"Global Energy Crisis: China Coal Inventory Nears Record Low, Nation Suffers Worst Outages in a Decade; LNG Prices Hit New Highs; Brent Crude Soars"

 Source:

https://electroverse.net/global-energy-crisis-china-coal-inventory-nears-record-low-nation-suffers-worst-outages-in-a-decade-lng-prices-hit-new-highs-brent-crude-soars/

"Global energy reserves are hitting all-time lows and prices are soaring.

Failed renewables, poor foresight, and a historically long and cold Northern Hemisphere winter of 2020-21 are now pricing ordinary folk out of the market

— as one UK charity recently put it, the poorest will soon have to choose between eating and heating.

Energy prices impact EVERYTHING, including the availability of food.

China Coal Inventory Nears Record Low, Nation Suffers Worst Outages in a Decade

In past years, when the calendar flipped to September, China set to replenishing their coal inventories ahead of the looming cold winter months.

This year, however, coal is so scarce that the nation is struggling –and in many cases is failing– to merely keep the lights on.

As of September 21, the total stockpile of thermal coal –used to generate electricity– held by the nation’s six major power-generation groups stood at just 11.31 million tonnes — a shockingly-low reserve.

To put it in perspective, 11.31 million tonnes is capable of meeting China’s energy demand for just 15 days.

State media reports that of China’s 31 provincial jurisdictions, 20 have been forced to implement electricity-rationing measures since mid-September,

making it one of the most extreme examples of energy rationing in the nation’s history,

especially considering the impact it is having on regular households,

and given that we’re only in September, when demand is low.

Power cuts in China are usually restricted to industrial users, but their frequency has risen since the second half of last year and have now been extended to households. The country’s 1.4 billion inhabitants are on for a tough winter of 2021-22.

LNG Prices Hit New Highs

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices are set to spike further this winter, and will likely surpass previous records set last winter as inventory levels remain historically low.

Asian spot LNG prices hit $29 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) this week, and are expected to remain well above $25 per mmBtu all winter, said Jeff Moore, manager of Platts’ Asian LNG Analytics division.

A cold 2020-21 winter pushed spot prices to a record high $32.50 per mmBtu in mid-January as gas inventory was drawn down to meet the demand surge, explained Moore.

Following that, a pick up in economic activities from the easing of coronavirus-induced restrictions in many countries sent demand spiking further,

causing gas storage levels to fall to multi-year lows towards the end of summer, said Sid Bambawale, LNG trading manager at Vitol.

“This week, we start the winter season.

It’s going to come down to one thing and that’s the weather,” he said, adding that a cold winter will send prices surging further,

which in turn would threaten blackouts for potentially hundreds of millions of people.

Cold temperatures, as you would expect, increase demand for gas for heating and limited storage capacity means companies are not able to stockpile volumes ahead of time.

Record high Dutch TTF gas prices are also having a direct impact on Asian prices and are sending a ripple effect throughout the entire industry, said Denis Bonhomme, vice president of LNG at TotalEnergies China.

Dutch TTF gas sky-rocketed 10 percent on Monday alone, to 78 EUR/MWh.

This was due to, among other things, to new weather models which foresee a colder than expected winter.

“That causes nervousness,” said Matthuas Detremmerie, trader for energy supplier Elindus.

In Britain, for example, gas prices have more than trebled over the past year — a brutal winter will only compound the misery.

“It’s a tense outlook this winter,” concluded Bambawale.

... Brent oil shot above $80 a barrel, the latest milestone in a global energy crisis, on signs that demand is running ahead of supply and depleting inventories–so says the opening lines of a recent worldoil.com article.

Oil’s latest climb comes in line with forecasts for surging demand this winter, and speculation that the industry isn’t investing enough to maintain supplies.

The jump to $80 is also adding inflationary pressure to the global economy.

European natural gas, carbon permits and power rose to fresh records this week, with no signs of the rally slowing.

Oil prices could hit $90 this year as stock drawdowns deepen, says Goldman Sachs.

Much of the outlook for the rest of the year will hinge on just how cold the northern-hemisphere winter gets, continues the worldoil.com article.

And, as touched on above, winter is set to be a doozy as historically low solar activity continues to impact global temperatures — these coming cold months could-well go down as the first of the modern Grand Solar Minimum winters.

Energy shortages and a looming colder-than-average winter — welcome to the controlled demolition of the empire." ...