Page 5 - EurOil Week 30

EurOil COMMENTARY EurOil
 Furthermore, the EIB energy policy does not cover the use of LNG in mobility, which comes under the Transport Lending Policy.
e EIB launched a public consultation on its energy lending policies in January, running to March. e dra policy will be considered by the bank’s board on September 10.
Under pressure
is follows sustained pressure on the Euro- pean nancial house on a number of fronts, led by environmental NGOs. A report in March from the Bankwatch Network expressed con- cern about gas projects that have an operational lifespan of as much as 50 years, saying that the world would need to reach “net zero emissions between2040and2055”.
e change is not wholly unexpected. In Feb- ruary, the EIB’s vice president, Andrew McDon- nell, noted the bank was one of the world’s largest energy nanciers. In 2013, the EIB halted lending to coal projects.
McDonnell said the EIB had to nd a balance between “environmental and social concerns”, saying in an opinion piece in Euractiv that it had supported gas projects in order to “keep energy affordable and secure, as well as to provide backup for renewables”.
However, with the energy lending policy
Berlin says “no”
Germany rebuffs US request to join naval mission to escort shipping in Strait of Hormuz, citing its policy of reducing tensions with Iran
WHAT:
PdVSA has failed to secure reversal of a lower court’s decision involving debts to Crystallex.
WHY:
As a result, the Canadian company is in a position to take Citgo equity as compensation.
WHAT NEXT:
Even if Interim President Guaido secures an asset protection order from the US government, PdVSA’s hold over its subsidiary is likely to weaken further.
GERMANY will not take part in a US-led naval mission in the Strait of Hormuz because its pol- icy is to ease tensions with Iran, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on July 31.
The US had requested that Germany join France and the UK in a mission to secure ship- ping through the strait—the world’s busiest chokepoint for energy shipments, with around a h of the world’s oil passing through it—and to “combat Iranian aggression,” the US Embassy in Berlin said on July 30.
But Maas responded: “Germany will not take part in the sea mission presented and planned by the United States. ere is no military solution.”
UK standpoint
Observers are particularly watching the UK’s standpoint on matters, given that at the tail-end of the eresa May administration British o - cials were urging that a purely European naval force be put together to safeguard shipping mov- ing in and out of the Persian Gulf.
But since Boris Johnson took over as prime minister last week—at which point analysts noted how reliant he might become on the US in producing a winning hand in his Brexit showdown with the EU—the UK appears to
have warmed to the idea of working with the Americans to escort oil tankers and any other vulnerable vessels.
Washington has in the past two months accused Iran of using limpet mines to disable several oil tankers in the Sea of Oman, while Iran lately seized a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz in apparent retaliation for Britain’s seizure of an Iranian tanker accused of violating EU sanctions by taking oil to Syria. Iran has denied these allegations. It has alleged that the UK acted according to a request from the US, while the British said the move was an independent decision.
In Germany, there is resistance within con- servative Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition, especially from her junior Social Democrat (SPD) partners, to participating in any US-led mission.
e comments from Maas, a Social Demo- crat, went further than a statement issued earlier by a German government spokeswoman, who said Berlin had not o ered to join a planned US-naval mission. “ e government is reticent about the concrete US proposal and so has not made an o er,” Ulrike Demmer told a news con- ference in Berlin a er a cabinet meeting.
changing, he said, “we believe that the gas indus- try must now explain its decarbonisation strat- egy and show how it is consistent with EU emissions reduction targets”.
According to a study presented by the Euro- pean Commission, the continent’s gas demand will fall in the three scenarios to 2050.
Given the changing nature of demand, and the EIB’s perceived responsibility to the Paris agreements, a decision on moving away from gas and LNG was inevitable. at said, the path to reducing carbon emissions does run counter to some of the political declarations from the EC.
A statement from the EC noted the progress the EU had made in ramping up imports of US LNG, following a meeting in July 2018 between the head of the EC, Jean-Claude Juncker, and US President Donald Trump. In March, the EU imported a record volume of US LNG, with this expected to double by 2023.
As part of this, the EU is backing new import terminals in Germany, at Brunsbuettel and Wilhelmshaven, in addition to the Świnoujście terminal. While the EIB is taking the long view – to 2030 and 2050 – the EC is focused on trying to a rm links with a US administration that is keenly focused on practicalities. e bank does not have an easy road ahead. ™
While the EIB is “ taking the long
view, the EC is focused on trying to af rm links with a US administration that is keenly focused on practicalities

Week 30 01•August•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
P5