AMERIKA

We Need Free Public Transit, Not Cops on Trains


Three passengers and an NYPD officer were shot by police in a Brooklyn subway station over a $2.90 fare evasion. This was a case of racist aggression against the poor.


Vaishali Patra 

September 20, 2024

LEFT VOICE

Photo: Peter K. Afriyie

Last Sunday, an officer of the New York Police Department (NYPD) opened fire inside the Sutter Avenue subway station in Brooklyn over a $2.90 fare evasion. He shot and injured four people, including an NYPD officer. New York City Mayor and former cop Eric Adams promptly lauded the officers for their “bravery” in a post on X, proudly supporting the criminalization of impoverished communities of color in the city. At no point did Adams acknowledge that the injured NYPD officer in question was shot by his own colleague, deliberately implying that it was the passenger who was the culprit.

Police have accused Derrell Mickles, 37, of evading the fare and wielding a pocket knife after they tased him. However, the police later admitted that they confiscated a knife belonging to another passenger and have no evidence that Mickles was holding a knife. In a further display of contempt, Mickles’s mother has revealed that she was not informed that her son was in critical condition, with the NYPD only dropping a business card at her doorstep. The police department has killed 23 people in New York in 2024 alone, 10 of whom are Black. Nationwide, 229 Black lives have been lost to police brutality this year. Black lives continue to be treated as expendable in this racist and capitalist system, but are simultaneously portrayed as disruptors of public safety. Two dollars and ninety cents is all it took for the NYPD to open fire inside a subway station, endangering the lives of commuters. We condemn this heinous attack on poverty by the NYPD and stand in solidarity with Derrell Mickles and the two civilians injured last Sunday.

The categorization of subway fare non-payment as a crime is nothing more than a symptom of the decades-long defunding of public services and the over-funding of police in New York City. The NYPD has spent over $600 million in overtime pay and over $500 million in misconduct settlements as of January 2024. On the other hand, the city’s public higher education system, City University of New York (CUNY), continues to operate with millions of dollars in debt. This has led to austerity measures and rising tuition costs for a largely low-income Black and Brown student body. Meanwhile, supposedly liberal commentators claim that it’s “obvious” that the subway needs even more police.

This escalation in tactics by the NYPD is not an isolated incident or by any means an accident. This attack comes mere months after Adams announced his plans to turn NYC into a cop city with the establishment of a Public Safety Academy in Queens costing $225 million dollars. The NYPD has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on overtime pay as it continues to target pro-Palestine students at college campuses. CUNY Students have been pushed to the ground and brutalized and some are still faced with felony charges. Friends of mine were chased by NYPD officers carrying zip ties outside the encampment at City College.

It is no coincidence that the NYPD unleashes the worst of its aggression in poor communities of color such as in Morningside Heights, the site of the CUNY encampment, and in Brownsville, home to the Sutter Avenue subway station. In these areas, Black people make up 32 and 68 percent of the population respectively.

As a student and a part-time worker at CUNY, I have spent numerous days waiting over 30 minutes for public transportation to get to my campus. This has been coupled with wages which have not risen despite the approval of a new contract by my union, DC 37, in February 2024. Some members of my union working at CUNY are still earning below minimum wage, far lower than the $18/hour rate outlined in the contract. Paying for public transportation is not easy with this income level. CUNY frequently hires international students and immigrants like myself for part-time temporary jobs who may not be eligible for reduced fare Metrocards or full-time employment. Last semester, 24 professors were fired from my college due to budget cuts while the public safety department at CUNY had its budget increased by $4 million dollars, primarily to repress pro-Palestine students.

While the NYPD eats away at hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money each year, the working class pays for the redirection of funds from transportation, education, and healthcare towards a brutal police force. We need a free and fully-funded public transit system for NYC which is not controlled by ruthless imperialists like Adams or Governor Kathy Hochul. We want decisions for the public transit system to be made democratically by the people who actually ride the trains and buses every day, and by the workers who operate and maintain the MTA. We don’t need decisions made by those who can afford to avoid public transportation by robbing the working-class of their livelihoods

United States

Workers, Unions Must Defend Haitian Immigrants

Attacks on Haitians in Ohio are part of a long term project to divide the working class and blame immigrants for the capitalist crisis.

Julia Wallace and Carmin Maffea 

September 20, 2024

LEFT VOICE

Photo: Jesse Costa/WBUR

This 2024 presidential campaign has been fueled by right-wing rhetoric that has left both parties fighting over who can be more pro-fracking, pro-police, pro-Israel, and particularly anti-immigrant. This is exemplified by Donald Trump and JD Vance’s disgusting targeting of Haitian immigrants, accusing them of eating people’s house pets –claims that are reminiscent of anti-Asian tropes about Chinese people eating dogs and cats. These false claims are meant not only to agitate for harsher anti-migrant legislation but also to give political sanction to attacks on migrants and Black people by painting them as subhuman.

Far-right sentiments such as these have always held prominence in the capitalist system and are woven into the DNA of the imperialist core that is the United States. However, these radical right-wing sentiments have been growing in prominence with the rise of Trumpism and the Far Right, characterized by a series of political attacks on migrants, reproductive rights, and trans rights.

The feeding and broadcasting of right wing sentiments such as this has had the very effect it intended to. Just as minstrel images of Black people perpetuated ideas that Black men were rapists to agitate lynch mobs against them, the anti-Black and anti-migrant lies perpetuated by Trump has agitated acid attacks against Haitian people and the mobilizations by the Proud boys.

This rhetoric plays on the anti immigrant sentiment in the Black community particularly of Black people born in the US as well as anti Black sentiments in the Latino immigrant community. The attack on Haitian immigrants is connected to a greater anti-Black agenda.

Trump, for instance, has received some increased support in the Latino community and Black community, with groups like Latinos for Trump and the ADOS movement and these attacks on Haitians appease both those groups.

It is not only racial bigotry against Black people that fuels these attacks, but also serves an anti working class agenda. Immigrants are workers with no rights in the US. Never before in the history of imperialism has the problem of migration taken on such a scale as a global problem for the working class: hundreds of thousands of Black, brown, and ethnically diverse workers who find themselves and recognize themselves and recognize the shared tragedy of having to to cross borders to new Babylons to feed with their bodies and souls, the cheap labor force that drives imperialist cities. They are Haitian workers, the most precarious, the most oppressed in UPS warehouses in New York and other major cities.
Historical Attacks on Haiti

Attacks on Haitians aren’t exclusive to migrants entering imperialist nations, but are simply the latest in a series of racist reactionary attacks against the spirit of the Haitian Revolution itself.

The motto “L’Union fait la force” or unity creates strength, is a motto that embodies the Haitian revolutionary spirit. It was the guiding sentiment that inspired the slave revolts in Saint Domingue that eventually led to a revolution of enslaved Black people. With the success of the revolution, Haiti became not only the first Black republic but the first state to permanently ban slavery.

By supporting other revolutions in South America, rescuing enslaved people on transport ships, and making Haiti a safe harbor for revolutionaries and enslaved Africans as a free republic, Haiti served as a specter to the slavocracy and colonizers of the world and a beacon of inspiration and support to enslaved Black people around the world. The Haitian revolution showed that African slaves could successfully fight for their freedom, but more importantly, that such revolts could become revolutions. With the revolutionary spirit of Haiti serving as the vanguard of revolutionary progress, reactionary forces have always sought to crush or undermine that spirit, in a process that continues to this day.

To “recognize” Haiti’s independence, France, with the support of the United States and Thomas Jefferson ordered Haiti to pay 150 million Francs or face a French Naval fleet sent by Charles X. After capitulating, Haiti (being a new and small nation) was forced to take out loans from French banks with large interest rates. In today’s numbers the repayment cost the young nation about 20-30 billion dollars and took 122 years to pay off.

These economic attacks were furthered after the US took control over Haiti’s public finances following a near 20 year long, brutal, military occupation that ended in 1947.

Ten years after this occupation and strangulation of public finances came the pro-US military dictatorships of first Francois Duvalier, aka “Papa Doc,” and then his son Jean-Claude Baby doc. These regimes were characterized by their brutal repression of political opponents, especially communists, and acted as a strategic pro-US Caribbean enclave for the United States in its pursuit to crush the gains of the Cuban revolution. Papa Doc for example accrued 50 million dollars in foreign aid during his dictatorship, even as infant mortality rates skyrocketed and the average Haitian life expectancy shrank to just 40 years.

When ‘Baby Doc’ was ousted by a general strike in 1971, a major blow to US imperialism, the US refused to relent in its imperialist reactionary attacks on the island. A series of Agrarian reforms, which reduced tariffs on US imports, were forced on Haiti by Ronald Reagan, then made harsher by Bill Clinton. These reforms undermined Haitian farmers and forced them to abandon their farms. US agencies were fully aware that this would undermine the Haitian economy and exacerbate poverty as they were implementing these policies.

Migrants coming into the United States from Haiti are primarily coming to escape from imperialist-made crises that were implemented to crush the spirit of the revolution. The attacks on Haitian migrants in the US is the continuation of that reactionary response by utilizing the anti-Black and anti-migrant sentiment abundant in the growing far right populist movement.

In these racist attacks, it’s not just Haitian Migrants being attacked, it is also Non-Haitian Black people. This shows that the more the political elite and the right agitate for attacks on the ‘other,’ they are fueling reactionary movements against all of the working class and oppressed, and therefore, our struggles are inherently intertwined not only for our safety and our rights but for our total liberation.

It is important that working class people, Black, Brown, immigrant, and those born in the US actively reject such jingoism. The same tactics for one group one day will be used for another the next. Meanwhile it is the capitalists that increase their profits off of our backs. It is the capitalists taking our jobs, not immigrants. It is the imperialists that force people to leave their homes and immigrate to the US. Borders drive down all workers’ wages. Uniting all workers and oppressed people against bigotry and for higher wages and further political self organization have made the international workers movement stronger and will make us a fighting force.

The Democrats and Republicans vow to attack immigrants crossing the US/Mexico border. While the Republicans use the outlandish rhetoric of “eating pets,” the Democrats are more nuanced and speak about stopping drug dealers. But their aims are the same: to intimidate and divide the working class, and to keep immigrants in the shadows and from organizing for their own rights, or further still, from uniting with workers born in the US.

That is why we must embrace the motto “L’Union fait la force” in the legacy of the Haitian revolution as we build a greater one that is socialist and international.
Fight the Right Through Workers’ Organization

Despite all their rhetoric on fighting the right, the Democrats are showing exactly how they intend to “ fight the right,” which is to do nothing. Proud Boys are marching in the streets and the Democrats are asking for more money for their campaign. They are also catering to right-wing Republicans, bragging about the two hundred who have agreed to vote for Harris. It is clear they have no intention of fighting the Right and we should not rely on them. We, as working class and oppressed people, keep us safe. When hundreds of Zionists, transphobes and other violent bigots descended upon the UCLA campus it was not the police who protected the encampment but the students, workers and community members. The next day thousands mobilized and forced the police, sheriffs, and bigots to retreat into the early morning. As a response UAW 4811 went on strike across the University of California.

Our unions need to mobilize resources to defend immigrant rights as worker’s rights. Unions should take this up as the UAW 4811 took up the issue of Palestine and defending students and workers on its campuses. Instead, leaderships are giving millions of members’ union dues to the Democrats and Republicans. As both parties claim to represent workers, both parties locally and nationally attack the working class, our living standards and right to organize and unionize. To defend ourselves from bigoted attacks requires both the mobilization of the working class, including putting our unions to the services of oppressed people, but further still, to organize ourselves as working class and oppressed people politically into our own political party. A working class party that fights for socialism. In this political form we can develop politics, strategy, and organization to fight for our own interests and our class enemies.




Julia Wallace
Julia is a contributor for Left Voice and has been a revolutionary socialist for over ten years. She served on the South Central Neighborhood Council in Los Angeles and is a member of SEIU Local 721. Julia organizes against police brutality and in defense of LGBTQ, women, and immigrants' rights. When she's not actively fighting the patriarchy, white supremacy and/or capitalism, she enjoys many things: she loves Thundercat, plays ultimate frisbee and is a founder of the team, "Black Lives Hammer."


Carmin Maffea
Carmin is a revolutionary socialist from New York

Must watch: Trades Union Congress roasts Nigel Farage ahead of Reform UK conference

Basit Mahmood

Yesterday
Left Foot Forward

“Nigel Farage isn’t a friend of the working class, he’s a fraud. A public school educated, private equity loving, NHS privatising, Putin apologist fraud.”

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has torn Nigel Farage to shreds for being a ‘fraud’ and ‘no friend of the working class’.

In a clip posted on the TUC’s social media channels yesterday, ahead of the Reform UK conference taking place today, the TUC’s General Secretary, Paul Nowak is filmed explaining why Farage is a ‘fraud’ and ‘Putin apologist’.

Nowak says: “Nigel Farage isn’t a friend of the working class, he’s a fraud. A public school educated, private equity loving, NHS privatising, Putin apologist fraud.”

Ahead of Reform's conference tomorrow, just a reminder.

Nigel Farage is a fraud. pic.twitter.com/RCtD3yibhf— Trades Union Congress (@The_TUC) September 19, 2024



Nowak goes on to explain how his grandad came to Britain with the Polish RA.F. and played his part in the fight against fascism and how in May he visited Kyiv to meet sister trade unions.

He explained: “I visited a power station raised to the ground by Russian rockets. I saw city apartment blocks destroyed by missile strikes, and I visited the children’s hospital in Kyiv, and met some of those at the sharp and very human end of war.

“People like Katja, 14 years old, who was wounded by the Russian shelling that killed her mother. Six weeks after my visit, Putin bombed that same children’s hospital, operating theatres wrecked, kids with cancer traumatised, doctors and nurses hunting through the rubble for their colleagues, so when I see Farage making excuses for Putin’s illegal and indefensible invasion of Ukraine, it turns my stomach.

“Congress I’ll say it again, the far-right hatemongers are no friends of the working class, they’re not patriots, they are frauds.”

Public reveal what they really think of Reform UK and it’s not good news for Nigel Farage

Basit Mahmood 

Yesterday

Left Foot Forward


Yet more bad news for Farage

...


With Reform UK’s conference underway, the public were asked what terms they would use to best describe the party.

The poll carried out by YouGov, found that the most popular term Britons prefer to use to describe Reform UK are ‘extremist’ (39%) and ‘should not be near power’ (39%), with ‘nasty’ (33%) being the next most popular.

It comes as Reform UK begins its conference today, with Nigel Farage expected to issue a “clarion call” to win the next general election.

The party, which secured five seats at this year’s general election, will begin its two-day conference in Birmingham with speeches from party leader Nigel Farage, deputy leader Richard Tice, chairman Zia Yousuf and MPs Lee Anderson, Rupert Lowe and James McMurdock.

Farage has barely paid attention to his constituents since being elected, jetting off to the U.S and cashing in on lucrative speaking invitations.

During the general election, it was revealed that a number of Reform candidates held extremist views, which included one candidate with links to a British fascist leader to another Reform candidate suggesting the UK should have remained neutral in the fight against the Nazis.

And given Farage’s own views and close associations to the likes of Donald Trump, it shouldn’t surprise us that the public view Reform as extremists.

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward

UK

We are currently witnessing the re-privatisation of water

If despite predatory practices and huge extraction of returns, private companies are guaranteed to be rescued by the state, why should directors act responsibly?

Prem Sikka

Yesterday

Left Foot Forward.

The 1989 privatisation of England’s water industry is “an organised rip-off” and an unmitigated disaster. Water Companies have neglected investment in infrastructure and dumped tons of raw sewage in rivers, lakes and seas. As monopoly suppliers they have levied inflation-busting charges on customers; paid over £85bn in dividends and borrowed over £65bn to finance them. Over 28% of sales revenues vanish in servicing debts. Major companies have gearing ratios ranging from 500% to over 1,000%, and are struggling make debt repayments. Water regulator Ofwat and the Environment Agency have done little to curb predatory practices.

A crisis point has been reached. Water shareholders are writing off investment, debt is rated as junk, and Thames Water, England’s largest water company, is actively seeking to restructure its debts.

Special Administration Regime

Privatisation can only be ended by the state, but governments in bed with corporate interests are delaying the inevitable. Legislation for putting water companies into Special Administration Regime (SAR) is already in place. It enables the Secretary of State to put a failing water company into special administration whilst continuing to provide water and sewage services to customers. It enables the special administrator to ‘hive-down’ the operating business and assets into a new entity, facilitating a sale of a going concern business to a new purchaser and potentially leaving unwanted assets and liabilities behind in the seller group. Inevitably, shareholders and creditors will lose some value, but why would another buyer step in without guarantee of profits and subsidies to build infrastructure?

The SAR regime may be seen as a form of temporary nationalisation, but a Minister told parliament: “We have no plans to nationalise Thames Water or other water companies”.
Special Measures

The government’s strategy is to manage public anxieties and fatten-up failed companies for (re)privatisation. This is facilitated by the Water (Special Measures) Bill currently going through parliament. Clause 10 of the Bill enables Ministers to do almost anything to restructure water companies and hand them back to the private sector. It enables Ministers to modify water company licences. The explanatory notes accompanying the Bill state that

“The modifications can require a water company to raise amounts of money determined by the Secretary of State from its consumers, and to pay those amounts to the Secretary of State to make good any shortfall…”

What could the shortfall relate to? The Bill does not explain but it could be the cost of government interventions to make the company fit for purpose or resale. It could include cost of cleaning-up rivers, seas and lakes, writing off liabilities, providing sweeteners to potential buyers, and funds for investment, loans and guarantees. It is hard to see how companies are going to make the proposed £260bn investment in infrastructure without massive hikes in customer charges and/or public subsidies.

The government has stated that: “These powers would never be used to pay bondholders, shareholders or creditors … we do not expect customers to pay the price for water companies’ mismanagement … measures in the Water Bill will protect taxpayers”.

At the same time, the government has stated “that that the Secretary of State may provide financial assistance”.

It is hard to reconcile these statements.

The press release accompanying the Bill omits discussion of any of above issues. The Water (Special Measures) Bill also contains measures to improve accountability, governance and regulatory compliance of water companies. Regulators can bring criminal charges against law-breaking water executives, including imprisonment for failing to co-operate or obstruct investigations.

Since 2020, water chief executives have paid themselves over £41m in bonuses, and regulators will be empowered to ban bonuses for persons holding senior roles where companies fail to meet required standards relating to consumer matters, the environment, financial resilience or criminal liability. The government promises that regulators will consult experts covering areas such as the environment, public health, consumers, investors, engineering, economics and campaigners.
Special Measures are not so Special

The proposed governance reforms are fundamentally flawed. They rely upon regulatory bodies, such as Ofwat and the Environment Agency, to invigilate companies even though they have already failed in that task for the last 35 years. None owes a ‘duty of care’ to people.

For any system of regulation to be effective, there needs to be a distance between regulators and the regulated. However, that is not the case in the water industry. For example, two-thirds of England’s biggest water companies employ key executives who had previously worked at Ofwat. Executives of water companies and regulators regularly meet in hotels and private members’ clubs to discuss how to quell public anger over bill rises and sewage dumping. Collusion and cognitive capture is the order of the day.

Regulators are too close to the industry, as evidenced by the Pricing formula, codenamed PR24, used by Ofwat. It takes no account of the level of sewage dumping, unplugged leaks, lack of investment or frequency of regulatory sanctions. It uses a weighted average cost of capital based on fictitious gearing levels to inflate returns to shareholders. It guarantees real returns to companies and does little to protect customers or the environment. The regulatory independence is undermined by the regulator’s secondary statutory objective to promote growth and competitiveness of the industry. This conflicts with the requirement to protect customers and the environment.

Ministers claim that: “customers will have the power to summon board members and hold water executives to account through new customer panels with teeth”.

These panels will be handpicked by companies and/or regulators and will have no independence. If the government is serious about customer representations, it must ensure that at least 50% of the unitary board of water companies and regulators is directly elected by customers. Thus, they will be accountable to stakeholders and cannot be bullied or silenced by Ministers, regulators or companies.

Curbs on executive bonuses may excite some but won’t be effective. Any link to “financial resilience” requires regulators to specify and enforce optimal gearing/leverage levels, borrowing capacities, credit ratings, working capital ratios, capital adequacy and routinely undertake stress tests. How exactly will “resilience” be secured – by exploiting customers or shareholders providing a strong capital base? Ofwat have never shown any interest in such matters and has no independence or capacity to monitor or enforce the required financial standards. The Bill provides no details and matters will inevitably be negotiated behind closed-doors to the lowest common denominator.

Companies can bypass any bonus ban by increasing the basic salary of executives. Companies such as Thames Water are part of a complex corporate structure. It is perfectly feasible for their controllers to offer executives multiple directorships to compensate for loss of any bonus. It isn’t just bonuses, salaries may be undeserved too. The best way to deal with that is to empower customers to vote on executive pay. If customers are satisfied that executives have served the public interest they would approve salaries and even bonuses for extraordinary performance.

Regulators bringing criminal charges against law-breaking water executives are a good idea but the Bill camouflages reality. In practice, most of the sewage dumping is authorised by regulators as poor infrastructure can’t cope with the flows. Directors also have insurance to cover them for negligence in the pursuit of corporate objectives. The cost is woven into customer charges. The chances of directors personally bearing penalties are low, assuming that regulators succeed in securing convictions.

The Bill does not constrain water company ability to pay dividends. In March 2023, Ofwat announced that it is taking powers to enable it to stop the payment of dividends if they would risk the company’s financial resilience, and take enforcement action against water companies that don’t link dividend payments to performance. Despite sewage dumping and unplugged leaks, companies have continued to pay dividends. Under the Companies Act 2006, dividends can only be paid out of distributable reserves, which are essentially realised profits, but water companies do not disclose their distributable reserves. Such reserves are routinely inflated by financial engineering, such as capitalisation of some interest payments and repair and maintenance costs. Ofwat has taken no steps to curb financial engineering.

The Water (Special Measures) Bill may make minor difference but it essentially is part of political manoeuvrings designed to avoid bringing the failed water industry into public ownership as neoliberal state continues to guarantee corporate profits.

Private ownership of monopolies can’t resolve the crisis which is due to profiteering, excessive dividends, exploitation of customers and lack of investment in infrastructure. The new owners would enjoy a state guaranteed monopoly and want a return on investment. Thus, a continuing crisis and conflict with the general public is inevitable.

The Bill provides a thinly disguised framework for bailing out (and in) companies and returning then to the private sector. Cost will be borne by customers and/or the public purse. Reforms to governance lack details and their enforceability must be doubted. Reprivatisation introduces new moral hazards. If despite predatory practices and huge extraction of returns, private companies are guaranteed to be rescued by the state, why should directors act responsibly?

Columnist Opinion

Prem Sikka is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward.

New U.S-Greece LNG Deal Will Boost Europe’s Energy Security

By Alex Kimani - Sep 19, 2024

• Venture Global, a U.S. LNG producer secured regasification capacity at an LNG terminal in Greece.
• 
  
• The new South-North Vertical Corridor will shore up Europe’s energy security.
• 
  
• Russian gas supplies to the EU have largely been replaced by U.S. and Norwegian gas.

Venture Global, a U.S. producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) sourced from North American basins, has secured ~1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG regasification capacity at Greece’s new Alexandroupolis LNG receiving terminal for five years, starting in 2025, Reuters reports, noting that the new South-North Vertical Corridor will shore up Europe’s energy security by allowing alternative supplies of natural gas to be imported into the region. 

“This move further integrates our business by growing our assets across the LNG supply chain including LNG production, shipping and regasification. As a major point of entry for LNG into Central and Eastern Europe, this strategically important infrastructure will be a game changer for the region’s ability to diversify their energy and access a secure and reliable energy supply. Venture Global is proud to support these efforts as a strategic partner with volumes from both Plaquemines LNG and the future CP2 LNG," Venture Global CEO Mike Sabel said in a press release. 

Renewable Energy Displacing Gas In Europe

Norway and the U.S. have replaced Russia as Europe’s biggest gas supplier: last year, Norway supplied 87.8 bcm (billion cubic meters) of gas to Europe, good for 30.3% of total imports while the U.S. supplied 56.2 bcm, accounting for 19.4% of total. However, the U.S. is the biggest LNG supplier to Europe: last year, the U.S. accounted for nearly half of total LNG imports by the continent, marking the third consecutive year in which the United States supplied more LNG to Europe than any other country. 

What’s interesting here is how fast this has happened: the U.S. supplied 27%, or 2.4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), of total European LNG imports in 2021; 44% (6.5 Bcf/d) in 2022; and 48% (7.1 Bcf/d) in 2023. Obviously, Russia’s war in Ukraine has played a big part in growing Europe’s appetite for U.S. gas. Meanwhile, Europe’s capacity to accept LNG is increasing. Europe’s LNG import, or regasification, capacity is on track to expand to 29.3 Bcf/d in 2024, a 33% increase compared with 2021. Currently, Germany is adding the most LNG regasification capacity in Europe, with developers in the country having added 1.8 Bcf/d in 2023 and on track to add another 1.6 Bcf/d in 2024. 

On a global scale, the United States shipped a record 56.9 million metric tons of LNG during the first eight months of 2024, surpassing 54.3 million tons from Australia and 53.7 million tons from Qatar during that period. That marks the second straight year that U.S. exporters have topped global export rankings. 

Unfortunately, Europe has bought considerably less LNG from the U.S. in the current year, with shipments from January through August dropping by 22% Y/Y. The slowdown has largely been triggered by a sharp climb in European power generation from renewable energy sources, which remain a priority for Europe's power utilities. Solar and wind power's share of electricity generation in Europe jumped from around 16.4% in 2022 to 20.5% so far in 2024 while fossil fuel generation's share dropped from around 44.6% in 2022 to 36.6% so far this year. As you might expect, coal-fired power has taken the biggest hit in Europe’s energy mix, although natural gas generation's share has also declined, from around 26% in 2022 to 22% so far this year.

The latest Europe natural gas rally has lost momentum, with natural gas futures dropping below €35 per megawatt-hour, the lowest in seven weeks, thanks to warmer weather forecasts and ample gas inventories. Europe’s gas inventories are 0.1 bcm higher than the corresponding time a year ago however and 8.6 bcm above the five-year average.  Storage capacity utilization for the entire continent stands at 93.4%;  95.6% in Germany, 94.9% in Italy and 91.4% in the Netherlands. 

U.S. gas producers are currently going through hard times, with a 25% Y/Y drop in average LNG export prices during the first half of 2024 cutting revenues by $4 billion from the opening half of 2023 to $13.2 billion. That was the lowest half-year revenue total since the first half of 2021, and marks a more than $12 billion fall from the second half of 2022 when U.S. export earnings from LNG peaked. 

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

How Renewables Could Slash Oil and Gas Production Emissions by 80%

By Rystad Energy - Sep 19, 2024

• Electrifying upstream oil and gas production can reduce emissions by over 80%, offering a significant pathway to decarbonize the industry.
• 
  
• Norway's success in utilizing renewable energy for upstream operations demonstrates the potential for widespread adoption.
• 
  
• Flaring reduction and a focus on Premium Energy Basins are crucial strategies for achieving substantial emissions cuts in the oil and gas sector.

Converting upstream oil and gas production facilities to run on electricity powered by renewables or natural gas that would otherwise be flared could cut more than 80% of associated emissions, according to new research from Rystad Energy. Fully electrified rigs and other assets on the Norwegian Continental Shelf emit 1.2 kilograms of carbon dioxide per barrel of oil equivalent (kg of CO2 per boe) produced, an 86% drop from the 8.4 kg of CO2 per boe emitted by the same assets before electrification.

Norway is in a prime position that is almost unique among major oil and gas producers – it can tap into its abundant renewable energy resources, particularly hydroelectric power, to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from upstream production. The country was an early mover in refitting its assets to run on clean power, and now has plans to cut emissions from the continental shelf by 70% by 2040. Most of the country’s key production sites are strategically located near potential renewable energy sources, facilitating the transition away from fossil fuels. Other producing countries may face logistical hurdles when converting assets, including significant distances from the mainland, a lack of power grid infrastructure and limited renewable power capacity.

However, even a partial electrification will significantly cut emissions. Premium energy basins (PEB) – a term coined by Rystad Energy to describe oil and gas basins with ample hydrocarbon reserves and the potential to incorporate environmentally friendly practices – could hold the key. We have identified 30 such basins worldwide, which collectively contribute more than 80% of the world’s oil and gas this year and will continue to do so until 2050. If PEB assets electrify and reduce emissions by 50%, a total of 5.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (Gt of CO2) would be avoided by 2050. Based on the accepted industry standard calculation, this CO2 reduction would equate to about 0.025 degrees Celsius of global warming avoided during the same period.*

As the world confronts the pressing issue of climate change, the oil and gas industry is under increasing pressure to minimize its carbon footprint and align its practices with global sustainability objectives. Where it’s possible and economically viable, electrification has great potential to lower the industry's emissions while maintaining production output. says Palzor Shenga, vice president of upstream research with Rystad Energy.

Palzor Shenga, Vice President, Upstream Research

*This calculation only includes upstream extraction emissions. It assumes that 222 GtCO2 emitted leads to 0.1°C warming, ref IPCC AR6 SPM D.1.1: "best estimate for TCRE is 0.45 degree per 1000 Gt CO2". Methane emissions are disregarded.

Learn more with Rystad Energy’s Upstream Solution.

Electrification requires careful planning, including the selection of optimal technologies, assessment of total costs and strategies to ensure a continuous energy supply, particularly in remote locations with limited grid access. Economic and financial viability must also be prioritized. A proactive approach to electrification can enhance operational efficiency and open new revenue streams through the sale of excess renewable energy.

To understand the impact of electrification on upstream emissions, we examined the potential for emission reduction in top PEBs. The 28 PEBs identified in the report offer estimated total emission savings of about 1.3 billion tonnes of CO2 between 2025 and 2030. The top 10 PEBs (by emissions savings) alone account for over 80% of these savings (Figure 3), with the Middle Eastern Rub al Khali (370 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent [CO2e]) and Central Arabian (251 million tonnes of CO2e) leading the charts. Electrification in these predominantly onshore basins, if adopted more widely, would largely be driven by drawing power from a clean onshore grid.

Flaring, the practice of burning off excess natural gas that cannot be processed or sold, not only wastes a valuable resource but also emits substantial amounts of CO2 and methane into the environment. Flaring plays a major role in global emissions primarily due to the lack of economic incentives, regulatory frameworks or technical capabilities to develop gas markets and infrastructure. About 140 billion cubic meters per annum of gas has been flared globally in the last 10 years, equaling about 290 million tonnes of CO2e emissions annually. These volumes are primarily driven by major producers in North America, the Middle East and Africa. Hence, flaring avoidance can be an effective way of reducing upstream emissions for both electrified assets and assets with limited electrification potential.

Renewable Energy's Rise Creates Challenges for Traditional Power Utilities

By Rystad Energy - Sep 18, 2024

• The increasing prevalence of renewable energy sources, particularly solar power, is disrupting the traditional power industry and creating challenges for utilities.
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• To remain competitive, energy companies must adopt holistic thinking, diversify their portfolios, and embrace customer-centric strategies.
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• The integration of data analytics, software, and smart systems will be crucial for optimizing market performance and navigating the evolving energy landscape.

Renewable energy generation in Europe has surged over 280% since 2000 and now accounts for more than 50% of the continent’s total power generation. Solar power has seen particularly strong growth in recent years due to significant cost declines. However, the rise of renewables has also led to challenges for the power industry, as the sector’s underlying profitability declines and an increasingly competitive energy landscape emerges. 

Apart from hydropower, the operational performance of most renewable power assets is determined by a combination of weather and consumption patterns, meaning they cannot be ‘market optimized’ to generate when prices are high in the way that gas power assets can, for instance. This especially hits solar power plants, as these typically generate power in the middle of the day when, although cooling systems run full throttle during summertime in Europe, demand is not sufficient of offtake generation, which leads to low realized prices. In addition, solar panels do not generate any power at night, when prices often are higher. An increasingly popular solution for asset owners is to pair intermittent renewables with power storage capabilities, such as batteries. However, these only offset the shortcoming in part. As a result, capture rates (the prices attained compared to average market prices over time) for solar power are plummeting along with increased deployment of the technology.  

While initially masked by the power price response in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Europe’s ensuing shift away from Russian gas, wholesale power prices across Europe are increasingly under pressure from hybrid renewable projects with close-to-zero marginal costs, which in turn is undercutting the revenue potential of the region’s power market. 

Meanwhile, governmental support for renewable energy is also changing. Renewable projects are underwritten through governmental support mechanisms such as contracts for difference (CfDs) and feed-in tariffs, which guarantee predictable revenue streams for renewable energy producers. However, as the cost of renewable energy technologies have decreased, these support schemes may gradually be scaled back. 

Compounding this is the evolving nature of the energy landscape which has intensified competition within the sector. Europe’s power sector was previously dominated by dedicated renewable developers and utilities, but is now seeing new entrants such as oil and gas companies, power traders and innovative power demand management players. Similarly, new types of demand is emerging such as data center players requiring consistent, high-volume, 24-hour power supply.  

The solution to the current challenges lies in diversification and innovation, driving balanced portfolio generation profiles and enabling market optimization. Beyond building and leveraging the full flexibility of a diversified portfolio of solar, wind, storage, and thermal generation, more customer-centric strategies are emerging. Octopus Energy is a British software and power trading company that works to balance power supply and demand through demand-side smart devices such as electric vehicle (EV) chargers, lighting systems, and heat pumps. Similarly, integrated oil and gas players such as TotalEnergies are using the knowledge attained in business-to-consumer markets through the gasoline and retail end of the business to enter the demand-side power market, mimicking their success in oil and gas.  

The integration and interconnection of systems across the entire power market value chain, along with the efficient processing of large datasets and the automation of energy dispatch, are becoming essential for modern energy companies. Software and smart systems will be key to this, emphasizing advanced technical capabilities and data analytics over the traditional supply-to-market business model that utilities have traditionally subscribed to. By embracing these changes, energy companies can better position themselves for success in a rapidly changing power industry. 

By Rystad Energy

Geothermal Energy Could Outperform Nuclear Power

GEOTHERMAL IS FRACKING

By Haley Zaremba - Sep 19, 2024

• Enhanced geothermal systems, utilizing fracking technology, could unlock vast geothermal resources and make geothermal energy widely accessible.
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• Geothermal energy offers a reliable, base-load power source with zero carbon emissions, and has the potential to outperform nuclear energy.
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• With strong bipartisan support and public-private investment, geothermal energy is poised for rapid growth and could play a crucial role in meeting future energy demands and combating climate change.

Geothermal is about to have its moment in the sun. Heat from the Earth’s core could provide a clean, steady, and limitless source of renewable energy to humans. The trick is finding the right technology to harness that heat. 

Until very recently, geothermal energy for commercial use has only been feasible in places where that heat naturally reaches the surface of the Earth, such as geysers and hot springs. For example, Iceland gets a quarter of its energy from geothermal energy. But Iceland is a geological anomaly. Globally, geothermal energy accounts for just 0.5% of renewable energy. But now, the application of fracking technology borrowed from the oil and gas sector could totally revolutionize geothermal energy availability, and possibly even bring it to your own backyard.

Geothermal energy can be tapped anywhere and everywhere, if you have the will and the way to dig deep enough. And this could soon be possible at an economically viable scale through a method known as ‘enhanced geothermal systems’ which can tap into heat far, far below the ground. According to a 2023 report from Esquire, this technology, adapted from hydraulic fracturing used in the oil and gas industry, will “allow us to exploit the energy underfoot across the country, all with a carbon impact that is vanishingly small compared to most sources we depend on now.” These deep wells would pump out hot water, which can be used in turn to produce energy through various methods, before injecting that water back into the ground.

The potential for enhanced geothermal is massive – the Economist even projects that it could outperform nuclear energy output, while offering similar benefits. Like nuclear, geothermal operates with proven technologies, offers base-load, on-demand energy, and produces zero carbon emissions. The United States Department of Energy (DoE) has posited that geothermal energy could power up to 260 million homes nationwide by 2050. 

It also has major bipartisan appeal, a huge boon to any new technologies hoping to get sizable and continued funding from government entities and private interests alike. The DoE projects that as little as  $25 billion in public-private investment (less than the cost of the Vogtle nuclear power plant alone) by 2030 would allow the domestic geothermal sector to “reach liftoff” and set the industry up to reach a commercial scale by mid-century. Already, the federal government is funding research proving early-stage geothermal technology and setting the stage for the privatized acceleration of research and development. 

Just this month, representatives from major oil companies and tech startups, as well as scientists and climate groups, met in Houston to kick off a $10 million series of summits focused on harnessing experience and technology gleaned from oil and gas to “build a new stalwart of the American power sector.” A bustling geothermal startup scene has cropped up in Texas as the stars align for geothermal’s meteoric rise in the United States energy mix.

Despite the groundswell of support for enhanced geothermal technologies and a bullish attitude from the private and public sectors alike, the geothermal sector still has a long way to go to achieve its potential. “As things currently stand, the geothermal sector has struggled with the common problems of emerging industries: the difficulty of raising sufficient money for projects that, however promising, have yet to prove themselves,” The Hill recently reported. 

But if successful, commercial-scale geothermal energy's potential applications and impacts are nearly limitless. It would introduce a critical new source of dependable, zero-carbon power to the energy mix and provide a potential solution to some of our most pressing energy security issues. Already, pundits are positing that geothermal could feed the insatiable energy demands of Artificial Intelligence, as well as providing an avenue to cheaply produce green hydrogen, which could be essential in decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors such as heavy-duty trucking, shipping, aviation, iron and steel, and chemicals and petrochemicals.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com