Page 14 - AsianOil Week 05 2023

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Russian oil already approached this level. in other locations in (the) Asia-Pacific Pakistan, with the most recent blackouts
However, Russia’s budget revenues may be (region) that may be candidates for CO2 being the second time these have occurred
rescued by the inflection in demand in the export from Japan,” Mingst went on to say, in the last four months.
second half of the year, which could push albeit offering no immediate alternative sites Even in areas near Karachi, site of the
oil prices up sharply. for such storage, although it is understood recently installed Karachi Nuclear Power
Chevron already has a number of facilities Plant as powered by a pair of Chinese
in place in Western Australia capable of Hualong One pressurised water reactors
JERA aiming to replace coal carbon storage should the need arise. (PWRs), blackouts saw much of the nation’s
largest city of 16mn grind to a halt.

power generation with ammonia around 8-9% of all electricity consumed in
Nuclear power currently generates
Japan’s largest electricity producer is in talks Pakistan’s power woes continue Pakistan, with a little over 60% coming from
with California-based Chevron to enable Disrupted economic activity across fossil fuels, primarily gas and coal.
the eventual reduction of carbon emissions Pakistan has once again demonstrated the Hydropower meanwhile contributes a
at power plants in Japan and elsewhere in vulnerabilities of an ageing power grid further 27% of all power generated.
Asia. employed by the South Asian nation. Reports from the country now indicate
In a bid to achieve this end, low-carbon Blackouts that began in rural Balochistan that last year Pakistan had an installed
hydrogen produced by Chevron in Australia and Sindh provinces on January 23 swept electricity capacity of 41.56 GW against an
could be processed into ammonia to be across the south of the country, even estimated nationwide demand of around 31
used as fuel by JERA and other leading with services now slowly being restored, GW.
Asian energy producers. continue to affect the population centres of Distribution capacities fell short,
The ongoing study promoting the export Lahore and Karachi. though, highlighting the issues with the
of ammonia from Australia and its use in At one time last week, domestic media grid, reaching just 22 GW; a 9-GW deficit
Asia is scheduled to conclude later in the indicated that over half of the nation’s compared to demand.
year. 230mn residents were temporarily without
When complete, decisions will be taken water supplies as a result, and in hospitals
on the feasibility of such exports, initially to and government offices, the little power that Coal imports hit record as Tokyo,
Japan, where JERA produces around 30% of was being delivered came from back-up
all electricity consumed across the country. generators. Seoul eye nuclear increase
At present, coal and gas use makes up the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted
bulk of energy produced by JERA. to the population, saying: “I would like Asia’s big three coal importers, China, Japan
Speaking for Chevron, general to express my sincere regrets for the and South Korea, who combined accounted
manager for hydrogen in the Asia- inconvenience our citizens suffered due to for over half of all global thermal coal
Pacific region Andrew Mingst said: “At power outage yesterday. On my orders, an imports in 2021, once again set an import
the core of our strategy is leveraging our inquiry is underway to determine reasons record as the region works to get back on
existing capabilities, assets and customer of the power failure. Responsibility will be its feet after three years of coronavirus
relationships. The work with JERA is fixed.” (COVID-19) lockdowns and economic
a quintessential example of Chevron Little has been heard of Sharif since, stagnation.
executing on this.” although a hastily arranged press Figures released for December thermal
JERA is currently Chevron’s largest conference after the prime minister released imports indicate the three countries set a
LNG customer in Japan, as well as being his comments on social media saw Energy 16-month import high as Beijing, Tokyo
the largest purchaser of natural gas in the Minister Khurram Dastgir stepping up to and Seoul readied for the year ahead.
country. defend the government’s efforts to restore Totalling just over 43mn tonnes, this is
He added that the JERA-Chevron power in areas that witnessed a total the highest monthly import number posted
relationship could even extend into carbon collapse a week earlier. since the summer of 2021, according to data
capture and storage technology, a long No mention was made, however, of released by ship-tracking firm Kpler.
time area of expertise for America’s second his own ministry implementing energy- Emissions too saw a commensurate rise
largest energy firm. saving means that saw electricity supplies with a 1.3% increase year on year compared
Mingst went on to point to concerns in cut during low use periods on Sunday to 2021; the result a 4.03bn tonne jump in
Japan over nuclear power in the wake of evening, January 22 in a bid to conserve fuel emissions.
the 2011, Fukushima disaster as one of the supplies. And despite moves by all three
reasons JERA and others have sought out Subsequent attempts to reboot the grid governments towards individual net-
Chevron to help meet energy demands. before dawn the following morning led to zero goals in recent months, that number
“Nuclear power faces an uphill battle the system crashing. looks set to rise further in 2023, most
for further development, so that leaves “Today, at 5:15 in the morning, power notably in China, where coal dependency
customers in Japan with fewer alternatives was fully restored,” Minister Dastgir said a far outweighs that seen in its eastern
to gas- and coal-fired plants,” he added. day later on Tuesday, January 24. neighbours.
“For coal plants, they can burn ammonia The minister then blamed technical This higher projection now runs counter
alongside coal and achieve significant issues and even the possibility of hackers to speculation in mid-January that the
carbon emissions reductions.” attacking Pakistan’s national grid as being then-approaching Chinese New Year break,
Problems do exist, however, in the behind the initial nationwide cuts. unusually long in 2023, was expected to
mountainous terrain across much of Japan In the days since, little has been seen in push down overall import totals for the
in that the nation’s geological makeup does terms of promises of reform in the power year.
not easily lend itself to carbon storage sector, or assurances that power grids will
infrastructure, according to experts. be better maintained pending reform, much
“While Japan is not ideal for storage, to the disdain of the general populace.
Chevron is exploring storage opportunities Power outages are not unusual in

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 05 04•February•2023