Natural gas, propane, and oil, to a lesser extent, are on a parabolic frolic, shooting to multi-year highs as the market is coming to grips with just how tight global supplies are. What is becoming a global energy crisis started in China with the shortfall of coal has now spread to natural gas and propane and oil is coming along from behind. China has rolling blackouts and has shuttered some factories, yet despite the evidence, The International Energy Agency (IEA) says that green energy is not to blame.
What is becoming a global energy crisis started in China with the shortfall of coal and spread to natural gas and now to propane and oil is coming from behind. China has rolling blackouts and has shuttered some factories. Reuters reports that, “China should work to import more coal from Russia, Indonesia, and Mongolia to resolve supply shortages now crippling large sections of industry, said Han Jun, governor of the northeastern province of Jilin, one of the worst-hit regions.
The global energy transition is being challenged as underinvestment in fossil fuels is starting to show up, unmasking the shortsighted rush to get the world off of fossil fuels before we have a viable, reliable alternative.
The UK found out that when you depend on wind and solar it doesn’t work very well. When the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, now what. While in the future there may be ways to store that energy, for now it does not exist in the UK. European gas, power, and carbon prices all hit fresh all-time highs overnight. European gas prices are up 1300% since May 2020 according to Bloomberg.