Farewell fossil fuels

It’s hard to keep up with the news on the decline of fossil fuels, so quickly does one story follow another. Keith Williams, a former proteomics professor at Macquarie University, has been a prominent follower of the trends. He (correctly) predicted the demise of Peabody, based on their belief that they were the best at coal and that coal was going to last forever. He sees them creating similar problems for themselves as they exit from bankruptcy (see for example https://seekingalpha.com/article/4006137-peabody-energy-bucks-trend-hopes). Professor Williams likens Peabody’s choices with those made by Kodak eschewing digital film for silver. Now he has his sights set on BP, with recent postings on oil (see https://seekingalpha.com/article/4074748-bps-unthinkable-happening-now) and gas (see https://seekingalpha.com/article/4076854-gas-answer-bps-plan-b). The fossil fuel giants promise to create plenty of chaos as they (unwillingly) depart the energy scene. But some oil majors can see where the greening trends are leading, and are making investments accordingly – a good example being Norway’s Statoil (https://seekingalpha.com/article/4093407-statoil-good-q2-results-low-carbon-future-emerging). Interesting times ahead.