Predictions about what the energy market and the global economy might look like in the future can feel a bit like stargazing — the closer something is, the clearer it appears. But if something is really far away, even the Hubble Space Telescope won’t bring it precisely into view, especially if it’s a still-developing solar system or a distant planet. That’s pretty much where things stand with bioethylene, which could become a shooting star but might also end up as a big cloud of dust. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the developing market for bioethylene: where it’s being made, what changes might make it more economical to produce in the U.S., and its target markets.
Daily Energy Blog
Thursday, 3/17/2022
When U.S. lawmakers introduced the 45Q tax credit in 2008, they were planting a seed they hoped would one day sprout into a flourishing carbon-capture industry. As the years wore on and the number of successful projects remained small, they added a little fertilizer in 2018, not only enhancing the value of the credits but easing some of the limitations in the earlier legislation. It’s now 2022 and, with climate concerns and the energy transition at top of mind, Washington is again looking at ways to make the tax credit more effective and spur new growth in carbon-capture projects. In today’s RBN blog, we look at how economic and technological challenges have so far limited the success of carbon-capture initiatives.
Tuesday, 3/15/2022
For many, coal has become a hydrocarbon non grata in recent years, mostly due to the considerable amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) generated when it is burned to produce electric power or heat. But what if, instead of combusting coal on its own, coal plants were co-fired by a combination of environmentally friendly versions of ammonia and the volumes of CO2 generated were way less? And what if, through the 2030s and ’40s, the ratio of fuels used in these coal-and-ammonia-fired power plants shifted away from coal and toward ammonia, and by mid-century the plants were fueled only by “green” or “blue” ammonia, which generates little or no CO2? It may sound too good to be true — heck, it may well turn out to be! But there is a lot of interest in the idea, especially in Japan, where coal still retains a big share of the power generation mix. In today’s RBN blog, we continue to look at the prospects for environmentally friendly hydrogen (H2) — and ammonia, an H2 carrier — in the power generation sector.
Wednesday, 3/02/2022
It’s true. A lot of folks harbor serious doubts about whether “green,” “blue,” or “pink” hydrogen (H2) can ever be produced efficiently and cheaply enough — and in sufficient volumes — to justify blending hydrogen with natural gas, let alone using H2 as an outright replacement for gas. At the same time, though, a growing number of electric utilities and independent power producers — generally cautious groups — are planning new, large-scale power plants that will be capable of hydrogen/natgas co-firing from the get-go, and can be converted with relative ease to 100% H2 later on. Can hydrogen really make sense as a generation fuel? In today’s RBN blog, we begin a series on the prospects for environmentally friendly hydrogen — and ammonia, an H2 carrier — in the power generation sector.
Monday, 2/28/2022
Among the many challenges facing the energy transition, one is particularly ominous: a lot of stuff will need to be produced, fabricated, and constructed to replace the hydrocarbon-based energy network that runs the world today. We’re talking wind turbines, solar arrays, energy storage batteries, electric vehicles, and all of the other infrastructure and components that will be needed to make the energy transition happen. Not only will all this stuff require a lot of concrete and steel, it also will demand huge quantities of specialty metals and minerals such as lithium, copper, chromium, neodymium, etc. It’s a fact that a decarbonized energy network is much more material intensive — that is, it takes a lot more total investment in minerals, metals, and construction materials to produce the same energy as comes from hydrocarbons. Further complicating things, the increased material needs will be front-end loaded. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the materials-related challenges facing the energy transition.
Sunday, 2/20/2022
The illusion of a smooth energy transition was swept away in 2021, with the drive toward decarbonization running headlong into the reality of energy markets. It is now clear that the transition and its effects are permeating all aspects of supply and demand, from the chaos in European natural gas, to producer capital restraint in the oil patch, to the rising impact of renewable fuels and, of course, the escalating roadblocks to pipeline construction. Gone are the days when traditional energy markets operated independently of the energy transition. Today the markets for crude oil, natural gas, and NGLs are inextricably tied to renewables, decarbonization, and sustainability. It’s simply impossible to understand energy market behavior without having a solid grasp of how these factors are tied together. That is what School of Energy Spring 2022 is all about! In today’s RBN blog — a blatant advertorial — we’ll highlight how our upcoming conference integrates existing market dynamics with prospects for the energy transition.
Thursday, 2/17/2022
There is a lot we don’t know about how the energy transition might play out over the next couple of decades. One thing that we can say with a high degree of certainty, however, is that the big run-up in wind and solar generating capacity in recent years is just the beginning — a lot more wind farms and solar arrays will be developed through the 2020s and ’30s, as will many, many energy-storage batteries. Another good bet is that as the portfolios of wind and solar developers grow, they will need help in maintaining, upgrading, and replacing their assets from a newly emerging type of company: the clean energy services provider. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss wind and solar’s role in the energy transition and the types of services these new companies might provide.
Thursday, 2/10/2022
It’s been heard in many a pub: “Liquor may not be the answer, but it’s worth a shot.” You could make the same argument for hydrogen. While many question whether it will ever make economic sense to use hydrogen as a supplement to — or replacement for — natural gas on a large scale, others insist that hydrogen has a great future as a climate-friendly fuel, assuming it receives sufficient developmental support from government and ESG-minded industry. As it turns out, an early test of hydrogen’s potential is coming from the liquor industry itself, or more specifically, the maker of a renowned single-malt scotch on the Isle of Islay, off Scotland’s western coast. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the distiller’s hydrogen production and combustion project and the broader plan by members of the Scotch Whisky Association and Scotland itself to achieve net-zero carbon emissions within a generation, largely through the expanded use of hydrogen.
Wednesday, 2/09/2022
Not so long ago, most folks in the energy industry hardly gave carbon dioxide (CO2) a thought. Sure, some CO2 was used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and in some production areas the natural gas coming out of the ground had to be treated to remove high levels of CO2. But otherwise, CO2 wasn’t on the industry’s radar. Now though, CO2 is a front-and-center concern not just for the energy industry but for society at large as the global economy tries to decarbonize. And while renewable energy like wind and solar will be part of that decades-long effort, so will the push to capture CO2 and permanently store it deep underground. Put simply, it’s time for producers, midstreamers, and refiners alike to gain a deeper understanding of carbon capture and sequestration, how it will affect them, and — ideally — how they can profit from it. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss highlights from our new Drill Down Report.
Tuesday, 2/08/2022
The illusion of a smooth energy transition was swept away in 2021, with the drive toward decarbonization running headlong into the reality of energy markets. It is now clear that the transition and its effects are permeating all aspects of supply and demand, from the chaos in European natural gas, to producer capital restraint in the oil patch, to the rising impact of renewable fuels and, of course, the escalating roadblocks to pipeline construction. Gone are the days when traditional energy markets operated independently of the energy transition. Today the markets for crude oil, natural gas, and NGLs are inextricably tied to renewables, decarbonization, and sustainability. It’s simply impossible to understand energy market behavior without having a solid grasp of how these factors are tied together. That is what School of Energy Spring 2022 is all about! In today’s RBN blog — a blatant advertorial — we’ll highlight how our upcoming conference integrates existing market dynamics with prospects for the energy transition.
Tuesday, 2/01/2022
The Internal Revenue Code’s tax credit for carbon oxide sequestration, better known as 45Q, is fortunate to enjoy something very rare in Washington, DC, these days — generally bipartisan support. A host of changes aimed at bolstering the tax credit were included in the House-approved version of the Democrats’ central piece of legislation, the Build Back Better (BBB) Act, but it appears to have no way forward in the Senate — it was declared “dead” Tuesday by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a must-have vote — which means it will likely be split into separate pieces, further complicating its path to passage. Several proposed changes to the 45Q tax credit have already been included in separate legislation, so they could still become a reality. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at some potential changes to the tax credit as well as measures that might restrict its use.
Thursday, 1/27/2022
Back in the early days of the Space Race, popular culture envisaged aerospace technology that might one day have us all zooming around town like George Jetson in his flying car. That hasn’t turned out to be the case, but developments that have evolved from rocket technology could one day play a different role here in the 21st century, where producing cleaner power and managing the energy transition are two key global goals. In today’s RBN blog, we look at an innovative “bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration” (BECCS) project being undertaken in California by Clean Energy Systems (CES) and its partners, how the company’s technology is designed to work, and what “carbon-negative energy” might mean.
Tuesday, 1/25/2022
Alberta, Canada’s energy powerhouse, accounts for the vast majority of the nation’s crude oil, natural gas, and NGL production. There is a lot of hydrogen locked up in all of those hydrocarbons and Alberta’s provincial government recently laid out a seven-part plan to expand the production and use of “blue” hydrogen — produced from natural gas via steam methane reforming with carbon capture and sequestration — as part of a broader effort to bolster its existing natural gas sector and energy transition cred. In today’s RBN blog, we explore Alberta’s proposed hydrogen strategy.
Monday, 1/24/2022
The Shale Revolution created an unprecedented need for midstream infrastructure of every sort — gathering systems, processing plants, storage hubs, takeaway pipelines, fractionators, export terminals, and more — all with the aim of connecting new hydrocarbon supply to demand. Throughout the 2010s, the scope and urgency of this midstream build-out opened up tremendous opportunities for the master limited partnerships, private-equity-backed developers, and other entities with the management skills, financial wherewithal, and dexterity to make these massive projects happen. Now, much of the Shale Era’s required new infrastructure is in place — and COVID and ESG have slowed new-project development to a crawl — putting many MLPs in a bind and leaving private equity firms to wonder where they should invest their money next. Well, there may be an even better set of new opportunities on the horizon — all related to the coming energy transition — and, as it turns out, midstream developers with hydrocarbon experience are uniquely positioned to lead the way. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss how the project-development model that drove the midstream sector’s growth over the past decade is poised for potentially lucrative re-use in the 2020s and beyond.
Monday, 1/17/2022
The idea of capturing the carbon dioxide emitted from power plants and industrial facilities and permanently storing it deep underground is widely viewed as one of the more promising ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The catch is, how do you convince private-sector CO2 emitters to invest tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in carbon capture and sequestration projects? Enter federal government incentives — in this case the Internal Revenue Code’s carbon oxide sequestration tax credits, better known as 45Q, which at first glance would appear to offer certain industries significant financial incentives if they make these investments. However, while the credits — available for a variety of projects and uses — have been around since 2008 and were significantly expanded in 2018, they have not yet made much of an impact. In today’s RBN blog, we look at how the credits can add up for individual projects and how widely variable costs make carbon capture uneconomic for several industries.
