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June 30, 2016

by AEA

SOCAR names Azerbaijan’s investments volume in TANAP construction

Expenditures of the Southern Gas Corridor CJSC within the framework of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) construction project will exceed $6 billion, a senior official of the Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR told Trend.

“Expenditures of the Southern Gas Corridor CJSC, the main share in which belongs to the government of Azerbaijan will amount to $6.2 billion by 2020,” said the representative of SOCAR, which owns the remaining 49 percent in this company.

The Southern Gas Corridor CJSC acts as an operator of the project, which includes, in particular, the TANAP project worth $9.2 billion.

“Nearly a quarter of the planned investments – more than $2 billion – has been already spent during the TANAP construction,” SOCAR representative said. “The project is running according to schedule.”

TANAP project envisages transporting gas from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field from the Georgian-Turkish border to the western border of Turkey. The gas will reach Turkey in 2018, and after the completion of the TAP construction, the gas will reach Europe around early 2020. Currently, the shareholders of TANAP are: SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) – 58 percent, Botas – 30 percent and BP – 12 percent.

June 23, 2016

by AEA

IFC Supports Albania as it Increases Security of Energy Supplies

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Albanian Ministry of Energy and Industry have signed a Memorandum of Understanding designed to establish the day-ahead electricity market in Albania, bolster country’s electricity supplies and better connect it to the rest of Europe.

IFC will advise the Albanian government on the creation of the day-ahead electricity market. The market will become the main arena for trading power, allowing Albania to buy electricity from and sell electricity to its neighbours quickly and easily. The day-ahead market is expected to help promote the integration of Albania’s electric grid with the rest of Europe, including neighboring Kosovo. It will also increase price transparency, and improve the investment climate for new power projects, according to IFC.

“Albania is committed to the liberalization of its power market, and we have recently adopted new energy laws,” said Damian Gjiknuri, Albanian Minister of Energy and Industry. “The establishment of the day-ahead electricity market is an important step in that process.”

Albania is a candidate to join the European Union and has recently joined the Energy Community, a multi-national body, with the EU and other Balkan countries.

“IFC is supporting the establishment of the electricity market in Albania through a combination of advisory and investment services,” said Thomas Lubeck, IFC Manager for the Western Balkans. “We are looking forward to working with our partners on the establishment of the day-ahead electricity market, which is going to benefit producers, traders, and customers in Albania.”

This project is implemented by IFC’s public-private partnerships transaction advisory unit, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Ministry of Finance of Austria.

Albania became a shareholder and member of IFC in 1991. Since then, IFC has invested $762.3 million in the country, including $279 million mobilized from our partners, in 24 projects across a variety of sectors. In addition, IFC has supported trade flows of $6 million through its trade finance program.

Currently, IFC’s committed investment portfolio in Albania is $187 million. IFC’s advisory services in Albania, some offered in partnership with the World Bank, aim to improve the investment climate, boost the performance of private sector companies, increase access to finance, and help attract private sector participation in development of infrastructure projects.

June 22, 2016

by AEA

Investment in Electricity Generation and Transmission

Investment in Electricity Generation and Transmission Decision Making under Uncertainty

Authors: Conejo, A.J., Baringo Morales, L., Kazempour, S.J., Siddiqui, A.S.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of investment problems pertaining to electric energy infrastructure, including both generation and transmission facilities. The analysis encompasses decision-making tools for expansion planning, reinforcement, and the selection and timing of investment options.
In this regard, the book provides an up-to-date description of analytical tools to address challenging investment questions such as:

How can we expand and/or reinforce our aging electricity transmission infrastructure?
How can we expand the transmission network of a given region to integrate significant amounts of renewable generation?
How can we expand generation facilities to achieve a low-carbon electricity production system?
How can we expand the generation system while ensuring appropriate levels of flexibility to accommodate both demand-related and production-related uncertainties?
How can we choose among alternative production facilities?
What is the right time to invest in a given production or transmission facility?

Written in a tutorial style and modular format, the book includes a wealth of illustrative examples to facilitate comprehension. It is intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of electric energy systems, operations research, management science, and economics. Practitioners in the electric energy sector will also benefit from the concepts and techniques presented here.

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June 18, 2016

by AEA

Solar Domestic Water Heating

Solar Domestic Water Heating: The Earthscan Expert Handbook for Planning, Design and Installation

Solar Domestic Water Heating is a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of solar domestic water heating systems. As fossil fuel prices continue to rise and awareness of climate change grows, interest in domestic solar water heating is expanding. Solar water heating technology is the most environmentally-friendly way to heat water. This fully-illustrated and easy-to-follow guide shows how domestic solar water heating systems work, the different types of systems, types of collectors, both flat plate and evacuated tube, types of storage tanks and other accessories. It also shows how systems are installed and explains how solar water heating can be integrated into existing water heating systems. Numerous examples from around the world have been included. The ideal guide for plumbers, heating engineers, builders and architects, housing and property developers, home owners and DIY enthusiasts, and anyone who needs a clear introduction to solar water heating technology.

[embeddoc url=”https://info.aea-al.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/1844077365.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google”]

June 18, 2016

by AEA

Understanding Oil and Gas Shows and Seals in the Search for Hydrocarbons

The book covers in detail the ways to understand how to use oil and gas show information to find hydrocarbons. It covers the basics of exploration methodologies, drilling and mud systems, cuttings and mud gas show evaluation, fundamental log analysis and pitfalls to log-calculated water saturations. A complete overview of the use of pressures to understand traps and migration, hydrodynamics, and seal and reservoir quantification using capillary pressure to underpin important fundamental concepts every petroleum geologist must know. Techniques for quickly generating pseudo-capillary pressure curves from simple porosity/permeability data, with examples of how to build the spreadsheets in Excel, provide quick and simple ways to determine where a test or sample may be in a trap based on its water saturation and rock properties. In addition, a complete treatment of fluid inclusion analysis and fluid inclusion stratigraphy to map migration pathways and recognize by-passed or near miss pay zones is covered and illustrated with numerous examples. Lastly, petroleum systems modeling and fundamental source rock geochemistry is discussed at depth, particularly in the context of unconventional source rock evaluation and screening tools for entering new plays. The promise, perils, and pitfalls of understanding and modeling migration in 3 dimensional space with modern software is examined with an eye toward how to visualize hydrocarbon shows as a means of validating or rejecting the model results.
Perhaps more importantly, the book is heavily illustrated with numerous examples and case histories from the author’s 37 years of exploration experience. The topics covered in this book will give any young geoscientist a quick start on a successful career and serve as a refresher for the more experienced explorers.

[embeddoc url=”https://info.aea-al.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Understanding-Oil-and-Gas-Shows-and-Seals-in-the-Search-for-Hydrocarbons-John-Dolson-Springer-2016.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google”]

June 18, 2016

by AEA

Introduction to Peak Oil – (Lecture Notes in Energy)

This book examines the physical and economic characteristics of the global oil resource to explain why peak oil has been so poorly understood. The author draws on information held in oil industry datasets that are not widely available outside of the specialist literature, and describes a number of methods that have been successfully used to predict oil peaks. In contrast to the widely-held view that ‘all oil forecasts are wrong’, these methods correctly predicted the current peak in global conventional oil production. Current oil forecasts are then compared to evaluate the expected dates for regional and global oil peaks for conventional oil, all-oils, and all-liquids. The dates of global peaks in the production of all-oil and all-liquids appear to be reasonably soon, while the oil price that is needed to support these global production levels continues to rise. The world faces serious constraints in its oil supply, which accounts for about one-third of total world energy use, and over 90% of the fuel used for transportation. Readers of this book will gain a thorough understanding of the critical, but poorly understood, phenomenon of peak oil that has already had significant impacts on society in terms of high oil prices, and which will place increasing constraints on mankind’s supply of energy and economic well-being in the coming years.

[embeddoc url=”https://info.aea-al.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/10.1007@978-3-319-26372-4.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google”]