Global energy investments rise by $1B after 3 year fall

Global energy investments increased by $1 billion year on year to $1.84 trillion last year after three years of decline, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday, Anadolu Agency reports.

“More spending on oil, gas and coal supply was offset by lower spend on fossil fuel-based generation and renewable power,” according to the IEA’s World Energy Investment 2019 report.

Oil and gas investments reached $726 billion in 2018, up by 1.1% from the previous year. Out of all oil and gas investments, $477 billion was spent on upstream activities while the remaining $249 billion was used on downstream and infrastructure operations.

Coal mining and infrastructure investments increased to $80 billion, with a 2.56% boost from 2017 levels.

Last year, investments in power generation fell by 1.8% to $478 billion.

Global spending on power generation from nuclear energy remained unchanged at $47 billion while electricity generation from fossil fuels and renewables showed a decline. In electricity generation, fossil fuels and renewable investments totaled $127 and $304, respectively.

Electricity network and battery storage technology investments fell by 0.33% to $297 billion while energy efficiency investments reached $240 billion, a 0.41% increase compared to the previous year.

Investments in renewables transport and heat remained unchanged at $25 billion.