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MORNING ENERGY NEWS  |  05/20/2020
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I wonder how 'resilient' renewables would be if taxpayers stopped picking up the tab?


CNBC News (5/20/20) reports: "Renewable installations are set to fall this year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday. The IEA’s Renewable Market Update report projects that 167 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity will be added in 2020, a 13% drop compared to the rise in 2019 and the first decline in the growth rate in 20 years. In its report, the IEA said that the drop reflected 'delays in construction activity due to supply chain disruption, lockdown measures and social-distancing guidelines' as well as what it described as 'emerging financial challenges.' While new additions are set to drop this year, overall worldwide renewable capacity is still set to increase by 6%, according to the agency. Looking further ahead, the IEA noted that 2021 was forecast to see renewable power additions bounce back to 2019 levels. Combined growth for 2020 and 2021 is still, however, seen as being nearly 10% lower than previous forecasts made before the Covid-19 pandemic. 'The resilience of renewable electricity to the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis is good news but cannot be taken for granted,' Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, said in a statement."

"We're fighting for the livelihoods of American workers, and we must continue to cut through every piece of red tape that stands in our way."

 

– President Donald J. Trump

All this hurt and we aren't even close to the levels demanded by the Green New Deal.


The Hill (5/19/20) reports: "Between January and early April, global daily carbon dioxide emissions decreased by about 17 percent compared to average levels last year, according to a new study that illustrates the major climate effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The study, published in Nature Climate Change, also projected that emissions would drop between 4 percent and 7 percent by the end of 2020 depending on the length of stay-at-home orders and other measures tied to the coronavirus pandemic. The study showed much of the drop in emissions was due to a drop in travel. The sharpest decline in carbon emissions, making up 43 percent of the decrease, came from a reduction in traffic from cars, buses and trucks. There was also a drop in emissions from air travel. However, the study noted that the emissions reductions are likely temporary because they “do not reflect structural changes in the economic, transport or energy systems” and many observers believe once the pandemic ends, past levels of emissions would resume."

Quick question: are there any "Conservatives against Responsible Stewardship"?


Bloomberg (5/19/20) reports: "The Trump administration has granted at least 76 petitions to cut royalty payments for oil and natural gas produced on public land in Utah -- a move condemned by critics as encouraging production the market doesn’t need. The Bureau of Land Management approved all 76 petitions it received for leases in Utah since May 1, according to an online government database. The approvals temporarily lower royalty rates so that oil companies can pay the federal government as little as 2.5% the value of oil and natural gas extracted from the tracts, instead of the usual 12.5% rate. The move is designed to aid oil companies fighting to survive after the coronavirus pandemic quashed fuel demand and a price war broke out between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Prices have recovered somewhat from epic lows in April as global producers curb output and U.S. oil companies halt production at some wells. Yet conservationists said the Trump administration’s decision would encourage more oil production at a time when storage tanks are filling up and there is continuing pressure on the industry to curtail output. 'They’re neck deep in oil and we’re throwing them an anchor,' said David Jenkins, president of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship. 'Not only does this boneheaded move shortchange American taxpayers and Western states at the worst possible time, it incentivizes oil production during the worst oil glut in history,' Jenkins said." 

It's time to go to the mattresses with the corn mafia.


E&E News (5/20/20) reports: "EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is facing renewed pressure to ease biofuel blending requirements for petroleum refineries as he prepares to testify in front of a Senate committee today. Attorneys general from seven states asked Wheeler to reduce the amount of ethanol and other biofuel required under the federal renewable fuel standard, and 15 Republican senators echoed the request yesterday. 'If there ever was a time to use your authority, it is now,' the senators wrote, referring to the power the EPA administrator has to waive or reduce the RFS requirement in the likelihood of economic harm. Lawmakers signing the letter included Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, in front of which Wheeler appears today, as well as senators from several other states with a heavy oil industry influence. In the last seven weeks, they said, weekly demand for gasoline has fallen by double-digit percentages, with steep declines also in distillates and jet fuel. Six governors have asked EPA to waive RFS requirements."

Energy Markets

 
WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $32.75
Natural Gas: ↑ $1.86
Gasoline: ↑ $2.90
Diesel: ~ $2.41
Heating Oil: ↑ $101.09
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $35.62
US Rig Count: ↓ 346

 
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