U.S. Senators John Kerry and Joseph Liberman have unveiled a much anticipated climate bill as a counteroffer to the version passed nearly a year ago by the House of Representatives, calling it the “American Power Act.”
The bill’s main goal is to reduce U.S. carbon dioxide emissions; aiming for a reduction of 17% by 2020 and over 80% by 2050. These reductions would be achived by imposing new emission limits on factories, utilities and transportation vehicles, which in aggregate emit nearly 6.4 billion metric tons of pollution every year – a level second only to China. A regulated market for the trade of pollution credits is included in the legislation, as are tax and loan incentives to expand domestic nuclear power plant construction.
In response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill catastrophe, the proposed expansion of offshore drilling now includes protection measures for states who do not want offshore rigs off their coasts. Concessions to the oil, coal and gas industries have been included in the hopes of drumming up support for the bill, which the Obama administration sees as essential to establishing a comprehensive energy policy in the United States. However, it appears unlikely that debate upon this legislation will commence this year.
The United States military is not taking the threat of Peak Oil lightly. A new report issued by the US Joint Forces command warns that based on present consumption rates, surplus oil supply could disappear within two years, leading to potential shortage of 10 million barrels per day by 2015.
A shortfall of this magnitude may have wide-ranging and detrimental economic effects. The Joint Forces Command warns this might “exacerbate other unresolved tensions, push fragile and failing states further down the path towards collapse, and perhaps have serious economic impact on both China and India.”
The conclusions of this report contrasts previous statements made by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), which has said Peak Oil is still “decades away.” In a recent interview with French newspaper Le Monde, Glen Sweetnam, main oil advisor to President Obama, admitted that “a chance exists that we may experience a decline” in world liquid fuels production between 2011 and 2015.
Under the leadership of Chief Executive Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s gigantic national oil company Saudi Aramco is planning a $90 billion expansion in new oil and gas projects over the next five years.
Saudi Aramco is investing $10 billion into the Manifa field, which will involved the construction of 27 islands in a section of the Arabian Gulf. The increased output from this massive reserve will offset the declining production in the aging Ghawar field.
At one point Ghawar, which is the largest oilfield ever discovered, had a production capacity of over 5 million bpd, however in recent years Saudi Aramco has had to inject the field with millions of barrels of water to extract the oil. Al-Falih denies accusations that Ghawar has reached its peak, saying that the giant field “still has recoverable reserves equivalent to 55 billion barrels.”
China’s growing influence was a major point of discussion for the Al-Falih, who mentioned that over the past few months more Saudi oil was shipped to China than to the United States. ”The U.S. has plateaued or certainly will not be growing at the same rate. But the U.S. will remain the largest market for oil for decades to come,” he predicted.
Climate change investments hold both immediate and long-term potential for growth, says Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors in a new report.
Kevin Parker, DB’s Global Head of Asset Management, had this to say about this growing investment space:
“The shift to a low-carbon economy to mitigate global warming will require the creation of new technologies, industries and jobs on a massive scale. The absolute imperative to prevent climate change is therefore also, I believe, the economic and investment opportunity of a lifetime.”
“… In other words, climate change is not merely an investment sector that may hold future promise; it is a sector that has already delivered and is continuing to deliver. That is is why we believe institutional investors should be shifting their asset allocation towards climate change. For fidiuciary reason, if for no other, they should be seeking out this attractive source of alpha.”
Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, will say the coming crisis could be even more serious than the credit crunch
Sir Richard Branson and fellow leading businessmen will warn ministers this week that the world is running out of oil and faces an oil crunch within five years.
The founder of the Virgin group, whose rail, airline and travel companies are sensitive to energy prices, will say that the coming crisis could be even more serious than the credit crunch.
“The next five years will see us face another crunch – the oil crunch. This time, we do have the chance to prepare. The challenge is to use that time well,” Branson will say.
“Our message to government and businesses is clear: act,” he says in a foreword to a new report on the crisis. “Don’t let the oil crunch catch us out in the way that the credit crunch did.”
U.S. Senators John Kerry and Joseph Liberman have unveiled a much anticipated climate bill as a counteroffer to the version passed nearly a year ago by the House of Representatives, calling it the “American Power Act.”
The United States military is not taking the threat of Peak Oil lightly. A new report issued by the US Joint Forces command warns that based on present consumption rates, surplus oil supply could disappear within two years, leading to potential shortage of 10 million barrels per day by 2015.
