by Ava Rawson
The accepted international legal custom for liability structuring within the context of Oil Rig Decommissioning is the ‘polluter pays principle’, yet determining fiscal responsibility is not always so straightforward. Through examining the descriptors of decommissioning, the types of knowledge deemed suitable for decision making by operators, and ownership trends, we can gain a better understanding of the complexities of why installations may remain unplugged.
by Sean Field
The electrification of heat and transportation is vital to the UK achieving Net Zero. In this short piece, Sean explores how a weighted average wholesale electricity price could reduce electricity prices for consumers and substantially delink wholesale natural gas and electricity prices. This promises not just to insulate UK consumers from global natural gas price volatility, but also facilitate the electrification of heat and transport by making electricity cheaper, which is essential for meeting the UK’s net zero targets.
I don’t drive. Having lived in cities with robust public transportation systems and extensive bike lane networks, this was never an issue. However, my choice not to get behind the wheel was to be tested from December 2022 when I took a job in Austin, Texas.
by Sean Field
In Part 2 of this series, Dr Field explains how the UK’s energy crisis is a dual predicament: an energy price crisis, and an energy supply crisis. The UK’s electrical grid is balanced on the wholesale market for natural gas; as wholesale prices rise, people are pushed into energy poverty. Building on Part 1, he demonstrates how natural gas dependency and insufficient UK natural gas storage capacities are threatening electricity blackouts this winter (as well as a crisis of heating), concluding that this crisis was foreseeable and avoidable.
When half the world struggles with inadequate electricity supply, what happens when we have too much energy? In this post, I look at situations in which overcapacity leads to a “renewable overkill”, creating landscapes of abandonment where wind turbines and other renewable energy projects lie as stalled, prevented or temporarily stranded assets.
by Sean Field and Mette M. High
In a world that has been described as ‘petromodern’ and with oil as its beating blood, how can oil trade in negative prices? And how does this highlight the relationship between the physical and virtual dimensions of oil markets?