Joe vs. Joe

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 04/14/2022

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So set 'em up Joe. I've got a little story I think you oughta know...

Forbes (4/13/22) reports: "West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin continues to be a thorn in the side of the Biden administration in its pursuit of Green New Deal energy policies preferred by the left flank of the Democratic Party. Manchin and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, serving as the party’s small moderate flank in the U.S. Senate, effectively killed Biden’s 'Build Back Better' legislation and its $550 billion in new 'green' subsidies last December and have otherwise impeded their party’s ability to move major legislation through congress. Most recently, both Manchin and Sinema made it clear that efforts to revive those subsidies for renewables, electric vehicles and other green initiatives were highly unlikely to succeed this year. With Republicans seemingly poised to regain majorities in both houses of congress in the coming November elections, this Green New Deal agenda is now at best dormant, and potentially dead before it really got started. Manchin, who wields tremendous influence over energy policy in his role as Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, jumped into the debate over the causes of record inflation on Tuesday, slamming Biden and his appointees for inaction and decimating the administration’s 'Putin price hike' narrative in the process. 'It is a disservice to the American people to act as if inflation is a new phenomenon,' Manchin said in a statement."

"The Biden administration both calling an emergency food summit in Washington for next week and at the same time boosting demand for corn-made ethanol with its E15 gasoline blend move is, well, something..."

– Javier Blas, Bloomberg

The price of oil PROVES we must go electric!

Mining.com (4/13/22) reports: "South Korean battery makers could raise prices by 30% to 40% to offset high commodity costs and they are in talks with electric-vehicle makers over new long-term contracts, according to SNE Research. 'We had a meeting with Korean cell makers recently that led us to adjust the outlook for prices of electric-car batteries,' SNE’s executive vice president James Oh said at a seminar Wednesday. 'They say battery prices are highly likely to rise by 2024 or 2025.' While the companies didn’t disclose how much they might increase prices by, those using lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese could lift prices of battery packs as much as 40% by 2025, Oh told Bloomberg News on the sidelines of the event. Last year, the average lithium-ion battery pack for an EV was between $147 and $153 per kilowatt hour, according to SNE Research. Batteries account for about 30% to 40% of the price of an EV. Rising lithium prices are also affecting solid-state-batteries that use sulfide electrolytes, LG Energy Solution Vice President Jay Kim said at Wednesday’s seminar in Seoul. 'Sulfide-electrolyte-based solid-state batteries are extremely expensive compared to other types of solid-state batteries and need a lot of lithium,' Kim said. 'Prices of sulfide electrolyte could double from last year’s level.'"

I was assured the only thing that impacts gas prices is the collective greed of a small cabal of monocle sporting oligarchs.

Wall Street Journal (4/13/22) reports: "Oil prices have tumbled almost 20% from a multiyear peak in March, but the prices American drivers are paying at the pump are still hovering around record levels. The difference between the costs of oil and gasoline has attracted attention from politicians, some of whom have accused oil companies of price gouging, as U.S. inflation soars. In a House hearing on April 6, Democrats claimed large oil companies have intentionally kept fuel prices elevated, which the companies have denied. The centerpiece of the hearing was a chart, displayed by Rep. Diana DeGette (D., Colo.), showing oil prices coming down while fuel prices stayed aloft...Oil prices have in fact been falling more quickly than gasoline prices. Oil was at $100.60 a barrel Tuesday, down about 19% from an almost 14-year peak in early March, while a gallon of regular gas averaged about $4.098 on Tuesday, only about 5.4% lower than the all-time record in March. But the system that turns oil into gas in the U.S. is big, complex and not controlled by any one company. Thousands of companies drill for oil. Dozens refine that oil into fuel. And tens of thousands of largely independent gasoline stations sell that fuel to customers...U.S. gas stations are run mostly by mom-and-pop owners or by larger retailers like Costco Wholesale Corp. and Kroger Co. Many pay franchise fees for the rights to use the logos and brand names of the big oil companies. Those gas station owners set the final pump prices customers see, though many others in the vast network of oil-and-gas companies played a role in what they paid for the fuel they bought, and what they must recoup to turn a profit."

It didn't have to be this way.

Real Clear Energy (4/13/22) op-ed: "As Biden’s disastrous retreat from Afghanistan fades in the rearview mirror, the question of national security has returned to the spotlight, pushed this time in the 'front burner' by Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Casualties, both civilian and military, are on the rise; and the Russian president referred to Western sanctions imposed on Russia as 'a declaration of war.' When it began, it was tempting to see this crisis as unrelated to American affairs. Many question whether a conflict confined to Eastern Europe involves the vital national security interests of the United States. Yet at least one major factor inevitably entangles America’s interests with those of the other parties involved: our embarrassing need for foreign oil and gas, which means that the administration’s laudable embargo on Russian oil comes at a significant and wholly unnecessary cost to Americans...Behind this dependence has been a shallow insistence on attaining 'net zero' carbon emissions at the expense of employment, political stability, and—as is now brutally self-evident— national security. The U.S. is neutering its own energy capabilities in favor of relying on unreliable renewable resources and foreign adversaries. Perhaps most damaging were Biden’s executive order revoking the permit for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and his ban on new leases for oil and gas development on federal lands, which is the subject of ongoing litigation. We’re shooting ourselves in the proverbial foot, and doing it on the world stage. "

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $103.43
Natural Gas: ↑ $7.20
Gasoline: ↓ $4.07

Diesel: ~ $5.01
Heating Oil: ↑ $377.15
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $108.16
US Rig Count: ↑ 766

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