oil prices rose for the first time in four weeks, despite an OPEC decision to increase output, as the new US infrastructure plan is expected to increase demand for oil...after falling 0.7% to $61.42 a barrel last week as new Covid infections and lockdowns increased worldwide, the contract price of US light sweet crude for May delivery opened lower on Monday on news that the container ship that had blocked oil traffic for nearly a week in the Suez Canal had been refloated, but reversed to finish 59 cents or 1% higher at $61.56 a barrel after Reuters reported that Russia would support stable oil output ahead of a meeting with the OPEC later in the week...but oil prices fell on Tuesday as the Suez Canal was cleared and traders focused on the upcoming OPEC+ meeting and the impact of Covid-19 on oil demand in Europe, and finished $1.01 or 1.6% lower at $60.55 a barrel, as near-term risks to the demand recovery story emerged with setbacks to economic reopening plans worldwide...oil prices opened lower on Wednesday after the American Petroleum Institute reported surprisingly large crude inventory build, but reversed to show a 1% gain by midday after the EIA reported a modest inventory withdrawal, before reversing again to tank 2% before the close after France announced it would start a month-long lockdown in the face of another Covid surge, as oil prices ended $1.39 lower on the day at $59.16 a barrel....however, oil prices jumped at the open and moved sharply higher on Thursday, despite the news that OPEC+ had reached a deal to gradually ease production cuts from May, as traders took heart in their incremental increases over three months and reacted to the announcement Biden's vast infrastructure plan that includes investments in roads, railways, and clean energy that would all take copius quantites of oil and asphalt to build, as oil closed $2.29 higher at $61.45 a barrel, and with the markets closed on Good Friday, thus finished the week's trading with a modest 0.8% gain...
natural gas prices also rose fractionally this week as LNG exports remained at record levels and the weekly storage report showed a smaller inventory build than had been expeccted...after rising 0.9% to $2.557 per mmBTU last week on strong LNG exports and a bullish storage report, the contract price of natural gas for April delivery opened fractionally higher on its last day of trading on Monday and continued rising to finish trading 2.9 cents higher at $2.586 per mmBTU, on record LNG exports and on forecasts for slightly higher heating demand over the coming week...with the contract price of natural gas for May delivery moving to the top of the board on Tuesday, natural gas quotes fell 3.0 cents to $2.623 per mmBTU, even as exports climbed higher, as a weakening weather outlook and the anticipation of an inventory increase kept natural gas prices in check...natural gas futures fell again on Wednesday, slipping 1.5 cents to $2.608 per mmBTU, as traders mulled domestic demand weakness and the potential for a bearish government inventory report on the next day... however, when Thursday's natural gas storage report came in a bit below market expectations, natural gas prices bounced 2% and went on to settle 3.1 cents higher at $2.639 per mmBTU, as the initial price momentum faded as traders struggled to make sense of the accompanying revision....thus the daily natural gas quotes saw a 3.2% gain on the week as the front month shifted from April to May, while the May contract itself ended the week 0.8% higher, having closed last week at $2.619 per mmBTU...
the natural gas storage report from the EIA for the week ending March 26th indicated that the amount of natural gas held in underground storage in the US rose by 14 billion cubic feet to 1,764 billion cubic feet by the end of the week, after gas in storage for the week ending March 19th was revised 4 billion cubic feet higher to 1750 billion cubic feet...that left our gas supplies 225 billion cubic feet, or 11.3% below the 1,989 billion cubic feet that were in storage on March 26th of last year, and 36 billion cubic feet, or 2.0% below the five-year average of 1,800 billion cubic feet of natural gas that have been in storage as of the 26th of March in recent years....the 14 billion cubic feet that were added to US natural gas storage this week was less than the average forecast of a 19 billion cubic foot addition from an S&P Global Platts survey of analysts, while it contrasted with the 20 billion cubic foot withdrawal from natural gas storage seen during the corresponding week of a year earlier, as well as the average withdrawal of 24 billion cubic feet of natural gas that have typically been pulled out of natural gas storage during the same week over the past 5 years...
The Latest US Oil Supply and Disposition Data from the EIA
US oil data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week ending March 26th indicated that after a big increase in our oil exports and another big increase in our oil refining, we finally need to withdraw oil from our stored commercial crude supplies for the first time in six weeks and for the 23rd time in the past thirty-six weeks....our imports of crude oil rose by an average of 523,000 barrels per day to an average of 6,145,000 barrels per day, after rising by an average of 299,000 barrels per day during the prior week, while our exports of crude oil rose by an average of 693,000 barrels per day to an average of 3,174,000 barrels per day during the week, which meant that our effective trade in oil worked out to a net import average of 2,971,000 barrels of per day during the week ending March 26th, 170,000 fewer barrels per day than the net of our imports minus our exports during the prior week...over the same period, the production of crude oil from US wells was reportedly 100,000 barrels per day higher at 11,100,000 barrels per day, and hence our daily supply of oil from the net of our trade in oil and from well production appears to total an average of 14,071,000 barrels per day during this reporting week...
meanwhile, US oil refineries reported they were processing 14,941,000 barrels of crude per day during the week ending March 26th, 552,000 more barrels per day than the amount of oil they used during the prior week, while over the same period the EIA's surveys indicated that a net of 125,000 barrels of oil per day were being pulled out of the supplies of oil stored in the US....so based on that reported & estimated data, this week's crude oil figures from the EIA appear to indicate that our total working supply of oil from net imports, from storage, and from oilfield production was 745,000 barrels per day less than what our oil refineries reported they used during the week....to account for that disparity between the apparent supply of oil and the apparent disposition of it, the EIA just plugged a (+745,000) barrel per day figure onto line 13 of the weekly U.S. Petroleum Balance Sheet to make the reported data for the daily supply of oil and the consumption of it balance out, essentially a fudge factor that they label in their footnotes as "unaccounted for crude oil", thus suggesting there must have been a error or errors of that magnitude in this week's oil supply & demand figures that we have just transcribed....however, since most everyone treats these weekly EIA figures as gospel and since these figures often drive oil pricing and hence decisions to drill or complete wells, we'll continue to report them as they're published, just as they're watched & believed to be accurate by most everyone in the industry....(for more on how this weekly oil data is gathered, and the possible reasons for that "unaccounted for" oil, see this EIA explainer)....
further details from the weekly Petroleum Status Report (pdf) indicate that the 4 week average of our oil imports fell to an average of 5,686,000 barrels per day last week, which was 9.4% less than the 6,279,000 barrel per day average that we were importing over the same four-week period last year... the 125,000 barrel per day net withdrawal from our crude inventories was due to a 125,000 barrel per day withdrawal from our commercially available stocks of crude oil, while the oil supplies in our Strategic Petroleum Reserve remained unchanged....this week's crude oil production was reported to be 100,000 barrels per day higher at 11,100,000 barrels per day because the rounded estimate of the output from wells in the lower 48 states was 200,000 barrels per day higher at 10,700,000 barrels per day, while a 10,000 barrel per day decrease to 445,000 barrels per day in Alaska's oil production subtracted 100,000 barrels per day the rounded national total (EIA's math)....last year's US crude oil production for the week ending March 27th was rounded to 13,000,000 barrels per day, so this reporting week's rounded oil production figure was 14.6% below that of a year ago, yet still 31.7% above the interim low of 8,428,000 barrels per day that US oil production fell to during the last week of June of 2016...
meanwhile, US oil refineries were operating at 83.9% of their capacity while using those 14,941,000 barrels of crude per day during the week ending March 26th, up from 81.6% of capacity during the prior week, and the highest refinery utilization in 53 weeks, which appears to reflect utilization during the last week before the Covid slowdown...however, the 14,941,000 barrels per day of oil that were refined this week were just fractionally higher than the 14,898,000 barrels of crude that were being processed daily during the week ending March 27th of last year, when US refineries were operating at a seasonal low 82.3% of capacity...
with the increase in the amount of oil being refined, the gasoline output from our refineries was higher for the 8th time in 20 weeks, increasing by 762,000 barrels per day to a twenty-five week high of 9,339,000 barrels per day during the week ending March 26th, after our gasoline output had decreased by 300,000 barrels per day over the prior week...as a result, this week's gasoline production was 25.3% higher than the 7,456,000 barrels of gasoline that were being produced daily over the same week of last year, but still 6.3% lower than the March 13 2020 pre-pandemic high of 9.972,000 barrels per day ....meanwhile, our refineries' production of distillate fuels (diesel fuel and heat oil) increased by 137,000 barrels per day to 4,738,000 barrels per day, after our distillates output had increased by 1,703,000 barrels per day from a twenty-six year low of 2,898,000 barrels per day over the prior three weeks...but even after that four week rebound in our distillates' production, this week's distillates output was still 4.6% lower than the 4,966,000 barrels of distillates that were being produced daily during the week ending March 27th, 2020...
even with the big increase in our gasoline production, our supply of gasoline in storage at the end of the week decreased for the sixth time in twenty weeks, and for 19th time in 37 weeks, falling by 1,735,000 barrels to 230,544,000 barrels during the week ending March 26th, after our gasoline inventories had increased by 204,000 barrels over the prior week...our gasoline supplies decreased this week because the amount of gasoline supplied to US users increased by 275,000 barrels per day to 8,891,000 barrels per day, and because our exports of gasoline rose by 108,000 barrels per day to 541,000 barrels per day, and because our imports of gasoline fell by 320,000 barrels per day to 619,000 barrels per day...after this week's inventory decrease, our gasoline supplies were 6.6% lower than last March 27th's gasoline inventories of 246,806,000 barrels, and about 4% below the five year average of our gasoline supplies for this time of the year...
meanwhile, with the recovery in our distillates production, our supplies of distillate fuels increased for the 3rd time in 10 weeks and for the 11th time in thirty-one weeks, rising by 2,542,000 barrels to 144,095,000 barrels during the week ending March 26th, after our distillates supplies had increased by 3,806,000 barrels during the prior week....our distillates supplies managed to rise this week even though the amount of distillates supplied to US markets, an indicator of our domestic demand, rose by 521,000 barrels per day to 4,113,000 barrels per day, because our exports of distillates fell by 426,000 barrels per day to 703,000 barrels per day, while our imports of distillates fell by 223,000 barrels per day to 664,000 barrels per day...after this week's inventory increase, our distillate supplies at the end of the week were 17.9% above the 122,248,000 barrels of distillates that we had in storage on March 27th, 2020, and rose to about 4% above the five year average of distillates stocks for this time of the year...
finally, with the increase in our oil exports and the recovery in our refinery throughput, our commercial supplies of crude oil in storage fell for the 12th time in the past twenty weeks and for the 24th time in the past year, decreasing by 876,000 barrels, from 502,711,000 barrels on March 19th to 501,835,000 barrels on March 26th...after this week's modest decrease, our commercial crude oil inventories remained 6% above the most recent five-year average of crude oil supplies for this time of year, and was still nearly 49% above the average of our crude oil stocks as of the fourth week of March over the 5 years at the beginning of this decade, with the disparity between those comparisons arising because it wasn't until early 2015 that our oil inventories first topped 400 million barrels....since our crude oil inventories had jumped to record highs during the spring lockdowns of last year, after generally rising over the past two and a half years, except for summers and during the 10 weeks prior to the Texas freeze, after generally falling from a record high over the year and a half prior to September of 2018, our commercial crude oil supplies as of March 26th were 7.0% more than the 469,193,000 barrels of oil we had in commercial storage on March 27th of 2020, 11.6% more than the 449,521,000 barrels of oil that we had in storage on March 29th of 2019, and also 18.0% more than the 425,332,000 barrels of oil we had in commercial storage on March 16th of 2018...
This Week's Rig Count
Note: this week's rig count was released on Thursday in advance of the Good Friday market holiday, so it only covers 6 days...nonetheless, the rig count rose for the 26th time over the past 29 weeks, and by the most since January 15th, during the week ending April 1st, but it still remains down by 47.3% from the pre-pandemic rig count....Baker Hughes reported that the total count of rotary rigs running in the US was up by 13 to 430 rigs this past week, which was still down by 234 rigs from the 664 rigs that were in use as of the April 3rd report of 2020, and was 1,499 fewer rigs than the shale era high of 1,929 drilling rigs that were deployed on November 21st of 2014, the week before OPEC began to flood the global oil market in their first attempt to put US shale out of business....
The number of rigs drilling for oil increased by 13 rigs to 331 oil rigs this week, after rising by 9 oil rigs the prior week, still leaving us with 225 fewer oil rigs than were running a year ago, and 20.6% of the recent high of 1609 rigs that were drilling for oil on October 10th, 2014....at the same time, the number of drilling rigs targeting natural gas bearing formations was down by one to 91 natural gas rigs, which was also down by 9 natural gas rigs from the 100 natural gas rigs that were drilling a year ago, and just 5.7% of the modern era high of 1,606 rigs targeting natural gas that were deployed on September 7th, 2008...in addition to those rigs drilling for oil or gas, there are now two rigs classified as 'miscellaneous' drilling this week, one in the middle of the Permian basin in MIdland county Texas, and the other in Lake County, California, while a year ago there were also two such "miscellaneous" rigs deployed...
The Gulf of Mexico rig count was up by 2 to 14 rigs this week, with 12 of those rigs drilling for oil in Louisiana's offshore waters and 2 continuing to drill for oil in Alaminos Canyon offshore from Texas...that was 4 fewer Gulf of Mexico rigs than the 18 rigs drilling in the Gulf a year ago, when 17 Gulf rigs were drilling for oil offshore from Louisiana, and one rig was drilling for natural gas in the West Delta field, also offshore from Louisiana...since there are no rigs operating off of other US shores at this time, nor were there a year ago, this week's national offshore rig totals are equal to the Gulf rig counts....
The count of active horizontal drilling rigs was up by 11 to 391 horizontal rigs this week, which was still down by 202 rigs from the 593 horizontal rigs that were in use in the US on April 3rd of last year, and less than a third of the record of 1372 horizontal rigs that were deployed on November 21st of 2014....at the same time, the directional rig count was up by 4 rigs to 19 directional rigs this week, but those were still down by 22 from the 41 directional rigs that were operating during the same week a year ago....on the other hand, the vertical rig count was down by 2 to 20 vertical rigs this week, and those were down by 10 from the 30 vertical rigs that were in use on April 3rd of 2020....
The details on this week's changes in drilling activity by state and by major shale basin are shown in our screenshot below of that part of the rig count summary pdf from Baker Hughes that gives us those changes...the first table below shows weekly and year over year rig count changes for the major oil & gas producing states, and the table below that shows the weekly and year over year rig count changes for the major US geological oil and gas basins...in both tables, the first column shows the active rig count as of April 1st, the second column shows the change in the number of working rigs between last week's count (March 26th) and this week's (April 1st) count, the third column shows last week's March 26th active rig count, the 4th column shows the change between the number of rigs running on Friday and the number running on the Friday before the same weekend of a year ago, and the 5th column shows the number of rigs that were drilling at the end of that reporting week a year ago, which in this week’s case was the 3rd of April, 2020..
this is the first week in a while where the new activty has been so widespread, rather than largelu limited to the Permian...checking first for the details on the Permian basin in Texas from the Rigs by State file at Baker Hughes, we find that that one rig was added in Texas Oil District 8A, which encompasses the northernmost counties of the Permian Midland basin, while one rig was pulled out of Texas Oil District 7C, which includes the southernmost counties of the Permian Midland basin, which thus means there was no change in the rig count in the Texas Permian this week...since the national Permian rig count was up by 3, that means that all three rigs that were added in New Mexico must have been added in the farthest west reaches of the Permian Delaware, to account for the national Permian increase....elsewhere in Texas, there was one rig added in Texas Oil District 1, another rig added in Texas Oil District 2, and yet another a rig added in Texas Oil District 3, any two of which could have been the rigs added in the Eagle Ford shale, which stretches in a narrow band through the southeast part of the state...at the same time, there was also a rig added in Texas Oil District 6, which doesn't appear to have been targeting that region's Haynesville shale, since the Haynesvile was down by the single rig pulled out in northern Lousiana...Louisiana's rig count is still up by one, however, because of the two oil rigs added in that state's offshore waters...elsewhere, two oil rigs were added in Oklahoma, including one in the Granite Wash, two more oil rigs were added in a Utah basin not named by Baker Hughes, more than likely the Uinta, and an oil rig was added in Colorado, which apparently wasn't targeting the state's DJ Niobrara chalk...for changes in natural gas rigs, we have the rig that was removed from Louisiana's Haynesville shale, and another rig that was pulled out of West Virginia's Marcellus, while a rig was added in Pennsylvania's Marcellus at the same time...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Eureka Resources expanding operations in northeast Pennsylvania. – Eureka Resources, LLC, an environmental services company operating produced water treatment facilities in the Marcellus Shale region, announced the beginning of construction for phase II of its co-products warehousing and distribution facility in Standing Stone Township, Bradford County, Pa. According to the company, "This high-tech job creation project will allow Eureka Resources to continue to return fresh water to the hydrological cycle, from the hydraulic fracturing process." The Bradford County facility will streamline and centralize the distribution of extracted valuable minerals such as sodium; calcium, lithium, and chloride from natural gas wastewater from existing operations and a new facility planned in Dimock Township, Susquehanna County, Pa. “By extracting these valuable minerals from wastewater using our innovative and patented technology, we are returning clean freshwater into the hydrological cycle. This reduces water withdrawals from streams and aquifers while eliminating reliance on destructive underground injection disposal used for waste fluids” said Eureka CEO Dan Ertel. “Furthermore, the process we have pioneered in the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations assists the U.S. in reducing dependence on foreign countries for these critical minerals.” The company reports a history of DEP-monitored clean water discharge since 2014 with no violations of any kind.
Appalachian fracking faces financial risks, report warns. Hopes for petrochemical plastics boom 'unlikely.' -Developing new shale gas fields in Appalachia “may not end up being profitable” in the years ahead, according to a new report. In addition, the associated petrochemical buildout that the region has pinned its hopes on as the future of natural gas is “unlikely,” the report states.Natural gas drillers need prices to rise in order to turn a profit and continue expanding, a scenario that appears doubtful, according to the report published by the Stockholm Environment Institute’s US Center (SEI) and the Ohio River Valley Institute (ORVI), a Pennsylvania-based economic and sustainability think tank. Volatile market conditions for plastics are also putting the region’s plans for new petrochemical plants in question.Given the poor financial results from the industry over the past decade, “gas prices would need to rebound and increase” if the fortunes of Appalachia’s shale industry are to improve, study co-authors, Peter Erickson, climate policy program director at SEI, and Ploy Achakulwisut, a scientist at SEI, wrote in the report. Appalachia—already suffering from a long drawn out bust in the coal industry—has for much of the past decade seen natural gas prices languish as drillers pumped too much gas out of the ground, which has resulted in persistently low prices. And a renewed price surge appears unlikely as gas faces growing competition from solar and wind.“Now there are signs that gas itself could get passed up for lower-cost renewables, introducing new risks for communities that rely on gas extraction for employment and tax revenue,” the authors wrote.Due to liquefied natural gas (LNG) being a powerful and growing source of climate pollution, LNG’s expansion “would need to be—at best—short-lived,” the SEI/ORVI report’s authors state, noting that global decarbonization efforts could displace much of the gas demand that the industry is anticipating. At the same time, a souring market for petrochemicals—a result of the industry overbuilding capacity and an uncertain plastic consumption outlook in the future—also undercuts the need for developing a major new petrochemical hub in the region. This is much to the disappointment of various business groups, regional politicians, and even the U.S. government who had planned on this being one of the last bastions of hope for the shale gas industry.The financial performance of Appalachian shale gas drillers has been consistently poor, with the industry broadly cash flow negative since its inception in the late 2000s. After a decade-long drilling boom, production ran into a wall in late 2019 and has stagnated since. Production remains high, but the frenetic pace of drilling is long gone.
Environmental groups hail Biden's plan, but gas industry finds it lacking - Reactions to President Joe Biden’s infrastructure and jobs plan, set to be announced Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh, were divided, with environmental groups hailing the clean-energy aspects while energy producers said natural gas and pipelines should be bigger parts of the proposal. The American Jobs Plan, a $2 trillion infrastructure and climate-response program, offers a host of energy- and climate change-related initiatives. Citing last month’s power problems in Texas, Biden’s proposal to Congress will put $100 billion into a more resilient electrical grid and a plan to step up the conversion of the country to carbon-free electricity generation by 2035. That includes tax credits and a leveraging of private investment to construct more than 20 gigawatts of high-voltage power lines and allowing for existing rights of way to have more transmission lines while at the same time putting tax credits and investment into clean energy. It also wants to put $16 billion into plugging old and abandoned oil and gas wells and abandoned coal mines, something that has been advocated by environmentalists and others to address a growing problem in Pennsylvania and around the country. This would, the Biden administration said, put energy employees to work using their existing skills to clean up these hazards. But it was the lack of investment in pipelines that drove the energy industry’s criticism of Biden’s package. Representatives from the natural gas industry say the benefits of the shale revolution aren’t getting the recognition they deserve from Biden’s plan. Natural gas infrastructure — including pipelines, export terminals and power plants — are key parts of job creation and American national security, said Marcellus Shale Coalition President David Callahan. “Pennsylvanians understand the essential role of natural gas and support pragmatic, commonsense market-driven innovations over radical policies that will drive up energy costs, jeopardize grid reliability and eliminate good-paying jobs,” Callahan said. “As the president and Congress work toward a broad infrastructure package, let us be absolutely clear: natural gas is essential to our nation’s future prosperity and continued environmental progress.”
New NJ Bill Would Prompt PennEast Pipeline Review — Two members of Congress from New Jersey have introduced a bill to improve the review process of proposed pipeline projects. This comes after the Biden administration recently backed the PennEast Pipeline in a Supreme Court case. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D- Mercer) and Tom Malinowski (D-Hunterdon) on Wednesday announced the introduction of the Safe and Accountable Federal Energy Review for Pipelines Act of 2021. According to Watson Coleman and Malinowski, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has for years relied on outdated private agreements to determine whether to approve future natural gas pipelines. "The current process for pipeline approval lacks the necessary oversight to protect our natural environment and ensure future generations can live on a safe and clean planet," Watson Coleman said in a statement. "The SAFER Pipelines Act will ensure the approval of future pipelines consider existing capacity as well as closely monitor the environmental impacts of new construction." Watson Coleman is a member of the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. Earlier this month, Watson Coleman and Malinowski released a statement expressing "disappointment" after the Department of Justice submitted a brief defending PennEast pipeline's efforts to seize New Jersey land for a project. Read More Here: NJ Representatives Disappointed As Biden Backs PennEast Pipeline PennEast is planning to build a 120-mile natural gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, cutting through Hunterdon and Mercer Counties. Malinowski said that the current approval process has "failed landowners in New Jersey."
N.J. Warns of Undermining States in Supreme Court Pipeline Case - Bloomberglaw.com - A win for a pipeline developer in a pending U.S. Supreme Court case would trample state sovereignty, New Jersey lawyers told the high court Wednesday. “Fundamental precepts of sovereign immunity establish that private parties cannot sue nonconsenting States. That rule extends to condemnation suits,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal (D) argued in the state’s brief. At issue is the proposed PennEast natural gas pipeline, a $1 billion project that would stretch more than 100 miles from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. PennEast received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and began using eminent domain authority to seize...
Hearing on re-powering Hudson Valley gas plant draws lots of speakers— With a ruling expected inside of a year, nearly 300 speakers signed up for a web-based public hearing Wednesday afternoon on a proposal to rebuild and re-activate the Danskammer power plant along the Hudson River near here. A second hearing before the Public Service Commission’s Electric Generation Siting and the Environment also was set for Wednesday evening. Even though, the plan submitted to the Public Service Commission has been deemed to be complete, most of Wednesday’s speakers said they opposed the plant due to the pollution that an expanded larger natural-gas fired facility would emit. “We have clean energy programs on the way,” said Beth Hoeffner, an Orange County resident, referring to the state’s push, under a landmark 2019 law calling for greenhouse gas reductions in the coming decades. “The emissions will worsen climate change,” said Caroline Fenner, with Mothers Out Front, a nearby Dutchess County group. “I’m not the only person that needs clean air,” said Ann Logan, a resident of New York City’s Upper West Side. Like some others who spoke against the plant, she lived outside the plant’s immediate location in the Newburgh area. But like others, she referenced the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which lays the groundwork for a transition to green energy such as wind and solar to meet future power needs. The law calls for carbon free electricity in the state by 2040. Others noted that the plant would use fracked natural gas from out of state, even though New York has banned drilling for such gas amid fears of harming the water supply. The Danskammer plant isn’t new or closed. Dating to the 1950s and originally built to burn coal, the facility currently operates as a “peaker,” plant which is fired up during periods of peak power need, usually in summer when air conditioning use strains the grid. But owners Danskammer Energy Inc. are proposing a $500 million plan to retire its current equipment and rebuild the plant, user newer cleaner technology for a 600-megwatt capacity plant to operate on an ongoing basis. Part of that could be to fill any energy holes created by the coming shut-down of the last unit at Indian Point nuclear plant near Peekskill. They say the plant would run 60-70 percent of the time but because it would use new equipment, would offset pollution such as nitrogen oxide that older gas plants in the area currently emit.
Pieridae plans to use fracked natural gas from Pennsylvania at its proposed Goldboro LNG plant, and that's a huge problem - Halifax Examiner --Pieridae US, a Canadian States-Canada corporation, states that the U.S.-sourced natural gas will be exported to Canada at the United border near Baileyville, Maine, at the juncture of the Maritimes & Northeast (M&N) US Pipeline and the M&N Canada Pipeline (collectively, the M&N Pipeline). Pieridae US seeks to export this volume of U.S.-sourced natural gas in the Goldboro LNG Project, where the U.S.-sourced natural gas is liquefied, then re-exported as LNG from Canada by vessel to any other country with which trade is not prohibited by U.S. law or policy (non-FTA countries). “The Pierdae Energy export plan states that it intends to take advantage of the abundance of natural gas from the Marcellus shale fracking fields in Pennsylvania,” reported Tim Faulkner for ecoRI News. “This natural gas is the main source of fuel to meet the project’s goal of exporting up to 800 million cubic feet of domestically produced natural gas per day through a new LNG facility in Nova Scotia.” To bring natural gas from Pennsylvania to Nova Scotia required connecting the Texas Eastern pipeline travelling through Pennsylvania to the M&NP pipeline via a project called “the Atlantic Bridge,” which hinges on a compression plant built in North Weymouth, Massachusetts, just south of Boston. That connection is now complete. On its website, Pieridae has described the source gas for Goldboro in several ways, but so far as I can see, never from the US. In 2018, it said the source fuel was from Quebec and New Brunswick. By 2010, Shell Oil fields in Alberta and British Columbia were added. But again: no mention of Pennsylvania. Moreover, in a PowerPoint presentation before Canadian federal officials in which it was requesting $925 million in financing from the Canadian government, Pieridae made no mention that the money would be used, in part, to enable it to sell gas from Pennsylvania.Nova Scotia bans fracking, as does Germany. Both jurisdictions have determined that fracking simply presents too many environmental and social problems than they’re willing to enable. Joan Baxter asked the German government about its fracking ban in relation to the government’s proposed plan to provide partial financing for the Goldboro plant: Baxter: Although there are moratoriums on hydraulic fracturing in Germany (and in Nova Scotia, where Goldboro is to be built), it appears that at least a portion of the LNG may come from fracked sources. Given these moratoriums, why would the German state provide loan guarantees for a company that will be sourcing fracked gas? Is this not a contradiction and betrayal of German public policy? The German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy didn’t really answer the question:
All Eyes on Weymouth as FERC Signals Interest in Environmental Justice - Drilled News - Local activists and legislators have been fighting the Enbridge natural gas compressor in Weymouth for years. It’s too close to residents and businesses, and poses too many health risks to a community that’s already borne the burden of too much pollution, they say. The project was approved by FERC in 2019, built and became operational in 2020. Then it had an emergency shutdown. And another. Now FERC is considering the unprecedented move of re-thinking its permit, a decision that could have broad ramifications.Check out Miriam Wasser’s ongoing reporting on this at WBUR: https://www.wbur.org/earthwhile/2021/03/19/weymouth-compressor-ferc-precedent-enbridge-natural-gas (audio & transcdript)
Stream crossings for Mountain Valley Pipeline become more complicated - Mountain Valley Pipeline’s path across hundreds of streams and wetlands, one of the last unfinished parts of a project long delayed by controversy, could grow even longer and more complicated. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality recently informed federal officials that it could take nearly a year to issue a water quality certification needed as part of a renewed application for water body crossings. “Based on the complexity of this project and past public controversy, we cannot reasonably issue the VWP [Virginia Water Protection] permit before December 2021 and believe it is quite likely that we could not issue this permit until early 2022,” Melanie Davenport, DEQ’s director of water permitting, wrote Thursday in a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Davenport asked the Army Corps to extend a deadline that normally falls 120 days after an application is submitted, in this case July 2. If the Army Corps were to approve the request, it would make it all but impossible for Mountain Valley to complete construction of the $6 billion project by year’s end, as it has been telling investors and the public since last November. Original plans called for work to be done by 2018, but lawsuits by environmental groups have led to multiple delays. Mountain Valley is disappointed with DEQ’s request and “continues to target a late 2021 in-service date,” spokeswoman Natalie Cox said Monday.
Virginia says it can't issue stream crossing permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline before winter -- Despite developers’ hopes of completing the Mountain Valley Pipeline by the end of 2021, Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality has told federal officials that it won’t be able to issue a new water quality permit for the project’s stream crossings before December. “Based on the complexity of this project and past public controversy, we cannot reasonably issue the (Virginia Water Protection) permit before December 2021 and we believe it is quite likely that we could not issue this permit until early 2022,” wrote DEQ Water Permitting Division Director Melanie Davenport in a March 25 letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. While Mountain Valley Pipeline previously sought to use a “blanket permit” known as Nationwide Permit 12 to authorize all stream crossings along its 303-mile length, its developers reversed course in January following legal challenges and broader uncertainty regarding the permit’s future. Under Virginia’s State Water Control Law, any natural gas pipeline that is more than 36 inches in diameter has to obtain a Virginia Water Protection Permit covering “each wetland and stream crossing” from DEQ. Mountain Valley Pipeline is 42 inches in diameter. In her letter to the corps, Davenport said that review, public comment and public hearing procedures laid out in state law would make it “impossible” for Virginia to issue the permit by the July 2 deadline set by the Army Corps. Instead, the state is requesting that it be given until March 3, 2022, to issue the permit. Mountain Valley Pipeline spokesperson Natalie Cox said that the pipeline’s in-service date of late 2021 remains in place. Once scheduled to be completed in 2018, Mountain Valley’s in-service date has been pushed back repeatedly as the project has faced intense public opposition, particularly in Virginia, numerous environmental violations and the loss of numerous permits as a result of court challenges. Another major pipeline intended to transport natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale fields to the South Atlantic region, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, was canceled by developers Dominion Energy and Duke Energy in July 2020 after delays caused costs to balloon.
"This land means a whole lot to me:" Property owners, advocates in Memphis fight to stop pipeline project - CBS News - Clyde Robinson calls a green acre of land in southwest Memphis his legacy. It's been in his family since the 1930s. "This land means a whole lot to me," he told CBS News' Adriana Diaz. The 80-year-old is among several Memphis landowners fighting to keep a crude oil pipeline from cutting through their property. Robinson and others, like Scottie Fitzgerald, said they are being robbed of their land and livelihood. "This, to me, it is hurtful. I am offended," Fitzgerald said. The two energy companies overseeing the project plan to build a pipeline about 4 feet underground. It would stretch 49 miles in order to connect two existing pipelines transporting crude oil to the Gulf Coast. The company Plains All American said the Byhalia Pipeline is "a safe, responsible way to meet the energy needs of our country" and said they're paying above market price to homeowners for access to their land. But environmental activists and many locals said the pipeline companies are pressuring mostly Black property owners to build through their land while also putting Memphis' pristine drinking water at risk of contamination. "We are facing one of the most significant environmental justice and environmentally racist projects in the country's present and history in Memphis, Tennessee," said Justin Pearson, co-founder of Memphis Community Against The Pipeline. Pearson said Memphis is the largest municipality in the country to solely rely on groundwater for its drinking water. He said the pipeline would be built in an area where there are known breaches in the clay layer. "And so there are holes where this contamination would more quickly get to our drinking water source than other places in the city or other places where they may operate pipelines. It is not true that this is safe," Pearson said.
CBS This Morning puts national spotlight on Byhalia Pipeline fight - The proposed Byhalia Pipeline fight in Memphis was featured Thursday on CBS This Morning, where opponents called the project environmental racism. Nearby landowners and activists appeared on the program talking about the impact to properties from the crude oil pipeline and its potential impact on the city’s aquifer. The company behind the controversial Byhalia Pipeline responded to that criticism, saying they’ve chosen the path with the least amount of impact on Memphis residents. They also noted that the vast majority of homeowners living on land slated to be used for the project have agreed to allow the work to happen. As proposed, the Byhalia Pipeline will run 49 miles through parts of Memphis, and Desoto and Marshall counties in Mississippi, connecting two existing crude oil pipelines. Groups in Memphis have taken issue with the project saying it primarily impacts Black neighborhoods like Boxtown and runs over the Memphis water supply. To date, several celebrities have joined the cause, including former Vice Presiden Al Gore. On Thursday, Katie Martin with Plains All American said that they have listened to members of the community and have spoken with researchers on how they can install the pipeline in a responsible way and meet the nation’s energy needs. The route was drawn so it would impact the least amount of people -often taking advantage of vacant lots. They purposefully avoided landmarks and densely populated areas, she said. Those homeowners who will be impacted have been offered a fair market value for access to the land, and to date, 97 percent have accepted their proposal. Martin said the company did not draw the line to specifically target one group or another.
Driftwood Pipeline expansion offers Haynesville enhanced market access — Driftwood Pipeline announced March 29 the start of a binding open season for its proposed Line 200 and Line 300 expansion project intended to serve growing natural gas demand along the US Gulf Coast. The project would significantly expand shippers' market access to industrial, petrochemical, power generation and LNG export demand along the Gulf Coast with interconnections to 12 existing interstate and intrastate pipelines. The project's phase 1 development would originate at a proposed interconnect with Texas Eastern Transmission near Ragley, Louisiana, moving gas 37 miles southwest to a termination point at Carlyss, Louisiana. The 42-inch diameter pipeline would transport up to 2.4 Bcf/d with service expected to begin by September 2024. The project's phase 2 development would offer additional compression, boosting capacity to a maximum 3.2 Bcf/d by its expected completion in June 2026. The final development phase would include construction of an additional 31 miles of 42-inch diameter looped pipeline, expanding the project's maximum capacity to a total of 4.6 Bcf/d with a targeted in-service date of December 2026. The Driftwood Pipeline itself remains a proposed project that would ship gas 96 miles southwest from Evangeline Parish, Louisiana to the Driftwood LNG terminal. While neither project has been sanctioned by developer, Tellurian, both projects did receive a green light from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in April 2019. Tellurian's proposed Louisiana pipeline promises to improve market access from multiple producing basins across the US but could offer the biggest advantage to producers in the nearby Haynesville shale. Along with the developer's 2 Bcf/d Haynesville Global Access Pipeline, Tellurian's proposed midstream projects in Louisiana would give Haynesville producers access to additional interstate and intrastate pipelines capable of reaching end-users across the Gulf Coast. As output from the Louisiana/Texas shale continues rebounding from last year's drilling slowdown, upcoming midstream expansions are now looking critical to the basin's future growth. Month to date, gas production from the Haynesville has averaged its highest on record at over 12.7 Bcf/d. With Enverus data showing an estimated 47 rigs currently in operation, the Haynesville is now the only US basin where drilling activity has exceeded its pre-pandemic level. According to recent forecasts from S&P Global Platts Analytics, this year's acceleration in upstream activity there could see output grow by an incremental 15% or more by late 2021.
U.S. natgas rises on record LNG exports, higher demand views (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures rose on Monday on record liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and forecasts for slightly higher demand this week, while the possibility of an early start to the injection season partly limited gains. On their last day as the front-month, gas futures NGc1 for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2.9 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $2.586 per million British thermal units. "Natural gas is getting a bounce partly because of increased demand expectations and concerns over the delay of LNG shipments, because of the Suez Canal," said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "Some of the power outages we saw from Texas are ending, so we are seeing more electricity demand. So a combination of those factors are giving a little bit of support." Shipping traffic through Egypt's Suez Canal has resumed after the refloating of a giant container ship that had been blocking the busy waterway for almost a week. nL1N2LR06I nC6N2J002N Data provider Refinitiv estimated 181 heating degree days (HDDs) over the next two weeks in the Lower 48 U.S. states. The normal number for this time of year is 213 HDDs. HDDs measure the number of degrees a day's average temperature is below 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius) and are used to estimate demand to heat homes and businesses. Refinitiv projected average gas demand, including exports, would rise to 99.2 bcfd this week from 97.5 bcfd in the prior week. The amount of gas flowing to U.S. LNG export plants, meanwhile, has averaged 10.7 bcfd so far in March. That compares with a four-month low of 8.5 bcfd in February, when extreme cold cut power and gas supplies to the facilities, and puts feedgas on track to match the monthly record of 10.7 bcfd in December. nL1N2LH11V Buyers around the world continue to purchase near-record amounts of U.S. gas because prices in Europe TRNLTTFMc1 and Asia JKMc1 remain high enough to cover the cost of buying and transporting the U.S. fuel across the ocean. However, there is "market anticipation of a possible storage injection to be announced this Thursday. If so, then this year's injection season will start one week earlier than usual, which indicates a somewhat bearish news to the market", Output in the Lower 48 has averaged 91.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in March, up sharply from a 28-month low of 86.5 bcfd in February. That, however, was still much lower than the record monthly high of 95.4 bcfd in November 2019.
May Natural Gas Futures Falter, Despite LNG Momentum - Natural Gas Intelligence - Robust U.S. export activity held at lofty levels, but natural gas futures fell again on Wednesday as traders mulled domestic demand weakness and the potential for a bearish government inventory report on Thursday. EIA storage March 26 The May Nymex contract settled at $2.608/MMBtu, down 1.5 cents day/day. It declined 3.0 cents a day earlier, its first session as the prompt month. June fell 1.4 cents on Wednesday to $2.667. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg., however, advanced 12.0 cents to $2.450 amid a brief blast of chilly rains and cool air over the Midwest and eastern Lower 48 ahead of warmth in April. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) levels were strong throughout March, boosted by rising European demand in addition to continued Asian imports. A harsh winter in Europe depleted stockpiles, creating a need to bolster inventories with U.S. LNG ahead of the summer cooling season. LNG feed gas volumes eclipsed 11.7 Bcf on both Tuesday and Wednesday, near record levels, according to NGI data. But forecasters said that, as the weather heats up in April, customary spring maintenance projects would limit capacity at LNG facilities and eat into feed gas volumes. Rising temperatures also could push much of the Lower 48 into a multi-week period of comfortable weather conditions that minimize both heating and cooling needs, dampening demand for natural gas.
US natural gas storage injection season starts early with 14 Bcf build | S&P Global Platts - The first net injection of the year to natural gas stocks came one week earlier than normal because of the arrival of mild weather across much of the US, as the Energy Information Administration also revised the pull for the week prior down 4 Bcf. Storage inventories increased 14 Bcf to 1.764 Tcf for the week ended March 26 EIA reported the morning of April 1. The injection was below the 19 Bcf build an S&P Global Platts' survey of analysts expected. It stood in contrast to historical draws of 20 Bcf and 24 Bcf reported during the same week a year ago and the five-year average, respectively, according to EIA data. Storage volumes now stand 225 Bcf, or 11%, below the year-ago level of 1.989 Tcf and 36 Bcf, or 2%, below the five-year average of 1.8 Tcf. The report also featured a revision to the week ended March 19 from a 36 Bcf to a 32 Bcf draw because of a discrepancy in the South-Central region's non-salt storage fields. Gas demand for power generation in the Southeast and Texas averaged 11.1 Bcf/d in March, 2.2 Bcf/d below both February 2021 and March 2020, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics. Despite temperatures in the region averaging 2.5 degrees above normal, the lower burns mainly were driven by a rise in wind and coal to the generation stacks of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and SERC Reliability Corporation. In March 2020, gas accounted for 41% of ERCOT's generation stack, with wind at 26% and coal at 30%. This March, gas is down to 36% while wind and coal are up to 38% and 33%, respectively. For SERC, gas made up nearly 60% of total generation in March 2020 while coal was responsible for just 13%. This year, coal generation is up to 20%, while the gas share slid to 50%. While wind generation relies on the weather, prices mainly dictate coal and gas generation and can explain some of the higher coal burns this year versus last year. Prices at the Henry Hub in Louisiana last March averaged $1.75/MMBtu while, this March, they have averaged $2.57/MMBtu, which has encouraged more coal generation. The NYMEX Henry Hub May contract rose 2 cents to $2.63/MMBtu in trading following the release of the weekly storage report. The entire summer strip, May through October, also rose 2 cents to $2.72/MMBtu while the winter 2021-22 strip ticked up 1 cent to average $2.94/MMBtu. Platts Analytics' supply and demand model currently forecasts a 25 Bcf net injection for the week ending April 2, compared with the five-year average build of 8 Bcf. Total demand has fallen more than 1.8 Bcf/d compared with the prior week. Much of the loss was witnessed within the residential-commercial sector, which fell over 2 Bcf/d. Power burns offset some of the weakness in res-comm — with burns growing about 600 MMcf/d compared with the prior week as coal-to-gas switching accelerated. On the supply side of the ledger, US production was roughly flat The latest Platts Analytics projection has storage peaking at 3.5 Tcf in late October, which would measure more than 200 Bcf below the five-year average.
Natural Gas Futures Hop Ahead of Long Easter Weekend on EIA ‘Neutral’ Print, Lower Production -- A couple of minor surprises in the latest government storage report sparked a modest gain for natural gas futures ahead of the long Easter weekend. With a few brief cold snaps on the radar, the May contract finished Thursday’s session 3.1 cents higher day/day at $2.639. \ Spot gas prices were lower, however, amid weak holiday demand. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. fell 10.5 cents to $2.345. NatGasWeather said volatility was expected given the Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report and players positioning for the three-day holiday weekend. That proved true as prices started off lower day/day, then rallied and continued to ping pong throughout much of the session. “To our view, as long as $2.58 holds on May, bulls are in control,” NatGasWeather said. The latest storage data delivered a couple of surprises and fueled the volatility. The EIA reported a net 14 Bcf injection into natural gas storage for the week ending March 26, coming in slightly below market expectations and prematurely putting an end to the withdrawal season that traditionally runs through the end of March. The EIA figure included a 4 Bcf revision for the week ending March 19 that resulted in a 32 Bcf withdrawal, rather than a 36 Bcf draw. The change occurred in the nonsalt facilities in the South Central region, where inventories reached 519 Bcf for the period. In light of the EIA revision, Bespoke Weather Services said it rated the 14 Bcf injection as a “neutral number.” The firm had projected a 22 Bcf build. Broken down by region, the South Central added a net 15 Bcf into storage, including 11 Bcf into salt facilities and 4 Bcf into nonsalts, according to EIA. Pacific stocks rose by 1 Bcf, while the East and Mountain regions each recorded no change. The Midwest continued to withdraw, pulling 4 Bcf out of inventories.
ENERGY POLICY: Bills would push natural gas exports, restrict solar imports -- Monday, March 29, 2021 -- -- Two Republican senators introduced legislation last week to make it easier for liquid natural gas exports to secure needed permits from the Department of Energy and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Conservation groups ask Haaland to block oil drilling in Florida preserve --A coalition of conservation groups called on Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to deny requests to drill for oil in a section of the Florida Everglades in a letter Tuesday. The Burnett Oil Company has submitted two applications to the state Department of Environmental Protection seeking permits for a new oil well and the construction of an access road near the Big Cypress National Preserve.The company is also proposing a second well in the close vicinity of Miccosukee tribal lands. Although the preserve is part of the National Park System, some of the fossil fuels beneath it are privately owned.“Both proposed well sites are located in wetlands and primary Florida panther habitat. These proposed oil wells and their associated land clearing, equipment storage, wetlands filling, hydrologic alterations, staging areas, access roads, drilling rigs, storage tanks, fuel tanks, water wells, disposal wells, reserve pits, grading, erosion, sedimentation, and potential oil spills– on their face– would be detrimental to the explicit purposes of the Preserve,” the letter states. Signers of the letter include the Center for Biological Diversity, Earth Action, Sierra Club and the South Florida Audubon Society.The wells would also create emissions that threaten the preserve’s status as a vital “carbon sink,” or a reservoir that stores more carbon than it releases, the letter states. The oil company has yet to finish the mitigation process required as part of its National Park Service access permit, the letter states, and it has already done “extensive damage” during the initial phase of oil exploration.“People don’t come to a national park to see oil wells. The constant threat of oil and gas exploration in Big Cypress National Preserve jeopardizes the sensitive habitat this park provides for endangered species like the Florida Panther, as well as the one-of-a-kind park experience Big Cypress offers to so many visitors,” Cara Capp, senior Everglades program manager for National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement.
US government has returned all the oil it stored for companies when prices crashed last year The U.S. has returned 18.3 million barrels of oil temporarily stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve by energy companies that had rented space there when prices were crashing last year. Oil prices briefly turned negative last year in an unprecedented period of volatility after the economy shut down and demand dried up. On April 2, 2020, the Department of Energy said it would offer oil companies 30 million barrels of space. The agency later announced it had rented space to nine companies for 23 million barrels of crude. The government charged them rent in oil. When the announcement was made, oil was trading in the $20s per barrel, but less than three weeks later, West Texas Intermediate futures were negative by more than $37 per barrel. Under the agreement, the oil was to be removed by March 31. An Energy Department spokesperson told CNBC Tuesday that all of the oil was returned except for 1.2 million barrels paid as rent and another 1.5 million being held under a lease deal with the government of Australia. Australia purchased the oil from a company that participated in the storage program. The companies that stored oil in the reserve include Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Energy Transfer, Equinor Marketing and Trading, Mercuria Energy, MVP Holdings, Vitol, Atlantic Trading and Alon USA. The current inventory in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is 638.1 million barrels. The Energy Department expects the reserve to have 628.1 million barrels at the end of May, following a Congressionally directed sale of 10 million gallons.
Texas upstream oil and natural gas sector added 2,300 jobs in February roughly one year after industry reported 'bloodbath' - – The Texas oil and natural gas industry's upstream sector added 2,300 jobs in February, a record achievement less than nine months after it reported a “bloodbath.” According to data from the Texas Workforce Commission, the sector added 7,400 jobs since the low point in September 2020, bringing the total upstream employment in the state to 164,900 jobs. The upstream sector involves oil and natural gas extraction and excludes other industry sectors like refining, petrochemicals, fuels wholesaling, oilfield equipment manufacturing, pipelines, and gas utilities, which support several hundred thousand additional jobs. Many of those jobs pay among the highest wages in Texas. “The resilience and reliability of the Texas oil and natural gas industry is remarkable and it is the reason this industry will be essential to the energy mix for decades to come,” Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association, said in a statement. After the state shut down in mid-March last year, wells closed, rigs stopped operating, and tens of thousands of workers were immediately laid off. Texas' oil output fell in March by an estimated 235,000 barrels per day, the largest monthly decline ever recorded, according to the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. The Alliance’s benchmark Texas Petro Index (TPI) fell to 172 in April from 181.9 in March, the second largest monthly decline on record (the September to October 2015 11-point drop was the largest on record). “The Texas upstream oil and gas economy was already in a state of decline when COVID-19 came along, with drops in the number of working rigs and industry employment, but the rate of decline has obviously accelerated sharply in March and April,” Karr Ingham, an Alliance economist who created the TPI, told Natural Gas Intel last year. By last March, more than 51,000 jobs were lost after drilling companies and refineries were forced to lay off workers. By April, Philip Jordan, vice president of BW Research Partnership, told Bloomberg News, “We’re looking at anywhere between five and seven years of job growth wiped out in a month.” But by February 2021, after the state’s lockdown had ended, the sector started to show signs of life.
US oil, gas rig count rises 6 to 519 as Permian, Eagle Ford lead growth: Enverus — The US oil and gas rig count rose six to 519 in the week ended March 31, rig data provider Enverus said, as totals in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale continued to climb. The Permian, sited in West Texas/southeast New Mexico, and Eagle Ford, in South Texas, each picked up four rigs week on week for respective totals of 236 and 41, marking their highest levels in nearly a year. Since the start of 2021, the Permian has added 60 rigs and the Eagle Ford has gained 10. The increase in nationwide rig counts was attributed to the oil side, which grew by six to 393. Gas rigs were static at 126. Weekly changes in rig fleets within the largest US basins were mostly up or down a unit or unchanged, although the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana lost two rigs, leaving 14. The Haynesville Shale of East Texas and Northwest Louisiana gained one for a total of 48, while the SCOOP/STACK play in Oklahoma and DJ Basin of Colorado were each down a rig, leaving 18 and 13, respectively. Unchanged on week were the Marcellus Shale of largely Pennsylvania at 33 rigs, and the Utica Shale of Ohio at 12. So far this year, the total oil and gas rig count is up 113, equating to a robust average gain of about nine rigs per week. The count has increased every week save for once in mid-February, when it stood still for a week, before surging by 30.
How A Bill To Prevent Natural Gas Bans In Texas Homes Could Lead To Another Blackout | KUT Radio - The Texas House will vote Tuesday on a handful of bills related to February’s deadly blackouts. The package of legislation has been fast-tracked by lawmakers who say it will safeguard Texas against future blackouts. But among the bills is a proposal that some analysts say would actually make another blackout more likely. House Bill 17 by Beaumont Democratic state Rep. Joe Deshotel would stop Texas cities and towns from banning natural gas hookups in new construction. The law was initially written in response to California cities banning natural gas use in buildings to fight climate change. With the support of the natural gas industry, other states have already preemptively passed laws to “ban” local natural gas “bans.” Deshotel’s legislation got a rebranding when it was included on the list of bills prioritized in response to the blackout. Earlier this month, Deshotel said "gas played an important part in helping a lot of people” during the blackout. “I know in my own home, I was able to keep things going because we had a generator that kicked on and ran on natural gas,” he said in a hearing of the House State Affairs Committee.About one-third of Texas homes use natural gas for heat, so it’s understandable to think increasing that number would keep more people warm when blackouts hit. But the opposite could be true. “This bill absolutely, unequivocally, would make the problem worse,” said Doug Lewin, energy efficiency advocate and president of the consulting firm Stoic Climate and Energy. He said that's because of the interconnectedness of electricity and natural gas in Texas. One of the causes of February’s blackout was the failure of natural gas to get to gas-fired power plants. Plant owners have testified that that lack of supply forced them to shut down their generators, adding to the power crunch. At the same time, state regulators prioritized gas delivery to residential customers. That helped people with natural gas in their homes, but took fuel away from the plants. Lewin said HB 17 would mean "locking in additional fossil fuel infrastructure [in homes] which will need fossil fuels in the next winter storm.” “Every molecule of gas going to a home is a molecule not going to a power plant,” he said, which could lead to another blackout.
Texas officials responded to the winter storm with propaganda they got from a pro-fossil fuel think tank --In February, Texas experienced an unprecedented winter storm that saw roads shut down from snowfall and millions left without power as the state's electric grid failed in freezing temperatures. The situation was so bad that the CEO of the state's grid operator said that the grid was mere minutes away from a total collapse. And yet, while the storm that killed at least 86 peoplecontinued, Texas oil and gas regulators spent their days circulating climate change denialism talking points, according to a report from NBC News.The talking points, which claimed that renewable energy sources like wind and solar power are "often useless when you need them most," originated from Alex Epstein, author of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels and the founder of the for-profit think tank the Center for Industrial Progress. Epstein, aclimate skeptic and fossil fuel fanboy, reportedly provided talking points to a number of Texas politicians via email and hosted a briefing on Zoom to which a number of state officials — including Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's chief of staff Luis Saenz — were invited. According to NBC News, talking points from Epstein landed in the inbox of a number of officials in the governor's office and at the Railroad Commission, the state's primary oil and gas industry regulator.It certainly wasn't hard to find Epstein's agenda in action. Once Texas leaders got their hands on the messaging, they ran with it. On the same day that Epstein's email hit inboxes, Railroad Commission member Wayne Christianretweeted Epstein and issued a statement warning of the "dangers of relying too heavily on unreliable, intermittent forms of electric generation like wind and solar" to meet the state's energy needs. Later that evening, Abbott appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show to use a deadly natural disasterto declare that "the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America."Texas officials pulled this stunt over and over again, pointing to frozen wind turbines as the supposed reason for the power outage. Despite the fact that wind makes up just 10% of the state's energy production while natural gas and coal account for 72%, and despite the fact that Texas operates largely independently from any federal regulation, Epstein pushed the following message, per NBC News: "Here's the bottom line: The root cause of the [Texas] blackouts is a national and state policy that has prioritized the adoption of unreliable wind/solar energy over reliable energy."Texas officials proved capable of regurgitating that message no problem and did so at every turn — and apparently have been for some time. NBC News reported that Epstein hosts weekly calls that Texas officials can join, and that he regularly sends climate-denying memos as part of an "Energy Talking Points" service, which gets passed around the Texas government regularly. On Feb. 22, an edition of the email with new information and praise for officials who happily spewed the previous messages landed in the inbox of the spokesperson for a Railroad Commission member, who then forwarded the message to three Texas oil and gas lobbying groups with the note, "Talking points from Alex Epstein. Not sure if y'all call in to his calls but wanted to see what he sent out today."It should come as no surprise that Texas officials are so cozy with someone so heavily invested in promoting fossil fuels. After all, Abbott himself apparently took meetings with a right-wing, anti-science meteorologist as the winter storm was about to hit. Oil is Texas's primary export, so it has a vested interest in defending the dirty-burning energy source. Still, it’s a little shocking just how brazenly they eat this shit up and how transparent they are about pushing bad information. Epstein provides talking points, officials go repeat them, and then Epstein points to these officials backing what he said as evidence that he was right all along. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Fossil Fuel Companies Took Billions in U.S. Coronavirus Relief Funds but Still Cut Nearly 60,000 Jobs - When Congress looked to prop up a tanking economy and stanch its hemorrhaging of employment as the pandemic spread last year, the oil industry was among those that sought relief. Now, a new analysis shows that dozens of fossil fuel companies received billions of dollars in tax benefits in the coronavirus relief package, but slashed tens of thousands of jobs anyway. While Congress ended up sending billions in direct loans to small and large businesses, a significant portion of CARES Act benefits came in the form of changes to the tax code. At least 77 fossil fuel companies took advantage of those to claim a total of $8.2 billion in benefits last year, even as they cut nearly 60,000 jobs, according to an analysis published Friday by BailoutWatch, a nonprofit supported by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Chris Kuveke, a BailoutWatch analyst, said the data shows that the aid to the industry failed to deliver the benefits that Congress had intended. “These companies did not use that money they received through the CARES Act to maintain payroll,” he said.As oil prices collapsed last year, some energy companies began lobbying Congress and the federal government for various forms of relief. Occidental Petroleum, for example, enlisted its employees to send letters to members of Congress to ask that they “provide liquidity” to the energy industry,according to Bloomberg News. Among the various forms of stimulus included in the final relief package were changes to the tax code that proved beneficial to the oil industry.For example, companies for years were allowed to “carry back” their losses in one year to offset profits from previous years to get a retroactive tax refund. That allowance helped companies with volatile earnings, but it was eliminated by the 2017 tax cuts signed into law by President Donald Trump. The change was one of the few provisions of the tax overhaul that modestly increased the tax burden for corporations, even as the bill overall drastically reduced corporate taxes, said Thornton Matheson, a senior fellow at Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.The CARES Act eliminated that change, and even expanded on the original provision, allowing companies to carry any losses incurred from 2018-2020 back five years, instead of the two years allowed before the 2017 tax bill. Matheson said the oil and gas industry was among a few likely to benefit most from that part of the CARES Act, because its earnings can swing wildly with commodity prices.Thus the change allowed companies to stretch losses from 2018 back to 2013, when oil prices were above $100 a barrel and profits for some of them were sky high (prices fell sharply in late 2014, and have not fully recovered). Marathon Petroleum, a major refiner, benefited the most, the analysis found, claiming $2.1 billion in tax benefits, according to the BailoutWatch analysis. The company cut nearly 2,000 jobs last year, not counting those in its retail business.
Biden infrastructure plan would spend $16 billion to clean up old mines, oil wells - (AP) — President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion plan to transform America’s infrastructure includes $16 billion to plug old oil and gas wells and clean up abandoned mines, a longtime priority for Western and rural lawmakers from both parties. Hundreds of thousands of “orphaned” oil and gas wells and abandoned coal and hardrock mines pose serious safety hazards, while causing ongoing environmental damage. The administration sees the longstanding problem as an opportunity to create jobs and remediate pollution, including greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Biden said last week he wants to put pipefitters and miners to work capping the wells “at the same price that they would charge to dig those wells.” Many of the old wells and mines are located in rural communities that have been hard-hit by the pandemic. Biden’s plan would not only create jobs, but help reduce methane and brine leaks that pollute the air and groundwater. Methane is a powerful contributor to global warming. The Interior Department has long led efforts to cap orphaned wells — so named because no owner can be found — but does not assess user fees to cover reclamation costs. Bond requirements for well operators, when known, are often inadequate to cover full clean-up costs. Biden’s plan, which needs approval by Congress, would jump-start the well-capping effort and expand it dramatically. Similarly, the White House plan would exponentially boost an Abandoned Mine Land program run by Interior that uses fees paid by coal mining companies to reclaim coal mines abandoned before 1977. About $8 billion has been disbursed to states for mine-reclamation projects in the past four decades, but Biden’s plan would ramp up spending sharply. Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has long pushed to expand the mine-lands program, which he calls crucial to his state. “It cannot be forgotten that West Virginia coal miners powered our country to greatness,” Manchin said. While many mine lands in coal communities have been reclaimed, “there is still much more work to be done to clean up damage to the land and water in those communities,” he said. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate energy panel, ridiculed Biden’s overall plan as “an out-of-control socialist spending spree.” The proposal “starts with the punishing policies of the Green New Deal and builds back worse from there,”
Biden’s Recovery Plan Has an Unforeseen Consequence: More Demand For Oil - When President Biden yesterday unveiled his $2-trillion economic recovery plan, few in his immediate circle likely thought about oil. Yet, the plan will have a positive effect on oil demand because $621 billion of the total would be used for transportation infrastructure, including lots of roads. And roads are built with asphalt. Of this $621 billion, $115 billion would be allocated for road and bridge construction, Bloomberg noted in a report, and another $16 billion has been earmarked for laid-off oilfield workers who would be tasked with plugging abandoned oil wells and securing abandoned coal mines across the country. But the biggest winner from the recovery plan could be Canadian oil sands producers in what could be seen as an ironic twist of fate after Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline that might have made life easier for these companies by providing a much needed additional outlet for their growing oil exports to the southern neighbor. Asphalt is made from bitumen, and bitumen is what the oil sands yield. With ambitious targets for new roads and bridges and for large-scale repair works, asphalt demand in the next few years could soar. The employment plans for paid-off oil workers are also good news for the troubled industry. Around 120,000 jobs were lost in the U.S. oil and gas industry last year due to the crash in oil demand and prices and subsequent massive downsizing of staffing levels, Rystad Energy said last month in an industry analysis. The United States, the third-biggest employer in the oil and gas sector globally, saw the number of jobs in the industry decline to around 960,000 last year, down from approximately 1,080,000 employees in 2019.
Biden’s Latest Surprise Boost for Oil Involves Lots of Asphalt - President Joe Biden, who made clean energy a core tenet of his campaign, plans to set off one more oil-sector boom before shadows descend on fossil fuels. In a $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal unveiled Wednesday, Biden earmarked $115 billion for roads and bridges, and another $16 billion to put laid-off oilfield laborers to work plugging abandoned wells across the nation. Those are in addition to sweeping investments in electric vehicles and renewable power, sectors more in keeping with the administration’s green tinge. Since taking office two months ago, Biden’s been more boon than bane for a fossil-fuel industry that was wary of the ascendance of a politician bent on accelerating the energy transition. Instead, the president’s focus on things like expediting Covid-19 vaccinations and clamping down on reckless environmental practices have had the effect of boosting fuel demand and capping price-killing growth in domestic oil output. In the infrastructure blueprint, the biggest benefit for oil explorers and refiners would come from the expected jump in demand for asphalt to repair crumbling highways and pave new ones. Because asphalt is derived from the heaviest and most-dense material in a barrel of crude, Canada’s oil-sands producers may be the biggest winners, given their status as the source of some of the globe’s thickest petroleum. Plugging old wells and securing defunct coal mines -- some of which have been abandoned for more than a century in places like Pennsylvania -- would mean paychecks for workers thrown out of high-paying jobs during the back-to-back oil busts that kicked off in 2014. Although details remain scant on how the broad-brush plan will be implemented, the oft-opposing forces of fossil fuels and environmentalism lauded many of the measures laid out in Biden’s plan. The lobbying group that represents more than 700 oilfield service and equipment makers was also pleased with the initial scope of the plan to put hired hands of the shale patch back to work again. North American oil explorers are still recovering from last year’s historic crude crash and pledging to restrain production growth for the sake of investor-friendly measures such as dividends. Canada’s oil-sands industry was among the hardest hit sections of the industry when Covid-19 and a worldwide glut of crude crashed prices last year. Now, assuming some or all of Biden’s wish list is granted, heavy crude from Western Canada may be poised for a rebound. “The asphalt industry should be elated with Biden’s plan to upgrade 20,000 miles of roads in the U.S.,” said Charles Kemp, a senior consultant at Baker & O’Brien Inc. “However, this announcement favors heavier oil production from outside of the U.S., which contains roughly double the amount of asphalt versus the asphalt content in light crudes from U.S. domestic production.”
Line 5: Tribe seeks cultural property protection -- The discovery of a potential archaeological site in the Straits of Mackinac last fall has opened the door for a Michigan tribe to pursue a new, longshot legal strategy to stop the planned Line 5 pipeline tunnel project.The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians passed a resolution in January instructing its historic preservation office to begin compiling research for an application to classify the straits as a Traditional Cultural Property, a rarely used federal designation under the National Register of Historic Places.The status is designed to preserve places associated with often-intangible elements of a local community’s cultural history — in this case, a set of boulders arranged in apparently deliberate lines and semi-circles that might be remnants of a 10,000-year-old caribou-hunting culture.The designation would add fresh uncertainty to the future of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, which already faces an order from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to shut down by next month. Tribal leaders are hopeful their request will be considered under Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American ever to hold the position, but similar attempts by opponents of other pipeline projects, including the Dakota Access, have been unsuccessful.“This opens the door for us,” Andrea Pierce said of her tribe’s resolution. “It shows that we’re speaking out as our own sovereign nation. We need to make our voices heard in this political arena.” Enbridge’s Line 5 has crossed along the bottom of the straits since 1953, carrying crude oil and natural gas liquids from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario. Concerns about the safety of Line 5 in the straits were heightened in 2010 after a spill from Enbridge’s Line 6B pumped up to 1 million gallons of crude oil into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River.“That would not be acceptable in the Straits of Mackinac,” said Pierce, whose tribe has relied on the region’s freshwater resources for at least 1,500 years. “And that’s where I’m at. I have to protect the straits as best as I can.”
Sarnia union leader warns closing Line 5 pipeline will 'kill' his hometown - Sarnia union leader Scott Archer had a stark warning this week for Canada’s federal politicians. “Shutting down Line 5 will in affect kill my hometown … and many more places like it in Canada and the U.S.,” the business manager for Local 663 of the pipefitters’ union told a special Parliamentary committee on the economic relationship between Canada and U.S. “This is not an exaggeration,” he added during the online hearing. “It’s cold, hard fact.” Archer, along with Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley and Andrew Pilat from the Sarnia Construction Association, spoke on the final day of committee hearings on a threat by Michigan’s governor to shut down the Line 5 pipeline in May. The 68-year-old pipeline – owned by Calgary-based energy giant Enbridge – carries western oil and natural gas liquids from Superior, Wis., through Michigan to Sarnia and supplies refineries and propane distribution in Ontario, Quebec and the U.S. Midwest. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has revoked an easement allowing the pipeline to run along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac over concerns about the risk of spills into the Great Lakes, but Enbridge is challenging the order in U.S. federal court and says it will continue operating the pipeline. The company and state are scheduled to begin court-ordered mediation April 16, and Canadian officials have raised the possibility of using a 1977 pipeline treaty with the U.S. to keep Line 5 operating.The Sarnia area is home to three of Ontario’s four refineries, as well as chemical plants served by Line 5 and other pipelines.
Is the Line 5 tunnel a bridge to Michigan’s energy future or a bad deal? As Canadian officials lobbied a Michigan Senate committee in March to keep the Line 5 pipeline open, Sen. Winnie Brinks grew frustrated with a conversation that, up to that point, had focused mainly on the immediate economic and safety implications of a possible shutdown. “We are at a moment of inflection on our energy future,” said Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, and will soon have no choice but to stop burning oil and other fossil fuels to power our vehicles and homes. Additional investment in the pipeline, she said, “does not seem to be the most enlightened way to go forward.” The Great Lakes region is frequently touted as one of the most climate-resilient places in the U.S., in no small part because of its enviable water resources. But climate change threatens water quality, availability, and aging water infrastructure by exposing existing vulnerabilities and creating new ones. “All of us want a lower (greenhouse gas) future,” Rocco Rossi, President & CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce said. But the transition away from the petroleum products that Line 5 carries “is not going to be overnight.” In the meantime, he said, pipelines are the safest and cleanest way to move petroleum from the Alberta tar sands in western Canada to facilities in the U.S. and eastern Canada where it’s turned into propane, jet fuel, plastics and fertilizer. The exchange highlights a sharpening focus on global climate change and economy-wide energy transitions, in a pipeline fight that began with concerns about oil spill risks in a 4-mile-wide strip of water known as the Straits of Mackinac. Against the backdrop of recent carbon neutrality pledges from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and President Joe Biden, activists have ramped up their arguments that the Canadian oil giant Enbridge Energy is threatening Michigan’s water as well as its climate future. Enbridge and its supporters have defended Line 5 as a necessary asset in the transition to clean fuels, without which energy consumers in Michigan and elsewhere would suffer. Now, as a federal judge considers whether Line 5 should shut down in May and state and federal regulators decide whether to let Enbridge replace it with a tunneled pipe deep below the straits that could keep the oil flowing for decades, they’ll grapple with an issue of global significance: Are pipelines like Line 5 a “bridge to the energy future,” as Enbridge CEO Al Monaco has said, or a climate liability that threatens Michigan’s and the world’s progress toward carbon neutrality?
Utility says Ixonia LNG facility would have saved $1.1 million — We Energies officials stated Wednesday that a liquid natural gas storage facility, proposed for location in Ixonia, could have saved Jefferson County customers $1.1 million in heating costs this year if it had been in place. We Energies, in the face of strong local opposition, has been proposing location of an LNG tank in Ixonia northeast of Hill and North Roads, with the project calling for the facility to be located on 20 acres of approximately 165 total acres that is currently farmland.
Wisconsin regulators, residents question pipeline spill Enbridge failed to report for over a year --Canadian firm Enbridge Energy waited more than a year to notify state environmental regulators of a spill of a petroleum substance stemming from one of its pipelines in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Now, community members near the site of the release want answers, and the regulators are determining whether to take enforcement action against the company.An alarm first alerted Enbridge Energy of a release on its Line 13 pipeline on April 26, 2019, near Blackhawk Island Road. Several weeks later, Enbridge staff identified the leak was coming from a valve fitting and made permanent repairs by June 2 of that year. But, it was on July 31, 2020 — more than a year later — that Enbridge reported the leak to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.Now, the DNR is investigating the matter and is working with the company to figure out why there was a reporting delay, said Steve Martin, south central region team supervisor for the DNR’s remediation and redevelopment program."Their initial notification to us indicated a release of less than two gallons, and they indicated they were under the impression there was a five-gallon threshold. That may be part of the problem," said Martin. "But, we’re exploring that further with them to figure out why there was such a delay in the reporting."Under the state spills law, Martin said any release regardless of the amount must be reported immediately to the agency. He said DNR staff are discussing whether to pursue enforcement action against the company and what steps might be taken.
INTERIOR: 13 states urge court to halt Biden's oil leasing freeze -- Thursday, April 1, 2021 -- A coalition of 13 Republican state attorneys general are pressing a federal court to swiftly block the Biden administration's moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters.
Line 3 protesters chain themselves to downtown Duluth business - In an attempt to speak out against Enbridge's ongoing Line 3 pipeline replacement project, protesters gathered in downtown Duluth Wednesday, some chaining themselves to the doors of a building. Police were dispatched to the scene around 11:20 a.m. Two protesters involved used a bike lock to attach themselves to the outside doors of the Wells Fargo building, in an attempt to stop anyone from going inside. The protesters tell us they're against Wells Fargo's investments in the Line 3 project, which they claim could lead to environmental impacts along the route from Alberta to Superior. "We are demanding divestment today. Wells Fargo is economically invested in Tar-sands which we are against," said Rachel Sipress, who is against the Line 3 replacement project. Police told the protesters to leave and firefighters cut the protesters free from the bike locks. According to Duluth's Fire Chief Shawn Krizaj, the protest was overall peaceful and no one was hurt. "We certainly don't condone locking doors. That becomes a fire safety hazard and a public safety hazard," said Krizaj. The bank was eventually reopened to the public.
26 arrests made after Line 3 protest, including a Detroit Lakes resident --A Detroit Lakes resident was among 26 people arrested at the site of a Line 3 pipeline protest in Hubbard County on Thursday, March 25. At 11:17 a.m. March 25, the Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office received a report of about 30 pipeline protesters standing on the side of US Highway 71 at an Enbridge pipeline crossing in Hubbard County's Lake Alice Township. Officers found numerous vehicles parked along the highway, a crowd of protesters standing on the edge of the roadway, and approximately 20-protesters on private property within the pipeline easement. A dispersal order was given to those on the highway and also to those trespassing on private property. Some individuals complied with the order as they moved their vehicles and left the area. Those that remained on the private property were locked together in a circle and were surrounding other protesters who also refused to leave. Officers from Hubbard and Beltrami counties removed the protesters and arrested them. Those charged were:
- Christian Briones, Garland, Texas: Unlawful assembly, trespassing.
- Micah Lott Carpenter, Arapahoe, Wyo.: Unlawful assembly, trespassing, obstructing legal process.
- Helen Clanaugh, Duluth, Minn.: Unlawful assembly, trespassing, obstructing legal process.
- Joshua Decker, Missoula, Mont.: Trespassing, unlawful assembly.
- Daniel Dixon, Washington, D.C.: Trespassing, unlawful assembly.
- Jennifer Dylkowski, Stacy, Minn.: Unlawful assembly, trespassing.
- Anne Franklin, Arroyo Seco, N. Mex.: Unlawful assembly, trespassing, obstructing legal process.
- Tara Houska, Minneapolis: Unlawful assembly, trespassing, obstructing legal process.
- David Ingold, Minneapolis: Unlawful assembly, trespassing.
- Elsa Johnson, Boulder, Colo.: Unlawful assembly, obstructing legal process, trespassing.
- Michael Kuhn, Minneapolis: Unlawful assembly, trespassing, obstructing legal process.
- Erik Leigh, Chisago City, Minn.: Unlawful assembly, trespassing.
- Regan Loggans, Brooklyn, N.Y.: Obstructing legal process, trespassing, unlawful assembly.
- Natalie Marsh, Springfield, Va.: Unlawful assembly, trespassing, obstructing legal process.
- Shane Mcsauby, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Unlawful assembly, trespassing, obstructing legal process.
- Joseph Meinholz, Minneapolis: Unlawful assembly, obstructing legal process, trespassing.
- Nteboheng Mokuena, Baltimore, Md.: Public nuisance, trespassing, unlawful assembly.
- Danika Pandilla, Monterey, Mass.: Unlawful assembly, trespassing, obstructing legal process.
- Victor Puertas, Salt Lake City, Utah: Trespassing, unlawful assembly, obstructing legal process.
- Avery Beattie, Red Wing, Minn.: Trespassing, unlawful assembly.
- Savannah Romero, Tukwila, Va.: Trespassing, unlawful assembly, obstructing legal process.
- Anna Schumacher, Detroit Lakes: Unlawful assembly, obstructing legal process, trespassing.
- Rafael Feikema, Williamsburg, Va.: Trespassing, unlawful assembly, public nuisance.
- Natalie Steinberg, Springfield, Va.: Unlawful assembly, trespassing.
- Maya Stovall, Macomb, Ill.: Trespassing, unlawful assembly, public nuisance, obstructing legal process.
- Maura Sullivan, New Orleans: Unlawful assembly, trespassing, obstructing legal process.
- Katie Woodward, Minneapolis: Unlawful assembly, trespassing.
All the individuals that were arrested were transported to the Hubbard County Jail and are awaiting arraignment.
When an Oil Company Profits From a Pipeline Running Beneath Tribal Land Without Consent, What’s Fair Compensation? - Tribal landowners tried for years to get fair compensation for an oil pipeline that cuts across the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, only to see officials and the courts dismiss their concerns. But now, thanks to new leadership at the Department of Interior, the federal government is taking a fresh look at their claims. Some see it as a sign that, not only might their voices finally be heard in this case but also that a turnaround has begun in the nation’s long history of injustices toward Indigenous people. For Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation members with land allotments at Fort Berthold, an encouraging signal came earlier this month. That’s when the Department of Interior’s Acting Secretary Scott de la Vega scrapped the Trump administration’s decision to reduce a $187 million penalty assessed against the oil company that owns the Tesoro High Plains Pipeline for trespassing on the reservation for seven years after its contract lapsed. Although de la Vega’s order was issued the week before Interior Secretary Deb Haaland took office, it’s one of several recent moves by the department that oversees the nation’s mineral resources and tribal trust lands that is inspiring a new sense of hope among Indigienous peoples. Members of the nation’s 574 registered tribes are eager to see Haaland, a New Mexican from the Laguna Pueblo and the first Indigenous U.S. cabinet secretary, bring greater understanding to tribal rights and sovereignty. They hope she can help end a long history of exploitation of their land and natural resources without compensation or consultation.
Companies to test if syrupy, biodegradable substance boosts oil output - Two companies have teamed up to test whether sending a substance the consistency of maple syrup down oil wells will help boost production in North Dakota. The project involves combining the syrupy “biosurfactant” with water and pumping the mixture into wells. Once inside, it will reach the cracks in rock formed through the fracking process. It’s expected to reduce the attraction between rock and oil, freeing up the crude so it can be extracted. If successful, the biosurfactant could eventually be produced in North Dakota using locally sourced materials such as canola oil and sugar beets to facilitate the fermentation process necessary to create the substance. The pilot project is being funded in part by a $206,000 state grant approved by the North Dakota Industrial Commission earlier this year. The money stems from oil and gas taxes via the state’s Oil and Gas Research Program. “All the big players see this as a potentially low-cost, low-carbon footprint way of extracting more of the original oil in place in the Bakken,” said Jon Rogers, CEO of Locus Bio-Energy Solutions. Locus, an Ohio company, developed the biosurfactant and is partnering with Minot-based Creedence Energy Services to test it in North Dakota. Creedence provides chemical treatments to wells to protect against corrosion and scale buildup.
Pilot project will test method to increase oil production -(AP) — A pilot project in North Dakota is testing whether sending a substance with the consistency of maple syrup down oil wells will help increase production. The process involves combining so-called biosurfactant with water and pumping the mixture into wells where it will reach cracks in the rock formed when the oil is extracted by fracking. The goal is to reduce the attraction between rock and oil in order to recover more crude. If successful it could also benefit North Dakota farmers because materials such as canola oil and sugar beets facilitate the fermentation process necessary to create the biosurfactant. The project is being funded in part by a $206,000 state grant approved by the North Dakota Industrial Commission, The Bismarck Tribune reported. “All the big players see this as a potentially low-cost, low-carbon footprint way of extracting more of the original oil in place in the Bakken,” said Jon Rogers, CEO of The Woodlands, Texas-based Locus Bio-Energy Solutions. Locus developed the biosurfactant and is partnering with Minot-based Creedence Energy Services to test it in North Dakota. Creedence provides chemical treatments to wells to protect against corrosion and scale buildup. “We’re like the doctors and pharmacists of the oil fields,” Creedence President Kevin Black said. The companies are planning to test the biosurfactant down a handful of horizontal wells in the North Dakota oil patch, targeting those that are several years old with declining production. They also will test it down older vertical wells. In Texas, where the biosurfactant has already been tested, regulators have approved it as a means for oil companies to obtain a state tax credit. The product has been applied to more than 300 wells in various oil and gas basins across the United States.
North Dakota's mineral owners are taking oil companies to court over royalty deductions -North Dakota’s mineral owners are squaring off against oil companies in court, with a series of lawsuits that take a multi-million swing at rising — and plaintiffs say improper — royalty deductions. Among the latest of these suits is one filed on behalf of Powell Family Mineral, which seeks class action status against Slawson Exploration. It was filed by Kansas attorneys Rex Sharp and Isaac Diel with Sharp Law and North Dakota attorney Mike Montgomery with Montgomery and Pender. In the suit, plaintiffs say they signed a lease in December of 2009, and that the lease language entitles Powell Family Mineral to royalties paid “free of cost” into the pipeline. However, Slawson has been deducting expenses such as gathering and moving oil, preparing oil, and other costs that plaintiffs say violate that lease language. Slawson has been contacted for comment on this story. If any comments are received, they will be added to this story online. In addition to Sharp’s case, North Dakota attorney Josh Swanson has filed seven similar cases, all revolving around the same lease language. “This issue has been percolating for a number of years,” Swanson said. “I would say probably going back four or five years, we started getting phone calls form clients who were noticing that significant deductions were being taken from their royalties that were exponentially greater than previous deductions.” As the deductions steadily rose, Swanson said, explanations have dwindled. “We’d get an explanation that either one, didn’t make any sense, or two, what happens most of the time is, mineral owners get stonewalled and the operator just refuses to answer any questions,” Swanson said. To Swanson’s clients, the lease language is fairly clear, Swanson said. “(It’s) ‘free of cost into the pipeline,’” he said. “Our contention is free of cost means exactly that, that oil and gas companies cannot be deducting any of their costs from the mineral owners’ royalties.” The cases have triggered Chief Judge Peter Welte to send a certified question to the North Dakota Supreme Court on the matter, asking that court to rule on the lease language. A hearing for that is set for April 6. “To say it’s a significant issue and that these are significant cases is probably an understatement,” Swanson said. “There’s tens of thousands of leases with just one oil company that are impacted. So you know, figure that if you’ve got, nearly 15 or 16 oil companies that have been sued in North Dakota.”
US senators press FERC to act quickly on North Bakken gas pipeline expansion US lawmakers from North Dakota are pressing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to act by its next monthly meeting to authorize WBI Energy Transmission's North Bakken Expansion project, contending the 60-mile, 250 MMcf/d project has potential to cut methane emissions, alongside their assertions about its economic benefits. The project, if approved, will provide incremental firm capacity from six gas processing plants to a proposed interconnect with Northern Border Pipeline Company. The senators' emphasis on the environmental footprint comes as greenhouse gas emissions of gas projects are expected to face more scrutiny at FERC under Chairman Richard Glick, who has long urged FERC to consider the climate impact of projects when it makes a public interest determination. "Providing new takeaway capacity allows domestic producers in the Bakken to increase their natural gas capture rate and reduce flaring," said Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, along with Representative Kelly Armstrong, all Republicans from North Dakota, in a March 26 letter. "Because this project would interconnect with an existing pipeline network and provide an alternative to Canadian-sourced gas, it is our understanding that the net effect on downstream greenhouse gas emissions would be negligible." WBI Energy on March 19 also pressed FERC for expedited action by April 15, building on the company's prior effort to secure a February or March FERC decision to allow time to complete construction by a November 1 in-service target. In its March 19 letter to FERC, WBI Energy said the project would assist North Dakota producers and operators in meeting state gas capture targets by providing an added outlet for gas volumes that might otherwise be flared. Most gas pipeline capacity in the region is at capacity because of an increase in associated gas production over the last several years, WBI said. Bakken production averaged 2.0 Bcf/d this winter, but S&P Global Platts Analytics expects this to decline to 1.7 Bcf/d next winter with winter-over-winter losses going forward. While the exact timeline of when the bulk of declines would occur could vary, Platts Analytics expects them to come regardless. According to the North Dakota Industrial Commission, Bakken flaring averaged 170 MMcf/d from November 2020 through January 2021. The data is lagged by a couple of months. With lower production in the basin and the start-up of Outrigger Energy II's 250 MMcf/d Bill Sanderson Gas Processing Plant any day now, flaring will likely fall in the basin regardless of this new processing and transport. WBI and the lawmakers also touched on another area of interest to Glick – whether projects have adequately demonstrated need. They noted that WBI Energy has entered into six binding precedent agreements with non-affiliated shippers for project capacity. Glick has sought more scrutiny of project need in circumstances when projects rely on contracts with affiliated shippers to demonstrate need.
33 Democrats urge Biden to shut down Dakota Access Pipeline 33 Democrats urge Biden to shut down Dakota Access Pipeline © Greg Nash A group of 33 Democratic lawmakers is asking President Biden to shut down the Dakota Access pipeline after a court left the decision about whether to do so up to the administration. The legislators wrote to Biden on Monday that he should shut down the pipeline while it faces a court-ordered environmental review. “By shutting down this illegal pipeline, you can continue to show your administration values the environment and the rights of Indigenous communities more than the profits of outdated fossil fuel industries,” they wrote. “This is a critical step towards righting the wrongs of the past and setting our nation on a path of environmental, climate, and social justice,” they added, arguing that the way in which law enforcement removed protesters from the site in 2016 was “egregious environmental racism.” A court in January ruled against a decision by the federal government that allowed for the Dakota Access’s construction, determining that the Army Corps of Engineers should have conducted an environmental impact statement before the pipeline was allowed to move forward. But for the time being, it left the decision on whether to shut down the now-operation pipeline on that ground, up to the agency. “How and on what terms the Corps will enforce its property rights is ... a matter for the Corps to consider,” the three-judge panel wrote. It was originally slated to decide on Feb. 10, but this was pushed back to April 9 at the administration’s request. The Dakota Access pipeline was completed in 2017 after former President Trump ordered for it to be revived, a reversal from when the Obama administration denied a permit for the project. The pipeline has drawn massive protests from environmentalists and tribes and have raised concerns about the risk of oil spills, with the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes challenging it in court. However, the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation recently requested a consultation on the potential shutdown, noting that the pipeline brings its oil to market. A White House spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to the The Hill’s request for comment on the letter, but in regard to a different pipeline, the spokesperson recently told The Hill that it will evaluate infrastructure proposals based on energy needs, if they will help the country reach its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 and whether they can create good-paying union jobs. Thursday's letter was led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Reps. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.), Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) and Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.).
MHA Nation seeks consultation with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on fate of Dakota Access Pipeline -Native American tribes have been the driving force behind efforts to shut down the Dakota Access pipeline, but now a Native American tribe has come forward in support of continuing its operation. Chairman Mark Fox of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation has sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asking for single-tribe consultation on continuity of operations for the Dakota Access Pipeline. In the letter, Fox notes that half of the oil produced on the MHA’s reservation is taken to market through Dakota Access. “We seek immediate consultation on the alternatives being considered by the Corps regarding continuity of operations of the Dakota Access Pipeline or alternative delivery systems while any NEPA-related or other federal review of DAPL is conducted,” Fox wrote. Fox said the MHA nation’s interests as an oil and gas producing tribe make it unique when compared to other tribes in the region. “We insist on a one-on-one consultation before any action is taken that would adversely impact the market value of our oil and gas resources, which are held in trust on our behalf by the United States,” Fox wrote. “At a minimum, our trustee owes the MHA Nation meaningful consultation that is specific and pre-decisional.” The letter is dated March 23 and was sent to Lt. General Scott A. Spellmon, commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The letter comes as the Dakota Access pipeline nears a crucial moment. There is a court hearing on April 9 to determine whether the pipeline can continue carrying Bakken oil to Illinois while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes additional environmental review, as ordered by Judge James Boasberg last year in April. The hearing was originally set for February, but the Biden administration requested a delay to familiarize themselves with the case. Boasberg last year vacated the easement the Corps had granted Dakota Access for its crossing under Lake Oahe. He determined that the federal government did not look closely enough at social justice aspects of the pipeline’s crossing. He also said the Corps should have conducted the lengthier Environmental Impact Statement, instead of the shorter Environmental Assessment, due to the pipeline’s controversial nature. Among items Boasberg said must be clarified in the Environmental Impact Study are how an oil spill at the Pipeline’s Lake Oahe crossing would affect the tribe’s hunting and fishing rights, and whether a spill at that crossing could disproportionately affect the tribal community, which lives on a reservation that is near the crossing. Boasberg had also ordered Dakota Access to empty itself by Aug. 5, but an appeals court found the type of injunction the judge ordered did not meet certain requirements, including that the remedy not harm public interest.
'I live with Standing Rock in my heart': Massive pipeline protest resonates 5 years later - Stuart Perkins had a steady job and was busy pursuing a career in comedy and music in the Twin Cities. But in late October, he saw a video online of law enforcement officers pulling protesters from a sweat lodge, and arresting them. “I quit my job that day, because somebody called me and said, ‘Hey, I'm going to Standing Rock, you want to ride with (me)?'“ said Perkins. “I didn't know where I was going to stay when I got there. I had money for food. I had my own bedding. I was ready to go out there and do whatever I had to do.” Perkins, 41, spent nearly the next four months at the Oceti Sakowin protest camp, near the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers. Stuart Perkins, a Red Lake Nation member, arrived at the Oceti Sakowin Camp near from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in south central North Dakota in late October 2016. "Out here you see people in a different light," he said. "It's like you're out here with us risking your life. You get past that the first, second day. That's over with." "I still live with Standing Rock in my heart today,” he said recently. “It's definitely changed me for life, and it's changed me for the better." Five years ago, that small protest camp, formed near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, grew to thousands of people — and lit the spark of an international movement against the Dakota Access oil pipeline — and many pipeline projects since. For months, the Oceti Sakowin camp drew protesters from North Dakota and across the country — and its influence is still felt at pipeline and climate change protests, and in the lives of those who were there in 2016. The protest started as a tribal government challenge to a pipeline permit process it felt ignored the sovereign status of the Standing Rock Tribe, and downplayed the risk to its water supply. It later expanded to also encompass a global climate change movement.
Oil Giants Win Climate Suit as Judges Push For Political Fix -New York City suffered another setback in its effort to make Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and other energy companies help cover the public costs of dealing with climate change, as a federal appeals court ruled the global problem demands political rather than legal action.The ruling Thursday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan is a warning sign for those trying to use the courts to hold the industry responsible for a problem that could cost taxpayers trillions of dollars in coming years. Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and ConocoPhillips were also sued in the case.The court said global warming “is a uniquely international concern” that requires the federal government to step in rather than judges. Only the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate domestic greenhouse gas emissions, the unanimous three-judge panel held.New York City “sidestepped” federal procedure with a state-law tort suit against the energy companies even though their commercial activity of selling fossil fuel products around the world is “admittedly legal,” U.S. Circuit Court Judge Richard Sullivanwrote for the court.“In so doing, the City effectively seeks to replace these carefully crafted frameworks –- which are the product of the political process –- with a patchwork of claims under state nuisance law,” Sullivan wrote.A lower court judge in 2018 tossed out the lawsuit on similar grounds, ruling that the federal Clean Air Act governs carbon dioxide emissions and blocks lawsuits. New York City’s press office didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.“As we’ve said from the beginning, lawsuits like New York City’s do not belong in the courts and do nothing to advance meaningful efforts that address climate change,” Exxon spokesman Casey Norton said in an email. “We support global efforts from policymakers, companies, and individuals to develop real solutions.” “Today’s unanimous opinion by a distinguished panel of judges appointed by presidents from both parties explains in clear detail why the U.S. climate tort lawsuits are meritless, applying established law as agreed upon by the Justice Department under the previous two U.S. administrations,” Chevron General Counsel R. Hewitt Pate said in a statement.
Canadian Pacific-KC Southern deal likely adds market share, not more crude by rail | S&P Global Platts — The $25 billion combination of Canadian Pacific Railway with Kansas City Southern creates the first single-path crude-by-rail gateway from Alberta to the Houston-area refining and export network, but it does not mean overall Canadian crude volumes to the US Gulf Coast are going to surge. While the combined company Canadian Pacific Kansas City may offer cheaper shipping rates for Canadian heavy oil sands when it is integrated in mid-2022, analysts said notably greater crude-by-rail volumes would only come if major oil pipelines are shuttered, such as the in-progress Line 3 Replacement project, the four-year-old Dakota Access Pipeline, and the pending Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. The combined entity would have more efficiency in scheduling, and likely would reduce the cost of movements from Canada to the US Gulf Coast, since there would no longer be interchange fees for switching rail lines, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics. "Any lowering in an offered railing rate to the Gulf Coast would not be enough to be able to compete with pipeline capacity; it just may be able to better compete with other railing volumes, such as on Canadian National," Indeed, rival Canadian National Railway currently offers the only seamless crude-by-rail route from Edmonton to the USGC. However, Canadian National only terminates in the refining hub of St. James, Louisiana. By scooping up Kansas City Southern, Canadian Pacific will offer routes to St. James and Lake Charles, Louisiana, as well Texas destinations near Houston, Beaumont and Corpus Christi. Notably, the combined Canadian Pacific Kansas City also would bank on growth by shipping more refined crude oil products into Mexico. That is expected to prove more beneficial thanks to the revised United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade deal. In recent years, Canadian Pacific has focused on improving oil sands crude transportation into the US, while a key source of Kansas City Southern's growth was its increased movements of refined products into Mexico. The two companies' rail networks do not overlap, and they link up, not coincidentally, in Kansas City, Missouri. The integrated company would count 20,000 miles of rail network stretching from the Alberta oil sands down past central Mexico.
Northern Alberta pipeline leak spills estimated 100,000 litres of 'sour emulsion' - The Alberta Energy Regulator says it is responding to the release of an oil-water mixture known as 'sour emulsion' from an Accel Energy Canada line in northern Alberta (Kyle Bakx/CBC)The Alberta Energy Regulator says an oil and gas company under court protection from creditors is reporting the leak of an estimated 100,000 litres of oilfield liquids from a pipeline in northern Alberta. The provincial regulator says it is responding to the release of an oil-water mixture known as "sour emulsion" from an Accel Energy Canada line about 24 kilometres southwest of Swan Hills, reported by the company last Thursday evening. It says the pipeline has been shut down and depressurized and the company is taking steps to clean up the spill. The volume of the release is unknown at this time but is estimated to be approximately 100 m3, the AER said in a statement. "AER staff are on site to oversee the company's clean-up activities and to ensure all safety and environmental requirements are met during the response to the incident. "There are no reported impacts to the public or wildlife at this time." The AER says that PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. has been appointed to monitor Accel while in creditor protection but the licence for the assets remains with the company. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
Venezuela wants to pay for vaccines with oil -Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Sunday proposed that his country pay for coronavirus vaccines with oil. Maduro offered the proposal at a news conference, explaining that he hoped to use oil revenue to pay for vaccines through the World Health Organization’s COVAX mechanism, which gives vaccine access to poorer countries. “Venezuela has the oil vessels and has the customers who will buy our oil,” said Maduro, according to a report by Reuters. “We are ready and prepared for oil for vaccines, but we will not beg anyone.” Venezuela has received shipments of vaccine doses from allies Russia and China. The Venezuelan government has been in talks with the Pan American Health Organization for access of the vaccine through COVAX, but last week Venezuela said it will not accept the AstraZeneca PLC vaccine which is disturbed by COVAX, Reuters reported. The AstraZeneca vaccine saw its use suspended in a number of European countries earlier this month after reports linking it to blood clots in some patients. But health authorities in Europe have since vouched for its safe use. The AstraZeneca vaccine has not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Venezuela has been struggling economically the last decade with plummeting oil sales as the U.S. government has imposed sanctions on it.
Research team monitors oil-eating bacteria in northeast Atlantic– An underwater observatory in the Faroe-Shetland Channel offshore northwest Scotland has detected oil-eating bacteria that could help manage future oil spills. The observatory, said to be the first of its kind in the northeast Atlantic, is in an area with a heavy oil and gas and shipping activity. The Royal Society, the Society for Applied Microbiology, and the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland are helping to fund the research. According to Dr Tony Gutierrez of Heriot-Watt University, it is unclear whether the oil-degrading bacteria provide evidence of chronic spillage, but it is a hopeful sign should blowouts or pollution arise in the area. “Oil-degrading bacteria play a vital role in cleaning up oil spills – we found them strongly enriched during the Deepwater Horizon spill, for example. These types of microbes thrive on oil as a food source.” Gutierrez and his team monitored the Faroe-Shetland channel’s water over a two-year period, at different depths and locations. “Overall, we detected a higher than usual abundance of these bacteria. They comprised about 15-20% of the total community of microbes, when quite often you find them at less than 1% abundance. “We’re not sure why this is the case – it could be due to natural seepage of oil from the seafloor, or the release of produced waters from oil rigs.” Establishing a baseline in these waters, he added, will support monitoring of the impact of future spills and the success of any future clean-up campaigns. The team now plans to extend its monitoring in the Faroe-Shetland channel, and have identified other locations for similar observatories. “Creating microbial observatories in other ocean regions at potential risk of pollution and climate change effects, like the Arctic, is one of our goals,” said Gutierrez.
Russia Oil Demand Hits Record High in U.S. Amid Rising Tensions - The oil tankers docking at the refinery in Baytown, Texas, look exactly like many others plying the waters of the Houston Ship Channel. But stashed inside their capacious holds is an unusual cargo: Russian petroleum. The sprawling complex, which belongs to Exxon Mobil Corp., isn’t the only U.S. refinery that’s been receiving shipments of Russian oil. Chevron Corp.’s plant in Mobile, Ala., and Valero Energy Corp.’s facility in St. Charles, La., are also customers. Deprived of access to Venezuelan crude by U.S. sanctions on the regime of Nicolás Maduro, and facing reduced shipments from OPEC nations since the cartel cut output, U.S. refiners turned to Russian oil in 2020 to fill the gap. The buying spree, combined with sharply lower Saudi shipments, catapulted Russia into the position of third-largest oil supplier to the U.S. last year. The feat for the Kremlin has been the talk of the oil market, but surprisingly it hasn’t been discussed much in diplomatic circles. “Russia’s move into third place has not attracted any attention in Washington,” says Bob McNally, a former senior White House policy adviser who now runs Rapidan Energy Group, a consulting firm in Washington. America’s increasing reliance on Russian oil is at odds with U.S. energy diplomacy. For the last two years, lawmakers in Washington have been lobbying European countries to abandon Nord Stream 2, a multibillion-dollar pipeline to transport Siberian gas to Germany, fearing it will give the Kremlin further leverage over U.S. allies. (Russian gas accounted for about 45% of Europe’s natural gas imports in 2019.) Congress went as far last year as to authorize the use of sanctions against companies involved in the project. The Biden administration hasn’t indicated whether it’s considering exercising that option. More important, perhaps, the quiet surge in Russian oil imports shows that the mantra of energy independence championed by former U.S. President Trump is hollow, says Mark Finley, a former oil analyst at the CIA who’s now a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute in Houston. Campaigning last year in Texas, Trump boasted that the U.S. was the “No. 1 energy superpower” and the country would never again have to depend on “hostile” foreign suppliers. “So much for energy dominance,” Finley says. In February of last year, the Trump administration blacklisted a trading subsidiary of state-run Rosneft, the largest Russian oil company, saying it provided a financial lifeline to Maduro’s government. But no other Russian entities were targeted, meaning U.S. companies could carry on buying Russian crude and refined products. The path for Russia to become a key oil supplier to the U.S. was paved with market savvy, luck, and the Kremlin’s proven ability to turn Washington’s policies to its favor. After years of accounting for less than 0.5% of annual U.S. imports of oil and refined products, Russia steadily increased its share over the last decade, reaching an all-time high of 7% last year, according to Bloomberg News calculations. U.S. imports from Russia averaged 538,000 barrels a day in 2020—more than the 522,000-barrel-a-day average from Saudi Arabia.
Watchdog to fine Russian Railways $429,707 for fuel oil spill in Vladimir Region - Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources estimated the damage to the environment caused by the fuel oil spill near the city of Vladimir in November last year at 32.5 mln rubles ($429,707), the agency said in a statement on its website on Monday. According to the statement, the watchdog has sent its demand for voluntary compensation for the damage to the Russian Railways company. On November 16, 2020, the cars of the freight train, which included 64 tanks with fuel oil, derailed on the Novka-1 - Terekhovitsy section of the Gorkovskaya railway. As a result of the accident, one person was killed. According to the Emergency Situations Ministry, the area of the leakage of oil products at the scene was 12,500 square meters. In December, the watchdog’s experts reported a tenfold excess of the maximum permissible concentration of oil products in soil samples taken at the scene. "Employees of the department [the interregional department of the watchdog for the Ivanovo and Vladimir regions - TASS] calculated the amount of damage done to the soil. It totals 32,454,862 rubles. By now, a demand for voluntary compensation for environmental damage has been forwarded to Russian Railways," the statement said. The watchdog’s regional department opened an administrative offense case. An order to eliminate the identified violations has been sent to the Russian Railways company. The Volga Transport Investigation Department continues to investigate the criminal case under Part 2 of Article 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Violation of traffic safety rules and the operation of railway transport, resulting in the death of a person by negligence).
Water samples taken from river after oil spill iIn Northwest Russia - Officials --Specialists took water samples from the Volkhov River in Novgorod region after reported oil spill, the Russian emergency ministry's representative told Sputnik on Friday. Earlier this day, the Novgorod region government reported detecting the spill of oil products on the river in the nearby city of Veliky Novgorod. The source of contamination is unknown. "Water samples have been taken from the site of the spill to identify contaminants and pollution degree," the representative said. According to him, drones will fly over the place to determine the scale of the spill. He added that the contamination, located in the backwater, has not spread downstream yet.
Delta residents groan as oil spill hits community -- THE people of Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South-West Local Government Area Delta State have cried out over the ravaging oil spill from the facilities of Chevron Nigeria Limited for over six weeks They demanded the physical presence of the Managing Director of the oil firm to see things for himself and ensure honesty and transparency on the way out of the woods. In a statement signed by the Spokesman for the Kingdom, Chief Gbenekama Godspower (The Fiyewei of Gbaramatu Kingdom) and made available on Sunday, the people decried their alleged neglect by Chevron Nigeria Limited since the ranging oil spill six weeks ago. The statement read in part, “We, the women of Gbaramatu Kingdom, ranging, but not limited to Okerenkoko, Ikpokpo, Opuedebubor, Kenghangbene, Azama, Benikrukru, Kokodiagbene, Oporoza, Inikorogha, Kunukunuma, Pepeama as well as other communities, are currently protesting their ill-treatment at the hands of both Government and Chevron Nigeria Limited.” They called on government at all levels, as well as other well meaning individuals and organisations to prevail on Chevron Nigeria Ltd to do the needful regarding the oil spills, lamenting that it had grounded economic activities in the Kingdom for over six weeks.
Libya NOC gets oil spill in Dahra under control - Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) said Sunday an oil spill north of the country has been brought under control.In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the NOC said the leak occurred in one of the supply lines of the Dahra oil field."Technical teams were able to complete the work and halt the leak," the statement said, while the cause of the spill was not announced.According to the oil corporation, the leak did not affect production operations.Dahra oil field is one of the oldest oil fields in the country and was discovered in the late 1950s with an average daily production of 120,000 barrels.The Libyan economy suffered huge losses and continues to do so due to the oil blockades, which were described in the statement as "illegal" and which will badly affect the state's 2020-2021 budget and salary payments.Oil production has plunged by around three-quarters since forces loyal to Haftar launched a blockade. The blockade has also cut off revenue for state institutions operating across the countryAs the warring sides reached a consensus to issue a cease-fire and launch a peace process under a unity government over the past months, the blockage has also been lifted.Back in October 2020, the NOC said in a statement on Facebook that it was declaring "the ending of the blockades in the entire Libyan fields and ports as of today.""Instructions have been given to the operator, Mellitah Oil & Gas BV, to resume production in al-Feel oil field and the gradual return of Mellitah crude to its normal level in the next few days," it added.
Hundreds evacuated after Indonesian oil refinery catches fire - An oil refinery in Indonesia caught fire early Monday morning, leaving six people seriously injured and prompting the evacuation of nearly 1,000 residents. The fire, which officials said was caused by lightning, also caused damage to hundreds of houses nearby, according to The New York Times. Pertamina, the state-owned company that runs the oil refinery, released a statement that said it could not estimate when the fire could be contained. Clips of the fire show panicked residents as well as a loud explosion coming from the inferno. Authorities shared that a 61-year-old man suffered a heart attack and died during the chaos. Ifki Sukarya, a Pertamina spokesman said that four gasoline storage tanks caught on fire. Twenty-three other people suffered minor injuries, and some residents became ill due to the strong smell of the fuel. A similar accident happened at the refinery two years ago when crude oil leaked offshore, contaminating 12 miles of the West Java shoreline. Company officials announced that they will have the refinery operating within four to five days. They said there was enough gasoline on hand to supply the country.
Balongan refinery fire inflicts 400,000 barrels oil loss for Pertamina - - Some 400 thousand barrels of oil of Indonesia's state-owned oil company PT Pertamina (Persero) were lost following a major fire at the Balongan Refinery, Indramayu, West Java, on Monday, at 00:45 a.m. local time. "The production loss is estimated at around 400 thousand barrels since it cannot be supplied from the refinery," Pertamina's Logistics and Infrastructure Director, Mulyono, noted in a statement here, Monday. The company proceeded with a normal shutdown soon after the fire erupted. The Balongan Refinery is expected to be operating normally again in the next four to five days. During the termination of operations, Pertamina will supply fuel for the community from several refineries and fuel terminals, one of which is the Cilacap Refinery and the Trans Pacific Petrochemical Indotama (TPPI) Refinery. The Cilacap refinery will boost production to 300 thousand barrels and the TPPI refinery by 500 thousand barrels. Pertamina continues to probe the cause of the fire and is focused on handling the emergency situation. The company claims to have been able to localize the fire inside the bund wall by using foam to prevent the flames from spreading to other areas. Pertamina, in cooperation with the district governments of Indramayu and Cirebon, deployed 10 fire engines. The fire broke out at the T-301G tank amid torrential rains accompanied by lightning. The flames could be seen at a distance of five kilometers. Hundreds of residents, earlier evacuated to a safe place, away from the location of the fire, have now gradually begun returning to their respective homes.
Lamor and NCEC of Saudi Arabia to strengthen oil spill response capabilities in Red Sea Area - The Finnish environmental services company Lamor Corporation Ab and the National Center for Environmental Compliance (NCEC) of Saudi Arabia have concluded an agreement to strengthen the oil spill response capabilities in the Red Sea area Lamor image ORMELamor will provide a programme of services, equipment and resources that will enhance the response capabilities in the region. (Image source: Lamor Corporation) The Red Sea is one of the world’s busiest sea routes and the coastline has some absolutely pristine environments that could suffer irreparable damage in case of a major oil spill. Increasing the Kingdom's abilities to respond to incidents is a key mission of NCEC and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture. “Signing this agreement marks an important milestone in the agency’s continuous efforts to improve the environmental protection abilities of the kingdom,” commented Ali S Alghamdi, CEO of NCEC. Lamor will provide a programme of services, equipment and resources that will enhance the response capabilities in the region. The services include assessment of the current resources, contingency planning, knowledge transfer and training of responder resources. The services include the provision of both marine and aviation assets for oil spill response duties.
Oil rises as traders expect OPEC+ to hold output cuts (Reuters) - Oil prices rose nearly 1% on Monday after Reuters reported that Russia would support stable oil output from OPEC+ ahead of a meeting with the producer group later this week. Futures had fallen earlier in the session on news that a container ship in the Suez Canal blocking traffic for nearly a week had been refloated. Brent oil rose 41 cents to settle at $64.98 a barrel. U.S. crude rose 59 cents to settle at $61.56 a barrel. “The market is looking beyond the Suez Canal and focusing on the upcoming OPEC+ meeting, where we’re getting strong indications they’re going to rollover the output cuts,” Russia will support broadly stable oil output by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia (OPEC+) in May, while seeking a relatively small output hike for itself to meet the rising seasonal demand, according to a source familiar with Russia’s thinking. Sources told Reuters last week that they expect a decision similar to the last meeting when OPEC+ meets on April 1 to decide output policy. Russian oil and gas condensate output increased to 10.22 million barrels per day (bpd) in the period March 1-28 from 10.1 million bpd in February, two industry sources familiar with the data told Reuters, broadly in line with Moscow’s plans. At the Suez Canal, live footage on a local television station showed the ship Ever Given surrounded by tug boats moving slowly in the centre of the canal on Monday. The station, ExtraNews, said the ship was moving at a speed of 1.5 knots. However, disruptions in the global shipping industry could take weeks and possibly months to clear, top container shipping lines said. “The market will soon realize that despite the positive news, even if Ever Given leaves the Canal within days, some leftover downstream ripple effects should be expected in the meantime,” Limiting price gains, some European countries struggling with increased COVID-19 infections have tightened lockdown restrictions, and fuel demand across the continent remains weak. England’s stay-at-home lockdown order, though, ended on Monday.
Oil Prices Fall As Bearish Sentiment Returns - Oil prices fell on Tuesday as the Suez Canal was cleared and concerns about global bottlenecks eased. Traders are now focused on the upcoming OPEC+ meeting, which most observers believe will result in an extension of cuts, and the impact of Covid-19 on oil demand in Europe. Saudi Arabia wants OPEC+ cuts extended through June. Russia, the leader of the non-OPEC group in OPEC+, favors a rollover of the alliance's oil production cuts while seeking a slight increase for itself to meet higher seasonal demand. Total and other international contractors evacuated some staff from Mozambique over the weekend as insurgents advanced to the coastal town of Palma, a hub for the country’s nascent LNG industry. Total’s $20 billion project is the largest foreign investment on the African continent but now appears to be at grave risk. Iran and China signed a wide-ranging economic and security agreement, billed as a “strategic partnership” that will last 25 years. Details remain sparse, but the move likely paves the way for more Chinese investment in Iran’s oil sector and also open up more room for exports. The WSJ also says that the two countries could set up a joint bank that would help Iran evade U.S. sanctions. Reuters reports that Iranian oil exports are expected to continue to rise in March. . Sinopec, the largest oil refiner in Asia,announced plans to shift towards carbon neutrality by 2050, a plan that leans heavily on hydrogen. Abu Dhabi allowed trading in its futures contract, Murban, on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). The move is aimed at bolstering the emirate as an international oil trading hub. President Joe Biden is including rivals Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China among the invitees to the first big climate talks of his administration, according to the AP. The event will be held virtually April 22 and 23. Exxon and Chevron have dramatically scaled back drilling in the Permian compared to a year ago. According to Rystad, the two majors accounted for 28% of Permian drilling activity in the spring of 2020, a share that is now down to less than 5%. “We essentially hit a pause button,” said Chevron Chief Financial Officer Pierre Breber, according to Reuters. Cheap financing and higher crude oil prices couldkick off another round of drilling in U.S. shale, despite promises to exercise restraint.
Oil drops as Suez opens, focus turns to OPEC+ output cuts - Oil prices fell on Tuesday as the Suez Canal opened up after days closed by a grounded supercarrier and focus turned to an OPEC+ meeting this week where the extension of supply curbs may be on the table amid new coronavirus pandemic lockdowns. Brent crude was down 78 cents, or 1.2%, at $64.21 per barrel. U.S. oil was off by 95 cents, or 1.5%, at $60.61 per barrel. Ships were moving through the Suez Canal again on Tuesday after tugs refloated the giant Ever Given container carrier, which had been blocking a narrow section of the passage for almost a week, causing a huge build-up of vessels around the waterway. With concerns about a shortage of physical supplies abating, the market is turning its focus to Thursday's meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia in Vienna, collectively known as OPEC+. "The Saudi-led decision to hold back more oil production will yield an extraordinarily tight oil market with global stock draws," OPEC+ will discuss whether to keep in place curbs on output that have kept millions of barrels a day off the market to support prices, a strategy that has largely worked in recent months. Saudi Arabia is prepared to accept an extension of the production cuts through June, and is also ready to prolong voluntary unilateral curbs amid the latest wave of coronavirus lockdowns, a source briefed on the matter said on Monday. Stymieing efforts to contain global supply are rising exports under the radar from OPEC member Iran to China, which is ignoring U.S. and United Nations sanctions on the country and importing higher amounts of Iranian oil, according to traders and analysts. China may receive as much as 1 million barrels a day this month in imports from Iran passed off as crude from other origins. Efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic remain an issue. More than 127.43 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally, and the death toll is approaching 3 million, according to a Reuters tally. In Europe, rising numbers in a third wave of infections are alarming authorities, with France's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire saying "all options are on the table" to protect the public. "
Oil Prices Under Pressure As API Reports Inventory Build - The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a build in crude oil inventories of 3.910 million barrels for the week ending March 26.Analysts had predicted a much smaller inventory build of 107,000 barrels for the week.In the previous week, the API reported a build in oil inventories of 2.927 million barrels after analysts had predicted a build of 272,000 barrels.Oil prices were trading down on the day prior to the data release, with WTI trading down $0.96 at 2:45 p.m. EDT at $60.60, while Brent crude traded down $0.78 at $64.20 per barrel. Prices were again volatile this week, with the prospect of oil shipment delays through the previously logjammed Suez Canal and OPEC+’s JTC meeting on Tuesday, which saw its members agree to revise down its oil demand estimates for this year on the prompting of member Saudi Arabia, who indicated that the figure OPEC+ was using seemed too high. OPEC+ has not released the official oil demand figure.U.S. oil production rose to 11.0 million bpd during the week ending March 19, according to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration.The API reported a draw in gasoline inventories of 6.012 million barrels for the week ending March 26—on top of the previous week's 3.728-million-barrel barrel draw. Analysts had expected a 730,000-barrel build for the week.Distillate stocks saw an increase in inventories this week of 2.595 million barrels for the week, after last week's 246,000-barrel increase.Cushing inventory figures rose by 904,000 barrels. Post data release, at 4:34 p.m. EDT, the WTI benchmark was trading at $60.46, while Brent crude was trading at $64.02.
WTI Pumps-n-Dumps After Crude Draw Ahead Of OPEC+ Meeting Oil prices chopped around overnight but are basically flat ahead of this morning's inventory/demand/production data. Weakness came on concerns about the market's recovery after OPEC and its allies lowered their 2021 demand growth forecast, although strong Chinese factory activities lent some support (China's manufacturing activity expanded at the quickest pace in three months in March as factories cranked up production after a brief lull during the Lunar New Year holidays).The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, together called OPEC+, are set to meet on Thursday, to decide on output policy."Given this pessimistic outlook, it seems likely that the production quotas will be left in place for another month," said Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg.OPEC oil output rose in March as higher supply from Iran countered reductions by other members under a pact with allies, a Reuters survey found, a headwind for its supply-limiting efforts if Tehran's boost is sustained.For now, focus is on US activity. API:
- Crude +3.91mm (-1.5mm exp)
- Cushing +904k
- Gasoline -6.012mm (+700k exp)
- Distillates +2.595mm (+500k exp)
DOE
- Crude -876k (-1.5mm exp)
- Cushing +782k
- Gasoline -1.735mm (+700k exp)
- Distillates +2.542mm (+500k exp)
A surprise build reported by API overnight was dismissed by the official EIA data showing a 876k barrel draw (breaking a 5 week streak of builds). Gasoline stocks drew down unexpectedly and distillates inventories rose considerably more than expected..
Oil falls on OPEC+ concerns over slow demand recovery - Oil prices fell on Wednesday on concerns about the market's recovery after OPEC and its allies lowered their 2021 demand growth forecast, although strong Chinese factory activities lent some support. Brent crude for May, which expires on Wednesday, fell 48 cents, or 0.8%, to $63.66 per barrel. The more active Brent contract for June was down 53 cents, or 0.83%, at $63.64 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures declined $1.13, or 1.9%, to $59.52 per barrel. OPEC+ has lowered its oil demand growth forecast for this year by 300,000 barrels per day (bpd), a report from its experts panel meeting seen by Reuters showed. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, together called OPEC+, are set to meet on Thursday, to decide on output policy. "Given this pessimistic outlook, it seems likely that the production quotas will be left in place for another month,". OPEC+ are currently curbing output by just over 7 million bpd in a bid to support prices and reduce oversupply. Saudi Arabia has added to those cuts with an additional one million bpd. "The oil market is still playing a guessing game today as to what supply policy OPEC+ will set out at tomorrow's meeting, but the $64 per barrel Brent price signals that traders expect a cautious approach from the alliance," said Rystad Energy's analyst Louise Dickson. Kuwait's Oil Minister Oil Mohammad Abdulatif al-Fares expressed "cautious optimism" on Wednesday that global oil demand will improve as COVID-19 vaccination programmes gather pace and industrial output recovers. OPEC oil output rose in March as higher supply from Iran countered reductions by other members under a pact with allies, a Reuters survey found, a headwind for its supply-limiting efforts if Tehran's boost is sustained. Meanwhile, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed a bigger than expected build in U.S. crude stocks. Traders will be eying data later on Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information (EIA) for further guidance. Oil prices found some support as China's manufacturing activity expanded at the quickest pace in three months in March as factories cranked up production after a brief lull during the Lunar New Year holidays.
Oil Futures Decline As France Locks Down -- Oil fell the most in roughly a week after France announced it will start a month-long lockdown, while OPEC+ voiced its concerns about the strength of oil demand ahead of an expected decision this week on output. Futures in New York fell 2.3% on Wednesday to the lowest in nearly a week, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying the pandemic is more dangerous than it was in the fall in his address to the nation. The deteriorating near-term demand picture in Europe offset a surprise oil supply draw in the U.S. and other bullish signals pointing toward rising demand as more Americans are vaccinated. “The news out of France is very troubling for the petroleum complex,” “The Covid situation worsening, particularly in Europe, represents a demand hit again, and it’s weighing on prices.” Meanwhile, an OPEC+ panel meeting ended without a policy recommendation ahead of Thursday’s talks where the producer group will decide on production going forward. The OPEC+ alliance is debating whether to revive part of the 8 million barrels of daily output -- about 8% of global supply -- they’re withholding. OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo pointed to the oil market’s recent volatility as “a reminder of the fragility facing economies and oil demand.” “The balance of risks suggests OPEC will steer toward the cautious outcome, delivering sharp deficits and continue to tighten energy markets at a fast clip,” TD Securities commodity strategists led by Bart Melek said in a note. Figures from the Energy Information Administration paint the U.S. as a bright spot for demand recovery. U.S. refineries are processing crude at the highest rate in a year. In other parts of the world, the trajectory for fuel consumption remains muddled as evidenced by France’s renewed nationwide lockdown. The demand numbers in the U.S. “were huge and we continue to see improvements there,”. “It’s pretty consensus to think that gasoline will be strong and jet fuel will be the laggard,” but there’s been positive signs “even on the jet fuel side.” West Texas Intermediate for May delivery fell $1.39 to settle at $59.16 a barrel, posting the largest daily loss since March 25. Brent for May settlement slipped 60 cents to $63.54 a barrel ahead of the contract’s expiry later on Wednesday. Brent for June delivery lost $1.43 to $62.74 a barrel. Separately, Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil giant, is expected to raise its Arab Light official selling price for May supplies by 30 cents a barrel, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of refiners and traders. That’s despite continued flows of Iranian crude into China, and challenging conditions for many Asian refiners.
Oil gains ahead of OPEC+ meeting on output policy Crude prices rose on Thursday, recouping some of the previous session's losses on expectations that a meeting of OPEC and its allies later on Thursday would yield output constraint- in the face of resurgent COVID-19 infections in some regions. Brent crude for June delivery was up by 16 cents, or 0.18%, at $62.85 a barrel after falling 2.2% overnight. U.S. oil was up 18 cents, or 0.16%, at $62.86 a barrel, having dropped 2.3% on Wednesday. Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia and Kazakhstan, a group called OPEC+, meet later on Thursday to consider options that include an output roll-over and a gradual output increase. "The most likely outcome of the ... meeting is no significant changes in production," Eurasia Group said in a report on the gathering. "The caution on display in the OPEC+ discussions signals that any decisions on tapering will likely be delayed to the May meeting," Eurasia said, referring to the gradual supply of withheld production to the market. A lowering of the OPEC+ oil demand growth forecast for this year by 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) also weighed on prices and made it more likely the meeting would result in continued restraint. On Wednesday, the Joint Technical Committee, which advises the group of oil-producing nations that includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, made no formal recommendation, three OPEC+ sources said. OPEC+ is currently curbing output by just over 7 million bpd to support prices and reduce oversupply. Saudi Arabia has added to those cuts with a further 1 million bpd. The cuts came after the novel coronavirus outbreak turned into the biggest global health crisis in a century and led to the evisceration of demand for oil and fuel. Recovery has been intermittent as outbreak after outbreak of coronavirus infections leads to more lockdown measures. France President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday put his country into a third lockdown and said schools would close for three weeks to cope with a third wave of COVID-19 infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals.
Oil settles over 3% higher as OPEC+ officially announces plan to gradually lift output Oil futures gained more than 3% on Thursday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies officially announced an agreement to gradually lift output starting in May.The group of producers, together known as OPEC+ announced that (link) they approved an adjustment to the production levels for May, June and July.During a press conference, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said OPEC+ will raise daily oil production by 350,000 barrels in May, 350,000 barrels in June and by 441,000 barrels in July.He also said Saudi Arabia will gradually roll back the voluntary 1 million-barrel per day cut it's had in place since January, easing the per-day reduction by 250,000 barrels in May, by 350,000 barrels in June and by 400,000 barrels in July.Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The Price Futures Group said that he expected producers to raise production levels, but "did not expect that they would announce it now, especially after lowering the demand outlook.""While OPEC is acknowledging that the world will need more oil as the U.S. reopens, the increases they are talking about are very modest so if demand bounces back, the market will still be tight," he said. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery rose $2.29, or 3.9%, to settle at $61.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after trading as high as $61.75 in the wake of the producers' decision. June Brent crude , the global benchmark, added $2.12, or 3.4%, at $64.86 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, after taping an intraday high of $65.For the week, based on the front-month contracts, WTI prices rose 0.8% and Brent crude climbed 0.7%, according to Dow Jones Market Data.Both crude benchmarks ended Wednesday with a monthly loss of close to 4%. In opening remarks at the OPEC+ meeting Thursday (link), Prince Abdulaziz said that "the reality remains that the global picture is far from even, and the recovery is far from complete.""On the supply side, we have continued to play our part," he said. "Compliance with the levels we agreed has -- once again -- been impressive," with new aggregate levels set at 113%. But "we have to approach the coming weeks with the same admirable commitment.""Until evidence of the recovery is undeniable, we should maintain this cautious stance," Prince Abdulaziz said. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm late Wednesday tweeted that she had talked with Prince Abdulaziz and had "reaffirmed the importance of international cooperation to ensure affordable and reliable sources of energy for consumers."(link)
Oil settles up more than $2 despite OPEC+ production cuts — Oil prices settled up more than $2 Thursday despite news that OPEC+ reached a deal to gradually ease production cuts from May. Brent crude settled up $2.12, or 3.4%, to $64.86 a barrel. U.S. oil settled up $2.29, or 3.9%, at $61.45 a barrel. OPEC+, which comprises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other allied producers, agreed to ease production curbs by 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, another 350,000 bpd in June and further 400,000 bpd or so in July. “Ironically, the market has bought the OPEC+ story that demand will increase and the barrels will be needed, despite multiple calls by OPEC for caution in the days leading up to the meeting,” said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho. Under Thursday’s deal, cuts implemented by OPEC+ would be just above 6.5 million bpd from May. OPEC+ had cut output by nearly 7 million bpd, and Saudi Arabia made an extra 1 million bpd voluntary output cut. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in the meeting that he expected global oil demand to grow by 5-5.5 million barrels per day (bpd) this year. Novak said he hoped global oil inventories, a key parameter for the oil industry, would return to their normal level in two to three months. However, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the market’s recovery was “far from complete.” The Saudi state news agency reported that he and his U.S. counterpart Jennifer Granholm spoke on the phone and agreed to work to enforce cooperation in the energy field. OPEC+ has trimmed its oil demand growth forecast for this year by 300,000 bpd because of renewed lockdowns. France entered its third national lockdown and schools closed for three weeks to try to contain a third wave of COVID-19 infections. Still, European markets have recovered most of their pandemic-driven losses on strong manufacturing activity. March data showed euro zone factory activity growth galloped at its fastest pace in the history of the survey. Oil found some support after U.S. President Joe Biden outlined a $2.3 trillion spending plan to invest in traditional projects, such as roads and bridges, alongside tackling climate change. Oil prices were pressured by an unexpected rise in U.S. claims for unemployment benefits. But prices drew support from a U.S. Energy Information Administration report that domestic crude stocks fell unexpectedly last week.
Oil Futures Settle Nearly 4% Higher - Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Thursday, supported by news that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, including Russia and Kazakhstan, have agreed to incremental increases in crude production for three months starting in May. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $2.29 or about 3.9% at $61.45 a barrel. Brent crude futures were up $1.93 or 3.1% at $64.67 a barrel. Investors were also reacting to the EIA inventory data and the announcement of U.S. President Joe Biden's vast infrastructure plan that includes investments in roads, railways, broadband, clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing. Saudi Arabia's Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said in a press conference that OPEC+ will raise daily oil production by 350,000 barrels in May, 350,000 barrels in June and by 441,000 barrels in July. Traders were also weighing the data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration that said domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 14 billion cubic feet for the week ended March 26. That compares with an average increase of 19 billion cubic feet forecast by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts.
Bucking US threats, China and Iran sign 25-year treaty - This weekend, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi traveled to Tehran and signed a 25-year treaty with his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif. The terms of the treaty were not disclosed. However, US news outlets noted that an earlier draft of the treaty, obtained by US officials and shown to the New York Times, entailed $400 billion in Chinese investment in Iran in exchange for exports of Iranian oil, as well as a strategic alliance. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, right, and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, pose for photos after the ceremony of signing documents, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 27, 2021. Iran and China on Saturday signed a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement addressing economic issues amid crippling U.S. sanctions on Iran, state TV reported. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi) Beijing is defying economic sanctions imposed by former US President Donald Trump after he unilaterally scrapped the 2015 Iranian nuclear treaty in 2018, and that incoming US President Joe Biden has yet to remove. In February, Biden suddenly bombed an Iranian-backed militia in Syria, killing at least 17 people. Beijing’s decision to sign the treaty with Tehran followed a disastrous US-China summit earlier this month in Alaska. During remarks to the press before summit proceedings even began, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken publicly lectured Wang that China must accept a “rules-based international order” set by Washington, or face “a far more violent and unstable world.” Afterwards, US Pacific Fleet commander Admiral John Aquilino threatened that a US war with China over Taiwan “is much closer to us than most think.” By signing a treaty with Tehran, Beijing is signaling that it has concluded that it must make its own preparations against a Biden administration that will be aggressive and relentlessly hostile. It is no doubt confirmed in this view by continuing, groundless war propaganda from US politicians, debunked by scientists, alleging that COVID-19 was manufactured in a Chinese lab. At the Anchorage conference, Wang replied to Blinken by contrasting China’s commitment to international law with US imperialism’s foreign policy in the Middle East. “We do not believe in invading through the use of force, or to topple other regimes through various means, or to massacre the people of other countries because all of those would only cause turmoil and instability in this world. And at the end of the day, all of those would not serve the United States well.”
No comments:
Post a Comment