ALBERT

Description / Table of Contents: Oil is traded in a market where uncertainty, price volatility, and sudden supply disruptions are common characteristics. Natural disasters, political disagreements and wars can seriously disrupt oil supply and demand with consequent detrimental impacts on economic activity. One particularly powerful policy tool that IEA member countries have to respond to such disruptions is the release of emergency oil stocks. In its 40 year history, the IEA released stocks on three occasions to reduce the supply disruptions and the associated economic damage. This paper provides a general guide to the existing emergency stockholding system for those countries who are considering the introduction of new stockholding systems or changes to their existing emergency stocks. It draws together analysis of the costs and benefits of emergency stocks, in addition to exploring options for financing the establishment of stocks.

Description / Table of Contents: Electricity security remains a priority of energy policy and continuous electrification will further enhance the importance in the years to come. Market liberalisation has brought substantial benefits to societies, including competition, innovation, more client-oriented services and the reduced needs for public expenditure. Further, the path of decarbonisation is a must but experiences with many new technologies and policies show their many implications on power systems. Electricity networks form the backbone of reliable and affordable power systems and also significantly support the inception of renewable generation. The importance of distribution and transmission networks has to be well understood by policy makers and regulators to maintain the sensitive balance within the policy triangle of reliability, affordability and sustainability as power systems rapidly change. Failures in choosing the right institutions and regulatory frameworks to operate and build networks will put the sensitive balance within the policy triangle at risk. “Too complex for a resource?” identifies the key challenges the electricity distribution and transmission networks face today and in the future. It further provides for best practice examples on institutional design choices and regulatory frameworks for sound network service provision but also highlights the importance of additional responses required. More market-based and dynamic frameworks for various system services, the growing need for active service participation of renewable generators and highly independent and transparent central operators seem to be at the heart of these responses. “Too complex for a resource?” finds that the answer to the challenges ahead is not always more infrastructure and that networks and the services they provide have to be regarded as equal part of the total power system. Thus, accurate and dynamic cost allocation can significantly support to transform public good-type network services into resources with market values.

Description / Table of Contents: Unlike many other low-carbon energy sources, nuclear energy is a mature technology that has been in use for more than 50 years. The latest designs for nuclear power plants build on this experience to offer enhanced safety and performance, and are ready for wider deployment. Nuclear power will be an important contributor to a low carbon power mix and can play a significant role in achieving both enhanced energy security and combating climate change. The IEA/NEA Nuclear Energy Technology Roadmap (2010) identified major barriers, opportunities, and policy measures for policy makers and industry and financial partners to accelerate RDD&D efforts for various nuclear technologies on both a national and international level.

Description / Table of Contents: Recognising the urgency of identifying technology to reduce the CO2 intensity of cement production, the IEA has worked together with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) to develop a technology roadmap for cement. This is currently the only industry-specific roadmap; others focus on specific technologies. This joint effort shows willingness to build on progress already made, as well as the industry’s understanding that further progress lies ahead. CO2 emissions from cement production currently represent about 5% of anthropogenic global CO2 emissions. The cement roadmap outlines a possible transition path for the industry to make continued contributions towards a halving of global CO2 emissions by 2050. As part of this contribution, this roadmap estimates that the cement industry could reduce their emissions 18% from current levels by 2050. A reduction of global emissions does not imply a linear reduction by the same percentage in all industries. This roadmap should be understood as a deep analysis of potentials and challenges in one industry.

Description / Table of Contents: Application of analytical techniques to petroleum systems: an introduction / Patrick J. Dowey, Mark Osborne and Herbert Volk / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 1-7, 9 July 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484-2020-57 --- Production geochemistry: fluids don't lie and the devil is in the detail / Pim F. van Bergen and Marc Gordon / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 9-28, 1 January 2018, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484.1 --- Adaptation of fluid inclusion techniques for investigating gas charge – examples from the Caswell Sub-basin, Browse Basin, Australia / Julien F. R. Bourdet, Charles H. Heath and Richard H. Kempton / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 29-50, 1 January 2019, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484-2019-048 --- Compositional variations and carbon isotope reversal in coal and shale gas reservoirs of the Bowen and Beetaloo basins, Australia / Mohinudeen Faiz, Alison Zoitsas, Carl Altmann, Elizabeth Baruch and David Close / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 51-70, 14 August 2018, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484.3 --- Using polar nitrogen-, sulphur- and oxygen-compound compositions from ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry for petroleum fluid assessment in the Eagle Ford Formation, Texas / S. Poetz, S. Kuske, Y. Song, J. Jweda, E. Michael and B. Horsfield / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 71-96, 25 October 2019, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484-2018-175 --- Organic geochemical research analytics of the petroleum industry: enhanced data density and method flexibility using gas chromatograph multiple detector coupling / M. Doerner, U. Berner, M. Erdmann and T. Barth / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 97-106, 12 September 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484.6 --- An automatic approach for characterization of the thermal maturity of dispersed organic matter Raman spectra at low diagenetic stages / Andrea Schito and Sveva Corrado / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 107-119, 17 September 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484.5 --- Organic geochemistry at varying scales: from kilometres to ångstroms / Clifford C. Walters / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 121-137, 12 September 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484.7 --- Formation of bitumen in the Elgin–Franklin complex, Central Graben, North Sea: implications for hydrocarbon charging / W. Meredith, C. N. Uguna, C. E. Snape, A. D. Carr and I. C. Scotchman / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 139-163, 1 January 2019, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484-2017-344 --- Workflow model for the digitization of mudrocks / Jim Buckman, Carol Mahoney, Shereef Bankole, Gary Couples, Helen Lewis, Thomas Wagner, Christian März, Vladimir Blanco and Dorrik Stow / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 165-187, 3 September 2018, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484.2 --- Improved imaging and analysis of chlorite in reservoirs and modern day analogues: new insights for reservoir quality and provenance / R. H. Worden, James E. P. Utley, Alan R. Butcher, J. Griffiths, L. J. Wooldridge and A. Y. Lawan / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 189-204, 1 January 2018, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484.10 --- Pore space characteristics of the Upper Visean ‘Rudov Beds’: insights from broad ion beam scanning electron microscopy and organic geochemical investigations / D. Misch, J. Klaver, D. Gross, J. Rustamov, R. F. Sachsenhofer, J. Schmatz and J. L. Urai / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 205-228, 1 January 2018, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484.9 --- Understanding variations in reservoir porosity in the Eagle Ford Shale using scanning electron microscopy: implications for basin modelling / Mark Osborne and Herbert Volk / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 229-239, 8 July 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484-2018-173 --- Comparing organic-hosted and intergranular pore networks: topography and topology in grains, gaps and bubbles / Matthew Andrew / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 241-253, 3 September 2018, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484.4 --- Assessing mineral fertility and bias in sedimentary provenance studies: examples from the Barents Shelf / Michael J. Flowerdew, Edward J. Fleming, Andrew C. Morton, Dirk Frei, David M. Chew and J. Stephen Daly / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 255-274, 1 January 2019, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484.11 --- A multidisciplinary approach for the quantitative provenance analysis of siltstone: Mesozoic Mandawa Basin, southeastern Tanzania / L. Caracciolo, S. Andò, P. Vermeesch, E. Garzanti, R. McCabe, M. Barbarano, C. Paleari, M. Rittner and T. Pearce / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 275-293, 1 January 2019, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484-2018-136 --- Making oil from magma / D. K. Muirhead, M. Duffy, N. Schofield, N. Mark and M. D. Rowe / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 295-303, 3 September 2018, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484.8 --- A renewed look at calcite cement in marine-deltaic sandstones: the Brent Reservoir, Heather Field, northern North Sea, UK / Richard H. Worden, Glenn T. Morrall, Sean Kelly, Peter Mc Ardle and Dinfa V. Barshep / Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 484, 305-335, 1 January 2019, https://doi.org/10.1144/SP484-20