The United States and China have agreed an unprecedented partnership on fracking to accelerate the energy revolution promised by previously unreachable gas reserves. Under the terms of the deal, agreed after Joe Biden, the US Vice President, visited Asia this month, America will share its expertise to help to promote “sound and rapid” development of Chinese exploration for shale gas. --David Taylor,
The Times, 19 December 2013
Fracking probably won President Obama a second term as cheaper fuel bills pushed household disposable income up by $1,200 a year and kept unemployment below the 8 per cent mark, which has been fatal to presidents seeking re-election. --David Taylor,
The Times, 19 December 2013
Ministers will offer fracking companies rights to drill across more than 37,000 square miles of land – almost half of Britain – as they “step up the search for shale” gas and oil. Under plans unveiled earlier areas from central Scotland down to the south coast of England will be opened up in a “licensing round” next summer. Energy minister Michael Fallon said that shale was “an exciting prospect, which could bring growth, jobs and energy security”. --Emily Gosden,
The Daily Telegraph, 17 December 2013
UK Prime Minister David Cameron is warning Europe not to shackle the continent's emerging shale gas industry with new regulations, despite public concern about the controversial fracking process used to extract the resource. Cameron wrote to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso ahead of a package of EU analysis and proposals on energy due to be published in early 2014. --Shane Croucher,
International Business Times, 17 December 2013
China said it has identified a major gas hydrate reserve in the northern part of the South China Sea, joining a small group of nations in the world seeking to tap a potentially vast future source of energy. “It marks a breakthrough in investigating the resource and proves that the Pearl River Mouth basin is rich in gas hydrate,” the report said, adding China becomes the fourth country in the world to have collected sample of the methane hydrate after the U.S., Japan and India. --
The Economic Times of India, 19 December 2013
Whilst two-thirds of the British population intellectually accepts the reality of manmade climate change, many deny some or all of the associated feelings and responsibilities needed to deal with the issue, according to a new report. A YouGov poll commissioned for the study found that only 37% of respondents agree their actions are part of the climate change problem. This denial makes it very difficult to create the political will necessary to decarbonise the economy at the scale and speed required, it said. Additionally, almost two thirds (61%) of participants said economic growth should be a priority even if it has a negative impact on the climate and 72% said their own standard of living was more important than climate change. --Charlotte Malone,
Blue & Green Together, 18 December 2013
America’s energy boom will continue for decades, and natural gas will replace coal as the largest source of U.S. electricity by 2035, the Department of Energy forecast today. U.S. production of crude oil will increase through 2016, when it will approach the record set in 1970, before leveling off and then slowly declining after 2020. Natural gas production will grow steadily, jumping 56% from 2012 to 2040, according to an early release of an annual report by DOE’s Energy Information Administration. --Wendy Koch,
USA Today, 16 December 2013
