Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Exporting | Exxon Mobil | Industrywide Issues | Regulation
Exxon Says Granholm is Crazy for Demanding Less Oil/Diesel Exports
In August, Jennifer Granholm, hands down the most incompetent Secretary of Energy ever to hold the office, sent a letter to seven major refinery companies threatening them that if they don’t scale back exports of gasoline, diesel, and other liquid petroleum products, Granholm will have old dementia Joe whip up an executive order slapping a ban on such exports (see Biden DOE Threatens Refineries: Export Less Gas & Diesel, or Else). She made ’em an offer they can’t refuse. Yet at least one of them, Exxon Mobil, has refused it–sending a letter back to Granholm telling her (our words, their sentiment) that she’s crazy.
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Chesapeake Energy is interested in new LNG export projects–but not just LNG exported along the Gulf Coast near its new Haynesville assets. Chessy is jazzed about the possibilities of exporting LNG along the East Coast. The company has its eye on a project announced for the Philadelphia area, on the Delaware River (see 
Some 225 hypocritical nutters were whipped into a frenzy by Big Green and its so-called Beyond Plastics campaign during a Zoom call Tuesday night to “prepare” for the startup of Shell’s mighty ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA. It was really quite hilarious. There was talk of nurdle patrols, “sacrifice zones,” and celebrations over defeating Joe Manchin’s permitting reform bill. Why hypocritical? Because every single person on the call was using a computer or phone made out of (wait for it)….plastics. The clothes on their bodies and shoes on their feet are made largely from plastics. The cars and boats and paraphernalia they use to hunt down evidence of environmental plastics pollution from the cracker plant–all made from plastics. We wonder, Do they know how stupid they look?
There is a growing chorus of executives in the C-suite of large (and small) companies standing up to say so-called ESG (environment, social, governance) investing and proposed regulations is a bunch of hokum. A large majority (75%) of CFOs recently surveyed by left-leaning CNBC do NOT support the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed ESG regulations (see 
In something of a shocker, EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas producer in the country with its headquarters (and most major drilling operations) in Pennsylvania, is throwing its weight and support behind a coalition in West Virginia to attract one of the so-called regional hydrogen hubs (worth $1 billion or more in taxpayer investment) to the Mountain State, not to the Keystone State. EQT is one of the main players in forming a new coalition called the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2). Other big energy companies supporting ARCH2 include Williams, Dominion Energy, CNX Resources, and New Fortress Energy (among many more).
Here’s a challenge to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pipeline certificate we don’t fully comprehend. In 2018 the Panda Hummel Marcellus-fired power plant in Snyder County, PA roared to life (see 
Yesterday was the first day of the two-day Shale Insight conference being held in Erie, PA. By all accounts, it was a great day. Among the all-stars presenting were Toby Rice, CEO of EQT Corporation, Nick Dell’Osso, CEO of Chesapeake Energy, Greg Floerke, COO of MPLX, and Neil Chatterjee, former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman. The important role of LNG, pipelines, regulations, and more were discussed. One of the themes of the day: Natural gas is not a bridge fuel, but the destination.
After the shocking news that U.S. Senator Joe Manchin had sold out his state and the entire country by agreeing to support the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) bill, the details began to come out about just how bad this bill really is for the oil and gas industry. First and foremost, it slaps a new tax on oil and gas activities (see 
In all of the hullabaloo over hydrogen energy and the claims that hydrogen will replace natural gas and we will all live in renewable energy paradise–you might want to consider the findings from the leading energy analysts at Cornwall Insight, an energy market intelligence and analysis consultancy located across the pond in the United Kingdom. According to Cornwall analysts, “current and forecast costs all show it is simply uneconomical to use 100% hydrogen fuel for heating our homes.” Attempting to force people to convert to using hydrogen for heating instead of natural gas would “nearly double” the cost of heating a home.
Last month OPEC’s oil production fell short by 3.58 million barrels per day (bpd), which is 3.5% of global oil demand. The U.S. continues to sell oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, nearing the end of what can be sold off. And Russia’s oil exports could fall by some 2.4 million bpd after the EU embargo enters into effect in December. Add to that mix the observation by Saudi Aramco’s CEO, who 
We’ll say it right up front: We told you so. From the beginning, when U.S. Senator Joe Manchin announced he had sold out the country and would vote in favor of the horrible (misnamed) Inflation Reduction Act in return for a promise from Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to pass a “permitting reform” bill that guarantees to finish the stalled (95% complete) Mountain Valley Pipeline, we told you it was a bad deal (see 