At the Suriname Energy, Oil and Gas Summit at the end of June, a fiery Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Stuart Young encouraged unity among Caricom, South American and African states which had hydrocarbons, and knocked “developed” states, particularly in Europe, for preaching energy transition, yet running to the worst form of hydrocarbon – coal – at the first sign of shortages in its energy supply.
Quoting from an article from the Journal of Petroleum Technology written in January, Young explained that France was expected to increase its limits on coal usage as its power plants undergo maintenance.
“The developed world, when they face an energy crisis rush to coal – the worst hydrocarbon fuel. But they want to come down on us and put pressure on developing nations who have hydrocarbon resources and tell us about de-carbonisation, sustainability and what we must do as we try to develop.”
“Anyone who attended COP26 last year, would have seen, ironically, on the way to Glasgow, all of the wind turbines at a standstill. Renewable energy wasn’t giving them sufficient supply in Europe. Immediately they restart coal plants that were about to be decommissioned.”
“The conversation changed with the crisis in Russia and Ukraine.”
At the summit, launched to connect hydrocarbon producers with strategically minded companies looking to capitalise on investment, development, and project opportunities in Caricom, Latin America and Africa, Young called on new regional players in the energy industries to look out for “carpetbaggers”, and others who had the world to say about energy transition in the region.
But how fair is the minister’s position? Is Europe’s energy crisis, fuelled by conflicts, shortfalls and strikes, really pushing it back to the dark days of burning coal?
A coal front
The BP Statistical Review of World Energy indicated that coal consumption increased by six per cent to 160 exajoules (EJ) in 2021. One exajoule is equivalent to around 23 million tonnes (mt). China and India accounted for 70 per cent of the growth in coal demand, increasing by 3.7 and 2.7 EJ respectively, but Europe and North America increased coal consumption after nearly a decade of declines.
The result is that coal consumption rose to levels higher than it was in 2019 and the highest since 2014.
Global production mirrored consumption with an increase of 440 mt.
The review indicated that although renewable energy continued trending upwards to 13 per cent in 2021, coal remains as it has been for the past two decades as holding the largest share in consumption for the purpose of power generation. The share of coal in power generation increased from 35 per cent to 36 per cent. However, it remains lower than it did in 2019. Gas remained close to its 10-year average, at 23 per cent of the share of power generation.
[caption id="attachment_924206" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Atlantic LNG, Point Fortin. File photo/Jeff Mayers[/caption]
In his summary, chief economist Spencer Dale said challenges and uncertainties f
