Hi Climate Change! Seven Industry Challenges for 2014! & OIL!.

Hi Climate Change! Seven Industry Challenges for 2014! & OIL!.

After three years of rising confidence in prices and production, many in the industry have turned cautious. This is one of seven notable trends uncovered by DNV-GL's annual industry survey.

 Slowing economic growth in India and other emerging markets, coupled with a supply increase that is slowly outpacing demand, is expected to add to global price instability. 

Mergers will be more common as rising demands on capital force out smaller players. Shortages of skilled workers (watch below) will also contribute to a tough year. Not all is doom and gloom however; things are looking up for Brazil and Australia.

Hi Exclusive: The Iraqi Effect:

Discussions on Iraqi oil make the latest U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections especially noteworthy. Surprisingly (watch), the EIA expects Iraq to maintain high production and export levels.

Northern production ceased in January, but southern production has been largely unaffected by the conflict. 

Unfortunately, long term effects on oil markets may be more dire. 

Iraq was expected to make up for declining production levels among the other OPEC countries, but increases in production are now in doubt. Unless Libya comes back on line, OPEC supply disruptions are expected to continue at levels approaching 2.7 million barrels/day.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT: The Availability and Price of Petroleum and Petroleum Products Produced in Countries Other Than Iran.

Hi Ozone Layer Healing, But...

Hi Ozone Layer Healing, But...

According to the ozone sensors on Europe's MetOpt weather satellite, the hole over Antarctica in 2012 was the smallest in the last 10 years. 

Since the beginning of the 1980s, an ozone hole has developed over Antarctica during the southern spring - September to November - resulting in a decrease in ozone concentration of up to 70%. 

Man-made chlorofluorocarbons - CFCs - have a negative effect on the ozone, depleting it and creating the infamous hole. 

The Montreal Protocol has stopped the increase of CFC concentrations, and a drastic fall has been observed since the mid-1990s. 

You can see the Total Ozone values in the Northern Hemishpere and Southern Hemisphere along with the climate model prediction (in blue) showing recovery continuing over several decades.

The good news is that the Antarctic ozone hole is on the way to recovery. 

The bad news is that scientists now think it is helping to slow the polar seas' ability to absorb carbon dioxide, a leading contributor to Global Warming. 

Antarctic accounts for about 40% of the total carbon absorbed by the world's seas. 

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University found the same winds that caused extremely low temperatures leading to higher levels of ozone depletion are speeding circulation patterns in polar waters, with the currents closer to the land pushing more deep water up to the ocean surface.

Scientists worry that the increasing upwelling of that water, hundreds of years old and naturally rich in carbon dioxide, is reducing the amount of manmade carbon absorbed by sub-polar waters.

Thanks to the Montreal Protocol we are well on our way to eliminating the use of CFCs. 

The damage however will go on for decades and more.

Further information on these most recent studies can be found in the Feb 15, 2013 issue of OzoNews click the following link here to download.