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BHP chairman says $20 billion investment in shale was a mistake
Mislukt gokje van $ 20 mrd:
BHP Billiton's Chairman Jac Nasser said on Thursday BHP's $20 billion investment in U.S. shale oil and gas six years ago was, in hindsight, a mistake.
BHP entered the shale business at the height of the fracking boom in 2011 and invested billions more developing the operations. The fall in oil prices since then has led to pre-tax writedowns of about $13 billion on the business. Activist shareholder and hedge fund Elliott Management, holding 4.1 percent of BHP's London-listed shares, has been trying to gain support from other shareholders to persuade BHP to sell the shale oil and gas business.
"If you had to turn the clock back, and if we knew what we knew today, we wouldn't do it, of course we wouldn't do it, but go back and put yourself in our position at that time," Nasser told a business seminar, referring to the shale purchase.
Vrees voor stroomuitval komende winter
Belgische stroomproblemen:
‘Het gevaar bestaat dat we deze winter geen strategische reserve hebben om een elektriciteitstekort op te vangen. Dit is een bom.’
Dat is te horen in regeringskringen. België mag immers geen contracten sluiten voor het in stand-by houden van gascentrales zolang een onderzoek van de Europese Commissie naar illegale staatssteun loopt.'
Exclusive: Glencore makes large cobalt deal, securing EV battery supplies for VW
De strijd om de grondstoffen van de 21e eeuw is begonnen:
Mining giant Glencore has signed a major deal to sell up to 20,000 tonnes of cobalt products to a Chinese firm, a move that in turn helps Volkswagen secure car batteries for its shift to electric vehicles, four sources said.
The four-year agreement between Glencore and Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), struck last October, comes as global carmakers race to lock in battery supplies and move away from traditional combustion engines.
Tesla wades into Australia's battle over energy future: Russell
Ons voorland? De worsteling die energietransitie heet:
Certainly, if successful, the 100 MW of Tesla lithium-ion batteries will be able to provide power to some 30,000 homes in South Australia, which is home to about 1.7 million people and ranks fifth by population of Australia's six states.
But the significance of the deal goes way beyond the mere provision of emergency power, and it is likely to become a political football in Australia's wider energy debate.
Broadly speaking, Australia's energy debate is becoming polarized into two factions, one in favor of using the nation's abundant coal as the main fuel, and the other committed to switching to mainly renewable sources of power as part of efforts to limit global climate change.
China's shale gas output jumps in 2016
China investeert miljarden in duurzame energie, maar ook in kernenergie, kolen en schaliegas. De productie van schaliegas nam vorig jaar met maar liefst 76% toe:
China produced more shale gas last year, as the world's biggest energy producer and consumer cleans up its coal-dominated energy mix.
Its shale gas yield increased 76.3 percent to 7.9 billion cubic meters in 2016, a record high, the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLF) said Monday in a statement.
A total of 8.79 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) was spent prospecting for shale gas last year.
Breakthroughs in drilling techniques have made China one of the top shale gas suppliers in the world. Only a few countries are able to commercially produce the gas, including the United States, Canada and Argentina.
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