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MORNING ENERGY NEWS | 03/25/2021

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World's cheapest energy or dependent on federal handouts?

Bloomberg (3/25/21) reports: "The clean energy industry is rushing to hitch a ride on President Joe Biden’s emerging infrastructure plan, lobbying for a decade-long extension of coveted tax credits as the White House drafts a recovery proposal that could top $3 trillion. Lobbyists for the industry want to attach the long-term extension of credits used by the wind, solar and other industries, to the plan -- a windfall that would be worth billions of dollars if successful...The Biden administration has signaled it supports broad-based extensions of clean energy tax credits as part of Biden’s ambitious plans for fighting climate change. That includes a call to decarbonize the electric grid by 2035 and for carbon neutrality by 2050. White House national climate adviser Gina McCarthy said March 11 that clean energy tax credits would be part of the administration’s recovery proposals...Among the backers of the push for tax incentives is the solar energy industry, which is making the argument to lawmakers that a 10-year extension will provide the consistency the solar sector needs to be effective...The effort won’t be a slam dunk. Conservatives are already mounting an effort to fight the plan, said Tom Pyle, a former adviser to Donald Trump and the president of the American Energy Alliance, a free-market advocacy group. 'It’s laughable that on the one hand they claim the industry is the cheapest form of energy and that they are the fastest growing and on the other hand they are lobbying the government for 10 more years of handouts,' Pyle said in an interview. 'The message I’m getting is they still need federal assistance to be a viable industry.'"

"Between lockdowns, the stimulus and President Biden’s newest radical 'green' proposals, we’re witnessing the largest growth of government since the New Deal."

– Adam Bradon, FreedomWorks

The Democrat way - say one thing, do the opposite. For all of Biden's tough talk on Russia and China, his actions are clearly benefiting them.

Bloomberg (3/24/21) reports: "The oil tankers docking at the refinery in Baytown, Texas, look exactly like many others plying the waters of the Houston Ship Channel. But stashed inside their capacious holds is an unusual cargo: Russian petroleum. The sprawling complex, which belongs to Exxon Mobil Corp., isn’t the only U.S. refinery that’s been receiving shipments of Russian oil. Chevron Corp.’s plant in Mobile, Ala., and Valero Energy Corp.’s facility in St. Charles, La., are also customers...America’s increasing reliance on Russian oil is at odds with U.S. energy diplomacy. For the last two years, lawmakers in Washington have been lobbying European countries to abandon Nord Stream 2, a multibillion-dollar pipeline to transport Siberian gas to Germany, fearing it will give the Kremlin further leverage over U.S. allies. (Russian gas accounted for about 45% of Europe’s natural gas imports in 2019.) Congress went as far last year as to authorize the use of sanctions against companies involved in the project. The Biden administration hasn’t indicated whether it’s considering exercising that option."

Quick survey to all U.S. Senators - when is the last time you filled a gas tank?

Wall Street Journal (3/24/21) reports: "The prospect of summer drivers crowding U.S. highways is powering steep gains in the price of gasoline, a sign of economic recovery and a boon for the pandemic-ravaged energy industry. Lifted by oil’s recovery and growing consumer demand, gasoline prices at pumps in the U.S. hit an average of $2.88 a gallon over the past week, according to the AAA. That is up about one-third over this time last year, when the pandemic’s lockdowns slammed fuel usage. Rising prices are an early season gift for fuel makers including Valero Energy Corp. and Phillips 66 after a bruising year, helping to make energy shares the top-performing sector this year in the S&P 500. A proxy for profit margins at refiners, calculated from the gap between gasoline and crude-oil futures, recently neared its highest level in three years at more than $24 a barrel. Drivers are already paying a lot more than $3 a gallon in some states. In California, the most expensive market, average prices stand at $3.88, according to AAA. Motorists in Mississippi, Texas and Ohio, on the other hand, are paying closer to $2.60. Gas prices vary widely due to factors including tax policies and proximity to pipelines."

The big freeze gave us a preview of Joe's utopian 'post' hydrocarbon-powered world. Not good...

Gulf Times (3/21/21) reports: "The cold snap that gripped the United States in February not only caused chaos in Texas and the southwest, it also triggered a shortage in plastics that has disrupted a supply chain already under strain from a lack of microchips and growing congestion at ports as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. So factories have had to shut their doors and consumers are feeling the crunch. At Toyota, a petrochemicals shortage affected production at plants in Kentucky, West Virginia and Mexico. Honda cited supply chain issues 'related to the impact of Covid-19, congestion at various ports, semiconductor shortages and severe winter weather' to justify the temporary closure of five of its factories in Canada and the United States. Consumers are also being affected. Nike said on Thursday that its sales of shoes and sportswear were being affected by congestion at ports around the country. At a Best Buy home appliance store in suburban Washington, a customer said she spent an hour with a sales assistant, only to find that many stove models wouldn’t be available for several weeks. 'I had to buy a black stainless steel stove when I wanted a white one, and for $200 dollars more than I’d budgeted', complained Virginie Hines, a French woman living in Maryland. The problems in the plastics sector are the latest glitch in the supply chain. In mid-February, freezing temperatures paralysed Texas and Louisiana, home to many of the factories that transform oil into polyethylene, which is used to make plastic bags, shampoo bottles or toothpaste tubes, polypropylene, used for the hard plastic of car dashboards or refrigerators, or PVC, which is used to make pipes or window frames."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $59.31
Natural Gas: ↓ $2.49
Gasoline: ↓ $2.87

Diesel: ~ $3.10
Heating Oil: ↓ $178.20
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $62.66
US Rig Count: ↓ 478

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