Energy Connects Podcast

In this new episode of the Energy Connects podcast, Chiranjib Sengupta hosts Norbert Rücker, Head of Economics and Next Generation Research at Bank Julius Baer, to discuss the profound changes in global energy markets brought about by the energy transition. They discuss the structural transformation taking place across the energy value chain as the pursuit of a lower carbon future gathers momentum in the industry, focusing on electric mobility and clean energy. Norbert outlines why Europe fared much better than feared during the energy crisis last year and how markets showed resilience in absorbing intense supply shocks. He also talks about how niche areas such as hydrogen are showing signs of growing into full-fledged commercial markets, driven by rapid progress in technologies, and what the future of the industry will look like.

In this episode of the Energy Connects Podcast, Managing Editor Chiranjib Sengupta hosts Deepika Sriram and Sergey Shiposha, Managing Associates at Linklaters, to discuss all about ESG as the region pivots to a lower carbon future. Diving into the key trends shaping the ESG and climate transition space in the Middle East, they examine the Middle East ESG Legal Outlook 2023 published recently by Linklaters and co-authored by Deepika and Sergey. They talk about new developments in ESG regulation and disclosure requirements, the ESG related activities in the region’s energy sector between COP27 and COP28, and how the global energy community is responding to the challenge of achieving a just energy transition. They also outline the financing landscape for emerging sectors that are critical to the transition, such as hydrogen and CCUS.

In the latest episode of Energy Connects Podcasts, Managing Editor Chiranjib Sengupta hosts Henning Huenteler, Expert Associate Partner at Bain and Company, to discuss why carbon markets are crucial to the success of Gulf economies achieving their net zero ambitions. They talk about the carbon market landscape in the region and how GCC states are deploying a wide array of decarbonisation strategies and carbon abatement solutions on their journey to a low-carbon future. Henning also delves into the debate over carbon offsets as greenwashing, addresses the challenges of quantifying Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, and outlines the common governance standards and industry benchmarks that define carbon markets. He narrates how recent carbon-credit exchanges in the region are building the perfect momentum for carbon offsets and why the outlook for voluntary carbon markets in the Gulf and Middle East is positive.

In the latest episode of Energy Connects Podcasts, Managing Editor Chiranjib Sengupta hosts Keisuke Sadamori, Director of Energy Markets and Security at the International Energy Agency (IEA), for a wide-ranging discussion on the global energy landscape and the pathways to a clean energy future. They talk about the outlook for global energy markets after an extraordinary year last year, the impact of China’s reopening of the economy, the rising demand for natural gas and LNG, and the role of low-carbon hydrogen from nuclear energy in the energy transition. They also discuss how the winter of 2023 is likely to shape up for Europe from an energy security perspective, and the prospect of the Biden administration replenishing its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the world’s largest supply of emergency crude oil. Sadamori outlines the reasons why LNG supply growth was modest globally last year and why LNG trade will remain under pressure until 2026. He examines several final investment decisions for LNG projects that did not materialise in 2022. They also delve into role of natural gas as a transition fuel and how it will integrate higher shares of variable renewables in global grids, ways to prevent methane emissions, the scope for low emission gases such as biomethane, and investments in the clean energy industry.

In the latest episode of Energy Connects Podcasts, Editor-in-Chief Julian Walker hosts Robin Mills, CEO of Qamar Energy, to talk about the energy transition and why 2023 will be such an important year with the UAE hosting COP28 later in the year. Robin outlines why we are entering a phase of acceleration when it comes to the energy transition with a ramping up on spending across the whole renewable energy sector. They also touch on why this is an important year for the Middle East as the UAE will be hosting COP28 and the region needs to make the most of it and lay the groundwork for future activities. Robin explains how the solar boom in the Middle East is spreading out from the core countries like UAE, Jordan, and Egypt to new markets in Saudi Arabia and Morocco. They also look at hydrogen and how there is a huge amount of activity with 60 plus hydrogen projects in the MENA region at various stages.

In the latest episode of Energy Connects Podcasts, Managing Editor Chiranjib Sengupta hosts Vandana Hari – founder of Vanda Insights, the Singapore-based provider of intelligence on the global energy markets. They talk about the overwhelming response to the inaugural edition of India Energy Week that took place earlier this month in Bengaluru, and discuss India’s role in developing new energy resources and its level-headed approach to the global energy transition. Vandana outlines why balancing energy security with the needs of the energy transition will be crucial for nations such as India, and they also examine energy diversification projects, including in renewables and hydrogen.  They also delve into the emergent technologies that are helping transform the energy sector, and the key challenges ahead for the industry.

Energy Connects Managing Editor Chiranjib Sengupta hosts Russ McMeekin, CEO and Co-Founder of mCloud Technologies and a digital tech trailblazer with leadership roles at Yokogawa and Honeywell, to discuss methane – the other greenhouse gas – for the latest episode of Energy Connects Podcasts. Methane has 80 times more warming power in the near-term than carbon dioxide and reducing its impact is widely considered a critical mission for global net zero goals. In this podcast, Russ and Chiranjib talk about how, as the world struggles to sequester emissions, new digital tools are emerging to help energy-intensive industries meet this urgent challenge. They also delve into mCloud’s collaboration with Google Cloud, Aramco’s decarbonisation, the history of energy transitions and why COP28 is a pivotal moment for the industry.

This week, Patricia Roberts tackles the theme of “Action - Reaction”, as we chart through the weekly news of falling Russian pipeline flows, voluntary plans to reduce demand, soaring spot prices and new term deals. 

This week, Patricia Roberts wraps up the weekly news around the theme of “In the Hot Seat”. She covers short term gas/ LNG supply demand imbalances, rising prices, hot weather, and intentions to cut demand, but also good LNG developments on the horizon.

The United States is the number one exporter of LNG for the year 2022, but will that sustain. In this episode, Energy Connects talks to Wayne Ackerman, a global energy expert on the future of the LNG market in North America, specifically the United States. Ackerman discusses what are the stakes for exporting further LNG to Europe as the European Union looks to decrease its dependence on Russia’s gas. The expert also discuss what the future of the LNG market looks like as the American continent exports more.

In this week’s podcast Patricia Roberts theme is “Records Broken and Broken Records” as she summarises some of the market records broken this year and the 3 issues, we all talk about (like broken records!) which have been holding us back - hopefully now we are starting to address those!

The biggest/ longest deal in history and there’s more! - more news and coverage of the week’s top events.

In this week’s LNG Wrap Patricia Roberts speaks with Ruth Liao from ICIS about the outage of a complete liquefaction plant at a time when LNG is needed more than ever!

The theme we are looking at this week is ‘A Delicate Balance’. We are looking well prepared for winter, but the weather is a big factor in keeping gas supplies in balance.

The theme for this week’s LNG wrap is “Don't get complacent!” Despite falling spot gas prices and high stocks in Europe, we need to keep building resilience to manage our business going forwards.

We spoke with the CEO of Thailand's national oil company, Phongsthorn Thavisin from PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP), about its long-term growth and sustainability plans. The podcast discusses PTTEP's strategy going forward and why the Middle East remains an important growth region. This podcast was sponsored by PTTEP.

In this podcast we learn how Schlumberger is taking well construction beyond automation and into autonomy and how the great strides that have been made are delivering excellent results. Speaker guests how the complex and dynamic environment of well construction requires more than automation to deliver consistent performance improvement and how Schlumberger is achieving this by maximising the capability through their autonomous systems, both in rig operations and downhole drilling. This podcast is sponsored by Schlumberger.

Editor-in-chief, Julian Walker, speaks to Mirko Rubeis from Boston Consulting Group about the important issue of sustainability in the chemicals industry. The podcast touches on the overall importance of sustainability in the chemicals sector, focusing on issues such as decarbonisation, climate change and the circular economy.

In this episode, Julian talks to Paul McMillan, CEO of NTS Group about the reasons behind the acquisition of Amega West. They look specifically at how the merger strengthens the NTS Group portfolio and the challenges of going ahead with an acquisition in the middle of such a challenging time for the oil and gas industry.

Julian talks to Dr. Thana Slanvetpan from AI & Robotics Ventures (ARV), a company of PTTEP Group, about embracing technology developments in AI and Robotics. They discuss how PTTEP is pursing a digitalisation strategy through its newly set up subsidiary ARV and advantages it can bring to the E&P sector. They also look at the importance of partnerships for PTTEP. This episode is sponsored by PTTEP.