The Shale Daily Update – 7.17.2020

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Mexico's President is now making noises about reversing the opening that has allowed foreign oil companies to participate in Mexico’s oil and gas industry.

What You Should Know About Oil and Gas Today

The Big Story

In today’s Houston Chronicle, Paul Takahashi has a report about a consortium of major oil and gas companies banding together to make promises about future reductions in their carbon emissions. The consortium – calling itself The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, involves the CEOs of 12 majors, including Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Total, Eni, Shell, Saudi Aramco, Equinol, Repsol and Occidental Petroleum, among others.

As reported by Takahashi, the group on Thursday announced a plan to reduce the carbon emissions rate of members’ combined upstream oil and gas operations, cutting the ouput by 36 million to 52 million tonnes per year by 2025. The reduction, the group said, is equivalent to the carbon emissions from the energy use of 4 million to 6 million U.S. homes.

“This is a big step among a number of steps we have taken,” said Bob Dudley, OGCI chairman and former BP CEO. “It’s quite rare for companies in any industry, whether it’s manufacturing or drugs or steel to work together on climate change. This was truly a collective effort.”

Sounds like a laudable goal, maybe even a big deal, right? Well, as pretty much is always the case, this latest effort by these major companies to placate the climate alarmist community was met with universal scorn and criticism.

The reaction by Ben Ratner at the Environmental Defense Fund was typical of that response: “OGCI’s new climate target isn’t fit for the job,” Ben Ratner, a senior director with the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement. “By excluding at least 85 percent of carbon lifecycle emissions from their target, OGCI companies are profiting from the use of their products while ignoring much of the pollution from that use. They must do better.”

Oh.

Look, it’s great that these companies are rolling this stuff out and talking about it at the CEO level. But here’s why they will never receive credit for doing any of it from the leftwing environmentalist activists: Because the environment is not the goal. The goal is government control over all aspects of the economy. The goal is political, not environmental, in nature.

That’s the truth.

Meanwhile, in other news…

In a typically-biased bit of reporting, the Austin American Statesman is criticizing GOP Railroad Commission candidate Jim Wright for – wait for it – raising money to fund his campaign. We will all anxiously await the Statesman’s follow-up piece criticizing Democratic candidate Chrysta Castaneda, who won her runoff election on Tuesday, but we probably should not hold our breath while doing so.

Russian oil minister Alexander Novak is quoted by Reuters as saying his country expects the strong recent rise in global crude demand to continue in August. Novak said he anticipates demand will rise back to about 90 million bopd, within 10% of the level seen in January. This is why no one should be overly concerned about the OPEC+ decision to slightly increase its production beginning August 1.

My latest piece at Forbes.com profiles Maverick Natural Resources, a company that is employing an innovative approach to lowering its fixed costs dramatically as a means of navigating through the current oil bust.  I think it’s a good read, but then, I’m biased.

Sergio Garcia at the Houston Chronicle has a good report about a new export facility opening up at the Port of Corpus Christi. Buckeye Partners loaded its first vessel at its new South Texas Gateway facility at Ingleside. “This world-class facility will play a critical role in serving global energy markets from South Texas and the Port of Corpus Christi,” Buckeye Partners Vice President Khalid Muslih said.

In case you missed it, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a lower court decision by an Obama-appointed federal judge mandating that Energy Transfer shut down its Dakota Access Pipeline for a year while a fourth environmental impact study is being conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Circuit Court place a temporary hold on that absurd decision and will allow Energy Transfer to keep the pipeline in operation pending its appeal.

That’s all for today. Have a great weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

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