Coal-fired power falls to a 42-year low
Coal-fired power generation has fallen to a 42-year low, but coal stockpiles continue to grow.
U.S. coal stockpiles increased steadily in April, recovering to levels the nation hasn’t seen in three years, according to the Department of Energy.
Coal stockpiles are expected to remain relatively steady through 2021, according to the Energy Department. In April, U.S. coal power plants had enough coal stock on hand to burn for 114 days.
Coal-fired power is expected to generate the nation’s fourthlargest share of electricity this year, down from the secondlargest in 2019. Coal has been displaced by nuclear and renewable generation this year, according to the Energy Department.
Oil production set to return to pre-crash level
By the end of the third quarter, most U.S. oil producers plan to restore nearly all of the production shut down during the oil crash, according to a new report.
Many U.S. oil companies started pausing production in April as the global pandemic decimated demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. In May, at the peak of the production cuts, 25 public oil companies shut in 772,500 barrels of oil per day, according to Rystad, a Norwegian energy research firm.
After crude prices climbed back into the $30 and $40 per barrel range, many oil companies began restoring production. The production cuts made by the 25 companies fell to 680,300 barrels per day in June and to 306,500 barrels per day in July. By September, nearly all of the production is expected to be restored, Rystad said.
New solar project plugs into Texas grid
A South Korean solar project developer has begun operations at a 180-megawatt solar generation facility in West Texas.
174 Power Global, the U.S. solar development arm of South Korea-owned Hanwha Group, said 30 megawatts of power will go to its affiliate Chariot Energy, a retail electric provider in Texas. 174 Power Global last year started Chariot Energy, which sells power plans on the state’s electricity shopping website powertochoose.org.
The Oberon Solar Power Facility is outside Odessa, in Ector County, and is expected to power about 36,000 homes during the summer. One megawatt is enough electricity for about 200 homes on a hot summer day.
The project, which includes more than 560,000 solar panels, began construction in June 2019.
Texas LNG firm closes in on Vietnam project
Dallas liquefied natural gas company Energy Capital Vietnam has taken a step forward with plans to develop an LNG project in that country.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc recently announced that ECV’s proposed natural gas-fired power plant and a supporting offshore LNG import terminal project in Binh Thuan Province will be added to the country’s power development plan.
If the project obtains a permit and secures financing, the power plant will need to import LNG to produce up to 3.4 gigawatts of electricity.
The project comes as several companies are vying for a share in the nation’s rapidly growing power market.
Halliburton adding cloud tech to offshore rig
Houston oil-field services company Halliburton landed a contract to add cloud computing technology that will improve production at offshore rigs in Thailand.
Financial terms were not disclosed but Halliburton announced Tuesday that it had won a contract from PTTEP, a national petroleum exploration and production company in Thailand, to design and implement a series of digital transformation projects.
Under the contract, Halliburton subsidiary Landmark will deploy its DecisionSpace Production Suite software at four offshore fields — Arthit, Greater Bongkot South, Greater Bongkot North and the Myanmar Zawtika Field.
Using cloud computing technology, data will be stored and analyzed on web-based servers rather than physical servers aboard the offshore production platforms.