Will US oil drillers respond to triple-digit oil prices after months of restraint? Scott Sheffield, CEO of top Permian driller Pioneer Natural Resources, tells Capitol Crude that his commitment to slow growth could soon shift as a result of the Russia crisis. He said Pioneer could ramp up to 10% growth for a few years if there's a global effort to replace Russian exports. S&P Global Commodity Insights recently raised its outlook for US oil supply growth to just under 1 million barrels per da...
Mar 03, 2022•16 min
Using satellite data from 2019 and 2020, a team of French and US researchers created the first systematic estimate of large methane leaks that can only be seen from space. They detected about 1,800 so-called “ultra-emitters” over the two years, of which roughly 1,200 came from oil and gas facilities. Those high-emitting events, which are normally undetectable and not accounted for in national greenhouse gas inventories, represented as much as 12% of global methane emissions from the oil and gas ...
Feb 28, 2022•22 min
The International Maritime Organization has set its sights on slashing the global shipping industry’s total emissions in half by 2050, with an interim target of cutting the carbon intensity of all ships by at least 40% by 2030. S&P Global Platts Analytics expects momentum to build for ammonia-fueled ships as companies strive to meet these ambitious goals, and sees the potential for more than 2,500 vessels to be powered by ammonia by 2030 under an aspirational case, while its reference case i...
Feb 22, 2022•20 min
Where is US oil production headed with prices at $90/b and some analysts seeing triple digits ahead? We're digging into the US upstream outlook from several angles, with: • Mitch Fane, Ernst & Young's Americas energy leader, on what's driving capital decisions, uncertainty around ESG disclosure requirements, and the state of industry consolidation and digital transformation (3:16). • Nathan Hasbrook, analyst for S&P Global Platts Analytics, who shares the outlook for 2022 supply and a lo...
Feb 14, 2022•19 min
Russia's standoff with the West over Ukraine continues to stir anxieties across global energy and commodity markets about possible new sanctions. Brian O'Toole , nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former senior sanctions official at the US Treasury Department, joined Platts senior editor Meghan Gordon to discuss the penalties the US and EU might impose if Russia invades. He predicts a "broadening and deepening" of the Western sanctions leveled in 2014. They also discuss how ...
Feb 07, 2022•17 min
The Russia-Ukraine standoff has significant implications for the global gas and LNG markets, given Europe's reliance on Russian supply. It's peak winter demand season, and European gas inventories have been falling daily. Gas in storage stands at about 40% full, versus 53% full at the same time a year ago. The Biden administration said last week it was working with European allies to find additional natural gas supplies from North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and the US in the event mil...
Jan 31, 2022•26 min
Countries around the world committed to keeping the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius at the last United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. But when looking at the world’s aggregate performance across key indicators of clean energy innovation, a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation found "a global lack of urgency." And without an immediate surge in effort by countries working with the private sector, the report su...
Jan 24, 2022•18 min
As you heard in last week's episode, geopolitical events have the potential to move energy markets in a big way in 2022. Today we're looking at three key geopolitical angles that have some common ties: the Russia-Ukraine tensions, the recent unrest in Kazakhstan, and fuel subsidies in general. Paul Sheldon, chief geopolitical adviser for S&P Global Platts Analytics, joined senior editor Meghan Gordon to discuss how each of these issues could impact oil and other energy markets this year. Sti...
Jan 18, 2022•13 min
Global oil markets are starting 2022 with a number of factors that could make for another volatile year. OPEC is continuing its monthly supply increases but taking a cautious approach so far given uncertain demand. A return of Iran barrels is not a sure thing as the nuclear talks stretch into a second year. The US tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a big way at the end of last year, but that did little to soften prices. Russia-Ukraine tensions are at the forefront geopolitically, and they...
Jan 10, 2022•18 min
US oil refiners are pushing back against the Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to deny small refinery exemptions and other aspects of the latest biofuel mandate. They argue the policy will force some plants to close and increase gasoline prices further at a time the Biden administration is looking to ease pain at the pump for US drivers. In its long-awaited Renewable Fuel Standard proposal, EPA adjusted down blending volumes for 2020 and 2021 to take into account the severe drop in tran...
Dec 27, 2021•12 min
A broad cross section of the energy industry has been in battle with the Federal Communications Commission over a band of airwaves, called spectrum, that tech and telecom companies gained the right to operate their mass-market wireless devices on last year. Because this spectrum is finite, it is allocated by the federal government, with the FCC managing commercial spectrum licenses. But the energy sector has argued that the FCC doesn’t consider criticality as it’s doling out those airwaves. And ...
Dec 20, 2021•22 min
The pandemic interrupted a steady surge in global air travel demand, when passenger numbers tripled in just over 20 years. Jet fuel demand remains below pre-pandemic levels and is not expected to fully recover until late 2025 or 2026, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics. Yet the race is still on to limit aviation emissions growth because there are no quick fixes for decarbonizing this sector. The International Energy Agency expects aviation emissions to be 12% above pre-pandemic levels ...
Dec 13, 2021•15 min
Reducing carbon emissions has been a central tenet of the Biden administration’s climate agenda. But methane is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide emissions in terms of global warming potential. Roughly a quarter of the warming occurring now is driven by methane, and the oil and gas sector is the single largest source of those emissions in the US. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that methane garnered a lot of attention at the global climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland last month. A...
Dec 06, 2021•24 min
The year is nearly over and the US Environmental Protection Agency has yet to formally propose biofuel blending requirements for 2021, and will miss the Nov. 30 deadline to finalize Renewable Fuel Standard volume requirements for 2022 as well. The Biden administration has also already missed a Nov. 1 deadline to issue a multi-year rule setting renewable fuel volumes for 2023 and beyond. The country’s leading association of biofuel producers has put the EPA on notice that this is unacceptable. Gr...
Nov 22, 2021•17 min
The latest US inflation data showed energy costs jumping 30% in the 12 months through October. The trend is expected to continue through the winter, as home-heating costs rise across the board. The US Energy Information Administration predicts propane will see the biggest price spike in percentage terms, with heating costs surging 46%, compared with 39% for heating oil, 29% for natural gas and 6% for electricity. Senior editor Meghan Gordon spoke with Andrew Neal, manager of global NGLs for S&am...
Nov 15, 2021•20 min
US gasoline prices remain high well after the summer driving season. Domestic oil production isn't coming back fast as investors remain wary. And now President Joe Biden has struck out asking OPEC to put more oil supply on the market to help ease prices. OPEC+ decided Nov. 4 to stick to its original plan of increasing its production quotas by 400,000 b/d in December. Senior editor Meghan Gordon spoke with Herman Wang, managing editor for OPEC and Middle East news, about the meeting's outcome and...
Nov 08, 2021•19 min
The UN Climate Change Conference taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, has been hailed as the world’s best last chance to get a handle on the climate crisis. In the US, groups like the Electric Power Research Institute are working on climate solutions and advancing energy technologies to meet increasingly ambitious decarbonization goals set by companies and governments. As part of that effort, EPRI, along with its natural gas counterpart, launched the Low-Carbon Resources Initiative, an internation...
Nov 01, 2021•19 min
With tight supplies and strong demand helping create large swings in global gas prices, Japanese utility JERA is staying the course. The world’s largest LNG buyer is focused on its supply procurement and trading strategy. Sunao Nakamura, a senior managing executive officer at JERA and chief of the Japanese company’s optimization department, spoke with Platts Senior Editor Harry Weber about the gas-pricing environment, where the market could be headed and how JERA is responding. He also addressed...
Oct 25, 2021•28 min
Asphalt, the heaviest part of crude used in road and home construction, could see a surge in demand as the $1 trillion infrastructure bill would provide record amounts of funding for highway improvements. But all that depends on the bill making it to the president’s desk to be signed into law. That legislation also includes critical language that would provide five years of funding stability for the federal-aid highway program and other surface-transportation programs that are soon set to expire...
Oct 18, 2021•23 min
Amid a crowded field of US liquefaction projects, Commonwealth LNG is looking to build momentum for its proposed 8.4 million mt/year facility in Louisiana as it targets a final investment decision in late 2022 and shipping its first LNG in 2025. Senior editor Harry Weber spoke with Commonwealth LNG CEO Paul Varello about the state of the global market, the status of commercial efforts to support his project, and the impact that the run-up in spot prices in Asia and Europe is having on US aspirat...
Oct 11, 2021•18 min
Last week brought another major development in the outlook for the US adoption of electric vehicles, with Ford Motor Co. and South Korea's SK Innovations announcing an $11 billion project to manufacture EVs and lithium-ion batteries in Kentucky and Tennessee starting in 2025. A lot of uncertainties still surround the outlook for EV adoption in the US, including government incentives like those in President Biden's Build Back Better proposal, the cost comparison with gas-powered cars, and scale-u...
Oct 04, 2021•11 min
Global oil demand will still be significant for years, even under the most ambitious energy transition. So which basins will continue to produce, and which others will be abandoned? Offshore E&P company Kosmos Energy has answered those questions by halting its frontier exploration and selling those assets in the past two years. Its oil portfolio is now focused on two areas: West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico, and it aims to increasingly shift to natural gas. Senior editor Meghan Gordon spoke...
Sep 27, 2021•25 min
The American Gas Association has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and believes that natural gas utilities are well-positioned to help the Biden administration achieve the ambitious climate goals laid out by the president, though they’re not on board with some proposals floated on Capitol Hill, including the methane fee. Jasmin Melvin spoke with Richard Meyer, AGA’s vice president of energy markets, analysis and standards, about the administration’s climate agenda and what natural g...
Sep 20, 2021•26 min
Chris Midgley, global director of analytics at S&P Global Platts, shares his latest outlook for global oil demand heading into the third year of the pandemic and takes stock of the tension between climate ambitions and economic growth. Midgley explains why US shale drillers continue to hold back despite relatively higher oil prices, whether the US and Iran will likely reach a nuclear deal to remove oil sanctions, and how US Gulf Coast producers and refiners are recovering after Hurricane Ida...
Sep 13, 2021•18 min
As August comes to a close, Washington, DC, is ramping up again with energy issues before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. On the natural gas side, the commission could start answering longstanding questions about how it will evaluate pipelines and LNG facilities in the face of opposition and pressure to weigh climate change impacts. In terms of electric markets, FERC recently kicked off a new proceeding that could revamp its transmission policies to help connect more renewable energy s...
Aug 30, 2021•17 min
President Joe Biden took a strong stance against fossil fuels right away, essentially canceling the long-simmering Keystone XK Pipeline and implementing a moratorium on all new oil and gas lease sales on federal lands and waters. Since then though, his administration has refused to oppose other key crude oil pipeline projects, such as the expansion of the Dakota Access Pipeline and the nearly completed Line 3 replacement pipeline from Canada. Also, while his campaign promised to cancel new oil a...
Aug 23, 2021•25 min
Representative Sean Casten, Democrat-Illinois, has not been shy in sharing his belief that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will be essential in combatting climate change and pivotal to achieving the US’ ambitious clean energy and decarbonization goals. To get the message across and garner support for legislation aimed at granting FERC greater authority to facilitate the shift to a clean energy economy, the congressman has put his spin on Megan Thee Stallion and Fergie hits while deliver...
Aug 16, 2021•20 min
The Biden administration is racing to adopt its energy and climate policy priorities before the pressures of the 2022 midterm elections limit what the White House can do. Meghan Gordon spoke with Kevin Book, managing director of ClearView Energy Partners, about a few of the policies set to make a big impact on the US economy, energy producers and market dynamics. They talk about the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's effort to assess climate risks to...
Aug 09, 2021•16 min
Many of the key moments in the oil markets still echo today and are useful in looking at the challenges ahead for producers, consumers and markets during the energy transition away from fossil fuels. We spoke with Adi Imsirovic, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and former global head of oil at Gazprom Marketing & Trading, about his new book, "Trading and Price Discovery for Crude Oils." We talk about the role of governments and regulators in markets, what t...
Jul 30, 2021•23 min
The US Department of Energy’s newly rebranded Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management aims to fund the research and technology deployment that will help the US reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. We spoke with Acting Assistant Secretary Jennifer Wilcox, head of the office and a carbon capture expert, about some of the promising technologies to curb US dependence on fossil fuels and cut emissions. We talked about harder-to-decarbonize sectors like aviation, shipping and long-haul truck...
Jul 23, 2021•24 min
