What we do
PROJECT
REPORTS
Resources
Monitor reports on mining projects in Australia.
The current project pipeline is strong, reflecting strong resources prices.
To assist suppliers and others to take advantage of this situation, we are offering a special package of reports for the remainder of 2022.
For details, see Order Form and Samples above.
DIRECTORIES
We also offer directories of organisations operating in mining and related engineering sectors (e.g water).
Our most recent directories are those covering water authorities in New South Wales (released December 2021) and Victoria (released February 2022). The directory of Queensland water authorities will be released in March 2022.
CONSULTANCY WORK
For the past decade, we have provided tailored assistance to Australia and
overseas clients to expand their operations in the mining and other engineering sectors.
Groote
Eylandt (Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory), the site of one of the
world's largest manganese mines
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Project Notes
EUROPE’S ENERGY CHALLENGE
April 2022
In the past year, global economic recovery has underpinned strong price increases for natural gas, coal and crude oil.
|
|
Price (end month)
|
Increase, %
|
|
|
March 2021
|
March 2022
|
Unit
US$
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Liquefied
natural gas (LNG) Asia
|
7.9
|
14.9
|
MMbtu
|
89
|
|
Thermal
coal (Newcastle)
|
92
|
262
|
tonne
|
185
|
|
Crude oil
(Brent)
|
63
|
111
|
barrel
|
76
|
Sources:
tradingeconomics.com; Ycharts (LNG Asia). For LNG Asia, the 2022 price is for
the end of January.
Note: thermal coal is coal used mainly in electricity production; MMbtu = metric
million British thermal units.
An energy crunch in Europe also lies behind strong prices.
For example, natural-gas prices soared in Europe in 2021, tripling during
the course of the year.
This was a result of • the high dependence of Europe (including Germany, the UK and Italy) on imported gas • in the second half of 2021, reduced gas supplies from
Russia, Europe’s largest supplier.
In addition, in the face of high gas prices and low wind activity, coal
is making a small comeback in Europe for electricity generation, adding
pressure to coal prices.
For example:
• in January this year, France “temporarily” relaxed a cap on coal usage
• the UK had to restart a coal-fired power plant last November to ensure supply
to the Glasgow climate-change conference, with further such restarts on-the-cards
in 2022
• in Germany, coal replaced wind in 2021 as the largest source of electricity
generation
• in late February, Italian prime minister Mario Draghi said "the re-opening of coal-fired power stations could be used to make up any shortfall in the immediate future"
The European Union (EU) and the UK want to abandon coal. But this will be difficult in the short term, particularly given the uncertainty of Russian gas supplies to Europe in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking on a trip to Indonesia in October 2021, when Europe's current energy crunch was well underway, a senior EU representative, Frans Timmermans, said that "it will be a tragedy if in this crunch we will start investing again in coal, which is an energy that has no future and is extremely polluting".
In November 2021, the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, said that the outcome of the Glasgow conference sounded the "death knell for coal".
In short, Europe is decrying the use of coal but increasing such use itself. This will not matter if increased coal use is short-term. But if more than short-term, Europe will need to change its message.
