By Benjamin R. Dierker With politics governing energy and climate policy, people must remain central. Half of U.S. homes currently rely on natural gas for heating, while over half of food services and 38% of the energy generated nationwide for schools, hospitals, and communities require natural gas. When pipelines are blocked, development is restricted. When … Read more Opposing Natural Gas Pipelines Means Opposing Natural Gas Users

Mar 6, 2021 (Bloomberg) Texas leaders have held multiple talks with financial institutions as lawmakers weigh options for easing the liquidity crisis facing the state’s power market following last month’s energy crisis. “There are multiple options on the table,” said state Senator Kelly Hancock, who chairs the business and commerce committee which has held hearings on … Read more Texas Lawmakers Weighing Financial Rescue for Power Grid

Mar 5, 2021 (Bloomberg)Texas regulators declined to rescind $16 billion in alleged overcharges for electricity during last month’s blackouts, leaving the state’s power market facing a potential financial crisis. “Decisions were made about these prices in real time based, on information available to everybody,” said Arthur D’Andrea, chair of the Public Utility Commission of Texas … Read more Texas Regulators Decline to Reprice $16 Billion Market ‘Error’

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Josh Saul Mar 5, 2021 (Bloomberg) The Biden administration is moving closer to a final approval of Vineyard Wind LLC’s $2.8 billion offshore wind farm planned near the coast of Massachusetts.The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is set to publish a favorable final environmental review of the 800-megawatt project on Monday, … Read more Biden Set to Advance Offshore Wind Farm Near Martha’s Vineyard

(Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Commodities Research raised its Brent forecast for second and third quarter by $5 a barrel after OPEC and its allies kept the deal unchanged, and said ‘discipline of shale producers’ is likely behind the group’s slower output increase. The Wall Street bank now sees Brent prices at $75 a barrel in … Read more Goldman hikes Brent forecast, says ‘shale discipline’ behind OPEC strategy

(Reuters) – During several days of brutal cold in Texas, the city of Austin saw its fleet of 12 new electric buses rendered inoperative by a statewide power outage. That problem will be magnified next year, when officials plan to start purchasing electric-powered vehicles exclusively. The city’s transit agency has budgeted $650 million over 20 … Read more EV rollout will require huge investments in strained U.S. power grids

Mar 5, 2021 (Bloomberg) Goldman Sachs Group Inc. traders are poised for significant profits from the freeze that roiled energy markets and left swaths of the U.S. without electricity last month. That is, if they can collect. The bank could stand to gain more than $200 million from the physical sale of power and natural gas … Read more Goldman Made $200 Million Off the Deep Freeze, at Least on Paper

Mar 4, 2021 (Bloomberg) Few saw the surprise disclosure earlier this week that the American Petroleum Institute is considering endorsing a price on carbon dioxide emissions and thought the fierce fossil fuel lobby was suddenly becoming climate-friendly. Rather, seasoned industry-watchers say it’s the clearest sign yet that fossil fuel companies see Washington’s shift on climate policy as a real and significant threat.A … Read more How the Oil Lobby Learned to Love Carbon Taxes

By Saket Sundria and Alex Longley Mar 4, 2021 (Bloomberg) Oil traded above $62 a barrel in New York after Saudi Arabia’s oil minister urged caution from producers as they gathered virtually. West Texas Intermediate added 1.8%, while Brent also climbed. OPEC+ should keep its powder dry, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said … Read more Oil Rallies After Saudi Oil Minister Urges OPEC+ Supply Caution

(Reuters) – U.S. crude oil stockpiles surged by a record of more than 21 million barrels last week as refining plunged to an all-time low due to the Texas freeze that knocked out power for millions. With refiners unable to process crude, gasoline and distillate inventories also dropped dramatically, especially in the Gulf Coast region … Read more Record U.S. crude stockbuild as refining plummets after Texas freeze

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Wednesday, boosted by expectations that OPEC+ producers might decide against increasing output when they meet this week, while signs of progress in the coronavirus vaccine rollout in the United States gave further support. Brent oil was up $1.28, or 2%, to $63.98 a barrel by 1050 GMT. U.S. … Read more Oil up as OPEC+ considers rollover rather than raising output

(Reuters) For 17 years, trucker Colin Birch has been hitting the highways to collect used cooking oil from restaurants. He works for Vancouver-based renderer West Coast Reduction Ltd, which processes the grease into a material to make renewable diesel, a clean-burning road fuel. That job has recently gotten much harder. Birch is caught between soaring … Read more Renewable diesel boom highlights challenges in North American clean-energy transition

(Reuters) – The once-brash U.S. shale industry, which spent profusely in recent years to grab market share, is now focused on preserving cash, putting it at a disadvantage to low-cost OPEC producers as the global economy begins to gear up again. Prior to the pandemic-induced downturn, OPEC countries led by Saudi Arabia restrained their production, … Read more OPEC oil has advantage over U.S. shale during pandemic recovery

By Reuters Staff (Reuters) – Improving economics and government policies are creating opportunities for carbon capture and storage, Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Darren Woods said at an energy conference on Tuesday. Exxon, under pressure from activist investors who want the company to develop more ambitious plans for the energy transition, recently launched a Low Carbon … Read more Government policies, economics creating market for carbon capture: Exxon CEO

Mar 2, 2021 (Bloomberg) The U.S. oil and gas industry should embrace “huge opportunities” in producing and transporting hydrogen, with the potential for that cutting-edge energy source to fuel long-haul trucks and supply power globally, presidential climate envoy John Kerry said Tuesday. “That’s jump ball right now,” Kerry said during the second day of the CERAWeek … Read more Hydrogen Is ‘Jump Ball’ in Global Clean-Energy Race, Kerry Says

By Reuters Staff (Reuters) – Six major utilities unveiled a plan on Tuesday to add electric vehicle fast chargers to connect major highway systems across United States, as they look to cater to the burgeoning electric vehicle market. The Electric Highway Coalition – made up of American Electric Power, Dominion Energy D.N>, Duke Energy, Entergy … Read more Top U.S. utilities collaborate to build electric vehicle charging stations

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The main U.S. oil industry lobby group, the American Petroleum Institute, is weighing endorsing a price on carbon emissions, a major shift after long resisting mandatory government climate policies, a source familiar with the decision-making said. The American Petroleum Institute, which includes most of the world’s biggest oil companies, is considering endorsing … Read more U.S. oil industry lobby weighs support of carbon pricing: source

By Reuters Staff NEW YORK (Reuters) – Capital discipline from shale producers in the United States is likely to hold this year and through the next, but it could be difficult for companies to resist the temptation to grow production volumes beyond that, Raoul LeBlanc, vice president of North American unconventionals at HIS Markit, said … Read more U.S. shale producers’ capital discipline likely to hold in 2021: IHS Markit

By Reuters Staff NEW YORK (Reuters) – The energy industry is already starting to recover from one the worst years in recent history after the coronavirus pandemic roiled global markets, Baker Hughes Chief Executive Lorenzo Simonelli said on Monday during CERAWeek by IHS Markit. “As you look at supply and demand equation, we’re seeing that … Read more Energy industry starting to recover, balance likely by 2022 – Baker Hughes CEO

By Saket Sundria and Alex Longley Mar 2, 2021 (Bloomberg) Oil held steady just days before many of the world’s largest producer nations meet to discuss how much crude they should supply in the coming months.Crude futures in New York were trading near $61 a barrel. OPEC and its allies will meet on Thursday to decide … Read more Oil Sinks Toward $60 Before OPEC+ Meets to Decide on Supplies

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. climate envoy John Kerry will headline the second day of the world’s largest oil and gas conference, along with Big Oil executives trying to make the case for their importance even as panelists at CERAWeek focus on how the industry will aim to reduce carbon emissions. The coronavirus pandemic has … Read more Kerry leads second-day slate at global energy conference

LONDON/NEW YORK/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – When the world economy slammed on the brakes last year, there was a rush to store a wave of unwanted crude and products, but rising prices and optimism about demand is spurring a swift unwinding of storage contracts. At the end of February, the volume of refined products held on stationary … Read more Oil optimism unwinding market’s mad dash for storage

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) – TC Energy Corp and two former Columbia Pipeline Group Inc executives must defend against a lawsuit claiming the companies’ $10 billion merger in 2016 shortchanged Columbia investors, a Delaware judge ruled on Monday. Vice Chancellor Travis Laster of the Delaware Chancery Court refused to dismiss the lawsuit by former Columbia shareholders, … Read more TC Energy, ex-Columbia Pipeline execs must face lawsuit over $10 billion deal

By Reuters Staff NEW YORK (Reuters) – The energy industry is already starting to recover from one the worst years in recent history after the coronavirus pandemic roiled global markets, Baker Hughes Chief Executive Lorenzo Simonelli said on Monday during CERAWeek by IHS Markit. “As you look at supply and demand equation, we’re seeing that … Read more Energy industry starting to recover, balance likely by 2022 – Baker Hughes CEO

By Joe Deaux and Stephen Lee Feb 27, 2021 (Bloomberg) Joe Biden’s ambition to make the U.S. less dependent on other nations for rare earths and minerals critical to the clean energy transition will take years to accomplish. A review of the U.S. critical minerals and rare earths supply chain that the president ordered this week is likely … Read more Biden’s Hopes for Rare Earth Independence at Least a Decade Away

Feb 27, 2021 (Bloomberg) Texas’s grid operator needs to come up with $1.3 billion to pay power plants for energy they supplied during last week’s historic blackouts, raising the prospect it may require a state bailout.The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages most of the state’s grid, said it’s still waiting on more than $2 … Read more Texas’s Power Market Is $1.3 Billion Short After Energy Crisis

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Retail power marketers in Texas are appealing multi-million dollar bills from last week’s blackout that they say could cripple them and unravel Texas’ nearly two-decade-old experiment as the most deregulated U.S. electricity market. Wholesale prices, which last year averaged $26 a megawatt hour, soared to $9,000 per MWh for days as grid … Read more Texas power crisis could cripple small marketers, unravel market deregulation

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. crude oil output dropped 58,000 barrels per day to 11.063 million bpd in December, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a monthly report on Friday. The move came as onshore oil production fell in Texas and North Dakota, the top oil-producing states, outpacing a slight rise in offshore output … Read more U.S. crude output drops to 11.06 million bpd in December – EIA

Feb 25, 2021 (Bloomberg) Mark Carney, a leading figure behind this year’s global climate talks, has sparked concern among green advocates with recent remarks claiming the half-trillion-dollar asset manager where he works zeroed out pollution across its portfolio. His comments call into question what it takes to attain net-zero status.Carney is a former Bank of England governor … Read more Mark Carney’s Net-Zero Claim Confounds Climate Experts

By Reuters Staff BERLIN (Reuters) – There is an exchange between the U.S. government and Germany regarding the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to take Russian gas to Europe, a German government spokeswoman said on Friday without giving details. Germany and Russia say Nord Stream 2 is just a commercial project. Washington has long argued the … Read more Germany says there is exchange with U.S. on Nord Stream 2

By Reuters Staff (Reuters) – Trade groups representing U.S. public power and natural gas companies urged President Joe Biden to declare a gas emergency for last week’s extreme weather and authorize the secretary of energy to cap the price of gas. In a Feb. 19 letter to Biden, the American Public Power Association (APPA) and the … Read more U.S. trade groups urge Biden to cap natural gas prices after Texas freeze last week

By Kevin Crowley Feb 25, 2021 (Bloomberg) Exxon Mobil Corp. erased almost every drop of oil-sands crude from its books in a sweeping revision of worldwide reserves to depths never before seen in the company’s modern history. Exxon counted the equivalent of 15.2 billion barrels of reserves as of Dec. 31, down from 22.44 billion a … Read more Exxon Casts Out Canadian Oil Sands in Massive Reserves Slump

By Alex Longley and Andres Guerra Luz Feb 25, 2021 (Bloomberg) Oil extended its rally to a new one-year high as the market weighed a tightening global supply outlook against indications prices may be overextended.Futures in New York rose almost 1% to the highest intraday since January 2020 after falling earlier on Thursday. The oil futures … Read more Oil Fluctuates Near One-Year High With Global Supply Tightening

By Doug Alexander and Simon Casey Feb 24, 2021 (Bloomberg) Exxon Mobil Corp. agreed to sell some assets in the North Sea for more than $1 billion as the company focuses on newer and larger sources of oil and gas such as Guyana, Brazil and the U.S. Permian Basin. The company will sell most of its … Read more Exxon to Sell Some North Sea Assets for More Than $1 Billion

WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought on Tuesday to turn the page on the Trump era, stressing the countries’ deep ties and pledging to work together to counteract Chinese influence and address climate change. “The United States has no closer friend, no closer friend than Canada,” Biden … Read more Biden, Trudeau pledge to counter China, climate change, in warm first ‘meeting’

(Reuters) – Cheniere Energy Inc reported a smaller fourth-quarter loss on Wednesday compared with the third, as an uptick in economic activity fueled by COVID-19 vaccines lifted demand and prices for liquefied natural gas. Net loss attributable to shareholders narrowed to $194 million, or 77 cents per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, from … Read more Cheniere Energy posts smaller quarterly loss as LNG demand recovers

By Robert Tuttle Feb 23, 2021 (Bloomberg) U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline is sparking renewed interest in shipping Canadian oil-sands crude by rail, and that comes with its own environmental risks.Cenovus Energy Inc. and Imperial Oil Ltd. have increasingly turned to trains to move their crude, with oil exports by … Read more Keystone XL’s Death Sparks Rush to Ship Oil-Sands Crude by Rail

Feb 22, 2021 (Bloomberg) Now that the lights are back on in Texas, the state has to figure out who’s going to pay for the energy crisis that plunged millions into darkness last week. It will likely be ordinary Texans. The price tag so far: $50.6 billion, the cost of electricity sold from early Monday, when … Read more Texans Will Pay for Decades as Crisis Tacks Billions Onto Bills

By Jeremy Hill and Katherine Doherty Feb 23, 2021 (Bloomberg) The Texas power crisis is threatening to spark a new wave of distress in the Lone Star State, following a going concern warning from Just Energy Group Inc. “The Texas power loss will have a significant impact on businesses that haven’t been able to restore power and can … Read more U.S. Bankruptcy Tracker: Texas Energy Crisis; Subchapter V Surge

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Deb Haaland, U.S. President Joe Biden’s historic pick for interior secretary, will seek to reassure lawmakers that she will balance energy interests with climate change goals as the top administrator of America’s vast public lands on Tuesday. Haaland, a Democratic congresswoman from New Mexico, would be the first Native American to take … Read more Senate weighs historic Interior nominee, Republicans to grill her on fossil fuels

WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will try on Tuesday to move past an early disagreement after Biden blocked the Canadian-backed Keystone XL pipeline and look to reset relations after the rocky years of Donald Trump. In his first bilateral meeting with a foreign leader since taking office … Read more Biden, Trudeau aim to move past Keystone pipeline disagreement in first bilateral meeting

Feb 21, 2021 (Bloomberg) Oil prices will rally sooner and higher than previously thought as the global energy demand recovery outpaces the supply response from the OPEC+ alliance, shale and Iran, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.Consumption will get back to pre-virus levels by late July, while output from major producers is likely to remain “highly … Read more Goldman Sees Brent Oil at $75 as Supply Response Trails Demand

Feb 22, 2021 (Bloomberg) Trafigura Group sees oil markets firming in the coming months as most of the world emerges from lockdowns and production losses from the recent U.S. deep freeze add to a tighter supply outlook.“We have a strong market going into summer,” Ben Luckock, co-head of oil trading at the commodities trading giant, said … Read more Trafigura Sees ‘Strong’ Oil Market Heading Into Summer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. federal energy regulators said on Monday they will examine threats that climate change and extreme weather events pose to the country’s electric reliability in the wake of last week’s deadly Texas freeze that left millions of people without power. “The effects of climate change are already apparent,” Federal Energy Regulatory Commission … Read more U.S. energy regulator says will examine climate change’s threat to power reliability

WASHINGTON — The catastrophic cold snap that paralyzed the electrical grid in Texas has opened up a new front in the age-old battle between green-energy champions and their fossil-fuel rivals. One side sees the chance to build a new, fortified and more sustainable power grid. The other calls it proof positive that it’s too soon … Read more Deep freeze, power crisis in Texas sparks fresh climate-change falsehoods

Feb 22, 2021 (Bloomberg)  The millions of people who struggled to keep warm in Texas, with blackouts crippling life inside a dominant energy hub, have laid bare the desperate state of U.S. electricity grids. To fix nationwide vulnerabilities, President Joe Biden will have to completely reimagine the American way of producing and transmitting electricity. Biden wants to overhaul the nation’s grids so they derive … Read more After Texas Crisis, Biden’s Climate Plan Hangs on Fragile Power Grid

LONDON/HOUSTON (Reuters) – OPEC and U.S. oil companies see a limited rebound in shale oil supply this year as top U.S. producers freeze output despite rising prices, a decision that would help OPEC and its allies. OPEC this month cut its 2021 forecast for U.S. tight crude, another term for shale, and expects production to … Read more OPEC, U.S. oil firms expect subdued shale rebound even as crude prices rise

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – Plans for seismic surveys to help find oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge have fizzled due to a lack of protection for polar bears, according to a brief statement Saturday from the Department of the Interior. The Kaktovik Inupiat Corp (KIC), the Native-owned company that applied for permission to conduct … Read more Arctic drilling plan in Alaska hits roadblock

 Feb 21, 2021 (Bloomberg) After enduring a wretched week of Arctic storms, hunger and cold, several Texans lucky enough to have power were handed another pain point — massive electricity bills.Houston resident David Astrein, 36, a human resources director at a manufacturing company, said he’s been charged $2,738.66 for 20 days this month versus $129.85 for … Read more Texas Homes Slammed by Thousand-Dollar Power Bills After Storm

By John Kemp LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. petroleum consumption and inventories have returned to normal after the pandemic and volume war last year, with the significant exception of jet fuel, where demand remains suppressed by travel restrictions. Market rebalancing has been completed earlier than seemed likely a few months ago, as a result of a strong … Read more Column: Oil market rebalancing largely complete, except for jet fuel

Feb 19, 2021 (Bloomberg) —President Joe Biden said he’ll declare a major disaster in Texas and wants to visit the state soon as it recovers from widespread power outages and water shortages following an unusual winter storm. “If in fact it’s concluded that I can go without creating a burden for the folks on the … Read more Biden Says He Hopes to Visit Texas After Winter Storm

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration is expected to name as early as Friday the companies it believes are helping build Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, five sources said, a move that could eventually prompt sanctions on the nearly completed project. The State Department report to Congress, which may come on Friday, is expected to … Read more U.S. to unveil Nord Stream 2 pipeline report, but sanctions may take time: sources

Feb 17, 2021 (Bloomberg) Total U.S. oil production has plunged by close to 40% — the most ever — as an unprecedented cold blast freezes well operations across the central U.S., according to traders and industry executives with direct knowledge of the operations.Crude output has now fallen by more than 4 million barrels a day nationwide, … Read more U.S. Oil Production Slumps by Record 40% as Permian Freezes

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The Mexican government called the top U.S. representative in Mexico on Wednesday to press for natural gas supplies after the Texas governor ordered fuel to remain in the state during a freeze that has overwhelmed its energy grid. Already, earlier this week, natural gas supplies to Mexico from Texas were interrupted … Read more Mexico presses U.S. to guarantee natural gas supplies after Texas export ban

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Several U.S. Representatives on Wednesday raised pressure on the State Department to share plans on potential sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline Russia is racing to finish to take fuel to Europe. “If completed, Nord Stream 2 would enable the Putin regime to further weaponize Russia’s energy resources to … Read more U.S. lawmakers ask Blinken for briefing on Nord Stream 2 natgas pipeline

Feb 16, 2021 (Bloomberg) With the right gear, wind turbines can keep on generating through the harshest winter weather. That’s the experience by researchers at an Arctic test site in Sweden, and their knowledge would have come handy thousands of miles away as ice and snow storms in Texas downed generators and triggered widespread blackouts. As much as half … Read more Sweden Shows Texas How to Keep Turbines Going in Icy Weather