“Biden has done nothing to halt oil leasing. In fact, the Biden administration has outpaced Trump in issuing drilling permits on public lands and water in its first year, according to federal data analyzed by the Center for Biological Diversity. His administration set a record for the largest offshore lease sale ever in the Gulf of Mexico last year, before a federal court blocked the lease sale for not considering climate impacts.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a temporary pause on new federal leases in the first few months of Biden\u2019s administration when he placed a moratorium on them while the administration reviewed how to better integrate climate costs in lease sales. Meanwhile, the president has done nothing to prevent the vast amount of gas production that occurs on private lands or halt existing oil leases on federal lands. The moratorium is now irrelevant, anyway, because a Louisiana federal judge ruled against it last June. (There\u2019s a second, temporary pause on new lease sales because another court invalidated the administration\u2019s use of a social cost of carbon.) The US also became the world\u2019s largest exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG) for the first time in 2021.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clark Williams-Derry, an energy analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, offered a reality check to those complaining that climate regulations have changed the fate of oil and gas. \u201cThe idea that the tiny marginal changes in US policy have anything to do with the big shifts we\u2019ve seen in prices is just preposterous,\u201d he told Vox. The marginal Biden measures \u2014 like reversing Trump-era environmental rollbacks \u2014 haven\u2019t made any kind of dent in the global oil market.”
…
“oil companies have made it clear in earnings calls with shareholders that they don\u2019t plan to produce much more, anyway. Remember that just two years ago the industry was in a complete free fall when demand crashed because of the pandemic. Banks sought government bailouts for oil investments that went under, and oil prices actually hit negative levels as producers grew desperate for oil to be taken off their hands.”
…
“\u201cIf the president wants us to grow, I just don\u2019t think the industry can grow anyway.\u2019\u2019 The largest US fracking companies reiterated in earnings calls in February that they intend to keep output roughly flat, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.
In other words, now that companies are making handsome profits, they\u2019re using that extra cash to reward investors and pay down debts, not invest in new production.”
…
“LNG exports don\u2019t solve Europe\u2019s or America\u2019s energy challenges. In some ways, they exacerbate them.
To export gas to Europe, a facility first needs to convert it to liquified natural gas, which cools and pressurizes the methane so it can be shipped across continents. On the other end of the ocean, another facility must turn it back into gas for shipment via pipeline.
That\u2019s a lot of infrastructure, which is impossible to scale up in enough time to make an impact on current prices. There\u2019s one new LNG terminal that opened this year in Louisiana. On the European side, the LNG terminals are already at capacity. This isn\u2019t going to help make up Russia\u2019s supply of 40 percent of Europe\u2019s gas either.
So it\u2019s not particularly helpful or possible to boost exports to Europe, but it also wouldn\u2019t help prices in the US.
Williams-Derry says that US exports of liquified natural gas have been the primary reason for climbing prices. In 2016, the US completed its first LNG export terminal in decades, which the gas industry hoped would alleviate a glut of natural gas that was keeping US gas prices too low for the industry\u2019s liking.
\u201cThe reason we\u2019re experiencing higher natural gas prices right now is we\u2019re exporting more,\u201d Williams-Derry said last week. \u201cIt\u2019s not that we\u2019re consuming more. It\u2019s not that we\u2019re producing less. It\u2019s that we\u2019re exporting.\u201d”
…
“LNG will always be the more expensive option because of its processing and transport. \u201cBy locking yourself into a gas-powered future, you\u2019re locking in higher costs for the long haul,\u201d Williams-Derry said. \u201cThere\u2019s not a good alternative to Russian gas if you want to have inexpensive gas in Europe.\u201d
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to double down on gas, essentially, you\u2019re doubling down on Russia,\u201d Williams-Derry added.”
…
“The biggest risk is if the US and Europe respond to this crisis by over-investing in the future of fossil fuels. Actions like building LNG terminals and approving new leasing don\u2019t help in the short term when people are struggling to pay high bills. It doesn\u2019t achieve energy independence. But it would lock the world onto a dangerous path for climate change.”
https:\/\/www.vox.com\/22959903\/russia-ukraine-oil-gas-price-europe-us-exports-climate-change <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Biden has done nothing to halt oil leasing. In fact, the Biden administration has outpaced Trump in issuing drilling permits on public lands and water in its first year, according to federal data analyzed by the Center for Biological Diversity. His administration set a record for the largest offshore lease sale ever in the Gulf of Mexico last year, before a federal court blocked the lease sale for not considering climate impacts.<\/p>\n
There was a temporary pause on new federal leases in the first few months of Biden\u2019s administration when he placed a moratorium on them while the administration reviewed how to better integrate climate costs in lease sales. Meanwhile, the president has done nothing to prevent the vast amount of gas production that occurs on private lands or halt existing oil leases on federal lands. The moratorium is now irrelevant, anyway, because a Louisiana federal judge ruled against it last June. (There\u2019s a second, temporary pause on new lease sales because another court invalidated the administration\u2019s use of a social cost of carbon.) The US also became the world\u2019s largest exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG) for the first time in 2021.<\/p>\n
Clark Williams-Derry, an energy analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, offered a reality check to those complaining that climate regulations have changed the fate of oil and gas. \u201cThe idea that the tiny marginal changes in US policy have anything to do with the big shifts we\u2019ve seen in prices is just preposterous,\u201d he told Vox. The marginal Biden measures \u2014 like reversing Trump-era environmental rollbacks \u2014 haven\u2019t made any kind of dent in the global oil market.”<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
“oil companies have made it clear in earnings calls with shareholders that they don\u2019t plan to produce much more, anyway. Remember that just two years ago the industry was in a complete free fall when demand crashed because of the pandemic. Banks sought government bailouts for oil investments that went under, and oil prices actually hit negative levels as producers grew desperate for oil to be taken off their hands.”<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
“\u201cIf the president wants us to grow, I just don\u2019t think the industry can grow anyway.\u2019\u2019 The largest US fracking companies reiterated in earnings calls in February that they intend to keep output roughly flat, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n
In other words, now that companies are making handsome profits, they\u2019re using that extra cash to reward investors and pay down debts, not invest in new production.” <\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
“LNG exports don\u2019t solve Europe\u2019s or America\u2019s energy challenges. In some ways, they exacerbate them.<\/p>\n
To export gas to Europe, a facility first needs to convert it to liquified natural gas, which cools and pressurizes the methane so it can be shipped across continents. On the other end of the ocean, another facility must turn it back into gas for shipment via pipeline.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lot of infrastructure, which is impossible to scale up in enough time to make an impact on current prices. There\u2019s one new LNG terminal that opened this year in Louisiana. On the European side, the LNG terminals are already at capacity. This isn\u2019t going to help make up Russia\u2019s supply of 40 percent of Europe\u2019s gas either.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s not particularly helpful or possible to boost exports to Europe, but it also wouldn\u2019t help prices in the US.<\/p>\n
Williams-Derry says that US exports of liquified natural gas have been the primary reason for climbing prices. In 2016, the US completed its first LNG export terminal in decades, which the gas industry hoped would alleviate a glut of natural gas that was keeping US gas prices too low for the industry\u2019s liking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason we\u2019re experiencing higher natural gas prices right now is we\u2019re exporting more,\u201d Williams-Derry said last week. \u201cIt\u2019s not that we\u2019re consuming more. It\u2019s not that we\u2019re producing less. It\u2019s that we\u2019re exporting.\u201d”<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
“LNG will always be the more expensive option because of its processing and transport. \u201cBy locking yourself into a gas-powered future, you\u2019re locking in higher costs for the long haul,\u201d Williams-Derry said. \u201cThere\u2019s not a good alternative to Russian gas if you want to have inexpensive gas in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to double down on gas, essentially, you\u2019re doubling down on Russia,\u201d Williams-Derry added.”<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
“The biggest risk is if the US and Europe respond to this crisis by over-investing in the future of fossil fuels. Actions like building LNG terminals and approving new leasing don\u2019t help in the short term when people are struggling to pay high bills. It doesn\u2019t achieve energy independence. But it would lock the world onto a dangerous path for climate change.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[217,165,103,1218,1341,167,780,1265,578,315,619],"class_list":["post-7470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-economics","tag-economy","tag-environment","tag-gas","tag-gas-prices","tag-government","tag-joe-biden","tag-oil-and-gas","tag-oil-price","tag-russia","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7470"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7471,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7470\/revisions\/7471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}