Group Chief Economist at BP
For the past 67 years, BP has published its Annual Statistical Review of World Energy, a consolidated data set that spans primary energy, countries, and regions. On a new episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff sits down with Spencer Dale, who serves as Group Chief Economist at BP, to discuss the key themes and insights from the recently released 2018 report. Prior to joining BP in 2014, Spencer was with the Bank of England, where he was Chief Economist and a Member of the Monetary Policy Committee.
One of Spencer’s key takeaways from the report was that while last year (2017) was an exceptional year for renewables, little progress has been made to reduce coal consumption. In fact, coal continues to demand 38% of the total fuel share mix, the same percentage as 30 years go. As a result, Spencer highlights the importance of targeting efficiencies in the power sector to reduce the consumption of high-carbon energy sources. Spencer and Jason also discussed interesting trends such as the fall in energy intensity and the pivotal roles that China and India will continue to play in the global energy market in the years ahead.
Other topics discussed include Spencer’s thoughts on peak oil demand and what peak oil means for oil majors like BP; the role that EV’s will play in the transportation sector; and the role of sources like natural gas and nuclear power in the energy transition.
The U.S has used sanctions to influence geopolitics for decades, including measures targeting the oil…
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Timur Gül, head of the Energy Technology Policy Division at the International Energy Agency and leads the Energy Technology Perspectives report.
After years of political pressure, Democrats in Congress narrowly passed an historic climate bill at…
Clean electrons are vital to the net-zero economy. What about molecules? There is a global…
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seriously damaged the country’s reputation as a reliable gas supplier.
Methane emissions are second only to carbon dioxide emissions as a driver of human-induced climate change.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the ensuing war have also spurred grave environmental and climate-related concerns.