Australian green energy for Europe

Reuters reported that according to Fortescue Future Industries, the energy crisis in Europe presents a huge opportunity for Australia to export more green energy, the chief financial officer at Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) said on 13/10/2022.

Image courtesy Fortescue Future Industries

European nations are pushing to boost renewable energy resources amid an energy crisis to move away from Russian gas. Countries are also looking for ways to cut energy consumption and fill their gas stores in preparation for cooler weather and any cut-off of Russian supplies.

“There is a huge opportunity for us to export green energy into Europe … They are absolutely demanding it,” said Guy Debelle, chief financial officer at Fortescue Future Industries, at the Citi Annual Investment Conference in Sydney.

Fortescue Metals Group and green-energy unit Fortescue Future Industries are trying to develop infrastructure and technology to produce green hydrogen as the miner shifts from a pure-play iron ore producer to a green energy company.

Fortescue signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany’s largest energy group E.ON earlier this year to explore shipping green hydrogen.

“European governments generally, and the German government in particular, (are) pushing really hard and throwing a lot at it because of the situation they find themselves in with the energy crisis and their dependency on Russian gas,” Debelle said.

“There’s plenty more E.ON’s out there across Europe. So, there is a large demand for green energy,” he said.

Australia, however, risks being left behind if it does not get support from the government, he said. The introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) by the United States this year, for instance, “turbo-charged” the market with subsidies for the cost of green energy, he said. Europe is also bringing legislation that offers incentives for the use of green hydrogen, he said.

“The risk (for Australia) is that we could have the rug pulled out from under us if other countries get there first.”

(By Praveen Menon; Editing by Tom Hogue)

Power of Siberia-2 coming soon

In the near future, Russia will begin construction of the Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline to China and its Mongolian section Soyuz-Vostok. This was announced on 12/10/2022 at the Russian Energy Week forum by President Vladimir Putin, RIA Novosti reports. The President did not name the exact date of the start of work.

Moscow has earlier announced that Nord Stream 2 will be "replaced" by an alternative gas pipeline to China.

Power of Siberia-2, something Moscow and Beijing have discussed for several years, will take the place of Nord Stream-2, said Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak in September 2022.

Nordstream-2 is a proposed route for bringing Russian gas to Europe, particularly Germany. Construction of the controversial pipeline was completed in September 2021, though its certification was suspended.

Speaking on Russian state television, Novak was asked if the Asian pipeline could replace its European counterpart within Russia's energy strategy -- to which he replied "yes". Earlier in the day, the minister indicated that Russia and China would soon sign a deal to deliver "50 billion cubic metres of gas" per year via the proposed Power of Siberia-2 pipeline.

This volume represents almost the maximum capacity of Nord Stream-1 – 55 billion m³ in total – which has been shut down since September. Nord Stream-1, connecting Russia and Germany, used to carry around one-third of Russian gas deliveries to the European Union.

Power of Siberia-2 will supply China's energy-hungry economy through Mongolia from western Russia. Building works are set to start in 2024. It is the successor to the Gazprom-operated Power of Siberia-1 pipeline, stretching from eastern Siberia to northern China.

Moscow wants Power of Siberia-2 to replace the shelved Nord Stream-2 pipeline, a project long supported by Germany, but which the United States took a very dim view of, over concerns about European dependence on Russian energy.

Exports of gas from Russia will "drop by around 50 billion m³" in 2022, Novak added during his interview. Meanwhile, the Russian energy minister said energy giant Gazprom is planning to "increase its deliveries" to China to "20 billion m³ of gas" each year.

The connection at the beginning of 2023 of the Kovytka field, near Lake Baikal, to the Power of Siberia will contribute significantly to this increase. In 2025 -- the year the pipeline will reach maximum capacity -- more than 61 billion m³ of Russian gas will be carried to China.

APPEA Conference 2023

The APPEA 2023 Conference and Exhibition will challenge the thinking of the industry with robust debates on key topics and challenges to ensure real solutions are developed to support the industry in achieving a prosperous future.

As the largest gathering of the oil and gas industry in the southern hemisphere, the conference attracts the key thinkers and leaders of our time.

The APPEA Conference program includes international keynote presentations, case studies, updates and panel discussions from the leading minds in the industry. In addition, an extensive Technical & Business program will present 100 unique and never seen before papers, which will be in the CSIRO published The APPEA Journal.