Having been pretty critical of the Department Of Energy and Climate Change in the past it is time to come to its defence.
It seems that Mr Francis Maude the Cabinet Office Minister and effectively head of Britain’s civil service has told his cabinet colleagues in the last few days that a further £8bn of “efficiency savings” can be found from Whitehall and local government. Read more
There is absolutely no need for an energy shortage in the UK, but the indecision of policy makers is making serious problems over the next few years ever more likely. There is no shortage of supply – but the raw materials of the energy business – such as gas and coal, or for that matter wind – have to be converted into power to produce the electricity which is essential for a complex modern economy. If the power stations are not in place electricity can’t be produced. Read more
Three weeks after the tragic events at the In Amenas gas facility in Algeria, the companies directly involved and many others with interests in North Africa and across the Middle East are beginning to assess the implications and the choices they face.
Algeria, and indeed the whole of the North African region apart from a few parts of Libya, had been considered relatively safe. Installations including In Amenas were protected by national security forces but were not armed camps. Algeria was considered to be predominantly law abiding – with fewer attempted kidnappings than many other countries around the world. The companies believed they had good relationships with the government in Algiers. Read more
By Alan Riley
Amid the endless debates across the world on the safety of fracking, policy makers are missing the bigger picture. The ability to extract fossil fuels trapped in shale rock using advanced horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing and 3D seismic surveying is the most significant development in the energy industry for at least half a century. The shale revolution implodes the 80:10 resource ratio – that 80 per cent of oil and gas are to be found in the nations of the Opec oil producers’ cartel or Russia, and only 10 per cent in OECD countries and China. Energy can now be extracted from shale worldwide, most significantly in China and the US, but also in Europe.
EDF faces probe into its relations with China. Getty Images
A new inquiry instigated by the French government into the international activities of the French nuclear industry poses a new challenge to the UK’s plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations. Further delay in reaching a final decision seems certain.
The formal inquiry, established just before the New Year, will be undertaken by the powerful Inspection Generale des Finances. The inquiry is sector wide and focused on potentially inappropriate transfers of protected technologies through the international partnerships developed by the nuclear companies. But according to the French press the inquiry is directed specifically at EDF and its relationships in China. Read more
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