Strategies of Global Energy Companies: Leaders & Laggards

By |Tuesday, 30 April 2019|

We announced it in our 10-Year-Anniversary newsletter post: Strategies of big energy companies will be our second focus, complementing our analysis of international energy markets.

This happens against the background of two mega-trends in the energy sector:
(1) the global energy transition towards low-carbon solutions and renewable energy
(2) the melting-away of traditional industry boundaries: new and established players cross industry borders and develop new business models.

In our database we will try to cover the rapid changes across the sectors: from the leading […]

10 Jahre Global Energy Briefing

By |Wednesday, 17 April 2019|

Zehn Jahre Global Energy Briefing. Der Newsletter ist jetzt im 11. Jahrgang und gehört damit schon zu den “dienstältesten” deutschsprachigen Newsletter im Bereich Energiemärkte.

Seine Alleinstellungsmerkmale sind der explizit internationale Fokus von China über Europa bis zu den USA, sowie die breite Abdeckung der Energiewelt vom Öl bis zur Photovoltaik.

Ab diesem Jahrgang gibt es zwei Veränderungen:

(1) Neben die Marktanalysen treten jetzt Strategieanalysen der führenden Energiekonzerne der Welt, insbesondere unter dem Blickwinkel der globalen Energy Transition.

(2) Schon seit Jahresbeginn erscheint der Newsletter […]

Global Energy Briefing No 174: International Energy Markets & Company Strategies (DEU/ENG)

By |Wednesday, 17 April 2019|

German + English Edition Available!

Our April newsletter Global Energy Briefing (No.174, 53pp) covers two topics:

A. Prices and market balance in the oil, gas and hard coal markets worldwide.

B. Company strategies and market trends in fossil and renewable energy markets (including EV and batteries).

Some focus topics of this issue are:
(a) Price divergence between fuels has further deepened: Oil, carbon up, gas, coal down; price outlook Brent
(b) the changing character of the US gas market; gas flaring in the Permian

c) Global oil […]

Global Energy Briefing No 173: International Energy Markets and Company Strategies in March 2019 (Deutsch/English)

By |Monday, 25 March 2019|

The new edition of our newsletter Global Energy Briefing (No.173, 53pp) covers two topics:

A. Prices and market balance in the oil, gas and hard coal markets worldwide.

B. Company strategies and market trends in fossil and renewable energy markets (including EV and batteries).

Some focus themes of this issue are:
(a) oil price outlook and 2019/2020 shale oil volumes; the slump in global gas prices; update EV sales statistics;
(b) preliminary model of “strategies in transition”; the future […]

Global Energy Briefing No 172 : International Energy Markets in February 2019 (English/Deutsch)

By |Monday, 18 February 2019|

The new edition of our newsletter Global Energy Briefing (No.172) covers prices and trends of major energy markets worldwide. Main topics are: Oil market & oil price outlook, gas markets (EU, US, LNG/Asia), hard coal prices, EV sales statistics; global energy data.

Please find more on our newsletter subscription here, or follow us on Twitter here. The newsletter is available in ENGLISH and in GERMAN.

Big Oil abandons oil sands – Canadian companies step in

By |Monday, 21 January 2019|

With the notable exception of ExxonMobil, oil majors are leaving the Canadian oil sands sector. They are replaced by Canadian oil companies. 

Imperial Oil, majority owned by ExxonMobil, recently declared it would continue its US$2 billion Aspen project in Alberta. In contrast, Shell and ConocoPhillips are selling their oil-sands assets. Other majors may follow. The reasons are manifold:

  • An increasing number of important institutional investors shareholders shun carbon-intensive oil sands exposure as much as coal. 
  • Moreover, multi-decade oil sands […]

Made in Japan: The British nuclear exit – Hitachi abandons all nuclear projects

By |Thursday, 17 January 2019|

1. Hitachi´s exitJapanese industrial conglomerate Hitachi (6501:JP; $30bn market cap) abruptly stops its nuclear power projects in the U.K. They announced to book a loss of $2.8bn (300bn Yen) to write down its British nuclear business. Hitachi also said they will shift away from the reactor sales business worldwide. After the $6.4bn acquisition of ABB´s power grid division in last December, the risks to its balance sheet apparently were judged too high. Financial investors welcomed the step. Hitachi

The glass ceiling of global clean energy investment – new BNEF numbers cast doubt on market approach

By |Wednesday, 16 January 2019|

Bloomberg (BNEF) reported today a first estimate on global investment in clean energy in 2018. It dropped 8 per cent to $332.1bn.

The good news is that falling cost of wind turbines and solar panels somehow blur the impact of this sum. In terms of sectors, only wind and solar attracted more than $10bn : 

  • Wind investment was down 3% to $128.6bn (hereof offshore +14% to $25.7bn) 
  • Solar investment was down 24% to $130.8bn (mainly due to a 53% […]
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Company Strategies
Value Chains
Energy Transition

We track the strategies of about 100 leading energy companies in fossil and renewable industries. Our focus: Shifting value chains, new industry structures and the reaction to climate policies, i.e. the transition to low-carbon solutions. This complements our on-going work on international energy markets which started in 2008.

From May 2019 on, we will report important company news and we will rank, benchmark and compare companies and strategies: looking for leaders and laggards. On this website and on twitter (@energycomment) we will publish some of our findings. If you prefer more systematic and regular information, including a concise overview of energy markets, please have a look at our bi-weekly newsletter GLOBAL ENERGY BRIEFING. If you want to know more about EnergyComment, check here.