Climate Wars: David v. Goliath In Cyberspace
In this newsletter:
1) BBC's 'Climate Change' Hype Exposed: Sunny May Was Only The 48th Warmest
Not A Lot Of People Know That, 3 June 2020
2) Climate Wars: David v. Goliath In Cyberspace
Clarice Feldman, The Pipeline, 2 June 2020
Clarice Feldman, The Pipeline, 2 June 2020
3) Coal Power: Western Decline & The Rise Of Asia’s Tiger Economies
The Times, 3 June 2020
4) Back To Normal: China Drives Global Oil Demand In Rapid Recovery
Reuters, 3 June 2020
6) UK Govt Rejects Extension Of Offshore Windfarm
The Isle of Thanet News, 2 June 2020
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/data/download.html
In fact there have been 47 hotter Mays since 1659. The hottest was 1833, and the five hottest were all pre 1850.
We know of course that Harrabin has little interest in facts, unless they suit his agenda. But he really should consult the data, as he might learn something.
He claims that May 2020 was the sunniest on record in the UK, but sunshine records only start in 1929. I strongly suspect those scorching Mays in the 19thC were also unusually sunny as well.
And what about spring as a whole?
Again, nowhere near a record, ranking tie 9th warmest, along with 1952. Spring was also warmer back in 1893:
https://digital.nmla.metoffice.gov.uk/SO_0ae033c1-0ae6-4bde-a493-5851547972e6/
Far from the recent weather in the UK being unprecedented and astounding, or it being a part of a pattern of increasingly extreme weather, as Harrabin’s so-called scientist fellow travellers want us to believe, the spring of 1893 shows just how little England’s climate has changed in the last 127 years.
But you won’t be told that by the BBC.
The Times, 3 June 2020
4) Back To Normal: China Drives Global Oil Demand In Rapid Recovery
Reuters, 3 June 2020
5) US Shale Oil Production Bouncing Back With Prices
Bloomberg, 2 June 2020
Bloomberg, 2 June 2020
6) UK Govt Rejects Extension Of Offshore Windfarm
The Isle of Thanet News, 2 June 2020
7) Despite €100s Of Billions Wasted On Climate Policies, Europeans Prefer Bigger Cars
Bloomberg, 3 June 2020
Bloomberg, 3 June 2020
8) Germany Divided Over Green Stimulus, Subsidies For Struggling Car Industry
The Local, 2 June 2020
The Local, 2 June 2020
Full details:
1) BBC's 'Climate Change' Hype Exposed: Sunny May Was Only The 48th Warmest
Not A Lot Of People Know That, 3 June 2020
By Paul Homewood
While we’re on with Harrabin’s hysterics about May’s sunny weather being due to climate change, it is appropriate to point out to him that last month was far from being the hottest on record in England:
Not A Lot Of People Know That, 3 June 2020
By Paul Homewood
While we’re on with Harrabin’s hysterics about May’s sunny weather being due to climate change, it is appropriate to point out to him that last month was far from being the hottest on record in England:
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/data/download.html
In fact there have been 47 hotter Mays since 1659. The hottest was 1833, and the five hottest were all pre 1850.
We know of course that Harrabin has little interest in facts, unless they suit his agenda. But he really should consult the data, as he might learn something.
He claims that May 2020 was the sunniest on record in the UK, but sunshine records only start in 1929. I strongly suspect those scorching Mays in the 19thC were also unusually sunny as well.
And what about spring as a whole?
Again, nowhere near a record, ranking tie 9th warmest, along with 1952. Spring was also warmer back in 1893:
You will recall that the spring of 1893 was the driest on record in England. A look at the Met Office monthly weather summaries shows just how similar that spring was to this year’s, other than the fact that there was some rain towards the end of May:
https://digital.nmla.metoffice.gov.uk/SO_0ae033c1-0ae6-4bde-a493-5851547972e6/
Far from the recent weather in the UK being unprecedented and astounding, or it being a part of a pattern of increasingly extreme weather, as Harrabin’s so-called scientist fellow travellers want us to believe, the spring of 1893 shows just how little England’s climate has changed in the last 127 years.
But you won’t be told that by the BBC.
2) Climate Wars: David v. Goliath In Cyberspace
Clarice Feldman, The Pipeline, 2 June 2020
Silicon Valley Goliaths, using the technology and market forces at their disposal, have shut out of the marketplace Davids opposed to their preferred opinions on climate change.
Clarice Feldman, The Pipeline, 2 June 2020
Silicon Valley Goliaths, using the technology and market forces at their disposal, have shut out of the marketplace Davids opposed to their preferred opinions on climate change.
In his 2007 book, An Army of Davids, Glenn Reynolds, the founder of Instapundit, wrote optimistically that an army of ordinary people (“Davids”) could use technology and the market to beat the Goliaths of “Big Media, Big Government and other Goliaths.”
Thirteen years later, big media is on the ropes but the Silicon Valley Goliaths, using the technology and market forces at their disposal, have shut out of the marketplace Davids opposed to their preferred opinions.
Not the least of their favored views has been the notion that we are in an existential crisis of climate change for which the only remedy is killing reliance on traditional energy sources. Last week in an effort to curb the manifest bias in social media platforms, President Trump signed an executive order preventing online censorship. The justification for now treating social media as “publishers” responsible for content — instead of “platforms,” which are not — stems, inter alia, from their behavior in stifling the free exchange of views inconsistent with those of their owners and staff.
"The growth of online platforms in recent years raises important questions about applying the ideals of the First Amendment to modern communications technology. Today, many Americans follow the news, stay in touch with friends and family, and share their views on current events through social media and other online platforms. As a result, these platforms function in many ways as a 21st century equivalent of the public square.
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube wield immense, if not unprecedented, power to shape the interpretation of public events; to censor, delete, or disappear information; and to control what people see or do not see. As President, I have made clear my commitment to free and open debate on the Internet. Such debate is just as important online as it is in our universities, our town halls, and our homes. It is essential to sustaining our democracy.
Online platforms are engaging in selective censorship that is harming our national discourse. Tens of thousands of Americans have reported, among other troubling behaviors, online platforms “flagging” content as inappropriate, even though it does not violate any stated terms of service; making unannounced and unexplained changes to company policies that have the effect of disfavoring certain viewpoints; and deleting content and entire accounts with no warning, no rationale, and no recourse."
The website Wattsupwiththat greeted the President’s move as an opening for climate change skeptics who’ve been abusively treated by these outfits. I anticipate the order’s enforcement will meet with significant challenges along the way, but in support of the president’s claim, there is ample evidence of both the abusive treatment of climate change skeptics and the impact this has had on public debate and policy. Examples abound of censorship by Google, Twitter, Microsoft, Apple, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, and You Tube.
Apple no longer allows its iPhone to access an app called Inconvenient Facts which challenges Al Gore’s views on dangerous climate change. Reddit moderators have banned climate skeptics from the “/r/science” feature which has millions of monthly visitors. Wattsup documents countless incidents of social media censorship by Google, twitter and Microsoft. Twitter is the worst in its view. It bans tweets whose content it omnisciently determines is “inaccurate. “At the same time it runs and sometimes promotes ads without marking them as paid ads or putting the word “promoted “ in tiny font.
Google is only slightly better, censoring and banning messages, including ads “in the middle of a run,” none of which contain misrepresentation, but conflict with the views of its apparatchiks. The censoring of skeptic ads, even after approval, seemed significant just prior to the Paris conference re-enactment. Microsoft and LinkedIn banned messages, sometimes at their onset and other times in the middle of ad campaigns. Sometimes they did not outright ban them, but kept them in review “indefinitely.”
Is the simultaneous banning by multiple big social media companies evidence of marketplace monopolistic collusion, the author asks, noting these companies did enter into various agreements with the European Commission and German government to suppress some content? Adding to this suspicion of collusive practices is the fact they often hire the very same “fact checkers” and censors. If so, such collusion could subject the firms’ officers to prison sentences under 15 U.S. Code Sec. 24.
And then there’s YouTube (owned by Google). It is the “platform” that carries videos on everything from White House pressers to how to trim and tie a beef tenderloin or make your own silly putty. “1,300,000,000 use YouTube. 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute! Almost 5 billion videos are watched on Youtube every single day.” You Tube is adding “fact checks” to videos that dare to question the climate change credo.
Wikipedia is the recipient of a significant grant from Google, so if you see collusion in the fact that YouTube will tag some climate change skeptic videos with text from Wikipedia stating “multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming” you may not be off the mark. (If the solar minimum happening right now indicates the system is in a cooling phase, will they remove the text, confess error, or just change the text from “warming” to “cooling”? It will be interesting to watch, I think.)
Adding to the injury to YouTube viewers seeking information and posters advocating their position is the secrecy with which the policy was made effective.
"The Heartland Institute, for example, a conservative think tank that posts videos of its staff and others questioning climate change, told BuzzFeed News that it noticed the change a few weeks ago and had not been notified by YouTube. Spokesperson Jim Lakely declined to comment on the policy or its impact.
PragerU, a nonprofit online “university” that made some of the other affected videos, says YouTube’s policy shows its political bias. “Despite claiming to be a public forum and a platform open to all, YouTube is clearly a left-wing organization,” Craig Strazzeri, PragerU’s chief marketing officer, said by email. “This is just another mistake in a long line of giant missteps that erodes America’s trust in Big Tech, much like what has already happened with the mainstream news media.”
YouTuber Tony Heller, who also makes climate denial videos, described the policy on Twitter as YouTube “putting propaganda at the bottom of all climate videos.” (He did not respond to a request for comment.)It’s not just misleading climate videos. The same climate blurb was appended to dozens of videos explaining the evidence and impacts of climate change.
This access-point censorship not only hurts those censored persons and messages. Since Google controls 92.2% of all online searches, and clearly considers views other than its own on climate “disinformation,” it is able to keep alternative views and evidence out of educational and public discussion and consideration.
Full post
Thirteen years later, big media is on the ropes but the Silicon Valley Goliaths, using the technology and market forces at their disposal, have shut out of the marketplace Davids opposed to their preferred opinions.
Not the least of their favored views has been the notion that we are in an existential crisis of climate change for which the only remedy is killing reliance on traditional energy sources. Last week in an effort to curb the manifest bias in social media platforms, President Trump signed an executive order preventing online censorship. The justification for now treating social media as “publishers” responsible for content — instead of “platforms,” which are not — stems, inter alia, from their behavior in stifling the free exchange of views inconsistent with those of their owners and staff.
"The growth of online platforms in recent years raises important questions about applying the ideals of the First Amendment to modern communications technology. Today, many Americans follow the news, stay in touch with friends and family, and share their views on current events through social media and other online platforms. As a result, these platforms function in many ways as a 21st century equivalent of the public square.
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube wield immense, if not unprecedented, power to shape the interpretation of public events; to censor, delete, or disappear information; and to control what people see or do not see. As President, I have made clear my commitment to free and open debate on the Internet. Such debate is just as important online as it is in our universities, our town halls, and our homes. It is essential to sustaining our democracy.
Online platforms are engaging in selective censorship that is harming our national discourse. Tens of thousands of Americans have reported, among other troubling behaviors, online platforms “flagging” content as inappropriate, even though it does not violate any stated terms of service; making unannounced and unexplained changes to company policies that have the effect of disfavoring certain viewpoints; and deleting content and entire accounts with no warning, no rationale, and no recourse."
The website Wattsupwiththat greeted the President’s move as an opening for climate change skeptics who’ve been abusively treated by these outfits. I anticipate the order’s enforcement will meet with significant challenges along the way, but in support of the president’s claim, there is ample evidence of both the abusive treatment of climate change skeptics and the impact this has had on public debate and policy. Examples abound of censorship by Google, Twitter, Microsoft, Apple, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, and You Tube.
Apple no longer allows its iPhone to access an app called Inconvenient Facts which challenges Al Gore’s views on dangerous climate change. Reddit moderators have banned climate skeptics from the “/r/science” feature which has millions of monthly visitors. Wattsup documents countless incidents of social media censorship by Google, twitter and Microsoft. Twitter is the worst in its view. It bans tweets whose content it omnisciently determines is “inaccurate. “At the same time it runs and sometimes promotes ads without marking them as paid ads or putting the word “promoted “ in tiny font.
Google is only slightly better, censoring and banning messages, including ads “in the middle of a run,” none of which contain misrepresentation, but conflict with the views of its apparatchiks. The censoring of skeptic ads, even after approval, seemed significant just prior to the Paris conference re-enactment. Microsoft and LinkedIn banned messages, sometimes at their onset and other times in the middle of ad campaigns. Sometimes they did not outright ban them, but kept them in review “indefinitely.”
Is the simultaneous banning by multiple big social media companies evidence of marketplace monopolistic collusion, the author asks, noting these companies did enter into various agreements with the European Commission and German government to suppress some content? Adding to this suspicion of collusive practices is the fact they often hire the very same “fact checkers” and censors. If so, such collusion could subject the firms’ officers to prison sentences under 15 U.S. Code Sec. 24.
And then there’s YouTube (owned by Google). It is the “platform” that carries videos on everything from White House pressers to how to trim and tie a beef tenderloin or make your own silly putty. “1,300,000,000 use YouTube. 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute! Almost 5 billion videos are watched on Youtube every single day.” You Tube is adding “fact checks” to videos that dare to question the climate change credo.
Wikipedia is the recipient of a significant grant from Google, so if you see collusion in the fact that YouTube will tag some climate change skeptic videos with text from Wikipedia stating “multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming” you may not be off the mark. (If the solar minimum happening right now indicates the system is in a cooling phase, will they remove the text, confess error, or just change the text from “warming” to “cooling”? It will be interesting to watch, I think.)
Adding to the injury to YouTube viewers seeking information and posters advocating their position is the secrecy with which the policy was made effective.
"The Heartland Institute, for example, a conservative think tank that posts videos of its staff and others questioning climate change, told BuzzFeed News that it noticed the change a few weeks ago and had not been notified by YouTube. Spokesperson Jim Lakely declined to comment on the policy or its impact.
PragerU, a nonprofit online “university” that made some of the other affected videos, says YouTube’s policy shows its political bias. “Despite claiming to be a public forum and a platform open to all, YouTube is clearly a left-wing organization,” Craig Strazzeri, PragerU’s chief marketing officer, said by email. “This is just another mistake in a long line of giant missteps that erodes America’s trust in Big Tech, much like what has already happened with the mainstream news media.”
YouTuber Tony Heller, who also makes climate denial videos, described the policy on Twitter as YouTube “putting propaganda at the bottom of all climate videos.” (He did not respond to a request for comment.)It’s not just misleading climate videos. The same climate blurb was appended to dozens of videos explaining the evidence and impacts of climate change.
This access-point censorship not only hurts those censored persons and messages. Since Google controls 92.2% of all online searches, and clearly considers views other than its own on climate “disinformation,” it is able to keep alternative views and evidence out of educational and public discussion and consideration.
Full post
3) Coal Power: Western Decline & The Rise Of Asia’s Tiger Economies
The Times, 3 June 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic is hastening the decline of coal in Europe and America, but it could actually bolster use of the polluting fuel in China and other parts of Asia, industry experts have warned.
The Times, 3 June 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic is hastening the decline of coal in Europe and America, but it could actually bolster use of the polluting fuel in China and other parts of Asia, industry experts have warned.
Burning coal to generate electricity is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. The coronavirus outbreak has heralded dramatic changes in energy usage, including a drop in coal demand that has raised expectations of an acceleration in the shift toward greener power sources.
“In the US and in Europe, the decline in coal is speeding up,” Natalie Biggs, lead researcher on thermal coal at Wood Mackenzie, the natural resources consultancy, said. However, she warned: “It is very much a bifurcated story, where it’s the Atlantic doing one thing and the Pacific doing the other.”
In Britain, low electricity demand caused by the lockdown has helped the power grid to run without coal-fired generation for more than 50 days and counting, the longest stretch since the first coal plant started up in 1882. […]
However, Wood Mackenzie estimates that demand for thermal coal — the type used primarily in power stations (as distinct from coking coal for steelmaking) — had already fallen to about 556 million tonnes in the US last year, with Europe at about 534 million tonnes.
By contrast, China consumed about 3.6 billion tonnes of thermal coal, or roughly half of global demand, followed by India on 946 million tonnes — and in Asia-Pacific there is “still a huge amount of coal [power] generation getting added this year”.
The consultancy estimates that there will be a net increase in coal-fired power capacity globally this year, with 22 gigawatts of closures in Europe and the US easily offset by 49 gigawatts of plants opening in Asia-Pacific. It expects a 3 per cent dip in global demand for thermal coal this year, but does not think that coal demand will peak globally until 2027.
A report from the International Energy Agency last week found that “global approvals of new plants in the first quarter of 2020 (mainly in China) were at twice the rate seen in 2019”, with a long pipeline of projects under construction.
Full story
4) Back To Normal: China Drives Global Oil Demand In Rapid Recovery
Reuters, 3 June 2020
BEIJING/NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - China’s oil demand has recovered to more than 90% of the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic struck early this year, a surprisingly robust rebound that could be mirrored elsewhere in the third quarter as more countries emerge from lockdowns.
FILE PHOTO: Oil and gas tanks are seen at an oil warehouse at a port in Zhuhai, China October 22, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
While China - the world’s second-largest oil consumer - is the outlier for now, easing travel restrictions and stimulus packages aimed at resuscitating economies could accelerate global oil demand in the second half of 2020, industry executives said.
“The brisk resumption of Chinese oil demand, 90% of pre-COVID levels by the end of April and moving higher, is a welcome signpost for the global economy,” said Jim Burkhard, vice president and head of oil markets at IHS Markit.
Full story
6) UK Govt Rejects Extension Of Offshore Windfarm
The Isle of Thanet News, 2 June 2020
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Alok Sharma, has rejected a Development Consent Order application submitted by Vattenfall to extend the Thanet Offshore Wind Farm.
The decision, which had been due yesterday (June 1) has now been announced.
The Planning Inspectorate (PINS) accepted the proposed project for examination in 2018 following 18-months of consultation with residents and businesses by Vattenfall.
The Examining Authority issued a Recommendation Report to the Secretary of State on September 11, 2019. This report recommended that the Secretary of State should withhold consent for the project.
In the Vattenfall application the Swedish energy group proposed to deploy up to 34 wind turbines by 2023 in a development area close to the existing wind farm, 8km off Foreness Point. The scheme would have had a capacity of up to 340MW and would be capable of supplying renewable electricity annually to the equivalent of approximately 282,000 UK homes.
The turbines would have been up to 250 metres tall.
Full story
“In the US and in Europe, the decline in coal is speeding up,” Natalie Biggs, lead researcher on thermal coal at Wood Mackenzie, the natural resources consultancy, said. However, she warned: “It is very much a bifurcated story, where it’s the Atlantic doing one thing and the Pacific doing the other.”
In Britain, low electricity demand caused by the lockdown has helped the power grid to run without coal-fired generation for more than 50 days and counting, the longest stretch since the first coal plant started up in 1882. […]
However, Wood Mackenzie estimates that demand for thermal coal — the type used primarily in power stations (as distinct from coking coal for steelmaking) — had already fallen to about 556 million tonnes in the US last year, with Europe at about 534 million tonnes.
By contrast, China consumed about 3.6 billion tonnes of thermal coal, or roughly half of global demand, followed by India on 946 million tonnes — and in Asia-Pacific there is “still a huge amount of coal [power] generation getting added this year”.
The consultancy estimates that there will be a net increase in coal-fired power capacity globally this year, with 22 gigawatts of closures in Europe and the US easily offset by 49 gigawatts of plants opening in Asia-Pacific. It expects a 3 per cent dip in global demand for thermal coal this year, but does not think that coal demand will peak globally until 2027.
A report from the International Energy Agency last week found that “global approvals of new plants in the first quarter of 2020 (mainly in China) were at twice the rate seen in 2019”, with a long pipeline of projects under construction.
Full story
4) Back To Normal: China Drives Global Oil Demand In Rapid Recovery
Reuters, 3 June 2020
BEIJING/NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - China’s oil demand has recovered to more than 90% of the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic struck early this year, a surprisingly robust rebound that could be mirrored elsewhere in the third quarter as more countries emerge from lockdowns.
FILE PHOTO: Oil and gas tanks are seen at an oil warehouse at a port in Zhuhai, China October 22, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
While China - the world’s second-largest oil consumer - is the outlier for now, easing travel restrictions and stimulus packages aimed at resuscitating economies could accelerate global oil demand in the second half of 2020, industry executives said.
“The brisk resumption of Chinese oil demand, 90% of pre-COVID levels by the end of April and moving higher, is a welcome signpost for the global economy,” said Jim Burkhard, vice president and head of oil markets at IHS Markit.
Full story
5) US Shale Oil Production Bouncing Back With Prices
Bloomberg, 2 June 2020
(Bloomberg) -- Early signs of a shale rebound are becoming evident as crude prices emerge from their dramatic collapse earlier this year.
EOG Resources Inc., America’s largest shale-focused producer, plans to “accelerate” output in the second half after shutting in about a quarter of its crude in May, exploration chief Ken Boedeker told an RBC Capital Markets conference Tuesday. Permian producer Parsley Energy Inc. is also turning wells back on just weeks after closing the taps, and producers in the Bakken formation in North Dakota are also easing the rate of shut-ins.
After the breakup in the OPEC+ alliance in March and a plunge in demand because of virus-related lockdowns, which pushed the price of West Texas Intermediate to minus $40 a barrel on April 20, oil has been on a steady march upward during the past month. While the U.S. benchmark price is still about 40% below its high point in January, it has jumped to more than $35, above the operating costs of some shale wells that had been closed to save cash. Futures were up 2.3% at $36.24 at 11:50 a.m. in New York.
EOG’s strategy “is to really accelerate our production into what we see as a price recovery in the second half of the year,” Boedeker said. The company, which began shutting wells in March and took 125,000 barrels a day off the market in May, recently reduced its hedge position, eliminating some protection against lower prices in a sign of confidence the price recovery will take hold.
Parsley will restore the “vast majority” of the 26,000 barrels of daily output it turned off last month, it said in a slide deck for an investor presentation.” Meanwhile, shut-ins in the Bakken totaled 475,000 barrels a day as of May 28, about 7% less than a fortnight earlier.
The number of frack crews working in shale fields is believed to have now bottomed at about 80 fleets, with “noticeably higher” completion work in the next three to six months, Daniel Cruise, founder of industry data provider Coras Research LLC, said last week in a report.
Based on current budget tweaks announced by explorers, as many as 50 frack crews could still be added by the end of the year, with that number doubling if oil prices move closer to $40 a barrel, according to Coras.
Still, the big question is whether bringing this production back on will be enough to offset the lack of new drilling, which is essential to mitigate the industry’s dramatic decline rates. The estimated $7 billion in explorers’ spending for the second quarter is expected to be down roughly 60% compared to the first three months of the year, according to Coras.
Full story
Bloomberg, 2 June 2020
(Bloomberg) -- Early signs of a shale rebound are becoming evident as crude prices emerge from their dramatic collapse earlier this year.
EOG Resources Inc., America’s largest shale-focused producer, plans to “accelerate” output in the second half after shutting in about a quarter of its crude in May, exploration chief Ken Boedeker told an RBC Capital Markets conference Tuesday. Permian producer Parsley Energy Inc. is also turning wells back on just weeks after closing the taps, and producers in the Bakken formation in North Dakota are also easing the rate of shut-ins.
After the breakup in the OPEC+ alliance in March and a plunge in demand because of virus-related lockdowns, which pushed the price of West Texas Intermediate to minus $40 a barrel on April 20, oil has been on a steady march upward during the past month. While the U.S. benchmark price is still about 40% below its high point in January, it has jumped to more than $35, above the operating costs of some shale wells that had been closed to save cash. Futures were up 2.3% at $36.24 at 11:50 a.m. in New York.
EOG’s strategy “is to really accelerate our production into what we see as a price recovery in the second half of the year,” Boedeker said. The company, which began shutting wells in March and took 125,000 barrels a day off the market in May, recently reduced its hedge position, eliminating some protection against lower prices in a sign of confidence the price recovery will take hold.
Parsley will restore the “vast majority” of the 26,000 barrels of daily output it turned off last month, it said in a slide deck for an investor presentation.” Meanwhile, shut-ins in the Bakken totaled 475,000 barrels a day as of May 28, about 7% less than a fortnight earlier.
The number of frack crews working in shale fields is believed to have now bottomed at about 80 fleets, with “noticeably higher” completion work in the next three to six months, Daniel Cruise, founder of industry data provider Coras Research LLC, said last week in a report.
Based on current budget tweaks announced by explorers, as many as 50 frack crews could still be added by the end of the year, with that number doubling if oil prices move closer to $40 a barrel, according to Coras.
Still, the big question is whether bringing this production back on will be enough to offset the lack of new drilling, which is essential to mitigate the industry’s dramatic decline rates. The estimated $7 billion in explorers’ spending for the second quarter is expected to be down roughly 60% compared to the first three months of the year, according to Coras.
Full story
6) UK Govt Rejects Extension Of Offshore Windfarm
The Isle of Thanet News, 2 June 2020
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Alok Sharma, has rejected a Development Consent Order application submitted by Vattenfall to extend the Thanet Offshore Wind Farm.
The decision, which had been due yesterday (June 1) has now been announced.
The Planning Inspectorate (PINS) accepted the proposed project for examination in 2018 following 18-months of consultation with residents and businesses by Vattenfall.
The Examining Authority issued a Recommendation Report to the Secretary of State on September 11, 2019. This report recommended that the Secretary of State should withhold consent for the project.
In the Vattenfall application the Swedish energy group proposed to deploy up to 34 wind turbines by 2023 in a development area close to the existing wind farm, 8km off Foreness Point. The scheme would have had a capacity of up to 340MW and would be capable of supplying renewable electricity annually to the equivalent of approximately 282,000 UK homes.
The turbines would have been up to 250 metres tall.
Full story
7) Despite €100s Of Billions Wasted On Climate Policies, Europeans Prefer Bigger Cars, Increasing CO2 Emissions
Bloomberg, 3 June 2020
The European Union told automakers to do more to meet stringent emission targets after a new report showed carbon dioxide emissions from cars increased.
Average emissions of new passenger cars registered in the EU and Iceland in 2018 rose to 120.8 grams of carbon dioxide a kilometer, up 2 grams from the previous year. That’s more than a quarter higher than the fleet-wide target of 95 gram taking effect from this year.
“Manufacturers will have to improve the fuel efficiency of their fleet and accelerate the deployment of zero- and low-emission vehicles,” the European Commission said in a statement on Wednesday.
Reducing emissions from transport is one of the biggest challenges for the EU, which wants to become climate-neutral by 2050 under the ambitious Green Deal strategy. The commission is considering even stricter goals for car pollution and an extension of the region’s carbon market to cover road transport.
The increase in average emissions for new passenger cars was caused mainly by the continuing shift away from diesel to petrol vehicles, with the share of diesel fleet dropping by 9 percentage points. In 2018, 60% of new cars were petrol, while diesels accounted for 36%, according to the EU.
It was also affected by changing consumer preferences, with buyers leaning toward larger and heavier sport-utility vehicles powered by petrol. Their market share rose to 35% in 2018 from 29%.
Full story
Bloomberg, 3 June 2020
The European Union told automakers to do more to meet stringent emission targets after a new report showed carbon dioxide emissions from cars increased.
Average emissions of new passenger cars registered in the EU and Iceland in 2018 rose to 120.8 grams of carbon dioxide a kilometer, up 2 grams from the previous year. That’s more than a quarter higher than the fleet-wide target of 95 gram taking effect from this year.
“Manufacturers will have to improve the fuel efficiency of their fleet and accelerate the deployment of zero- and low-emission vehicles,” the European Commission said in a statement on Wednesday.
Reducing emissions from transport is one of the biggest challenges for the EU, which wants to become climate-neutral by 2050 under the ambitious Green Deal strategy. The commission is considering even stricter goals for car pollution and an extension of the region’s carbon market to cover road transport.
The increase in average emissions for new passenger cars was caused mainly by the continuing shift away from diesel to petrol vehicles, with the share of diesel fleet dropping by 9 percentage points. In 2018, 60% of new cars were petrol, while diesels accounted for 36%, according to the EU.
It was also affected by changing consumer preferences, with buyers leaning toward larger and heavier sport-utility vehicles powered by petrol. Their market share rose to 35% in 2018 from 29%.
Full story
8) Germany Divided Over Green Stimulus, Subsidies For Struggling Car Industry
The Local, 2 June 2020
German ministers met Tuesday to thrash out an economic stimulus package to speed recovery from the coronavirus shutdown, with the vital auto industry and possible subsidies for it a key sticking point.
Much of the wrangling is along familiar lines – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives favour tax cuts and other pro-business measures, while their centre-left SPD junior coalition partners prefer one-off payouts to families and support for struggling local governments.
But calls for massive auto subsidies have cut across party lines, setting regions and other industrial sectors against one another as they all seek cash from the government.
The subsidy plans for an industry that employs around 800,000 people have also energised those who say the coronavirus crisis offers a chance to take the green option instead and really fight climate change.
A demonstration took place in front of the chancellery on Tuesday.
Protests have also been called across the country by youth environmental movement “Fridays for Future,” after thousands turned up last week in 27 cities against any handouts to carmakers.
“A bonus for car purchases could well be the most controversial point at the coalition talks today,” news site Spiegel Online commented.
Overall, the entire government direct aid programme could total up to €80 billion ($89 billion), weekly Bild am Sonntag reported Sunday.
Full story
The Local, 2 June 2020
German ministers met Tuesday to thrash out an economic stimulus package to speed recovery from the coronavirus shutdown, with the vital auto industry and possible subsidies for it a key sticking point.
Much of the wrangling is along familiar lines – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives favour tax cuts and other pro-business measures, while their centre-left SPD junior coalition partners prefer one-off payouts to families and support for struggling local governments.
But calls for massive auto subsidies have cut across party lines, setting regions and other industrial sectors against one another as they all seek cash from the government.
The subsidy plans for an industry that employs around 800,000 people have also energised those who say the coronavirus crisis offers a chance to take the green option instead and really fight climate change.
A demonstration took place in front of the chancellery on Tuesday.
Protests have also been called across the country by youth environmental movement “Fridays for Future,” after thousands turned up last week in 27 cities against any handouts to carmakers.
“A bonus for car purchases could well be the most controversial point at the coalition talks today,” news site Spiegel Online commented.
Overall, the entire government direct aid programme could total up to €80 billion ($89 billion), weekly Bild am Sonntag reported Sunday.
Full story
The London-based Global Warming Policy Forum is a world leading think tank on global warming policy issues. The GWPF newsletter is prepared by Director Dr Benny Peiser - for more information, please visit the website at www.thegwpf.com.
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