This edition first published 2015
© 2015 Daniel Lacalle and Diego Parrilla
Registered office
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom
For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please visit our website at www.wiley.com.
The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmit-ted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor men-tioned in this book.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lacalle, Daniel.
The energy world is flat: opportunities from the end of peak oil / Daniel Lacalle, Diego Parrilla.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-118-86800-3 (cloth)
1. Energy security. 2. Energy consumption. 3. Petroleum reserves. 4. Petroleum industry and trade. 5. Energy industries. I. Parrilla, Diego, 1973– II. Title.
HD9502.A2L3325 2015
333.79–dc23
2014044969
Cover image: ©shutterstock.com/Madlen
Cover design: Wiley
From Daniel Lacalle
To all my colleagues in the energy sector and decades of hard work looking for a better world, and in particular to those who passed away during geopolitical conflicts and terror attacks. We will never forget you.
To Patricia, Jaime, Pablo and Daniel, my parents, my brother, and his family. To all my uncles, aunts, and cousins who give and share so much joy. To all of them, my never ending source of energy.
From Diego Parrilla
To my wife, Gema, and my children, Yago, Lucas, and Carmen. My life and purpose in life.
To my father, Paco, and my mother, Nieves, my role models.
To my brother Paco, the best brother I could have wished for. My inspiration.
To my sisters Nieves and Marta, the geniuses of the family.
And, of course, to our sister Belen, our Guardian Angel.
Chapter One
The Mother of All Battles. The Flattening and Globalization of the Energy World
There is nothing permanent, except change.
Heraclitus
At 2.46 pm on the 11 March 2011, the largest earthquake in the history of Japan triggered a giant tsunami wave that would change the energy world forever.
I was on a conference call in my office when the prices of the Japanese yen started to swing wildly. Something had happened. Shortly after, the news was hitting the wires: “Massive 9.0 Earthquake Hits East Coast of Japan. Tsunami Warning Issued”. While Japan had a long history of earthquakes, such as the Unzen earthquake and tsunami in 1792 that left a death toll of over 15,000,1 a tremor of 9.0 on the Richter scale was at a whole new level, and would make this earthquake the largest in the history of Japan and the fifth largest globally since records began in 1900.
Within minutes, a series of giant tsunami waves reached Fukushima Daiichi power plant. More than twice as high as the protective seawalls, the waves flooded the power station and damaged the back-up generation and cooling systems. The situation was out of control, and radiation was eventually released, making Fukushima the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986, both rated level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
