The risk to future investment from the Australian Government’s radical intervention in the gas market has been demonstrated, with Senex Energy pausing a A$1 billion (US$674 million) domestic gas supply expansion, involving hundreds of new jobs and millions of dollars of investment in regional communities, according to APPEA.
Australia’s Labor government is planning to seize control of domestic gas prices when it introduces extraordinary new legislation to parliament on Thursday in what has been likened to a near nationalisation of gas markets.
Shell (LON:SHEL) is upbeat about the opportunities for carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Asia Pacific, as the supermajor explores various potential storage site options across its portfolio in the region, which includes Australia, Malaysia and Brunei.
Australia’s new Labor government will accelerate efforts to tackle climate change, but climate policy will remain highly politicised, warns Verisk Maplecroft, a strategic risk intelligence company.
Sudden and unexpected changes in policy have “spooked” investors and could push up the costs to households of building much needed new energy projects, MPs have warned.
Aberdeen MP Callum McCaig has called on the UK Government to rethink its plans to end a renewables subsidy scheme a year early after it suffered a defeat in the Lords. Labour put forward an amendment to the Energy bill, deleting the policy to close the Renewables Obligation to onshore windfarms from next April, which was carried by 242 votes to 190. Energy minister Lord Bourne warned peers to “move carefully”, but his opposite number Baroness Worthington said early closure would save no more than 30p per household each year.
Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush will unveil a national energy plan next week that is a key part of his pledge to spur 4 percent economic growth. The plan, which Bush will detail at a natural gas company near Pittsburgh, is the latest roll-out from the former Florida governor as he attempts to sell himself to voters as the policy heavyweight in the field and steer clear of the personal battles that have erupted in the nomination race as Donald Trump has risen in the polls. Bush’s team will give a sneak peak of the plan to donors on Monday, a day before the candidate discusses it publicly, according to an invitation obtained by Bloomberg. On Tuesday, Bush talks about the plan during a campaign event at Rice Energy Inc., a company based about 35 miles outside Pittsburgh that acquires, explores and develops natural gas and oil properties in the Appalachian Basin, said Tim Miller, a Bush campaign spokesman.
The Government’s “green” policies have added around £60 to the average consumer energy bill in the last five years, a report has suggested. Energy company profits have added £70 to rising bills, and accounted for around £77 of average household dual fuel costs in 2014, while energy and climate policy costs accounted for £89, the study from think-tank Policy Exchange said. The report called on ministers to maximise efforts to improve household energy efficiency and to focus carbon-cutting efforts on mature technologies such as onshore wind to tackle climate change at least cost to the consumer.
Oil jumped after the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Futures rallied as much as 3.1% in New York and 2.6% in London after the Saudi royal court announced the death in a statement. Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz will succeed Abdullah on the throne.