Trump selects Burgum as Interior Secretary
Donald Trump, the president-elect, announced on Thursday that North Dakota governor Doug Burgum will be his choice for Interior Secretary. Burgum is a former wealthy software executive. Trump, dressed in a tuxedo, said that the Department of Interior would be headed by him. He added that an announcement would be made on Friday. Burgum has presented himself as a conservative businessman who is traditional. He was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president before quitting. Now he is a Trump loyalist, attending fundraisers and promoting Trump on TV.
ND Governor Burgum on Trump's Energy Shortlist
President-elect Donald Trump is considering North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to be his new "energy tsar", the Financial Times reported on Friday.Burgum is Trump's preferred candidate for the role, the newspaper reported citing people familiar with the discussions, adding that former energy secretary Dan Brouillette is also a contender.The new energy tsar role and its powers are not yet finalized, the FT reported.
Who would be the best person to run Trump's energy policy?
Donald Trump, the president-elect of the United States, has pledged to overhaul U.S. Energy Policy. He aims to maximize oil and gas production in this country which is already at record levels by rolling back regulations and accelerating permits. Who will he select to lead the departments and agencies that are critical to completing this task? These are some names that have been considered. Two sources with knowledge of the matter say that Trump's second Energy secretary Dan Brouillette, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, are both candidates to lead the U.S. Department of Energy during the next administration.
US energy deals fall to $12 billion in Q3 after a year-long frenzy
Enverus, a leading analytics firm, said that U.S. oil deals slowed dramatically in the last quarter as a result of fewer firms being offered and a consolidation wave lasting ten months. Andrew Dittmar, principal analyst at Enverus Intelligence research, reported that the quarter ending Sept. 30 saw the lowest number of deals in six quarters. After 2023, when $192 billion was spent on deals in West Texas and New Mexico's Permian Basin, the biggest shale formation in the U.S. He added that these mega deals are causing acquirers to review their portfolios in order to eliminate unwanted assets. He said that some of the largest buyers are now sellers, as they trim their holdings.
Exxon is looking for buyers of Bakken Shale assets in North Dakota
Exxon Mobil Corp, a major U.S. oil company, plans to sell some of its assets within North Dakota's Bakken Shale Formation. The company announced this on Tuesday. Oil producers are re-evaluating their portfolios after a wave megamergers occurred in the U.S. Shale Patches. They want to determine which assets will remain central to their strategy, and which ones they should divest. In response to questions, a spokesperson for the company said: "ExxonMobil explores market interest for selected assets in North Dakota's Bakken Shale Play. This includes approximately 137 wells that are operated and 676 wells that are non-operated or royalty wells spread across 49,000 acres".
Maguire: Slow rollout of charge points could stall US EV sales momentum
The United States has seen a 140% increase in electric vehicle sales since 2023. However, further growth could be hindered if public charging stations are not rolled out more evenly and at a slower pace. According to the Alternative Fuels Data Center, U.S. electric vehicle registrations will reach just over 3.5 millions by September 2024. This is up from 1.4m registrations in 2023 and represents the steepest growth rate ever in EV adoption in the country. AFDC data show that the number of public EV chargers has increased by just 22% in the same time period to 176 032 units.
Maguire: Slow rollout of charge points could stall US EV sales momentum
The United States has seen a 140% increase in electric vehicle sales since 2023. However, further growth could be hindered if public charging stations are not rolled out more evenly and at a slower pace. According to the Alternative Fuels Data Center, U.S. electric vehicle registrations will reach just over 3.5 millions by September 2024. This is up from 1.4m registrations in 2023 and represents the steepest growth rate ever in EV adoption in the country. AFDC data show that the number of public EV chargers has increased by just 22% in the same time period to 176 032 units.
MARA, a cryptominer, taps the power generated by U.S. Shale Patch in a new pilot program
MARA Holdings Inc. has announced that it is now producing electricity in the U.S. Shale Patch as part of a program pilot to power 25 megawatts for its mining operations using excess natural gas. The company said that the move was made in response to the intensifying competition between Big Tech AI data centers for electricity, which has caused the crypto industry to change its business strategy and either market AI or find a way around the power battle. Fred Thiel, Chief Executive Officer of MARA, said: "The AI guys will pay any price to meet their energy demand.
Rystad reports that US oil and gas M&A will reach a record in 2023, with the focus shifting away from Permian.
Analysts at Rystad, a consultancy, said that the appetite of U.S. producers for deals is close to last year's level, as a rise in interest in smaller oilfields offsets sluggish activity in the Permian Basin, which produces most oil. According to Rystad's analysis of the U.S. market through August, nearly $100 billion was spent on mergers and purchases (M&As) by U.S. producers. Another $46 billion worth of assets is currently up for sale. Rystad says that a record-breaking $155 billion in production and exploration deals were signed by 2023. The industry saw a flurry of consolidation last year…
U.S. Natgas Demand, Price Nosedive Continues
U.S. natural gas futures held near a 21-month low on Tuesday, keeping the contract on track for its second-biggest monthly drop in history, as a decline in output from this week's extreme cold offset forecasts for warmer weather and less heating demand next week than previously expected.Gas prices have been depressed for weeks due to a growing belief that the country has more than enough gas in storage for the rest of the winter and expectations that Freeport LNG's liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Texas is still weeks away from pulling…
Oil Drillers, Bitcoin Miners Bond over Natural Gas
On U.S. oil patches stretching along the Rockies and Great Plains, trailers hitched to trucks back up toward well pads to capture natural gas and convert it on the spot into electricity.The trailers - carrying pipes, generators and computers - are called “mining rigs.” But their owners aren’t there to drill for oil. They are using stray natural gas unwanted by oil companies to power their search for another treasure: cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.Cryptocurrencies are virtual coins exchanged without middlemen, such as central banks, to purchase goods and services. Extracting the currency from cyberspace, however, requires vast amounts of often expensive electricity.
'This could be the one that gets me,' Says Oilfield Service Veteran
Tim Harris was preparing to relocate for an assignment with energy services firm Halliburton Co for the fifth time in 15 years when his career came to a halt.A third-generation employee, Harris rose through the ranks at the top shale-oil services provider to oversee oilfield crews. He sailed through several busts, with the exception of a 9-month break in 2016.But April's historic price crash, which has left U.S. crude prices down 50% since January, put him and tens of thousands of oil service veterans out of work. The cuts have gone deep into the ranks of managers…
When Oil Became Waste
A week of turmoil for crude, and more pain to comeThe magnitude of how damaged the energy industry is came into full view on April 20 when the benchmark price of U.S. oil futures, which had never dropped below $10 a barrel in its nearly 40-year history, plunged to a previously unthinkable minus $38 a barrel.In just a few months, the coronavirus pandemic has destroyed so much fuel demand as billions of people curtail travel that it has done what financial crashes, recessions and wars had failed to ever do - leave the United States with so much oil there was nowhere to put it.While the unusual circumstance of negative oil prices may not be repeated…
Shale Pioneer Hess Says Key U.S. Fields Starting to Plateau
Shale pioneer John Hess said Tuesday that key U.S. shale fields are starting to plateau, calling shale "important but not the next Saudi Arabia."Production in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas is starting to plateau, while the Bakken field in North Dakota where Hess is a major producer will hit its peak production levels within the next two years, said Hess, who spoke Tuesday in Houston at the Argus Americas Crude Summit.The Permian Basin, the top U.S. shale field in Texas and New Mexico, will plateau in mid-decade and is already facing well interference issues…
Keystone Pipeline Still Closed, ND Leak Source Unclear
The precise source of a leak on TC Energy Corp's Keystone oil pipeline in North Dakota has not yet been identified, a spokesman for the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said on Monday.There is no estimated timeline for restart of the pipeline and the company is continuing excavation work to isolate the affected part of the pipeline, the spokesman said by phone.Clean-up crews in Walsh County, North Dakota, have been working to plug the Keystone pipeline after a more-than 9,000-barrel oil leak last week.Work continues to progress at the site with about 200 personnel focused on clean-up and remediation activities…
Drilling Ban Proposals Divide Democrats
In the southeast corner of New Mexico, new houses, hotels and jobs are sprouting like flowers in the desert. Trucks hauling equipment and laborers jam once-barren highways on the way to thousands of oil rigs.The Democrats who control the state's government have lofty plans for the billions of dollars in projected tax revenues from the drilling industry in the Permian Basin, the world’s biggest oil field, starting with an overhaul of New Mexico's ailing public education system. The biggest threat to those plans, however, may be the presidential candidates from their own party.The top 10 Democratic contenders have called for ending new drilling leases on federal lands.
TC Energy: North Dakota Spill Shutters Keystone pipeline
Oct 30 (Reuters) - TC Energy Corp said on Wednesday it is shutting its Keystone crude pipeline after a late Tuesday oil spill in North Dakota.The company said it detected a drop in pressure on Tuesday night on its 590,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Keystone oil pipeline system from Canada, it said in a statement, without specifying the exact impact on operations."TC Energy immediately began the process to shut down the pipeline, activated its emergency response procedures and dispatched ground technicians to assess the situation," the company said.It was not clear how much crude oil was spilled, according to Brent Nelson, Walsh County Emergency Manager.
ProPetro Cuts Almost 150 Workers
ProPetro Holding Corp this month cut about 150 workers, people familiar with the matter said on Monday, the latest sign of growing trouble in the oilfield services sector as U.S. shale producers reduce drilling.The job cuts reflect slowing shale activity due to weak prices for oil and gas, and producers exhausting their spending budgets for the year, one of the people said.Midland, Texas-based ProPetro said last week it would cut the number of hydraulic fracturing fleets operated this quarter by as much as 28%, far surpassing analysts' expectations.
U.S. Refiner Phillips 66 Enters Offshore Oil Export Race
U.S. oil refiner Phillips 66 is proposing a deepwater crude export terminal off the U.S. Gulf Coast, challenging at least eight other projects aiming to send U.S. shale oil to world markets, according to a memo and a source who asked not to be named.The project, called Bluewater Texas Terminal LLC, signals another major expansion of its logistics operations. The fourth largest U.S. refiner last week formed joint ventures to build pipelines linking shale fields in West Texas and North Dakota to the Cushing, Oklahoma, oil hub and the U.S. Gulf Coast.(Reuters, Reporting by Collin Eaton in Houston Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
Natural Gas Flaring Hits Record High
As spot prices in the region have remained near or below zero, natural gas flaring and venting in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico reached a new all-time high in the first quarter of 2019, averaging as much as 661 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd).According to research conducted by Rystad Energy, this widespread waste of a valuable commodity is the result of persistent infrastructure challenges, a lack of sufficient takeaway capacity and an unexpected outage on a key pipeline in the area.“We anticipate that basin-wide flaring will stay above 650 MMcfd before the Gulf Coast Express pipeline comes online in the second half of 2019…
