Today’s Key Takeaways: Job listings down 9% this year – still 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels. Oil and gas pipeline spend of $369B led by US shale plays. Qatar names ConocoPhillips as partner in LNG expansion. Alaska mining jobs on the rise. Biden sacrifices national security with SPR drawdown.
The Great Resignation is cooling off. Demand for workers in certain pandemic-hot sectors — especially tech — is down sharply from last year, per job site Indeed’s latest numbers.
Why it matters: Big Tech went on a hiring binge over the past year, as Axios’ Ina Fried reports. Now the diet begins. The industry is in “belt-tightening” mode — with hiring freezes and even layoffs on the menu, she writes.
The industry’s woes could be an early indicator of what’s to come in the broader labor market, which has so far stayed strong despite other worrying signs in the economy.
Fewer job openings mean less demand for workers. It’s also an indicator that folks won’t be able to job-hop their way to the kind of sky-high pay increases certain professionals scored in 2021.
Back then, if you played it right, you could basically name your price.
Zoom out: Lower demand means slowing wage growth — which, as we say on repeat here at Markets, is what the Federal Reserve wants in its fight against inflation.
That’s already happening. The Employment Cost Index, out Friday, showed wage growth falling in the third quarter — though still relatively high.
Fewer workers are quitting their jobs for better prospects, ZipRecruiter’s chief economist Julia Pollak said in a note, with a chart titled, “The Great Resignation is coming to an end.”
Not only are there fewer jobs on offer, but workers are nervous. “Amid increased fears of a possible recession, employees are prioritizing job security over pay,” she writes.
Details: The five occupations that saw the biggest declines in demand were in areas where remote work really took off, including software development, marketing, and math-related roles (think data science or analysts).
There was a 27% decline in human resource job listings. “If you’re looking to hire fewer HR people, that probably means you’re looking to hire fewer people in general,” says Nick Bunker, Indeed’s economic research director for North America.
Bunker says another area where demand for workers is falling is in warehousing.
Yes, but: While overall job listings are down 9% on Indeed this year, they’re still 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels.
“There’s still a relative bounty of job openings — it’s just not as bountiful,” Bunker says.
Initial findings from Westwood’s upcoming onshore pipeline market forecast indicate that the outlook for oil and gas-related pipelines has improved in 2021, driven by higher commodity prices and a recognition from numerous markets that diversification in supply is required. Overall, almost 310,000km of new pipelines are forecast to be installed between 2022 and 2028, translating into a spend of $369 billion.
Westwood said that the expenditure and number of additional kilometers installed were expected to be led by North America, with pipelines to increase gas offtake capacity in the US’ major shale plays leading demand. The cost per kilometer installed in the region is forecast to be among the highest globally with labor costs and significant legal challenges and permitting issues pushing up costs strongly in the region. Asia is also expected to see major investment over the forecast, led by China and India
Qatar Energy’s chief executive on Sunday named ConocoPhillips as the third and final partner on the Gulf Arab state’s North Field South expansion, part of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.
ConocoPhillips will have a 6.25% interest in the project, Saad al-Kaabi told a news conference.
State-owned Qatar Energy had already announced Shell and Total Energies as partners in the North Field South expansion and Kaabi said each would hold a 9.375% stake.
The North Field is part of the world’s biggest gas field that Qatar shares with Iran, which calls its share South Pars.
Qatar Energy earlier this year signed deals for North Field East, the first and larger phase of the two-phase North Field expansion plan, which includes six LNG trains that will ramp up Qatar’s liquefaction capacity to 126 million tonnes per year by 2027 from 77 million tonnes.
LNG supplies and capacity have taken on special importance since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has led to cuts in Moscow’s gas supplies.
Kaabi said discussions continued with several Asian buyers as “value-added partners” that “will have a small equity participation” on the North Field expansion, but that the Western international partners were all announced.
Several supply agreements were being discussed in relation to the North Field expansion, he said, adding that there would be announcements in due course.
“It’s difficult to give a timeline on when these will be ready,” he said.
Kaabi also said that Golden Pass, a LNG facility in Texas jointly owned by Qatar Energy and ExxonMobil, would start exporting gas by the fourth quarter of 2024.
ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance told the news conference in Doha that curbs to fuel exports, which U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is considering to lower consumer prices, would be a bad in the long-term for the United States.
“If you start to restrict access going into global markets, you restrict the supply that’s out there, the price will go up,” Lance said. “And since they trade on a global market, the U.S. price would go up as well.” (Reporting by Andrew Mills; Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; editing by John Stonestreet and Tomasz Janowski)
Alaska is slowly regaining the thousands of jobs lost during the pandemic, but it may take a few more years for the state to return to 2019 levels of employment, Alaska Public Media reports. An October report from the state labor department said Alaska ranked 47th in the U.S. for job recovery from 2019 through the first half of 2022.
Paul Martz is an economist with the state of Alaska. He looked at 10-year industry projections for the state in the October Trends newsletter. He says the oil and gas industry was already losing jobs in the years leading up to the pandemic.
But the mining and weed business is on the rise.
“Most of the growth we [project] for mining in Alaska is expansion of existing mines. There is a few specific example, but almost all of the operating mines in the state are undergoing or have recently undergone exploration and expansion projects into the surrounding areas”, Martz said.
The weed industry has seen robust growth, even through 2021.
“The pandemic only really slowed it down slightly. If there is a saturation point for this industry in the market, we do not see any evidence of it now. And it is a very new industry, so the actual number of jobs is not really all that much, Martz said in the interview.
Politics:
Biden Sacrifices National Security For Midterm Votes With SPR Drawdown Dan Eberhart, Forbes, October 27, 2022
Dan Eberhart is CEO of Canary, LLC.
The Biden administration is again looking to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to tame rising oil prices. Unfortunately, tapping further into America’s emergency stockpile won’t work. In fact, drawing down the SPR will weaken America’s energy security and exacerbate an energy crisis already threatening the global economy.
It’s easy to see the political motivation behind President Joe Biden’s plan. Retail gasoline prices are on the rise again and threaten Democrats’ chances in the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
Clearly, things are not great with the economy. Domestic oil production growth from shale has stalled, and the OPEC-plus cartel certainly didn’t do the White House any favors with its recent decision to cut supply by 2 million barrels a day.
But Biden’s use of the SPR as a market management tool, rather than the emergency reserve it was designed as, is reckless in today’s supply-driven energy crisis.
Biden has been selling SPR oil at unprecedented rates since May to handle the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The latest sale of 15 million barrels was in addition to the record 180-million-barrel sale authorized last spring. Despite this, the administration is already eyeing new sales starting in January.
The SPR under Biden has been drained to about 405 million barrels – the lowest volume since 1984. And the White House has made it clear that it is comfortable taking the SPR – which can hold up to 714 million barrels – much lower.
The administration thinks it has a plan to refill the SPR and spur more U.S. oil production by guaranteeing a “fixed contract” with a buyback price of around $70 a barrel for domestic oil companies.
“Refining and refilling the reserve at $70 a barrel is a good price for companies, and it’s a good price for taxpayers,” Biden said.
Biden’s comments demonstrate a total lack of understanding about how the oil markets and America’s oil industry work.
The buyback plan will have a limited impact on producers’ investment decisions, driven mainly by investor demands for cash returns.
Moreover, the oil futures market’s current structure is sending producers signals that locking into a fixed contract of $70 in the future is a bad idea – even with demand concerns about a coming recession.
Indeed, the “forward curve” for U.S. benchmark crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) does not signal a drop to $70 until mid-2024. WTI now trades around $85 a barrel.
The oil market structure is in “backwardation,” a condition where prices further out in the future are lower than the price for immediate delivery. Backwardation indicates a very tight supply market, which dissuades producers from hedging for fear of leaving money on the table by locking into below-market rates.
Biden thinks he is setting a floor for U.S. producers as they consider new investments, but in reality, his plan adds risk to the global oil market.
Why?
Because it further antagonizes Saudi Arabia and the OPEC-plus group, which holds the spare production capacity required to manage supply and demand within the oil market.
Before this latest sale, OPEC-plus was already fed up with SPR releases and other market interventions by the United States and European Union, including a G7 “price cap” on Russian oil sales.
The cartel restored ample spare capacity of around 3 million barrels a day after it decided to make the big supply cut earlier this month. But having that spare capacity means nothing unless the Saudi-led group is willing to use it.
OPEC-plus will now factor further SPR releases into its supply management decisions. With U.S.-Saudi relations in the throes of a crisis, you can bet that the threshold for OPEC-plus to use that spare capacity has increased.
That’s troubling because the EU bans on Russian crude and refined product imports set to take effect in December and February, respectively, will result in Russian supply losses of up to 2 million barrels a day. That is a real supply disruption – the sort of emergency the SPR was designed to address.
But let’s not pretend Russia is the only supply risk on the horizon.
A closer look at the oil-producing countries in the OPEC-plus group shows considerable exposure to geopolitical risks: Libya, Iraq, Iran, and Nigeria, as well as the potential for issues to arise in Russia’s Caspian neighbor Kazakhstan.
Closer to home, the Atlantic hurricane season continues to pose a threat through November. Hurricane Ian may have missed the Gulf Coast oil production hub, but it served as a reminder of how much damage such a storm could inflict.
The SPR is the largest strategic stockpile in the world, so its shrinking volume impacts global oil prices. It’s no surprise that Biden’s latest announcement caused oil prices to rise, as traders see fewer emergency reserves as the market heads toward more Russian trouble with the approach of the EU import bans.
The White House is injecting a lot of risk for just a few votes in the midterm elections.
Biden would be better off making peace with America’s oil producers and easing his administration’s climate policies that seek to destroy the industry. Even former President Barack Obama boasted about the benefit of U.S. energy production, but Biden can’t seem to get there.
The Biden administration’s moves jeopardize our national security. The depletion of our emergency oil reserves can only last until the stockpiles are exhausted, while replenishing them will take years.
Who knows what new threats may menace energy markets then.
If you're still looking for a costume, we have a great one for you! Ohio oil and gas workers are lowering prices and keeping our nation secure this Halloween. pic.twitter.com/Fr63GXEKvk
— Ohio Natural Energy Institute (@OHNaturalEnergy) October 30, 2022
Today’s Key Takeaway: “[i]f designed with competition, Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) policies could increase economic efficiency, protect the taxpayer and help drive cost reductions.” Conversely, “[i]f designed incorrectly or if policy oversteps the role of the private sector, government intervention could misallocate resources and impede the progress of the very technologies it aims to promote.”
1) We are seeing a burgeoning demand for carbon capture and removal technology for both public and private benefit, but these technologies are nascent, and it is important to get the policy mechanisms correct so that we improve rather than inhibit innovation among the many competing technology types.
2) We know from other programs focused on innovation that the market is a much better tool for rewarding outcomes over political decision. While policymakers are keen on putting public funds towards these efforts to capture potential benefits, they should have a preference for policies that enable choice rather than replace choice.
3) Policy mechanisms like reverse auctions are ideal for stimulating market entry and innovation for carbon capture or removal technologies, as they allow the most efficient technologies to claim the most profit. While we do not estimate the appropriate size of such a program, a reverse auction would be a much better tool for garnering innovation in carbon dioxide removal technology than technology-specific subsidy.
Introduction
Advances in carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology are generating new debate around the role of government in their adoption. To date, public policy mechanisms like grants and tax credits have subsidized this technology, but questions linger about whether improved policy mechanisms could accelerate the adoption of CDR at a lower cost to the public. There is also debate regarding the extent to which government should spur CDR technology. Conventional economic theory notes that the presence of private-sector demand for a new technology should diminish the need for public support, but the commodity provided by CDR—reduced pollution— is a public good, which forces considering whether public support is warranted to best capture the benefits.
In this paper, we explain the benefits of CDR technology, its potential future role in both the public and private sectors, and how best to maximize its benefits. Importantly, this paper focuses on discerning whether there are reasonable motivations for public policy regarding CDR technology, and, if so, what structure of policy would yield the greatest benefits at the lowest cost. We focus particularly on reverse auction mechanisms, which traditionally have been highly effective at reducing commodity market costs.
In Alaska’s largest conservative stronghold, the booming Matanuska-Susitna Borough, voters are being asked to decide what kind of conservative Republican they want to represent them. Via @AlaskaBeaconhttps://t.co/vtfZtTqP8w
Today’s Key Takeaways: British Prime Minister Sunak plans to reinstate England fracking ban. Whaling captain highlights improvements to Inupiat quality of life because of the oil and gas industry – need for Willow project. Nothing but volatility for European natural gas prices. Governor urges EPA not to use pre-emptive veto of Pebble Mine. PA Senate candidate Fetterman flip flops on fracking.
The British oil and gas industry was dealt a blow on Wednesday after the newest Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he would reinstate a ban on fracking in England, according to the Financial Times citing a senior government insider.
Sunak’s predecessor, who survived in office for just 45 days, lifted England’s ban on fracking in September as one of her first actions as Prime Minister and campaigned on the prospect of increasing oil drilling in the North Sea and boosting nuclear power. Former PM Liz Truss said that her number one priority was to deal “with people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply.”
The former Prime Minister was asked to step down following a failed mini-budget attempt, paving the way for Sunak to take her place. But Sunak’s views on the oil and gas industry couldn’t be more different than his predecessor’s.
Just a day before Liz Truss resigned in her role as UK Prime Minister, the opposition party attempted to re-ban fracking but failed. But the vote showed cracks in the support for fracking when as many as 40 Conservative Party MPs either failed to vote or voted against the party. While Truss had lifted the ban on fracking, her successor Rishi Sunak said this week that he would deliver on the promise of the Conservative Party manifesto, which imposed a moratorium on fracking back in 2019 when oil and gas companies failed to prove that they could operate without inducing tremors above a specific limit.
In part, the Conservative Party manifesto reads: “We placed a moratorium on fracking in England with immediate effect. Having listened to local communities, we have ruled out changes to the planning system. We will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely.”
A recent poll by Stack Data Strategy showed that 39% of UK adults would support fracking.
As the first snows coat Alaska, families are bracing for a long and difficult winter in the midst of historically high energy prices. Across the Lower 48, many will face similar hardships as heating bills arrive in mailboxes.
The fact is, six months after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine sent oil markets into shock, there remains an urgent need to bring more U.S. production online. Fortunately, the Biden administration is in the final steps of reviewing a major project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) that will make a big difference. After extensive review, all the Willow project needs is the White House’s green light.
If President Biden has any doubt that approval of Willow is critical to America’s interests, I hope he’ll look to those who stand to be impacted most. And no, I’m not talking about the outside groups that purport to speak for Alaska while fighting all forms of development. I’m talking about Alaska native communities.
I’m an Iñupiat whaling captain who has subsisted in Arctic Alaska for my entire life. I’m also an elected assembly member for the North Slope Borough — the largest municipal government, in area, in the United States. My ancestors have been caring for our land, water and wildlife for thousands of years, and we continue to do so for future generations. Given our rich history and the rightful ownership of our homelands, it seems intuitive that our voices would be prioritized in debates regarding resource development there. Unfortunately, that’s rarely the case.
The North Slope of Alaska is a challenging but beautiful place to live. It provides the Iñupiat with sustenance, enhances our culture and defines who we are — indigenous people who thrive in one of the harshest climates on the planet.
Our communities have faced hardships that outsiders can’t imagine. I’m just 46 years old, and I have experienced tremendous improvements to our quality of life because of the oil and gas industry that allows us to stay true to our traditional ways of life. The borough celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and my great-uncle, Eben Hopson, Sr., was one of its founders and the very first mayor. It was through the foresight of past leaders like him that we have been able to improve our villages’ third-world living conditions to first-world communities. One of my great-uncle’s goals was to ‘have a flush toilet in every house’ in each of our region’s villages. We’ve mostly succeeded in doing that through building clean sanitation and water infrastructure. We have also built public health clinics and schools; created public safety, search and rescue; as well as provide other services that have been directly responsible for the Iñupiat attaining an additional 13-years to our lifespan.
These improvements have been made possible by working with industry to ensure cultural values are maintained and protected while also providing the opportunity for future generations to remain home. It’s through our municipal property taxes on energy infrastructure that allows us to be self-sustainable. Within our region, more than 50 percent of residents are indigenous, and in some of our communities it’s more than 90 percent. Based on my grandfather’s dream, we have been successful in creating our own destiny. Because of the strength of our borough, through its taxing authority, we are not dependent on federal or state funding.
Gas:
The only certainty for European natural gas prices is volatility . Here’s why:
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to put the brakes on its effort to stop the giant Pebble copper and gold project.
In May, the federal agency proposed halting the proposed mineunder a provision of the Clean Water Act it has used sparingly.It says the mine would be among the world’s largest open-pit copper mines and threatens the Bristol Bay region’s valuable wild salmon fishery and people who rely on it.
The agency is expected to decide by Dec. 2 whether it will move ahead with its proposal.
In his Sept. 6, three-page letter to Casey Sixkiller, administrator of the EPA region that includes Alaska, Dunleavy said the proposed veto of the project is “deeply concerning” and would undermine Alaska’s legal decision-making authority in resource development.
The letter, accompanied by the state’s 53-page comment to the agency, was obtained through a routine records request by the Daily News for the governor’s monthly correspondence.
Dunleavy said the EPA proposal, if finalized, would make preemptive decisions about which resources Alaska can develop and how it can develop them. It chooses fisheries over mining, while disregarding Alaska’s ability to protect its fishery resources, the governor said in the letter.
FETTERMAN’S CONFUSING REMARKS ON FRACKING: Fracking featured last night in the first and only debate between Pennsylvania Senate candidates John Fetterman and Mehmet Oz.
When Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor, was asked by moderators to clarify his stance on fracking — which he now supports, after previously backing a moratorium on fracking during his 2016 Senate campaign — he said, “I’ve always supported fracking,”
Later, Fetterman, who recently suffered a stroke and struggled with words at times in the debate, attempted to clarify: “I do support fracking. … I support fracking and I stand — I support fracking.”
On the campaign trail, Fetterman has said he supports fracking “as long as it’s done environmentally sound and making sure that we’re not contaminating our waterways.”
Oz has also shifted his position on fracking. In a 2014 column, the then-TV doctor wrote that fracking should be banned until its health effects are studied. Last night, Oz described the practice as a “lifeline for this commonwealth to be able to build wealth” and noted its potential to create more jobs in the state.
Today’s Key Takeaways: IEA talks global energy crisis. Biden throws a bone to the oil industry. U.S. and Japanese officials discuss AKLNG’s ability to provide sustainable, affordable energy to Japan. New study – charging EV’s at home. Kerry lays out COP27 agenda.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
FIRST ‘TRULY GLOBAL’ ENERGY CRISIS, IEA CHIEF DECLARES: Tightening LNG markets and cuts from the world’s largest oil producers have put the world in the middle of the world’s “first truly global energy crisis,” the director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, said today.
Birol said at Singapore’s International Energy Week that global markets are already tighter than usual due to rising LNG demand from the EU as it races to offset Russian fossil fuels, a situation he warned could worsen if China’s economy begins to reopen and drives demand even higher.
Together, he said these things could lead to a sharp supply-demand imbalance, since just 20 million cubic meters of new LNG capacity will hit the markets next year.
Birol also criticized the OPEC+ to slash oil production by 2 million barrels per day. He described the cuts as “risky,” noting that the IEA predicts global demand growth will sit around exactly that amount for the remainder of the year.
“[The cuts are] especially risky as several economies around the world are on the brink of a recession, if that we are talking about the global recession… I found this decision really unfortunate,” he said.
Birol also weighed in on the G-7’s proposed Russian oil price cap, saying details must be ironed out before it takes effect in six weeks. Leaders must also secure buy-in from the world’s major oil importers, he said.
U.S. shale oil executive Matt Gallagher this week took a poll on Twitter to gauge sentiment toward President Joe Biden’s offer to stock the U.S. emergency oil reserve at prices around $72 a barrel, to give producers an incentive to drill more.
The result: nearly 80% of respondents said they did not expect oil futures next year will fall to a level that would trigger any U.S. purchases – negating any boost from what analysts called the “U.S. put,” or using proposed Strategic Petroleum Reserve buys to set a minimum price for new oil production.
“That announcement was making it appear like he was throwing a bone to the oil industry,” said Trisha Curtis, CEO of consultancy PetroNerds, who dismissed the offer.
“What if oil does not fall to that price: Do we just keep our reserves low?” she asked.
The release of the last of a 180-million-barrel sale coupled with a repurchase price was Biden “trying to walk a fine line between supporting his green base and trying to lower fuel prices. And he did neither,” said Curtis.
The Biden administration signaled support Monday for a massive liquefied natural gas project in Alaska, touting the energy benefits of a proposal critics have called a terrible idea.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel held a summit in Japan focused on the proposed Alaska LNG project, which would include about 800 miles of pipeline as well as a gas export facility in Nikiski, Alaska.
U.S. and Japanese officials discussed how “Alaska LNG can provide stable, sustainable, and affordable energy sources to Japan,” according to a statement Monday from Emanuel. He indirectly referenced Russia’s war in Ukraine, a conflict that has pushed numerous countries to seek new supplies of energy.
“No need for Russian gas when #America stands ready to supply it,” Emanuel said on Twitter.
The talks in Tokyo come as the Biden administration has pushed to boost U.S. LNG exports to Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. U.S. LNG exports are forecast to average 11.7 billion cubic feet per day in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to a report last month from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, up 1.7 bcf per day from the third quarter of this year.
The Alaska LNG project is being developed by the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. (AGDC), a state corporation. It is looking to ship LNG primarily to Asian markets. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project in 2020 (Greenwire, May 21, 2020).
The $39 billion project has garnered the support of policymakers such as Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) and Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, both Republicans who represent Alaska. The $39 billion is for the proposed pipeline, a gas treatment facility on the North Slope and an LNG plant, according to Tim Fitzpatrick, a spokesperson for AGDC.
“Our ongoing conversations with investors and developers, like the one early this morning, are to address funding and other aspects of completing the project,” Fitzpatrick said in an email Monday.
But environmental groups have criticized the fossil fuel project, with groups opposing it because they do not want to see more oil and gas infrastructure built (Energywire, June 30). Concerns have ranged from climate change to the ecosystem in Alaska.
Fitzpatrick said the Alaska LNG project is the only one under development by the company. The development corporation has signed multiple letters of intent with potential LNG purchasers, he said.
The project’s benefits include proximity to Asian markets, a “strong safety culture” and a “cold climate that ensures more efficient production,” according to a video on Alaska LNG’s website.
The facility, which could export up to 20 million metric tons of LNG annually, has faced legal challenges over a FERC analysis of the project’s climate risks (Energywire, Sept. 15).
One environmental group said the Alaska LNG summit appeared to be an example of the U.S. government trying to facilitate deals between project developers and Japanese companies.
“This is part of a broader pattern,” said Talia Calnek-Sugin, the associate director of legislative and administrative advocacy for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, in an email.
“This is helping proposed US export facilities reach a final investment decision (FID) that might otherwise not get enough contracts to attract financing, contradicting the Biden Administration’s climate goals and international fossil fuel finance policy,” Calnek-Sugin said.
Neither the Department of State nor the White House provided a comment to E&E News in time for publication.
The Department of Energy released an environmental review of the project earlier this year that said the Alaska LNG project wouldn’t raise greenhouse gas emissions, assuming LNG exports elsewhere would continue to meet demand even if the pipeline and terminal do not get built (Energywire, June 30).
A spokesperson for DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management said Monday that the agency did not participate in the summit because of the ongoing environmental review. A final supplemental environmental impact statement is slated to be finalized next month, the spokesperson said.
In his Monday tweet, Emanuel said he was proud to convene a group that included Sullivan, Dunleavy, State Department energy adviser Amos Hochstein and representatives from the Japanese government to “discuss how @AlaskaLNG can be part of [Japan]’s energy future.”
Sullivan, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, described the summit as a “significant gathering of stakeholders seeking to advance the Alaska LNG Project” in a statement Monday.
“This action-oriented Alaska LNG Summit is an outgrowth of these meetings that we believe will advance the prospects of the Alaska LNG project,” said Sullivan, who thanked Emanuel for hosting the gathering.
Sullivan’s statement said in-person attendees included AGDC President Frank Richards.
Fitzpatrick with AGDC said no offtake agreements for purchasing LNG from Alaska were announced following the summit.
A new report draws on 10 years of detailed data to chart charger use patterns, as well as how they can work as home backup and grid-balancing tools.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 80 percent of EV charging happens at home, so figuring out how all of these cars will affect their owners’ electric bills — and the utility grids they’re connected to — will become a far more pressing matter.
One place to look for insights on these questions is Austin, Texas. Over the past decade, hundreds of households have volunteered to provide nonprofit research organization Pecan Street access to second-by-second data on how much electricity their air conditioners and appliances are using, how much their rooftop solar systems are generating — and the charging patterns of their electric vehicles.
Since the federally funded data-collection project started in 2011, the more than 100 EVs in the program have shifted from early power-sippers like the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf to newer models with much bigger batteries from automakers like Tesla, Ford and BMW. All have remained under the owners’ direct control, providing a uniquely long-running and granular view of how EV owners’ charging behaviors have changed over time and under circumstances such as the coronavirus pandemic and last year’s winter grid emergency in Texas.
This extensive trove of data allows Pecan Street to game out a number of propositions for the future of home EV charging.
Special climate envoy John Kerry laid out the U.S. point of view this morning on a host of issues at the upcoming COP27 climate negotiations in Egypt.
Driving the news: Here are three big things to know about his wide-ranging remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations…
He fears Wall Street backsliding: Kerry emphasized the need to mobilize private capital to fund the clean energy transition and criticized “slowing” momentum among banks and financiers this past year given the Ukraine war and ensuing European energy crisis.
“For every $1 invested in low carbon energy supply, $1.10 is invested in fossil fuels,” he stated in prepared remarks. “The math and the science unequivocally make clear, we cannot hit our targets unless we dramatically change that ratio.”
He strongly calls for reforming the World Bank: Multilateral development banks are a key target for criticism, as Kerry and others want these institutions to funnel far more money toward low-carbon solutions abroad.
Kerry sees escalating climate disasters as motivation to act with urgency: Kerry cited the megadrought in the Southwest, heat waves and drought in China: “This past perilous year may well prove better than all those still ahead” without swift action, he said.
The intrigue: Kerry’s appearance on Tuesday addressed the U.S. position on “loss and damage” at COP27.
“Loss and damage” refers to industrialized countries agreeing to pay developing nations for the impacts of climate change that go beyond adaptation limits.
The U.S. and EU have signaled a willingness to discuss the topic at COP27 but resistance to a specific fund.
Kerry was careful not to commit to a specific funding mechanism at COP27, but rather to a continuing dialogue through 2023 and possibly 2024.
What they’re saying: “We’re very concerned about the impacts of climate on all of these countries,” Kerry said of the developing nations, such as flood-ravaged Pakistan, seeking financial support in response to major climate disasters.
“We’re all determined to come up with progress, but something real that we can begin to define for everybody,” he said. “You’ve got to make things happen that can work, that can be functional in your own political system,” he said.
The possibility of a Republican-led House next year could make it far more difficult to mobilize Congress to fund international climate assistance for adaptation and loss and damage, which is something U.S. negotiators will be cognizant of in Egypt.
The midterm elections will take place during the first week of the summit.
Today’s Key Takeaways: U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emmanuel, hosts Alaska LNG summit in Japan. Putting a floor under oil with the SPR. U.S. gas exporters eye Europe’s fluctuating market. All the metals we mined in 2021. Alaska’s Independents have something to say to rest of the country?
NEWS OF THE DAY:
JOINT STATEMENT ON ALASKA LNG SUMMIT TODAY IN JAPAN
ANCHORAGE, AK (Oct. 24) – Today Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and Alaska Gasline
Development Corporation Frank Richards released the following statement at the conclusion of
the Alaska LNG Summit of U.S. and Japanese energy and policy leaders convened in Tokyo by
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel. Summit attendees gathered to advance the Alaska
LNG project to commercialize abundant North Slope natural gas for delivery to Alaskans and
export markets, including Japan.
In-person participants included Ambassador Emanuel, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (AK), Mr. Richards,
and U.S. and Japanese government and LNG industry representatives, including from INPEX,
Mitsubishi Corporation, Tokyo Gas, and JERA. Gov. Dunleavy, U.S. Department of State Senior
Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein, and U.S. Department of State Assistant Secretary
for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt participated via video conference.
Governor Dunleavy and Mr. Richards said, “This gathering of top energy and policy leaders from
Japan and the U.S. signifies Alaska LNG’s incredible potential to provide Japan with a
multigenerational supply of reliable clean Alaska energy. Alaska LNG is poised to help fulfill
national energy security and clean climate goals for both nations, and today’s discussion is an
important step forward in the ongoing dialogue to develop a strong privately led partnership to
The Biden Administration has tried to keep oil prices in check by releasing crude from the SPR this year.
The main concern among those watching SPR levels has been its replenishment.
This week, the Biden Administration announced that it would start replenishing the SPR once prices fall to the $67-72 range, effectively putting a price floor under crude.
The Biden administration is ready to sell additional volumes of crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve after the end of the 180-million-barrel release plan and then it would begin replenishing the SPR once prices fall to $67-$72 per barrel. This is the main outtake from a fact sheet published by the White House this week as the administration continues to look for ways to tame retail fuel prices with just weeks left until the midterm elections.
The SPR draws—and plans for more—have caused concern among some analysts, who have pointed out that the purpose of the SPR is not to keep gasoline prices under control but to ensure the country’s oil supply in an emergency.
Others have questioned the very relevance of the SPR in today’s oil world, where the United States is the biggest oil producer on the planet, but market reactions to this year’s SPR releases have suggested that keeping a strategic reserve is still quite a good idea.
The main concern among those watching SPR levels has been its replenishment. Because of the massive draws that the Biden administration implemented as a tool for keeping a lid on gasoline prices, inventories at the SPR are now at the lowest in almost 40 years, at some 405 million barrels.
With the US becoming increasingly integrated into global gas markets as one of the world’s largest exporters, it is setting its sights on customers in the fluctuant European market.
Currently, US LNG exports are running at a little over 11 billion cubic feet per day, which is about 11% of the country’s marketed natural gas production.
According to Wood Mackenzie, North American prices are starting to be influenced by global trends in LNG markets and the US producers are starting to sell at international prices. EOG Resources, for example, signed a deal in 2019 for gas to be exported from Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi plant.
Liberated by ranked choice voting, they seem poised to swing dramatically toward Democrats. Will independent voters in the Lower 48 follow?
In a restaurant ballroom just up the road from Sarah Palin’s home on Lake Lucille, a room full of Republicans one recent Saturday night hung golden balloons from a paneled ceiling, lined up at the bar and held a drawing for a “wall of guns.”
The event was a fundraiser for a local Republican women’s group, and one of the speakers, Ann Brown, the state Republican Party chair, had a very specific ask.
Vote for Republicans in November’s ranked choice election, she said, “and no Democrats or any other party.”
The crowd applauded. But standing in the back of the room, by a table of auction items — a red, white, and blue Kate Spade bag, a Trump 2024 hat, a mug that said Trump “won” — it struck me that given the composition of the audience, this was a strange thing for a Republican Party chair to have to say. In this heavily conservative state, reminding Republicans to vote Republican would seem to signal a big problem in the GOP.
Republicans were rattled earlier this year when Palin, a one-time political sensation and one of the GOP’s original populists, lost a special election for a vacant congressional seat to a Democrat, Mary Peltola. They pointed fingers at Alaska’s new ranked choice voting system, in which a voter’s second choice — if their preferred candidate fell short — could help decide the outcome. The system is meant to weed out extreme candidates, and true to form only about half of voters who supported Nick Begich III, a more traditionalist Republican and the candidate endorsed by the state party, had marked Palin as their second choice.
