Energy / Automotive News As Reported to 15 Feb 2023
OPEC daily basket price at US$84.37/bl, WTI Crude stood at $77.83/bl, Crude prices are softening
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for March was down $1.09, to $79.05 per barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude for March delivery was down $1.17, to $85.44.
The US is reportedly planing to sell another 26 million barrels from an unused allocation of the country’s emergency oil reserve
Fencing contractor, Elliott, who went viral in June 2021 (video) when his post knocker hit an underground gas pipeline on a farm in Derbyshire, has joined forces with safe digging experts LSBUD and Linewatch on a brand-new safety awareness video. The safety campaign focuses on Elliott’s experience of striking the pipeline, it recounts the moments after the explosion and looks at what he would do differently if he had the chance to do so. The video explores the unseen dangers lurking beneath the ground, when breaking ground as part of construction, highways, utility, farming or fencing work. It also looks at the perils of digging ‘blind’ and explains some best practices people must follow to avoid damage to the environment, serious injury, or even death. Elliott comments: “The video is hard-hitting. It is the first time I have discussed the incident, and it is tough to bring it back up. For a few seconds I simply thought that my time was up, and I was more than incredibly lucky to walk away with not so much as a scratch on me. After I recovered from the initial shock, my only thought was, ‘I don’t want anyone else going through this’. “That’s why when the people at LSBUD and Linewatch approached me to talk about my accident, I jumped at the chance. If I could use this unwanted ‘fame’ as a way to make people safer then at least something good could come out of it. I want to make sure that anyone out there thinking of putting a hole in the ground, no matter if it is knocking in a fencing post, planting a tree, or taking on a major construction project, then they should always search before they start work.” Richard Broome, MD at LSBUD, continues: “Often in our world of work, it is only the serious incidents that really capture the nation’s attention. Fortunately, Elliott was largely unharmed, but his video has been seen by millions of people around the world, putting the potential dangers of digging into the spotlight. Rather than shy away from the incident, Elliott wanted to spread the safe digging message, helping keep other people safe on site. It is a brave and honourable approach, and one that will benefit many projects, potentially saving many lives.” Read More
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announces the passing of TMC Honorary Chairman Shoichiro Toyoda.
Full name: Shoichiro Toyoda
Time and date of death: 4:48 P.M., February 14, 2023
Cause of death: Heart failure
Age at death: 97
Date of birth: February 27, 1925
Place of birth: Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture
Bereaved: Akio Toyoda (Relation: Eldest son)
Funeral services: For close family only
TMC plans to hold a farewell gathering for Honorary Chairman Toyoda at a later date. Read More
Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund founded by renowned investor Ray Dalio, reduced its positions in the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) trio in the fourth quarter, after increasing or keeping them unchanged for several quarters.
Bridgewater held 4,247,907 US-traded ADRs of NIO (NYSE: NIO) at the end of the fourth quarter, down 1,644,522 shares, or 27.91 percent, from 5,892,429 at the end of the third quarter, according to its Form 13F filing with the SEC on Monday.
Before that, Bridgewater increased its position in NIO for five consecutive quarters, including a 6.63 percent increase in the third quarter of last year, according to CnEVPost’s tracking. Bridgewater cuts holdings in NIO, XPeng and Li Auto in Q4 Read More
Hydrogen is to be pumped into Britain’s main gas pipeline by 2025 as part of a scramble to ditch fossil fuels and move to net zero.
Between 2pc and 5pc of the fuel flowing through the country’s transmission network will be hydrogen in two years under plans drawn up by National Gas, which owns the pipelines. The blending would be the first step in plans to convert the network so that it can be filled entirely with hydrogen by 2050, as part of a national overhaul to cut carbon emissions. National Gas’s 4,700-mile transmission network moves gas, piped in from drilling fields or shipped in from abroad, under high pressure to different areas around the UK, where it is then picked up by smaller distribution networks and taken on to homes and businesses. Read More
1 in 3 buyers rank sustainability as a top deciding factor when making a purchase Consumers are demanding more than ever for brands to be responsible not just for what they produce but also for how they produce it. According to Accenture, 33% of consumers rank sustainability as one of the top three deciding factors when making a purchase. Several studies have also found that consumers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products.
Key takeaways: As environmental concerns drive big changes in consumers’ shopping habits and play a growing role in purchasing decisions, eCommerce businesses will need to communicate their brand values more clearly and actively show how they are reducing their carbon footprint by investing in sustainable and ethical practices. Read More
The National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) has signed a memorandum of cooperation with Basra Oil Company (BOC). Read More
Virent named to the 2022 list of Top 50 Hottest Projects in Advanced Bioeconomy in the summer of 2022 by biofuels publication The Digest, for its innovation and achievements in biobased fuels, chemicals and materials by emerging companies. Also nominated in both the Innovative Product and Team Award Categories, Virent has been partnering with JM to commercialize Virent’s BioForming® sugars-to-aromatics (S2A) technology, a process that converts widely available, plant-based sugars into fuels and chemicals that are 100% renewable. Working alongside MPC, this successful collaboration has put Virent and JM in a position to license the BioForming S2A technology to the global renewables market. Read More
Bloomberg earlier this month reported that cobalt prices had shed more than 50 percent since May 2022 because of a drop in demand from the Chinese electronics sector.
Lithium, while also down considerably, is still trading at a high price, limiting EV makers’ opportunities to make their cars more affordable in order to attract more buyers.
Since the start of 2021, lithium prices have soared tenfold to $80,000 per ton with the danger of shortages playing a big part in price formation.
The news would be good for EV makers, which have been struggling to keep their cars relatively affordable while raw material prices soar, but bad news for miners. These are already reluctant to invest in new mine capacity, which threatens the future security of EV raw material supply and has become the cause of many apocalyptic shortage forecasts. Read More
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced the country’s plans to sell more than 80% of its crude oil exports to “friendly” countries this year.
These “friendly” countries include countries such as China and India, which haven’t participated in product bans, sanctions against Russia, and oil and oil product price capping—as well as Sri Lanka, which is in the throes of an economic crisis. While India has been criticized for its Russian crude purchases, it has maintained that it must make good economic decisions by purchasing the cheapest crude oil possible. After India refines the crude into fuel, it is often exported to the United States and Europe. Novak also said that it is these “friendly” countries that will also receive two-thirds of its refined oil products, adding that the country was also on the hunt for new markets. Read More
Good Energy has been shortlisted in two categories of the prestigious Wiltshire Life Awards 2023, which recognise outstanding achievements across the county where the company is based. The company is a finalist for both the Green Business Award and the Apprentice of the Year.
Wiltshire Life magazine received a great number of entries and described being shortlisted as “an incredible feat”.
The Green Business nomination focuses on the many ways in which Good Energy has been working hard to reduce its carbon emissions.
It includes the voluntary commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative which sets the ambitious goal of a 50 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030, supported by the successful transition to hybrid-working, the encouragement of ‘green travel’ and greater scrutiny of the supply chain to source more net-zero suppliers.
The nomination also praises the work of the Green Champions who meet on a monthly basis to encourage sustainability within the business, and highlights the company’s support for local climate conferences and other such events where staff share ideas and drive change. Read More
A report, produced by Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), found that very few of the 3,000 people polled online were cognizant of the various threats from a nuclear winter, including just 1.6 percent in the UK who were aware of academic studies about the subject, and just nine percent of the U.S. respondents recalling beliefs about nuclear winter that was part of the cultural milieu in the 1980s.The threat of a widespread nuclear exchange is typically framed in terms of destroyed cities and mass deaths in the nuclear blast zones or from subsequent radiation exposure, but the threat of nuclear winter is just as catastrophic.
A nuclear exchange between two nuclear powers like the US and Russia would send massive amounts of debris high into our atmosphere which would reduce the amount of light and energy reaching the surface from the Sun.
This would lower global temperatures considerably and starve essential crops and plant life from the sunlight they need to grow, producing widespread crop failures and famine across the world. Read More
Toyocolor Co., Ltd., the colorants and functional materials arm of the specialty chemicals company Toyo Ink Group of Japan, today announced that the company’s Lioaccum™ conductive carbon nanotube (CNT) dispersions has been selected by the world’s largest battery manufacturer CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited) for use in CATL’s next-generation high capacity li-ion batteries (LiB). Lioaccum CNT dispersions are scheduled for installation into mass-produced vehicles beginning 2024. With governing bodies around the world tightening emission restrictions on gas-powered vehicles in an effort to achieve carbon neutrality, the percentage of EVs in the new vehicle market is expected to jump from 8% in 2022 to 30% in 2030. China’s EV market, one of the three largest automobile markets in the world, is broadly divided into the sub-markets of budget models for running short distances and high-end models that require longer cruising ranges. High-capacity LiBs are critical to extending cruising range for high-end vehicles. Read More
Brent contract for April reportedly hit $86.39 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose to $79.72 a barrel.
| Oil and Gas Blends | Units | Oil Price $ | change |
| Crude Oil (WTI) | USD/bbl | $77.83 | Down |
| Crude Oil (Brent) | USD/bbl | $84.35 | Down |
| Bonny Light | USD/bbl | $85.29 | Down |
| Saharan Blend | USD/bbl | $85.76 | Down |
| Natural Gas | USD/MMBtu | $2.56 | Up |
| OPEC basket 14/02/23 | USD/bbl | $84.37 | Up |
Toyo Ink SC Holdings Co., Ltd., the parent company of the Tokyo-based specialty chemicals group Toyo Ink Group, announced that, on January 6, 2023, it newly established a manufacturing subsidiary, LioChem e-Materials LLC, for the production of Lioaccum™ conductive carbon nanotube (CNT) dispersions used in lithium-ion battery (LiB) cathodes. The Lioaccum dispersion is a key material for increasing LiB capacity and for extending the cruising range of electric vehicles (EVs) in particular luxury automobiles. Established in Franklin, Kentucky in the United States, LioChem e-Materials is Toyo Ink SC Holdings’ second production base for conductive CNT dispersions in North America. The new manufacturing facility is scheduled to come on stream in 2025 with plans to gradually raise the Group’s U.S. production capacity to four times the current level. Read More
LyondellBasell announced it has signed the first two European renewable electricity power purchase agreements (PPAs) and two additional PPAs in the United States. The combined additional contracts represent a total of approximately 560 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy capacity. LyondellBasell has now signed eight PPA agreements and achieved over half of its 2030 target to procure a minimum of 50 percent of global electricity from renewable sources. These PPAs will generate over 2.6 million megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable electricity annually and reduce LyondellBasell’s scope 2 emissions by nearly 1 million metric tons of carbon emissions, equivalent to the emissions associated with the annual electricity consumption of more than 370,000 homes. “Decarbonizing the electricity supply through purchasing renewable electricity is crucial to meet LyondellBasell’s 2030 and 2050 net zero greenhouse gas emissions targets,” said Willemien Terpstra, LyondellBasell Vice President, Decarbonization. “These renewable electricity contracts cover nearly one-third of our 2020 baseline electricity consumption. This demonstrates tangible progress towards our overall objective to reduce our scope 1 and 2 emissions by 42% by 2030, relative to a 2020 baseline.” Read More
LyondellBasell (NYSE: LYB), a global leader in the chemical industry and KIRKBI A/S, the family-owned holding and investment company of the LEGO® brand, announce they have signed an agreement to make an investment in APK, which specializes in a unique solvent-based recycling technology for low density polyethylene (LDPE).APK aims to increase the recycling of multi-layer flexible packaging materials – which today make up the majority of mixed plastic waste from the consumer sector. To this end, APK has developed the unique solvent-based Newcycling® process, which separates the different polymers of multi-layer packaging materials and produces recycled materials with a high degree of purity suitable for new packaging materials.
Under the agreement, LyondellBasell and KIRKBI will become minority shareholders in APK and together with other co-investors will invest approximately 130 million Euros in APK. Further Newcyling® Plants are planned to be built to increase the production capacity. Read More
Baker Hughes Rig Count
U.S. Rig Count is up 2 from last week to 761 with oil rigs up 10 to 609, gas rigs down 8 to 150 and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 2.
Canada Rig Count is up 1 from last week to 250, with oil rigs up 2 to 161, gas rigs down 1 to 89.
| Region | Period | Rig Count | Change from Prior |
| U.S.A | 10 February 2023 | 761 | +2 |
| Canada | 10 February 2023 | 250 | +1 |
| International | January 2023 | 901 | +1 |
OilandGasPress Energy Newsbites and Analysis Roundup | Compiled by: OGP Staff, Segun Cole @oilandgaspress.
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