Latest news with #fossilfuel
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Manifold problems at BP: New boss must restore confidence at board level and with investors, says MAGGIE PAGANO
BP investors are restless souls at the best of times, and for good reason. Now they are even more anxious following the surprise choice of Irishman Albert Manifold as the long-awaited chairman, a role they prayed would be filled with someone of enough stature to steer the oil giant back to being a fossil fuel company again. The muted response in BP shares certainly bore out their concern. Analysts were equally underwhelmed at the appointment, describing the move as panic after industry heavyweights turned the top job down. There are also worries that Manifold, unquestionably a brilliant chief executive of the Dublin-based construction materials group CRH Holdings, will be tempted to switch BP's listing to the US to get a higher valuation, as he did with CRH. Others say that he doesn't have any experience of the oil and gas sector, nor the skills required to be a chairman –rather than a chief executive – as the focus needs to be on accountability and governance rather than running operations. That's the case against Manifold. My own hunch is that the City has been far too swift to judge his experience so negatively. If Manifold's reputation is as formidable as his background suggests, the Dublin-trained accountant with an MBA and an MBS under his belt, could prove to be just the man to turn the tide at BP. In fact, the fast-talking, fiercely driven yet modest 62-year-old sounds rather a good egg, one who prefers to be out on the road meeting clients overseas rather than the high life like so many of his peers. Something that high-flying BP executives might want to watch out for. Manifold is credited with turning CRH from a small cement and other base-materials supplier into a fully-fledged billion pound construction giant. He joined CRH some 26 years ago, rising to become chief executive in 2014. Since then, Manifold totally reshaped CRH's portfolio, buying up assets from Lafarge and Holcim during their 2015 merger, snapping up the US-based Ash Grove Cement Company and at the same time divesting of non-core businesses. As CRH moved deeper into the US, he did the sensible thing, which was to list CRH in New York as well as keeping its FTSE 100 London listing. That was a smart move – CRH's share price has soared by almost 400 per cent with its market value shooting to $50billion. While it's true that Manifold's skills have been in operations, it's also evident from his achievements that he had a long-term vision and the nous to deliver that strategy. Turning tactics into strategy is just what BP needs after the misguided ambition of former chairman Helge Lund and ex-boss Bernard Looney, and the mad dash for renewables. Manifold takes the hot seat at a crucial time. BP has a mountain of debt, a mutinous investor in the activist US hedge fund Elliott and is in the middle of a $20billion fire-sale of non-core assets like wind farms and petrol stations. The company also had to deal with speculation of a Shell takeover, since denied. Yet despite BP's underperforming shares, it still has a decent dividend yield and the board is clearly working flat out to put its 'reset' strategy into operation. If BP can achieve this, and if it can get oil production up to 2.5m barrels of oil a day by the end of the decade, then Barclays reckon the shares could rise as high as £5.25. Most of us have BP shares via our pensions. So we should all hope that Manifold proves the City wrong, and that even a fraction of his magic rubs off. Before he gets going, he must focus on restoring confidence at board level as well as with long-suffering investors. German reboot Who would ever have imagined that Europe's great industrial powerhouse would have to launch a Made in Germany project to restore confidence? But that's what 61 of the country's leading companies are doing with their promise to spend €631million on new investments over the next three years. They hope to kick-start the economy, which is still looking bleak after two years of recession. What they don't say is how they will bring down the sky-high cost of energy which is one of their biggest problems. Sounds familiar.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Gas flaring created 389m tonnes of carbon pollution last year, report finds
The fossil fuel industry pumped an extra 389m tonnes of carbon pollution into the atmosphere last year by needlessly flaring gas, a World Bank report has found, in an 'enormous waste' of fuel that heats the planet by about as much as the country of France. Flaring is a way to get rid of gases such as methane that arise when pumping oil out of the ground. While it can sometimes keep workers safe by relieving buildups of pressure, the practice is routine in many countries because it is often cheaper to burn gas than to capture, transport, process and sell it. Global gas flaring rose for a second year in a row to reach its highest level since 2007, the report found, despite growing concerns about energy security and climate breakdown. It found that 151bn cubic metres (bcm) of gas were burned during oil and gas production in 2024, up by 3bcm from the year before. 'Flaring is needlessly wasteful,' said Zubin Bamji, the manager of the World Bank's Global Flaring and Methane Reduction Partnership (GFMRP), which wrote the report. '[It's] a missed opportunity to strengthen energy security and improve access to reliable power.' In many cases, observers complain, the rules to prevent needless flaring are weak and poorly enforced, and companies have little incentive to stop doing it because they do not have to pay for the pollution it causes. The report found that nine countries – Russia, Iran, Iraq, the US, Venezuela, Algeria, Libya, Mexico and Nigeria – were responsible for three-quarters of all gas flaring in 2024. Most of the worst offenders were countries with state-owned oil companies. Despite efforts to stop the practice, the intensity of flaring – the volume flared per barrel of oil produced – had remained 'stubbornly high' over the last 15 years, the report found. Flaring intensity in Norway, one of the cleanest oil and gas producers, is 18 times lower than in the US, and 228 times lower than in Venezuela, according to the data. Andrew Baxter, an oil and gas expert at the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, who was not involved in the report, said it was 'deeply disappointing' to see a return to the gas flaring levels of 2007. 'Such levels of flaring are an egregious waste of resources,' he said. '[They] are catastrophic for climate and human health.' The International Energy Agency has called for the elimination of all flaring except in emergencies by 2030. The value of gas flared last year, which would have been worth about $63bn at EU import prices for 2024, is more than half of the upfront costs that the IEA says are needed to stop the practice altogether. Jonathan Banks, a methane expert at the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force, who was not involved in the report, said solutions were well known and often cost-effective. 'What is missing is the political will and regulatory pressure to implement them at scale.' The report highlighted areas of progress, pointing to some oil and gas producers, such as Angola, Egypt, Indonesia and Kazakhstan, that had successfully reduced the amount of gas flared. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Kazakhstan, which has levied steep fines on companies that break the rules, had reduced flaring by 71% since 2012. Banks said: 'We need more of this kind of action and more support to help lower-income, high-flaring nations overcome infrastructure and governance barriers. 'We also need global coordination, particularly from major oil importers, to create incentives that reward responsible producers and raise the bar for everyone.' The report, which used satellite data to estimate flared gas, was produced by the GFMRP, which is made up of some of the world's most polluting governments and companies. Its funders include European energy firms such as BP, Eni, Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies, as well as major oil-producing countries such as the US, Norway and the United Arab Emirates. The group has encouraged countries and companies to end routine flaring by 2030. According to the report, countries that endorsed the initiative have on average reduced their flaring intensity by 12% since 2012, though absolute volumes have fallen only slightly in that time, while countries that have not made the pledge increased their flaring intensity by 25%. 'Reducing gas flaring is not without challenges,' said Bamji. 'It requires upfront investment, adequate infrastructure, strong regulatory frameworks and sustained political will.' If those conditions were in place, countries could significantly cut flaring, 'often while unlocking new sources of revenue and improving energy access'.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Gas flaring created 389m tonnes of carbon pollution last year, report finds
The fossil fuel industry pumped an extra 389m tonnes of carbon pollution into the atmosphere last year by needlessly flaring gas, a World Bank report has found, describing it as an 'enormous waste' of fuel that heats the planet by about as much as the country of France. Flaring is a way to get rid of gases such as methane that arise when pumping oil out of the ground. While it can sometimes keep workers safe by relieving buildups of pressure, the practice is routine in many countries because it is often cheaper to burn gas than to capture, transport, process and sell it. Global gas flaring rose for a second year in a row to reach its highest level since 2007, the report found, despite growing concerns about energy security and climate breakdown. It found that 151bn cubic metres (bcm) of gas were burned during oil and gas production in 2024, up by 3bcm from the year before. 'Flaring is needlessly wasteful,' said Zubin Bamji, the manager of the World Bank's Global Flaring and Methane Reduction Partnership (GFMRP), which wrote the report. '[It's] a missed opportunity to strengthen energy security and improve access to reliable power.' In many cases, observers complain, the rules to prevent needless flaring are weak and poorly enforced, and companies have little incentive to stop doing it because they do not have to pay for the pollution it causes. The report found that nine countries – Russia, Iran, Iraq, the US, Venezuela, Algeria, Libya, Mexico and Nigeria – were responsible for three-quarters of all gas flaring in 2024. Most of the worst offenders were countries with state-owned oil companies. Despite efforts to stop the practice, the intensity of flaring – the volume flared per barrel of oil produced – had remained 'stubbornly high' over the last 15 years, the report found. Flaring intensity in Norway, one of the cleanest oil and gas producers, is 18 times lower than in the US, and 228 times lower than in Venezuela, according to the data. Andrew Baxter, an oil and gas expert at the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, who was not involved in the report, said it was 'deeply disappointing' to see a return to the gas flaring levels of 2007. 'Such levels of flaring are an egregious waste of resources,' he said. '[They] are catastrophic for climate and human health.' The International Energy Agency has called for the elimination of all flaring except in emergencies by 2030. The value of gas flared last year, which would have been worth about $63bn at EU import prices for 2024, is more than half of the upfront costs that the IEA says are needed to stop the practice altogether. Jonathan Banks, a methane expert at the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force, who was not involved in the report, said solutions were well known and often cost-effective. 'What is missing is the political will and regulatory pressure to implement them at scale.' The report highlighted areas of progress, pointing to some oil and gas producers, such as Angola, Egypt, Indonesia and Kazakhstan, that had successfully reduced the amount of gas flared. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Kazakhstan, which has levied steep fines on companies that break the rules, had reduced flaring by 71% since 2012. Banks said: 'We need more of this kind of action and more support to help lower-income, high-flaring nations overcome infrastructure and governance barriers. 'We also need global coordination, particularly from major oil importers, to create incentives that reward responsible producers and raise the bar for everyone.' The report, which used satellite data to estimate flared gas, was produced by the GFMRP, which is made up of some of the world's most polluting governments and companies. Its funders include European energy firms such as BP, Eni, Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies, as well as major oil-producing countries such as the US, Norway and the United Arab Emirates. The group has encouraged countries and companies to end routine flaring by 2030. According to the report, countries that endorsed the initiative have on average reduced their flaring intensity by 12% since 2012, though absolute volumes have fallen only slightly in that time, while countries that have not made the pledge increased their flaring intensity by 25%. 'Reducing gas flaring is not without challenges,' said Bamji. 'It requires upfront investment, adequate infrastructure, strong regulatory frameworks and sustained political will.' If those conditions were in place, countries could significantly cut flaring, 'often while unlocking new sources of revenue and improving energy access'.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Activists sue US development bank over $4.6bn loan to massive Mozambique gas project
Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit accusing a US development bank of providing an 'unlawful' near-$5 billion loan to a fossil fuel project in southern Africa. Friends of the Earth US, Mozambican environmental charity Justiça Ambiental, and EarthRights International are accusing the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) - which uses US public money to support US investments abroad - of not conducting sufficient due diligence around the re-approval of the $4.6bn loan to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique. In March, under President Donald Trump, EXIM announced the re-approval of the loan, which had been paused after the project ran into difficulties related to an ongoing Islamic Insurgency in the Cabo Delgado region where the project is based in 2021. The groups allege EXIM 'rushed through approval' without conducting required environmental reviews, economic assessment, or complying with the procedural requirements mandated by Congress. The lawsuit also claims that EXIM failed to follow neither its own Charter nor federal law, setting a dangerous precedent for future decisions. The Independent has previously reported on the numerous human rights and environmental concerns that surround the project. "There are legal procedures and processes in place to ensure the U.S. Export-Import Bank does not waste taxpayer dollars on risky projects plagued by violent insurgencies,' said Kate DeAngelis, deputy director for economic policy at Friends of the Earth US. 'Yet EXIM – like the rest of the Trump Administration – believes that it can operate outside the law. We will not stand by while the Trump Administration cuts health care and disaster aid so that it can give handouts to fossil fuel companies.' Richard Herz, of EarthRights International, added: 'EXIM's Board's illegal decision to subsidize this project, without even considering the risks to local people, let alone the serious allegations that project security committed a massacre at the project site, is beyond reckless. 'EXIM needs to do its job and actually consider the harms this project will inflict on local people.' The long-delayed LNG project has displaced thousands of local people. In 2021, French oil giant TotalEnergies, which is spearheading the project, was forced to halt operations after Islamist insurgents killed dozens of workers near the company's main site in the Cabo Delgado region. The ongoing insurgency – and a 'force majeure' declaration around the project – also means that TotalEnergies has been unable to resume operations. Signs of discontent can be found in villagers claiming that they have not been sufficiently compensated for giving up land that most rely on for subsistence farming, according to evidence collected by local NGO Justica Ambiental, after Mozambique LNG was given rights to 6,625 hectares of land to build its liquefaction terminal. A spokesperson for TotalEnergies previously told The Independent that prior to the force majeure announcement, 89 per cent of compensation payments had been paid within six months of the signing of compensation agreements, and 66 per cent were paid within 90 days. 'The Force Majeure situation has prevented the full implementation of the relocation and compensation process and has slowed down the exercise,' they said. A spokesperson for Justiça Ambiental said: 'To continue financing gas projects in Cabo Delgado would be a betrayal of Mozambique and humanity. 'It would ignore the voices of the families who are bearing the heaviest burdens – who have lost their land, access to the sea, and their livelihoods. It would show a lack of commitment to national laws, international standards, and any efforts to deal with the climate crisis.' An EXIM spokesperson said: 'The Export-Import Bank of the United States is aware of recent reports and inquiries regarding ongoing legal proceedings. As a matter of longstanding policy, EXIM does not comment on pending litigation. 'EXIM remains committed to its mission of supporting American jobs by facilitating the export of U.S. goods and services. The Bank continues to operate in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.'
RNZ News
6 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Can gas from food scraps fill an energy void?
A major international energy report has found biogases have the potential to cover a quarter of the world's current demand for fossil fuel gas. Biogas is typically produced using a process called anaerobic digestion - where organic matter is broken down with an absence of oxygen inside a sealed structure. New Zealand's first biogas facility to pump into the national gas pipeline opened in Reporoa in 2022 and can meet the demand for gas from about 7000 homes. Proponents of biogas say it has the potential to help fill the shortfall from declining gas fields in this country. But its current rate of uptake means the country is well behind that as a possibility. The Government canned a proposal to mandate food scrap collection for all councils, which critics have said has stymied investment in biogas generation. The head of the World Biogas Association, Charlotte Morton is in New Zealand as a keynote speaker at the Biogas Forum here. A truck delivering another load of food waste to Ecogas in Papakura Photo: Zane Edwardson
