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Reuters: Oil shipments at risk from rising sea levels, think tank warns
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-shipments-risk-rising-sea-levels-think-tank-warns-2024-05-21/Oil shipments at risk from rising sea levels, think tank warns
By David Stanway
May 21, 20245:22 AM EDT
SINGAPORE, May 21 (Reuters) - Rising sea levels could severely disrupt crude oil shipments and erode energy security in import-dependent countries like China, South Korea and Japan, with many of the world's biggest terminals vulnerable to flooding, researchers said on Tuesday.
Melting ice and swelling seas caused by rising temperatures could "unleash unstoppable multi-metre (sea level rise) which will not only sink key oil ports and disrupt global oil trade but also swamp coastal refineries and petrochemical facilities", the China Water Risk (CWR) think tank warned in a report.
A 2021 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that on current trends, average sea levels could rise by more than a metre by the end of the century, adding that a two-metre rise could not be ruled out.
Low-lying ports and bunkering facilities would be especially vulnerable to higher sea levels, CWR said after conducting a "stress test" of the maritime infrastructure used to export and import crude oil.
…
Not fast enough…By David Stanway
May 21, 20245:22 AM EDT
SINGAPORE, May 21 (Reuters) - Rising sea levels could severely disrupt crude oil shipments and erode energy security in import-dependent countries like China, South Korea and Japan, with many of the world's biggest terminals vulnerable to flooding, researchers said on Tuesday.
Melting ice and swelling seas caused by rising temperatures could "unleash unstoppable multi-metre (sea level rise) which will not only sink key oil ports and disrupt global oil trade but also swamp coastal refineries and petrochemical facilities", the China Water Risk (CWR) think tank warned in a report.
A 2021 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that on current trends, average sea levels could rise by more than a metre by the end of the century, adding that a two-metre rise could not be ruled out.
Low-lying ports and bunkering facilities would be especially vulnerable to higher sea levels, CWR said after conducting a "stress test" of the maritime infrastructure used to export and import crude oil.
…