Accelerating energy market analytics through collaboration, networking and alliances
…
continue reading
In a Clubhouse room the other night, angel investor and venture capitalist David Rose suggested that there are three types of entrepreneurs. Type 1: circumstantial entrepreneurs trying to survive and get themselves out of poverty Type 2: natural-born entrepreneurs Type 3: self-made entrepreneurs David goes on to mention that he only invests in Type 2s. He later revealed that Type 2s are hypomanic. A survey of college students revealed that six percent scored high on hypomanic traits. This is ...
…
continue reading
1
Change is Going to Come - U.S. Oil, Gas and NGL Markets Face Challenges and Opportunities
14:37
14:37
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
14:37
Back in the early 2010s, U.S. crude oil and NGL exports were minimal and LNG exports were non-existent, but there were omens that the U.S. would soon regain its status as an energy production juggernaut. Now the U.S. is a critically important global supplier of oil, gas and NGLs, with exports crucial to managing supply and demand as infrastructure …
…
continue reading
1
Big Wave - A Tsunami of New LNG Export Capacity Is Coming, With Broad Implications For Gas Markets
12:02
12:02
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:02
The U.S. Gulf Coast is poised to experience another big wave of new LNG export capacity, and this time it will be joined by new capacity coming online in both Mexico and Canada. The more than 13 Bcf/d of incremental natural gas demand from North American LNG projects starting up over the next five years will have significant effects on U.S. and Can…
…
continue reading
1
Getting Closer, Encore Edition - A Drill Down Report on Four Projects Vying to be Next Deepwater Export Terminal
10:41
10:41
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
10:41
The four deepwater crude oil export projects under development along the U.S. Gulf Coast are getting closer to receiving their regulatory go-aheads after years of planning and millions of dollars spent. In fact, Enterprise’s Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) received its license in April. These projects have sparked commercial and wider market interest …
…
continue reading
1
Stop Draggin' My Heart Around - On-Purpose Propylene Doesn't Come Easy
13:34
13:34
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
13:34
Fast-rising NGL supplies during the early years of the Shale Era fueled excitement about the potential for new petrochemical plants in the U.S., especially ethane-only crackers to make ethylene and other byproducts, along with propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plants to make propylene. While 11 new ethane-fed crackers have come online in the U.S. since…
…
continue reading
1
Stop! In the Name of Love - Supreme Court Throws Out 'Chevron Deference,' Upends Regulatory Law
13:51
13:51
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
13:51
That the Supreme Court overturned the Chevron Deference, a key foundation of modern administrative law for 40 years, in its June 28 ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (Loper Bright) was no surprise, although it does not make it any less disruptive. The order follows a steady drumbeat of Supreme Court decisions issued during this term an…
…
continue reading
1
Basket Case - The Strange Relationship Between Mont Belvieu and Conway NGLs
16:47
16:47
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
16:47
Mont Belvieu, TX and Conway, KS, are the two most significant U.S. hubs for NGL trading, storage and fractionation, with the much bigger Mont Belvieu hub primarily serving Gulf Coast and export demand, while the smaller Conway hub is focused on Midwest/Great Plains demand, especially for propane. The pricing dynamics between the two hubs are a key …
…
continue reading
1
Canal Street Blues - Low Panama Canal Water Levels Mean Big Headaches for LNG Exporters
14:41
14:41
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
14:41
The Panama Canal expansion completed in June 2016 was expected to allow much larger LNG tankers to move product from Sabine Pass LNG and other Gulf Coast export terminals through the canal to Asian and Latin American customers. But water levels at Gatun Lake, which provides the fresh water needed to operate the canal’s locks, have been well below n…
…
continue reading
1
I Want to Pay You Back - E&Ps Sustain Sector-Leading Dividend Yields Despite Lower Cash Flows
18:12
18:12
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
18:12
After thoroughly alienating their investor base over more than two decades of boom-and-bust cycles, U.S. E&Ps won investors back in the early 2020s by radically transforming themselves from high-risk to high-yield vehicles. Fueled by surging crude oil and natural gas prices in 2022, producers generated massive free cash flows — and spectacular shar…
…
continue reading
1
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow - Light Louisiana Sweet Hasn't Lost Its Mojo, But Headwinds May Be Coming
11:28
11:28
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
11:28
The Light Louisiana Sweet (LLS) crude market has evolved in recent years, due largely to the reversal of the Capline pipeline as well as limited production growth from the offshore fields that contribute to the LLS market. Yet the LLS premium against other U.S. grades remains strong, a sign that refiners aren’t ready to give up on it just yet, give…
…
continue reading
1
Manic Monday - Energy Transfer's Acquisition of WTG Midstream No Longer Includes BANGL Stake
10:46
10:46
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
10:46
Energy Transfer’s plan to buy WTG Midstream, a West Texas-based and private equity-backed natural gas gatherer and processor, just got a bit less expensive — and not quite so comprehensive. Energy Transfer will still acquire WTG’s network of more than 6,000 miles of gas pipelines, eight processing plants and more, but WTG’s 20% stake in the joint-v…
…
continue reading
1
She Ran Calling Wildfire - Acquisitions Propel WildFire Energy to a Leading Position in the Eagle Ford
12:34
12:34
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:34
No doubt about it, most of the headline-grabbing oil and gas M&A activity lately has involved large, publicly owned producers gobbling up other good-sized E&Ps, lock, stock and barrel. But there are other ways to increase scale and improve operational efficiency, as evidenced by privately held WildFire Energy’s bolt-on acquisition frenzy in the rel…
…
continue reading
1
Adaptation - With Changes on the Horizon, Nederland/Beaumont Export Hub Increasing Focus On NGLs
12:46
12:46
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:46
The Nederland/Beaumont crude oil hub has been somewhat overshadowed recently by other Gulf Coast crude export hubs despite hosting America’s largest refinery, a handful of export terminals and pipeline links to the prolific Permian Basin. But while plans to build one or more deepwater crude export terminals could mean big changes for the Gulf Coast…
…
continue reading
1
The Waiting - As EPA Bottleneck Grows, CCS Approvals Pick Up Steam in States With Well Primacy
13:59
13:59
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
13:59
Passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022 was intended to unleash a wave of clean-energy initiatives, from hydrogen and renewable fuels to electric vehicles and large-scale carbon-capture projects, all part of the Biden administration’s plans to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and move the U.S. closer to a net-zero economy. …
…
continue reading
1
Never Been Any Reason, Encore Edition - Why Oil, Gas and NGL Infrastructure Investment is Soaring While Production Growth is Flat
15:00
15:00
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
15:00
There’s never been any reason to question the drivers for energy infrastructure development — until now. Historically, the drivers were almost always “supply-push.” The Shale Revolution brought on increasing production volumes that needed to be moved to market, and midstreamers — backed by producer commitments — responded with the infrastructure to…
…
continue reading
1
Getting Closer - A Drill Down Report on Four Projects Vying to be Next Deepwater Export Terminal
10:41
10:41
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
10:41
The four deepwater crude oil export projects under development along the U.S. Gulf Coast are getting closer to receiving their regulatory go-aheads after years of planning and millions of dollars spent. In fact, Enterprise’s Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) received its license in April. These projects have sparked commercial and wider market interest …
…
continue reading
1
Underground - An Update on 'Sweetening' High-H2S, High-CO2 Associated Gas in the Permian
12:31
12:31
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:31
Some of the most prolific, crude-oil-saturated rock in the Permian’s Delaware Basin and Central Platform comes with a nasty complication — namely, associated gas with very high levels of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2). But rather than walking away from all those potential barrels, one midstream company saw the treatment of high-H2S…
…
continue reading
1
Save It For Later - Catalyst Recycling Gains as Refiners Focus on Profitability, Environmental Performance
12:20
12:20
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:20
Refinery distillation units separate crude oil into light, medium and heavy fractions. After that, refiners start performing chemical reactions using catalysts — materials that accelerate chemical reactions — to change the oil’s natural molecules into the forms needed in modern fuels. In recent years, refiners have stepped up their efforts to recyc…
…
continue reading
1
Hot Fun in the Summertime - Texas, California Summertime Power Prices Moving in Opposite Directions
12:10
12:10
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:10
Texas and California are opposites in many ways, including their expectations for power prices in the summer ahead. Texas set single-day demand records several times last year and is anticipating more sizzling temperatures — and higher power prices — this year with demand expected to be near available supply. It’s the opposite for California, where…
…
continue reading
1
Shout (Let It All Out) - U.S. To Shut Northeast Gasoline Reserve After 10 Years, But Will Anyone Miss It?
12:02
12:02
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:02
The March appropriations bill passed by Congress and signed by President Biden to fund the federal government mandated the emptying of the federal gasoline reserve in fiscal year 2024, which concludes September 30, followed by its eventual closure. That means about 1 MMbbl — 42 MM gallons — of gasoline will find its way to the market in the next fe…
…
continue reading
1
Upside Down - Renewable Diesel Market Unsettled by Drop in Government Subsidies
13:46
13:46
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
13:46
The federal Renewable Identification Number (RIN) and California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) have long served as tools to force renewable fuels like ethanol into the U.S. fuel supply. They are environmental credits that subsidize production of renewable fuels that would not otherwise be economically justified. Nuances embedded in the design o…
…
continue reading
1
Deeper Bluewater - Phillips 66, Trafigura Continue Pursuit of a Deepwater Port Near Corpus Christi
10:47
10:47
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
10:47
Bluewater Texas, proposed by a 50/50 joint venture (JV) of Phillips 66 (P66) and commodity trading giant Trafigura, is in a unique position in the race to construct a deepwater crude oil export facility along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Of the four marketed deepwater proposals, Bluewater is the only project in the export-centric Corpus Christi market. It …
…
continue reading
1
Call Me By Your Name - Understanding the Lingo is Key to Mastering the Natural Gas Value Chain
19:21
19:21
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
19:21
To closely analyze the natural gas market is to be constantly bombarded with vast amounts of information — weather forecasts, pipeline flows, LNG feedgas, power demand and storage — that is frequently updated, impacting both spot and future prices. But before you can get into the deeper analysis, you’ve got to understand the natural gas value chain…
…
continue reading
1
Devil's in the Details - Relatively Stable Q1 2024 E&P Earnings Shift Analysis to Company Performance
16:33
16:33
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
16:33
A macro view of U.S. exploration and production (E&P) company performance over the last quarter century reveals repetitive boom-and-bust cycles driven by periodic extremes in crude oil pricing, including price crashes in 2008, 2014 and 2020. That history contrasts with the remarkable stability in West Texas Intermediate (WTI) realizations since mid…
…
continue reading
1
We Could Be So Good Together - Push for Scale, Efficiency Drives More Consolidation in the Eagle Ford
12:02
12:02
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:02
Permian-focused M&A activity may grab all the headlines, but don’t forget about the Eagle Ford. Over the past couple of years, a steady stream of big-dollar deals have been announced in the South Texas shale play, most of them tied to efforts by growth-oriented E&Ps to increase their scale, improve their operational efficiency and expand their inve…
…
continue reading
1
Dream Baby - Extensive Connectivity Supports Wink's Emergence as a Major Permian Crude Hub
14:29
14:29
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
14:29
Situated in West Texas’s Winkler County, the tiny city of Wink (population just under 1,000) might seem easy to overlook but it holds a special place in music history as the childhood home of Roy Orbison — he formed his first band, the Wink Westerners, there in 1949. But beyond its rich musical legacy, Wink in recent years has emerged as a key hub …
…
continue reading
1
Stranger in Town - Nigeria Turning to U.S. Crudes to Feed Dangote Refinery
13:32
13:32
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
13:32
If you asked someone where U.S. crude oil shipments would go when the Obama administration ended the ban on most crude exports in December 2015, it’s not likely that Nigeria would have come to mind. Yet this year marked the second time since the restrictions ended that U.S. oil has been sent to the OPEC member, this time to feed its long-awaited Da…
…
continue reading
1
Everybody Dance Now - Assessing the ConocoPhillips/Marathon Oil Deal
12:02
12:02
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:02
Another day, another mega-deal between top-tier oil and gas producers — or so it seems. Now, it’s ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil’s turn, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more logical pairing among the ever-shrinking list of big E&Ps that hadn’t already found a partner during the ongoing frenzy to consolidate. In today’s RBN blog, we examine Con…
…
continue reading
1
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet - How Energy Transfer's WTG Midstream Buy Will Add to Its Permian Heft
11:16
11:16
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
11:16
Energy Transfer is yet again slaking its acquisition appetite by gobbling up another natural gas gatherer and processor to further expand its already formidable Permian footprint. The company announced May 28 that it has struck a $3.25 billion cash-and-stock deal to buy WTG Midstream, a West Texas-based and private equity-backed operator whose Perm…
…
continue reading
1
Never Let Me Down - Pembina Inks Ethane Supply Deal with Dow's Alberta Ethane Cracker Expansion
15:33
15:33
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
15:33
With an announcement in late 2023 by Dow Chemical that it would be undertaking an enormous expansion of its ethylene production site in Fort Saskatchewan, AB, it was immediately clear that Alberta’s ethane supplies would need to increase by a significant 110 Mb/d. As we’ll discuss in today’s RBN blog, a deal was signed in February between Dow and P…
…
continue reading
1
You Don't Know Me - There's A Lot More Happening in the Bakken Than You Might Think
12:27
12:27
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:27
On the surface, the Bakken story in the mid-2020s may seem as boring as dirt. The boom times of 2009-14 and 2017-19 are ancient history. Crude oil production has been rangebound near 1.2 MMb/d — well below its peak five years ago. And that output has been getting gassier over time, creating natural gas and NGL takeaway constraints that have put a l…
…
continue reading
1
Piece by Piece - Phillips 66 Expands Permian Natgas/NGL Network With Pinnacle Midstream Deal
11:50
11:50
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
11:50
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were the large, wellhead-to-market natural gas and NGL networks that Phillips 66 and a handful of other midstream empires have assembled — many of them targeting the all-important Permian. Now, P66 has reached an agreement to acquire Pinnacle Midstream, whose associated gas gathering system and gas processing …
…
continue reading
1
Houston (Means I'm One Day Closer to You) - Deepwater Port Could Bolster Houston’s Status as Oil Hub
12:12
12:12
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:12
The Houston crude oil hub has become busier over the last few months, and if one or more proposals to build a deepwater export terminal nearby capable of fully loading a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) cross the finish line, it could become the hub supplying them. That could push Permian Basin oil flows on Houston-bound pipelines higher at the expe…
…
continue reading
1
Never Been Any Reason - Why Oil, Gas and NGL Infrastructure Investment is Soaring While Production Growth is Flat
15:00
15:00
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
15:00
There’s never been any reason to question the drivers for energy infrastructure development — until now. Historically, the drivers were almost always “supply-push.” The Shale Revolution brought on increasing production volumes that needed to be moved to market, and midstreamers — backed by producer commitments — responded with the infrastructure to…
…
continue reading
1
Different 'Round Here - Energy Transfer Takes Unconventional Approach With Blue Marlin Project
10:57
10:57
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
10:57
Energy Transfer, which is championing its Blue Marlin Offshore Platform (BMOP), may have been the last developer to pursue its critical deepwater export license, but that doesn’t mean it’s out of the hunt. Of the four offshore crude oil export projects, BMOP stands out as the sole brownfield initiative, which should hold down costs and expedite its…
…
continue reading
1
Up Around the Bend - Permian Gas Processing Plans Hint at Impending Rebound in Production
10:37
10:37
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
10:37
Permian production may have plateaued over the past few months — the shale play’s crude oil output has bounced between 6 MMb/d and 6.3 MMb/d for almost a year now, and natural gas production has hovered around 18 Bcf/d for about as long. But producer-backed plans to continue adding gas processing capacity in the Permian’s Delaware and Midland basin…
…
continue reading
1
Like A Rock - E&P Balance Sheets Remain Strong Despite Challenging Economic Conditions
13:36
13:36
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
13:36
The transition of U.S. E&Ps to capital discipline has led to historic shareholder returns and won back legions of investors who had virtually abandoned the industry until a few years ago. But while it might be tempting to conclude producers must finally have their financial houses in good order, a lot of us have witnessed a few boom-and-bust cycles…
…
continue reading
1
Only the Strong Survive - U.S. Clean Ammonia Projects Inch Forward, But Some May Falter
19:29
19:29
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
19:29
Rising global interest in clean ammonia — plus the potential for earning generous federal tax credits — spurred a host of project announcements over the past couple of years, with the first new production capacity slated to start up as soon as 2025. But reality is setting in regarding the pace of clean-ammonia demand growth and the financial, regul…
…
continue reading
1
Storm Front - As Data Centers Proliferate, Utilities Turn to Gas-Fired Power to Meet Demand
13:54
13:54
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
13:54
The growing number of energy-intensive data centers coming online across the U.S. is spurring utilities to ramp up their plans for adding new sources of power generation — including a slew of gas-fired plants — and also complicating their efforts to rely more on renewable resources and decarbonize the power grid. The push to quickly develop new ene…
…
continue reading
1
All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down - Why Permian Production Growth Is Slowing
13:26
13:26
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
13:26
For the past decade, producers in the Permian Basin have been the driving force in domestic production growth, but lately there has been a hard-to-miss slowdown in incremental production rates for crude, gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). While Permian producers are primarily motivated by crude oil economics, those volumes also come with a lot of …
…
continue reading
1
Strange Bedfellows - New Pipe Will Upend Permian NGL Flows to Non-Belvieu Markets - Again
16:33
16:33
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
16:33
For years, the South Texas NGL market was a world of its own — a self-contained liquids ecosystem centered around the refineries and petrochemical plants in the Corpus Christi area. But that all changed about six years ago when EPIC Midstream built a new NGL pipeline from the Permian into Corpus and a new fractionator to process those liquids. Corp…
…
continue reading
1
Upside Down - Feedstock Choices, Subsidies Can Significantly Swing Renewable Diesel Margins
11:19
11:19
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
11:19
How can a business survive and thrive while spending $5.30 to make a product that sells for $1.90? That’s what’s happening in the booming renewable diesel (RD) market, where government subsidies allow RD to compete directly with petroleum diesel even though RD is inherently more costly to produce. But as new plants keep coming on stream, RD profit …
…
continue reading
1
Corpus Christi Bay - How Deepwater Crude Export Projects May Impact Corpus Pipelines, Terminals
13:18
13:18
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
13:18
The Corpus Christi crude oil market is pulling as much volume as it can from the Permian Basin via pipelines that are running nearly at capacity. That explains why two midstream companies are responding with plans to boost the capacities of their respective pipelines from the Permian to refineries and export terminals in the Corpus area. But the si…
…
continue reading
1
Look What You Made Me Do - Cut in Mexican Crude Exports Has U.S. Refiners Looking for Alternatives
13:57
13:57
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
13:57
Mexico’s efforts to start up the newest addition to its refining system — the Olmeca refinery — are causing headaches for global buyers of its crudes. Few are convinced that the plant near the country’s key Dos Bocas oil port is ready for service. Yet its operator, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), surprised many with cuts to its crude exports in April,…
…
continue reading
1
Slow Down - Combination of Factors Pull U.S. Crude Oil Exports Back From Record Highs
12:10
12:10
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:10
The U.S. has become an oil-exporting powerhouse in recent years, propelled by booming shale production, notably from the Permian Basin. U.S. crude oil now flows more freely than ever to help meet global demand, including to Europe, which increasingly turned to the U.S. following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two-plus years ago, but exports have slow…
…
continue reading
1
Replace Me - E&Ps' 2023 Organic Reserve Replacement Metrics Weaken, Spurring M&A Consolidation
16:30
16:30
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
16:30
U.S. E&Ps’ dramatic strategic shift from prioritizing growth to focusing on cash flow generation and shareholder returns has resulted in more earnings-call talk about dividends and share buybacks and less discussion about efforts to replenish and build their proven oil and gas reserves — a critically important factor in establishing company value. …
…
continue reading
1
Almost There - Nigeria's Dangote Refinery Likely Facing A Long, Slow Ramp-up
13:04
13:04
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
13:04
The new 650-Mb/d Dangote refinery in Nigeria instantly became Africa’s largest and the world’s seventh-largest by capacity when it finally began processing crude into diesel and aviation fuels in January after years of delays and cost overruns. Long touted as Nigeria’s ticket to ending refined fuels imports by supplying its own markets — with plent…
…
continue reading
1
Thinking Out Loud - What Might Be the Timing and Scope of the Ramp Up of Gas into LNG Canada?
17:49
17:49
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
17:49
LNG Canada, under construction for nearly six years on Canada’s West Coast, is rapidly approaching the time when first gas will be entering the plant for testing and calibration of equipment, marking an important transformation for the Western Canadian natural gas market. This will kick off what will likely be about a yearlong testing process befor…
…
continue reading
1
When Worlds Collide - U.S. Gulf Coast Refiners Face Challenges to Accessing Heavier Crude Oil
12:25
12:25
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:25
The prospect of decreased crude oil supplies from Mexico, the top international supplier to the U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC), is creating uncertainty among heavy crude-focused refineries. Mexico’s state-owned energy company, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), instructed its trading unit to cancel up to 436 Mb/d of crude exports for April to supposedly focus on…
…
continue reading
1
Glimpse of the Future - Upcoming W2W Maintenance Will Tighten Permian Oil Takeaway, Wreak Havoc on Prices
8:47
8:47
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
8:47
The largest crude oil pipeline exiting the Permian Basin by volume — Wink to Webster (W2W) — is planned to be offline for maintenance for the first 10 days of June. This is inclusive of Enterprise’s Midland-to-ECHO III (ME III), which reflects the company’s 29% undivided joint interest in W2W. Although the outage has not been publicly confirmed, it…
…
continue reading