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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 07/13/2022

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All the credit, none of the blame.

Daily Caller (7/12/22) reports: "A Biden administration economic official credited President Joe Biden’s policies for a recent decrease in gas prices despite the fact that the fall in prices is largely due to diminished demand and fears of a global recession, according to a CNBC news clip posted to Twitter. Jared Bernstein, a member of the White House council of economic advisers, said that the price of gas nationwide is down by more than 30 cents from its peak due to Biden’s efforts to increase the supply of oil in a TV interview Monday. The drop in gas prices is primarily because of diminished demand at the pump and growing fears of a global recession that are causing oil prices to fall. Gas prices are dropping because of the administration’s tapping of oil supplies from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve and its pressuring of the U.S. oil industry to boost output and refinement, according to Bernstein. However, Bernstein did claim that with domestic refineries pushed to the brink, there is little that can be done in the short term to ease the supply gap. 'This is just pure disinformation,' Institute for Energy Research Senior Vice President Dan Kish told the Daily Caller News Foundation about Bernstein’s claims... Biden will travel to Saudi Arabia this week to ask the nation to pump more oil to solve the current fuel crisis that is being exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. Despite the request, the Biden administration is still moving to fulfill its aggressive climate agenda and place less emphasis on fossil fuel use.'Biden has targeted American energy security from day one and he’s proving it by going to the Saudis to beg them for oil,' Kish stated."

"Milton Friedman said that if you put the government in charge of the Sahara Desert, there would be a sand shortage. What the Sri Lankan government has done is almost as unbelievable. There are few better places in the world for agriculture. Sri Lanka is a warm, tropical island with plenty of annual rainfall, perfect for growing rice, tea, cocoa, and spices, and located along numerous ocean-trade routes for easy market access."

– National Review, Editorial Board

Uh oh.

Car Buzz (7/11/22) reports: "Toyota's stance on electric vehicles has been in sharp contrast to many other major players in the industry. While the brand finally has a modern EV in the form of the bZ4X, it is still electrifying its lineup at a slow pace. Last year, the company's CEO warned that a sudden transition to EVs at the expense of internal combustion could damage Japan's economy, and more recently, it said that it's important to give customers in different regions the choice of an EV or a conventionally-powered vehicle. This school of thought isn't unique to Toyota's CEO. Gill Pratt, CEO of the Toyota Research Institute, also believes the future of automobiles won't begin and end with EVs, suggesting that too many people have succumbed to the hype of electric-only propulsion. Pratt is evidently an intelligent man, also boasting the titles of chief scientist and executive fellow for research at Toyota. He was even the robotics and computing lead for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency at one point. Pratt believes that the climate crisis is a serious threat but that a sudden move to only EVs isn't best for the planet, either. 'Lithium ion batteries aren't without consequence,' said Pratt when speaking to Autocar. 'They're made using rare, mined materials - in contrast, an engine is made using more common materials - and weigh a lot. The grid energy mix is also variable around the world.' He further went on to say that 'cradle to grave,' plug-in hybrids and full electrics are very close."

What happens when rules are written by people who have never been to the real world.

Otherwise, it's contempt of court, right?

Wall Street Journal (7/12/22) op-ed: "The Supreme Court took an important step toward restoring accountability and democratic control to the executive branch when it ruled the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan unlawful in West Virginia v. EPA, and the Securities and Exchange Commission should take note. The SEC’s proposed climate disclosure rule would expand its authority in a way that is almost indistinguishable from the EPA’s failed attempt to seize more power than it was due. The SEC would be wise to retract and rethink its planned disclosure rule now. In its June decision, the high court ruled that the Clean Power Plan was out of bounds for the EPA under the “major questions” doctrine. Agencies have power to regulate only because Congress gives them that power, so the choice of Congress constricts their ability to regulate. Agencies may not lightly presume that the legislature has delegated to them the most important policy questions of our day and simply decide those questions themselves. Allowing the Clean Power Plan would have meant giving the EPA authority to resolve a major policy question—the composition of U.S. energy production—that Congress is expected to decide for itself. The EPA could point to no clear statutory authorization for the agency to decide that question, and that led the Supreme Court to rule that the plan was unlawful. The similarities between the Clean Power Plan and the SEC’s proposed disclosure rule are striking and speak to why both violate the law."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $95.44
Natural Gas: ↑ $6.57
Gasoline: ↓ $4.63

Diesel: ↓ $5.61
Heating Oil: ↓ $368.80
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $98.75
US Rig Count: ↑ 826

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