Powering the Planet
Research and analysis on oil, gas, water, hydrogen, solar, wind and energy storage.| Powering the Planet
Research and analysis on oil, gas, water, hydrogen, solar, wind and energy storage.| Powering the Planet
Do you remember the “algae as oil” years? For a whole ten years we were subjected to this scam from the biggest oil companies. We learned about it in 2009 and at the time Exxon predicted “it could produce fuels in five to 10 years.” And then after four years| Powering the Planet
Where is the oil? In the first week of December 2024, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that the U.S. produced a record amount of oil at 13.6 million barrels per day. This record was achieved under the Biden administration despite how we were constantly told this administration| Powering the Planet
For the U.S. LNG industry to make money it will require many factors all to align in the "Goldilocks Window" and that outcome is highly unlikely.| Powering the Planet
The U.S. shale industry has peaked and it is still in a deep financial hole.| Powering the Planet
Due to my obsession with energy markets I get the occasional question from investors. This week I was asked about the AI results on Google for queries about what price of oil Exxon needed to be profitable. I think it’s becoming clear to most rational people that the| Powering the Planet
We’ve been warned of inconvenient truths. A movie was made about society’s unspoken agreement to ignore science and reality and the current U.S. regime is making that movie’s head-in-the-sand approach of science denial official policy. Meanwhile, the very real impacts of our changing climate are becoming| Powering the Planet
I’ve been researching and writing about the shale oil and gas industry for over 10 years now. For much of that time I’ve seen the U.S. shale industry treat gas (aka methane) as a waste product. In the Bakken they were flaring and venting up to 25%| Powering the Planet
The global LNG industry has an economics problem. The main use for LNG (liquefied natural gas) is to burn it to generate electricity. However, there are lots of ways to make electricity these days and buying LNG to then burn it for electricity is currently one of the most expensive.| Powering the Planet
In a recent Wall Street Week video report on oil industry methane emissions there was a great insight into what the oil industry plans to do when it comes to environmental liabilities and the world in general. After hearing how there was potential to plug old oil and gas wells| Powering the Planet
LNG investors learning hard lessons about the major economic challenges facing US LNG exporters.| Powering the Planet
The U.S. is working hard to get the rest of the world hooked on expensive and dirty liquefied natural gas (LNG) and is getting plenty of help from the banking system in other countries like Japan. The example I will focus on today is the proposed Mexico Pacific LNG| Powering the Planet
While it is now becoming clear to more people that the U.S. oil boom is about to end, very few people are talking about what that means for U.S. natural gas production. Few also are mentioning that some of the major shale gas plays like the Marcellus and| Powering the Planet
There is a massive methane spill happening in the Permian and the rest of the oil and gas fields in America and it has been going on for decades. It continues because, unlike the BP Horizon disaster, no one can see it.| Powering the Planet
In 1990 officials were warning the government that they needed a plan to make sure the costs to clean up the mess being made by the oil industry were not passed on to the public. If the public wants to avoid picking up the tab for the oil tycoons, it better get a plan of its own in place.| Powering the Planet
The true hoax of this energy transition is the idea that the U.S. has unlimited oil and gas that is just waiting to be produced as soon as those tree-hugging liberals stop standing in the way.| Powering the Planet
Methane is getting some attention as we learn new information on the severity of the problem of methane emissions in the oil and gas industry but it remains a distant second in the world's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, despite all of the good intentions (e.| Powering the Planet
In 1971 Orlo Childs was speaking at the annual Underground Waste Management symposium and posed the following question about the practice of using injection wells to dispose of America’s toxic waste. “Where will the waste reside 100 years from now?” Orlo Childs at the 1971 conference Underground Waste Management| Powering the Planet
Back in the beginning of the century James Kuntsler published the book The Long Emergency which warned about societal collapse due to declining oil production combined with “climate change, resurgent diseases, water scarcity, global economic instability and warfare to cause major trouble for future generations.” Twenty years ago it was| Powering the Planet
“Look around the poker table; if you can’t see the sucker, you’re it.”| Powering the Planet
Here we go again. “Last week, a retired oil and gas worker named Luke Shipp called out Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian for claiming that no wastewater disposal well has contaminated groundwater used by people.” That quote is from a column in the Houston Chronicle about the ongoing problem of toxic| Powering the Planet
By 1910, California was producing roughly a fifth of the world’s crude oil. Today it is producing roughly a fifth of the oil consumed by the state. Source In addition to experiencing serious oil production decline, California is also a “fuel island” due to the geographical and regulatory constraints| Powering the Planet
“No one I knew in the organization thought this was possible; the pressure to deliver on Woods’ promise to the market permeated the organization.”| Powering the Planet
State regulators are allowing the oil industry to walk away from its cleanup responsibilities.| Powering the Planet
Oil industry plans to store carbon dioxide in injection wells pose huge financial, environmental and climate risks.| Powering the Planet
In 2019 I wrote an article that posed the question, “Will the Public End up Paying to Clean up the Fracking Boom?” The following year I wrote the article, “With Bankruptcies Mounting, Faltering Oil and Gas Firms Are Leaving a Multi-billion Dollar Cleanup Bill to the Public” in which I| Powering the Planet
It is unlikely that the new methane regulations will have the large predicted impact on reducing methane emissions for the U.S. oil and gas industry. While it is unfortunate that this is the reality, after writing about the regulatory process in the U.S. for the past ten years,| Powering the Planet
As Law360 reported, this week Exxon’s lawyers are using a technical legal agreement to claim they want a refund of $1.8 billion from America.| Powering the Planet
Leaks are not driving oil and gas methane pollution. Methane pollution is mostly due to normal oilfield operation.| Powering the Planet
History is likely to show that the idea of permanently polluting huge amounts of water and then trying to bury that water deep underground under high pressure likely was a really bad idea.| Powering the Planet
Tour diary for a visit to view the methane emergency in the oil and gas producing regions of the Permian.| Powering the Planet
In October, shortly after Exxon and Chevron announced over $100 billion in combined acquisitions, oilfield services company Halliburton’s CEO Jeff Miller warned about the reality of producing oil in the U.S. shale industry. “The reality is you have to do more work in order to stay flat.” This| Powering the Planet
A new legal action on behalf of a pension fund invested in Pioneer Resources is challenging Exxon’s purchase of Pioneer Resources with accusations that Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield made a deal that was great for him personally — but not for shareholders. In February, the Operating Engineers Construction Industry and| Powering the Planet
[J]ournalists must also be careful not to believe everything people say. Sometimes, people are mistaken. Sometimes, people lie.’| Powering the Planet
Scott Sheffield is one of the most financially successful shale oil and gas CEOs in America. And while he owes this personal wealth in part to producing a lot of oil, it also has helped that he knows how to “talk his book.” Like Exxon CEO Darren Wood, who is| Powering the Planet
Something remarkable happened today in the pages of the Wall Street Journal today. In the article Exxon and Chevron Earnings Fall Back to Earth, a rather stunning quote snuck in explaining why investors weren’t as keen on Exxon as might be expected. “There’s still a lingering concern for| Powering the Planet
