Re:Norway Is Walking Away from Billions of Barrels of Oil
by jillesvangurp on Tuesday April 09, 2019 @03:11AM
(#19612471)
The Norwegians are using clean energy to produce oil. Wind, hydro, etc. are being used to power the pumps. Simlarly, Texas has huge investments in wind and solar and likewise the middle east is using solar installations to pump oil and gas. The economics for that are already such that that is cheaper. So, these costs are actually dropping: clean energy is being used to make dirty energy cheaper.
Climate change is very real on the North Pole and as a consequence, the US, Norway, Denmark/Greenland, and Russia are gaining access to new oil and gas fields that used to be inaccessible and are now being exploited. Particularly Russia is pumping out a lot of gas in that region and I'm sure Alaska is also doing well. So, there is indeed plenty of oil. But it matters whether you can sell it at 30$ or 100$ a barrel.
Another thing worth highlighting is that synthesizing carbo hydrates (aka. oil) from air is a feasible but energy intensive process. I.e. once clean energy prices drop far enough, that might actually become more lucrative than getting real oil/gas from the ground. Also a great way to store excess energy and you can do it anywhere. Like e.g. next to the refineries or pumps, thus cutting out transport as a cost factor.
Climate change is very real on the North Pole and as a consequence, the US, Norway, Denmark/Greenland, and Russia are gaining access to new oil and gas fields that used to be inaccessible and are now being exploited. Particularly Russia is pumping out a lot of gas in that region and I'm sure Alaska is also doing well. So, there is indeed plenty of oil. But it matters whether you can sell it at 30$ or 100$ a barrel.
Another thing worth highlighting is that synthesizing carbo hydrates (aka. oil) from air is a feasible but energy intensive process. I.e. once clean energy prices drop far enough, that might actually become more lucrative than getting real oil/gas from the ground. Also a great way to store excess energy and you can do it anywhere. Like e.g. next to the refineries or pumps, thus cutting out transport as a cost factor.