Politics & Regulation

"We want to be Number 1 in the world with Hydrogen Technologies," says the German Federal Minister of the Economy, Peter Altmaier.

Chevron's recently assembled activist Board of Directors  is moving the oil giant to suspend payments from a gas joint venture involving an offshore gas pipeline in the Yadana fields in southwest Myanmar that would have reached Myanmar's military junta.  French energy major Total has joined Chevron in shutting down the money flows to the junta.

In a judgement reverberating through the world of petroleum companies and their suppliers, a court in the Netherlands has ruled that Shell must cut its CO2 emissions by 45% compared to 2019 levels, legally obliging for the first time a company to align its policies with the Paris climate accords.

In the wake of the Biden administration's decision to waive sanctions on Nord Stream 2's parent company, Nord Stream AG, Poland has come out strongly against the U.S. move, saying the completion of Nord Stream 2 would threaten energy security in central and eastern Europe.

The Biden administration, in a move nobody anticipated, will lift sanctions on Nord Stream AG, the company based in Switzerland and currently building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.  Sanctions will also be waived against Matthias Warnig, CEO of Nord Stream and ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Rosprirodnadzor, the Russian regulator part of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, has reported a pipeline spill of some 100 tons in Russia's northwestern region of Komi. The leak flowed into Kolva, a local river, creating an oil slick requiring immediate attention.

The midwestern American state of Michigan has ordered Canada’s Enbridge to close its Line 5 pipeline which delivers nearly half of the oil needs of Ontario and Quebec as well as propane to Michigan State.

Robert Kasande of the Ugandan Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has announced that compensation to those affected by the Ugandan section of the planned East African Crude Oil pipeline could reach the equivalent to $18 million.

More than ten years of complex negotiations between Angola and neighboring Zambia have resulted in a $5 billion deal to build a products pipeline between Lobito and Lusaka.

At the signing ceremony in Luanda, the Zambian government was represented by Energy Minister Mathew Nkhuwa, with Angola represented by Petroleum Minister Diamantino Pedro Azevedo.

Leading energy stakeholders endorsed President Biden’s climate-change commitments on Thursday 22nd of April.

Northern Macedonian’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev is expected to visit Athens in early May to sign a treaty promoting a pipeline gas interconnection project linking the two Balkan country’s gas networks.

Nord Stream 2 has been the centre of a long-running dispute between the United States and Germany. Washington has criticised Nordstream 2 for potentially increasing Europe’s dependence on Russian gas but at the same time seeing it as reducing opportunities for US liquid natural gas exports to Europe.

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee of the US Congress has acted to put some teeth into its much ballyhooed Nordstream 2 sanctions policy by approving The Ukraine Security Partnership Act.  This measure authorizes $300 million in foreign military financing, of which $150 million would be subject to conditions.

It’s not surprising that America’s oil and gas sector is not totally enthusiastic about President Biden’s $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan which incorporates raising corporate taxes and, should it gain Congressional approval, designation of monies to facilitate the country’s transition from fossil fuels towards clean energy.

Mexico said it will begin construction of Cuxtel 1, a 16-kilometer, 36 inches diameter pipeline that will supply natural gas to the Yucatan Peninsula to produce electricity more cheaply.