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Greece adopts a new environmental bill easing investment in renewables

7 May 2020

The Greek parliament has adopted a new environmental bill, with the objective to promote investment and accelerate the country’s economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis. The new regulation aims at simplifying investment procedure in renewables, by reducing the average environmental permit issuance period from 8 years currently to 150 days, as the country aims at ending the use of coal by 2028. It also changes rules governing land use, environmental licensing, and the management of protected areas.

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The UK Oil and Gas Authority presents strategy to support net-zero target

7 May 2020

The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) of the United Kingdom plans to modify its main goal of maximising economic recovery (MER) and to include a requirement for industry to help the UK government achieve the target of net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Low carbon obligations on operators would comprise cutting flaring and GHG emissions as much as possible, fully assessing low carbon development options like platform electrification, and requiring negotiations in “good faith” on carbon capture and storage (CCS).

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Nigeria will postpone oil bidding rounds in 2020

7 May 2020

The government of Nigeria has decided to postpone oil bidding rounds for the foreseeable future due to the fall in global oil prices. Consequently, the country anticipates a decline in projected revenue from signature bonuses from NGN939bn (US$2.4bn) to NGN350bn (US$898m) in 2020. However, the country plan to accelerate the sales of marginal fields, which require less capital to develop and are usually acquired by local oil exploration and production companies.

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Companies

 

Algeria blocks sale of Anadarko’s assets to Total

7 May 2020

Occidental Energy has officially notified Total that the French major cannot acquire Anadarko’s oil and gas assets in Algeria, as Algerian authorities have blocked the sale in the country. The US energy company will continue to operate the assets, unless it can find a way to sell it to Total.

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Tauron delays its 910 MW coal-fired power unit at Jaworzno III (Poland)

6 May 2020

Polish power utility Tauron has postponed the commissioning of a new 910 MW supercritical unit at the Jaworzno III coal-fired power plant (Poland) from July to November 2020, after one of the boiler’s component was damaged during trial operations. The supercritical unit will have a maximum net capacity of 843.5 MW and a net efficiency of approximately 45.9%. The PLN6bn (€1.3bn) project will replace older units currently installed by Tauron.

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US oil majors and Total announce new investment and ouput cuts in 2020

6 May 2020

Several oil majors have announced further cuts in oil production and capital expenditures. Chevron has decided to reduce its 2020 investment plan by an additional US$2bn to US$14bn and its 2020 operating costs by more than US$1bn.

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Infrastructure & Investments

 

Panama’s regulator approves 2019-2033 power transmission expansion plan

7 May 2020

Panama’s power transmission system operator (TSO) Etesa has received the approval of the public services regulator ASEP for its Expansion Plan of the National Interconnected System for the 2019-2033 period. The ASEP has approved 18 short-term network projects for new power transmission lines and substations, along with two long-term projects, namely the 230 kV Panamá-Panamá III and Telfers-Sabanitas power transmission lines.

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Dominion aims to start US$8bn Atlantic Coast gas pipeline in 2022 (US)

7 May 2020

Dominion Energy has confirmed plans to commission its nearly US$8bn Atlantic Coast gas pipeline project between West Virginia and North Carolina (United States) in early 2022, provided the group is allowed to cut trees along the project’s route between November 2020 and March 2021.

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Neoen signs PPA for 460 MW solar power project in Australia

7 May 2020

The French renewable project developer Neoen has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with CleanCo Queensland, a government-owned power generation and trading company, which will reserve a power capacity of 352 MW from Neoen’s Western Downs solar park project in Chinchilla, in southeast Queensland (Australia). The AUD570m (US$367m) project will have an installed capacity of 460 to 480 MW. Construction is expected to start in July 2020 and the project should generate its first power in the first quarter of 2022.

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Other

US energy-related CO2 emissions decreased by 2.8% in 2019

7 May 2020

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), US energy-related CO2 emissions decreased by 2.8% in 2019, to 5,130 MtCO2, i.e. 15% below their 2007 peak of 6,003 MtCO2 and offsetting a 2.9% surge in 2018 that was due to increased energy consumption (warmer weather spurred air conditioning demand). In 2019, energy-related emissions fell faster than energy consumption (-0.9%) and the CO2 intensity (CO2 emissions per unit of GDP) improved noticeably, in a context of economic growth (+2.3% of GDP).

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