Ukraine has had its gas supplies from Russia cut off due to the ongoing dispute between the two nations, which could lead to a Europe-wide shortage in the coming months. Gazprom is Russia’s government-owned gas giant, and has now informed Ukraine that it needs to settle its debt and pay for any future gas supplies upfront. All supplies passing through … Read More
Iraq conflict could push energy prices up
Concerns regarding security of supply have driven Brent crude prices up 3% and US crude up 2% in the wake of recent developments. Crude oil prices have risen sharply due to the uncertainty in Iraq. Prices for Brent crude futures have risen to over $113 per barrel, the highest price for almost a year. Iraq is the second-largest oil producing … Read More
Data centres get Climate Change Agreement
It is the first industry that does not manufacture physical products to get a CCA, meaning exemption from the Climate Change Levy. Climate Change Agreements (CCAs) allow the 50 most energy intensive industries in the UK partial exemption from the Climate Change Levy, in return for meeting energy saving targets. Currently there are around 50 industries that have CCAs in … Read More
British Gas and Npower announce price rises
Three of the Big Six have now announced winter price increases of between 8 and 11 per cent. Npower and British Gas have joined SSE and Co-op on the list of energy companies that have already announced price hikes this winter. Both suppliers blamed the hikes on higher prices on the global energy markets, higher costs of transmission, and increases … Read More
Centrica plans oil and shale gas exploration
The parent company of British Gas is seeking to generate more of its own energy, due to its increasing reliance on foreign imports. Centrica, owner of British Gas, has announced a new 2 year partnership with Cuadrilla Resources to extract shale gas at 7 wells across Lancashire. Fracking will take place at 6 new wells, as well as the one … Read More
Has the oil market been rigged to raise prices?
BP, Shell & Statoil suspected of deliberately manipulating markets and exacerbating the recession. Three energy giants may have “colluded in reporting distorted prices to manipulate the published prices for a number of oil and biofuel products”. If these allegations are true, it could have had an impact on not just petrol. Everything is linked to the price of oil somehow … Read More
Is Britain’s energy security at risk?
With EDF Energy still in talks with the government about building new nuclear plants, are we at real risk of running out of electricity? Britain could have a new ‘fleet’ of nuclear power plants by 2030, if all goes well, but the first of the 18 projects is under threat. EDF is negotiating hard with the government about the subsidy … Read More
Japan extracts ‘frozen gas’ from seabed
The island nation has become the first country to extract natural gas from methane hydrates frozen underneath the sea. New technology could lead to the gas being commercially extracted in the coming years – as the technology improves and it costs less to extract. Although frozen gas is currently very expensive compared to other methods of extraction, it might be … Read More
A 2013 UK Shale Gas Revolution? Unlikely.
Natural gas prices in the US have dropped by almost two thirds since they started ‘fracking’ for shale gas. Could we see a similar boost to the UK economy any time soon? Shale Gas – probably the only hope we have of producing a significant amount of useful, home-grown energy in the next decade or two. Some say it is … Read More
Ofgem report warns of blackouts by 2015
A lack of excess electricity generation has led the energy regulator to admit there could be shortfalls in supply in the near future. A report recently published by Ofgem predicts that the UK’s spare generation capacity will drop from its currently level of 14% to 4% by 2015. Under special terms in business electricity contracts, it would be companies that … Read More