1Q20 Saw Biggest Quarterly Drop in Oil Demand in History
IHS Markit employs more than 5,000 analysts, data scientists, financial experts and industry specialists. Their global information expertise spans numerous industries, including finance, energy, and transportation. Yesterday IHS Markit issued a bulletin to say its analysts expect when the tabulating is all done that world oil demand, due to fear over the COVID-19 coronavirus, fell by some 3.8 million barrels per day over the same quarter from 2019. That would be a new all-time, world record quarterly drop in oil demand. The previous record happened during the worldwide recession of 2009 when demand dropped 3.6 million bpd. Should we be worried that we are about to experience another worldwide recession?
Read More “1Q20 Saw Biggest Quarterly Drop in Oil Demand in History”
The American Petroleum Institute recently released the results of a study they commissioned that outlines the “dire consequences” of a ban on hydraulic fracturing–the kind of ban being pushed by Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Joe Biden. Here’s how dire it gets: If a frack ban is slapped into place by a Democrat President, by 2022 it will result in 7.5 million lost jobs, and by 2030 a total loss out of the economy of $7.5 TRILLION! You might as well say we will enter a new economic depression, the likes of which we haven’t experienced since the 1930s.
A great many things affect the price of oil and natural gas–weather, economic conditions, supply/demand balance, sunspots. Can a human virus affect the O&G industry too? It seems the answer to that is, YES. We’ve resisted bringing you blow-by-blow the daily coronavirus tripe peddled by mainstream media in their attempt to harm the American “Trump” economy. But we can’t ignore how media-generated panic is affecting world markets–and (now) the oil and gas industry, including the industry here in the U.S.
It doesn’t happen often, so when it does, it’s worth noting. Both business (Chamber of Commerce) groups from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, along with labor union groups from both cities, have reached across the aisle to work together in an effort to try and convince Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf to sign House Bill (HB) 1100–a bill that would attract new petrochemical investment (and jobs) to the state. Inexplicably Wolf has pledged to veto the bill when it hits his desk (see 
You’ve read the news that Democrats like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with most (if not all) of the Democrat presidential candidates, support a full-on ban of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas (see 
Pennsylvania House Bill (HB) 1100, aimed at attracting new petrochemical investment to the state, was previously passed by the PA House, and last week, by the Senate (see 
We’ve reported on the divestment meme for years–the effort by anti-fossil fuel radicals to force banks and investment firms to withdraw funding and refuse to invest in (or lend money to) any company that produces “fossil fuels.” Most recently Jim Cramer from CNBC’s “Mad Money” said, “I’m done with fossil fuels. They’re done. They’re just done.” (see 
Pennsylvania House Bill (HB) 1100, aimed at attracting NEW petrochemical investment to the state, is due to be voted on (and passed) by the PA Senate this week. Gov. Tom Wolf (liberal Democrat) has vowed to veto the bill–denying the state billions of economic stimulus it could receive. Why the veto? Your guess is as good as ours. Likely because it will encourage more use of PA’s abundant natural gas supplies, and that doesn’t sit well with radicalized enviro types.
Pennsylvania’s Pipeline Investment Program (or PIPE) grants cover part of the cost for building new natural gas pipelines to connect homes and businesses in rural parts of the state to homegrown Marcellus Shale gas supplies. We’ve written about many of the more-than-a-dozen (so far) PIPE grant projects in the past (
Seems like all we see in mainstream media are articles bashing Energy Transfer’s Mariner East (ME) NGL pipeline projects. Most of the negative press comes from southeastern PA where the pipeline has hit snags in building through Philadelphia suburbs. Imagine our surprise in seeing a guest editorial in a southwestern PA newspaper supporting the ME project, a column that details just how this massive project has benefitted the Keystone State in numerous ways–all across the state.
BlackRock Inc. is the world’s number #1 asset manager–with nearly $7 trillion in investments. The company invests in a LOT of companies that produce or are dependent on the production of fossil fuels. Important company to our industry. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, in a pair of letters (one to CEOs and one to investors) has just signaled BlackRock will begin to move away from fossil fuel investments. But (and this is a big but), it won’t happen overnight.
The West Virginia legislature kicked off its 2020 60-day session yesterday with a bang–at least for the shale energy industry. House Speaker Roger Hanshaw introduced House Bill 4001, aimed at reassuring China it’s OK to begin investing some of that $84 billion they promised to invest in WV’s shale and downstream sector. The bill also would help fund the Appalachian NGL Storage and Trading Hub project and other big petrochemical projects (maybe even a cracker plant!).
We previously told you New York Gov. Andrew “man-child” Cuomo is getting desperate in his bid to deflect blame from himself for his own actions in blocking new natural gas supplies to the New York City/Long Island area. He’s so desperate he threatened utility company National Grid with kicking them out of the state and giving their franchise to another company (see 
JobsOhio, a private, nonprofit corporation that works works on behalf of the state to drive job creation and new capital investment in Ohio by attracting business, contracts out economic research to Cleveland State University (CSU)–to keep tabs on the Utica Shale industry. Last year CSU researchers found that from 2011-2017 the Utica Shale had attracted an amazing $70 billion in new private sector energy investments (see