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Western U.S. hydropower generation fell to a 22-year low last year

Energy News Beat

According to preliminary data from our Electricity Data Browser, the least hydropower was generated in the western United States during the 2022–23 water year (October 1 through September 30) since at least 2001. Western region hydropower generation dropped by 11% from the previous water year to 141.6 million megawatthours (MWh). Hydropower generation in the western United States can vary significantly from year to year because the amount of precipitation influences generation.

Precipitation mostly accumulates in the fall and winter months in the form of snow at higher elevations. Snowpack accumulated during the winter serves as natural water storage that starts to melt in the springtime as temperatures gradually increase.

The western United States—Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, California, Oregon, and Washington—produced most (60%) of the country’s hydroelectricity last water year (2022–23).

A combined 37% of total U.S. hydropower capacity is located in Washington and Oregon. Drought conditions last year affected these states and other states around the Columbia River Basin. These conditions contributed to historically low hydropower generation in these states.

During the fall and winter of 2022 into 2023, precipitation in this region was near-to-below normal. In May 2023, a heat wave that drove temperatures 30°F above normal affected the region, melting the snowpack rapidly. Water flows in May were high, but much of the water supply needed for generation during the summer months melted during the May heat wave. Water supply was below-average in the Northwest region for the rest of the water year, which reduced hydropower generation.

In the 2022–23 water year, 23% less hydropower was generated in Washington than the water year before, totaling 62.3 million MWh. Hydropower generation in Oregon also fell by more than 20% in the 2022–23 water year.

In contrast, hydropower generation grew in California last year. From December 2022 to March 2023, a series of atmospheric rivers drenched parts of the western United States, especially California, with record rain and snow.

Information from the California Department of Water Resources shows that last winter’s snowpack in the state was higher than any other reading since records began in the mid-1980s. The significant snowpack in the Sierra Nevada range helped replenish reservoirs after three consecutive years of drought in the state. California hydropower generation in the 2022–23 water year nearly doubled compared with the previous water year, totaling 30.0 million MWh.

Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electricity Data Browser

Other southwestern states also experienced above-normal precipitation. Lake Powell, which is formed by the Glen Canyon Dam, is considered an indicator of the hydrologic conditions in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Hydropower generation at the Glen Canyon Dam increased by 27% during water year 2022–23 compared with the water year before. However, water conservation efforts downstream at Lake Mead reduced water releases. The Hoover Dam, which forms Lake Mead, generated 11% less electricity in the 2022–23 water year than it did in the previous water year.

In our Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast hydropower generation for electricity market regions (rather than by state) and by calendar year (instead of by water year). In our latest STEO, we forecast 12% less hydropower production in the western market region of California, the Southwest, and the Northwest in 2024 than in 2023.

Source: Eia.gov

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The post Western U.S. hydropower generation fell to a 22-year low last year first appeared on Energy News Beat.

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Almost four million faulty smart meters in Britain

Energy News Beat

The latest figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero indicate that there are 3.98 million non-operational smart meters in smart mode.

From June 2023 to the end of the year, the number of non-operational smart meters in smart mode decreased from 4.31 million in June 2023 to 3.98 million.

The figure of 4.31 million has been revised due to the correction of a data reporting error.

Customers have reported substantial bills resulting from faulty meters, raising concerns over consumer protection and accurate billing practices.

A Smart Energy GB spokesperson told Energy Live News: “There are now almost 35 million smart meters (representing 61% of all meters) in Britain and the vast majority are operating as intended, with an overall improvement in the proportion of smart meters operating in smart mode since 2022, up from 87.3% at the end of 2022 to 88.6% at the end of 2023.

“Figures previously reported in 2023 included a data reporting error which has been rectified in the latest figures released by government. It’s important the positive trend continues, to ensure everyone can benefit from the full range of smart meter benefits.

“We know that most people have a very positive experience with their smart meter, but we also understand the frustration felt by some whose meter may be temporarily operating without all of its smart features.

“If your smart meter is not sending automatic readings to your energy supplier, please be reassured that it will still be recording your energy use correctly.

“We would recommend that you send your supplier meter readings to make sure you receive accurate, rather than estimated, bills until all of the features of your smart meter have been restored.”

The post Almost four million faulty smart meters in Britain appeared first on Energy Live News.

Source: Energylivenews.com

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The post Almost four million faulty smart meters in Britain first appeared on Energy News Beat.

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Germany used to be Europe’s economic powerhouse – it is fast becoming today’s sick man of Europe

Energy News Beat

In 2010, the now German minister of the economy Robert Habeck wrote, in his book published that year, that “patriotism, love of country, that makes me want to vomit”.

This was a typical sentiment among the Greens of his generation, where even the slightest sign of patriotism was tantamount to a return of the Third Reich. Yet it is not without irony that just a few days ago the very same Robert Habeck has begun to demand more “patriotism” from German companies in order to prevent them from moving abroad.

Will they honour his plea? Probably not, and who can blame them. Nothing (and no one) works in Germany anymore. The Germans work fewer hours than their European neighbours, yet even that seems to be too much for them. Planning a trip in Germany or having to commute to work has become a gamble. The nation’s transit systems are regularly grounding to a halt when unionised staff initiate a prolonged strikes. The staff of the German airline and railway sectors seem to walk out on an almost weekly basis; a wave of labour unrest is sweeping through Europe’s nations.

The German economy continues to be under fire from self-inflicted idiocies: In addition to the notoriously high energy prices and mounting bureaucratic burdens on both the EU and national level, Berlin now has to deal with eco-terrorism and a wave of strikes in the transportation sector. According to Dr. Hagen Lesch of the German Economic Institute, “2024 could become a record year for strikes in Germany”.

To measure the intensity of conflicts, Lesch has created an “escalation scale” and calculated that in the first months of 2024, conflicts have already reached an average value of 4.3 on this scale. The seven-level scale indicates the extent to which a conflict has escalated: from level 0, where negotiations are taking place around the table, to level 7, where strikes are occurring.

Throughout the whole of 2023, the escalation was at 3.0 – the highest value measured since 2000. In 2024 most conflict occurred up to the beginning of March with strikes by the German train union, followed by Lufthansa ground staff and Eurowings-Discover pilots. The most pressing demand by the unions is a reduction in working hours at higher salaries, a proposal that has drawn criticism from the largest union in Germany, representing employees in Germany’s heavy industry.

Similarly, the public is increasingly losing patience with the ongoing strikes: According to the most recent poll, 65 per cent of Germans disapprove of the unions’ behavior.

Even the aforementioned Robert Habeck, has called for an end of the strikes: “This affects millions of commuters who need to get to work and large quantities of goods that our economy and the country urgently need.”

Habeck is well aware that if employers give in to the demands, he is setting himself up for even more conflict this autumn: Between December 2023 and December 2024, wage tariff agreements for almost twelve million employees expire. In September of this year collective bargaining is set to begin in the metal and electrical industry, the largest tariff sector with over 3.6 million employees.

At the end of 2024, the collective agreements for public service employees at the federal and municipal levels (2.4 million employees) will expire as well. If current demands are fulfilled, all the other sector unions will take notice and scale up their own demands, squeezing an economy that is already spiraling into recession.

What makes matters worse is that other countries are preparing to take advantage of Germany’s ongoing troubles, positioning themselves as better alternatives for production and manufacturing.

The once much vaunted idea of “Deutsche Pünklichkeit” (German punctuality) has for now been replaced with German unreliability, contributing to the decline of what once was Europe’s economic powerhouse.

The questions is, will the people simple accept fewer jobs, higher inflation, and sinking living standards?

Supposedly, making train runs on time again was supposedly a cause for Mussolini’s takeover of Italy. If this is true, then the fascist threat for Germany might not come from the AfD but the country’s unions.

Source: Brusselssignal.eu

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The post Germany used to be Europe’s economic powerhouse – it is fast becoming today’s sick man of Europe first appeared on Energy News Beat.

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Wind and sun are free, but it’s harder to get renewable energy projects built these days. Here’s why

Energy News Beat

Germany – The wind gusting across north German farm country brings much to the village of Sprakebuell: fog and rain from the sea, the occasional migrating stork, the faint smell of manure in the newly fertilized fields.

And perhaps best of all, money – from selling the electricity generated by the wind turbines studding the flat green fields stretching out to the North Sea. A slice of the cash goes to the villagers themselves, with the local buy-in making this windy farming enclave near  the border with Denmark a showcase for ways to push ahead with renewable energy projects.

It’s not easy when headwinds from the post-pandemic global economy – including high interest rates and inflation – are holding back often costly investment in wind, solar and other forms of clean power.

That is slowing the growth in renewables needed to fend off climate change, just as it needs to speed up to meet an ambitious goal reached at the U.N. climate summit to boost clean energy capacity.

But Sprakebuell, a three-street cluster of neat one-story houses where tractor traffic outnumbers cars, has seen new life and added prosperity thanks to renewable energy. Small as it is, some of the German town’s practices offer lessons that could resonate globally.
The dividends from citizen-owned wind parks don’t make the recipients rich. Instead, the money is a little extra jingle, a financial buffer “that’s very important for us because it gives us a certain freedom,” said Astrid Nissen, 44, who with her husband manages a 150-cow dairy farm on the village’s outskirts.

Milk prices fluctuate wildly, but the steadier income from the wind parks is “something we can rely on, something we can use to plan,” she said, occasional moos coming from the barn behind her.

The whoosh, whoosh, whoosh from the turbines – inaudible in the village center but noisy up close – contribute some 400,000 euros (over $432,000) a year in taxes. That paid for a new playground, a bike path and even free piano lessons for Sprakebuell’s children.

When it comes to new projects, global hurdles include higher borrowing costs that make it more costly to fund projects, high prices and clogged supply chains for wind turbines and blades, and “not in my backyard” resistance to wind farms.

Interest rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and others have economists at University College London warning of “green collateral damage” and calling high borrowing costs meant to fight inflation “terrible news for the green transition”

Consultancy Wood Mackenzie found that “clean energy has witnessed one of the toughest years in its short history” with government calls for more generating capacity going unfilled in Germany, Spain, the U.K. and Italy.

The situation is even more serious for lower-income countries in places like Africa, where borrowing costs for the higher up-front investment needed for renewables were already high and have risen even further.

In Sprakebuell, the number of family farms shrank from 26 in 1960 to three larger ones today, and it was on the verge of being merged with a neighboring village 30 years ago. These days, it’s home not just to farmers, but people who work a half-hour away in the city of Flensburg.

Sprakebuell’s residents put in the 20% down payment on building a wind park and local banks lent the remaining 80%. The first wind park had 24 participants; the latest one had more than 150 as word spread.

Nissen and her husband started with an investment of the equivalent of just over 5,000 euros ($5,560) more than 20 years ago. The dividends helped pay for a new calf stall, a front-end loader to shovel out animal feed and two workers.

“That means we sometimes have a free weekend, sometimes a vacation – and without employees, that’s impossible,” she said.

Not everyone takes part, but all residents see benefits. There’s a shared electric car in the middle of town that anyone can book by smartphone app for 2.50 euros an hour. A small grocery store has opened with an attached cafe, and a restaurant serves lunch daily – signs of new purchasing power. Some similar-sized villages in the region have neither.

“Renewable energy projects are visible in the landscape, and for me, it’s very important that local people can identify with these projects,” said Christian Andresen, whose company, Solar-Energie Andresen GmbH, developed the wind farms and solar installations.

Andresen’s projects illustrate factors that can move renewables forward. One is the German government’s guaranteed price for electricity over 20 years, which gives banks confidence they can lend and get paid back.

Another is low interest rate loans from the government development bank, the KfW. But even those rates have risen, from 1% a few years ago to over 5%, Andresen said.

High interest rates hold back renewables far more than fossil fuel projects. Most of the cost for renewables is up-front in the price of buying the wind turbines or solar panels, while costs to operate them going forward are negligible – the wind blows and sun shines for free.

That makes the cost of borrowing a much more important factor in whether the project will be profitable.

It’s the other way around with fossil fuels: a natural gas-fired electricity plant is relatively cheaper to build, while the real costs come later in buying the gas.

On top of that is inflation, which has raised the cost of building facilities, and equipment shortages due to jammed supply chains.

Those were some reasons Danish company Orsted cited when it canceled two large wind installations off New Jersey. Swedish utility Vattenfall also halted an offshore project in the U.K.

The S&P Global Clean Energy Index of shares in companies with clean energy-related businesses has fallen 26% over the past year, even as broader market indexes have surged to records.
In the U.S. higher rates have been a “speed bump” for some renewables projects, said David Shepheard, North American energy and utilities partner at global consultancy Baringa. “The returns are squeezed in the current rate environment” but are brightening, he said, with the Fed expected to cut rates three times this year. The overall picture is nuanced, with a pullback in renewables by oil majors easing supplier logjams, while domestic content requirements for U.S. subsidies increase supply chain  for some projects.

In sub-Saharan Africa, where half the population lacks access to electricity, renewable projects face even steeper challenges with financing. With lots of sunshine, solar is an obvious option, but Africa’s 1.2 billion people have one-fifth the solar power of cloudy Germany.

Borrowing costs there are far higher than in rich countries, while government subsidies are uncertain because of political upheavals and countries already deep in debt.

In Nigeria, where blackouts are an everyday event for about half of the country’s 213 million people, some 14 solar projects have stalled because the finances don’t add up.

The government has been leery of World Bank credit guarantees that would make the projects bankable, concerned about being required to pay for the power even if the grid can’t deliver it.

But without that, “nobody will develop or finance a project with a government subsidy because it can dry off,” said Edu Okeke, managing director of energy company Azura, a stakeholder in the Nova solar project in Nigeria’s northern Katsina state.
The answer can be to raise the price of electricity – which the German government did last year by 25%. That also helps secure financing. Another is subsidized interest rates or credit guarantees as part of developed countries’ efforts to help poorer nations combat climate change.

And where locals are the owners instead of big energy companies, objections to wind towers’ appearance, shadows or whooshing tend to fade, said Andresen, the wind developer.

“When I have a share in it, it’s a nice noise and a nice view,” he said.

Source: Economictimes.indiatimes.com

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The post Wind and sun are free, but it’s harder to get renewable energy projects built these days. Here’s why first appeared on Energy News Beat.

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Texan bitcoiners start mining in Argentina, where peso is in freefall

Energy News Beat

Giga Energy, based in Houston, has teamed up with Exa Tech and Phoenix Global Resources to mine bitcoin in Argentina.
The province of Mendoza is home to the world’s second-largest shale gas reserve.
At the small pilot site, Giga is turning otherwise wasted methane gas into energy that’s used to power bitcoin mining rigs.

The Argentine province of Mendoza is famous for its vineyards and full-bodied Malbecs. But the popular wine region in the foothills of the Andes mountains is also home to the world’s second-largest shale gas reserve called Vaca Muerta, which translates to “dead cow.”

For two Texas-based bitcoin miners, the oil deposit offers a dream resource: wasted energy.

Brent Whitehead and Matt Lohstroh, both graduates of Texas A&M University, have been mining bitcoin on the oil fields of East Texas since 2019. That’s when they founded Giga Energy with the goal of taking flared natural gas and turning it into electricity to run bitcoin mines, which are notoriously power-thirsty.

On Tuesday, Giga announced its first foray into Argentina, following expansion across the U.S. and into Shanghai. The company is partnering with Phoenix Global Resources, an oil and gas company with operations in Mendoza, and with IT services company Exa Tech to launch a two megawatt bitcoin mine on top of Vaca Muerta.

Giga’s system involves placing a shipping container full of thousands of bitcoin miners on an oil well, then diverting the natural gas into generators, which convert the gas into electricity that’s used to power the miners. The process reduces CO2-equivalent emissions by about 63% compared to continued flaring — or burning — of unused gas, according to research from Denver-based Crusoe Energy Systems. It also turns wasted energy into a valuable asset for oil producers.

“By capturing stranded natural gas to power modular data centers for energy-intensive computing, Giga is actively contributing to reducing global methane emissions,” Whitehead told CNBC in an interview. Whitehead comes from a long line of “wildcats,” a term used to describe those who engage in high-risk exploratory drilling.

On the small pilot site in Argentina, Exa Tech is handling operations on the ground, Phoenix Global is providing the gas and Giga is supplying the equipment.

Bitcoin mining operation in the prolific Argentinian oil patch.
ExaTech

Bitcoin mining is particularly lucrative whenever there’s a bull market in the cryptocurrency, making current market conditions particularly ripe for a buildout. Bitcoin has soared 170% in the past six months, touching multiple all-time price highs of late, a rally sparked in part by optimism surrounding the launch of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S.

The boom has helped buoy the share prices of publicly traded bitcoin miners. Riot Platforms more than quadrupled in value last year. CleanSpark jumped more than fivefold in 2023 and is up another 112% this year. Cipher Mining soared over 600% last year and has gained 27% in 2024.

Lohstroh told CNBC that Giga has generated over $10 million in revenue so far this quarter. It’s not the only miner that sees opportunity in Argentina, which ranks 12th on the list of the top global emitters of methane, according to World Bank data.

Crusoe, which helps oil companies like ExxonMobil convert flare gas into a useful resource, helped launch a bitcoin mine at Vaca Muerta in June, as part of an ongoing effort to reduce the energy waste and environmental impacts of natural gas flaring.

Giga’s mine is intentionally small to start and isn’t intended to be profitable yet. The company first wants to make sure it can successfully import all the necessary equipment before scaling the operation. The mine has been running a test since December, and Lohstroh estimates the site has mined in the range of $200,000 to $250,000 worth of bitcoin.

Giga projects the mine is set to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 30,000 tons per year at the upstream facility. The site is also designed to sell any excess power to the Argentina grid as a way to both generate revenue and curb operational redundancies.

Bitcoin mining operation in the prolific Argentinian oil patch.
ExaTech

Crypto is popular in Argentina

It helps that bitcoin isn’t a hard sell in a country whose residents have long faced economic instability and wild currency fluctuations.

The government’s official figures show that annual inflation hit 211% in 2023, the highest in 32 years, further eroding the country’s purchasing power. Today, 2 in 5 Argentines live in poverty.

Vitalik Buterin, the co-creator of ethereum, previously told CNBC that crypto has far greater use cases in Argentina than in many other parts of the world, noting that he found coffee shops that accepted bitcoin and ether.

″When I visited Argentina back at the end of 2021, lots of people used crypto, lots of people loved crypto,” Buterin sad. “I literally got recognized on the streets of Buenos Aires more often than I got recognized in San Francisco.”

Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, said at the World Economic Forum in January that “shock therapy” is the only way to address the profound crisis facing his country. One tactic involved devaluing the national currency by 50% in an effort to curb inflation. Milei, who took over as president in December, has embraced bitcoin and has proposed dollarizing the economy, as well as abolishing the central bank and privatizing the pension system.

“We started this before Milei went into office,” Lohstroh said. “I think it’s pretty interesting that in lockstep, in stride, we’re turning this equipment online in the region, as it’s becoming dollarized and becoming more stable and giving real investment dollars into the economy.”

Federico Brom, Exa Tech’s director of business development, says Argentina has “basically banned imports” as a way to protect its currency. That could be a headwind for scaling the bitcoin mining business.

Still, Brom said he’s seen “a lot of support, a lot of hype and a lot of interest” in what they’re offering.

Source: Cnbc.com

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The post Texan bitcoiners start mining in Argentina, where peso is in freefall first appeared on Energy News Beat.

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Tuesday’s Energy Absurdity: What Happens When Texas Hail Meets China Solar

Energy News Beat

Hail storms roared across Texas last week, and some of them happened in the same geographical areas where solar developers have condemned hundreds of acres of productive land to build solar installations made in China.

The results were entirely predictable.

Check out this news report about damage caused to one solar industrial site outside Meadville, near Houston:

Ouch.

Here’s a video shot near Rosharon, about 15 miles due South of Houston:

Here’s a chopper view of damage of the same massive installation, which occupies 3,304 acres of arable land:

X user Corey Thompson poses a good question: Who pays for this damage? Well, initially at least, the developer and its insurance company will have to foot the bill. But in the longer term, you and I will pay for it in the form of higher utility bills and demands from solar developers for even more state and federal subsidies to keep them in the business of providing unreliable, weather-reliant electricity.

Or society is insane.

That is all.

Source: Blackmon.substack.com

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Matador Resources Company Announces Cash Tender Offer for Any and All of Its Outstanding 5.875% Senior Notes Due 2026

Energy News Beat

DALLAS, Mar. 26 /BusinessWire/ — Matador Resources Company (NYSE:MTDR) (“Matador”) today announced that it has commenced a cash tender offer (the “Tender Offer”) to purchase any and all of the approximately $699.2 million outstanding aggregate principal amount of its 5.875% senior notes due 2026 (the “2026 Notes”) with a portion of the net proceeds from Matador’s concurrent private placement of $800 million in aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes due 2032 (the “New Notes”), which was also announced today by Matador. The Tender Offer is being made pursuant to an offer to purchase and related notice of guaranteed delivery, each dated as of March 26, 2024. The Tender Offer will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on April 1, 2024 (as such time and date may be extended, the “expiration time”). Tendered 2026 Notes may be withdrawn at any time before the expiration time.

Under the terms of the Tender Offer, holders of the 2026 Notes that are validly tendered and accepted at or prior to the expiration time, or holders who deliver to the depository and information agent a properly completed and duly executed notice of guaranteed delivery and subsequently deliver such 2026 Notes, each in accordance with the instructions described in the offer to purchase, will receive total cash consideration of $1,000.75 per $1,000 principal amount of 2026 Notes, plus an amount equal to any accrued and unpaid interest up to, but not including, the settlement date, which is expected to be April 2, 2024, subject to satisfaction of the Financing Condition described below.

The Tender Offer is contingent upon the satisfaction of certain conditions, including the condition that Matador shall have raised at least $700 million in gross proceeds from the offering of the New Notes on or prior to the settlement date (the “Financing Condition”). The Tender Offer is not conditioned on any minimum amount of 2026 Notes being tendered. Matador may terminate, extend or amend the Tender Offer in its sole discretion and postpone the acceptance for purchase of, and payment for, 2026 Notes tendered.

To the extent any 2026 Notes remain outstanding after the consummation of the Tender Offer, Matador intends to satisfy and discharge any remaining 2026 Notes in accordance with the terms of the indenture governing the 2026 Notes.

The Tender Offer is being made pursuant to the terms and conditions contained in the offer to purchase and related notice of guaranteed delivery, each dated March 26, 2024, copies of which may be requested from the information agent for the tender offer, Global Bondholder Services Corporation, at (212) 430-3774 (brokers and banks) and (855) 654-2015 (all others; toll-free), by email at [email protected] or via the following web address: www.gbsc-usa.com/matadorresources. BofA Securities, Inc. will act as Dealer Manager for the Tender Offer. Questions regarding the Tender Offer may be directed to the Dealer Manager at (980) 388-4370 (collect) and (888) 292-0070 (toll free), or by email at [email protected].

This press release is for informational purposes only, does not constitute a notice of redemption or satisfaction and discharge under the indenture governing the 2026 Notes and is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any security, including the New Notes, nor a solicitation for an offer to purchase any security, including the New Notes or the 2026 Notes, nor does it constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Matador Resources Company

Matador is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development, production and acquisition of oil and natural gas resources in the United States, with an emphasis on oil and natural gas shale and other unconventional plays. Its current operations are focused primarily on the oil and liquids-rich portion of the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring plays in the Delaware Basin in Southeast New Mexico and West Texas. Matador also operates in the Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas and the Haynesville shale and Cotton Valley plays in Northwest Louisiana. Additionally, Matador conducts midstream operations in support of its exploration, development and production operations and provides natural gas processing, oil transportation services, oil, natural gas and produced water gathering services and produced water disposal services to third parties.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. “Forward-looking statements” are statements related to future, not past, events. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and include any statement that does not directly relate to a current or historical fact. In this context, forward-looking statements often address expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as “could,” “believe,” “would,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “expect,” “may,” “should,” “continue,” “plan,” “predict,” “potential,” “project,” “hypothetical,” “forecasted” and similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about guidance, projected or forecasted financial and operating results, future liquidity, the payment of dividends, results in certain basins, objectives, project timing, expectations and intentions, regulatory and governmental actions and other statements that are not historical facts. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements, and such forward-looking statements may not prove to be accurate. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to the capital markets generally, whether the Company will offer the New Notes or consummate the offering, the anticipated terms of the New Notes and the anticipated use of proceeds, including the repurchase of the 2026 Notes, as well as the following risks related to financial and operational performance: general economic conditions; the Company’s ability to execute its business plan, including whether its drilling program is successful; changes in oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids prices and the demand for oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids; its ability to replace reserves and efficiently develop current reserves; the operating results of the Company’s midstream oil, natural gas and water gathering and transportation systems, pipelines and facilities, the acquiring of third-party business and the drilling of any additional salt water disposal wells; costs of operations; delays and other difficulties related to producing oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids; delays and other difficulties related to regulatory and governmental approvals and restrictions; impact on the Company’s operations due to seismic events; its ability to make acquisitions on economically acceptable terms; its ability to integrate acquisitions; disruption from the Company’s acquisitions making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; significant transaction costs associated with the Company’s acquisitions; the risk of litigation and/or regulatory actions related to the Company’s acquisitions; availability of sufficient capital to execute its business plan, including from future cash flows, available borrowing capacity under its revolving credit facilities and otherwise; the operating results of and the availability of any potential distributions from our joint ventures; weather and environmental conditions; and the other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. For further discussions of risks and uncertainties, you should refer to Matador’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including the “Risk Factors” section of Matador’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Matador undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release, except as required by law, including the securities laws of the United States and the rules and regulations of the SEC. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

Source: Rbcrichardsonbarr.com

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The post Matador Resources Company Announces Cash Tender Offer for Any and All of Its Outstanding 5.875% Senior Notes Due 2026 first appeared on Energy News Beat.

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Court upholds 2022 onshore oil and gas lease sales following Biden’s “unlawful” leasing ban

Energy News Beat

(WO) – Western Energy Alliance won a significant victory in court last Friday as the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upheld the first onshore oil and gas lease sales of the Biden administration, held in June 2022.

Judge Christopher Copper ruled in favor of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) greenhouse gas (GHG) analysis that served as the basis of the sale of 162 leases in Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Nevada, and Colorado. The Alliance’s intervention in the case to support BLM was pivotal, as the judge relied heavily on the trade association’s arguments on the type of climate change analysis necessary for lease sales to go forward.

“After President Biden’s unlawful leasing ban issued his first week in office was overturned in court, the first sales were finally held in June 2022. Of course, anti-oil-and-gas groups who want absolutely no development absolutely anywhere, immediately sued,” said Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Alliance.

“Our legal team argued that the Biden administration’s own interagency working group, comprised of every relevant department in the Executive Branch including the Environmental Protection Agency, has been unable to define what level of emissions is significant in NEPA analyses.

“It is illogical to expect BLM, which is the expert agency on land management but not the government’s climate change scientific research agency, to do so on its own. The judge relied heavily upon Western Energy Alliance’s expertise in his ruling, citing our legal brief’s arguments on social cost of carbon analysis and the lack of BLM’s authority to set a carbon budget.

“Oil and natural gas developed on federal lands is some of the most sustainably produced in the world, subject to many more environmental protections than nonfederal lands and especially in comparison to other major producing countries.

“If we don’t produce it on federal lands, we must produce it elsewhere or import it from overseas, where GHG intensity is higher. With the continued lack of an alternative that does everything that oil and natural gas do, environmental groups like the plaintiffs we defeated in court continue to advance unrealistic energy policies that are worse for the environment and would result in higher levels of GHG emissions.”

Source: Worldoil.com

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The post Court upholds 2022 onshore oil and gas lease sales following Biden’s “unlawful” leasing ban first appeared on Energy News Beat.

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French Bank Pulls Funding for Two LNG Projects

Energy News Beat

French lender Credit Agricole has declared it will no longer finance the Rovuma LNG project in Mozambique and the Papua LNG project in Papua New Guinea.

The bank cited its commitments to reduce exposure to the oil and gas industry as the basis for its decision, according to a Reuters report on the news.

Rovuma LNG and Papua LNG are two of the largest liquefied natural gas projects in progress, with the companies involved including Exxon, TotalEnergies, Eni, and Australia’s Santos.

Environmentalists welcomed the decision, commenting that it would be challenging for the energy companies to find an alternative bank to step in.

Exxon, the leader on the Rovuma project was expected to make the final investment decision on the project next year but this could change now. TotalEnergies, which leads the Papua LNG project had also planned on making the FID on the venture next year.

Credit Agricole is moving away from LNG just as demand forecasts for the superchilled fuel brighten, with Shell recently forecasting demand will surge by 50% in the next 16 years. Africa has abundant but underdeveloped gas resources that projects such as Rovuma and Papua were going to tap, helping the economies of Mozambique and Papua with a new and potentially huge revenue stream.

Credit Agricole, however, announced last December it was going to stop funding new oil and gas ventures in line with its net-zero commitments. The bank also said it would triple the amount of money it invests in transition-related technologies. Plans are to boost its exposure to alternative sources of energy by 80% over this year and next, expanding it to $13.3 billion euro.

“We need to massively invest in renewable energy and the energy sobriety in order to decarbonize the economy,” the bank’s chief executive Phillippe Brassac said at the time.

Source: Oilprice.com

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The surprising reason why Big Oil may not want a second Trump term

Energy News Beat

HOUSTON — As president, Donald Trump vowed to unleash American “energy dominance,” while on the campaign trail, he has summarized his energy policies with the slogan “drill, baby, drill.”

Yet a possible Trump victory in the 2024 election is not delighting oil and gas executives as much as one might expect, according to interviews with several industry leaders at a recent energy conference in Houston.

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Fossil fuel firms have found a lot to like in President Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which Trump has vowed to unravel. The law offers lucrative tax credits for companies to capture and store carbon dioxide — subsidies that several oil giants are eager to exploit, even as they pump record amounts of crude oil and post near-record profits.

In addition, Trump has championed an “America First” approach to trade policy that prioritizes steep tariffs on imported goods. The approach could hike the costs of building new pipelines and other energy infrastructure, and it could heighten anxieties about a global trade war.

Still, fossil fuel executives have slammed Biden’s decision to pause approvals of new liquefied natural gas exports. And during the GOP presidential primary, oil barons filled Trump’s campaign coffers far more than those of his competitors.

If a poll were conducted among energy executives about the 2024 election, the results “would be a little more balanced than people might expect,” Alan Armstrong, president and CEO of the gas pipeline company Williams, said in an interview at CERAWeek by S&P Global.

Armstrong said many fossil fuel executives feel the Biden administration has unfairly demonized their industry because of its role in causing climate change. But that’s a personal sentiment, not a professional one, he said.

“If you’re asking people personally, they’re probably tired of being told they’re bad people by the current administration,” Armstrong said. “But from a business objective standpoint, it would be a much more balanced perspective.”

Support for subsidies

Trump plans to gut the Inflation Reduction Act, including its generous tax credits for clean energy and electric vehicles, should he return to the White House, according to senior campaign officials and advisers to the former president.

Yet several oil industry executives have praised the Inflation Reduction Act — the IRA for short — for helping their companies pursue still-unproven green technologies such as carbon capture and clean hydrogen. The subsidy for carbon capture has especially benefited ExxonMobil, CEO Darren Woods acknowledged at CERAWeek.

ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods speaks during the CERAWeek oil summit in Houston on March 18. (Mark Felix/AFP/Getty Images)

“I was very supportive of the IRA — I am very supportive of the IRA — because as legislated the IRA focuses on carbon intensity and in theory is technology-agnostic,” Woods said. “They’re not trying to pick a particular technology.”

Vijay Swarup, Exxon’s senior director of climate strategy and technology, added that the IRA is “getting projects to advance.” Exxon has signed contracts to store the carbon captured from an ammonia plant and a steel plant in Louisiana, as well as a yet-to-be-built hydrogen plant in Texas, Swarup said in an interview.

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Of course, Trump could not unilaterally repeal the IRA subsidies. He would need Congress to pass legislation, meaning Republicans would need to maintain control of the House and retake the Senate, in addition to clinching the White House.

In that scenario, Mike Sommers, president and chief executive of the American Petroleum Institute, said the trade group would aggressively lobby against any proposals to scrap green subsidies that have helped the industry.

“I suspect that when there is an attempt to repeal the IRA — and there will be — it will end up looking more like a scalpel-like approach rather than a butcher knife,” Sommers said. “And we’ll advocate for the provisions that we support.”

Tensions over trade

While in the White House, Trump proclaimed himself a “Tariff Man” — and he has no intention of abandoning that self-appointed title if reelected.

Publicly, Trump has floated the idea of imposing a 10 percent tariff on every good coming into the United States. Privately, he has discussed with advisers the possibility of imposing a flat 60 percent tariff on all Chinese imports, The Washington Post previously reported.

At a rally in Ohio this month, Trump also pledged to slap a 100 percent tariff on Chinese vehicle imports — part of a broader tirade in which he warned of a “bloodbath” for the U.S. auto industry if he is not reelected.

Sommers said such proposals, which are widely viewed as likely to spark a global trade war, carry “risks” for his sector.

“Particularly for the products that are produced here in the United States, we need free trade for these goods to flow,” he said. “I think we are concerned about kind of a retrenchment to a more nationalistic approach on trade policy. So that’s one example of an area where we’re not going to be aligned with a potential President Trump.”

But Dan Eberhart, chief executive of the oil-field services company Canary and a Trump supporter, said he isn’t worried about the former president’s trade policies. He said any adverse impact of tariffs would be canceled out by other pro-fossil-fuel policies, such as more offshore oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico.

“In general, I don’t like protectionist policy,” Eberhart said. “But I really think that the Trump administration will be more pro-oil and gas than the Biden administration.”

The Trump campaign did not respond to specific questions for this story. In an emailed statement, spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that “on day one, President Trump will unleash American Energy to lower inflation for all Americans, pay down debt, strengthen national security, and establish the United States as the manufacturing superpower of the world.”

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source: Washingtonpost.com

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Current and prospective investors, please call our Pecos Country Operating offices at (817) 581-3877.

Pecos Country Operating, LLC is a privately owned oil and gas exploration and production company headquartered in Fort Worth. We own and operate wells across the South Central United States with our predominant means of production coming out of West and North Texas.

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