A new age of cheap energy approaches

[Kieran]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... aches.html

Well, it is from the Torygraph...

[emordnilap]

Ahem...you read this stuff?

Even if every word were true, I don't wanna read it there! The comments alone bring back my lunch. Who's paid this guy to write this?

[Kieran]

Ahem...you read this stuff?

Even if every word were true, I don't wanna read it there! The comments alone bring back my lunch. Who's paid this guy to write this?

Of course it's a load of shite. However...it's important to Know Your Enemy.

[emordnilap]

Of course it's a load of shite.

Well put.

[JohnB]

It could be great news. Everyone could decide that with cheaper energy they can spend less time earning money, and more time enjoying the simple pleasures of life. They'll get such a taste for it that they'll do everything they can to reduce their energy consumption, so they need to earn even less money. And everyone will live happily ever after.

Or maybe they won't, and climate change will get us even sooner

[fifthcolumn]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... aches.html

Well, it is from the Torygraph...

Unfortunately the majority of this new gas is in the USA.
A sizeable chunk is not far from me in the Northern Rockies too.

BUT.... it's only the US fields that are being developed.

AND... there are no pipelines to export terminals.

NET RESULT: Natural Gas prices are falling in North America. The Import Terminals in North America are lying empty. Demand for world supplies of LNG will be without that of North America.

BUT.... Supplies of tight gas are NOT increasing elsewhere. Elsewhere they are relying on conventional gas.

SO.... You lot are going to continue to see higher and higher gas bills for the next while until (IF) we build export pipelines and terminals.

BUT.... I doubt we WILL build export pipelines and terminals because we're going to need the tight gas for ourselves to replace the oil we won't be getting from the declining world market for oil.

So unlucky guys, you're still out on the plank.

[RGR]

[quote="fifthcolumn"]

[Totally_Baffled]

So unlucky guys, you're still out on the plank.

You are probably right fifth.

However I remember those early days on PO.com which claimed the UK was stuffed on the gas front because the US would hog all the LNG supplies.

The doomers argued that that US natural gas production would collapse, and that as the worlds reserve currency, the US would secure the lions share of the worlds LNG deliveries and places like the UK would freeze and the lights would go out.

But now the opposite has turned out to be true , eg the US has more gas than it knows what do with, surely that releases LNG supplies to other areas of the world (the UK being one)

So although gas isnt as fungable as oil as a commodity - the US natural gas glut stills has an impact.

The other point is, that if the US has shed loads of tight/unconventional gas - imagine what Russia and the ME have!!! (let alone all the conventional stuff they still have!) These parts of the world DO have the infrastructure to get gas to Europe and beyond....

[fifthcolumn]

But now the opposite has turned out to be true , eg the US has more gas than it knows what do with, surely that releases LNG supplies to other areas of the world (the UK being one)

Yes I agree with this. The USA and Canada will not be bidding on the world market for nat gas. That should dampen any price rises.
On the bright side, the UK went ahead and built a few LNG terminals so the infrastructure is there to import.

The other point is, that if the US has shed loads of tight/unconventional gas - imagine what Russia and the ME have!!! (let alone all the conventional stuff they still have!) These parts of the world DO have the infrastructure to get gas to Europe and beyond....

It's true that places like Qatar and Iran have shedloads of the stuff and so probably does Russia. BUT... they don't like us very much.
In any case, I don't actually think Britain is doomed, I just expect it's going to see a period like the 1970s which lasts for about ten to fifteen years. Also: if you look at the competition for manufactured goods, it's still likely that the pounds should be able to outbid various other basketcase currencies so products like solar panels, windmills, nuclear power plants, heat pumps etc should be able to still come in.

AND.... the UK is a world leader in one of the technologies necessary to save itself: Electric Trucks!!

That said, I'm glad I'm here rather than there. My income has taken a bit of a dump but my standard of living hasn't changed much except that I can't afford faraway holidays three times a year anymore. If I had stayed behind I would be broke by now.