[en] At the Tricastin site, the Georges Besse II (GB II) plant has received its very first centrifuges. The plant will use the centrifugation process to enrich uranium with a lower energy consumption than with the gaseous diffusion process still in use at the Eurodif's neighbor plant named Georges Besse I (GB I). GB II will employ 450 people, three time less than GB I. Short paper. (J.S.)

[en] The draft of law, modifying the statute of the French electric and gas utilities, Electricite de France (EdF) and Gaz de France (GdF), that the French government has presented to the Council of State, mixes some European and French preoccupations. The reason is the urgency of the planning and the date line of July 1, 2004 with the opening of the gas and power markets to 3.5 millions of professionals. The draft includes the obligations and missions of public utility of both companies, the transposition of the European directives, the conclusions of the negotiation of retirement pensions with the syndicate organizations, and the transformation of both public companies into anonymous companies. Short paper. (J.S.)

[en] Because no agreement could be obtained with Ukraine about natural gas prices, Gazprom, the Russian natural gas giant, has shut the gas supply of Ukraine on January 1, 2006. However, the same pipeline supplies also half of Europe, in particular Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. This event has shaded light on the dependence of Russian gas customers. Short paper. (J.S.)

[en] CO₂ emission quotas will be put up to auction as soon as 2013 onward, but many industrial sites in Europe will benefit from exemptions to pollution rights trading. Only 20% of the quotas allocated to the 12000 most polluting sites of Europe will be put up to auction in 2013 and will reach 100% only by 2027. Therefore, only 4% of the European industries in concern will pay for their full quotas in 2013. In particular, power companies, electric utilities and heavy industries, the biggest CO₂ emitters, will benefit from derogations. Short paper. (J.S.)

[en] As a reciprocal arrangement, the industrialists should be invited to contribute to the financing of the new generation reactor EPR (European pressurized reactor) which will be built in Flamanville (Manche, France). In exchange to their financial participation, the industrialists will receive the contractual warranty of stable electricity prices during 10 to 15 years periods. This short paper presents the opposite opinion of two representative of French industries concerning this proposal. Short paper. (J.S.)

[en] On July 20, 2005, the French government has announced the implementation of a system allowing the big power-consuming companies (over 20 TWh per year) to group together into a consortium in order to negotiate contracts with power supplier for a 15 to 20 years warranty of prices. Short paper. (J.S.)

[en] Australia is re-launching its ambitions in liquefied natural gas (LNG) with the Greater Gorgon project of offshore exploitation of the natural gas reserves of the continental shelf of NW Australia. These reserves would represent 200 million tons of LNG which will be exported towards China and USA. The project will cost 11 billion dollars and will yield 2 billion dollars per year. It is managed by a consortium which groups together Chevron Corp. (50%), Shell (25%) and ExxonMobil (25%). Technip company is partner of the project. The China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) has announced its intention to become also partner of the project, and maybe Japan, South Korea and Taiwan will wish too. Short paper. (J.S.)

[en] Among the 10 countries that had to change their affectation plan of CO₂ quotas, only France has supplied on December 29, 2006, a plan conformable with Brussels demands. The plan foresees CO₂ emissions of 132.8 million tons per year, against 150 million tons in the previous version of the plan. The industrialists consider this decision as an obstacle to their economic growth and evoke some risks of delocalization or closing down of some facilities. Short paper. (J.S.)

[en] Some mistakes in the evaluation of the proven reserves of Royal Dutch Shell group, the second world petroleum leader, will oblige the other oil and gas companies to be more transparent and vigilant in the future. The proven reserves ('P90' in petroleum professionals' language) are the most important indicators of the mining patrimony of companies. These strategic data are reported each year in the annual reports of the companies and are examined by the security exchange commission. The evaluation of reserves is perfectly codified by the US energy policy and conservation act and its accountable translation using the FAS 69 standard allows to establish long-term cash-flow forecasts. The revision announced by Shell on January 9 leads to a 20% reduction of its proven reserves. Short paper. (J.S.)

[en] The constraints imposed by the future French law 'Grenelle 2' is felt as a threat by the wind power industry. These constraints are threesome: a limited area for wind farms, a 15 MW minimum power by project, and a categorizing of wind farms in the installations classified on environmental protection grounds. The enforcement of this law will have dramatic social and economical consequences on the 140 French companies supplying this industry and on the major part (99) of the 126 projects actually in progress. (J.S.)