April 9, 2020
Initial reaction to a Thursday announcement that Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to oil production cuts was slightly negative among oil analysts and investors, but there are still agreements that could be made tomorrow as the Group of 20 energy ministers meet….
April 9, 2020
Russia and Saudi Arabia have agreed in principle to cut oil production, according to The Wall Street Journal on Thursday…..
EDITOR’S NOTE: OPEC members and other participating countries are scheduled to meet to discuss future oil production quotas, and the deadline for this column is Thursday. There were reports early Thursday that Russian officials said Russia is ready to cut oil production by 1.6 million barrels per day. If accurate, it indicates that other countries will agree to cut also.
By Alex Mills
Even though crude oil prices rebounded about 15 percent this week, oil inventories continued to rise as energy demand and economic conditions declined.
Spot crude oil prices closed at $25.09 on Wednesday at Cushing, OK, and posted prices for North and West Central Texas closed at $20.25 for most purchasers, according to crude oil prices posted on the web page of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.
However, many oil producers in Texas have been told by their current purchaser that they will not be purchasing their oil after May 15 because inventories and storage capacity are very tight.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Wednesday U.S. oil inventories increased for the ninth consecutive week since Jan. 17 to 469 million barrels, which is a 15.2 million barrel increase from the previous week.
“Prices for RBOB gasoline futures have collapsed, and some refineries have even faced negative margins for selling gasoline,” Oilprice.com reported. “That is a reflection of the deep decline in demand. Price signals are telling refineries to cut back on production. U.S. gasoline demand fell from 8.837 million barrels per day (b/d) on March 20 to 6.659 million b/d on March 27.”….
April 8, 2020
ExxonMobil and the Global Center for Medical Innovation (GCMI) have initiated multi-sector and joint development projects to rapidly redesign and manufacture reusable personal protection equipment for health care workers, such as face shields and masks, which are in short supply as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic….
April 5, 2020
Oil and gas and data analytics company Enverus has released its Q1 summary of M&A activity, which revealed a substantial collapse as oil prices plunged to 18-year lows. Only $770 million in U.S. upstream deals were completed during the first quarter of 2020—less than one-tenth of the ~$8 billion average for Q1 from 2010-2019. Virtually all deal activity occurred before the global COVID-19 pandemic and production hike from Saudi Arabia slammed markets in early March…..
April 4, 2020
Fitch Ratings says it’s further reducing its oil price assumptions for 2020 and 2021 based on the spread of the coronavirus, which weakens the short-term global economic outlook and oil demand, resulting in very large oversupply….
April 2, 2020
Crude oil and natural gas production as reported to the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) for January 2020 came from 173,067 oil wells and 86,957 gas wells….
April 8, 2020
Valero Energy Corp. is giving Corpus Christi-area organizations $225,000 to help in the fight to offset the effects of coronavirus…..
April 8, 2020
Non-profit organizations will be the recipents of money from a CenterPoint Enegy fund pledging $1.5 million…..
April 8, 2020
Direct Energy says it’s raising its contribution to programs for helping Texans pay their electricity bills….
April 8, 2020
Nextera Energy Inc.is starting up operations at the Lerma lease it recently bought near La Vernia…..
April 8, 2020
An assistant professor at the University of Texas at Dallas has a new grant to expand her work on lasers that could be hopeful for the future of creating and storing solar energy…..
April 7, 2020
Abraxas Petroleum is on notice from the NASDAQ that the company needs to come into compliance with policies…..
Former Head of Texas Energy Conservation Office Brings Decades of Clean Energy Expertise\
April 6, 2020
Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation (CTEI) announced today that Dub Taylor has joined the organization’s Advisory Board. For more than 25 years, Dub Taylor has helped advance cost-effective, clean energy technology and policy through his work in the public sector. First, with the Texas Railroad Commission’s Alternative Fuels Research and Education Division, then leading the Texas State Energy Conservation Office under three State Comptrollers.
Matt Welch, State Director of CTEI, said, “we are incredibly fortunate and very appreciative that Dub is joining our organization. His institutional knowledge of energy policy in Texas is a tremendous resource and will be invaluable in the future.”
At the national level, Taylor served on and twice chaired the U.S. Department of Energy’s State Energy Advisory Board (STEAB). Originally appointed Chair by President George W. Bush’s Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, he was again appointed to this role by former Energy Secretary and Texas Governor Rick Perry…..
By Alex Mills
April 3, 2020
The economic chaos facing the oil and natural gas industry in the United States is real and it is coming fast like a runaway locomotive blasting everything in its path.
Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange have declined from $63 per barrel in January to $20 this week, but the spot price at Cushing, OK., a major trading terminal, closed even lower at $14.10. The posted price for South Texas was $10.50, and Louisiana Light closed at $5.85. Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, closed at $19.07.
If these prices hold for an extended period of time, many companies will not be around to see 2021.
The Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas surveyed oil company executives and “more than 80 percent reported a deteriorating outlook for their firms, while a similar share noted increase uncertainty about the future.”
The survey released last week revealed 60 percent of all firms reported lowering capital expenditures this quarter relative to the fourth quarter of 2019…..
April 7, 2020
Plains All American Pipeline says it’s reducing one-third of its capital expenditure budget in the continuing volatility of oil and gas markets….
April 7, 2020
There’s a proposed settlement between the EPA and Houston’s Citation Oil & Gas Corp. over claims of Clean Air Act violations…..
April 7, 2020
The antitrust division of the US Department of Justice is reiterating a recent DOJ argument that a new Texas energy law is unconstitutional…..
April 7, 2020
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is noting a modest drop in electricity usage in the mornings as it begins weekly updates on load pattern changes…..