ODAC Newsletter – July 13

July 13, 2012

Welcome to the ODAC Newsletter, a weekly roundup from the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre at nef dedicated to raising awareness of peak oil.

The IEA forecast this week that non OECD oil demand overtake OECD demand for the first time next year. The agency advised that economic slowdown is likely to keep a lid on oil prices in 2013, but there was still a chance of “nasty supply surprises”. In China, where growth is slowing as exports decline, the government cut the price of gasoline this week. It has now cut prices 14% since early May in an attempt to revive the economy.

Government intervention in Norway averted the possibility of a strike in the oil sector this week which could have tied up 2mb/d of production. The acute threat of a strike may have been avoided, but the FT reported the long term decline in North Sea oil production threatens to distort pricing of the Brent crude benchmark.

The danger to aquifers from fracking was the subject of a new study released this week. The paper, from Duke University, which studied the Marcellus formation, found that while there was no evidence that brine found in aquifers there had resulted from fracking, there are natural pathways in the rock which “could mean that some drinking water supplies in northeastern Pennsylvania are at increased risk for contamination, particularly from fugitive gases that leak from shale gas well casings…”. The report will add to the controversy around fracking. Industry was critical of the report while welcoming the fact that no evidence of contamination linked to fracking had been found. Environmental groups saw the report as important evidence that fracking is not safe.

One way to reduce the need for gas and oil was highlighted by the IEA this week in their new report on Solar Heating and Cooling. According to the report solar thermal panels could make a significant contribution to low temperature heating and cooling requirements cutting the equivalent of Germany’s annual CO2 emissions.

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Oil

Economic slowdown could cap oil prices, IEA says

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Norway restarts fields, no strike repeat for 2 years

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Brent suffers from ‘North Sea syndrome’

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China in 3rd fuel price cut since May, demand tepid

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Shell carbon-capture project gets Alberta nod

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BP halts Alaska offshore project as safety changes inflate cost

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Enbridge says pipeline safe after NTSB blasts company

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Gas

Pennsylvania Fracking Can Put Water at Risk, Duke Study Finds

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Marcellus Shale Study Shows Fluids Likely Seeping Into Pennsylvania Drinking Water Supplies

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Can fracking pollute water? Study tries to answer

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Renewables

Clean energy investment rebounds strongly during second quarter

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IEA: Solar thermal could boil away Germany’s carbon emissions

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Biofuels

Guatemala farmers losing their land to Europe’s demand for biofuels

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GOP puts biofuels on the chopping block

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UK

Up in smoke: how efficient is electricity produced in the UK?

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Falkland Islands: Premier Oil plan leads UK and Argentina to new dispute

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Study finds waste-fuelled nuclear reactor “feasible” for UK

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CBI chief slams government over wind subsidies row

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Centrica criticises policy as seabirds block Docking Shoal wind farm

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Government $1bn deal to controversial Petrobras deep-sea oil drilling

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Tags: Electricity, Energy Policy, Fossil Fuels, Industry, Natural Gas, Oil, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Solar Thermal