Coal Reduces Reliance On Foreign Oil

Coal is extremely dirty, but it also creates the most energy per ton of matter than any other fuel source. It emits 12x less CO2 than natural gas, 18x less CO2 per kilowatt-hour than nuclear power and 32 times less sulfur dioxide in coal combustion. Because of this, many countries are now switching over to coal as a more affordable alternative to importing oil. When more countries use coal, they reduce their reliance on oil and prevent the industry from swerving into recession.

If more countries begin using coal, it can potentially make a major dent in the energy market. Currently, China and Japan are the leading coal exporters. However, now that China is finally transitioning away from its growth-at-all-costs strategy, they are beginning to pass off their roles as leaders of this industry. While Russia remains one of the top exporters of coal to Europe, American companies have begun to gain large footholds in the industry.

The United States is now one of the world's largest consumers of coal and also owns the second most recoverable reserves next to Russia. As America continues to become even more relevant in global affairs, more companies and nations will turn towards America for their coal needs than ever before.

The countries that are switching to coal will not only cut their costs, but they will also reduce overall harmful output into the environment. The government of China recently announced that it will be closing 1,000 power plants in efforts to reduce the amount of pollution that is released into its skies. These power plants produce over 100 million tons of coal per year and shuttering them down could have a major impact on the industry as a whole.

However, these countries aren't just reducing their use of coal as an alternative energy source, they are also taking measures to prevent this fuel from being produced in the first place. Many countries such as Germany and France have highly funded environmentalists that have been working on ways to stop the production of new mines. This situation is likely to continue as a new way to produce energy known as "distributed solar" takes form. Distributed solar is a way for millions of homes, businesses and even local communities to produce their own power. By doing so, people will not need to depend on coal and oil in the first place.

"Coal and oil are the world's most dangerous forms of energy. We should do everything that we can to replace them with an alternative." [1]

Author: Cassie Sánchez

Endnotes: [1] http://www.nationalgeographic.com/energy/power-generation/coal-renewables.html

Source URL: http://www.coincollective.com/coal-reduces-reliance-foreign/95551037

Email Address: focus@coincollective.com

Posted by Cassie Sánchez at 10:39 PM No comments:

The world has turned its attention to Saudi Arabia as the epicenter of oil supply and the biggest swing producer right now, the last few weeks saw the rise of U.S. production and even Libya had a big increase in output, - but today there is more news from Saudi Arabia when it comes to production numbers. There have been a few production numbers released by OPEC and they show that in the past few weeks there has been a very big drop in output from the Kingdom. So far this year, Saudi production is down by 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day.

Over the last two weeks, oil production from Saudi Arabia had dropped by 1.2 million bpd from what it was just two weeks ago. What that means is that back then, Saudi Arabia produced around 9.7 million bpd and now it is at 9.4 million bpd for the same period of time, which means that the country produced more than 2 million bpd less than before.

Production from Iraq was also lower during this period, by about 500,000 bpd. This is because production from the northern part of the country was halted and it has been restarted now.

OPEC's report clearly shows that U.S. shale production seems to have a big impact on OPEC since the drop in Saudi crude oil output was so big. At this point in time, US shale production has reached around 9 million bpd and it is likely to reach 10 million bpd in the next few months. Saudi Arabia is important for OPEC's production and for some countries, most notably Nigeria which depends heavily on Saudi oil, it may seem all too soon that they will lose their most important supplier.

Source URL: http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Saudi-Production-Downs-By-2Million.html

Posted by Cassie Sánchez at 3:26 PM No comments:

It seems like oil prices are still in a downward trend, though the media is pumping out all kinds of reports with regards to how they will recover and even when they will turn around. It is true that this is the case and that oil prices have been on a roller coaster ride, but they have recently started on a slight upward trend. The reason for this lies in the fact that production has increased more than expected and that some countries have decided to increase their output as well. OPEC does not want to affect the market and it is monitoring U.S. shale production, so there has been a slight increase in supply and some moderate price recovery.

Recently there was an OPEC meeting where the 14 member countries have decided to increase their oil production by 300,000 barrels per day. This was followed by a meeting held between Russia and Saudi Arabia where they discussed the possibility of increasing the media of oil exports from the former Soviet Union (FSU) during this year's second quarter by 300,000 bpd. If that happens it will have an impact on Russian GDP as well as result in higher revenues for Moscow which will allow them to continue rebuilding their debt-ridden economy.

But that is not all, the market has also started to make an impact because there have been reports published in the media saying that U.S. production could reach 10 million bpd by the end of the year, and this is even up from last year when the estimates were around 9 million bpd.

Shortly after OPEC's meeting ended on 30th November, oil prices increased and have been going up ever since. As of today, Brent crude is trading at $58 dollars per barrel, up from $50 a few weeks ago and it is expected to further increase as OPEC increases its output and as U.S. shale production grows further.

Source URL: http://oilprice.com/Oil-Prices/Brent-Crude/Is-This-The-Turning-Point-For-Oil.html

Posted by Cassie Sánchez at 4:04 PM No comments:

The media has been covering the situation with oil prices ever since they started to go down, most of the time they contradict each other as they try to predict what will happen next. Most people are aware of this and they don't seem to trust any of these reports so they have turned to social media in order to get some more up to date news regarding the markets.

Conclusion

As long as there are people who are convinced that oil prices will go up again, they will keep buying, while others will sell since they can't wait to make a profit. The market is always in motion and it is difficult to predict what it will do in the future, but if you are a trader you can use this information and be prepared for the future.

Source URL: http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Oil-Prices-Have-Been-Lowering-For-Over-A-Year.html

Posted by Cassie Sánchez at 12:43 AM No comments:

It seems like OPEC has been targeting U.S.