5 spunti per approfondire (40/2023)

La rubrica settimanale con i consigli di lettura di RivistaEnergia.it, dall’Europa e dal mondo. Forse non le notizie più eclatanti, ma proprio per questo interessanti da approfondire. Settimana 40/2023

“This week opec and its allies, including Russia, succumbed to the slope once again. On October 4th, the very day the group confirmed its cuts until the end of the year at a meeting in Vienna, oil prices dropped by more than 5%, to $86 a barrel. Amid such volatility, pundits are debating where prices will go next. The bears reckon that crude will stay at this level until Christmas, or maybe even fall further. Meanwhile, bulls predict a rebound before too long; some still foresee triple digits before the festive season. The stakes are high, and not just for opec. Dearer oil would push up inflation, which could force central banks to keep policy tighter than they would otherwise like, and would also deal a heavy blow to the global economy.”

Oil prices fall, defying suggestions of a $100 barrel
Articolo – The Economist

“A gas project in the Black Sea is caught up in a diplomatic spat over Austria’s opposition to allowing Romania into Europe’s border-free Schengen area. Austrian energy company OMV is a part owner of the Neptun Deep gasfield off Romania’s coast, which could pump 10bn cubic metres per year as of 2027. Romanian prime minister Marcel Ciolacu last month said his government was unwilling to modify a law governing offshore gas sales — which OMV has objected to — as long as Austria keeps vetoing his country’s Schengen entry. “We will . . . move forward based on the current form of the offshore law, just as Romania will continue to support its arguments regarding the accession to the Schengen area, including in the European courts, if Austria does not change its position”, Ciolacu told journalists after meeting an OMV delegation in Bucharest on September 18.”

Romania threatens Black Sea gas project over Austria’s Schengen veto
Articolo – Financial Times

“The United States and partners are working on 15 projects to secure supplies of critical minerals needed for electric vehicles and the energy transition, a senior US official said on Thursday. The Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) formed last year by 14 governments aims to ensure adequate supplies of minerals such as lithium and rare earths to meet zero-carbon goals. We’re now looking at 15 projects on five continents, ranging from extraction to processing,” Jose Fernandez, US State Department under secretary for economic growth, energy and the environment, told a briefing in London.”

US, UK and partners working on 15 critical minerals projects
Articolo – Mining.com

“The rapid growth of electric vehicle sales finally makes real the prospect of curbing the United States’ addiction to oil, as former President George W. Bush called it, limiting climate change, and reducing the geopolitical influence of petrostates such as Russia. Yet concerns about China’s dominance of the supply chains for EVs have prompted some to warn against swapping energy insecurity in oil for insecurity in the minerals and metals used to make EV batteries. This January, for example, a resolution introduced in the Wyoming state legislature called for ending the sale of EVs by 2035, citing threats to mineral supplies as one of the justifications.”

How to Break China’s Hold on Batteries and Critical Minerals
Analisi – Foreign Policy

“Green hydrogen promises to be critical in achieving a sustainable and renewable energy transition. As green hydrogen is produced with renewables, green hydrogen could become an energy storage medium of the future and even substitute the current unsustainable grey or blue hydrogen used in the industry. Bringing this transition into reality, for instance, in Germany, there are visions to rapidly build hydrogen facilities in Africa and export the produced green hydrogen to Europe. One problem, however, is that these visions presumably conflict with the visions of actors within Africa. Therefore, this study aims to provide an initial assessment of African stakeholders’ visions for future energy exports and renewable energy expectations.”

Towards green hydrogen? – A comparison of German and African visions and expectations in the context of the H2Atlas-Africa project
Ricerca – Energy Strategy Reviews

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