INDUSTRY NEWS
Biden Thinks Oil Will Be Around For A Decade—It’ll Be Much Longer
“Independent experts agree that global oil and natural gas demand will increase over the next 30 years. And nearly half of the world’s energy is expected to come from natural gas and oil in 2050,” API President and CEO Mike Sommers said last month, commenting on the plan.
U.S. gas producers skimped on price hedges and now face a reckoning
A rout in natural gas prices will hurt first-quarter earnings and cash flows at gas producers as hedges - the industry's version of price insurance - were inadequate to offset the expected losses, analysts and industry experts said.
The Fatal Flaw Of The Renewable Revolution
Many people believe that installing more wind turbines and solar panels and manufacturing more electric vehicles can solve our energy problem, but I don’t agree with them. These devices, plus the batteries, charging stations, transmission lines and many other structures necessary to make them work represent a high level of complexity.
Sleeping Gulf Coast Giant Begins Stirring
That’s what Rystad Energy Vice President Emily McClain said in a market note sent to Rigzone on Tuesday, adding that this was “news warmly welcomed by the U.S. and global gas markets with open arms”. McClain highlighted in the note however that mild demand was keeping prices lower.
Will Electric Vehicles Continue To Thrive Without Subsidies?
The Wall Street Journal reports Germans Think Twice About Electric Vehicles - Sales of fully electric vehicles (EVs) fell 13.2% in January compared to January 2022, Germany’s Motor Transport Authority reports. Sales of hybrids declined 6.2%. This compares to an increase of 3.5% in the number of new gasoline-powered cars sold, and a modest decline of 1.2% for diesel.
U.S. Shale To Set Production Record In March
According to the EIA’s latest Drilling Productivity Report, crude output from the US’ seven biggest shale basins will rise to a record 9.36 million b/d in March on higher Permian production, up 75,000 b/d from this month, setting a new all-time high.
Why Are Whales Dying Off the East Coast?
Three US Congressmen - Chris Smith (R-NJ), Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), and Andy Harris (R-MD) - have issued press releases calling on the Biden Administration to suspend all off shore wind projects over growing public concern about their possible impacts on whales.
A New Bottleneck Emerges For U.S. Oil And Gas
When the energy crisis hit a nadir two years ago, highly indebted E&P companies quickly changed their operational playbook, adopting stricter cost discipline, cutting back on expensive drilling programs and vowing to return more cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and buybacks.
Colorado Refinery Outage Led To Higher Gasoline Prices
The shutdown of Suncor’s 103,000 bpd Colorado refinery has led to higher gasoline prices in the Rocky Mountain region, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.
Why The White House Is Wrong About Oil Major Share Buybacks
Chevron didn’t increase the dividend and share buyback instead of investing in new production. The company did both. Chevron’s capital and exploratory expenditures in 2022 were more than 40% higher than in 2021. Further, Chevron actually reported record U.S. oil and natural gas production for 2022.
California Governor Urges Federal Inquiry Into Surging Natural Gas Prices
In a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency responsible for regulating wholesale natural gas, Governor Newsom requested that the agency “immediately focus its investigatory resources on assessing whether market manipulation, anticompetitive behavior, or other anomalous activities are driving these ongoing elevated prices in the western gas markets,” the governor’s office said in a statement on Monday.
Fate Of $8Bn Alaska Oil Project To Be Resolved In Next 30 Days
In an unexpected twist, some opponents are quietly encouraging President Joe Biden’s administration to approve the project, but in such a scaled-back way that it no longer makes economic sense. They’re moving fast, before the Interior Department is set to issue its final ruling in about a month.
Everybody Loves Oil Again
After the recent profit-taking on higher oil prices prompted by China’s reopening, traders are once again crowding oil and fuel futures and options. The reasons: China, again, and hopes that the global economy can avoid a recession. But there’s also a third reason—low fuel inventories.
Winter Storm Mara Update
The RRC, which said it is keeping up its round the clock contact with operators and other state agencies during the storm, said natural gas utilities were reporting no service issues providing home heating and noted that several had pre-deployed trucks with compressed and liquid natural gas as backups for residential heating but have not needed to utilize them yet.
USA Oil and Gas Employs Almost 1 Million in 2022
Thirty-seven percent of all oil and gas jobs nationwide were located in Texas last year, the report highlighted, adding that Texas was the leading state by employment in every single sector in 2022, with the exception of Natural Gas Distribution (California), and that Texas had the highest number of oil and gas businesses in the nation last year with 12,306.
Offshore Oil And Gas Is Back, Baby
“Over the past year and a half, everyone started drilling again offshore, and they want to use the most efficient rigs and all of a sudden, bam!” Noble Corp chief executive Robert Eifler told the Wall Street Journal. “After eight years we basically have full utilization of the high-end drillship fleet.”
Oil Traders Weigh Up Market This Week
This week, one of Rigzone’s regular market watchers takes a look at demand trends, oil price moves, and a surprising Henry Hub development.
Is The USA Strategic Petroleum Reserve Stock Dangerously Low?
“U.S. SPR levels are currently low compared with previous decades, but can still be drawdown during emergencies, although at a slower rate,” the analyst added.
California City Gives Up On 100% Renewable Plan
Huntington Beach, California, is changing the plan it had in place with the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA)—a nonprofit offering clean energy. But its recent history in a rather unfavorable media limelight has given the city council pause.
Putin’s Energy Weapon Is Losing Its Power
Vladimir Putin’s plans are falling to pieces. Slowly but surely, Russia is losing its war against Ukraine. At the same time, it is losing nearly all of its most key political and economic allies, and losing a decent chunk of the market for its energy exports, which serve as the backbone of the Russian economy.