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MORNING ENERGY NEWS | 09/20/2021

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In case there was any lingering confusion as to who was writing the talking points for today's Democratic party...

News Max (9/17/21) reports: "Capitalism has not served the U.S. economy as well as it could have, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday, saying the system needed to be improved. 'In America, capitalism is our system, it is our economic system, but it has not served our economy as well as it should,' she told a Chatham House event. 'So what we want to do is not depart from that, but to improve it.' 'You cannot have a system where the success of some springs from the exploitation of the workers and springs from the exploitation of the environment and the rest, and we have to correct that.'"

"[If energy security is a priority for Britan]
Then why are we getting our coal from Russia and Venezuela? And ignoring our own shale gas? And growing more dependent on the unreliables, sorry renewables, sector?"

– Matt Ridley, Rational Optimist

Sen. Manchin, the president says he wants a carbon-free grid in less than 4 years. Coal-fired generation made 91% of West Virginia’s electricity in 2019 and your state is the 6th largest nat gas producer. Are your voters cool with the President destroying that?

Joe's a lumberjack and he's okay; Gas prices have doubled so we'll chop wood all day.

Wall Street Journal (9/19/21) reports: "Natural-gas prices have surged, prompting worries about winter shortages and forecasts for the most expensive fuel since frackers flooded the market more than a decade ago. U.S. natural-gas futures ended Friday at $5.105 per million British thermal units. They were about half that six months ago and have leapt 17% this month. It is supposed to be offseason for demand, and prices haven’t climbed so high since blizzards froze the Northeast in early 2014. Analysts say that it might not have to get that cold this winter for prices to reach heights unknown during the shale era, which transformed the U.S. from a gas importer to supplier to the world. Rock-bottom gas prices have been a reliable feature of the U.S. economy since the financial crisis. Gas crashed and never recovered thanks to the abundance extracted with sideways drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Gas is burned to generate electricity and heat homes and to make plastic, steel and fertilizer. A substantial and sustained increase in price would be felt from households to heavy industry."

Once again, we learn it is better to sell solar panels than it is to use them.

Watts Up With That (9/19/21) article: "According to the Australian educated founder of the Chinese solar industry, 'I really didn’t have much confidence in running a business over there'...The cost of doing business is a big problem in Australia. This time that cost hurt us. Australia could have been the global centre for solar manufacturing, but we missed out because one brilliant Australian educated Chinese scientist was put off by the problems he would have encountered setting up his solar panel business in Australia. There is another problem Dr. Shi didn’t mention directly. Australia has very high energy costs. In China’s coal powered economy, energy is very cheap. Under the last years of President Obama and under President Trump, US energy prices became competitive; the US fracking driven manufacturing boom, the job reshoring phenomenon, proved that the cost of energy is a crucial factor in decisions of where companies build their factories. And there are few processes which are more energy intensive than manufacturing solar panels."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $71.05
Natural Gas: ↓ $5.08
Gasoline: ~ $3.19

Diesel: ↑ $3.30
Heating Oil: ↓ $217.74
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $74.60
US Rig Count: ↑ 628

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