Welcome to the Al-Attiyah Foundation’s latest interview, in a series of podcasts where we seek to address the urgent energy topics of today, by hearing the opinions and insights from our invited experts.

Before the outbreak of coronavirus, substantial progress had been made in the pursuit of the goal of providing access to sustainable energy for all. A recent multi-institutional report indicated that the global population without access to electricity decreased to about 840 million in 2017 from 1.2 billion in 2010. Renewable energy accounted for 17.5% of global total energy consumption in 2017, up from 16.6% in 2010. It also affirmed that energy efficiency improvements have increased steadily in recent years, due to concerted policy efforts in major economies, including China. 

Yet, a lot has been seen, written, and said about the devastating impact of Covid-19 on all sectors, including the energy sector. The pandemic has led to a crash in the global energy market, and consequentially, denting the progress made towards achieving the goal of universal access to affordable and clean energy by 2030.

In this episode, Chairman Ivan Marten of the Orkestra Basque Institute of Competitiveness joins us in his expert capacity to share some perspectives on how the technology change will affect various aspects of our lives and discuss “Will There Be New Technology Trends Post Covid-19?”

The world, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, is seeing infection and death rates reducing in some countries, and increasing in others. The growing global debate across all industries and sectors is “has the world changed?” and/or “what is the new normal?” Major reductions in demand for energy fuels have been felt worldwide, promoting the question, will the planet go back to its pre-Covid-19 patterns of growth or has the globe changed forever? In this current series of podcasts, the Al-Attiyah Foundation will seek to explore this topic with a series of distinguished speakers. 

In this episode, His Excellency, Dr Yury Sentyurin, the Secretary General of The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), joins us in his expert capacity to discuss “The Changing World of Natural Gas – A New Normal”.

The world, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, is seeing infection and death rates reducing in some countries, and increasing in others. The growing global debate across all industries and sectors is “has the world changed?” and/or “what is the new normal?” Major reductions in demand for energy fuels have been felt worldwide, promoting the question, will the planet go back to its pre-Covid-19 patterns of growth or has the globe changed forever? In this current series of podcasts, the Al-Attiyah Foundation will seek to explore this topic with a series of distinguished speakers. 

In this episode, Luke Cottell, an astute analyst with S&P Global Platts Analytics, joins us in his expert capacity to discuss “2020 Has Been An Interesting Year For LNG. What Might 2021 Bring?”

The actions needed to combat climate change are quickly becoming well established. However, the idea that the world should simply use less new material of all types and more recycled material is substantially less established. The talk today explores what needs to be done to establish the concepts behind The Circular Economy as a part of normal business practice, and how the concept may be affected as we move to “A New Normal”. 

The Foundation is delighted to welcome our podcast guest Dr. Patrick Schroder to share some perspectives on The Circular Economy. Patrick Schröder is a senior research fellow in the Energy, Environment, and Resources department. At Chatham House he specializes in research on the global transition to an inclusive circular economy with a specific focus on collaborative opportunities between key countries, closing the investment gap, and building an evidence base for trade in the circular economy. Prior to joining Chatham House, he was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, where he conducted research and taught on the circular economy in developing country contexts and the Sustainable Development Goals. Patrick holds a BA Hons in Chinese from the University of Westminster and received his MA in International Relations and Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He is a co-editor of the book The Circular Economy and the Global South: Sustainable Lifestyles and Green Industrial Development.

Alan Gelder, Vice President of Refining, Chemicals & Oil Markets with Wood Mackenzie Ltd. joins the Foundation in this podcast interview, to delve into refineries. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a reduction in demand for crude oil. However, what is less spoken about is how that reduction affects the chain of actors in the oil production process. 

Practically all crude oil is refined into final products for consumers, and the demands for final products such as gasoline, kerosene, gas oils, and diesel have all been differently affected by the pandemic. This has caused numerous challenges for all refiners, and while most refiners have some flexibility as to what the mix of products they produce, they are not immune to demand reduction. 

How will refiners, therefore, cope with the large changes in demand? Will some refiners collapse soon, or at all? And how will they manage in the long term as the world moves towards “A New Normal”.

Dramatic changes are occurring in the oil industry, in both obvious and subtle ways. Changes propelled by various weighing influences reported on every day, such as climate change and the ongoing global agenda to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. These changes have come from an undeniable growing need for energy and the inescapable fact that 'green growth' is essential.

There are many factors in motion that are altering the rules of low-cost energy. Technological changes are allowing clean energy sources to encroach upon oil dominance, and continuing to steer energy cost reductions in many fields. Hydrogen is being prospectively spoken of as a future fuel, while methods of generating electricity are not just changing how it is created, but also how it is stored, and used.

Jorge Blazquez joins the Foundation to provide his insights on these changes in this Podcast. Mr. Blazquez is the lead economist for power, renewable energy, and carbon markets at BP, and was previously a senior researcher at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre in Saudi Arabia. Together with other researchers, Mr. Blazquez also wrote a seminal paper "The Renewable Energy Policy Paradox," in 2016.

As the world looks for a solution to its energy-devouring paradigm, the energy industry has set its sights firmly on green growth. However, finding a balance between a high-energy substitute to carbon, which can also mollify and solve environmental problems, has been problematic. One budding option coming into view, which could build new industries and substitute for carbon without the negative consequences, is hydrogen. 

The current hydrogen economy uses hydrogen as a low carbon fuel, particularly for heat and other various applications. There are, however, opportunities to develop hydrogen vehicles, seasonal energy storage, and long-distance transport. This incorporation of hydrogen into different sectors could replace fossil fuels and limit global warming as hydrogen is created from, and combusts into, nothing more than water. 

Though numerous technical challenges persist in preventing the creation of a working large-scale hydrogen economy, like long-term storage and safe engine technology, there is significant potential for producing hydrogen using low-carbon methods.

This podcast welcomes Dr. David Hart to share some of his perspectives on hydrogen energy, and its opportunity to build new industries while solving environmental problems. Dr. Hart leads E4tech’s strategic advisory and consultation work on fuel cells and hydrogen globally. He is recognised as one of the leading experts in fuel cells and hydrogen energy and is also a visiting professor at Imperial College London’s Centre for Environmental Policy. He leads and conducts projects from research to strategy in different industry sectors for governments, corporations, and investors worldwide. Furthermore, Dr. Hart has sat on venture capital investment committees and clean energy company boards, is a director of the International Association of Hydrogen Energy, and is the lead author of the widely respected annual Fuel Cell industry Review.

This special edition of the Al-Attiyah Foundation Podcast invites three special guests to look into the challenges faced by freshwater supplies on the planet, and a possible solution. Though freshwater supplies could support the world’s population needs, their uneven distribution has pushed several regions to adopt alternative water resources, which are less environmentally friendly. For GCC countries, most municipal water comes from energy-intensive seawater desalination, with the GCC home to 20 of the world’s largest desalination plants.

The reuse of treated wastewater provides a more sustainable approach, requiring about nine times less energy and produces biosolids, a solid, organic, nutrient-rich by-product of wastewater. Biosolids can enhance the soil characteristics of countries with low fertility. The major hurdle to the implementation of treated water, however, resides in public perception. 

All three speakers in this podcast join us from The Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar and have played an integral role in investigating the public’s perception over treated industrial wastewater and biosolids generated from Qatar’s oil and gas industry.

Marianne Kah joins the Foundation in this Podcast to discuss Implications for Energy policy after the 2020 US Elections. Ms. Marianne Kah is a Senior Research Scholar and Advisory Board Member at The Centre on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA and was previously the Chief Economist of ConocoPhillips at its Houston headquarters for 25 years where she was responsible for developing the company’s market outlooks for oil and natural gas and was the company’s expert in scenario planning.

In this Podcast interview, Patricia Roberts from LNG-Worldwide Ltd joins the Al-Attiyah Foundation to discuss the future of LNG. LNG-Worldwide was incorporated in 2005 and has advised clients on large-scale LNG infrastructure projects and commercial arrangements for businesses under development, in start-up and ongoing operations. As the Managing Director, Patricia is actively involved in all the consulting projects and offers 39 years of international experience in the oil and gas industries. 

From 1980 to 2004, Dr. Roberts worked for the Shell Group of Companies in their oil, oil products and gas, and power divisions. Her prior role was as General Manager (Atlantic Basin) of Shell International’s LNG Co. She was also involved in the start-up of Shell’s global LNG business as an LNG aggregator and major portfolio player.