INDUSTRY NEWS
Talos Files Dispute Notice Against Mexico
The government of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has pledged to put the country’s oil riches back in the hands of the state, named Pemex Zama’s operator and gave it a 50.4% stake. It was one of his latest moves to backtrack on the previous administration’s historic reforms to open up Mexico’s energy industry to private investment.
Natural Gas Prices Are Soaring Despite U.S. Production Records
Overall American dry natural gas production is rising. But it's not increasing so quickly as to offset surging U.S. gas exports via pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes, which have been setting all-time high records this year. Scorching summer heat waves and low natural gas inventories have also driven natural gas prices higher over the past few months.
Digging Into the Administration’s Lease Sale Announcement
The Biden administration’s plan to hold its first ever oil and natural gas lease sales this year is a positive sign after it paused new leasing on federal lands and waters for nearly seven months. The question is whether this is a significant policy shift for the administration, which will be determined by what actually happens and how swiftly it occurs.
Labor Day drivers could see gas prices almost $1 higher than in 2020
Gas prices this weekend across the U.S. will average $3.11 per gallon, the highest since 2014 and 42 percent more than the same time last year, when the average was $2.19, according to GasBuddy, a fuel price-tracking website.
Spokane Residents Spark Fight Over Natural Gas Ban Proposal
The war over America’s energy future may have seen its first “shots” fired in, of all places, Spokane, Washington. Citizens there had crafted an initiative and obtained well over the legal minimum number of citizen signatures in an effort to bar the city council from imposing bans on the use of natural gas or hydropower without express consent of the governed.
OPEC Raises Oil Production To Highest Since April 2020
The 13-member-strong OPEC group has been producing 26.93 million bpd in August, an increase of 210,000 bpd compared to the estimated output in July, according to the Reuters survey of OPEC sources, sources at oil firms and consultants, and tanker-tracking data.
Hurricane Ida hit the oil industry hard
Six refineries in the New Orleans area — including PBF, Phillips, Shell, Marathon and two Valero refineries — are shut down right now, Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, a Houston-based consulting firm, told CNN Business. "It's now a waiting game to assess whatever wind and flooding damage will be caused as the hurricane passes through the area."
U.S. EPA recommends lowering 2020 biofuel mandates retroactively
The move could provide immediate relief to oil refiners that have to comply with the blending requirements. It also is likely to drag the Biden administration further into a clash between oil refiners and the biofuels industry over the requirements.
Texas adds 1,500 oil exploration and production jobs in July
The state’s upstream sector has recovered 17,600 jobs since jobs losses bottomed out last September, only a fraction of the 60,000 exploration and production jobs lost during the pandemic last year. The state has 175,000 drilling and extraction workers, according to data from the Texas Workforce Commission and analyzed by the Texas Oil and Gas Association.
We Need More U.S. Oil, Not an Import-More-Oil Strategy
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas called the White House request to OPEC, while the administration is impeding domestic production, “pathetic and embarrassing.” A Saudi oil official expressed puzzlement to The Wall Street Journal: “Isn’t [Biden] about climate change and the impact of oil on the environment? How come now they are asking for more?”
Permian Basin’s cost advantages keep its star rising
New Mexico’s record production in May saw the state pull ahead of another major producer state - North Dakota - for three straight months, World Oil reported.
Why electrification may not be a simple solution to cut carbon emissions
Shifting from natural gas or fuel oil not only entails large upfront costs, but it is also likely to require more electricity and a significant expansion of power grids, making both homebuilders and politicians increasingly wary of electrification.
Oil Prices Unlikely To Collapse Any Time Soon
You wouldn’t believe the oil price had been quietly falling since early July when you went to fill up your tank this summer. Gasoline demand is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels from 2019. As a result, pressure on refiners has been so marked that prices have risen sharply enough to make the Biden administration urge Russia and Saudi Arabia to pump more oil to ease a perceived tightness.
API Files Lawsuit Against Biden Administration
The American Petroleum Institute (API) has announced that it, along with 11 other energy industry trade groups, has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) indefinite pause on oil and natural gas leasing on federal lands and waters.
OPEC+ sees no need to meet U.S. call for more supply, sources say
OPEC and its allies, including Russia, believe oil markets do not need more oil than they plan to release in the coming months, despite U.S. pressure to add supplies to check an oil price rise, four sources told Reuters.
Cheap Natural Gas Is A Thing Of The Past
The era of cheap natural gas might be gone for good. U.S. natural gas futures climbed to a 31-month high of 4.16/MMBtu on Thursday thanks to forecasts for hotter weather over the next two weeks and soaring global gas prices ensuring that U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will remain at record highs.
The Shell cracker plant is a boon for business
That’s what we’re finding out about the natural gas industry in general and the nearly completed ethane “cracker” plant that is about to trigger a period of regional economic growth unrivaled by any industrial project since the age of steel.
Oil Down After USA Calls for OPEC+ Production Boost
“We are engaging with relevant OPEC+ members on the importance of competitive markets in setting prices,” Sullivan said in a statement. “Competitive energy markets will ensure reliable and stable energy supplies, and OPEC+ must do more to support the recovery.”
Exxon’s Falling Production Is Highly Bullish For Oil Prices
The United States' largest oil and gas company posted stellar earnings that proved that the worst for the U.S. shale industry might finally be in the rearview mirror.
Low-Income Households To Bear The Brunt Of All-Electric Homes
The push to switch away from natural gas—a fossil fuel—to electricity in homes is aimed at addressing emissions from buildings and residential energy consumption. Yet, the push has the potential to hit financially low-income American households, Catherine Hausman, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy, and Lucas Davis of the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, argue in their paper.