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Table of Contents

Power Up

By David Gaffen, Editor

Hello Power Up readers! The recent uptick in economic activity in China along with OPEC plans to keep production tight has resulted in an upward shift in crude prices, which instead of trending in the low $80s range are now in the mid $80s. Whether the summer demand season will continue to push oil higher is yet to be seen. However, what’s more notable is the ways in which prices haven’t soared, and much of that is because of the relentless drive for production in the United States, which is the subject of this edition of Power Up. So let’s get going…

Top energy headlines

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The Biden Oil Boom

Lots of oil means lots of places to store it. This is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas. Richard Carson/File Photo

Many don’t believe it – and the Biden administration hardly talks it up – but U.S. oil and gas production has repeatedly hit all-time records during Joe Biden’s tenure as president. It’s one of the factors that have kept a lid on fuel prices in recent months even as the OPEC+ oil-exporting cartel holds down its own output for the time being. It isn’t some mystery how this happened, but when Biden took office, many predicted that output would fall notably as the administration planned to get tougher on emissions and try to shift the economy to more renewable fuels.

In addition, the pandemic sapped demand and caused many to leave the oil industry – hobbling the big shale producers responsible for the boom in output over the last decade that shifted the fundamental supply landscape worldwide, frustrating OPEC for years. Renewables like solar and wind are in higher use now, but oil and gas output has kept rising, in part because Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused prices to spike to exorbitant levels for a period of time.

That’s not to say that the Biden White House has not taken some actions against the oil companies. It cancelled the long-in-the-works Keystone XL pipeline that never got beyond initial construction stages and paused new LNG export permits. It’s also trying to push the movement toward electric vehicles, though the public’s slowed embrace of EVs in part played some role in the White House pulling back on some of those ambitious plans. The White House also spearheaded 2022 legislation that added billions in climate investments and subsidies to try to boost battery storage production and more use of cleaner fuels.

Overall oil companies have made hay – and the largest players have responded by buying up those smaller shale names, with Exxon and Chevron both making major purchases in the last year-plus to lock down more lucrative shale territory.

Essential reading

ConocoPhillips on Friday asked a U.S. court to put off a decision on overlaps among its awards against Venezuela for past expropriations until proceeds from an auction of shares in a Citgo Petroleum parent are known.

Canada is not interested in subsidizing future liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, including electrification of projects currently in the works, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a television interview on Sunday.

Cuban state-run media said at the weekend that 90,000 metric tons of Russian oil had arrived in the cash- and fuel-short country to help alleviate power outages and gasoline shortages.

The head of DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, on Saturday said that five of its six plants had been damaged or destroyed, with 80% of its generating capacity lost after two weeks of Russian attacks and that repairs could take up to 18 months.

India’s top refiner Indian Oil has entered a pact with Panasonic Energy to form a joint venture to manufacture lithium-ion cells in India, the refiner said in a statement on Sunday, to prepare for rising local demand.