Energy Tomorrow Blog
End the Federal Leasing Pause – Unleash American Energy
federal leases president us energy security imports
Lem Smith
Posted June 21, 2021
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction blocking President Biden’s policy pausing new natural gas and oil leases on federal lands and waters. The decision identified major limits on the federal government’s ability to restrict energy access and concluded that the Department of the Interior must resume lease sales, both onshore and offshore.
On behalf of U.S. natural gas and oil operators, API urges the administration to move quickly to comply with the court order and end the federal leasing pause.
Oil Demand Back, But Supply Remains Key Question
monthly-stats-report supply oil demand
Dean Foreman
Posted June 17, 2021
The expectations and real prospects for global and U.S. economic recovery – and energy markets along with them – have accelerated and appear bright. That’s the overarching point in API’s quarterly Industry Outlook for Q2 2021 and Monthly Statistical Report (MSR), echoing what we have said since the third quarter of last year (see here, here and here).
Yet, while API’s primary data for May 2021 show the recoveries in U.S. economic growth and petroleum demand have continued to go hand-in-hand, potential record global oil demand growth this year and the next, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), could be overshadowed by the lowest industry-wide real capital expenditures on record for any quarter, by API estimates.
Demand up and capital investment down by record amounts is a concerning combination.
American Energy and the Biden-Putin Summit
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Frank Macchiarola
Posted June 16, 2021
Here are three things to consider as President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have their first in-person meeting today in Geneva, Switzerland: Energy is at the heart of Russia's influence and power; new U.S. policies put American energy leadership at risk; and U.S. oil and natural gas should be strengthened, not weakened. ...
There is no question the U.S. relationship with Russia is complicated and will be difficult for years to come. The last thing the U.S. needs is to try to deal with Russia while it is at the same time actively weakening its own energy position. It is an unforced error, an opening that cannot be handed over to formidable adversaries such as Mr. Putin.
Actions to Reduce Emissions Continue to be Led by Natural Gas
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Mark Green
Posted June 14, 2021
Among U.S. efforts to address the risks of climate change, the dramatic shift to natural gas to fuel electricity generation stands out over everything else.
That includes renewables, electric vehicles and the seemingly endless target-setting by various bodies. In terms of measurable progress, none of those has reduced greenhouse gas emissions in this country as much as increased use of natural gas for power generation.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that over the past 15 years, the shift in power generation fuel to natural gas from coal is largely responsible for 2019 sector carbon dioxide emissions that were 32% lower than those of 2005.
New Well Decommissioning Standard Strengthens Effort to Reduce Emissions
api standards program emission reductions climate
John D. Siciliano
Posted June 11, 2021
Industry support for the administration’s goal of a lower-carbon future is more than just talk. API’s new Climate Action Framework spells out the specific action the industry is taking to address the risks of climate change while supplying the energy Americans rely on every day. This week, API announced its publication of a new standard, API Recommended Practice (RP) 65-3, on properly decommissioning and sealing wells as one of those actions to combat climate change.
Certainly, the administration has identified decommissioning old natural gas and oil wells as one of its priorities for reducing carbon emissions in its push for an infrastructure package. RP 65-3 provides technical guidance for doing the job correctly.
Nation's Need for Secure, Accessible Energy at Stake in Policy Debate
us energy security domestic production pipelines policy
Dean Foreman
Posted June 10, 2021
Throughout the 2021 economic recovery, API’s data have demonstrated the intertwined relationship between the nation’s recovering economy and affordable, reliable energy. Leading economic indicators have continued to rise, and along with them so has oil demand – even as domestic oil drilling and supply have fallen.
According to the current Bloomberg consensus of economic forecasters, U.S. real GDP growth could average 6.6% in 2021 compared with 2020 -- its strongest expansion since 1984, when the real price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was just over $70 per barrel. Coincidentally, recent oil prices have been at similar levels, and the key question now is whether we have the energy supply to support such a torrid pace of growth.
In that context, actions by the Biden administration that negatively impact or could impact domestic oil and natural gas production appear detached from the nation’s critical need for secure, accessible energy.
Mr. Putin’s Energy Bet
natural gas fracking russia infrastructure us energy security
Mark Green
Posted June 9, 2021
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s negative comments last week about fracking – “truly a catastrophic type of production” – and U.S. natural gas are hardly surprising.
Putin has disparaged U.S. hydraulic fracturing before, and we get it: Few heads of state are as threatened by U.S. global energy leadership, built by the fracking/horizontal drilling revolution. Putin’s newest remarks come as Russia nears completion of a new natural gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, to Germany that will vie with exported U.S. natural gas. It’s all in the marketing, right?
More seriously, the Russian leader’s comments are one among many reminders that energy markets are global, that there’s rigorous competition between energy-producing nations to meet global demand and that domestic natural gas and oil production and the infrastructure to transport it are critically important to our economy, security and way of life.
The Energy Infrastructure Opportunity
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Mark Green
Posted June 1, 2021
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm continues voicing support for our nation’s pipeline network, which is critically important to Americans’ everyday lives, the economy, national security and environmental progress.
Granholm last month said pipelines are “the best way to go” to deliver fuels after a cyberattack disrupted service on the Colonial fuels pipeline. Last week she said her department wants to build more pipes, particularly to transport low-carbon fuels.Summer Driving Season – Questions and Answers
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Mark Green
Posted May 27, 2021
Co-Fueling Power Plants With Natural Gas Can Rapidly Cut GHG Emissions
natural gas cogeneration coal emission reductions electricity
Mark Green
Posted May 25, 2021
New, independent analysis says that the U.S. can rapidly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by using natural gas as a co-fuel at coal power plants – pointing to another reason domestic natural gas is key to a cleaner future.
The analysis by Resources for the Future (RFF) outlines how EPA could foster natural gas cofiring at coal plants to reduce emissions. Authors Maya Domeshek and Dallas Burtraw write that a modest cofiring standard at coal plants can reduce carbon emissions significantly and rapidly and that adding a cofiring standard to other national electricity policies also accelerates emissions reductions.