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Category: <span>News</span>

Category: News

Democrat Party Platform Seeks Environmental Justice

By Alex Mills

August 20, 2020

                The debate over energy policy has changed. A short time ago the debate’s primary element was reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil. Democrats, who concluded their national convention this week, didn’t even mention foreign oil imports, and their platform on energy focuses on climate change and environmental justice.

Let’s Be Clear, Petra Nova’s Carbon Capture System Works

By Beth (Hardy) Valiaho, B.A., LL.B, LL.M., a statement on behalf of the International CCS Knowledge Centre.

 

August 19, 2020

The recent news that the carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at Petra Nova suspended its operations is concerning. As we try to advance CCS globally to see rapid and meaningful cuts in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, any project that gets shut down at this point, particularly when they are capturing successfully, is a step backwards for CCS.

NRG’s & JX Nippon’s CCS initiative at Petra Nova, located in Texas, at the W.A. Parish Generating Station, was not only successful in its project delivery in 2016 (on time and on budget), and recipient of Power Engineering’s Project of the Year (2017), but also had continued to operate successfully capturing 90% of CO2 emissions – the equivalent of taking 350,000 cars off the road.i

So, the halt of CO2 capture at Petra Nova is nothing short of disappointing.

It’s not helpful for the environment.
It’s not helpful for progress and innovation.

To limit global warming to 1.5°C, large-scale, emissions-intensive, industrial and power generation processes must be significantly decarbonized. To meet reductions of this magnitude there needs to be accelerated progress in the commercial-scale deployment of CCS across a wide variety of applications, including industrial processes, such as cement and steel; and power generation, such as coal and natural gas….
 

Railroad Commission Continues Working to Improve Regulation of Oil and Gas Industry: RRC

August 13, 2020

The Railroad Commission has an enormous responsibility shepherding Texas’ oil and gas industry, which is critical to our daily lives and economy.

In its role regulating energy production and ensuring natural resources are extracted responsibly, the agency has been taking advantage of operational and technological efficiencies to achieve its goals.

Last week, RRC commissioners took actions to further address flaring with proposed revisions to the Application for Exception to Statewide Rule 32, while the Commission creates better reporting requirements to record for how much each flare releases and an integrated online system connecting the work of permit writers, operators, and agency field staff.

  ExxonMobil will stop contributing to its employees 401k plans. You can read the story this week in some newspapers. The Texas Energy Report had the story last week. Subscribe to The Texas …

TIPRO Commends Trump Administration for Adopting Reasonable Air Quality Standards for Oil and Natural Gas: News Release

August 13, 2020

Austin, Texas – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released final regulations revising the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for the oil and natural gas industry, which are projected to result in net benefits of $750 to $850 million dollars over the period lasting from 2021 to 2030, with the annualized equivalent being roughly $100 million a year in savings from unnecessary regulatory costs. The Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) has been an active participant in the rulemakings and associated litigation since the EPA announced planned changes to the NSPS for the Oil and Gas Sector in August 2011. The following statement regarding today’s rule change can be attributed to Ed Longanecker, president of TIPRO:

“TIPRO applauds the Trump Administration for adopting reasonable air standards that will protect the environment while also reducing regulatory burdens threatening to stifle domestic energy production. The EPA’s final revisions to the NSPS regulations for the oil and natural gas industry represent a more balanced approach, will remove unnecessary regulatory requirements, save the industry millions in compliance costs and strongly support ongoing efforts to lower air emissions in the United States.

The previous NSPS was among the most overreaching regulations targeting the U.S. oil and natural gas industry to be promulgated under the previous administration, without appropriate justification for such policies. Since the EPA updated its NSPS and permitting rules in 2016 for new, reconstructed and modified oil and gas sources, TIPRO has lobbied against the disproportionate impact of the rules on smaller U.S. oil and natural gas producers including operators of marginal oil and gas wells….
 

Increase In Economic Activity Key To Oil, Gas Recovery

By Alex Mills

 

August 13, 2020

The global COVID-19 pandemic has created an incredible economic decline in Texas, the U.S. and throughout the world. However, two new reports this week indicated the possibility of a reversal.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) stated in its Short-Term Energy Outlook on Tuesday even though there remains a high level of uncertainty in many economic indicators, there is some optimism that economic activity and energy demand has increased.

“EIA expects oil consumption will generally rise through the end of 2021,” the reported stated. Oil demand rose from 17.9 million barrels per day (b/d) to 19.4 million b/d.

EIA estimates global liquid fuels inventories rose 6.4 million barrels b/d during the first half of 2020, but that increase will decline during the last half of the year because of increased activity and a decline in production. In the U.S., crude oil inventories have declined from a record high of 540 million barrels on June 19 to 514 million barrels (5 percent) this week. Global liquid fuels production declined 8.6 million b/d year over year to 91.8 million b/d, and U.S. crude oil production has dropped to 11.3 million b/d from 12.2 million b/d average in 2019.

The second report comes from a survey of 400-plus business owners in Texas by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas that believe economic activity will be stronger during the next six months resulting in better earnings. “This optimism, coupled with a downward trend in new COVID-19 infections in Texas in recent weeks, gives hope that a more sure-footed rebound may be on the horizon,” the Dallas fed said….