True Colors

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 02/02/23

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Red is the new green.

AP News (2/01/23) Reports: "GM announced plans to invest $650 million in a Nevada lithium mine, operated by Lithium Americas, a firm whose largest shareholder has ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to multiple reports. Through subsidiary GFL International, Chinese mining giant Ganfeng Lithium owns 11% of Lithium Americas, a stake nearly four times greater than the next largest investor, according to CNBC. Wang Xiaoshen, a member of Lithium Americas’ board of directors and executive vice president of Ganfeng, has previously worked for Chinese state owned businesses, while Ganfeng president Li Liangbin is a member of multiple CCP-linked groups, according to reporting by the Washington Free Beacon. Lithium Americas’ Thacker Pass mine has previously drawn criticism from Republican members of Congress, citing the national security risk of depending on Chinese companies for critical resources like lithium. Through 2019, China accounted for roughly 60% of all lithium processed worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency."

"“We know that heavy battle tanks or fighter jets and naval ships consume a lot of fossil fuel and emit greenhouse gases and therefore we have to look into how we can reduce those emissions by alternative fuels, solar panels or other ways of running our missions."

– Nato Chief Jans Stoltenberg

You should listen to Dan. He know's some stuff.

WFIN (2/01/23) Reports: "President Biden’s administration is expected to propose a limited plan for expanding oil drilling in Alaska in the coming days, relenting on its longtime opposition to domestic oil production. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is pushing for an environmental review that will effectively endorse the ConocoPhillips (CP) oil company’s plan to open up to five new drilling sites in the state, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The plan is a scaled-back version of CP’s Willow Project, which seeks to open up access to some 600 million barrels of crude oil. The Biden administration has long opposed the expansion of domestic oil production, even as President Biden has complained about the effects of limited supply. As gas prices skyrocketed for Americans this summer and fall, Biden turned to foreign oil producers like Saudi Arabia, expressing disappointment when they refused to increase supply."

What could possibly go wrong?

The Wall Street Journal (1/31/23) reports: "The Justice Department has been urged by representatives of a U.S. national-security panel to consider economic-espionage charges against leaders of TuSimple Holdings Inc., an American self-driving-truck company with ties to China, according to people familiar with the matter. The recommendation for criminal charges, made late last year, stemmed from concerns that two founders and the current chief executive of the San Diego-based company were improperly transferring technology to a Chinese startup, the people said. The concerns were based on material gathered as part of a national-security review of TuSimple launched earlier last year. That review is being conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as Cfius. The panel is led by the Treasury Department and includes the Justice and Defense departments as well as other federal agencies. Cfius reviews foreign investments for national-security concerns and has the authority to impose safeguards or recommend that the president block investments."

You mean they lied to us?

Daily Caller (2/01/23) reports: "Tax credits to battery manufacturers in President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act may wind up costing more than four times as much as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) initially anticipated, according to Axios. The Inflation Reduction Act provides a tax credit of $35 per kilowatt-hour for the production of batteries used in electric vehicles — roughly 35% of the cost to fabricate a cell using current methods — and initial estimates from the CBO pegged the cost of the program as roughly $30.6 billion over the next 10 years. However, following a rash of new battery investments totaling more than $73 billion in 2022 alone, analysts from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence now expect the program to cost at least $136 billion over the next 10 years, with each new investment driving the cost up further, according to Axios. Individual companies are poised to rake in billions, with Tesla expecting to earn $1 billion in battery tax credits in 2023 alone, and $17.5 billion between 2023 and 2026, according to Axios. Ford anticipates receiving $7 billion in breaks from 2023 to 2026 before spiking in 2027, while GM expects to earn $300 million in 2023."

Same old song and dance.

Daily Caller (2/01/23) reports: "The Biden administration raged Tuesday against record-breaking profits for U.S. oil companies like Exxon, even though its own policies have helped cause prices to rise, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The White House’s backlash came after major oil companies released their 2022 earnings, with Exxon and Chevron making $55.7 and $35.5 billion respectively. Experts told the DCNF that Biden’s efforts to curb the use of fossil fuels and reduce emissions have led to increased prices. “We think the White House’s oil policy has been paradoxical and disruptive, and has distorted markets in order to lower oil prices for short term political gain, without accepting that lowering emissions requires higher oil and gas price,” energy analyst Paul Sankey, founder of Sankey Research, told the Daily Caller News Foundation."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $76.30
Natural Gas: ↓ $2.52
Gasoline: ~ $3.50

Diesel: ~ $4.68
Heating Oil: ↓ $293.10
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $82.57
US Rig Count: ~ 816

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