This is a pretty misleading headline. If you look at the price graph in the article, it shows prices between $5-12/MMBTU between 2015-19, a decline to around $1.50 during the peak of pandemic economic slowdown, and a rise up to $15. So prices are 1.5-3x historical values and we're coming off a price dip that would have suppressed supply. It seems as much likely that it will return to the norm as that it will continue to rise.
This is good, because this will make renewables more competitive with natural gas than they already are, which will provide leverage to people arguing for more renewable capacity instead of gas. Natural gas has already fulfilled its usefulness as a “bridge fuel,” and here on the other side of the bridge, renewables are getting cheaper and more reliable by the day. It’s time to move on.
Maybe dismantling the nuclear industry was a bad idea?<p>Particularly when the politician who oversaw it is now working for Rosneft:<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/dec/13/russia.germany" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/dec/13/russia.germany</a><p>If anything, I really hope this spurs Europe to build out widespread modular nuclear power plants across the continent.
Interesting to note : Russia is only mentioned once at the end of the article and never specifically mentioned as a major producer.<p>Meanwhile, the US has been pressuring EU countries for years to not source their gas from Russia ( up to sanctioning companies working on pipelines ).
Another reason for increasing gas demand might be related to global drought.<p>I'm from Turkey and last year the energy production was 30% from hydro electric, 20% from natural gas conversion.<p>This year, there is a severe drought here and the ratios swapped, 30% nat gas vs less than 20% hydro.<p>Maybe other countries have similar problem, especially in Asia, so that may explain the demand.
Given the shocking scale of that graph I've got to wonder which part(s) of Asia were consuming all of that gas.
I wonder if they will just switch to other polluting fuels rather than the high investment up front for renewable energy.
This is potentially really bad for everyone given how relatively cleanly gas burns compared to the alternatives.
Misleading title. Article clarifies (a little) that the surge is relative to <i>record lows</i> in May of 2020.<p>For comparison, the oil price actually went negative during that time period. Starting at the price of zero, any non-zero price reflects an infinite percentage increase. Not sure how to calculate from a negative base.
> Mark Gyetvay, the deputy chief executive officer of Russian LNG exporter Novatek PJSC, warns that the green movement could disrupt the delivery of adequate and affordable supply to consumers.<p>Russian natural gas executive says promoting alternatives to his product hurts consumers. Ok.
Energy is falling in price and will continue to fall for the foreseeable future. Fossil fuels will rise in price primarily due to under investment and solar and wind will continue fall at about 7% pa. Already "Solar Barrels of Oil" (1.7MW-h) are under USD 20 and falling.<p>Also, due to efficiency of modern electronics you get a lot more work from e-oil rather than black gold.
President Biden suspended oil and gas lease sales from public lands and waters leading to massive drop of supply - a full quarter of US oil&gas production.<p>The era has artificially ended. Thanks to this there has been a great rebound in coal demand. India has now started constructing coal plants to meet coal demand <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/exclusive-india-may-build-new-coal-plants-due-low-cost-despite-climate-change-2021-04-18/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reuters.com/world/india/exclusive-india-may-buil...</a><p>Coal is making a resurgence in the USA too
<a href="https://www.power-eng.com/coal/eia-u-s-coal-fired-generation-making-2021-rally-so-far/" rel="nofollow">https://www.power-eng.com/coal/eia-u-s-coal-fired-generation...</a><p>We are going to see the largest emissions in a decade thanks to the Coal rebound
<a href="https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/global-carbon-emissions-set-for-largest-rise-in-a-decade-as-coal-rebounds-2021/" rel="nofollow">https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/global-carbon-emissions-set-fo...</a><p>Congrats USA!
I'd argue this is just pr promo for the 'all electric' lobby. I'm a small nuclear reactor enthusiast but we are decades away from that. In places like California where the electric grid is mostly a 3rd world above ground shambles, and where pge turn off the power if it's windy or they have caused fires in summer this will literally mean turning off all energy in a world where gas and gasoline are outlawed. Not viable.
Despite all the rhetoric from the leadership, US has no incentives to retire oil and gas. To maintain the monopoly of USD as reserve currency (and be able to print money forever), US needs to make sure oil is settled in USD with Middle Eastern dictatorships being the proxy doing the enforcement. Absent of oil, as US is not a net producer country anymore, there is no reason for other countries to hold USD as much.<p>Thus I am a long term bullish on oil and gas. I think oil will go back to 120 level pretty soon in next 2-3yrs.