New base 1056 special 31 july 2017 energy news

Copyright © 2015 NewBase www.hawkenergy.net Edited by Khaled Al Awadi – Energy Consultant All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, redistributed,
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NewBase July 31 - 2017 - Issue No. 1056 Senior Editor Eng. Khaled Al Awadi
NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502, Dubai, UAE
UAE petrol and diesel prices to rise in August about 2%
Petrol price hikes will range between 1.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent.. The National -
Super 98 will rise to Dh1.89, up 1.6 per cent from July’s level of Dh1.86. Mona Al Marzooqi / The
National.. Petrol and diesel prices will rise starting on Tuesday.
The UAE Ministry of Energy announced today that consumers will pay Dh1.89 a litre for Super 98,
up 1.6 per cent from July’s level of Dh1.86; Special 95 will increase 1.7 per cent to Dh1.78 from
Dh1.75; and E Plus will cost Dh1.71, a gain of 1.8 per cent from July’s Dh1.68.
Diesel will go up 2.2 per cent to Dh1.88 from July’s Dh1.84.
The Ministry of Energy began liberalising fuel prices, with the first new setting, for August 2015,
using "benchmark prices" that have not been publicly disclosed. Before the new system took
effect, prices for the various types of fuel were more widely spread – Super 98 was at Dh1.72 a
litre while diesel was at Dh2.90.

Oman: Fuel prices for August announced with marginal hike
Oman Observer
The Ministry of Oil and Gas (MOG) has announced the fuel prices for August, which see a
marginal increase from the rates for July. The grade M-95 will cost 186 bz against 183bz in July,
M91 will cost 178bz against 175bz in July and diesel 196 against 196 against 192bz in July.

US Solar Boost in N.Carolina state Sends Wind to the Sidelines
By Brian Eckhouse and Mark Chediak
North Carolina passed a clean-energy bill Thursday that could spur a wave of new solar projects
in the country’s second-biggest solar state -- but at the expense of wind.
House Bill 589, which Governor Roy Cooper signed Thursday, places a moratorium on new wind
development through December 2018. The law creates a competitive bidding process that will
bring more than 2.6 gigawatts of new solar over 3 1/2 years, Duke Energy Corp., owner of the
state’s biggest utility, said. The legislation also allows customers to lease solar panels on their
roofs instead of having to buy them, opening the market to third-party installers.
“This bill is critical for the future of significant increases in our already booming solar industry,”
Cooper, a Democrat, said in a statement Thursday. “I strongly oppose the ugly, last-minute,
politically motivated wind moratorium. However, this fragile and hard-fought solar deal will be lost
if I veto this legislation and that veto is sustained.”
In an effort to minimize the moratorium, Cooper also signed an executive order that directed the
state to make “best efforts” to expedite wind-project permit applications that were submitted by
Jan. 1 of this year.
Duke “had no part in the wind moratorium,” spokesman Randy Wheeless said in an email
Thursday. “In fact, we have 20 wind farms around the U.S. Our focus here was solar.”
The American Wind Energy Association commended Cooper for maximizing “the future
opportunity for jobs and investment in wind power in North Carolina,” Andrew Gohn, the
association’s eastern region policy director, said in a statement.

“We look forward to working with the administration to help ensure that wind projects move
forward without further delay once this unnecessary anti-business moratorium has lifted,” he said.
The moratorium was enacted despite a surging wind industry nationwide. AWEA reported
Thursday that wind construction and development grew 41 percent in the past year.
New Bill
The bill limits small solar projects eligible for mandated utility contracts under 1978 law the Public
Utilities Regulatory Policies Act, or Purpa. Eligible projects can’t exceed 1 megawatt -- down from
5 megawatts, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. And utility contracts will be reduced
to 10 years from 15 years.
Under the new bill, Duke contends that customers will save $850 million in purchased solar power
over the next 10 years versus what it had projected under the existing Purpa system, Wheeless
said.
“The bill will increase competition for renewable-energy development in North Carolina and lays
out a clear path for Duke’s clean-energy procurement, but many of the developers that have
thrived on Purpa will feel the negative impacts, as they are no longer guaranteed interconnection
at Duke’s avoided cost rate for projects 5MW and lower,” Kyle Harrison, a New York-based
analyst at BNEF, said in an email Thursday.
Abigail Ross Hopper, president and chief executive officer of the Washington-based Solar Energy
Industries Association, said in a statement that the bill “will significantly enhance the solar market
in North Carolina.” But she was critical of the wind moratorium.
“The last-minute inclusion of an 18-month wind moratorium was both unnecessary and
disappointing and we hope the governor’s executive order can help mitigate that portion of the
bill,” she said.
North Carolina’s been a regional leader encouraging solar power for years now, and thanks to a
little help from our non-profit friends, things are continuing to look bright for renewable energy.
While the current picture is pretty rosy indeed, things aren't quite as good as they have been.
See, North Carolina’s major energy suppliers have met their Renewables Portfolio Standard
(RPS) goals (we’ll get to exactly what an RPS is in just a second). The utilities have reined in their
own solar incentives, and the state’s excellent solar tax credit expired at the end of 2015.
But it's not all bad news! Solar is cheaper than ever, and the cost and payback time of a solar
system is better than in some states. The legislature could do more to ensure a sunny future for
solar by strengthening the state’s Renewables Portfolio Standard, and renewing the expired state
tax credit, but solar still makes a good deal of sense here.
The Solar Strategy section is all about the various financial options you have in North Carolina.
We've created a tool that asks you a few questions about what you hope to get out of a solar
purchase and recommends whether you should pursue a solar lease, loan, or outright purchase.
Then, we give you a detailed picture of how each could work for you.

The Policy Information section contains all of our latest research on the rules set by the state
legislature and public utilities commission that determines how easy it is to go solar in North
Carolina. These policies and rules govern everything from renewable energy mandates to whether
you get paid retail or wholesale rates for the extra energy your system produces, and can have a
huge effect on the viability of solar.
Finally, the Solar Incentives section lists all of the available financial benefits available to
homeowners who go solar. This section includes information about money-back rebates and
grants, tax credits, and tax exemptions. If you're looking for what North Carolina is doing to make
solar more affordable for its citizens, you'll find it here
Solar Strategy in North Carolina
Figuring out the best way to go solar in North Carolina can be a little daunting. From loans and
leases to power-purchase agreements, there are a lot of options out there. To help you pick the
one that might be best, we've created the handy decision tool below.
Compare the Return of Different Solar Investments in North Carolina
The chart above shows the 25-year returns for an investment in solar whether you choose to
purchase a system with cash or pay over time with a loan. That might look a little complicated to
you, so let's break it down:

The green bars show the return if you pay up front. As you can see, there's a big payment
(negative) in year 1, which gets slowly erased by electricity savings over time. The orange bars,
on the other hand, show what happens if you take a solar loan or Home-Equity Line of Credit
(HELOC) to pay for the system. You don't put any money down, and you still get the tax credit,
meaning you actually come out ahead in year 1. The bars dip after year 6, because your loan
payments (over a 15-year term) will exceed your energy savings by a little each year. Still, in the
end, you'll come out thousands of dollars ahead over the 25-year estimate.
Finally, the blue bars represent a similar loan scenario, but for a smaller solar system. The loan
and savings will be smaller, but it's a great way to go solar, even of you don't have a lot of cash or
equity. Usually this is where we'd show you the savings with a solar Power-Purchase Agreement,
but North Carolina is one of only 5 states in the country that ban third-party ownership.
Net Present Value of Solar in North Carolina
“Net Present What?!” Don’t panic, this isn’t an economics test. NPV is just a tool used to compare
investments. Basically, it asks, “if you had X dollars to invest, which investment would get you the
best return?” It relies on the idea that getting a return on your investment sooner is better than
later, because you can reinvest your early profits and keep the gain train going.
Compare an investment in solar to a “what-if” investment in a Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 stock
index fund, which has seen growth of about 7% per year over the past 25 years. We use the cost
of solar in North Carolina and ask “how much better or worse (in 2017 dollars) is an investment in
solar than stocks?” Here's what we found for the most popular ways of going solar in North
Carolina:
Buying Solar in North Carolina

Paying up front used to be the only way to get panels on your roof, and it's still the option that
allows you the most control. But it isn't the best option from a percentage return on investment
standpoint—that award goes to the solar loan.
Still, an outright purchase returns the most money over time, because you own the system from
day one and reap all the benefits—including a Federal solar tax credit of 30% of the costs, and
some decent energy bill savings. In our example, you put down $16,250, but by the end of year 1,
those incentives and energy savings will erase a bunch of it. Over 25 years, your system will have
produced nearly $13,000 in income. You'll be earning that over time, just like putting money in a
retirement account. Here's how solar compares to an alternative investment:
The numbers work for a North Carolina solar purchase of a 5-kW rooftop solar system:
• Installing a typical 5-kW solar system should start at about $16,250.
• First, subtract your energy bill savings of $686, reducing your year-1 investment to
$15,564.
• Since the Feds calculate their incentive based on out of pocket costs, you'll get 30% of that
back as a tax credit. Subtract $4,875, for a new price of $10,689. Note: you can take the
credit several years if you don't owe that much in Federal taxes this year.
• Your energy bill savings will grow over the life of your system as the price of electricity goes
up. Your system will pay itself back after 14 years, and you'll end up with $12,926 profit at
the end of your panels' 25-year warranty. The rate of return on this investment is 6.7%.
That's pretty good!
• On top of those profits, your home's value just increased by just about $18,000, too (your
expected electricity savings over 20 years)!
• And speaking of doing good for the environment... your system will create some green for
the earth by not using electricity from fossil-fuels. In fact, the energy you’re not using has
the carbon equivalent of planting 106 trees a year, every year your solar power system is
humming.
Solar Loans in North Carolina

This is where we tell you that taking a loan for solar panels is a no-brainer, because it means
investing in an income-generating asset. It's true! As you can see from the chart above, you'll start
out with a big windfall, because with a loan, you're not putting any money down, and you get the
Federal 30% solar tax credit just like if you paid up front for your system.
A solar purchase like this will make sense for you if the following is true about you and your
current situation:
Here’s how the numbers pencil out for a North Carolina solar purchase with a loan:
• Installing a typical 5-kW solar system should start at about $16,250. That's how big your
loan will need to be to cover it.
• The electricity bill savings in the first year of operation will total $686, but your loan
payments will be $1,442 for a difference of $756, or about $63 per month.
• Then comes the tax credit! The Feds will give you 30% of the cost of your system back at
the end of the year; that's $4,875. After the first year, you'll come out $4,119 ahead, which
will help eliminate the burden of loan payments.
• When your loan’s paid off after year 15, you’ll start to see over $1,000 per year in savings
until the end of your system’s life.
• For our 25-year estimate, you'll see pretty nice returns, to the tune of $7,540 after all the
payments. That's a huge amount of money for a zero-down investment!
• Finally, the environmental benefits cannot be overstated. Operating your system will take
as much carbon out of the air as planting 104 trees every year!
Small Rooftop Systems in North Carolina

Let's say you don't have a ton of extra cash laying around, but you do have a bit of equity in your
home. Can you get solar panels? Yes! Is it a good idea in North Carolina? Well... it depends on
what you're interested in.
Here are the factors we'll look at for this example:
• A 2-kW rooftop system that will cost around $7,800 installed.
• A solar loan or HELOC for that amount with a 10-year payback at 4% interest.
Here’s how the numbers pencil out for a North Carolina solar purchase with a small rooftop
solar system:
• First-year loan payments: $948
• - First-year electric bill savings: $275
• = First-year cost of solar: $673
• First year federal tax credit: $2,340
• Total in your pocket after year 1: $1,667
• Installing a typical 2-kW solar system should cost about $7,800. Your loan should be for
this amount.
• You'll gain $275 in electricity savings in the first year of operation, while your loan payments
will cost $948. That's a net cost to you of $673.
• But then, at the end of the year, the Federal government will give you a tax credit of 30% of
the cost of your system. That's $2,340 that you won't owe this year. You can take the credit
over several years if you don't owe that much in taxes this year.
• When your loan’s paid off after year 10, you’ll see upwards of $360 per year in savings until
the end of your system’s life.
• For our 25-year estimate, you'll end up with some pretty decent profits! We're talking
$2,584 after 25 years, all without putting any money down. That should help your old, wiser
self appreciate your young, forward-thinking self.
• Your system will remove as much carbon from the air as planting 42 trees per year, which
is a pretty great thing.

NewBase 31 July 2017 Khaled Al Awadi
NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502 , Dubai , UAE
Oil hits 2-month high on tighter US market, Venezuela sanctions risk
Reuters + NewBase
Oil prices hit a two-month high on Monday, lifted by a tightening U.S. crude market and the threat
of sanctions against OPEC-member Venezuela. Brent crude futures were at $52.82 per barrel at
0443 GMT on Monday, up 30 cents or 0.6 percent. Prices hit $52.90 per barrel earlier in the day,
their highest since May 25.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 16 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $49.87 per
barrel, and the entire WTI curve is close to moving back over $50 per barrel, with only September
and October a notch below that level.
The price rises put both crude benchmarks on track for a sixth consecutive session of gains.
Prices have risen around 10 percent since the last meeting of leading members by the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major producers, including
Russia, when the group discussed potential measures to further tighten oil markets.
"U.S. inventories are showing massive drawdowns, Saudi Arabia seems intent on playing its role
as the world's swing producer (and) impending sanctions on Venezuela by the U.S. will almost
certainly be oil price-supportive," said Jeffrey Halley, analyst at futures brokerage OANDA.
The United States is considering imposing sanctions on Venezuela's vital oil sector in response to
Sunday's election of a constitutional super-body that Washington has denounced as a "sham"
vote.
Oil price special
coverage

But traders said the biggest price supporter was currently a tightening U.S. oil market. "Strong
increases in the price of oil ... (were) fueled in large part by the substantial drawdowns in U.S.
inventories over the past several weeks," said William O'Loughlin, analyst at Rivkin Securities.
"A continuation of this trend could indicate the oil market is rebalancing thanks to the production
cuts by OPEC and Russia," he added. After rising by more than 10 percent since mid-2016, U.S.
oil production dipped by 0.2 percent to9.41 million barrels per day (bpd) in the week to July 21.
U.S. crude inventories have fallen by 10 percent from their March peaks to 483.4 million barrels.
Drilling for new U.S. production is also slowing, with just 10 rigs added in July, the fewest since
May 2016.
The tighter market was also visible in the price curve, which shows backwardation in the front end.
Backwardation is a market condition in which prices for immediate delivery of a product are higher
than those later on. Brent prices for delivery in September are currently around 35 cents above
those for October.
Oil Rises Over $50 as OPEC Set to Meet With Allies on Compliance
Oil in New York briefly rose above $50 for the first time since May after OPEC said the group and
its partners will meet next week to discuss why some nations are falling behind on their pledge to
cut production.
Futures gained as much as 0.7 percent after surging 8.6 percent last week. The Abu Dhabi
meeting, co-chaired by Kuwait and Russia, is set to take place after Saudi Arabia said last week it
would step up pressure on countries that aren’t complying. The U.S. is said to be considering
increasing sanctions against Venezuela’s oil industry, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing two
people familiar with the deliberations.

Oil gained last week to rise above its 200-day moving average for the first time since May as
concerns eased that efforts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to
curb output will be offset by rising production elsewhere. U.S. rigs targeting crude inched higher
last week, rising by two to 766, Baker Hughes Inc. data showed Friday.
“The market is closely watching the adherence to those cuts,” said Daniel Hynes, a Sydney-based
analyst at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. “We estimate that the market is fairly
balanced at the moment, so any small swing from output, particularly from OPEC, can push the
market either into surplus or deficit.”
Abu Dhabi Meeting
West Texas Intermediate for September delivery rose as much as 35 cents to $50.06 a barrel on
the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $49.89 at 4:12 p.m. in Tokyo. Total volume traded
was 61 percent above the 100-day average. Prices gained $3.94 last week to close at $49.71 on
Friday, the highest settlement since May 26. Front-month futures have advanced 8.4 percent in
July, the biggest monthly gain this year.
Brent for September settlement, which expires Monday, added as much as 40 cents, or 0.8
percent, to $52.92 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract
added 9.3 percent last week. The global benchmark traded at a premium of $2.84 to WTI. The
more-actively traded October contract climbed as much as 33 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $52.55.
Representatives of some OPEC and non-OPEC nations will meet in the United Arab Emirates
capital on Aug. 7-8 to discuss why some of them aren’t fully implementing their cuts, according to
an OPEC statement. Some will argue that the independent sources used by OPEC to assess
compliance overestimate their production, according to two people familiar with the matter, who
asked not to be identified because the discussions aren’t public.
WTI Crude Oil Daily Analysis – July 31, 2017
Oil prices closed higher on Friday for the fifth consecutive session to mark its biggest weekly gain
this year. Saudi Arabia and Nigeria’s decision to pull back on exports and output effected
investors’ sentiment.
Technical Outlook
Crude oil prices continue to break higher and currently trade at 49.91 which is around the
resistance line at $49.88. This is a
“Megaphone chart pattern” resistance
trend line. A break above will lead
to new horizontal resistance line at $
51.93.
Crude oil short term view is
fundamentally strong, however, there
will be some technical correction on
the way. Pay attention to the upper
slope line at $49.88.

NewBase Special Coverage
News Agencies News Release 31 July 2017
OPEC's Existential is useless as a Sucker Punch
By Julian Lee
You wait decades for an existential crisis, then two come along at once. At least that's how it must
feel for OPEC's beleaguered ministers. In the short term the market for their oil is being eroded by
rising production outside their control. Looking further ahead, oil demand itself is under threat from
the electrification of road transport. OPEC may not yet be dead, but its days are surely numbered.
The most obvious short-term threat to the group comes from the rapid rise in U.S. shale oil, but
the risks have expanded to include other areas like Brazil's prolific sub-salt discoveries and more
recent finds further north along the east coast of South America.
Asian Appetite
Asian buyers are turning to U.S. crudes to offset the effect of OPEC output cuts
An increasing volume of U.S. crude is finding its way to markets in Asia that used to be the
preserve of the group's Middle Eastern powerhouses. China was the biggest foreign buyer of U.S.

crude in April -- the most recent month for which EIA data are available -- overtaking Canada for
the second time this year.
And Indian refiners are finding an appetite for heavier U.S. grades that compete directly with
Middle Eastern crudes. This is a particular worry for OPEC producers whose initial output cuts
were said to target buyers in Europe and the Americas while sales to key customers in Asia were
to remain untouched.
Add to this that there's been little letup in U.S. oil production. The American surge began late last
year, just as OPEC ministers were edging toward a deal to cut output after a two-year production
free-for-all that saw WTI crude fall to little more than $26 a barrel. This shows little sign of running
out of steam -- output from the Lower 48 states, which includes offshore activity in the Gulf of
Mexico, edged above 9 million barrels a day in the third week of July, its highest level for almost
two years, according to weekly data from the Energy Information Administration.
Recovery
Lower 48 oil production hit 9 million barrels a day for the 1st time in nearly two years
The group's short-term worry is that any rise in crude prices above $50 a barrel will simply allow
competing shale companies to hedge more of their future production and unleash another surge in
output. This makes it almost impossible for them to engineer the price recovery they desire.

Hedged In
As early as the first quarter companies active in the Permian Basin were hedging 2018 output.
Expect more as prices rise.
Outside the shale patch, big oil is learning to live with lower prices again. Royal Dutch Shell Plc "is
getting fit for the $40s," Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said on Thursday's second-
quarter earnings call, after the company released results showing that it generated almost as
much cash from its operations last quarter with crude around $50 a barrel as it did when it was
above $100. These companies may be getting fit, but the budgets of the OPEC countries certainly
aren't. They haven't made the cuts they need to survive if prices persist at that level.
Van Beurden also articulated the second existential threat, when he said in an interview with
Bloomberg TV not only that his next car would be electric, but that he could see demand for liquid
fuels peaking in the 2030s.
A political trend towards growing electrification of transport poses a real, long-term problem.
Nobody in their right mind is suggesting that oil is suddenly going to stop being the world's
transport fuel of choice, but its market share will come under increasing pressure. Four countries
in Europe have now proposed bans on the sale of gasoline and diesel-fueled cars by 2040 at the
latest. Between them they account for around a third of all the passenger vehicles in use in
Europe.
But the market may do as much as regulators to tip the balance. Rapidly falling battery costs will
make electric vehicles as affordable as their gasoline or diesel rivals over the next 10 years,
according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Oil lost its place in power generation after the price rises of the 1970s, and has seen its share of
the global energy market slowly decline ever since. The one area where it had seemed virtually
unassailable -- the transport sector -- now looks to be slipping from its grasp, too. Former Saudi oil
minister Sheikh Yamani's warning to his OPEC fellows that the oil age wouldn't end because the
world ran out of oil has never seemed more prescient.

Tesla’s Model 3 Arrives With a Surprise 310-Mile Range
By Tom Randall
That’s the electric range of a $44,000 version of Tesla’s Model 3, unveiled in its final form Friday
night. It’s a jaw-dropping new benchmark for cheap range in an electric car, and it’s just one of
several surprises Tesla had in store as it handed over the keys to its first 30 customers.
Tesla has taken in more than 500,000 deposits at $1,000 a piece, Chief Executive Officer Elon
Musk told reporters ahead of the event. This has created a daunting backlog that could take more
than a year to fulfill—and that was before Musk took the stage in front of thousands of employees,
owners, and reservation-holders to lift the curtain on the company’s most monumental
achievement yet.
“We finally have a great, affordable, electric car—that’s what this day means,” Musk said. “I’m
really confident this will be the best car in this price range, hands down. Judge for yourself.”
Here’s some of what Tesla disclosed at its plant in Fremont, California:
Two Battery Versions
Tesla has simplified the manufacturing process “dramatically,” Musk said. In the same factory
space where Tesla can build 50,000 Model S or Model X cars, it will soon be able to produce
200,000 Model 3s. Part of that is due to a simplified package of options.
The car comes in two battery types: standard and extended range. Here’s how they break down:
Standard Battery:
Price: $35,000
Range: 220 miles (EPA estimated)
Supercharging rate: 130 miles in 30 minutes
Zero to 60 mph time: 5.6 seconds
Long Range Battery:
Price: $44,000
Range: 310 miles
Supercharging rate: 170 miles in 30 minutes (Same as Tesla’s Model S)
Zero to 60 mph time: 5.1 seconds
These 18-inch Aero wheels come standard and improve aerodynamic performance, but Tesla
wouldn't say by how much. A less slippery 19-inch Sport wheel upgrade costs $1,500.
Source: U.S. Patent Office
Only one other electric car in the world has broken the 300-mile range barrier: the most expensive
versions of Tesla’s Model S, an ultra-luxury car that costs $97,500 or more. The new Model 3 has
cheaper range availability than the current record holder, the $37,500 Chevy Bolt, which is
outclassed in nearly every way by the Model 3.
Each year the battle for cheap range gets a little bit more fierce.

The $35,000 standard Model 3 version won’t be available until Fall. The longer-range version is
available now for the thousands of Tesla employees who placed reservations last year. A $5,000
premium options package includes an all-glass roof, open-pore wood decor, premium sound,
heated seats, and premium seat materials.
Unlike previous cars, Tesla wouldn’t disclose the size of its two battery packs. All cars will be
identical from the outside, with no additional badging indicating battery size or premium options.
The plan is for the Model S and X to eventually do the same.
We Drove the Model 3
The Model 3 is elegant inside and out, and in ways that are difficult to appreciate from the photos.
I was allowed to drive one before the event. It’s not as fast as the more expensive Model S—the
quickest production car in the world—but the steering is tight and it seems more agile because of
a smaller footprint and lighter battery. The glass-roofed interior feels like a mini-atrium, and the 15-
inch touch screen is bright and intuitively laid out. The dashboard is completely devoid of knobs,
dials, and gauges. I didn’t miss the traditional instrument panel in the least.
There were a few technological surprises. The ventilation system is a marvel, stretching in one
long strip that spans the front seat. The touch screen allows both the driver and the passenger to
instantly direct a wide flow of air wherever they want it. The scrolling dials on the steering wheel
move in all four directions and allow you to adjust everything from the side windows to the music
playlist.
These novelties come courtesy of some Tesla veterans. Executives responsible for the Model 3
have been there from the beginning, leading the company from tiny upstart to icon of automotive
desire. Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel was the battery architect behind the original Tesla
Roadster. Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen designed the company’s three most vaunted
accomplishments: the Model S, Model X, and Model 3.

“The interior is nothing like any other car out there,” said von Holzhausen. “When you get in the
car, how does it feel? When you see the car, how does it make you feel? When you drive the car,
what does it inspire in you?”
‘Burrito Around a Coat Hanger’
Tesla also aspires to be the world's safest automaker, and the Model 3 is no exception. While the
final safety scores by ratings agencies aren’t out yet, some of the evaluations have been
conducted. The video below compares the side-impact test of the Model 3 against the Volvo S60,
which is considered to be one of the safest cars on the road.
“In the Model 3, you’re fine,” Musk said. Meanwhile, “the Volvo is wrapped like a burrito around a
coat hanger. It’s not good.”
Curse of the S Curve
Despite all of these achievements in range, technology, and safety, Musk sounded grave about
the road ahead. “The biggest challenge that we face here is ‘S Curve’ manufacturing,” he said,
describing a ramp up of production that starts slow, then increases dramatically before tapering
off. “That ‘S’ portion is us going through hell, basically.”
“Welcome to hell,” Musk told his employees, warning of the difficult six months to come.
The Model 3 is an all-new auto platform for Tesla, with novel motor technology and unique battery
architecture. The car is designed for ease of manufacturing, and almost everything is controlled
with the touchscreen, which accepts inputs from voice commands and the two control knobs on
the steering wheel.
Musk reiterated his projections of a very slow start in the next few months and then increasing
rapidly to a rate of 20,000 a month by the end of the year, and 50,000 a month by the end of 2018.
It’s an aggressive schedule that will more than double Tesla’s total production rate in six months,
and then quintuple it by the end of next year.
“I have high confidence that we’ll get to the end of the ‘S Curve,’ but it is impossible to predict the
shape of it,” Musk said.
The Challenge Ahead
The key challenge, of course, is making all of these cars quickly enough and without the problems
that plagued the launch of its more complicated Model X. Tesla aims to make 500,000 cars a

year and is counting on its battery factory under construction near Reno, Nevada, to drive down
battery costs. Both the Gigafactory and the Fremont factory have showers, and some employees
have sleeping bags, in anticipation of the long nights ahead.
Tesla’s “Master Plan”—a blog post laid out by Musk in August 2006—was to enter the auto
industry at high-end prices, then drive down-market as fast as possible with increasingly higher
volumes. The Model 3 is the Palo Alto, California-based company’s fourth car, after the Roadster
sports car, the Model S sedan, and the Model X sport utility vehicle.
If the Model 3 is successful, it would signal the completion of the Master Plan and a new era of
electrification for the auto industry. “This is a great day for Tesla,” Musk said. “It’s something that
we’ve been working for since the beginning of the company.”
The EV Market Will Kill Oil
The U.K. plans to outlaw the sale of gas and diesel cars by 2040, but most cars sold by then
may be electric anyway.
European governments are making a big splash, pledging an assault on traditional cars to help
clean up polluted air in cities. The latest strike came Wednesday in the U.K., which says it will ban
the sale of diesel- and gasoline-powered cars by 2040.
Those plans might not be quite as ambitious as they first seem. Consumers, automakers,
and even some oil companies are already preparing for a battery-powered future.
The U.K. government’s plan to tackle record levels of air pollution was announced two weeks
after French President Emmanuel Macron announced a similar plan to cut smog and become a
carbon neutral nation.

While the targets will send a strong signal to automakers in Europe about the kinds of vehicles
they should be producing over the next quarter century, they’re more likely to confirm that
companies like Nissan Motor Co., Volvo Car Group, and BMW AG are on the right track.
“The industry is already working full speed on developing new, more environmentally friendly
technologies,” Moody’s Investor Service said Wednesday in a statement regarding the U.K. plans.
Car companies say they’re ready for the paradigm shift. “We do see electrification as absolutely
central to our future strategy,” BMW spokesman Graham Biggs said in a phone interview.
Europe’s car market is set to undergo unprecedented changes over the next two decades, driven
as much by economics as government policy. Rapidly falling battery costs will make zero-
emission electric vehicles as affordable as internal-combustion engine cars over the next 10
years, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
In the U.K., plug-in cars are still only about 1 percent of all vehicle sales in the country. But that
will hit almost 80 percent by 2040, according the London-based researcher. In France too, more
than 70 percent of new cars sold will come with a plug even without Macron’s new targets, the
researcher said.
“Given the rate of improvement in battery and electric-vehicle technology over the last 10 years,
by 2040 small-combustion engines in private cars could well have disappeared without any
government intervention,” Alastair Lewis, a professor at the National Centre for Atmospheric
Science at the University of York, said in an email.
The shift to electric vehicles will upend oil markets, and gas stations will give way to home
charging units. Britain’s retail stations are closing at a rate of about 100 per year, according to
energy consultant Wood Mackenzie.

“If auto manufacturers can deliver this, then oil demand will peak and then decline swiftly,” Alan
Gelder, Wood Mackenzie senior vice president, refining and chemicals research, said in an email.
“This will have a massive impact on the refining sector and the oil markets.”
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc and Total SA
are betting that demand for natural gas will
rise as the world shifts to cleaner-burning
fuels. The electricity needed for battery-
powered cars could be generated by
burning natural gas, companies say.
Shell has said oil demand could max out in
as little as 15 years, while BP forecasts it
may happen in the 2040s. Meanwhile,
demand for natural gas will continue to grow
for years, they say.
Total has invested in a battery company,
and Shell wants more wind and hydrogen production in its portfolio. Still, the investments are
small compared with traditional oil and gas.
New infrastructure—such as charging stations for electric cars—will be needed before diesel and
gasoline cars can be taken completely off the roads.
“Getting from 70-odd percent to 100 percent is a different ball game,” said Albert Cheung, analyst
at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

NewBase For discussion or further details on the news below you may contact us on +971504822502, Dubai, UAE
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NewBase energy news is produced daily (Sunday to Thursday) and
sponsored by Hawk Energy Service – Dubai, UAE.
For additional free subscription emails please contact Hawk Energy
Khaled Malallah Al Awadi,
Energy Consultant
MS & BS Mechanical Engineering (HON), USA
Emarat member since 1990
ASME member since 1995
Hawk Energy member 2010
Mobile: +97150-4822502
khdmohd@hawkenergy.net
khdmohd@hotmail.com
Khaled Al Awadi is a UAE National with a total of 27 years of experience in
the Oil & Gas sector. Currently working as Technical Affairs Specialist for
Emirates General Petroleum Corp. “Emarat“ with external voluntary Energy
consultation for the GCC area via Hawk Energy Service as a UAE
operations base , Most of the experience were spent as the Gas Operations
Manager in Emarat , responsible for Emarat Gas Pipeline Network Facility &
gas compressor stations . Through the years, he has developed great
experiences in the designing & constructing of gas pipelines, gas metering &
regulating stations and in the engineering of supply routes. Many years were spent drafting, &
compiling gas transportation, operation & maintenance agreements along with many MOUs for the
local authorities. He has become a reference for many of the Oil & Gas Conferences held in the
UAE and Energy program broadcasted internationally, via GCC leading satellite Channels.
NewBase : For discussion or further details on the news above you may contact us on +971504822502 , Dubai , UAE
NewBase July 2017 K. Al Awadi

New base 1056 special 31 july 2017 energy news

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