OIL
State Reduces Budget to Reflect Reality of Oil Prices
Rachel Adams-Heard and Catarina Saraiva, Bloomberg, June 22, 2020
As Covid-19 shock waves reverberate across U.S. oil towns, perhaps nowhere is their speed and severity more apparent than in America’s newest shale powerhouse. Just months ago, New Mexico, the third-biggest producer of U.S. oil, approved the state’s largest budget ever, paid for by an oil boom that made up 40% of the state’s revenues in 2019. Now that plan has been slashed by more than $600 million, affecting everything from pay raises for state workers to a program designed to provide free community college to state residents.
GAS
Natural Gas Supply and Demand Updated Daily
Center for LNG, June 23, 2020
In light of changing market dynamics and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the daily use and production of energy in the United States, NGSA has assembled up-to-date information about daily and weekly changes in natural gas supply and demand here. Our information comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and S&P Global Platts.
MINING
Chinese Gold Miners Continue to Gobble Up Gold Companies
Lawrence Thomas, GoldTelegraph.com, June 22, 2020
Chinese gold companies continue to pursue and acquire mining companies aggressively.
Tesla’s reluctant commitment to cobalt a warning to others
Reuters, June 23, 2020
The unpredictable Elon Musk strikes again. Just when his electric vehicle (EV) company Tesla seemed to be pivoting away from using cobalt in its batteries, it signs a long-term supply deal for the controversial metal with Glencore.
It’s a boost for cobalt’s prospects, both in terms of physical demand and, more importantly, in the apparent admission that cobalt isn’t going away as a battery material any time soon.
POLITICS
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy:
HOW BIDEN COULD SLOW FOSSIL FUEL INVESTMENTS: Biden could force financial institutions to limit the fossil fuel industry’s access to low-cost capital.
Biden’s official climate plan promises to require “public companies to disclose climate risks and the greenhouse gas emissions in their operations and supply chains.”
Forcing greater climate risk disclosure could portend other financial regulations that would reduce investor interest in fossil fuels, Josh reports in his new magazine piece, all of which can be done without Congress.