Not exactly market forces

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 10/17/2024

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The "market dynamics" in question: California.

Reuters (10/16/24) reports: "Phillips 66 said it will shut its large Los Angeles-area oil refinery late next year, delivering a blow to California's fuel supply amid complaints about the state's high prices. Phillips 66 CEO Mark Lashier cited 'market dynamics' for the decision. The Los Angeles facility provides lower profits than other company oil processing plants, a spokesperson said. California, the most populous U.S. state, consistently experiences some of the nation's highest average gas prices, leading to an often tense relationship between the state and oil companies. Phillips' exit will leave a hole in California's motor fuel supply, which has seen two other refineries close since 2020, including one by Phillips. The Phillips 66 Los Angeles refinery produces 85,000 barrels per day of gasoline and 65,000 barrels per day of diesel and jet fuel. The announcement came a day after California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill requiring the state's oil refiners to maintain minimum fuel inventories, and authorizing the state's Energy Commission to ensure that refiners have a plan to prevent shortages during maintenance outages."

"Policymakers need to participate in conversations to discuss the difference between just 'ELECTRICITY' from renewables, and the 'PRODUCTS' that are the basis of society’s materialistic world."

– Ronald Stein, P.E.,
The Heartland Institute

"Breaking news" IER was covering 10 years ago.

Anchorage Daily News (10/16/24) reports: "Over the past decade, millions of solar panels have been installed on homes from California to Massachusetts. These solar panels allow their owners to cut down on their bills, pull electricity directly from their rooftops, and sometimes even store it in home batteries to use later in the day. But are those solar panels the best way to reduce fossil fuel emissions? The answer is more complicated than it seems. Researchers argue that home solar panels are raising the price of electricity and reducing the need for cheaper large solar farms - making the entire transition to clean energy more expensive. And as more and more homeowners turn to solar, thanks in part to more generous government incentives, that could actually make it harder for the United States to meet its overall climate goals. Jesse Jenkins, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University, said that rooftop solar is an example of the 'crises and mismatches' that occur when electricity is billed in the wrong ways. 'Some people are going to pay more than they should, and some people are going to pay less than they should,' he said. 'It’s going to cause unnecessary costs.' The issue is that solar, unlike other energy sources, only produces power during a particular time of day - when the sun is shining. "

Utilities are looking for an off-ramp.

Just The News (9/29/24) reports: "Organizations that manage, coordinate and monitor electricity service for 156 million Americans across 30 states are warning that the Biden-Harris administration’s power plant rule will be catastrophic for the nation’s grid. Four regional trade organizations (RTO), as they’re called, recently filed an amicus brief, also known as a friend of the court brief, in support of a multi-state lawsuit against the EPA over the rule.bThe EPA released the rules in April. They require coal-fired power plants that will be operating past 2039 to begin implementing carbon-capture technologies in just eight years. New gas-fired power plants will also need to add the technologies, with those operating 40% of their annual capacity or more to add carbon capture starting in 2032...The 2019 blackouts in California, the deadly Texas blackouts in the 2021 Winter Storm Uri, and the Christmas 2022 blackouts in the Southeast, Rolling said, should have been a wakeup call for the country that there are growing risks to our electricity grid. So far, they haven’t deterred the net-zero by 2050 advocates from their agenda."

Ohioans have a chance to fire Big Green, Inc.'s favorite "moderate" senator.

Fox News (10/17/24) reports: "A controversial nonprofit watchdog organization with a history of anti-Israel rhetoric and ties to vulnerable Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is working to close one of the largest power plants in the United States in a move that could cost hundreds of jobs and raise energy costs for Ohioans. The Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) recently sent a joint letter, along with the Sierra Club, to Blackstone urging the group to shut down the Gavin Power Plant in Ohio due to environmental concerns and arguing that the plant is the 'largest and dirtiest' in the United States. The coal plant is the largest coal-burning power plant in Ohio and the 9th largest in the country, employing nearly 300 people. The Institute for Energy Research has estimated that closing the plant could 'negatively impact the stability of the electric grid and power markets' given that it produces 11% of the electricity in the state of Ohio...Brown, who benefitted from a virtual phone bank event hosted by the Sierra Club in late September and has been endorsed by their PAC, has a long history of working with PESP. Brown participated in a PESP press conference in June and cited PESP in a letter to the Federal National Mortgage Association in 2020."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $70.58
Natural Gas: ↑ $2.40
Gasoline: ↓ $3.19

Diesel: ↓ $3.60
Heating Oil: ↑ $218.49
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $74.37
US Rig Count: ↓ 619

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