The World Is Still Producing More Oil Than It Needs

Re:The World Is Still Producing More Oil Than It Needs by Nasrudith on Saturday May 02, 2020 @07:31AM (#23051114)

Low cost oil being good for green energy is very technically correct in that it could be used for that if not for the massive demand and supply chain disruptions. If you are committed to building green power and oil could be used best for whatever reasons. However it does undermine the economic motivation. Although they are counterintuitively enough perfectly compatible.

Crude oil is more a battery than an energy source really given the energy needed to invest in refining it. Usually coal was the source historically for refining with some niche situationals like hydroelectric to save on power cost. Using "green" energy to export oil is older. Ironically if you have a refinery powering it by wind and solar isn't a bad idea given current power costs by source and can help reduce inputs required.

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Re:The World Is Still Producing More Oil Than It Needs by filleokus on Saturday May 02, 2020 @08:13AM (#23051284)

I don't really follow your argument.

Are you saying that low oil prices are good for "green energy" since low oil prices motivates the use of renewable sources in the refinement of oil? First result on Google [0] says refineries "may use about 1.5% to 8% of feed as fuel". While a large emission source, in the grand scheme of things, converting refineries to use renewable sources seems less prioritised compared to replacing oil derived fules at the end user.

That shift however, will of course be less attractive in a world with low oil-prices. So in the end I think it's still hard to conclude that low oil prices are good for renewables?

[0]: https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/277910/1-s2.0-S187661020...

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