Australia has big renewable energy ambitions and is well on its way to shifting dependence away from coal to cleaner alternatives. Having long depended on coal, the government now aims to establish a more diverse energy mix to ensure that Australia can be energy self-sufficient in the years to come, while supporting a green transition. This aim is being reflected by market forces, as energy companies invest heavily in a diverse range of energy sources. Australia is home to an extensive ageing coal fleet, meaning the government must decide whether…

China has unveiled a daring new plan to integrate artificial intelligence throughout the nuclear energy life cycle. This week, at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) revealed a new plan for safely integrating artificial intelligence into the nuclear sector, called ADANES  – the Accelerator-Driven Advanced Nuclear Energy System. The system “fundamentally changes the safety logic that governs conventional nuclear reactors” and marks a major turning…

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology grew in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic as several governments and private companies pledged to support a green transition. The use of CCS was expected to help decarbonise hard-to-abate industries until a long-term transition to clean energy could be achieved. However, in recent years, many have become more sceptical about the effectiveness of CCS technologies, as several projects have failed to perform. CCS technology is used to capture carbon dioxide at emission sources, so it can be transported…

Green hydrogen was supposed to be a silver bullet solution for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors like shipping and steelmaking. It was the buzziest technology out there – and then it fizzled out completely. But after years of languishing in labs without reaching any meaningful level of commercialization, hydrogen is making a roaring comeback thanks to back-to-back scientific breakthroughs and renewed interest in the fossil fuel alternative against the backdrop of the global oil and gas crisis brought on by the United States’ and Israel’s…

The European Commission (EC) has informed EU governments that they should waive penalties for oil and gas companies that breach its methane emissions law for the next three years, owing to pressure from the United States government to scrap the rules. While the decision is not binding, many member states are expected to follow the EC’s advice. The EC made the move after the U.S. and ‌Qatar, as well as oil and gas industry groups and most EU member states, voiced concerns about the strict rules and demanded change. Several states feared…

Crop prices just hit a three-year high, indicating major downstream pain soon to come at the supermarket. There are two major factors leading to high crop prices and a potential global food crisis: heat waves and intensifying conflict in the Black Sea threatening to disrupt global grain trades, and volatility in fertilizer markets stemming from the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is referring to the unfolding situation in fertilizer supply chains as an “input crisis”…

For years, Saudi Arabia's strategic answer to any disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has been remarkably straightforward. If volumes via the Persian Gulf were threatened, the answer was to pump west through the East-West Pipeline to Yanbu on the Red Sea. Markets have always seen this as reassuring, while strengthening Saudi energy security and reducing dependence on Hormuz. Current developments in the Red Sea, especially Bab El Mandab, however, have exposed a critical weakness in that assumption. The East-West Pipeline is not solving the total…

As the price of gold has hovered around $4,000 an ounce in recent weeks, the men in the small-scale mines north of the village of Soykechar in Uzbekistan have watched every bounce and slide. They pull up apps on their phones that show various price points. The local TV stations announce the price. And, by word of mouth, they know the quote on the black market. “We are trying to make better lives, and we can buy good clothes for the children, better food, and we can go to private hospitals,” said Doniyor, the 34-year-old machinery manager…

Russia's largest Black Sea oil export terminal has effectively gone offline just days after drone attacks shut down the neighboring Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal, tightening another artery that moves crude onto the global market. The Sheskharis terminal at Novorossiysk hasn’t loaded a crude tanker since July 21, according to Bloomberg. Sheskharis exported an average of about 650,000 barrels per day during the first half of the year. Losing those barrels, even temporarily, comes on top of the disruption at CPC, which normally handles…

The world isn't just staring down another weather event. It's staring down a weather event colliding with a supply-driven oil shock. JPMorgan warned Friday that a "super" El Niño combined with higher energy prices from the Middle East conflict could slow the decline in global inflation next year, adding roughly 0.3 percentage points to headline inflation worldwide. The bank puts the odds of the current El Niño strengthening into a "very strong" or "super" event at 81% by the end of the year, with a 97% probability conditions persist…