Free Republic

Germany's cabinet on Wednesday approved putting on-reserve lignite-fired power plants back online from October until the end of March 2024, the economy ministry said, as a step to replace scarce natural gas this winter and avoid shortages. In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a sudden drop in Russian gas imports to Germany, Berlin reactivated coal-fired power plants and extended their lifespans, with a total output of 1.9 gigawatt hours generated last winter. Despite gas bottlenecks easing since last winter with new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal deliveries, coal-fired power plans will be reactivated

The European Union is expected to import a record volume of liquefied natural gas from Russia this year, despite the bloc’s intention to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels by 2027. This revelation by the Financial Times comes as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that he warned Ukraine that any attacks on Hungary’s energy supplies from Russia would lead to war.According to an analysis of energy industry data by Global Witness, in the first seven months of this year, Belgium and Spain were the second and third most significant buyers of Russian LNG, behind only China, an increase much...

A large liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Grace Emilia ran aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal on Wednesday. Local media reports the shipping traffic is unaffected as the incident took place in a southern section of the canal where a second channel allows for ships to bypass the blockage. AIS data from Vesselfinder (below) showed four tugboats working to move the 293-m-long vessel. Equasis lists the 2021-built 174,000 cu m ship, which entered the canal early Wednesday morning, as owned by Japan’s NYK. The latest incident comes just three weeks after the bulker Glory bound for China carrying 66,000 mt of...

The German government wants to stop energy companies from increasing electricity and gas prices in 2023, Bild newspaper reported Saturday, citing draft legislation. The government has already ordered a cap on energy prices for next year to quell the energy crisis that threatens household budgets and the viability of many businesses. What is the government planning? A draft law on next year's energy price brake, which was announced by Berlin last month, will also force utility companies to justify any increase in price, for example, extreme volatility in financial markets, Bild reported. Otherwise, they would be banned from increasing prices...

PARIS (Reuters) - Cold weather could lead to power cuts in France on Monday as delays to the restart of nuclear power following repair work leave supply lagging demand, analysts said. Nuclear power supply had been expected to reach around 40 gigawatts (GW) this week, but operator EDF's delay in restarting reactors meant it rose to only around 35 GW, leaving France more reliant on imports and gas-fired production. Refinitiv analyst Nathalie Gerl said the situation as a cold spell grips northwestern Europe this weekend and next week would be "much more critical" but for efforts to curb demand, especially...

The Interior Department on Monday proposed rules to limit methane leaks from oil and gas drilling on public lands, the latest action by the Biden administration to crack down on emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to global warming. The proposal by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management would tighten limits on gas flaring on federal land and require energy companies to better detect methane leaks that add to planet-warming greenhouse gas pollution.

At the peak of his power, Russian President Vladimir Putin thought he could use his energy weapon to impose his will across Europe. Now Moldova — with a population of only 2.5 million — is emerging as the last truly vulnerable energy target in his flailing campaign to destabilize governments in the neighborhood taking a pro-EU trajectory. But no matter how hard Putin tries to turn the energy screws to topple the administration, Moldova’s government is doggedly resisting. Only last week Russian missile strikes triggered blackouts in half the country and last month Gazprom slashed gas supplies by a third,...

Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu said Wednesday that a normalization agreement between Israel and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is within reach and would effectively “end the Arab-Israeli conflict.” The latest statement from the Prime Minister comes as the new conservative coalition vows to confront terrorism in the Middle East and strengthen alliances with Arab allies. Speaking from Israel at an online event hosted by Temple Emanu-El’s Streicker Center, Netanyahu reminded an online audience of nearly 300 people that the Abraham Accords were negotiated by the former Trump administration when he was Israel’s prime minister. The Accords normalized...

President Biden is expected to announce a proposal for stronger regulations on the oil and gas sector aimed at controlling emissions of a planet warming gas called methane. The stronger methane regulations are part of a slew of climate-related actions that Biden is expected to announce during his trip to the COP27 global climate summit in Egypt. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) projects that in 2030, the requirements would cut 87 percent of methane emissions from the pollution sources that it regulates when compared to 2005 levels. The proposal strengthens a Biden administration proposal from last year that was expected...

His Fraudulency Joe Biden is refusing to commit to a post-midterm press conference and will be fleeing the country a little over 36 hours after polls close on Election Day. Just ten days ago, and likely due to the fact that the red wave writing was clearly on the wall by then, the White House announced Biden would leave Thursday for Egypt to attend something called the COP 27, a globalist thing involving the corrupt United Nations and dedicated to furthering the Climate Change Hoax.

European natural gas inventories rose by +16 BCF over past week. EU nat gas storage 96% full. Current inventories at 3667 BCF.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — The war-inspired natural gas boom is undermining already insufficient efforts to limit future warming to just a few more tenths of a degree, a new report says. Planning and build-up of liquified and other natural gas — due to an energy crisis triggered by Russian’s invasion of Ukraine — would add 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (1.9 billion metric tons) a year to the air by 2030. The sheer amount of liquified natural gas projects in the pipeline for construction shocked the analysts, Hare said. The report calculates that if everything planned goes...

Rich countries must sign a pact with poor countries on the climate or "we will be doomed" - that's the warning from UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres. Speaking ahead of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, Mr Guterres said wealthier countries must help emerging economies to speed up their transition to renewable energy. "COP27 must be the place to close the ambition gap, the credibility gap and the solidarity gap," he said. "It must put us back on track to cutting emissions, boosting climate resilience and adaptation, keeping the promise on climate finance and address loss and damage from climate change."...

German gas storage facilities have already exceeded the fill level target of 95 per cent for 1 November. ...According to data from the transparency platform AGSI+, the storage facilities were 98.91 per cent full (as of 31 October).

Texas has a natural gas problem. That may come as a surprise since we’re talking about one of the most plentiful energy-producing regions in the country, if not the world. But the problem in Texas isn’t that they’re running out of natural gas. They’ve got enough of that to last well into the next century. What they don’t have is enough volume in the available pipelines to get all of that gas to where it needs to be, particularly the supplies coming from the western Permian Basin. In fact, the production of natural gas has been so plentiful that they...

Hungary is able to secure gas supplies for itself, "unlike the westerners", Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told Kossuth Radio on Friday. "We're more adept at getting gas on our own than if we were to wait for others," the prime minister said in an interview, explaining why Hungary was opting out of joint European Union purchases of gas. Hungary would only lose out on such a programme, so it supports voluntary participation, he added.Orbán also criticised the EU’s solidarity mechanism aimed at avoiding sharp disparities of gas supply across the bloc. Hungary rejects the idea of a mandatory mechanism as...

Ponder this: hundreds or thousands may have to freeze to death in order to help slow global warming. Huh?! Could there be a sadder and more preposterous statement than that? The BBC, a publicly-funded broadcaster implicitly entrusted with disseminating vital messages to the U.K. citizenry during times of national crisis, has allegedly already begun preparing emergency broadcasts designed to reassure the people of Britain should extensive winter blackouts be necessary in the coming months. These potential blackouts would inevitably cause disruptions to the Commonwealth’s banking systems, internet access, mobile phone networks, and traffic lights, among other things. And would, of...

Erdogan’s comments may have come as a response to a remark from Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos, who in June claimed that Turkey was "aware" of the "heavy cost" that Turkey faced in military engagements with Athens. Turkey has accused Greece of stationing troops on islands in the Aegean in violation of peace treaties between the NATO neighbors. "Your occupation of the islands does not bind us," Erdogan said. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in June indicated that his country would challenge any Greek claims over the islands if they continued stationing troops throughout the region... But Panagiotopolous insisted that...

Troubled relations between regional rivals Turkey and Greece worsened Tuesday, with Turkey's president doubling down on a thinly veiled invasion threat and Athens responding that it's ready to defend its sovereignty. Turkey and Greece have decades-old disputes over an array of issues, including territorial claims in the Aegean Sea and disagreements over the airspace there. The friction between the neighbors has brought the NATO allies to the brink of war three times in the last half-century.

Greece’s government has written to the country’s NATO and European Union partners and the head of the United Nations, asking them to formally condemn increasingly aggressive talk by officials in neighboring Turkey and suggesting that current bilateral tensions could escalate into a second open conflict on European soil. In the letters, copies of which were seen Wednesday by The Associated Press, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said the behavior of his country’s historic regional rival — and NATO ally — should be censured by the three bodies. “By not doing so in time or by underestimating the seriousness of the...