Research – analysis: prof. Giannis Maniatis
In collaboration with PhD students: Lidias Kainurgiu, Constantinou Mark, Angelica Mela

The surge in oil company revenues (both public and private) is likely to continue into 2023. Profits of the “big” from $20 billion per quarter rose to $60 billion per quarter. Globally, the big players are the state-owned hydrocarbon companies (SOHC), which own 65% of the reserves and at the same time provide 60% of the total production.

Road race for gas storage

Moscow’s “countermeasures” against EU sanctions led to a reduction in Russian natural gas supplies from 450 million cubic meters per day in 2021 to just 150 million cubic meters in 2022, while these volumes are equally distributed between Nord Stream-1, Turkish Stream and pipelines through Ukraine. The EU fight continues. fill gas storage facilities to 80% by November from 56% today.

Reduced energy production in the EU

Observing the overall picture of electricity production in the Member States of the European Union, for the third quarter of 2022 compared to the corresponding quarter of 2021, it can be said that the share of natural gas, hydroelectricity and nuclear energy in total decreased by 23 GW, and the production of lignite, wind and photovoltaic installations, on the contrary, increased by only 15 GW. The power of French nuclear reactors has reached an all-time low in recent years.

RES, an incentive for semiconductor companies

According to Ember (a global think tank that studies the world’s transition from coal to clean electricity), restarting European lignite plants that have been “decommissioned” will add 15% to production and about 1.5% of total CO2 emissions. in Europe. However, Europe, which has the world’s highest percentage of renewable energy (31%), is an attractive place for semiconductor manufacturers to set up new divisions.

587,868 hectares burned this year

The season of big fires in Europe begins earlier and earlier (as early as March of each year), while the area of ​​burnt land increases. This summer the situation is dramatic. ​​​​​​According to statistics, the total burned area in the European Union as of July 30 since the beginning of the year was 587,868 ha.

Hotter and longer “summer”

Southeast Asia, the US and the rest of the world as a whole have experienced three times as many hot days over the past 20 years as a result of the rapid development of the climate crisis. Temperatures broke records this summer in European countries such as the UK, Germany, Spain, which experienced lingering heatwaves.