05.07.2009

European policy outline which calls for 20% of energy to come from renewable sources and a 20% improvement in efficiency by 2020. Latvia, Sweden, Finland and Austria are already meeting 20% of their energy requirements from renewable sources in 2005 (latest year that figures are available), but for Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium the figure is less than 3%; in Germany it was 4.8%; Italy, Spain and France around 6%. In January 2009, The Socioeconomic cabinet in Israel decided that 10% of the country’s electricity would be generated by renewable energy sources by 2020 with land, incentives and tariffs determined. This will save about 35 million tons of carbon dioxide by 2020, which means that about 8.5 billion KwH will be produced from clean sources of energy. In addition, an interim target of 5% of savings has been set for 2014 which means 3.4 billion KwH. As a comparison a 600 MW natural gas generated power station that operates 6,000 hours a year produces about 3.6 billion KwH a year.

The 15-Day Brent crude oil market is so-called because a seller must give a buyer a minimum 15 days notice of the intended loading dates for a cargo of Brent Blend North Sea crude oil in any particular month traded. 15-Day Brent is traded in discreet months. At the point where the buyer—who may be at the end of a long trading chain—is informed of the loading dates, the cargo becomes a so-called Dated Brent cargo.

The Dated Brent price is a benchmark assessment (Platts’) of the price of physical light North Sea crude oil. It refers to the physical cargoes of crude oil in the North Sea that have been assigned specific delivery dates. This is the typical crude oil price reference value