Member Info for chilting

Centrica Group sell energy to their subsidiary British Gas at a high regulated price - British Gas are then squeezed with just a small profit - Centrica Group, therefore, made the big profits.
The price was regulated by Government to prevent energy producers having an advantage in the market.

Hence UK energy consumers pay more than they would in an unregulated market.

In France, the Government set an energy price cap meant suppliers were selling energy at below market prices - hence EDF lost 50 billion euros.

Our political leaders don't give a sh*t about energy security or NS Oil - that's simply not a vote winner at the moment - it was, but only for a short time after the Ukraine invasion and could be again.

Politicians just live in the present, sucking up to public opinion and going with the majority view, regardless of the consequences. So if you think they are going to make a U turn on the windfall tax you are living in Cloud Cuckoo Land.
The political fallout would be catastrophic for the Conservatives.

The next step in the budget could actually be even worst, with the launch of social energy tariffs paid in some way by oil and gas producers - witness the £3.3billion in profit made by Centrica group in 2022 - note, it wasn't British Gas that made the big money but back in production.

Yes there was a piece on Countryfile tonight about grid infrastructure improvements planned in East Anglia - it seems that they are a long way off - no detailed route for high voltage cables - politicians yet to make decisions.

However, most of the wind generation is along the North Sea coast, so it would seem logical to build up green hydrogen production centres at places like Deeside, using the electricity that couldn't be used by the grid, then use the hydrogen locally to power heavy industry.

So basically this big lie has a very small element of truth but it is highly misleading.

The truth bit first - NEW wind farms planned as a result of the 2019 auction round and due to start operating from around now until 2027 will produce cheap energy for the grid, for an average price of £48 per megawatt hour (MWh) in today’s money, this is without any subsidies.

The author of the article compared this to the price of Natural Gas last July and came to this conclusion
"This is nine times cheaper than the £446/MWh current cost of running gas-fired power stations."
Clearly highly misleading!

The truth is as we all know that the cost of Gas changes all the time and also that the price paid by the grid for the new wind power will be adjusted by inflation.

The most interesting thing to note is that the £48 per megawatt hour quoted for wind power is very similar to the average price of natural gas between 2013 and the start of 2020.

"Where is our reward?"

There is no reward.
Should Oil and gas companies that meet UK emissions targets be except from the windfall tax? - that's the question that needs an answer.

Also it underlines the fact that its not just the Oil and Gas sector that's being adversely affected by the tax and regulatory regime, but all sectors of our energy industry.

Most of the important players in the renewables sector are oil and gas companies, if they get taxed or regulated into oblivion then the energy crisis will only get much worst - witness EDF pushed to a 50 billion euro loss by the French Government when forced to sell electricity into the French grid at less than their cost price.

One thing you may have missed from this mornings update that could have great importance for Enquest-

"In response to adverse changes to the EPL, several operators are reconsidering their capital programmes in the UK. In late 2022, EnQuest increased its equity interest in Bressay to 100%, following the withdrawal of Equinor and Harbour Energy. EnQuest is actively exploring farm-down opportunities while continuing to progress development planning of the asset."

In the UK we seem to be slipping towards a position where any company that makes excessive profits is unacceptable.
The media and politicians seem to have moved public opinion towards this point of view.

I guess it has a lot to do with how the Conservative Party has fallen from grace and also their actions during and since Covid to prop up society.

The windfall tax is the prime example of how the political landscape has changed to being hostile to business.

In my view it will only get much worst - especially if Labour get into power - expect a big increase in Corporation Tax and an insane rise in Capital Gains Tax.

Its not just energy companies in the UK that are seeing their profits disappear.
In France EDF recorded a 5 billion euro loss after their Government regulators forced them to sell electricity at a price below what the company was paying for it - this cost the company 8.2 billion euros - wiping out profits made elsewhere, including £1.12 billion in the UK.

I noticed that Centrica Groups profits were also greedily being eyed up by the politicians of all parties yesterday.
The mantra now seems to be to distribute profits to the poor by introducing social energy tariffs.
Matthew 21 verse 12.

Yes and the shorts are obviously very active at the moment creating a fair degree of volatility during a trading day.
They are also regularly closing their positions and opening new ones.
It could be that they even close before results on the 28th.

Look's to me that AB put up the For Sale board today but unfortunately the windfall tax has turned what would have been a Ferrari into a beaten up old banger.

Excellent news for Ocado Retail this morning with a Which customer satisfaction score of 81% - way ahead of the rest of the online opposition.

Excellent news that M&S are top of the leader board for customer satisfaction of its instore food offering with a score of 77% knocking John Lewis owned Waitrose back down with one of the discounters. The big four were way out of it.

Ocado Retail did even better with a customer satisfaction score of 81% - way ahead of the rest of the online opposition.

It seems the "Anti Tribe" are to the fore today - hardly surprising with the SP at current levels.
Maybe, it would be a good time to relax a bit a listen to a nice gentle piece of music?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0bG2ce5blo

I am quite sure that green hydrogen does have a future, but not as the main component of power in the gas main.
It will be mixed with natural gas at a ratio not more than about 25% - maybe just 10%.

The main primary usage for green hydrogen should be for heavy industry, supplied locally using SOFC tech.

With Sturgeon gone, we have lost one of the UK's best politicians, if not the best, regardless of your political views.
Maybe she has also taken away the chance of Scottish Independence?
I doubt that her party can achieve independence without her - it would have been a very tough fight even with her in charge,

So, I guess Scottish politics becomes an irrelevance now - unless you are Scottish.

PhatStyle
Phil already done all he can from his end.
The deal is in place.
The only discussion is the commercial terms between Bosch and Weichai - this has nothing to do with Ceres.

aandi
So, Eqtec could have a role providing energy for DS Smith in Croatia, using the mill sludge as fuel.
That would certainly attract the interest of the EU because typically the sludge currently goes to landfill or is incinerated.

When there is possibly going to be a downside its important to monitor the situation.

At the moment there are still 5 shorts in the game and 3 have renewed their positions within the last week - they took profit and came back in at a lower level.

There are still a couple of weeks left before the final results for Ocado Group are published on 28th Feb, so it will be important to see what happens to the shorts and SP in the meantime.

Note these are the results for the whole group, not just Ocado Retail this time, and will have much more bearing for the future of the company - it will be especially interesting to see what revenue Ocado Solutions reports from their global operations.

https://shorteurope.com/history_company.php?selskapsnavn=OCADO%20GROUP%20PLC&land=united_kingdom

The move to the main market is planned for just after the joint venture with Bosch and Weichai is signed.

Biochar is starting to be used much more widely in the UK and Europe - farmers and gardeners are getting wise to the benefits.

Its interesting to note that other sectors of the renewables industry are following a similar path.
Pretoria Energy produces electricity for the National Grid in Cambridgeshire.
They grow green crops on their own farm to feed their own anaerobic digesters.
After extracting the gas they are left with a composted material that is converted to fertilizer pellets and liquid plant food.
This is marketed as an organic plant based fertiliser to the agricultural and horticultural sector - including retail.
Its a much cheaper option than synthetic fertilisers produced using hydrocarbons and also animal based products like Blood, Fish and Bone.

https://www.naturagrow.co.uk/