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MORNING ENERGY NEWS | 12/14/2020

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It's going to be a bumpy four years if Mr. indecisive is 'directing' policy.

American Spectator (12/13/20) column: "Where oh where does Joe Biden stand on fracking? The question is of great significance due to fracking’s scope and resultant economic impact. Fracking has been the primary driver of the U.S. energy renaissance. Since the late Bush years, when dependency on foreign oil cast an omnipresent pall over Washington, unconventional drilling in oil and gas plays across America have flipped the script. U.S. production of oil and gas has essentially doubled in a little over a decade...But while fracking looks like it won’t be the hill Joe Biden is willing to die on, there are plenty of other ways in which his administration can and will hinder our energy economy. The bottom line is that Biden’s vision is incompatible with continued oil and gas productivity. The goals Biden has on paper — carbon-free electricity by 2035 and a carbon-free economy by 2050 — will require an array of tactics ranging from an inflated social cost of carbon to renewable electricity mandates to pipeline blocks. Even if fracking survives for now, in the long run Biden, Harris, and their allies have oil and gas on the chopping block."

"We should be celebrating the benefits of what oil and gas do to enable the outdoors lifestyle your brands embrace. Without Oil and Gas there would be no market for, nor ability to create, the products your company sells."

– Adam Anderson,
Innovex Downhole Solutions
(To Steve Rendle of North Face)

What we do know about Biden's energy plan:

Wall Street Journal (12/11/20) column: "Move over, Solyndra. Another green boondoggle from the Obama era has failed, and taxpayers are out as much as $510 million. Late last week Judge Karen Owens approved a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization by Tonopah Solar Energy. Tonopah operated the Crescent Dunes solar plant in Nevada that received $737 million in guaranteed loans from the Obama Administration. The plan includes a settlement with the Department of Energy that leaves taxpayers liable for as much as $234.68 million in outstanding debt, but the total public cost is even higher. Crescent Dunes also received an investment-tax credit, and the 2009 stimulus legislation allowed it to receive a cash payment in lieu of credit. In 2017 the plant received more than $275.6 million from Treasury under the Section 1603 program, which it used to service its outstanding liabilities. So taxpayers already gave Crescent Dunes cash to pay off its taxpayer-backed loans. This is one more cautionary tale in climate subsidies. The sun doesn’t deliver power when it’s cloudy or dark. Crescent Dunes promised to solve this problem by using molten salt to retain the heat from the sun and produce steam, so the plant would generate power 24/7. But Crescent Dunes struggled to get financing from commercial lenders—not least because it was “the first of its kind in the United States and the tallest molten salt tower in the world,” as the Department of Energy gushed in a September 2011 news release."

Anyone vote for the Great Reset? Apparently, sheep did.

Evie (11/17/20) column: "Davos, Switzerland. Home to the World Economic Forum (WEF). Every year, the world’s ruling class gather around this secluded Swiss mountain retreat to help each other scheme and plan on how to further exert tyrannical control over the lives of free individuals. This year, they’re accomplishing this through their plan for 'The Great Reset,' bolstered by the global pandemic. But don’t be fooled, just being massively rich isn’t enough to get you a seat at Davos. Attendance is by invitation only. You first have to be a member of the World Economic Forum, which will run you somewhere between $60,000 and $600,000. On top of that, you have to pay an additional fee of more than $27,000 per person to get into the conference. At the conference, attendees are separated by their badge colors. Those who carry the white badges are granted access to all areas, including secret meeting sessions. Sessions open only to white badges are off-the-record, so the public will never know what goes on behind the doors of the discussion. It’s easy to see how the secrecy of Davos could incite many conspiracy theories, but it’s really not that exciting. Davos is just another typical ploy often carried out by the ruling class’ obsession with running other people’s life. Think of it like the Congress for the Communist’s Third International, where attendance was exclusive only to card-carrying delegates, because that’s essentially what Davos is."

At dawn we slept, dreaming the green dream.

Mining.Com (12/13/20) reports: "China Molybdenum Co said on Sunday it had acquired a 95% stake in the Kisanfu copper-cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan Inc for $550 million. The Chinese company’s takeover of the undeveloped Kisanfu project – discussed as early as 2016 – boosts its reserves in the DRC, the world’s top producer of battery metal cobalt, where China Moly already operates the giant Tenke Fungurume mine. The acquisition, by China Moly unit Natural Resource Elite Investment Ltd, was approved by the Luoyang-based company’s investment committee on Dec. 1 and was completed on Friday U.S. time, a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange said. Kisanfu, which is around 33 kilometres (20.5 miles) southwest of Tenke Fungurume, holds an estimated 6.28 million tonnes of copper and 3.1 million tonnes of cobalt metal, said the filing, which mentioned synergies with China Moly’s other business in the DRC. The DRC government holds the other 5% in the mine."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $46.61
Natural Gas: ↑ $2.68
Gasoline: ↑ $2.16

Diesel: ↑ $2.47
Heating Oil: ↑ $143.97
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $49.99
US Rig Count: ↓ 407

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