Today’s Key Takeaways: Harris tougher on oil industry than Biden. Mid-year earnings for oil and gas on deck. Next climate test for Supreme Court. Recalculating Alaska’s ranked choice voting repeal signatures.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
Kamala Harris seen as tougher oil industry opponent than Biden. Bloomberg. As California attorney general, Kamala Harris brought lawsuits against fossil fuel companies, prosecuted a pipeline company over an oil leak and investigated Exxon Mobil Corp. for misleading the public about climate change. Now, with the vice president suddenly in contention for the Democratic nomination after President Joe Biden abandoned his reelection bid Sunday, that track record is of deep interest to both the US energy industry and climate activists alike. E&E News also reports.
Energy In Depth, Morning News, July 22, 2024
OIL:
| Big Oil gears up for mid-year earnings Reuters, July 22, 2024 |
| Leading oil and gas companies report second quarter results over the next two weeks. Profits are forecast to be significantly lower than the record gains that followed Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, when oil and gas prices shot up, but are still set to be well above pre-pandemic levels. Several of the majors, including Exxon Mobil, Shell and BP warned in trading updates ahead of the mid-year results that earnings would be hit by weaker refining margins, reflecting reduced demand for fuels, in particular diesel, in the United States, China and other markets. Diesel, used in trucks, plants and machinery, is one of the best gauges for industrial and agricultural activity. The lower downstream earnings, however, will probably be offset by continued strength in oil prices, supported by supply cuts from the OPEC+ group of producing nations, as well as strong liquefied natural gas prices in the quarter due to unplanned outages. Another trend that has emerged is the weakness of the biofuels market. Both BP and Shell suspended biofuel plants under development and took hefty impairments due to thinning margins as a result of high feedstock costs and the rolling back of government mandates. Chevron earlier this year also mothballed two U.S. Midwest biodiesel facilities. Investors expect the companies to maintain the high rate of share repurchases that grew steadily in recent quarters. One to watch is whether Exxon will increase its buybacks after completing its $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources in May. France’s TotalEnergies reports its results on July 25, BP on July 30, Shell on Aug 1 while Exxon Mobil and Chevron both report on Aug 2. |
MINING:
The Next Scotus Climate Test
Ben Geman, Axios, July 22, 2024
Energy and mining industry groups say they’ll ask the Supreme Court to stay EPA’s recent carbon emissions standards for power plants.
Why it matters: It’s the next test of the high court’s willingness to freeze major regulations, following a late June ruling that stayed an EPA rule on interstate smog-forming pollution.
State of play: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday declined motions to stay the climate rule. Various opponents didn’t show they would face “irreparable harm” because compliance doesn’t begin until 2030, the judges wrote.
What’s next: At least two groups — the National Mining Association and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association — quickly vowed appeals to SCOTUS.
The bottom line: Regardless of what happens with the appeals, the fight over EPA’s rules could wind up before the high court eventually, based on rulings in 2022 and last month that constrain what agencies can do without explicit congressional blessings.
POLITICS:
Alaska election officials to recalculate signatures for ranked vote repeal measure after court order
Becky Bohrer, Associate Press, July 19, 2024
A state court judge on Friday disqualified numerous booklets used to gather signatures for an initiative that aims to repeal Alaska’s ranked choice voting system and gave elections officials a deadline to determine if the measure still had sufficient signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
The decision by Superior Court Judge Christina Rankin in Anchorage comes in a lawsuit brought by three voters that seeks to disqualify the repeal measure from the ballot. Rankin previously ruled the Division of Elections acted within its authority when it earlier this year allowed sponsors of the measure to fix errors with petition booklets after they were turned in and found the agency had complied with deadlines.
Her new ruling Friday focused on challenges to the sponsors’ signature-collecting methods that were the subject of a recent trial. Rankin set a Wednesday deadline for the division to remove the signatures and booklets she found should be disqualified and for the division to determine if the measure still has sufficient signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Related: Some Alaska Republican candidates pledge to withdraw if they aren’t atop GOP votes in primary
Barbara Norton ,Alaska Beacon, July 22, 2024
The pledges are a way to circumvent ranked choice voting and put forward one Republican candidate in elections, according to one supporter.