.The Texas Energy Report

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.The Texas Energy Report

Tough Times for Oil Companies Trying to Survive the Pandemic

By Alex Mills

 

May 12, 2020

Just a few years ago the head of ExxonMobil had to appear before a Congressional committee to explain their billions of dollars in profits that some called “obscene.”

This week investors in ExxonMobil are asking why the company did not make any profit during the first quarter of 2020. Its $610 million dollar loss is the first time that ExxonMobil reported a loss in more than 30 years.

ExxonMobil isn’t the only oil company reporting financial troubles. Actually, there are more losers than winners.

The United States Oil Fund, the largest crude exchange traded product, said recently it will sell all of its 30-day contracts to avoid a repeat of the heavy losses that occurred around the expiration of the May contract on April 20 when the price of oil bottomed out at -$37 per barrel.

Crude oil inventories continue to rise indicating the oversupply is still expanding. The Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday inventories increased by 4.6 million barrels from 527 million barrels to 532 million barrels. It is the 14 consecutive week that inventories increased.”….
 
 

RRC Commissioners Assess $800,000 in Penalties: RRC

May 10, 2020

AUSTIN – The Railroad Commission of Texas assessed $801,781 in fines involving 146 enforcement dockets against operators and businesses at the Commissioners’ Conference on May 5. The Commission has primary oversight and enforcement of the state’s oil and gas industry and intrastate pipeline safety.

Twenty-one dockets involved$386,847 in penalties after operators failed to appear at Commission enforcement proceedings. Details on these Master Default Orders can be found on the RRC website here.

Operators were ordered to come into compliance with Commission rules and assessed $137,934 for oil and gas, LP-Gas or pipeline safety rule violations. Pipeline operators and excavators were assessed $277,000 for violations of the Commission’s Pipeline Damage Prevention rules. Details on all these Master Agreed Orders can be found on the RRC website here.

In the absence of timely motions for rehearing, decisions are final as stated in these final orders….
 

Railroad Commission Launches Drone Program to Enhance Emergency Response: RRC

May 10, 2020

Taking advantage of 21st century technology, the Railroad Commission of Texas launched a statewide drone inspection team last month. Drones will help inspectors to quickly respond and inspect sites that are unsafe or inaccessible during emergencies such as fires, flooding and other natural disasters. Drones can also assist in situations, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, where they provide an alternative to in-person inspections…..
 

Report: COVID & the New Norm

May 17, 2020

The wide economic and narrower energy crises aside, we’re all trying to come to terms with professional, personal and economic uncertainties both in the present and the future as a pandemic continues to sweep America.

Let’s try to remove politics for a few moments to come to a clearer picture of both. I’m not an expert, I’m a reporter and researcher doing my job.

 

The Latest On SARS-CoV-2

 

The name of the virus is SARS-CoV-2, while the sickness it engenders is called COVID-19. Those are the names given it by the World Health Organization.

We are easily misled by the “latest” number of virus cases, but they needn’t be alarming. There is a false impression that today’s “new number of cases” is a reliable and very useful metric and is being reported with up-to-the-minute stats daily.. However, some of the positive tests could be days old, considering how long it takes between the time someone is tested and the time news of that test is reported.

Virus case counts are estimates, are totally reliant on health care reporting (which can be spotty during a health emergency such as this, of course) and there are false (positive or negative) or misdiagnosed or misapplied SARS-CoV-2 tests Do not take daily “new case” numbers as entirely reliable and they are easily manipulated for political goals. See Nate Silver early on in the crisis.

Most important, though, the number of new cases is not a direct indicator — “new cases” generally means “the latest count of positive test results,” which could still be days old and certainly does not show the number of cases in the US. And it’s no indicator at all of how many people in any one area have been exposed to the virus.

A Stanford study from a month indicated that the number of actual infections could be “50 to 85 times more common than official figures indicated.”

(Note: “To give one example, Connecticut has done about twice as many tests per capita as Texas. Yet both states have roughly the same number of positive test results, despite the latter testing far fewer people per capita. Such a high positive test rate suggests that the real number of cases may be much larger than the official count.” — Vox)

Even the death tolls are subject to skepticism by the public. Certainly the “excess death numbers” are.

There are growing indications that the virus may have arrived in America before we even thought it was here, in California, in Texas,

The SARS-CoV-2 is an unprecedented phenomenon in the modern world because so little is understood about its workings and so little is understood in coping with it. (“What we are doing are really old-fashioned public health measures. We’re actually hiding from the virus by doing these social distancing measures, hoping to buy time to a point where a vaccine may be ready.”)

There appears to be a lot we do not know about this virus, including whether there is more than one strain.

There is no consensus over whether the virus is natural or man-made. There is no conclusive proof that it occurred naturally. There is no conclusive proof that it was man-made. Investigations are continuing. Wide discussion of the issue was driven by accusations made by both the United States and China. Those of good faith who worry about the virus being “man-made” apparently do not necessarily believe it was released as a bio-weapon.

Doctors, nurses and hospital administrators in addition to politicians have had to make situational decisions about handling the virus and its subsequent effects on society, decisions often with few facts to rely on. Blaming people for any aspect of this worldwide emergency is not productive.

Doctors and researchers are continually finding unexpected and at times devastating effects from the virus. And increased ways to catch it.

Newspapers, video and radio have for years distorted the importance of medical and scientific studies, implying that the conclusion of a single study is a pronouncement of drug or procedure effectiveness when in actuality it is simply part of an ongoing process of experiment and discovery.

There is no consensus among doctors and researchers over the use of medications to help patients fight the virus. It’s just too early in the fight, but physicians should be lauded for willingness to try anything pre-tested for safety that might save patients’ lives.

Hydroychloroquine is just one among medications are being tested each day for use against the virus. Despite negative pronouncements by some, hydroxichloroquine (which is available as a cheap generic and has a long history) is still being tested and widely used along with antibiotics to help battle the virus and appears to be effective when administered as early as possible.

A new National Institutes of Health study is underway. The drug is proven safe for most patients in fighting three illnesses (malaria, lupus, arthritis), so labeling it “unproven” may be misleading…….
 

Austin TV Series On Pipelines Falls Short on Facts: IPAA

May 6, 2020

Local Austin news station KXAN released an investigative series titled “Pipeline Exposed,” which is focused on pipeline safety during the construction process. While the three-part series specifically discusses the Permian Highway Pipeline, a 430-mile natural gas line running from the Permian Basin to the Texas Gulf Coast, the segments include many inaccuracies about the nature and safety of pipeline coating.

Let’s set the record straight on pipeline coating….