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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 02/21/2024
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** Folks, this is not a concession. It's an election year gimmick. I'm not kidding. That's not hyperbole. Not a joke. Again, maybe President Biden should lead by example and give up his Corvette.

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E&E News ([link removed]) (2/20/24) reports: "Gas-powered cars would stay on the roads for longer, emitting more planet-warming pollution, if President Joe Biden makes an election-year concession to automakers and weakens EPA’s proposed tailpipe emission standards. The rule is still under White House review, and administration staff have nine more meetings scheduled with companies, environmental groups and state air regulators who hope their testimony has a last-minute impact. But unnamed sources told The New York Times that the administration intends to finalize a rule that would give automakers more time to cut car and truck pollution... That’s unlikely to please environmentalists and consumer and public health groups, who urged EPA to make its historically aggressive proposal even stronger. Seven of those groups filed joint comments to EPA last year asking the agency for something tougher than 'Alternative 1' —
the most aggressive regulatory option EPA explored, which would cut emissions 61 percent on average over five years. That would begin with a 24 percent emissions cliff between model years 2026 and 2027."
[link removed]


** "No industry could be more central to achieving President Biden’s energy and environmental priorities than the natural-gas industry. The staggering growth of domestic supply spurred on by the advent of hydraulic fracturing over the last 15 years has turned the United States from a net importer into the world’s largest LNG exporter. This market shift has created thousands of jobs and allowed the industry to exceed the volumes in President Biden’s pledge to Europe to supply 50 billion cubic meters of LNG, preventing Russia from being able to use its leverage over this resource to splinter Western support for Ukraine."
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– Charles K. Ebinger, Atlantic Council Global Energy Center ([link removed])

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The IRA required strong domestic sourcing of materials for EVs, but Team Biden has blocked every major mining project in the U.S. Another example of the unseriousness of this administration.

** Bloomberg ([link removed])
(2/20/24) reports: "Joe Biden has a dream. And Elon Musk had looked best placed to help make it a reality. The president wants to create a US-centered electric vehicle supply chain and is using his multibillion-dollar Inflation Reduction Act to achieve it... China, the world’s biggest miner or processor of more than two dozen critical metals and minerals, has over the last decade tightened its grip over a sprawling supply network of key battery ingredients ranging from lithium to manganese and cobalt. The US, in contrast, lags far behind. That is where the IRA — with its baked-in hostility towards China — is supposed to fit in: as a catalyst for the creation of an alternative supply network around the US and its free-trade partners stretching from Australia to Chile, Morocco and South Korea. Securing the tax credits will be critical for US carmakers like GM and Ford, which are losing billions of dollars on their EV line ups and facing a consumer backlash against high vehicle prices that
the IRA is designed to fix. Jim Farley, Ford’s chief executive officer, told an industry conference that up to 30% of the company’s global revenues could be at risk if it’s unable to compete with Chinese carmakers, but up to now it’s been relying heavily on Chinese technology, raw materials and components in its quest to bring its own costs down."

Meanwhile, China continues to own the market.

** Griffith Asia Insights ([link removed])
(2/5/24) report: "Cumulative Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) engagement in the full 10 years since the announcement of the BRI in 2013 breached the USD 1 trillion mark to reach USD 1.053 trillion, about USD 634 in construction contracts, and USD 419 in non-financial investments. Preliminary data on Chinese engagement through financial investments and contractual cooperation for 2023 in the 149 countries of the BRI show about 212 deals worth USD 92.4 billion. This compares to USD 74.5 billion BRI engagement in all of 2022—an increase of 18 percent). Of the 2023 engagement, about USD 44.6 billion was through investment and USD 43.7 billion through construction contracts (partly financed by Chinese loans). China’s overall engagement shows a steady development since 2020 from the onset of COVID-19... The focus of China’s overseas BRI engagement continued to be on infrastructure, particularly in energy (31 percent) and transport (16 percent), which is a significant reduction, particularly in
the energy sector (down from 45 percent in 2022). The mining sector overtook the transport sector, constituting 21 percent of Chinese overseas engagement... Another important growth area of strategic importance is China’s engagement in metals and mining reaching USD 19.4 billion. Engagement in the sector has grown by 158 percent compared to 2022 and reached the highest level since 2013. The minerals and metals are particularly relevant to the green transition (e.g., lithium) and batteries for electric vehicles. Engagement has been strong in various African countries, Bolivia and Chile in Latin America, and Indonesia. China already holds significant shares of global mining sources (e.g., over 80 percent of global graphite resources), and even more control in material processing (where across lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite, China owns more than 50 percent of global capacity)."

Sue and settle is peak swampiness.

** Real Clear Investigations ([link removed])
(2/21/24) reports: "When the Biden administration announced in 2022 that it would remove some 4 million acres of federal land in Western states from oil and gas exploration, environmental groups hailed the decision as a milestone in their fight against global warming. 'With the oil and gas industry bent on despoiling American’s public lands and fueling the climate crisis, this is a critical opportunity for the Biden administration to chart a new path toward clean energy and independence from fossil fuels,' said Jeremy Nichols, a director with WildEarth Guardians. But Nichols could just as easily have slapped himself on the back: The administration’s move was part of a private settlement of a lawsuit filed by WildEarth and others over the objections of energy consortiums, whose efforts to intervene in the matter were dismissed. Administration critics say these moves reflect the resurgence of a practice embraced by the Obama administration and rejected during Donald Trump’s presidency:
'sue and settle.' The tactic is simple: An advocacy group sues a federal agency for failing to enforce laws or regulations. Agency officials and the plaintiffs then come to a private agreement and that deal is ratified by the courts via a binding consent decree. Although such consent decrees do not have the force of laws passed by Congress or regulations issued by the government that have gone through formal review and allow for public comment, they set the rules of the road. Critics say it has allowed government to advance policy goals that cannot be achieved through normal democratic channels."

Energy Markets


WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $76.70
Natural Gas: ↑ $1.74
Gasoline: ↓ $3.27

Diesel: ↑ $4.10
Heating Oil: ↓ $272.84
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $81.96
** US Rig Count ([link removed])
: ↓ 666



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