Israel’s desire to seize Gaza’s gas can partially explain Netanyahu’s intransigence when it comes to cease-fire initiatives, as this project hinges on Israel maintaining security control over the territory and expelling the Palestinian population.
Source: Opinion | One Key Reason Behind Israel’s War on Gaza? Gas | Common Dreams
I knew the gas cartel had been too quiet for too long. Something had to be brewing, and what a doozy it was.
Unique in the world for energy producers, the east coast of Australia has no domestic reservation regime for its gas reserves.
Even now, amid a spaghetti bowl of regulation and price controls, there is still no effective domestic reservation.
Over the past decade, this has allowed China-beholden foreign capital to create a gas export cartel that has:
It’s not like it doesn’t matter or anything. Yet nobody cares, and the mainstream media never writes about it.
As AusSuper plays chicken with Brookfield’s $20b bid for Origin Energy, Origin is quietly putting the chokehold on gas imports too
Source: ‘Gas cartel shoots Australia in the head’ – Origin to control imports too – Michael West
“These scholars offer different perspectives than traditional media, providing insights into the arguments that reconfigure the narrative that seeks to dismiss Hamas as a freedom-fighting movement. Why was Nelson Mandela seen as a ‘terrorist’ by the US until 2008?”
“We know very well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” Nelson Mandela.
The military occupation of Gaza aims to transfer sovereignty over the gas fields to Israel, a crime that violates international law and involves massacres, to displace Palestinians until the objectives are achieved.
Can Corporate suppliers be trusted?
Hydrogen is being increasingly used as leverage to reignite the Australian gas network, with industry leaders attacking reforms reducing production and consumption. Rosco Jones reports.
One of the biggest gas infrastructure owners, the Australian Gas Infrastructure Group has come out against Victoria’s recent banning of gas lines to new homes as being inhibitive to renewable uptake, with the CEO of AGIG, Craig de Laine, expressing his opposition to the ban on new gas:
“The investment has already been made in the gas networks – it makes good sense for taxpayers to get the value from that investment and that asset, and continue to use it for decades to come.”
Evidence is building, both in Australia and overseas, that any hydrogen may not be the answer for a clean future.
Source: Cancellation in WA, an end to gas blending in Victoria. Is hydrogen the answer? – Michael West
Mainstream media is lobbying to keep Australia’s largest coal plant, Eraring, open for ‘reliability’. Origin wants it closed. What’s the scam?
Source: Old coal clunkers the problem, not the AEMO solution – Michael West
Murdochians laugh as the world burns
The world has just suffered through its warmest month ever recorded. Heatwaves have swept across southern Europe, the US and China, breaking many temperature records in the process.
Source: Science shows the severe Climate Consequences of new Oil, Gas and Coal Production
Billion of dollars worth of Australians’ retirement savings are being invested into new fossil fuel projects although several super funds are starting to push big polluters to act on climate change.
Source: Super funds investing billions into new coal and gas – Michael West
“ ….. to transition towards low-emission energy systems, including by rapidly scaling up the deployment of clean power generation and energy efficiency measures, including accelerating efforts towards the phasedown of unabated coal power and phase-out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies……
” The inclusion of ‘low emission’ (read gas) fuels means gas is now promoted alongside renewable energy as a pathway to carbon neutrality. The driving force behind this blatant policy regression was middle eastern oil interests/ governments and a compliant Egyptian host (one wonders what extraordinary wisdom led to this choice of country and region for such a critically important meeting of COP which, not surprisingly, was besieged by regional carbon industry delegates). An Australian pushback to this regression was nowhere to be seen nor its absence reported on. Backing up the promotion of gas is the reference to ‘clean’ (read carbon capture and storage (CCS)) energy. No recognition here that, as Australia has found, CCS remains unproven at scale and therefore its cost-benefit unknown – both for gas extraction and coal fired power generation.
Source: COP27: Australia promotes fossil fuels as pathway to carbon neutrality – Pearls and Irritations
In what world is this a believable statement. If Alice went down the rabbit hole today she’d find this group around the Mad Hatter’s table. Is it because BP is Australia’s largest investor in solar energy? It has one foot on the subsidy accelerator, pays little in tax and has the other foot on the renewables brake. They don’t mind a reduction in output as long as prices continue to rise and renewables are kept under firm control
Ms King vowed to back new gas and coal fields to combat the energy crisis. She also expressed support for the ongoing role of gas to power mining and refining, which will support a net-zero emissions economy.
Source: Coal and gas ‘natural ally’ of renewables – Michael West
Michaella Cash is fighting for the gas not to be capped unless greater production is allowed. No mention of the record profits being made though. Capping profits or taxing them appropriately won’t scare the miners off. Her argument avoids suggesting that the gas companies might just be “crying poor”. They fell into line in West Australia, didn’t they?
As the federal government weighs its options for regulating the gas market to bring down soaring power prices, exporters of Australian gas, riding high on record profits, have fired a warning shot.
Source: Record profits, but gas companies warn we could be crying poor
The 2015 Iran nuclear deal offered Europe a way to diversify natural gas supplies, but instead Europeans were left at Russia’s mercy.
Source: This Winter, Freezing Europeans Can Blame Trump’s Neocon Foreign Policy
When Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, he gambled that it would be won quickly and that the west would acquiesce in a fait accompli. He underestimated Ukrainian resilience and European readiness to punish Kremlin aggression with sanctions. That forced Mr Putin into a longer game. Now he is betting that European reliance on Russian gas exports will corrode western solidarity, leading to a degrading of sanctions and restored tolerance of Moscow’s territorial aggressions.
To hasten that scenario, Russia has cut the flow of gas through the main east-west pipeline. The Kremlin’s message of strategic extortion is not subtle: go softer on the war and have a cosier winter; stay tough and freeze. European solidarity is just about holding. Earlier this week EU members agreed a deal to cut gas usage by 15% as part of a phased move away from reliance on Russian supplies. But the deal is diluted by opt-outs and exceptions for various countries. Hungary, the EU state that is cosiest with the Kremlin, has not signed up at all.
The Guardian view on Russian gas: a compelling reason to go green | Editorial | The Guardian
The Guardian view on Russian gas: a compelling reason to go green | Editorial | The Guardian
It is the first time the Federal Court has been asked to look at objective scientific evidence and find that the greenhouse gas impacts of a major offshore gas project are likely to significantly impact the Great Barrier Reef. The Scarborough Gas Project is a for-export LNG proposal off Murujuga/the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia, which will result in the release of an estimated 878.02 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.
Woodside’s ‘climate bomb’ Scarborough Gas Project must be defused
Another problem with “natural” gas as a bridge is that much gas production in the US is now via hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” which releases large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Methane does not stay in the atmosphere as long as CO2, but it is 25 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas. Our current methane crisis appears to derived from fracked wells that have been left uncapped.
Source: It is now Cheaper to Switch from Coal directly to Wind and Solar than to Natural Gas
Elections bring on desperate changes and sometimes common sense is an accidental outcome.
So, if you want action against major gas companies controlling Australian politicians, a red-hot climate denier may still be worth some attention.
Hanson went so far as to propose a government-owned enterprise instead of paying private companies to do the same job. “If we’re going to pay $2.3 billion to secure Australia’s fuel supply, the government should buy the Brisbane refinery in Lytton and let it become an asset owned by the Commonwealth.” Hanson continually references Norway’s Sovereign Health Fund having “struck the right chord for its citizens, earning $1.5 trillion from its commodities.” “Australia, on the other hand, last year took a measly $300 million in direct payments for $50 billion worth of gas off the North West Shelf” while “the tiny nation of Qatar has a different approach. It receives around $26 billion in royalties on the gas it exports.” Qatar trades slightly less gas and hydrocarbon products than Australia.
Source: Pauline Hanson v the gas giants: who would have thought? – Michael West Media
If the crisis can wait four years, big increases in wind and solar power will replace most NatGas. The IEA site reports that, “The agency says that between 2020 and 2026, renewables will grow by another 60 percent to over 4,800 gigawatts, which is roughly the size of the capacity of all fossil fuel and nuclear [electricity] power plants combined. Over the next five years, renewables will capture 95 percent of the growth in the electricity sector.”
Source: Europe is dependent on Russian Gas during Ukraine Crisis because it didn’t Ramp up Renewables Faster
Righto. Angus is on the job. Except … Australia’s largest producer of urea, Incitec Pivot, told the stock exchange last month it plans to close its main urea plant in Brisbane’s Gibson Island by the end of next year. The facility had been unable to secure “an economically viable long-term gas supply.” Paradoxically, Australia’s Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources said in its Resources and Energy Quarterly released June 28 that the global LNG market is likely to be marked by a surplus of supply over the next couple of years, which will place downward pressure on prices. “Given the large-scale expansion of global LNG capacity in recent years, import demand is expected to remain short of export capacity throughout the outlook period,” the report said. Then I read in the New York Times … Tanker ships carrying liquefied natural gas from exporters like the United States, Qatar and Australia have been steaming toward China and Brazil, drawn by higher prices.
Source: Angus Taylor makes no sense – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Like the Sacklers and Purdue the oil industry normalized death to ensure profits weren’t lost
By the early 1920s, the hazards of lead were well known – even Charles Dickens and Benjamin Franklin had written about the dangers of lead poisoning. When GM began selling leaded gasoline, public health experts questioned its decision. One called lead a serious menace to public health, and another called concentrated tetraethyl lead a “malicious and creeping” poison.
Australia is the biggest exporter of gas, bar none, in the world, yet we are paying the seventh-highest prices for gas in the world. Callum Foote reports on the gas cartel and the myth there is a gas “market”.
The Pilliga forests are a significant water, biodiversity and carbon sink resource, yet our governments want to turn it into a gas-field. Now is the time to rethink how we value and manage our irreplaceable natural resources.
Source: It’s the forest, silly! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The Australian Federal Court has ruled that the Nation’s Environment Minister and Government “has a legal duty not to cause harm to young people of Australia by exacerbating climate change when approving coal mining projects.” While the case will eventually get to the High Court, it is hard to make a logical argument that expansion or creation of infrastructure that produces fossil fuel for consumption doesn’t also increase carbon emissions.
Source: The gas-fired recovery – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The federal government will direct its Snowy Hydro power corporation to build a $600 million gas-fired power plant in the Hunter Valley, ignoring calls that the investment is unneeded.
Source: Morrison government bankrolls $600m Hunter Valley gas plant
It is embarrassing enough that the government is even considering PEP11, the proposal to drill for gas directly off the coast of Australia’s most populous beaches and wealthiest economic zone. The final decision rests with Resources Minister Keith Pitt. Luke Stacey and Michael West report.
Fossil fuel multinational Shell does not believe it will ever pay the Australian government a cent in resource taxes for the gas it draws from the country’s biggest gas project, Gorgon.
JobSlayer: gas giants grab $300m subsidy then axe 3000 workers – Michael West
The Government touts gas as being a key plank of JobMaker, its Covid-19 recession recovery plan. To help “support jobs” the government has given the gas industry $300 million of taxpayers’ money in subsidies. In return, the industry has cut about 3000 workers, more than 10% of it workforce, in a boom production year. Mark Ogge and Elizabeth Minter report.
JobSlayer: gas giants grab $300m subsidy then axe 3000 workers – Michael West
The truth is gas is both too expensive and too dirty. We’ve known this for nearly a decade
Gas won’t fuel Australia’s recovery or reduce emissions. It’s a mirage | Greg Jericho | Business | The Guardian
The gas industry will inevitably decline as an energy source for industry and homes due to both economic and environmental issues, and will not deliver the Morrison government’s promised “gas-led recovery”, a new report finds.The gas industry will inevitably decline as an energy source for industry and homes due to both economic and environmental issues, and will not deliver the Morrison government’s promised “gas-led recovery”, a new report finds.
Benefits of Coalition’s ‘gas-led recovery’ overstated and declining usage inevitable, report finds | Environment | The Guardian
The Coalition will continue to devote taxpayer dollars to deny the science until they are voted out, or until climate change finally wins.
Angus Taylor’s coal and gas roadmap to nowhere
Is this really an industry we want to trust with our economic recovery?
When investors won’t back gas, why should taxpayers?
Years ago the “I see no evil, I hear no evil, I speak no evil” 3 wise monkeys ornaments were frequently on display. Abbreviate that to “Blind, Deaf, Dumb”, drop the word ‘wise’ and use the modern connotation of Dumb as being Stupid, and you have summed up Morrison.
Why is Morrison like the 3 monkeys? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The Government and its Covid Commission are pushing a $6 billion gas pipeline while new energy regulator, Clare Savage, calls into question the future of the gas networks. Meanwhile Australians still pay more for gas than customers overseas pay for Australian gas. Michael West reports on the momentous upheaval in energy.
It is one short sentence but a sentence with remarkable implications for the nation:
“If not, the economic life of the assets could be limited.”
The new chair of the Australian Energy Regulator, Clare Savage, is saying that if the gas transmission networks do not convert to hydrogen, these assets may be stranded; that’s many billions of dollars in gas pipelines stranded.
“She is calling time on a multi-billion dollar industry,” says energy analyst Bruce Robertson.
The candid assessment from Clare Savage is even more remarkable considering the Government, with the connivance of its Covid-19 Commission, is pushing plans to build a $6 billion gas pipeline from Western Australia to the East Coast.
via A Savage Call: energy tsar calls time on Australia’s gas cartel – Michael West
As Santos reports its profits this week, there is one number you are unlikely to hear from chief Kevin Gallagher: $7 billion. That’s $7 billion in gas losses over five years. Bruce Robertson reports on the government’s penchant for backing a big loss industry, future gas liabilities and the Federal Government’s gas deal with the states.
via Santos blows $7 billion in five years and no relief for gas customers – Michael West
things remain so dire that there is talk of importing gas, either the Australian stuff on sale so cheaply overseas, or supplies from one of our competitors, Qatar.
Back on the farm, our parents, who knew how to provide without running out of anything, would have been scandalised almost beyond words.
Renewable energy generated more electricity than brown coal during Australia’s summer for the first time in 2017-18, according to a new report by Green Energy Markets.
Attempts to blame renewable energy for high electricity prices are misguided says expert report.
Source: It’s gas, not renewables, that is pushing up electricity prices, report finds
The gas industry is desperate to get its hands on supplies that are off limits – especially controversial ones like, say, coal seam gas.
Source: Phoney energy crisis merely a ploy to access off-limits gas
How a nation awash with gas ran dry in the middle of a global gas glut.
Mm, it gets hard… I’ve spent several days trying to reconcile the idea that certain people can both admire a leader like Vlad Putin suggesting that Australia needs a leader like him, while arguing that any attempts to persuade people to vaccinate their children is an attempt to impose a dictatorship and we all should…
A natural gas leak in Aliso Canyon, California, has been spewing out 50,000 kilograms (110,000 pounds) of gas every hour for more than two months, and officials say it could take another three to four months to bring the situation under control. The leak first occurred on October 23, when the casing of a gas storage well operated by Southern California (SoCal) Gas failed. Strangely, the cause of this failure is not known, and attempts to stop the flow of gas by pumping liquid directly into the well in order to seal the rupture have been unsuccessful.
Source: Catastrophic California Gas Leak Could Take More Than Three Months To Fix | IFLScience
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