Some called it the original black gold.
Things change. And change can be a bitch. A second black gold replaced its high standing. Now that second black gold draws its own rebukes.
Today it's one of the most hated substances on the planet. But it's in the global news again. As American literary giant Mark Twain once mused, his demise had been grossly overestimated, it appears so has much of the arrogant ESG crowd's palaver when it comes to easy transitions away from hydrocarbons.
Schadenfreude can be a bitch too.
Agency bureaucrats recently suggested that all oil production should be halted now. The current administration has done its best to curtail energy supply ahead of upcoming winter. Gas pump prices are not the only ones high but they are the most visible.
Releasing strategic oil reserves is a political move. If heating oil prices blast through the ceiling and people suffer are we going to see accountability?
Right now there is a 17-year career Marine officer sitting in jail. His only crime asking for accountability.
And what about the insider trading at the Federal Reserve? There's more. Much more.
As the Journal notes many of these countries were either shamed or forced to cut production to meet rushed and most likely exaggerated emission targets. These shortages are impacting global production at a time when the world's concerned with recovery and jobs.
Is anyone going to hold much of the ESG crowd accountable? Isn't that what the vaccinated are proposing for the-called unvaccinated?
Still around and many are thankful.
"Coal supply shortages are pushing prices for the fuel to record highs and laying bare the challenges to weaning the global economy off one of its most important—and polluting—energy sources.
"The crunch has many causes—from the post-pandemic boom to supply-chain strains and ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions. And it is expected to last at least through the winter, raising fears in many countries of fuel shortfalls in the months ahead.
"Australia’s Newcastle thermal coal, a global benchmark, is trading at $202 a metric ton, three times higher than at the end of 2019. Global production of coal, which generates around 40% of the world’s electricity, is about 5% below pre-pandemic levels.
"In Europe, the rising prices for coal and other energy resources have hit factory output and driven household energy bills higher. Major coal importers in Asia, including Japan and South Korea, are jostling to secure supplies.
"In China, dwindling supplies and surging costs have resulted in electricity shortfalls on a scale unseen in more than a decade, hitting industry and prompting some cities to turn off traffic lights to conserve power.
"It is a stark reminder of how much large parts of the world rely on coal, just weeks ahead of a United Nations climate summit in Glasgow aimed at accelerating a shift away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy.
"China, the world’s second-largest economy and its biggest coal consumer, is at the heart of the current crunch. As Beijing has sought to meet its climate targets, it allowed coal inventories to dwindle. On top of that, it halted imports of Australian coal amid a diplomatic row." WSJ
"Part of the coal supply crunch has resulted from production halts as countries try to hit emissions targets. Spain, for instance, shut down half its coal production last year and promised to phase out all coal-fired power plants by 2030.
"The upheaval in the sector extends a decades long transformation in coal trade patterns, marked by “a shift to Asia and the waning of Europe in international coal markets,” the Paris-based International Energy Agency says.
"Asia’s rise is helping to spur prices. One-third to half of coal from Australia, one of the world’s biggest coal exporters, used to go to China before Beijing, piqued by Canberra’s call for an independent inquiry into Covid-19’s origins, imposed its unofficial ban last fall.
"For other Asian economies, the sudden availability of Australian supply has been a boon. As China ran down coal stockpiles in early 2020, demand for Australian coal rose in South Korea by 56% in the first half of 2021 and by 65% in Japan, official data show."
Change can be a bitch for sure.. And so too can accountability.
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