Global Energy Review, Oct 23 - 29
Here's a summary of last week’s top global energy news with the potential to impact supply and demand.
AI/ Energy demand
According to Schneider Electric, (with the exception of China) AI consumes about 85-134 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity across the globe each year, which is about as much as the Netherlands’ energy consumption. This figure could grow five-fold by 2028.
China/ Renewable energy
China’s renewable energy expansion can’t keep pace with demand even though the country added 226 GW of generating capacity in 2023 – solar (129 GW); thermal (39 GW); wind (33 GW); and hydro (8 GW). Thermal plants are generating far more hours on average (3,344 hours) than hydro (2,367 hours), wind (1,665) and solar (1,017 hours), according to the National Energy Administration.
France/ Hydrogen power
Air Liquide, one of the world’s largest hydrogen producers, plans to invest €3.4 billion over the next 12 months, with half going to projects in the U.S. where it plans to become a leader.
Italy/ CCS
Gas grid Snam and Eni plan to capture CO2 and store it in depleted gas fields, betting that French companies, such as cement and steel makers, will store their CO2 in the Italian hub instead of Norway’s CCS facilities. The first phase launches by early 2025 to store 25,000 tons of CO2 a year in depleted gas fields offshore Ravenna.
Qatar/ Natural gas
QatarEnergy inked a deal to sell 1 mtpa of LNG supply to Italy’s Eni for 27 years starting 2026. The volumes will be sourced from expansion of the North Field East (NFE), one of the world's largest gas fields, which will increase LNG production from 77 mtpa to 110 mtpa. With the North Field South (NFS) phase, Qatar plans a capacity of 126 mtpa by 2027.
Russia/ Natural gas
Gazprom will supply extra gas to Hungary this winter, and will provide China with an additional 600 million cubic meters this year on top of contractual obligations. President Putin met the leaders of both countries during a trip to China last week.
Offshore Wind
General Electric expects its offshore-wind operations to post annual losses of about $1 billion for this year and in 2024 as the industry struggles with rising costs. Next year, the company expects offshore will have similar losses but “substantially improved cash performance.”
Singapore/ Natural gas
Singapore will set up a single buyer of natural gas for its power-generation sector to improve energy security. This entity will aggregate gas demand from the power-generation companies (gencos), then import the gas required, and sell it to the gencos.
Sweden/ EV batteries
Northvolt, Europe’s largest battery maker, could go public next year, but the plans are still preliminary. The Swedish battery maker has invited investment banks to pitch for roles in the deal that could value the company at about $20 billion.
Venezuela/ Oil
A U.S. judge will hold an auction of Houston-based Citgo, which is owned by Venezuela. For the past four years, the U.S. protected oil refiner Citgo Petroleum from creditors seeking to seize Venezuela's foreign crown jewel for billions of dollars in claims.
U.S./ Oil
Chevron will buy rival Hess for $53 billion; the deal reflects energy companies' bid for oil and gas assets. The deal intensifies competition between Chevron and Exxon, but they’ll now be partners in Guyana's booming oil fields expected to produce 1.2 mbpd by 2027.