A gassy New Year
Natural Gas News, January 7, 2019
The expected flurry of final investment decisions that will be taken this year to build LNG terminals in North America, Russia, Africa and elsewhere cannot of course disguise the fact that oil is still of paramount importance. And the same producers are involved in some of the biggest projects in both oil and gas, so there cannot be cut-throat competition, exactly. Nevertheless, the rate of change is heartening and reflects the rapid absorption of LNG on the global market in the last year, when many were digging themselves in for a glut and knock-down prices. Competitive pricing is one thing, value-destruction another. After a relatively quiet few years, it means that there is confidence in a market for gas in its own right – power, heating, marine and road transport, petrochemicals and manufacturing – but also it will be less rigid than before.
Despite shutdown, Trump administration continues work to begin oil drilling in ANWR
Elizabeth Harball, Alaska’s Energy Desk, January 4, 2019
As the partial government shutdown drags on, the Trump administration is making sure some Interior Department employees continue work on one of its biggest, most controversial priorities: opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Drilling opponents were quick to criticize the move, contrasting it with the overflowing trash cans and unattended public toilets in national parks managed by Interior, which have become a symbol of the continuing stalemate in Washington, D.C.
Oil rises 3 percent; lifted by OPEC cuts, steadying stock market
Stephanie Kelly, Reuters, January 7, 2019
Oil prices climbed about 3 percent on Monday, rebounding further from 1-1/2-year lows reached in December on support from OPEC production cuts and steadying equities markets. Brent crude LCOc1 futures rose $1.47 to $58.53 a barrel, a 2.6 percent gain, as of 11:12 a.m. EST (1612 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures rose $1.56 to $49.52 a barrel, a 3.3 percent gain. Oil futures have gained about 10 percent since last Monday.
Related:
Saudis Plan to Cut Crude Exports to 7.1 Million Barrels a Day, Say OPEC Officials
From the Washington Examiner Daily on Energy:
PELOSI PLANS TO RESURRECT FAILED CAP-AND-TRADE BILL FROM A DECADE AGO: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that she plans to resurrect something similar to the failed cap-and-trade bill that the House passed nearly a decade ago but that the Senate couldn’t muster the votes to pass.
“We couldn’t pass in the Senate our climate bill, and we’ll be returning to that,” Pelosi said on Friday at as part of MSNBC’s “The Speaker” town hall broadcast.
Old ideas reborn: Pelosi is referring to the bill named after former Reps. Henry Waxman and Ed Markey, who is now a senator. The bill put in place a cap on carbon dioxide emissions, while offering emission credits to the power plant operators, which they would have to purchase in order to meet the cap. The price of the credit would adjust as an incentive to reduce emissions.
Our Take: What was that definition of insanity? The Senate wouldn’t pass it before and Headlamp would put money on the same thing happening again.
