Climate ‘Enron’ May Be Heading For A Crash

Energy News Beat

Authored by Duggan Flanakin via RealClear Wire,

The modern American version of “the environmental emperor has no clothes” until now has been the rise and fall of Enron. As former Ken Lay speechwriter Robert Bradley, Jr., says, “(T)he cause of Enron’s financial bankruptcy were at root philosophical…. Enron’s leaders were certainly engaged in massive philosophical fraud – an attempt to cheat reality itself.

For years, Enron was hailed as one of the most forward-thinking corporations, and Lay, its founder and CEO, was a man in great demand. During his 13-year tenure that ended with a bang in 2021, Lay collected over $220 million in cash and company stock, and just months before “the largest bankruptcy in America” (at that time) Lay gave five presentations at the 2001 World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.

As Bradley, now the CEO of the Institute for Economic Research, recounts, Lay was the salesman promoting a business model developed by Jeffrey Skilling, who Lay had brought on as chief operating officer. In Skilling’s “mark-to-market” accounting, anticipated future profits from any deal were accounted for by estimating their present value rather than historical cost. Thus, argued Skilling, Enron did not really need “assets.”

It just needed connections.

And that was Lay’s special skill. His idea was to embrace a “revolution always” business philosophy, which Bradley called “a perpetual search for the first-mover advantage.” To that end, he became all things to all people, winning favor from Republicans, Democrats, environmentalists, minorities, and business leaders. His “illusion-making” in effect created a smokescreen so strong that nearly everyone was caught by surprise when the bubble burst.

[Editor’s note: As an environmental writer in Louisiana, I wrote in 1999 that the U.S. Senate rejection of the Kyoto Protocol would ensure Enron’s soon demise. I based my view on the fact that the company lacked assets and had built its presumed net worth on Kyoto largesse. As Bradley points out, Enron relied heavily on government favors.]

Today, the collapse of FTX and the recent criminal conviction of founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (who is facing a lifetime behind bars) brings Enron, Skilling, and Lay to mind. But, despite the magnitude of SBF’s fraud, it pales in comparison to the ongoing fraud being perpetrated mostly on America and its Western allies in the name of “climate change.”

A bit like FTX, but unlike Enron, there are plenty of warning signs that the “Green Revolution” is about to come tumbling down and its loudest advocates brought to account. The main thing keeping the mirages afloat today is the massive egos and their investments in folly that may leave them going down with the ship.

While the “Green Revolution” has been under way for decades, it is the Biden Administration that has imposed mandates, attacked popular energy sources and transportation options, and waged war against traditional industrial development. Europeans and states like California had earlier imposed their own mandates with supposedly “hard” deadlines for abolishing the use of oil, natural gas, coal, and every tool or vehicle that uses them.

The green war on fossil fuels, as fleshed out in the “Net Zero” campaign, is perhaps history’s greatest example of philosophical fraud.

“To dream the impossible dream” and turn it into reality would mean sacrificing an estimated 6,000 useful products that rely on byproducts from crude oil refineries – products that range from asphalt for highways to fertilizers, cosmetics, synthetic rubber, medicines and medical devices, cleaning products, plastics, so many more. The 3 billion who live without the benefits fossil fuels have provided are also the poorest, sickest, and most vulnerable humans on the planet.

Cracks are already developing in the “Net Zero” world, what with countries backing away from the mandates they so recently touted while marching around like peacocks in mating season. In March the European Union reached an agreement with Germany to formally back away from its total ban on internal combustion engines in 2035.

Still, 30 countries are signatories to the Glasgow Declaration that would force all vehicles sold by 2040 to have zero carbon dioxide emissions, and 21 others have crafted plans to ban new ICE vehicle sales earlier than 2040. Dozens of major cities and states, most notably California and the California clone states, intend to disallow new ICE vehicles by 2035.

Several problems stand in the way of their utopian dream. Even EV advocates are now admitting the “EV-olution” has to overcome “serious issues” – like the use of child labor in lithium mining, the woefully inadequate EV charging infrastructure, and an unprepared power grid. Yet the biggest obstacle is that a majority of the Earth’s people object to having EVs – or heat pumps, or electric stoves, and so on — shoved down their throats.

EVs may be fine for short-trip urban travel but not for construction equipment, airplanes, or even urban buses, as evidenced by the recent horrific scene in San Francisco when a Google-operated electric bus lost power and slid backwards downhill into nine vehicles. Today’s EVs are wholly impractical for mountain and prairie residents or others making long trips (worse with children).

Like Ken Lay with Enron, the Green revolution has relied heavily on government subsidies and a “revolution always” business philosophy aimed at making pariahs of anyone who dares oppose the grandiose – but fatally flawed – plan.

During the Obama Administration, Solyndra went under despite a $535 million government-guaranteed loan, none of which was paid back. Forbes, citing OpenTheBooks.com, noted that taxpayers were left holding the notes for $400 million given to Abound Solar, $280 million wasted by CaliSolar, $193 million doled out to Fisker Automotive (with another $336 million canceled), and $132 million to A123 Systems (a failed battery maker). 

Undaunted, the Biden Administration’s $2.3 trillion “jobs” package was rife with more subsidies for technologies that by their own admission are unsustainable. Yet despite all the free money, Ford, General Motors, and many other automakers are backing away from multibillion-dollar investments in new EV factories as new EV sales have slowed despite increased rebates.

Ford in March projected a loss of $3 billion on electric vehicles in 2023, offsetting profits of as much as $14 billion from its other divisions. Ford also admitted losses of $900 million in 2021 and $2.1 billion in 2022 in its EV division. Ford and GM believe their EV fortunes will turn around by 2025, but those rosy scenarios seem wholly dependent upon Biden (or an even “greener” Democrat) winning the White House next November.

Even with a Green win in 2024, reality will still bite the EV dream. China has been quietly moving toward total dominance in the global EV marketplace – largely because it controls the lithium battery market. Financial Times wrote in September that China is so far ahead in the EV market that its competitors are trailing in the dust.

Biden’s reliance on huge subsidies to underwrite the “Green Revolution” has brought soaring inflation to the U.S. that is taking away purchasing power faster than it can increase subsidies and Mafia-style “incentives” (you will buy what we want you to buy, or else!).

Lay died of a heart attack shortly after his trial, leaving behind “a legacy of shame” characterized by “mismanagement and dishonesty” that led Politico to rank him as the third-worst American CEO of all time.

America’s doddering President Biden, now facing pre-impeachment hearings for other alleged mistakes, may not live to see his name smeared as Lay’s once was. But does anyone truly believe Biden is calling all the shots here?

Who will, then, get the blame if America’s forced march to EV subservience to Xi’s China brings an end to America’s hegemony on the world stage?

Duggan Flanakin is a senior policy analyst for the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow and a frequent writer on public policy issues. 

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Daily Energy Standup Episode #255 – Net-Zero Realities, Geopolitical Strains, and Energy Sector Turbulence

Energy News Beat

Daily Standup Top Stories

Opinion: Net-zero policies colliding with economic reality

Across the advanced economies, the politics of net zero are colliding with reality, yet most politicians seem oblivious to the dynamics at play. The inconvenient truth is that the clean energy transition is not unfolding as foretold. Three decades […]

EU state threatens to block new sanctions on Russia

The Slovak foreign minister rejects Brussels’ proposal to add nuclear fuel supplies to the upcoming round of penalties The government of Slovakia will not support restrictions on imports of nuclear fuel from Russia as part […]

“Reduce Your Emissions Within Two Months Or Face The Consequences”, Brussels Tells 12 Member States

Authore by Ziare via ReMix News, The European Commission has ordered Hungary, Romania, and 10 other member states to comply with EU air pollution legislation and reduce their emissions of several pollutants to reduce air […]

Chinese tech companies are exploiting US green energy goals, former State Department officials warn

  Watch the latest video at foxnews.com Fox EXCLUSIVE: Two former U.S. ambassadors are sounding the alarm on the increasing number of green energy projects nationwide being developed with the involvement of Chinese companies. Former U.S. Ambassadors […]

BP seeks partnerships to navigate renewables storm

Yahoo Finance BERLIN/LONDON – BP is seeking partners for offshore wind projects in Japan and may invest in hydrogen technology companies to tackle inflation and equipment bottlenecks that have battered the renewables sector. Source: Reuters […]

OPEC+ to consider whether more oil cuts needed – sources

OPEC+ meets to set policy on Nov. 26 Oil has fallen to four-month low this week Saudi Arabia expected to extend voluntary cut – Energy Aspects MOSCOW/LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) – OPEC+ is set to […]

Bloomberg outlines how Russia has shrugged off sanctions

Key sectors of the Russian economy have adapted to sanctions or completely recovered from them, as the country shows a greater level of resilience than Western governments had expected, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. Industries ranging […]

Highlights of the Podcast

00:00 – Intro
05:53 – Opinion: Net-zero policies colliding with economic reality
08:33 – EU state threatens to block new sanctions on Russia
09:52 – “Reduce Your Emissions Within Two Months Or Face The Consequences”, Brussels Tells 12 Member States
12:37 – Chinese tech companies are exploiting US green energy goals, former State Department officials warn
15:15 – BP seeks partnerships to navigate renewables storm
19:42 – Markets Update
22:00 – OPEC+ to consider whether more oil cuts needed – sources
26:17 – Outro

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Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.

Michael Tanner: [00:00:15] What is going on, everybody? Welcome to another edition of the Daily Energy News Beat Stand up here on this gorgeous Monday, November 20th, 2023. As always, I’m your humble correspondent, Michael Tanner, coming to you from an undisclosed location here in Dallas, Texas, joined by the executive producer of the show that prepared the show and the director and publisher of the world’s greatest website, energynewsbeat.com, Stuart Turley. My man, how are we doing today? [00:00:37][22.3]

Stuart Turley: [00:00:37] This a beautiful day in the neighborhood. I’ll tell you, I got a view up here in Baker country. [00:00:41][4.1]

Michael Tanner: [00:00:42] You got to you you got an absolutely tremendous view. You’ve an absolutely tremendous show lined up for us today. Guys. Buckle up. It’s going to be a lot of fun. First up on the menu, we’re going to start with an opinion article, Net zero Policies colliding with economic reality. This is via finance Yahoo! Finance Henry Garrett. It’s he works in venture capital internationally. He’s got a Ph.D. in political economy. Net zero policies colliding with economic reality. This will be a good one. Next up, we’re going to see a string of EU stories here. EU state threatens to block new or block new Sanctions on Russia. Bloomberg outlines how Russia has shrugged off sanctions and finally reduce your emissions within two months or face the consequences, Brussels tells 12 state members. So a bloc of EU stories, they’re really some kind of craziness going on there will then step over to China and U.S. relations and talk a little bit about the Chinese tech companies that are exploiting U.S. green energy goals, according to a former State Department official. Dun dun dun dun dun. And then finally, BP seeks partnership to navigate renewables storm. So in the end, you know, we’re not dead yet. As BP says. [00:01:55][73.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:01:56] We’re not we’re not quite dead yet. As you’re sitting there with an arrow in their investor’s chest. [00:02:01][4.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:02:02] Hey, we’re not quite dead yet. BP says as they seek to partner with renewable storms still, then kick it over to me. I’ll quickly cover what happened financial wise, both in the overall markets, but mainly what happened in the oil and gas markets. We did see prices rise substantially after really what was a brutal Thursday. So we’ll we’ll cover kind of what the outlook looks like as we move into Thanksgiving here. A couple stories that I find interesting, specifically some a new Reuters piece coming out this weekend saying specifically that OPEC could be considering more oil cuts. So I’m fascinated by there. And then, of course, we’ve got to check in with rig count and then we’ll let you guys get out of here and start your Monday. We hope it’s a short week as we move into this Thanksgiving. I think the plan for this show is we have a show today. We’ll have a show tomorrow. I think we’re going to take in terms of the daily stand up. We’re going to take Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, take a little break, let you guys settle in. But we’re going to drop we’ve got about five podcasts in the hopper coming up that we want to that we’re going to be dropping from Stu’s. Who are the five? Stu, give us the rundown. What who are the five that they’re going to hear? [00:03:03][61.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:03:04] Okay, we got Grace Stankey the Miss America just drop and then we have Dr. Robert Brooks. We have Ronald Stein and author is my second one is pretty cool. You know, some Dr. Ronald Stein And then we have also we have Mark Masters, the I mean, he’s a media mogul. And then we have an international wildman that is actually great, George Macmillan. And this is a two hour podcast. This one is rare, but it talks about why we are in the energy crisis. And I am flabbergasted. Then we have Tom Kirkman coming up. Then we have. [00:03:49][44.8]

Michael Tanner: [00:03:50] Good old Tom. That’ll be a fun one. [00:03:52][1.9]

Stuart Turley: [00:03:52] Oh, he’s he. I love Tom. [00:03:55][2.4]

Michael Tanner: [00:03:55] He’s wild. [00:03:55][0.2]

Stuart Turley: [00:03:56] And then we have several others. Yeah. So we’re off and running, dude. Let’s get it. [00:04:01][4.9]

Michael Tanner: [00:04:01] It’ll be awesome, guys. So check that out Wednesday through Sunday and then back Monday morning to start your week. We’ll be back with the daily stand up. And so I we go ahead and dive on in. Stu But before we do that, as always, remember, guys, the news and analysis you are about to hear is brought to you by the world’s greatest website energynewsbeat.com Stu and the team do a great job of curating all of this stuff on the website to make sure you can if you visit energynewsbeat.com. You are up to speed with everything going on in the energy and oil and gas business. You can check us out. Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts at Energy News Beat for you to great place to support the show. Check us out an email to show [email protected]. You can hit the description below and see all of the different timestamps and links to the articles that we are about to cover. You can check out our new data news platform dashboard.energynewsbeat.com will come up with a sexier name for that. We’re really just trying to push push that data news combo. Good things come it’s all I love a good sexy name still I mean also check out we’re proud to announce you’ve got a new long term segment coming out Deal spotlight. We’ll have more info on that. But we’re going to be breaking down oil and gas deals and kind of bringing you guys behind the curtain. We’ve partnered with combocurve and well database to. Bring you some some really awesome and workflows. I’m excited to roll that out. We’ve got our first one in the bank we recorded yesterday well, actually on Saturday, so it’ll be interesting once that get caught up. We’re excited to push that out there and we’ll be we’ll try to push out one, two a month. I’m not quite sure what we’ll do. One was a two parter, so we’ll have to kind of figure out how how we want to set that, how we want to go. Some of the some of them, like the mineral deals, are going to be quicker. This one was was more of a part of valuation. That’s going to take a little bit longer because there’s a bigger workflow involved, but really excited to roll that out so you can check that out. EnergyNewsBeat.com or on our YouTube channel. I’m going to get those two. Let’s go and start the show. Where do you want to begin? [00:05:50][108.9]

Stuart Turley: [00:05:51] Hey, let’s start with our ENB thread. Today is going to be net zero policies colliding with economic reality. Michael, this is just wild. As you mentioned, as we started in the show, this one is is really important because net zero is unattainable with the current mindset around the world. All of the politics around net zero are colliding with reality. Yet most politicians seem oblivious to the dynamics at play until the Great Awakening kicks in and they’re not going to get reelected. We’re about to see a global retro. This is a global Scooby about to happen here. Demand for hydrocarbons remains at over 80% of the total. Exxon and Chevron recently invested invested a combined Michael hundred and 10 billion in long term U.S. oil and gas development, driving home the reality that liquid hydrocarbons will be as indispensable by post 2050 as they are today. Holy smokes, What were you say? [00:06:58][67.6]

Michael Tanner: [00:06:59] I was just going to push back. Yes. They’ve invested in the oil and gas business. I wouldn’t say they’ve invested in oil and gas development, if only because they’re just buying companies Now, I’m not going to nit pick, but that’s what I do. I reframe that sentence a little bit. If I was the editor. [00:07:15][15.9]

Stuart Turley: [00:07:15] I would I would agree with that. And here’s here’s why. But the fact that they’re buying already existing production are there’s that investment there. If you were if they were not buying that, I would disagree with you from that standpoint. But they’re buying existing PDP and existing production now. [00:07:35][19.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:07:35] They’re going to say they’re going to keep drilling, of course. I mean, I think that’s the point. I don’t think I don’t think with these acquisitions, even them are shutting down and I don’t want to get too caught up in that. I just know I got I got to call a red herring when I see it. Okay. [00:07:46][11.3]

Stuart Turley: [00:07:47] But here’s the other piece of this. Siemens has a $16 billion bailout. This fits into the thread. Siemens lost a billion last year. They’re triggered to lose a billion this year. That’s sustainable. I mean, unless you’re, you know, just really looking for getting your investors like, okay, they’re going to change their business model that’s going to fit into this thread later on. So what you’re seeing is the failure of offshore wind and wind. Solar still got some legs on, I’m going to be honest with you, solar, and I’ll go into that in a different time. I’m writing some articles on how solar has longer legs than land, and I’ll go into that later. Okay, let’s go to the EU. My buddies at the EU. I can’t wait to interview some of the EU leaders. They would love to talk to me. EU state threatens to block new Sanctions on Russia. Michael They get. There’s about three stories in this particular sub thread that we’re talking about today. This is Michael. They’re getting ready to, according to the minister, would not block the much debated the batch of penalties on Moscow because they’re going on uranium and nuclear export technology that they need their Russian plants built with the U.S. uses. Michael, how much would you guess the U.S. uses in importing Russian uranium? How much? [00:09:13][86.0]

Michael Tanner: [00:09:13] Oh, I bet we’re probably 15%. [00:09:16][2.6]

Stuart Turley: [00:09:17] 20 if they sanction it. Talk about sanction hypocrites. If we do that, the 11 packages of sanctions failed to stop Russia in these other articles. They are absolutely hilarious. There’s another article that came out. Russia’s actually succeeding. Russia is going divi’s and they’re doing it on their own. How cool is that? Because they have all the natural gas. It makes sense for Russia to do it. Okay, let’s here’s the next one coming around the corner. Michael, in this thread reduce your emissions with two within two months or face the consequences. Holy smokes. She’s got a newspaper up and she’s beating these countries in the nose with the newspaper. Let’s go down here. Luxembourg, Poland. Romania. Opinion reason. Believable. A formal notice to them to go. You reduce your output. You got to be kidding me. This is absolutely nuts. And now they have another bad dog list that they’re getting ready to send out. It’s just two months to respond. The remedy and shortcomings. This is not good. [00:10:35][77.8]

Michael Tanner: [00:10:36] So what do you see? So. Oh, scary. A strongly worded memo gets sent to a bunch of different countries. Is there anything Brussels can actually do? From a like a legitimate standpoint, can they would they start sanctioning Poland, Romania and all these other countries? Would they impose some sort of economic sanctions on it? I mean, what way is that? The next. [00:10:56][20.4]

Stuart Turley: [00:10:56] Step? But it would go to a vote within the EU. And who it’s going to turn into a mess. The second order of magnitude that you love, Michael, is this is going to continue to be a decouple, a Brexit. This is going to be an EU exit in trade. You’re going to have in your ear first you have a Rome Rome exit. You’re going to have a pull exit. You’re going to have a Luxembourg interested. And they’re new in their own death. And this their own Harry Carey that we’re seeing here is the net zero. Harry Carey in this thread is probably one of the most important threads that we’ve had as energy news beat because it’s global. It’s the it’s the whole net zero. And now you’re coming into the thread when that failing. You have the David Blackman’s out there talking about with Megan on the way Random. [00:11:57][60.4]

Michael Tanner: [00:11:57] Guy on Substack. [00:11:57][0.2]

Stuart Turley: [00:11:58] Random. My favorite random guy. In fact, every time I see him I got to hug my at random guy love me some. David Blackmon. So anyway. So you see, all of these articles in this thread are multi thread. We have a sub thread and we have second order of magnitude. This is a heck of a book I’m writing. Okay, so let’s go into another sub thread in here, which is kind of a for now. We’re now saying. [00:12:23][25.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:12:24] This is like inception. We’re going like six dreamless layers deep. [00:12:28][3.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:12:29] This is the eight layers of Kevin Bacon on this show. So we have threads, we have layers of bacon. Did I mention bacon? Chinese tech companies are exploiting U.S. green energy goals. Former state departments warm our beloved chowder head who doesn’t know where he is and he has depends flowing out of his pants. Kind of like Jerry Nadler. I’m talking about President Biden. What a not head. Here’s a quote. It would be very ironic if we moved towards electric vehicles to the numbers that Biden administration is talking about. And the key components come from China. Hoekstra, who’s served as U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands from 2018 to 2021, told Fox Digital That’s a terrible, terrible place to be. And we had Michael this week. Last week we had our president handed our soldiers Chinese flags to hold. Our military are holding Chinese flags. You got gotta be kidding me. This man rolled over like a dog with his belly going pet me. This is the most despicable president we’ve ever had. Sorry for getting worked up, but that really kind of got me all worked up as a disgust. Anyway, this article comes from Fox and I think that they actually did great. This is another one Celia mentions Subnational Anchor Incursions are afoot, Celia told Fox News in an interview. China is on the hunt. The Chinese Communist Party is on the hunt. They’re getting a look at these open doors to kick in. And in states, they have carried a great sway. You just need to look at Goshen or cattle textbook examples of this influence operation. This is another one, Michael We’re in the same city that training and it Z and and Biden is he can’t even say his own last name Biden say is there in there and they had a CCP owned lab. They was doing counterfeit Covid tests. They had E.coli, they had Ebola, they had all these other ones in this lab owned by the CCP so they could pollute San Francisco. And then we have Governor Newsom that they’re cleaning up the city that he said he couldn’t even do his own people. And all of a sudden he admits, oh, because President Z comes in, I’ll clean it up. Holy smokes, what a bunch of hypocrites. Okay, I’m done worked up on this. But let’s go to BP. The big oil companies have their big boy pants on, Michael. Okay. Let’s back up just a little bit. This article says BP Seeks Partnership to navigate Renewables Storm. This is about as critical as it gets, even though this is a different thread. The thread is the Chevron and Exxon. You as Big Oil have absolutely done a different take to the net zero than did the European Big Oil. European big oil is now turning 180 degrees, but they’re dragging along the renewables in a positive way, trying to survive. BP seeks partnerships to navigate the renewables storm. Let me go through this one. This is also from our buddies over at Reuters. Let’s see Angela Isabella Dodsworth, who leads BP’s renewable business. This is new because the old BP guy quit told Reuters that it’s time to deliver. Seeking partners in Japan, one of the markets identified for growth was part of the solution. Offshore wind industry was fundamentally broken after BP wrote down 540 million on its wind power projects in New York, blaming inflation and red tape. Globally, the renewables sector has been undermined by slow permitting technological challenges, rising raw material costs and higher cost of capital. And now they’re asking for bailouts. Holy smokes. Anyway, you can see how this thread is now a good nurse, a shout out in positiveness for big Oil as it makes sense. [00:16:49][260.1]

Michael Tanner: [00:16:49] You’re on fire today. Still am. [00:16:51][1.8]

Stuart Turley: [00:16:52] Both of my hands are on fire. [00:16:53][1.0]

Michael Tanner: [00:16:53] Now you can see the pivot the BP’s doing right now in its it’s not a sleight of hand because they’re saying it, but what they’re saying is, hey, we need to focus on not doing as much in the renewable space. And if we can factor some of this out, factor out a lot of the the business process of getting these wind farms spun up. But we could just be responsible for the deployment and maintenance of these things. Maybe we’ll be able to make some money here. But I think it’s it’s pretty interesting. And I think, as you said, I think, you know, wind is coming to the forefront because I think people are realizing like, wait a second, we asked for renewable energy, not necessarily wind farms, and. [00:17:33][39.3]

Stuart Turley: [00:17:33] It’s not sustainable. [00:17:33][0.3]

Michael Tanner: [00:17:34] Yes, I think that’s the point. People like, well, you’re trying to shove something. It’s very obvious to see that a huge wind farm is not sustainable. I mean, I think everybody notices that, which is hilarious. [00:17:43][8.8]

Stuart Turley: [00:17:43] There’s a place for wind and it’s where you cannot import in LNG and it’s a smaller island. It is in a smaller community that it’s tough to get transmission line. I’m all about it in the right place. [00:17:56][13.4]

Michael Tanner: [00:17:57] When you get the the the head of renewables for BP somebody who is invested billions into wind saying quote the U.S. offshore wind industry was fundamentally broken. I don’t know what what more can you see? They want BP and this department desperately wants wind to work. And when they’re telling you it doesn’t, right. You usually before we move on and cut you off here, I love how listen to this. BP says it seeks to guarantee it can meet its internal rate of returns of 6 to 8% on renewables projects. How low of a bar can you set? 6 to 8%. You can just go by money market treasury bonds for 5.5% right now, 68%. [00:18:39][42.2]

Stuart Turley: [00:18:41] When you take a look at our put the. [00:18:42][1.3]

Michael Tanner: [00:18:43] Bar here, don’t strain. [00:18:43][0.7]

Stuart Turley: [00:18:44] Yourself. [00:18:44][0.0]

Michael Tanner: [00:18:44] Too much. I mean, 6 to 8, if I ever walk in with the deal was like, do I think we should buy this? It’s a 6% return. You slap me and say, Go find something else. There’s no meat on that bone. [00:18:54][9.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:18:54] Now, our other ones that we’ve done that are greater 30%. [00:18:58][4.1]

Michael Tanner: [00:19:00] We almost have to be because especially in the oil and gas business, as prices vary on you, you need to make sure you’ve got enough cushion to sustain a lower oil price. Now, again, when the economics are different, if you can guarantee yourself every year based upon the electrical contracts, you’re done. I don’t know enough about the renewable business. That to me just seems like, don’t put the bar too high. Folks wouldn’t want to shoot. Don’t shoot for the stars when you could just jump a foot is how I would look at you. Got anything else? Do you own fire today? [00:19:26][26.0]

Stuart Turley: [00:19:26] Oh, I was. But there’s a whole process. There’s multi threads that I have not been explaining very well and I’m going to start documenting these out in articles that I’m coming out with because the multi thread facet is why energy newsbeat is so successful. [00:19:40][13.5]

Michael Tanner: [00:19:40] Yeah, absolutely. Well, let’s go over and flip over to the finance section, guys. Overall markets were actually fairly flat. S&P was about 3/10 of or about a 10th of a percentage point. Nasdaq finishes fairly flat. Oil prices rebounded about four and a half percentage points, currently finishing the day at 7604. But again, that’s mainly due after three straight days of absolute tumble, tumble, tumble, tumble. We saw natural gas trading below $3 for the first time in about two weeks, $2.96. Real reason mainly that we’ve seen prices shedding is a lot of profits and a lot of short. More positions where we’re taking profits mainly after that, that deep. So part of the reason when investors and it’s short term traders come in and cover their short positions, which is betting on the market going down, you tend to see a rise in the price because they’re having to sell. They’re having to basically sell their call options, which in a in a backhanded way moves prices up a little bit. But we still ended, as I mentioned, 7604 things. It’s not necessarily meaning that we’re all of a sudden now boom, into into a bull rush year, you know? You know, I wouldn’t also necessarily say this was what this is a dead cat bounce, as they call it, which is a slight rebound before another drop. I think mainly what you’re seeing is, is the Chinese economy. We’ve been sort of told that, oh, the data looks good, the data looks good. It’s not good, folks that you know, you’ve got almost 80% of their real estate, of their financial real estate sector is indebted to the point where they can’t pay it back. I mean, the property crisis is absolutely insane. Industrial growth has really begun to slow. This factor in this or this sentiment that, oh, China is just going to keep on running, it’s the data is not bearing that out. And so I think that’s really I think that’s really hurting the long term projections. And I think why I mean, you know, there was you know, if you were at the Heart Energy Executive Conference last week, you would have heard $120 oil. I’m still skeptical that we’re going to see $120 oil. I seem to think that 75 to 85 bandwidth is exactly is where oil probably will trend for the next 3 to 4 months. I’ll probably I’m not ready to put my flag down there yet, Stu, but I might in a little bit, you know, kind of make my make my case for I don’t know if we go really above 90 unless, you know, obviously, unless, you know, somebody drops a nuke on somebody. But I’m not sure, you know, unless and again, this is where they did. One of the reasons I wouldn’t necessarily put my flag there is for two reasons, Stu. One is article dropped over the weekend. OPEC plus considers whether more oil cuts are needed according to sources. Dun dun dun. This is a Reuters piece. They say OPEC Plus is set to consider whether to make additional oil supply cuts when the group meets later this month, according to three OPEC sources told Reuters that the prices have dropped almost 20% since late September. Super interesting. So the real question is how much would they drop? They’ve already had that extension of about a million barrels. The real question is what would that new extent be? Want to have OPEC source, who declined to be named, said the existing cuts might not be enough and the group will likely analyze if it could be implemented when it meets. Two other sources said that deeper cuts could be discussed, so they may not do more. But I definitely, definitely think there’s a possibility that there’s more cuts. You know, the oil market, according to their latest report for OPEC, says that fundamentals remain strong despite negative sentiment. You know, IEA is as updated their demand. They think it’s going to be a little bit of a lower demand forecast growth forecast. I think they’re responding to some of that Chinese data, too. So I think the real question is, what do you think OPEC’s going to do? Do you believe they’re going to cut? I think they’ll probably do a moderate cut, 200, 750,000 barrels a day, and it’ll be more of a show than it will be a deep, deep cut, because at some point it’s nice to sell oil. Where do you see them doing? [00:23:18][218.0]

Stuart Turley: [00:23:19] I have to two emotions on this. I quit having data emotion. Saudi has done a great job admitting that they need $100 oil. And so that’s that’s going to be a vote for cut. Russia has been very, very successful with the making money even with sanctions through natural gas. But they are in favor of cutting because then their MP operations do fabulous and make more money with less effort. So you got the two biggest influencers, if you would. They’re not on TikTok and I haven’t seen the Prince on TikTok yet, but you see the two biggest influencers there saying they need $100 oil. The Dark Fleet has been just going nuts. In fact, there’s now lawsuits against Russia because they’ve been selling it at $90 oil in the dark, flee to India in record numbers in India is thrilled to get it because they’re paying in rubles and there they’re able to bypass Swift. They’re able to bypass the US dollar, saving their money in different areas of trade. Oh, so that is not calculated into the price of oil and and or they’re. So I can’t make a price anymore on oil to make sense. [00:24:47][88.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:24:48] Yeah I’ll still remember that everyone is calling for $200 oil but I’ll make I’ll make sure to point that out to everybody. I’d be remiss if I didn’t cover rig counts, guys. We actually saw a bump change of we saw about two rigs week over week. Increased current rig count stands at 100 or 618. We saw Canada drop three. Internationally, we saw 22. So we did see two rigs get added to the market. Again, I don’t know how much a material change that I don’t know if that’s quite. Signifying a massive shift in where rigs are going. But it is interesting to see that rig count move up. Nothing really on the on the news wire for oil and gas that really dropped. You know Exxon and has announced that they’re third floating they called peso but floating production storage and offloading vessel is what they call it in Guyana. This is their third EFS or FPSo, as they call it, just got brought online. I don’t know how many wells this is, but as they continue to bring more wells online, they expect it to reach about 220,000 barrels of oil per day. And again, that entire Guyana unit, they’re hoping to get by 1.2 million barrels per day in that Star rock block by end of 2027. So it’s an absolutely huge project still in that. [00:25:58][70.1]

Stuart Turley: [00:25:58] Great. Yeah. [00:25:58][0.3]

Michael Tanner: [00:25:59] Absolutely crazy. ExxonMobil owns a 45% interest test, has a while now. Chevron has a 30% interest and China has a 25% interest. So got to love. We’re helping the Chinese out as well. So thank you, Exxon and. I do. That’s about all I’ve got. You got anything people should be worried about your Thanksgiving. It’s going to be a chiller week. I don’t know. You know nothing. Do we usually get any crazy news over Thanksgiving? [00:26:25][25.8]

Stuart Turley: [00:26:26] It depends. I personally, I’m. I am not going to be surprised if you’re going to see some social distress this week intentionally, because the January 6th tapes were released by our new speaker of the House. And that kind of tells you, even though Matt Gates, in my opinion, was a chowder head, he was right, because the old speaker of the House never released these. And now you’re going to see a bunch of Hamas supporters or Palestine supporters across the country encouraged by the Democrats. So stay away from any of those during Thanksgiving. Enjoy your family and hug everybody. How’s that for a weird threat? [00:27:09][43.2]

Michael Tanner: [00:27:12] I don’t even know where to begin with that. I need to know where to be. [00:27:15][3.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:27:15] Your head just exploded. For our podcast listeners, Michael was curled up in the fetal position under his desk, about to throw up. [00:27:22][6.9]

Michael Tanner: [00:27:24] I’ll do it. We just got to end this now so I can go puke. Well, we appreciate that, guys. Well, again, will be here today. Tomorrow, then you’ll get a bunch of Stu’s podcast come Wednesday through Sunday, and then we will be back in your ear Monday. Hopefully it’s a short week for you guys. Hopefully you’re able to take some time off again. Thanksgiving, We love it. Oh, we spend time with friends and family for Stu Turley, Michael Tanner. Guys, we’ll see you tomorrow and have a great Monday, guys. See you. [00:27:24][0.0][1598.9]

– Get in Contact With The Show –

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OPEC+ to consider whether more oil cuts needed – sources

Energy News Beat
OPEC+ meets to set policy on Nov. 26
Oil has fallen to four-month low this week
Saudi Arabia expected to extend voluntary cut – Energy Aspects

MOSCOW/LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) – OPEC+ is set to consider whether to make additional oil supply cuts when the group meets later this month, three OPEC+ sources told Reuters after prices dropped by almost 20 percent since late September.

Oil has slid to around $79 a barrel for Brent crude from a 2023 high in September near $98. Concern about demand and a possible surplus next year has pressured prices, despite support from the OPEC+ cuts and conflict in the Middle East.

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EU state threatens to block new sanctions on Russia

Energy News Beat

The Slovak foreign minister rejects Brussels’ proposal to add nuclear fuel supplies to the upcoming round of penalties

The government of Slovakia will not support restrictions on imports of nuclear fuel from Russia as part of a 12th package of EU sanctions that is currently being discussed by member states, Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar said on Saturday.

According to the minister, Bratislava will not block the much-debated batch of penalties on Moscow, on the condition that the ban on nuclear fuel is removed.

“It is the red line for us… Our nuclear power plants cannot yet switch to alternative fuel. This [nuclear-related clause] definitely cannot be there,” Blanar said, referring to the new package.

At the same time, Blanar cast doubt on the efficiency of the entire sanctions policy being pursued by the EU since the start of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev.

“The 11 packages of sanctions failed to stop Russia, while the EU economy is moving towards recession,” the diplomat claimed, adding that prices of food and fuel in Slovakia have soared as a result of sanctions that were supposed to target Moscow.

Slovakia – along with Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Hungary – continues to buy critical nuclear fuel for its four Soviet-designed reactors from Russia, which owns about 50% of the world’s uranium enrichment infrastructure, critical to the production of nuclear fuel.

The EU authorities are currently working on a new set of sanctions against Russia, expected to target 120 individuals and entities.

The proposals reportedly include measures to cut off Moscow’s access to commercial revenues by imposing a complete ban on the sale of Russian diamonds and jewelry. The package may introduce additional restrictions on exports to Russia, including a ban on the sale of certain chemicals, lithium batteries, thermostats and motors for drones, as well as machine tools and machinery parts that can be used to produce weapons.

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Foreign buyers moving away from US debt – WSJ

Energy News Beat

Share of US Treasuries owned by overseas holders has shrunk significantly in ten years, the newspaper reports

Demand for US outstanding government debt from overseas buyers has significantly reduced with share of Treasury bonds hold by foreign private investors and central banks dropping to around 30% from some 43% ten years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported this week, citing data from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

At the same time, supply has become more and more inexhaustible, the outlet notes, citing a net $2 trillion in new debt issued by the US Treasury this year. This amount marked an all-time high, excluding the pandemic-related borrowing spree scored back in 2020.

“US issuance is way up, and foreign demand hasn’t gone up,” Brad Setser, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the journal. “And in some key categories–notably Japan and China–they don’t seem likely to be net buyers, going forward.”

Demand for the US obligations from foreign investors and central banks, voracious buyers of US debt in the 2000s and early 2010s, is expected to be “more limited,” according to the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, a group of Wall Street executives that advise the US Treasury.

In response to sluggish demand, Treasury has recently shifted to issuing shorter-term bonds that are in higher demand, in an attempt to restore market stability. The yield on the US ten-year note that shot above 5% last month is now at around 4.4%.

Data released by the US Treasury earlier this week shows that foreign investors sold a net $2.4 billion in long-term Treasury notes in September, bringing their holdings to $6.5 trillion.

Meanwhile, statistics from the Council on Foreign Relations, which tracks the investments on a rolling 12-month basis, demonstrates that the pace of foreign buying has eased in recent months to around $300 billion, from levels above $400 billion for much of 2022.

A strong dollar has reportedly forced central banks to stop stockpiling US Treasuries or even to sell them down. The regulators, including those in China and Japan, use the dollars they get from selling US debt to boost the value of their own currencies. Investors also remain concerned about the US government’s widening deficits.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT’s business section

 

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Russian electric SUV launches on domestic market

Energy News Beat

Russian electric vehicle maker MotorInvest has launched production of its latest SUV model, the Evolute i-SKY, RIA Novosti reported on Thursday.

The vehicle, a mid-size crossover SUV with a range of over 500km on a single charge, will be assembled by MotorInvest at a factory in Lipetsk Region. The car is already available to order, with prices starting from nearly 4 million rubles ($45,000), according to the manufacturer’s website.

MotorInvest started production of electric vehicles in Russia in September 2022. Its Evolute brand also includes vehicles such as the i-Pro sedan, i-JOY compact crossover, and i-VAN minivan. All the cars are based on Chinese models made by Dongfeng and Sokon.

The Russian company has said it expects to sell a total of 7,500 cars this year and 12,000 vehicles in 2024.

Up until 2019, the factory in Lipetsk Region had assembled cars for Chinese brands Great Wall and Changan. It has the capacity to produce more than 100,000 electric cars annually.

The Russian automotive industry, which was heavily reliant on investment and equipment from abroad, suffered a crisis last year due to the exodus of foreign manufacturers amid Ukraine-related Western sanctions.

However, Chinese brands have since filled the void left by departing Western carmakers. Production was launched recently at a plant in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which previously assembled German BMWs and South Korean Hyundai and Kia cars.

Another Russian car brand, the iconic Moskvich, also produces an electric compact crossover SUV with a range of 410km at a former Renault factory in Moscow.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT’s business section

 

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Bloomberg outlines how Russia has shrugged off sanctions

Energy News Beat

Key sectors of the Russian economy have adapted to sanctions or completely recovered from them, as the country shows a greater level of resilience than Western governments had expected, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Industries ranging from manufacturing and airlines to banking have found ways to adjust to sanctions “aimed at tanking the economy,” boosted by soaring consumer demand and solid government support, the news agency noted.

The banking sector has emerged as one of the “starkest” examples of adapting to restrictions imposed since the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. Last year, Western penalties cut most Russian banks from the international financial messaging system SWIFT. A number of these lenders are also subject to blocking sanctions, which prevent international financial institutions from cooperating with them.

However, Russia’s largest state-owned lender Sber, along with other major banks, are set to reap record profits this year.

“Most likely, this year will indeed be the most successful in history for us,” said Sber CEO Herman Gref, who has been sanctioned by the US, the EU and the UK.

The total profit of Russia’s banking sector for the first nine months of the year may reach more than 3 trillion rubles ($33 billion) in 2023, beating the previous full-year record. The figure is three times higher than the central bank initially expected, according to Valery Piven, managing director of the Russian rating agency ACRA.

Moscow’s revenues from oil and gas surged to their highest level in 18 months, reaching $17.7 billion last month, as Russia rerouted a bulk of its trade flows eastwards.

The domestic car market, which was “seemingly dead” after a mass exodus of Western brands, is now rebounding to pre-sanctions levels as Russia has been able to find new sources of imports or even substitute them completely, according to Bloomberg.

“Russian business is managing to apply very non-standard solutions. We don’t yet see any severe deficit,” said Stanislav Murashov, an economist at Raiffeisenbank in Moscow.

After being banned from many Western routes, Russian airlines have increased domestic travel substantially. International air travel is also “intensively developing,” with an almost 30% rise in passenger traffic between January and September this year compared to the same period in 2022, according to Russia’s Transport Ministry. Russia has air links with 37 countries and 59 foreign carriers that provide services, the ministry told Bloomberg.

“Russia’s economy likely reached pre-war levels at the start of the fourth quarter in 2023, defying early expectations,” Bloomberg’s Alex Isakov said.

“The drivers of this recovery were favorable energy prices, which provide Russia with a stream of oil and gas revenue, COVID-scale fiscal impulse that the government delivered through a boost in military spending, and loose credit conditions which saw the expansion of retail and corporate loan portfolios by around 20% year-on-year,” he added.

Russia’s economic growth accelerated to 5.5% in the third quarter from 4.9% in the previous three months, the fastest pace in more than a decade, figures released on Wednesday by the Federal Statistics Service showed.

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“Reduce Your Emissions Within Two Months Or Face The Consequences”, Brussels Tells 12 Member States

Energy News Beat

Authore by Ziare via ReMix News,

The European Commission has ordered Hungary, Romania, and 10 other member states to comply with EU air pollution legislation and reduce their emissions of several pollutants to reduce air pollution.

 

The EU executive sent a letter of formal notice to Luxembourg, Poland, and Romania, and a reasoned opinion to Bulgaria, Ireland, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Austria, Portugal, and Sweden for failing to ensure the correct implementation of their commitments to reduce several air pollutants as required by Directive (EU) 2016/2284 on the national emission reductions of certain air pollutants (“NEC Directive”).

The NEC Directive sets national emission reduction commitments for five important air pollutants: nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), sulfur dioxide (SO2), ammonia (NH3), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

These pollutants contribute to poor air quality and have a significant negative impact on human health and the environment, the European Commission noted in a press release. National commitments must be met by each member state every year between 2020 and 2029, with more ambitious reductions from 2030 onwards. Member states are also required to establish National Air Pollution Control Programmes (NAPs) to show how these reduction commitments will be met.

In January 2023, Brussels sent a letter of formal notice to 14 member states that had not met their 2020 emission reduction commitments for one or more pollutants covered by the NEC Directive. In February 2023, member states submitted their most recent national emission inventories, which included emissions for 2020 and 2021, accompanied by an informative inventory report.

The European Commission is sending additional letters of formal notice to Luxembourg, Poland, and Romania, which have two months to respond and remedy the shortcomings identified.

Read more here…

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New J6 Footage Shows Capitol Police May Have Incited Riot By Firing Munitions Into Peaceful Crowd

Energy News Beat

House Speaker Mike Johnson has released over 40,000 hours of J6 footage including capitol police body cam footage to the public in the interests of transparency, an action which should have been taken years ago.  Each new piece of footage only confirms what many Americans already understood – That the few scant minutes of available video recycled by the media paint a false picture of what really happened.  Many would argue that J6 was nothing more than a protest that was turned into a riot by police incitement and establishment spin. 

Even worse, there are many people now languishing in prison because of that spin.

The latest footage shows capitol police inviting protesters into the building as they peacefully assembled in the corridors (the same people who would later be prosecuted and labeled “insurrectionists”). 

However, what about what happened before the “riots” started? 

Did they happen spontaneously, or were they incited? 

New video clips seem to show capitol police firing rubber bullets, tear gas grenades and stun grenades into crowds of peaceful protesters on J6 before anyone tried to enter the capitol building, possibly triggering the violence that would follow (and creating the footage that was played ad nauseum on major news networks as proof of insurrection).

Keep in mind that if such tactics had been used to incite BLM or pro-Palestinian riots there would undoubtedly be 24/7 news coverage of it.

These revelations further confirm why J6 footage was withheld from the country for so long.

It’s easy to control the narrative when you have all the evidence under lock and key.

Loading…

 

The post New J6 Footage Shows Capitol Police May Have Incited Riot By Firing Munitions Into Peaceful Crowd appeared first on Energy News Beat.

 

New J6 Footage Shows Capitol Police May Have Incited Riot By Firing Munitions Into Peaceful Crowd

Energy News Beat

House Speaker Mike Johnson has released over 40,000 hours of J6 footage including capitol police body cam footage to the public in the interests of transparency, an action which should have been taken years ago.  Each new piece of footage only confirms what many Americans already understood – That the few scant minutes of available video recycled by the media paint a false picture of what really happened.  Many would argue that J6 was nothing more than a protest that was turned into a riot by police incitement and establishment spin. 

Even worse, there are many people now languishing in prison because of that spin.

The latest footage shows capitol police inviting protesters into the building as they peacefully assembled in the corridors (the same people who would later be prosecuted and labeled “insurrectionists”). 

However, what about what happened before the “riots” started? 

Did they happen spontaneously, or were they incited? 

New video clips seem to show capitol police firing rubber bullets, tear gas grenades and stun grenades into crowds of peaceful protesters on J6 before anyone tried to enter the capitol building, possibly triggering the violence that would follow (and creating the footage that was played ad nauseum on major news networks as proof of insurrection).

Keep in mind that if such tactics had been used to incite BLM or pro-Palestinian riots there would undoubtedly be 24/7 news coverage of it.

These revelations further confirm why J6 footage was withheld from the country for so long.

It’s easy to control the narrative when you have all the evidence under lock and key.

Loading…

 

The post New J6 Footage Shows Capitol Police May Have Incited Riot By Firing Munitions Into Peaceful Crowd appeared first on Energy News Beat.