to respond precisely to employees' legitimate concerns regarding their future," the company said.

Earlier on Thursday, Veolia said in a statement that it would recover all rights in Suez resulting from the purchase by February 5 at the latest, three months after a date when, according to Veolia, Suez announced the beginning of the consultation.

Suez contests that Veolia will recover its rights on that date, and argues that the starting date for the consultation hasn't been fixed.

Suez has characterized Veolia's purchase of a stake in the company and its stated plans for a full takeover as hostile.



Write to Joshua Kirby at [e-mail]; @joshualeokirby



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 19, 2020 08:08 ET (13:08 GMT)

[waldron] 13/11/2020 18:09

Engie Sticks to Guidance as Quarterly Profit Beats Estimates

Francois de Beaupuy, Bloomberg News








BC-Engie-Sticks-to-Guidance-as-Quarterly-Profit-Beats-Estimates

BC-Engie-Sticks-to-Guidance-as-Quarterly-Profit-Beats-Estimates , Francois de Beaupuy

(Bloomberg) -- Engie SA stuck with full-year earnings forecasts as quarterly profit beat estimates, helped by cost cuts, a strong clean-power business and a rebound in energy services.

The French utility expressed confidence it’ll meet 2020 targets, saying its regulated assets in renewables, gas and power have proved resilient and it’s well prepared to ride out the second wave of the coronavirus crisis. The company is also pressing ahead with more divestments, having last month pulled off a $4 billion sale of its stake in water utility Suez SA.

Engie’s current operating income was 583 million euros ($688 million) in the third quarter, 15% down on a year earlier but 2% higher on a like-for-like basis.

“This is the first meaningful results beat for Engie in over one year,” analysts at Barclays Plc said in a note. “Most importantly, Engie’s 2020 guidance was conservatively enough set to withstand the impact of selling the Suez stake and additional lockdowns in Europe.”

The shares jumped as much as 4.7% to 12.48 euros in Paris on Friday, the highest since March 11. They traded up 2.4% as of 2:11 p.m. local time, paring their decline this year to 15%.

Engie said in July it wants to sell at least 8 billion euros of assets in the coming years, using the proceeds to boost growth in renewables and other services tied to the energy transition to fight global warming. The utility plans to offload part of its energy-services division, and said Friday it may sell some or all of its 40% stake in engineering business GazTransport & Technigaz SA to a third party or on the stock market.

“We’re going to start the process now,” Chief Financial Officer Judith Hartmann said on a conference call.

With quarterly earnings growing year-on-year for Renewables, Networks and Client Solutions -- a business on the slate for partial divestment -- and more disposals on the way, Engie maintained its 2020 forecast for net recurring income of 1.7 billion to 1.9 billion euros.

“Most of our businesses are performing well and we are well prepared for the new Covid-19 restrictions introduced in some of our main geographies,” the CFO said in a statement.

The company, based near Paris, said Friday it plans to sell services activities representing as much as 13 billion euros in annual revenue and 450 million euros in operating income.

Engie has “a lot of work ahead” to prepare the carve-out of its services activities, including a formal consultation process with employees in the first half of next year, before it decides on its divestment options, interim Chief Executive Officer Claire Waysand said on the conference call.

(Updates with CEO and CFO comments on asset sales from seventh paragraph.)

[waldron] 13/11/2020 17:24

Brent Crude Oil NYMEX 42.89 -1.02%
Gasoline NYMEX 1.13 -1.68%
Natural Gas NYMEX 3.18 +3.45%
WTI 40.25 USD -1.12%

FTSE 100
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Dow Jones
29,354.74 +0.94%
CAC 40
5,380.16 +0.33%
SBF 120
4,255.46 +0.38%
Euro STOXX 50
3,439.93 +0.16%
DAX
13,076.72 +0.18%
Ftse Mib
20,948.41 +0.63%



Eni
7.66 +0.55%


Total
32.645 +1.37%



Engie
12.3 +3.19%

Orange
10.335 +0.68%

Bp
236.9 -0.38%

Vodafone
119.52 +1.07%

Royal Dutch Shell A
1,165.8 -0.78%


Royal Dutch Shell B
1,115 -0.92%

Tullow Oil (TLW)
:22.63 -1.42 (-5.90%)

[sarkasm] 13/11/2020 12:13

11/13/2020 | 07:22am GMT

By Cecilia Butini and Mauro Orru

Engie SA said Friday that operating income fell for the first nine months of the year fell as it took a one-billion euro ($1.18 billion) hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

The French utility company said nine-month current operating income decreased to 2.75 billion euros ($3.25 billion) from EUR3.82 billion in the first nine months of 2019.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for the period slipped to EUR6.22 billion from EUR7.15 billion.

Revenue fell to EUR39.62 billion from EUR43.30 billion.

Engie said it continues to expect 2020 net recurring income between EUR1.7 billion and EUR1.9 billion and capital expenditure between EUR7.5 billion and EUR8 billion.

Write to Cecilia Butini at [e-mail] and Mauro Orru at [e-mail]; @MauroOrru94

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-13-20 0221ET

[the grumpy old men] 12/11/2020 08:37

Engie SA said Thursday that it is partnering with Traton SE's Scania to provide electric charging for trucks and buses in Europe.

The French energy company said the four-year partnership would initially focus on 13 European countries, with other regions following suit at the end of 2021.

Engie will deliver and maintain electric-charging solutions and associated services for Scania clients, while Scania will offer field services and training programmes for its drivers.

Scania and Traton are owned by Volkswagen AG.



Write to Mauro Orru at [e-mail]; @MauroOrru94



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 12, 2020 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)

[gibbs1] 11/11/2020 15:44

NOV/13/2020 | 07:15am Q3 2020 Sales and Revenue Release

NOV/13/2020 | 09:30am Q3 2020 Sales and Revenue Call

[waldron] 11/11/2020 06:07

Nord Stream 2 sanctions to be part of must-pass U.S. defense bill
Nov. 10, 2020 10:56 PM ET|About: Public Joint Stock Company ... (OGZPY)|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

U.S. House and Senate negotiators have reached an agreement to include additional sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany in a must-pass defense bill, Bloomberg reports.

The sanctions reportedly would target insurance and certification companies that work with Russian vessels on completion of the project, included as part of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which must be passed by the end of the year.

The U.S. has been trying to block completion of Nord Stream 2 over longstanding concerns that additional flows of Russian gas would increase the Kremlin's political leverage over European Union countries.

Partners in the project are Russia's Gazprom (OTCPK:OGZPY), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), Germany's Uniper (OTC:UNPPY) and BASF (OTCQX:BASFY), Austria's OMV (OTCPK:OMVJF) and France's Engie (OTCPK:ENGIY).

[waldron] 11/11/2020 04:51

wind
EDPR and ENGIE Launch Major Offshore Wind Player in the US
Tuesday, 10 November 2020
0
REM
EDP Renewables and ENGIE have combined their existing and planned offshore wind efforts to form a new company, Ocean Winds that is one of the largest “pure” offshore wind development enterprises in the world. After launching OW in Europe, EDP Renewables and ENGIE are now unveiling the U.S. arm of this new company: OW North America.

“OW will be a major element in creating the new clean, sustainable, and prosperous economy that Americans are demanding and OW North America can help to build that future” said OW CEO Spyros Martinis, adding, “OW North America from Day One is in the business of developing and delivering real offshore wind projects.”

Regulators around the world, including U.S. authorities, have approved the merger of EDPR and ENGIE’s offshore wind businesses allowing OW to begin life with 5.5 GW of committed offshore assets starting with a total of 1.5 GW under construction and 4.0 GW under development, with the target of reaching 5 to 7 GW of projects in operation or under construction and 5 to 10 GW under advanced development by the middle of this decade.

OW North America starts its life in a strong position in the highly attractive US renewable energy market on both the East and West Coasts.

OW North America is a 50% owner of Mayflower Wind, a company which was successful in a state-sponsored competitive auction which resulted in contracts to deliver 804 Megawatts (MW) of offshore wind energy to the Massachusetts utilities and their customers by the middle of this decade.

Mayflower Wind’s federal lease area, awarded in December 2018, has the potential to reach over 1600 MW. In addition, OW North America is a partner in the Redwood Coast floating offshore wind project, building on its experience developing floating projects in Europe, in particular Windfloat Atlantic – a fully operational floating offshore wind farm that is supplying clean affordable energy to the electricity customers of Portugal. OW will fill EDPR’s role in the Redwood Coast public-private consortium committed to developing an offshore wind project utilizing floating platform technology off the coast of Humboldt County in Northern California. The project’s customers will include consortium member Redwood Coast Energy Authority, a community choice aggregator established by local governments in Humboldt County.

[sarkasm] 11/11/2020 02:19

An Oil Market Recovery Is On The Horizon
By Cyril Widdershoven - Nov 10, 2020, 7:00 PM CST
Join Our Community

The major participants at ADIPEC 2020’s ADNOC Trading Forum expressed a wide range of sentiment, but the general message was one of caution or even outright pessimism when it came to oil price movements. The Virtual Conference, which was held in Abu Dhabi, was dominated by three main topics, the impact of COVID-19, global oil and gas demand destruction, and the U.S. election results. With a wide range of speakers including representatives from Abu Dhabi’s national oil company ADNOC, the major storage company VITOL, Japanese company ENEOS, Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM), and OMV amongst others, the forecasts for 2021 were plentiful and varied. The main takeaways for observers were that markets may be growing increasingly optimistic about a COVID recovery, but oil prices are unlikely to see a real recovery before the end of 2021. Oil market fundamentals are very weak at the moment and even if a COVID-19 vaccine is produced, the impact on fundamentals will be slow. Furthermore, any oil market recovery could easily be halted by a change in the strategy of OPEC+ or any other supply increase before demand picks back up. According to Energy Intelligence, Platts and Argus, the overall expectation for oil prices in 2021 is in the high $30s to mid $40s per barrel. In a panel with Martin Fraenkel, Euan Craik, and Alex Schindelar, all three industry leaders agreed that they expected a more optimistic situation in 2022. The three oil analysts emphasized that much will depend on the success of tackling COVID globally and the resilience of the market in the face of a possible supply boost.

Russel Hardy, the CEO of Vitol, argued that 2020 has shown how resilient the hydrocarbon sector still is. Despite the major breakdown of demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hardy claimed that Vitol has been able to ride out the storm and is fully prepared for 2021. While a combination of negative prices, demand destruction, and a storage glut means that a return to normal is still a long way away, an industry recovery is well and truly underway. Kajo Fujiwara, the Executive Officer of Crude Trading and Shipping for Japanese company ENEOS emphasized that “work continued even in COVID time”. He said that was particularly difficult as a state of emergency had been put in place in Japan as its refineries were forced to cut, exports decreased and margins were very low. The company’s investment plans were also altered as several projects were delayed. In H2, however, ENEOS saw refinery runs increase and signs of demand recovering.

Related: This Just Became The World's Largest Gas Hub

When asked about ADNOC Trading, Khaled Salmeen, the Executive Director, stated that the company “has not stopped doing what we wanted to do….we wanted to go strong on trading and we are as ADNOC Global Trading is going to go live in the coming weeks”. When asked about the impact of COVID on trading, Salmeen stated that for his company it had been an opportunity, as working on risk management and pricing has allowed the company to become more resilient. ADNOC Trading is developing well, with the crude book having gone live in September and the products book via Global Trading set to go live in the coming weeks. ADNOC is now starting to train and support the next generation of traders in the UAE. An ADNOC Trading official added that ADNOC Trading plans to set up representation internationally, including in the U.S. As well as trading, Salmeen confirmed that ADNOC Trading is also looking at entering the shipping space. ADNOC has always been an FOB seller. Shipping is now going to be a major part of the company. The cost of both second hand and new vessels in the current climate is extremely attractive for those with capital.

Overall it was a mixed takeaway from the event. COVID is once again hovering over markets with a second round of lockdowns in the EU, and price volatility has increased. For some, such as Hardy, real optimism could return to markets in H1 2021. There doesn’t seem to be any significant demand increase set to take place in winter and even if a COVID vaccine is produced, the real impact won’t be felt in the market before end H2 2021. At the same time, all participants agreed that the OPEC+ strategy is one of the major factors to watch. Vitol expects normal stock levels by Summer 2021, but even that will depend on OPEC+ strategies. New additional production, such as from Libya or Iran, could set markets back. A return to normal stock levels would see prices rising at the end of 2021. Hardy is cautiously optimistic but admits that it all depends on a continuous flow of “good news”. The Vitol official expects oil prices to recover to the high 40s or even the 50s in H1 2021, although any demand reduction would hurt that prediction.

When asked about Biden, Hardy said that any U.S. supply response would be price related. He stated that if Biden rejoins JCPOA and Iranian oil flows again, prices will be hit hard. He doesn’t expect the Biden Administration to have much of an impact on U.S. shale production though. While new regulations would impact production by increasing overall costs, the sector itself is largely non-political.

Even the oil and gas situation in Asia remains unclear. According to ENEOS’ Kajo, the COVID impact is still very much being felt. While the economies have suffered less than their western country parts, the impact on demand is still tangible. She said that China’s demand is healthy, but other countries such as Japan and India are still suffering. In Japan, refining margins are still suffering as JET demand is very low, and export markets are yet to recover. When asked about a possible Peak Oil demand scenario in Japan, the ENEOS official said that COVID has moved it forward dramatically.

By Cyril Widdershoven for Oilprice.com

[sarkasm] 09/11/2020 06:31

Australia Could Lead The $11 Trillion Hydrogen Boom
By Alex Kimani - Nov 08, 2020, 6:00 PM CST
Join Our Community

Back in July, the European Union unveiled a hydrogen strategy that immediately captured the imagination of the renewables world and was hailed as the most ambitious hydrogen plan ever. The EU's ambitious new hydrogen strategy laid out plans to install 40 gigawatts of electrolyzers within the region's borders and also support the development of another 40 gigawatts of green hydrogen in nearby countries that have the capacity to export the regional powerhouse. The EU is an economic and political union of 27 European countries.

However, a single country could soon rival an entire regional bloc ...

The Australian government has announced that it will fast-track the development of some of the world's largest wind and solar projects geared towards the production of green hydrogen.

Last week, Canberra announced that it had awarded "major project status" to the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH). The move will accelerate the development of 15,000MW wind and solar power for the production of hydrogen and ammonia for export to the Asia-Pacific region with plans to scale that up to 26,000MW, making it the largest of its kind in the world.

Green hydrogen

AREH's project director Brendan Hammond says the 15,000MW project is AREH's first, with plans to expand it to 26,000MW of hybrid wind and solar that will power electrolyzers for the production of green hydrogen and green ammonia.

The first phase of the Kalbarri project aims to blend the hydrogen directly with natural gas due to the challenges of transporting raw hydrogen. To illustrate its true potential, consider that at full capacity, AREH could generate up to 100 terawatt-hours a year, or nearly 40% of Australia generated 265 terawatt-hours last year.

Related: U.S. Oil Rig Count Rises During Election Week

AREH has an important precedent: The UK became one of the first countries to successfully implement grid injection of hydrogen, essentially blending hydrogen gas with natural gas in a 1:4 ratio. That might sound modest, but actually is the highest in Europe. A 20% volume blend allows customers to continue using their existing natural gas appliances with no need for major adjustments. ITM Power estimates that a natural gas/hydrogen blend of similar proportions rolled out across the entire country could save up to ~6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year, comparable to taking 2.5 million cars off the roads.

Australia plans to complete this phase of its green hydrogen strategy in just two years.

AREH's second phase will involve compressing and supercooling hydrogen just like we do with LNG then exporting it to Asian nations like Singapore, Korea, and Japan. This phase could kick off in about four years and take another three years to fully ramp up production.

The third phase of the project actually is the most exciting: Using green hydrogen to manufacture green steel for export. The global steel industry accounts for ~7% of global carbon emissions, giving you an idea of how polluting this sector is. But more and more customers are expected to start demanding green steel made from renewable energy much the same way global customers have started demanding cleaner natural gas.

In a clear sign of the times, French power company Engie SA ENGI was recently forced to abandon a multibillion-dollar contract to export LNG to the U.S. due to pressure by the French government on environmental concerns. This could very well become a standard requirement for the vast fossil fuel ecosystem.

Japan's Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain

The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) is a joint Japanese-Australian project that aims to produce plentiful, affordable fuel for Japan.

A big chunk of Australia's hydrogen exports will head to Japan, a country whose mountainous terrain and extreme seismic activity render it unsuitable for the development of sustainable renewable energy. The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain will attempt to establish a durable supply of liquid hydrogen from Australia, to be used as fuel in Japan. However, this hydrogen will be the grey type because it will be extracted from lignite, aka brown coal.

Germany's cabinet recently committed to invest €9B (about $10.2B) in hydrogen technology in a bid to decarbonize the economy and cut CO2 emissions. The government has proposed to build an electrolysis capacity of 5,000MW by 2030 and another 5,000MW by 2040 over the following decade to produce fuel hydrogen.

This is just the latest evidence that the hydrogen economy is finally ready to take off, with Middle East countries well endowed with high solar insolation; coal-rich countries like Australia, gas-rich countries like Russia as well as highly industrialized energy-importing countries in Asia and Europe all expressing a keen interest in hydrogen.

Overall, the hydrogen marketplace is on track to hit $11 trillion. Investors are loving it, and the game is on to find the best places to part your hydrogen money.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

[waldron] 06/11/2020 17:39

Brent Crude Oil NYMEX 39.55 -2.85%
Gasoline NYMEX 1.08 -2.63%
Natural Gas NYMEX 3.07 -0.45%
(WTI) 37.235 USD -3.07%

FTSE 100
5,910.02 +0.07%
Dow Jones
28,388.37 -0.01%
CAC 40
4,960.88 -0.46%
SBF 120
3,921.18 -0.49%
Euro STOXX 50
3,204.05 -0.30%
DAX
12,480.02 -0.70%
Ftse Mib
19,688.07 -0.22%



Eni
6.542 -0.82%


Total
27.63 +0.45%


Engie
11.035 -1.87%

Orange
9.426 -1.46%


Bp
199.86 -0.39%

Vodafone
105.04 -1.00%

Royal Dutch Shell A
1,008 +0.02%



Royal Dutch Shell B
970 +0.30%

Tullow Oil (TLW)
18.105 -0.265 (-1.44%)

[sarkasm] 06/11/2020 12:34

Engie SA said Friday that in mid-September it signed a 15-year contract with representatives of the French region Centre-Val de Loire to renovate the energy systems of 62 schools and the regional contemporary art fund.

The French energy company said the program represents a total investment of approximately 32 million euros ($37.9 million). Renovation works will start at the end of 2020 and take two years to be completed.

The project will allow a reduction in the buildings' energy consumption by more than 30% and cut carbon-dioxide emissions by nearly 35%, Engie said.



Write to Giulia Petroni at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 06, 2020 07:17 ET (12:17 GMT)

[ariane] 05/11/2020 12:03

French methane gas objections thwart $7bn US LNG contract
The French government last month forced national power generation firm Engie SA to delay signing a potential $7bn deal with US company NextDecade over environmental concerns about its US shale gas. Other LNG importing countries may follow France's lead

04 Nov 2020

Eric Watkins @EricWatkins_ [e-mail]

The delay underlines concerns among some US natural gas exporters that the regulatory rollbacks by the Trump administration are making it harder to sell their product overseas as a cleaner alternative to oil or coal

[ariane] 04/11/2020 08:19

04 November 2020 - 08:15AM
Dow Jones News



French Power Company Drops U.S. LNG Deal


Engie's decision to halt negotiations with LNG exporter NextDecade follows reports of pressure from the French government over methane concerns.