Investment | Claverton Group

George Soros Agrees With Claverton?

During In an Interview on the Global Financial Crisis and investment in Energy, George Soros appears to agree with Claverton Group’s previously expressed views. In an interesting ‘Global Viewpoint’ article distributed by Tribune Media Services Inc, entitled “My Interview with George Soros: End of Financial Crisis Could Be in Sight” it seems that George has caught up with our thinking, in that he says what the markets (or government!) should be investing in is new/ alternative energy sources:

High Profile EU Speaker at 2008 Claverton Conference!

Dr. Gregor Czisch is a confirmed speaker for this years Claverton conference, with a paper titled “Common Affordable and Renewable Electricity Supply for Europe and its Neighbourhood – Optimal solution: 100% Renewable HVDC-Supergrid To Save Our Climate”

Squaring the Circle on Coal – Carbon Capture (CCS)

By Chris Hodrien

2008 Claverton Conference Paper Synopsis: Huge global reserves of coal remain, well-distributed among relatively stable supplier nations, and its production is increasing. With the recent rapid increases in oil and gas prices, especially in the UK, it is again becoming the minimum cost option for power generation and heavy industry. Large thermal (steam turbine) powerplant is also the global utilities’ preferred generating option because of its predictability/reliability, operational characteristics, retrofit to existing powerplant sites and “fit’ to the existing grid structure.

Electricity Prices In The United Kingdom – Fundamental Drivers and Probable Trends 2008 to 2020

Fundamental Drivers and Probable Trends 2008 to 2020

Hugh SharmanThe mindless and self-congratulatory drift and chatter in the UK’s energy area during the last fifteen years, in particular the last ten, has the UK sleep-walking into brown-outs and/or severe energy rationing in less time than it takes to plan, engineer, license, procure, build and commission more than 30 GW in new, “clean coal” or nuclear plant by 1st January 2016.

Some gas capacity is on its way but this will be commissioned just in time for a World gas-supply crunch, sparked by the serial failure of Indonesia to meet its Far East contractual commitments, continued decline of gas production in Russia and Canada, the cap on new LNG exports from Qatar and exports from Norway and the continued reluctance of Iran to develop any gas export business at all. Most seriously of all, for UK (and Europe), it is the deliberately contrived investment policy of Gazprom to remain very tight on upstream capacity far into the foreseeable future, while dominant in down-stream infrastructure.

An Accident Waiting to Happen – what lies behind the oil spikes.

While the oil market survived the recent storm surge of money, the inevitability of future waves of speculative money sweeping into the market, mean that an oil market meltdown is an accident waiting to happen. To follow the US approach to regulation of oil futures markets would be to try and solve today’s problems with yesterday’s tools.