International Energy Agency announces release of crude oil from global strategic reserves

Wow!

"The act will be the largest release of crude from global strategic reserves in history."

''International Energy Agency’s announcement that its member countries would release a record 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves." (WSJ)

Breaking News!

Disclaimer:

I am currently blogging from behind the Great Firewall of China.

My Internet service in China is very spotty. Thus, I am not able to blog as usual.

International Energy Agency (IEA) Now Predicts Oil and Gas Demand Will Rise beyond 2030 up to 2050, Departing from Previous Forecasts

Good news! When realism returns! Or when ideology trumped judgement in the past!

"The International Energy Agency predicts global demand for oil and gas will rise well beyond 2030, marking a sharp departure from the agency’s previous forecasts that demand for oil would peak by 2030.

In a new report, the IEA says low gas prices, growing concerns over energy security and a global lack of ambitious climate policies will delay the peak of the fossil fuel era until at least 2050. ..."

"... The World Energy Outlook 2025 (WEO-2025) has three main scenarios. Two of these set starting conditions and then examine where they lead – the Current Policies Scenario (CPS) and the Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS).

A third, the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE) Scenario, maps out a pathway to achieve specific energy and climate-related goals. ..."

IEA Now Predicts Oil and Gas Demand Will Rise beyond 2030, Departing from Previous Forecasts | Scientific American "The International Energy Agency says weak climate action and energy security fears are effectively delaying peak fossil fuel consumption"

World Energy Outlook 2025 Executive summary

Credits: Wednesday Wakeup from the Climate Discussion Nexus

ML & AI uses more Energy and it saves Energy

Good news! Human ingenuity handles challenges like this!

I blogged here recently not to worry very much about the energy consumption of ML & AI.

"AI’s thirst for energy is growing, but the technology also could help produce huge energy savings over the next five to 10 years, according to a recent report. ... The International Energy Agency (IEA) ... performed a comprehensive analysis of AI’s energy consumption including energy required to obtain critical materials needed for chips and data centers.  ...

AI already makes energy generation, distribution, and use more efficient. The authors expect these savings to accelerate. 

Existing AI algorithms predict energy generation and consumption. This makes it easier to integrate renewable energy sources into the grid, which reduces reliance on fossil fuels and cuts the resulting pollutants and greenhouse gases.  ...

Widespread adoption of existing AI applications that streamline energy consumption in industry, transportation, and buildings ...

For example, scaling up existing AI optimization of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems would save 300 TWh, about one-third of total energy used by data centers. ...

The energy costs of training, inference, and cooling hardware are expected to fall further thanks to trends in AI models (fewer parameters, more efficient algorithms, task-specific models) hardware (more energy-efficient chips, improved cooling methods), and usage (batch processing, running smaller models locally rather than in the cloud)."

DeepSeek-R1 Refreshed, AI’s Energy Conundrum, Agents Get Phished, Machine Translation in Action

AI is set to drive surging electricity demand from data centres while offering the potential to transform how the energy sector works "Major new IEA report brings groundbreaking data and analysis to one of the most pressing and least understood energy issues today, exploring AI’s wide range of potential impacts"

Kenya’s energy sector is making strides toward universal electricity access by 2030

Good news!

"Kenya is on track to achieve universal electricity access by 2030, as ambitious implementation plans and electrification using clean energy technologies position the country as an economic and energy development leader across the region, according to the IEA’s new Energy Policy Review of the country.

With a sustained focus on electrification, electricity access rates in Kenya rose from 37% in 2013 to 79% in 2023, with urban areas already achieving full access, the report notes. ..."

Kenya’s energy sector is making strides toward universal electricity access, clean cooking solutions and renewable energy development - News - IEA "New IEA report highlights Kenya’s strong progress in expanding access to electricity and clean cooking driven by robust policies and targeted infrastructure investments"

Credits: Human Progress weekly newsletter

IEA: Growth in global electricity demand is set to accelerate in the coming years due to developing economies and China

More people around the world can afford air conditioning! Electrification is fast progressing! Then there are data centers.

For some odd reason, IEA fails to mention India! Very strange! What a blind spot!

How does China meet its rising, enormous demand for electricity? By constructing hundreds of coal fired power plants! The West is so stupid demanding net zero and other nonsense!

"... Most of the additional demand over the next three years will come from emerging and developing economies, which account for 85% of the demand growth. The trend is most pronounced in China where electricity demand has been growing faster than the overall economy since 2020. China's electricity consumption rose by 7% in 2024 and is expected to grow by an average of around 6% through 2027. ...

The new report forecasts that growth in low-emissions sources – primarily renewables and nuclear – is sufficient, in aggregate, to cover all the growth in global electricity demand over the next three years. ...

In the United States, a strong increase in electricity demand is expected to add the equivalent of California's current power consumption to the national total over the next three years. 

Electricity demand growth is forecast to be more modest in the European Union, only rising back to its 2021 levels by 2027, following the major declines in 2022 and 2023 ..."

Growth in global electricity demand is set to accelerate in the coming years as power-hungry sectors expand - News - IEA "Increase in electricity consumption through 2027 expected to average around 4% annually, driven by growing use for industry, air conditioning, electrification and data centres"

IEA: India to import 6.6 million barrels per day by 2030

India has a huge demand for energy supply! Drill baby drill!

Nuclear power generation to reach record high in 2025, IEA forecasts

Good news! China & India (and other Asia) are significantly expanding their nuclear power generation in the coming years, while Western countries remain rather stagnant!

So called renewable energy (in particular wind power) is the greatest boondoggle and scandal of our time

"... Output from nuclear power plants is expected to rise by about 3 per cent both this year and next to 2,915TWh, overtaking the previous peak of 2,809TWh in 2021, and by a further 1.5 per cent in 2026, the IEA said.

Growth will be driven by new reactors in China and India as well as the return of plants in France that were shut down last year for maintenance. ..."

"... with more consumers using technologies such as electric vehicles and heat pumps. Electricity accounted for 20% of final energy consumption in 2023, up from 18% in 2015, though meeting the world’s climate goals would require electrification to advance significantly faster in the coming years. ..."

Nuclear power generation to reach record high next year, IEA forecasts (behind paywall, but here is alternative link) Majority of new capacity over next three years expected to come from China and India

Clean sources of generation are set to cover all of the world’s additional electricity demand over the next three years (IEA) Renewables are growing rapidly and nuclear power is on track to reach new all-time high next year, enabling low-emissions generation to outpace robust electricity demand growth

IEA: Urgent action to cut methane emissions from fossil fuel operations essential to achieve global climate targets. Really!

More alarmism and hysteria! Are you scared of irreversible tipping points between now and 2050?

It is outrageous that this nonsense is coming from the taxpayer financed IEA!

Nice how this agency also mixes methane and ground level ozone pollution for their horror scenario by 2050!

Methane (0.00017% or 1.7 parts per million by volume) is even much more of a trace gas than CO2. What a scam!

"Decisive, far-reaching efforts to cut methane emissions from fossil fuel production and use must go hand-in-hand with decarbonisation of our energy systems to limit global warming to 1.5 °C, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UNEP-convened Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).

The Imperative of Cutting Methane from Fossil Fuels, released today, builds on findings from the IEA’s recently updated net zero pathway to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. It shows that while a drop in fossil fuel demand would cut methane emissions, these reductions by themselves would not occur fast enough to meet the world’s climate goals. ...
reduce the risk of crossing irreversible climate tipping points. ...
As methane emissions lead to ground-level ozone pollution, immediate action would also deliver public health, food security and economic benefits. Based on modelling of the UNEP/CCAC Global Methane Assessment published in 2021 – which, for the first time, assessed and integrated the climate and air pollution costs and benefits from methane mitigation – methane action would prevent nearly 1 million premature deaths due to ozone exposure, 90 million tonnes of crop losses due to ozone and climate changes, and about 85 billion hours of lost labour due to extreme heat by 2050."

World's Biggest Energy Agency Warns 1 Fossil Fuel Must Be Cut Immediately : ScienceAlert

Urgent action to cut methane emissions from fossil fuel operations essential to achieve global climate targets

IEA forecasting oil demand for transportation to peak in 2025. Oil demand seen peaking in 2028 as EVs make gains. Really!

This headline is so laughable that it hurts! So ridiculous! By repeating this peak oil demand myth etc. it does not become more realistic!

Just take Africa where only about 100 million individuals/households own a car! What about India?

"The International Energy Agency, which advises governments worldwide on energy markets, predicted total oil demand in 2028 would only reach 105.7 million barrels per day, 7.8 million barrels less than it would have been without the expansion of electric vehicles such as the Ford F-150 Lightning EV, left."

According to the IEA:

"... Growth in the world’s demand for oil is set to slow almost to a halt in the coming years, with the high prices and security of supply concerns highlighted by the global energy crisis hastening the shift towards cleaner energy technologies, according to a new IEA report released today. ...
In particular, the use of oil for transport fuels is set to go into decline after 2026 as the expansion of electric vehicles, the growth of biofuels and improving fuel economy reduce consumption. ..."

Oil demand seen peaking in 2028 as EVs make gains

Growth in global oil demand is set to slow significantly by 2028 New IEA medium-term report sees oil use for transport going into decline after 2026, but overall consumption is expected to be supported by strong petrochemicals demand

International Energy Agency: Net Zero by 2050 Analysis. Really!

I guess, I missed to blog about this nonsense earlier! So the IEA is complicit in the propaganda and demagoguery of "climate change"!

How did I discover this now, because none other than the Stanford University is holding a webinar on (2/1/2023) about "Building Intelligent Agents to Reach Net Zero 2050"!

"The number of countries announcing pledges to achieve net zero emissions over the coming decades continues to grow. But the pledges by governments to date – even if fully achieved – fall well short of what is required to bring global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050 and give the world an even chance of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 °C. ..."

Net Zero by 2050 – Analysis - IEA Flagship report May 2021. A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector

IEA: The world’s coal consumption is set to reach a new high in 2022. Asia ignores the West!

Some countries are not mired or stupid enough for the Global Warming hoax and Climate Change religion practiced mostly in Western countries!

China, India, other Asia are expanding their coal use for energy generation!

The renewable energy/global warming/climate change is the greatest scam perpetrated on humanity of our time. It’s big business and big government!

"Global coal use is set to rise by 1.2% in 2022, surpassing 8 billion tonnes in a single year for the first time and eclipsing the previous record set in 2013, according to Coal 2022, the IEA’s latest annual market report on the sector. ...
In China, the world’s largest coal consumer, a heat wave and drought pushed up coal power generation during the summer, even as strict Covid-19 restrictions slowed down demand. ..."

" ... Coal used in electricity generation, the largest consuming sector, is expected to grow by just over 2% in 2022.[who are they kidding! 2% of a large base is enormous!] By contrast, coal consumption in industry is expected to decline by over 1%, mainly driven by falling iron and steel production amid the economic crisis. ...
In China, low hydropower output in the summer amid a big heat wave pushed coal power generation significantly higher. In August, coal power generation in China increased by around 15% year-on-year to over 500 terawatt-hours (TWh). ..."

The world’s coal consumption is set to reach a new high in 2022 as the energy crisis  shakes markets - News - IEA Increase in coal use in Europe is expected to be temporary, with demand falling in advanced economies in the coming years but remaining robust in emerging Asia

Coal 2022 Executive summary

Footnote: When you download this chart from IEA, the legend is omitted, so I had to screen print it.

Global Energy Review: CO2 Emissions in 2020 – Analysis - IEA

It seems the International Energy Agency forgot to research how much of this drop is due to the increased use of the home office!

One can also safely assume that the Covid-19 restrictions that are still imposed by so many Western countries serve predominantly to avoid CO2 emissions! What a scandal! The return to prepandemic normal is long overdue (since January or latest March of 2021)!

Since home office work, thereby reducing the daily commute and CO2 emmissions, is here to stay, the hysteric demagoguery about 2 degrees Celsius, Global Warmign hoax, Climate Change religion is even more ridiculous!

"... As primary energy demand dropped nearly 4% in 2020, global energy-related CO2 emissions fell by 5.8% according to the latest statistical data, the largest annual percentage decline since World War II. In absolute terms, the decline in emissions of almost 2 000 million tonnes of CO2 is without precedent in human history – broadly speaking, this is the equivalent of removing all of the European Union’s emissions from the global total.... A common theme across all economies is the scale of the impact of the pandemic and lockdown measures on transport activity. The decline in CO2 emissions from oil use in the transport sector accounted for well over 50% of the total global drop in CO2 emissions in 2020, with restrictions on movement at local and international levels leading to a near 1 100 Mt drop in emissions from the sector, down almost 14% from 2019 levels."

Global Energy Review: CO2 Emissions in 2020 – Analysis - IEA