About 180 years ago, the great Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen published the last of his Fairy Tales Told for Children – “The Emperors New Clothes”. There was no Facebook or Instagram at the time, but the storyline could not have been more fitting for our very own times now. Two weavers had promised an […]
In 1920, an Italian immigrant tricked thousands of New England residents into investing in a postage stamp speculation scheme. He promised that he could provide a 50 percent return in 90 days. He’d use funds from follow up investors to pay off earlier ones to create the illusion of a legitimate business. At the height […]
A report by the International Monetary Fund says that the world spent the incredible sum of 5.200 billion USD on fossil fuel subsidies in 2017. According to this report, the US alone spent a whopping 649 billion USD – more than the already quite gigantic defense budget. The US is not the worst subsidizer in […]
In Austria, we have a funny saying. When someone just misses every opportunity that comes his way, we say that he sleeps in the pendulum clock. It’s mostly a cute mockery at someone who has not seen something coming, that any normal person would have caught half asleep. The sad part is, that in many […]
Anyone who follows the current flurry of activity in the Asian LNG marketplace must be startled. The casual LNG observer might have the impression that it’s just some contractual clauses that are at the heart of the problem and that their modification – or even better their removal solves all ills of the world. That’s […]
About two years ago I was deep involved in some LPG project concepts for Africa. Already then I pointed out to my clients that I would go for LNG straight but they had their reasons to stick with LPG so I made sure they understood my reservations and I went to work. At the time, […]
Yeah, I know what you are going to say when reading the title. Now he has gone completely nuts. Russia has the biggest gas reserves on this planet so how on earth would importing US LNG ever make sense? For the sake of the argument, I will not dwell on political considerations. Some nations would […]
Lads, its really crazy. Ever since I have discovered the great potential of LNG (CNG) as a fuel, I have asked myself why there is so much diesel-electric but there is so little gas-electric. Oh, you need an economic rationale to get going? Let be give you one that will pull your socks off. Ready? […]
This is my last post for this year as I go into Christmas recess. I will be back on January 9th, 2017 with tons of fresh analysis poured onto the fabric of global energy. It’s going to be a fantastic year. But now – how about bringing balance to the force as my last act […]
Some time ago, I have written about the LPG tidal wave that hits us mostly from the US and how it shakes the world in its foundations. LPG (Propane and Butane in whatever mixing proportion you happen to like it) are already a pretty exotic market when compared to crude and other refined produces. Most […]
So, OPEC has finally shown that they mean business and decided that they would reduce oil supply in order to prop up prices. I don’t want to belabor the futility of this gesture as I believe that no reduction any OPEC member would willingly abide by could change the fundamental oversupply situation oil finds itself […]
Dear President-elect Donald J. Trump, This letter might be a little odd for you as I am not an American citizen – neither am I a resident of the United States. I live in Europe. However, the problems afflicting this planet are bigger than just one nation can hope to resolve. The United States of […]
This blog post was written a long time ago and it was sort of sitting on my computer all this time. And as I was asked how LNG actually works for a small flare to LNG to power project, I undug it, dusted it off and here we go. That’s one for the cool ones. […]
My year 1988 was dominated by my mandatory spell of military service in Austria. It was also some form of rupture in my life as my world would never be the same after it. I shook off the shackles of youth and ventured out into the world. Back then, I was sitting with some other […]
So, Elon has announced what he wants Tesla to do over the next years in his new strategic plan. Plus he has shown us that solar roofs can be really sexy. And Tesla’s planned takeover of Solar City shall give his new plans much-needed flesh. It’s all very grand, bombastic and ambitious – as we […]