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MORNING ENERGY NEWS | 09/28/2021

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It would be a great joke if American taxpayers weren't the punchline...

PowerLine (9/25/21) article: "Electric vehicles may be fine cars; Teslas certainly are (while Chevy Volts evidently are not). But the idea that our hundreds of millions of gasoline-powered cars are going to be replaced by EVs within the next century is ridiculous. Where will the electricity come from? There is no sane answer to that question, especially since the only plausible solution–an enormous amount of nuclear power–is off the table. And of course, greatly expanding the electrical grid to accommodate EVs, mining the lithium necessary for batteries that vastly exceed anything that now exists, and developing an infrastructure of charging stations adequate to service hundreds of millions of EVs–these are practical matters to which little intelligent thought has been given. So the current mania for electric vehicles is eminently deserving of ridicule. And ridicule is perhaps the most potent of political weapons. A friend sent me this video clip; I have no idea where it came from, although the laughter at the end makes me think it might be from Saturday Night Live, a show I haven’t seen since the 1970s. In any event, the video is entertaining and shines an appropriately skeptical light on the EV craze:"

"I have never seen a large economy like Europe (UK+EU) sleep walking into an energy crunch (maybe let's call it a crisis since major industrial companies are having to shut down) and no a single politician appears to give a damn about it. Incredible."

– Javier Blas, Bloomberg

It is incredibly rich for the Sierra Club, which has a history of 60 years promoting NIMBY to stop energy projects now wants NIMBY concerns to go away for renewables.

Forbes (9/26/21) column: "A few weeks ago, I ran into a prominent employee of the Sierra Club who declared something to the effect of 'we have to quit using coal, oil, and natural gas.' That, of course, is the official dogma of America’s 'largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization.' The group says it is 'committed to eliminating the use of fossil fuels, including coal, natural gas, and oil, as soon as possible. We must replace all fossil fuels with clean renewable energy, efficiency, and conservation.' This same Sierra Clubber also expressed dismay about the difficulty of siting big renewable-energy projects and how they are being hindered by 'NIMBYism.' Upon hearing this, I quickly interjected that I loathe that term, which, of course, is short for 'not in my backyard.' I explained that everyone, everywhere, cares about what happens in their neighborhood, even out there in 'flyover country' – that is, the places that are far away from the comfy confines of places like San Francisco, Princeton, Stanford, and other locales where fantasies about an all-renewable economy seem to proliferate...Given the rejection of the wind project in Shasta County in June and the fact that California has about the same amount of wind-energy capacity today as it did in 2013, the commission’s scenarios about six-fold increases in annual deployment of renewable capacity are nothing more than wishful thinking. But then, the Sierra Club doesn’t want you to know about that, either."

While Biden shuts down U.S. drilling, China's drilling 118,000 wells and spending $120 billion to do it.

Oil & Gas Journal (9/27/21) reports: "China hopes to increase oil and natural gas production in the next few years to meet rising domestic demand and reduce the record-high share of imports in its oil consumption. Rystad Energy projects a surge in spending until 2025, which will be accompanied by a drilling spree totaling 118,000 wells that will create opportunities for suppliers. China’s national oil companies (NOCs) are expected to spend more than $120 billion on drilling and well services in 2021-2025, seeking to meet the rising oil and gas demand. At the same time, the country aims to supply more of its oil demand from domestic sources, after the share of imported crude oil has risen steadily from 2014 to a high of almost 75% last year. CNPC, CNOOC, and Sinopec together are expected to spend about $123 billion on drilling and well services in the coming 5-year period, up from a total $96 billion between 2016 and 2020. As a result of China’s oil and gas demand growth, drilling activity in the country is expected to remain intense in years to come, with the cumulative number of development and exploration wells drilled between 2021 and 2025 expected to reach 118,000. Development wells will account for 88% of the total and exploration wells will make up the remaining 12%."

The green industrial revolution means closing factories.

Wall Street Journal (9/27/21) reports: "European leaders at the United Nations last week applauded themselves as they doubled down on their pledges to slash CO2 emissions. And Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the U.K. 'will lead by example, keeping the environment on the global agenda and serving as a launch pad for a global green industrial revolution.' Such vows of carbon chastity are, to say the least, ironic as Europe grapples with a severe energy shortage and surging prices wrought by its green industrial revolution. In the past decade the U.K. and Europe have shut down hundreds of coal plants, and Britain has only two remaining. Spain shut down half of its coal plants last summer. European countries have spent trillions of dollars subsidizing renewables, which last year for the first time exceeded fossil fuels as a share of electricity production. But renewables don’t provide reliable power around the clock, and wind power this summer has waned across Europe and in the U.K., forcing them to turn to gas and coal for backup power. Yet demand for these fossil fuels is also surging across Asia and South America, where drought has crimped hydropower. Manufacturers there are also consuming more energy to supply Western countries with goods."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $75.53
Natural Gas: ↑ $5.90
Gasoline: ~ $3.18

Diesel: ~ $3.31
Heating Oil: ↑ $231.43
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $79.54
US Rig Count: ↓ 617

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