Global oil demand may have passed peak, says BP energy report
Demand for oil may never fully recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the oil firm, and may begin falling in absolute terms for the first time in modern history.
Feds freeze EI premiums in response to pandemic | Advisor’s Edge
The Canada Employment Insurance Commission (CEIC) said Monday that the EI premium rate will remain $1.58 per $100 of insurable earnings for 2021 and 2022. For employers, who pay 1.4 times the employee rate, the rate remains $2.21.
The government said it was freezing the rate at the current level as a result of the economic impact from the pandemic. It will be crediting the EI operating account for the increases related to CERB.
Perhaps it was tongue-in-cheek, or a way for the leader of the world’s fifth-largest international oil company to emphasize a relationship with consumers. But it’s clear Looney and other oil bosses are struggling to sell their plans for a future in which the world wants more green energy. Last year, for the first time in history, solar and wind made up most of the world’s new power sources, according to BloombergNEF. If the margins on cappuccinos look good right now, that’s an indication of how hard it will be for Big Oil to rapidly ditch its winning formula of drilling, pumping, and refining while spending its way into renewables.
What is the future of Big Oil without oil?
Industry executives insist their legacy business is resilient even as they shift away from oil and natural gas, but their actions suggest otherwise. BP and Royal Dutch Shell Plc have already slashed their dividends—for Shell it was the first time in nearly 80 years. Returning profits to shareholders has long been a pillar of oil’s strength on financial markets. And those like Exxon who are keeping their shareholder payments untouched are taking on far more debt to do so.
The fossil fuel industry as a whole has taken billions of dollars in writedowns, in part linked to the rise of U.S. shale production and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. If demand peaks earlier than expected, as some in the industry now fear, the most expensive and polluting oil fields such as tar sands in Canada may never be developed. The term of art for these uneconomic oil resources is stranded assets. The consultants at Rystad Energy AS estimate that 10% of the world’s recoverable oil resources—some 125 billion barrels—could become obsolete.
Source: Big Oil goes looking for a career change – JWN Energy
An article on this site “Freeland, Carney May Be Canada’s Last, Best Chance for a Green Recovery” asks the question for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland as she settles into her new cabinet portfolio is whether that statement still rings true in the context of a global health emergency, an accelerating climate crisis, a mounting wave of fossil fuel divestment and stranded assets, and the meteoric rise of clean energy alternatives.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world is moving on. The love Canada feels for fossil fuels isn’t shared by other countries and its taking its toll on them. They have to switch gears or die — maybe a little bit of both. See my forum post about the slow painful death of fossil fuels.
Extinction in progress
According to a new report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the global wildlife population had fallen by a staggering two thirds in less than 50 years.
“For us, this is growing evidence to show that we are in the midst of a catastrophe in many ways in terms of a collapse of wildlife around the world,” said James Sinder, with the World Wildlife Fund.
The report analyzed nearly 21,000 populations of mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians. It found, on average, a 68 percent drop in monitored species from 1970 to 2016.
According to the report, animal populations in the Caribbean and Latin America are the most affected. However, the report found at-risk species in Canada have seen their populations decline by 42 percent in the last five decades.
Source: WWF report shines light on rapidly dwindling wildlife populations | CTV News
“The crisis in the nation’s most populous state is more than just an accumulation of individual catastrophes,” the New York Times reports. “It is also an example of something climate experts have long worried about, but which few expected to see so soon: a cascade effect, in which a series of disasters overlap, triggering or amplifying each other.”
“The challenge we’re facing now is the extreme fire events that we believe are climate-induced,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. And “the effects have been painfully felt,” CNN adds. “At least seven people have died since the start of this year’s fire season, according to Cal Fire, with thousands of homes reduced to embers. Many communities have had to order mandatory evacuations, and more than 170,000 recently went without power to prevent future blazes.”