January 12, 2010 / Gas Coordination Group discusses security of gas supply in the light of the current winter situation in Europe
In its first meeting in 2010, the Gas Coordination Group, under the chairmanship of the Commission, has focused today on the assessment of the situation on security of gas supply in the EU-27 and countries of the Energy Community and discussed priorities for the work of the Group in 2010.
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January 11, 2010 / Total Tackles Climate Change with the Inauguration of a Carbon Capture and Storage Demonstration Facility
Total today inaugurated Europe's first end-to-end carbon capture, transportation and storage demonstration facility, in Lacq, southwestern France, at a ceremony attended by Valérie Létard, France's Secretary of State for Green Technology and Climate Negotiations.
This technology will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industrial facilities that use fuel oil, natural gas and coal, such as power plants, steel plants cement plants and refineries. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon capture and storage has the potential to mitigate one-third of carbon emissions and could be used at 7,000 industrial plants worldwide by 2050.
To download the press release

November 10, 2009 / The time has come to make the hard choices needed to combat climate change and enhance global energy security, says the latest IEA World Energy Outlook
"World leaders gathering in Copenhagen next month for the UN Climate summit have a historic opportunity to avert the worst effects of climate change. The World Energy Outlook 2009 seeks to add momentum to their negotiations at this crucial stage by detailing the practical steps needed for a sustainable energy future as part of a global climate deal,” said Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency today in London at the launch of the new WEO – the annual flagship publication of the IEA.
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October 20, 2009 / Future Gas Production in Russia: is the concern about lack of investment justified?
The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies has just published a study by Jonathan Stern which suggests that the short term outlook for Russia gas supply which has emerged since late 2008 has radically changed, due to the global recession and reduced levels of gas demand in Russia, CIS countries and Europe. Concern about Gazprom’s ability to deliver volumes contracted to European buyers has been replaced by the latter asking for relief from their contractual obligations to take these volumes. For this reason, the decision to delay investments in new production is entirely logical. In addition, the paper shows how the Russian gas supply “roadmap” for the next several decades has become much clearer; Gazprom has much more time than previously believed to commence its Yamal Peninsula development. Accusations that Gazprom is “not investing” in new supply make no sense without detailed discussion of the different supply and demand elements of the Russian gas matrix and how these may evolve over the next decade. And when Gazprom proposes investments in new pipelines which would help to guarantee the delivery of Russian gas to Europe against exactly the type of transit interruptions experienced in 2006 and 2009, these are opposed by many in Europe on geopolitical grounds. The study concludes that continued unfocussed criticism about lack of investment obscures, rather than illuminates, the complexity of the Russian gas situation.
More information : http://www.oxfordenergy.org/

October 12, 2009 / World’s first commercial passenger flight powered by fuel made from natural gas lands in Qatar
Qatar Airways makes historic journey from London Gatwick to Doha.
New Gas to Liquids fuel offers diversity of supply and better local air quality at busy airports.
A Qatar Airways aircraft this evening completed the world’s first commercial passenger flight powered by a fuel made from natural gas.
The historic journey from London Gatwick to Doha took over six hours and was operated with an Airbus A340-600 aircraft using Rolls-Royce Trent 556 engines.
Shell developed and produced the 50-50 blend of synthetic Gas to Liquids (GTL) kerosene and conventional oil-based kerosene fuel. The State of Qatar is set to become the world’s leading producer of GTL kerosene when it is put into commercial production from 2012.
The fuel, as an alternative to conventional oil-based kerosene, will contribute to diversification of aviation fuel supply. It also burns with lower sulphur dioxide and particulate emissions than pure conventional oil-based kerosene, making it attractive for improving local air quality at busy airports.
The blend of conventional kerosene and GTL kerosene will be known as GTL Jet Fuel. The flight was the latest step in over two years of scientific work carried out by a consortium consisting of Airbus, Qatar Airways, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Science & Technology Park, Rolls-Royce, Shell and WOQOD into the benefits of using GTL Jet Fuel to power commercial aircraft. Much of this work is being undertaken at the Qatar Science & Technology Park in Doha.
“Qatar’s position as the GTL capital of the world has been further enhanced with today’s achievement. GTL technology enables us to produce liquid fuels and other products from natural gas. Commercial aviation is one of the exciting new markets that this opens up, helping us maximise the value from our natural resources,” said His Excellency Abdulla bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry of the State of Qatar.
A delegation of consortium members and international media was onboard flight QR076 for the milestone trip. Data from the GTL flight will be used by scientists in Qatar to further quantify GTL Jet Fuel use benefits.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker, who was onboard the flight, said: “Qatar Airways is proud to be associated with this consortium and to become the world’s first airline to use this new fuel technology on a commercial passenger flight.
“Once again, Qatar Airways has shown its commitment to the environment and we expect this alternative fuel to provide benefits, particularly the improvement of air quality. This milestone flight is the first step in making this alternative fuel available to airlines. Qatar Airways looks forward to continuing to work with the consortium members to further develop this exciting project and commit towards a cleaner environment.”
The GTL kerosene will be produced in commercial quantities by the Pearl GTL project, currently under construction by Qatar Petroleum and Shell. The project is expected to produce around one million tonnes per annum of GTL kerosene from 2012, enough to power a typical commercial airliner for half a billion kilometres (equivalent to carrying 250 passengers around the world 4,000 times) when used in a 50 per cent blend to make GTL Jet Fuel. GTL Jet Fuel, with GTL kerosene up to 50 per cent, was fully and unconditionally approved as safe for use in civil aviation by ASTM International (originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials) last month.
The approval followed two years of separate research and discussion by the ASTM specification group, a separate consensus body consisting of producers, equipment manufacturers and consumers of aviation fuel.
Mohamed Al-Sobai, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of WOQOD, said: “Through its subsidiary QJet, WOQOD is delighted to support the initiative to utilize GTL aviation fuel for Qatar Airways and will ensure adequate supply in Qatar. WOQOD will be working with Pearl GTL in Ras Laffan and with Qatar Airways to bring this initiative to reality by providing storage and supply logistics to Doha International Airport.”
Dr Eulian Roberts, Managing Director of the Qatar Science & Technology Park, said: “The commitment of Qatar Airways and the consortium partners to ensure that new aviation fuel technology is effectively applied is a great example of the kind of research being pioneered at QSTP through its partners. Research activities on alternative and environmentally-friendly fuels like GTL will establish QSTP as a leading international hub for the application of new platform technologies. This is a great example of an effective multi-partner collaborative research and development programme which is already producing successful outcomes.”
Malcolm Brinded, Shell’s Executive Director Upstream International, added: “Today’s flight opens the door to an alternative to oil-based aviation fuel. Shell has been developing the technology to convert natural gas into valuable liquid transportation fuels, lubricants and chemical feedstocks for over 30 years. We are now well on the way to launching GTL on a world scale for the first time thanks to our partnership with Qatar Petroleum.”
Airbus' Senior Vice President Public Affairs and Communications, Rainer Ohler said: “The journey from the A380's historic first GTL flight by a civil aircraft, to today's historic first passenger flight using GTL, shows that drop in fuels are real and viable. This is a major breakthrough which brings us closer to a world where fuels made from feedstocks such as wood-chip waste and other biomass is available for commercial aviation. Airbus predicts that in 2030, up to 30 per cent of jet fuel will be alternative.” In an earlier phase of the research work, in February 2008, a test Airbus A380 flew from Filton in the United Kingdom to Toulouse in France in the first ever use of GTL Jet Fuel to power an airliner.

October 6, 2009 / GDF SUEZ signs heads of agreement to develop the Khvalinskoye gas field in the Caspian Sea
GDF SUEZ announces the signing of a Heads of Agreement, in partnership with Total, to acquire half of the 50% stake of KazMunaïGas (KMG) in the offshore exploration Khvalinskoye license, located near the border between Russia and Kazakhstan in the Caspian Sea.
Operated by the Russian company Lukoil, owner of the other 50% stake, this Russian-Kazakh gas project is a gas field located in water depths of 25 metres.
This exclusive negotiation phase, subject to relevant partner’s and authorities’ approvals, will allow GDF SUEZ and Total to obtain respectively 8% and 17% in the Khvalinskoye development, which is one of the gas production landmark projects in the Northern Caspian. Its development shall be governed by a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA), currently under discussion with the Russian authorities.
The potential entry in the Khvalinskoye field will be the first project of GDF SUEZ in the Russian exploration and production sector, a country which ranks number one in world gas reserves.
It will also reinforce GDF SUEZ position in the exploration and production activities in the Caspian region, following the recent acquisition of a 20% stake in the Absheron license in Azerbaijan.
This project gives GDF SUEZ the opportunity to further strengthen its relationship with major Exploration and Production players Lukoil, Total, and the Kazakh national oil and gas company KMG.

March 3, 2009 / A new identity for an ambitious company project within GDF SUEZ Energy Services
GDF SUEZ creates COFELY, a strong unified brand name for its energy services activities, in order to consolidate its leadership in Europe, increase its visibility and facilitate its expansion in the growing markets of energy and environmental efficiency. For France and the UK, the new COFELY name will immediately replace Cofathec and Elyo as the companies merge in each country so that customers benefit from the greatest possible industrial, technical and commercial synergies. The new brand will be gradually adopted by the other energy services companies within the Energy Services Business Line, specifically in Spain and Italy, Axima Services in Belgium, GTI in the Netherlands, as well as Axima in several European countries.