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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 12/15/2021
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** Repeat after me, “Batteries are the affordable solution to renewable grid instability.”
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Wall Street Journal ([link removed]) (12/13/21) reports: "Lithium prices are rising at their fastest pace in years, setting off a race to secure supplies and fueling worries about long-term shortages of a vital ingredient in the rechargeable batteries that power everything from electric vehicles to smartphones. An index of lithium prices from research firm and price provider Benchmark Mineral Intelligence doubled between May and November and is up some 240% for the year. The index is at its highest level in data going back five years. Driving the run up are bets on continued scarcity. Demand is multiplying as Tesla Inc. and other auto makers ramp up sales of electric vehicles. Supply, meanwhile, has been constrained by limited investment in new projects following a recent bear market and supply-chain bottlenecks. Producers often face environmental opposition and cumbersome permitting
processes when trying to extract the silvery-white metal. While there is plenty of lithium in the world, converting it into battery-grade chemicals is a long, expensive ordeal. With traders and corporate buyers riding momentum, prices are prone to big moves in both directions."
** Although, those brave enough to invest like heretics are posed to make off like bandits.
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Oil Price ([link removed]) (12/12/21) reports: "Recovering economies this year have resulted in a robust rebound in oil demand, disproving some projections from the onset of the pandemic in 2020 that the world had already seen peak oil demand. Despite scares of new variants, such as Delta and lately, Omicron, global oil demand is on track to reach pre-pandemic levels within months and to further rise in coming years. Peak oil demand is not in the cards in the near future, analysts say. Oil investors surveyed by Bloomberg Intelligence in November have also significantly recalibrated their expectations of peak oil demand over the past two years. Two and a half years ago, a fifth of oil investor clients polled by Bloomberg Intelligence said that oil demand would peak by February 2021, BloombergNEF’s Chief Content Officer Nathaniel Bullard notes. In June 2019, another one-third of oil
investors thought we would see global oil demand peak by 2025. In previous surveys, most investors expected peak oil demand by 2030...Currently, just 2 percent of oil investors believe peak oil demand will occur by 2025, and fewer than 40 percent see that peak before 2030. One-third of investors expect oil demand to peak between 2025 and 2030, but another one-third think that peak would be after 2030, at some point between 2030 and 2035."
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** "The [climate] story is complex because the villain is a hero. Fossil fuels are remarkable condensed energy that has raised living standards in most of the world. The world won’t turn its back on fossil fuels without better alternatives."
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– James Hansen, "Broken Clock" ([link removed])
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Uncanny...
** ([link removed])
Secretary Granholm, "While I understand you may disagree with some of our policies, it doesn’t mean the Biden administration is standing in the way of your efforts to help meet current demand," Fact Check: False.
** World Oil ([link removed])
(12/14/21) reports: "President Joe Biden’s energy chief extended an olive branch to the oil industry Tuesday, telling executives a crude export ban is not under consideration, while assuring them that the administration was 'not a bogeyman.' Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm made the virtual remarks Tuesday to an outside advisory group with members including executives from such companies as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Her conciliatory tone comes as the administration’s policies on energy production, which included a temporary halt to oil leasing on federal lands and the termination of a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, have drawn the ire of industry. 'I do not want to fight with any of you,' Granholm told the National Petroleum Council. 'I do think it’s much more productive to work together on future-facing solutions.' The administration, Granholm said, is not considering reinstating a ban on the export of crude oil -- a tool the Biden White House had previously been
considering as it sought ways to address gasoline prices that hovered around a seven-year high, setting off political alarm bells. Granholm’s comments represent the administration’s most definitive statement regarding the export ban, which had the potential to upend oil markets while discouraging domestic oil production."
This Christmas the rest of Europe is wishing it had coal in its stocking like Poland!
** ([link removed])
Energy Markets
WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $70.03
Natural Gas: ↓ $3.88
Gasoline: ↓ $3.31
Diesel: ↓ $3.59
Heating Oil: ↓ $220.81
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $73.08
** US Rig Count ([link removed])
: ↑ 692
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