UK, Europe -- Energy Crisis -- 2021 - 2022

Big things are happening in Europe, UK in response to the crisis. 

Two issues, and they appear completely separate.

Natural gas.

Gasoline.

They are related but we can dispense with the UK gasoline crisis for the moment. This was how it played out:

• natural gas prices were surging
• talk of natural gas prices pulling gasoline prices forward
• among the well-read, folks started keeping their automobiles full of gasoline; their trucks full of diesel
• that exacerbated the situation and rumors worsened
• even the less-well-read were now hearing rumors of fuel shortages
• shortage fed on itself
• then, accurate or not accurate, there were reports of a shortage of truck drivers ...
• but what's the possibility that as service stations (or garages as the Brits called them) anticipated growing demand, started ordering more and in some cases were simply being told, there's plenty of fuel, but there is now a "relative" shortage of drivers (same number of drivers, just more demand); the Brits famously do not like to work overtime;
  
• and, the rest is history as petrol stations started to run out of fuel
• mostly due to panic buying
• but this is what is not being said: the Brits, regardless of what the politicians have said, had moved on; they had enough with Covid; they were getting back to normal; demand for fuel exceeded prognostications when the Delta virus hit
• could this happen in the US? Nope.

Okay, now natural gas. This is a bigger problem for the Brits and even with a warm winter, the UK could be in big, big trouble. One would hope BoJo is coordinating with JoBid to get LNG shipments prioritized to the UK, not Asia. [There are reports saying that will not happen.]

This is not a story about Russia. Wow, that gets tiresome. 

This started with the "Angela Merkels" years ago when faux environmentalists started shutting down coal plants (2000) and nuclear reactors (Fukishima, 2011). It's ironic how it happened. Shutting down coal plants would not have been a disaster had there been no problem with nuclear plants, but that all changed, for Germany, with Fukishima. For Germany, coal was their Plan A. Nuclear plants, their Plan B.

The UK had no Plan B. One could say the same thing for the UK, except instead of shutting down nuclear reactors in response to Fukishima they simply increased reliance on wind.

And it was the "wind issue" that brought the UK to its knees most recently.

Well, to some extent. I don't believe it was simply the wind. 

A gedankenexperiment:

Imagine what would happen in the US if for whatever reason, Resident Biden shut down the Permian. Just shut it down. Things were reversed in the US. Plan A was oil from Canada via the Keystone XL. There was no Plan B because no Plan B was needed. Oil was more than plentiful in Canada and no one in their right mind ever thought any US president would shut down a simple pipeline.

Fortunately for America, Mark Papa (EOG) and Harold Hamm (CLR) came up with a Plan B before it was even needed; pure serendipity. In fact, Plan B, light oil was not what the refiners along the Gulf coast needed. They were optimized for heavy oil. 

So, with the loss of the Keystone X, Plan A: not a big deal but unpleasant for the oil industry, especially the refiners, and ultimately those who buy gasoline for their automobiles, like you and me.

So, now with the loss of the Keystone XL, imagine Resident Biden shutting down the Permian.

That's exactly what happened in Europe with regard to natural gas. And no one is talking about it. Until today, interestingly enough, and I will provide the link later. Actually there are two links but I can't find one of them now. Not to worry. By the end of the week, there will be many links, many stories.

The US did not shut down the Permian. But the Dutch shut down "the" Groningen, the largest natural gas field in Europe. Made the decision based on risk of earthquakes. Europe's Plan B: like Keystone XL from Canade, Europe's Plan B was Nord Stream 2 from Russia. 

The problem: Americans like Trump did not like Nord Stream 2. I have no idea what drove that: knee-jerk politics, or well-founded national security issues.  

So, whereas Americans did not have a Plan B if the Keystone XL did not materialize, Mark Papa and Harold Hamm pre-empted any serious problems for the US. 

But not the Europeans. It was just the reverse. They closed the Groningen (Plan A) knowing Nord Stream 2 (Plan B) was coming down the pike.

While editing this, a reader wrote to remind that there even more to the story. The reader reminded me that at the time the Groningen decision was being made there is/was another copious energy supply that was stillborn ... the project to frac the Bowland Basin shale.

A company named Cuadrilla not only drilled a horizontal well 3 years ago, they were able to frac about 5 stages.

 

The preposterous restrictions placed upon the company included not exceeding a .5 (point 5) reading on the Richter scale during the fracturing process. (For context, rambunctious football fans regulary produce Richter readings of 2 when stomping their feet. As the Richter scale is algorithmic, that 2 is something like 30/40 times more prominent than the acceptable .5).

Combining both the known Bowland and Weald Basin shale gas resources, the UK possesses about a 80 to 100 year supply of natgas beneath their feet. 

For Cuadrilla, this was just what the DAPL operators experienced: experiencing harassment at the very time recognizing how acute the need for natural gas.

So, in fact, there was a Plan C -- all that natural gas in Great Britain until faux environmentalists shut that project down, also.

But, as usual, there's even more. 

Folks are blaming the Russians. 

Nope, nothing could be farther from the truth.

First, the timing and the geopolitics. Why would Russia risk being exposed to "cheating" at the very time they are trying to get this thing approved by Europe and by the US?

Second, there are many, many indications that Russia itself is reaching the limits of its production. That has been addressed at the blog on number occasions over the past ten years. Russia is facing a very, very cold winter (again, nothing new). 

Link here, but this article appeared after I drafted the above. Cyril Widdershoven is one of my favorite contributors over at Oilprice.com.