Daily Energy Standup Episode #247 – Sinopec’s LNG Boost, Google’s Electric Bus Glitch, EV Discounts, Stellantis’ Hybrid Ram, Scope 3 Emission Concerns

The other evening, I was a panellist at an event bringing together energy companies, investors, bankers and other interested parties, to discuss the ways in which companies and investors communicate on issues relating to the […]

Highlights of the Podcast

00:00 – Intro
02:58 – Sinopec’s colossal LNG tank bolsters winter gas supply – 541M gallons
05:02 – REPORT: Google’s Green Dream Goes Downhill — Google’s 100% Electric Bus Loses Power, Causes Mayhem on San Francisco Slope (VIDEO)
07:00 – EV Makers Turn to Discounts to Combat Waning Demand
08:54 – Stellantis’ new Ram pickup is an EV — with a gas-powered generator in case the battery runs out
11:57 – More harm than good: scope 3 emissions disclosures risk being too broad
15:24 – Markets Update
18:23 – Occidental and BlackRock Partner to Create World’s Largest Direct Air Capture Plant, STRATOS
21:11 – Outro

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

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Michael Tanner: [00:00:15] What is going on, everybody? Welcome to another edition of the Daily Energy News Beat Standup here on this gorgeous Wednesday, November 8th, 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, the purveyor of the show and the director and publisher of the world’s greatest website, Energy News Beat Stuart Turley, my man. How are we doing today? [00:00:40][24.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:00:40] It’s a beautiful name, neighborhood, but I think I just swallowed a bug. [00:00:42][2.4]

Michael Tanner: [00:00:43] Oh, yeah? Well, we’ll go ahead and get that out of the way and dive in today. Speaking of menu and delicious things to do, we have a great menu lined up for the show today. Lots of talk more harm than good Scope three Emissions Disclosures Risk being too broad. Next up, Sinopec’s colossal LNG tank bolsters Winters a gas pipeline sitting at currently 100 or 541 million gallons. Next up, EV makers turn to discounts to combat waning demand. On the back of that, google’s green dream goes downhill. They’re a 100% electric bus, loses power, causes mayhem on the San Francisco slope is a great video. It’s a it’s not good there’s an accident nonetheless. And then Stellantis new RAM pickup is an EV. But guess what? It’s got a gas powered generator in case the battery runs out. So we’ll check in with Stu on all of the the EV stuff for the day. He’ll toss it over to me. Really? We got to break down what happened to oil prices today, 7708. That’s about a three and a half percent drop from where it opened up about 80. Some interesting numbers from the API, from the API crude oil inventory estimates that we will cover at ten. We have an interesting deal between BlackRock and Oxy, so we’ll have to dive in and see what that’s all about. But then we will let you guys get out of here, get back to work, start your Wednesday. We appreciate you guys checking us out. We know you’ve got a lot of options and we do appreciate you sticking with us. But before we dive into today’s show, guys, remember all the news and analysis you are about to hear is brought to you by the world’s greatest website. www.EnergyNewsBeat.com The best place for all of your energy news. Stu and the team do a great job of curating that website, making sure it is up to speed with everything you need to know to stay at the tip of the spear when it comes to the energy business. And you can email the show questions@energynewsbeat.com hit the description below. You can see all of the timestamps and links to the articles. You can follow the podcast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also check us out on YouTube at Energy News Beat. If I was a 15 year old YouTuber, I’d slam my fist and say, Smash that like button. But instead I will just refrain from doing that and say, That’s probably the best place to support the show. If you are interested, I might have brought those to Where do you want to begin? [00:02:55][131.7]

Stuart Turley: [00:02:55] Hey, we’re going to start out in the United States here. Sinopec Colossal LNG tank Bolsters winter Supply 541 million gallons. Okay, This is China’s petroleum and chemical. Oh, wait a minute. Hundreds still on the board. Sorry about that. This is actually in China. So China Petroleum and Chemical Corporations and OPIC achieved a big, big run. They put into service the largest LNG storage tank at their King Lango. LNG receiving that thing is huge. We need one to take a bath. Indeed. [00:03:34][38.1]

Michael Tanner: [00:03:34] Yeah, no kidding. I mean, it’s a sign that China knows that there could be a coming global energy shortage and they’re just doing what they always do playing the ten, 15, 20 year long game. Yeah, it’s they, they again this investment signifies their stance to make sure that they have access to cheap energy regardless of what happens. And they specifically said this is providing a reliable supply to approximate 2.1 million households for the next five months. The company claimed in a press release Exactly. [00:04:03][28.4]

Stuart Turley: [00:04:04] Now in Qatar and Sinopec snapping number two, they just signed a 27 year contract for a delivery of 3 million tons per year. Wow. Of LNG. [00:04:21][17.0]

Michael Tanner: [00:04:21] So now they’re saying we are not only locked out of the future energy mix, I’ll tell you that much. Now, is that a bad thing? I don’t know, because we would love to be self-sufficient here. We could be self-sufficient. But it is interesting. We are being left behind when it comes to the global energy landscape. [00:04:35][13.4]

Stuart Turley: [00:04:36] Oh, we are. And, you know, so here is the world’s biggest renewable manufacture of gear going with LNG, with the world’s largest storage and then the longest contract. [00:04:50][14.8]

Michael Tanner: [00:04:53] All right. We’re moving to wind. Don’t worry. What’s next? [00:04:55][1.9]

Stuart Turley: [00:04:55] Okay, before we move to wind, I love this story. Speaking of our favorite place, California, Google Green Dream goes downhill, kind of like Newsom when he went down them stairs the other day when he was giving solidary to Biden when he fell down. And that was a great video. Did you see that, Michael? [00:05:17][21.2]

Michael Tanner: [00:05:17] Yeah. Can we get a quick moment of silence for Governor Newsom tripping? Okay, that’s enough. [00:05:22][4.6]

Stuart Turley: [00:05:23] That’s good enough. Google’s 100% electric mass loses power, causes mayhem on San Francisco slope. This is how Larry is. And I’ll tell you, what’s even funnier is Vice President Harris went out there as in solidarity and tried to make sure she did not Abuse was endangered. This is like a major crisis for her. The S.F. MTA passed a resolution in 2008 to convert its bus fleet to 100% electric by 2035. But this bus, the Google fleet of 140 luxury busses, it had a it ran out of power and then the batteries would not hold it. It went up and down. [00:06:13][50.8]

Michael Tanner: [00:06:17] This picture is hilarious. If we can get that and your producer to throw this picture up here, I mean, this car is legitimately smashed and I love how they got the shot of the car smashed right above it. 100% battery electric. [00:06:27][10.8]

Stuart Turley: [00:06:28] Oh, yeah. Oh, you got to love it. All right. Let’s go to. [00:06:31][2.8]

Michael Tanner: [00:06:31] Remember you also, you get a you get a tax subsidy for buying a TV, and then whoever gets hit by the EV gets a tax subsidy when they got to go take their car to get it. [00:06:40][8.8]

Stuart Turley: [00:06:40] Oh, and and when those that that bus is probably 19 times the heavier than normal bus because those batteries weigh a lot more than diesel was. [00:06:50][10.4]

Michael Tanner: [00:06:51] Eight times more expensive, all to the detriment of the U.S. taxpayer. So. [00:06:55][4.2]

Stuart Turley: [00:06:55] Oh, absolutely. Yay. All right, let’s have some fun here. Oh, even makers turn to discounts to come back, waning the demand. This one. Some automakers, such as Hyundai and Ford Motor, are offering cash rebates as high as 7500 on some models. So that’s beyond the tax credits. So not only companies like Ford losing $20,000 per car, they’re now going to go lose $30,000 per car. That’s cool. Let’s lose more money. [00:07:32][36.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:07:33] Did you find it funny that speaking of these automakers, not to make a slight left turn here, but most of them have settled with the United Auto Workers Association? You guys remember there was mass strikes going on. They’ve settled for some higher wages. But no, it’s interesting. They were sort of fighting against the EV push because they saw they were on the front lines of seeing this six months ago. Hey, guys, no one’s buying these EVs. And if they’re tying our future to this, who cares if we get a 40% raise? We’re about to get a 0% raise or 1,000% pay cut because they’re going to lay us off. [00:08:05][32.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:08:06] Oh, absolutely. And here’s one from John Lawler, Ford’s chief financial officer. We’ve seen the price come down much quicker than we expected a little bit about a bazillion years ago. Andy Grove was running Intel. And when all of a sudden, when the sub thousand dollar computer started coming out, it freaked out every executive because the price was coming down faster than they thought. So all of a sudden it’s the same thing with EV. The price coming down just totally messes your plans for manufacturing. So I think this is kind of amazing, but this leads us to the next article. Michael. Stellantis new RAM pickup is an EV with a gas powered generator in case the battery runs out. Now I’m going to laugh for a half a second, but this is actually kind of cool. Tell me you on this one and I’ll tell you why for a little bit and then a yes no. Okay. The truck can operate as a zero emissions EV until the battery dies and the electric onboard generator powered by a 3.6 liter V6 engine kicks on to power the vehicle after its initial charge. Here’s the thing. It’s like an old World War Two submarine. The electric batteries drive the engine. So you get that fast, take off, you get all that. But the problem is your gas. And then the range on these things was crazy. The range on it could go down 690 miles. Yeah, I was like, Man, this is kind of good. And the torque would be great for killing. The problem is the biomass is going to weigh more than some of my college dates. I mean, this is going to be nuts. Hey, I went to Oklahoma State. If you had, you know, you went out to the dairy barn and. You know, hey. [00:10:14][128.6]

Michael Tanner: [00:10:16] This is hilarious, though. So a couple of things here. Stu Epstein estimates that that range of the RAM charge will be up to 960 miles. Not terrible, but only 145 miles of that is supposed to be powered by the 92 kilowatt hour battery when fully charged without the rest. So only 145 of those miles we can contribute to the battery. What I love about this is they’re calling it an EV. Wait, wait. Isn’t this a hybrid? Is it really a hybrid vehicle? [00:10:41][25.0]

Stuart Turley: [00:10:41] By definition. [00:10:42][0.3]

Michael Tanner: [00:10:43] From the top of our lungs, that hybrid is probably the way the place where cars should go. Maybe this means remember Toyota two years ago, they didn’t get into the EV space, right? What did they do? They went in with the hybrid. I think this is the first step from Stellantis, who again, owns Chrysler and GM. So when you hear Stellantis, I think GM, Dodge, Chrysler, all that jazz, they’re dipping their toe into the hybrid space. Our Guide of the week on this one, because this is sleight of hand in my opinion. [00:11:07][24.3]

Stuart Turley: [00:11:08] There’s there’s about 16 sleight of hands over here, and that is very, very good for them. Do, do do, do do they’re going after all tax incentives that they can because from a technical standpoint, it needs an electric Eevee. And but yet you’re going to get people like me that are going a I got to drive a thousand miles to the office in a. [00:11:32][24.4]

Michael Tanner: [00:11:33] Vehicle, but you’ve got six mice in the backseat losing their mind on a treadmill to power the thing. So. [00:11:38][5.1]

Stuart Turley: [00:11:38] Oh, absolutely. But then you sit back and it will power a house. So now you can burn your I wonder if they’re going to have this in a diesel model so that I can get me a diesel. And then. Just kidding. Okay, that was bad. So anyway, we let’s go ahead and come over here to more harm than good scope three Emissions Disclosures Risk being too broad. Now, this is out of the the Europe area, the U.K. here. And here’s where I think it’s going to be a little bit of a real problem here. The new EU ESG rules. And I think that as we see this, Michael, in the last months, we have seen more switching from renewables, from EVs. I’ve never seen this kind of story thing in it started with the the UK’s prime minister when he said, we’re going to kind of back off the transition here because the transition hit a brick wall and we can’t afford it. This is along that same line. Where I’m going with this is you’re going to see the other side, the Renewable Green New Deal really blip out and push everything they can go weird on on regulations. So just buckle up for a lot of weirdness from the Green New Deal sign. And that’s exactly what this is. The companies through regulatory are large EU entities that have to have at least a balance sheet of 20 million turnover exceeding 40 million and an average number of employees of 250. This second and third order magnitude recording is just going to be nuts on everything that they’re going to do. [00:13:30][112.0]

Michael Tanner: [00:13:31] And again, nothing wrong with making people disclose scope one emission and that’s just direct emissions from your operation. Sure, we can argue about whether or not those emissions mean anything, but I’m not against Hey, you have to omit scope. You know what they would consider scope one, emissions or direct emissions, but scope two and scope three greenhouse gas emissions do just make it really, really it’s almost a fugazi of whoa. Is that really you know, it’s because now you’re talking about specifically scope two and scope three or what second third order effects. And it just seems to me that, you know, eventually we’re going have scope for emissions, which is, you know, not associated industries, but it’s you know, it’s we’re seven steps away from Kevin Bacon more for now. We got three more to go before we get there. [00:14:14][43.7]

Stuart Turley: [00:14:15] I think scope four is going to be I thought about it the I thought about it emissions we just it. [00:14:21][5.9]

Michael Tanner: [00:14:21] We we we announced it publicly on accident. [00:14:23][2.4]

Stuart Turley: [00:14:24] Yeah yeah. Oh wait a minute. Oh there’s a carbon tax for you said for emissions. I thought about it, I mean this is nuts and but for the folks that don’t understand it. Scope one emissions are the company produces scope two produces indirectly, such as the electricity it uses and scope three or the indirectly responsible for the products you make. So here you are an oil and gas E and B operator, and you’re going to have to be responsible for it. A scope three of a evey that’s got a car engine in it to charge the battery. Yeah, there’s some justice right there. [00:15:07][42.8]

Michael Tanner: [00:15:07] But I guess what you as the SEC is going to say, well, you thought about it. Just unbelievable. [00:15:15][7.1]

Stuart Turley: [00:15:16] What a lot of trail and thread the energy news beat thread tonight was phenomenal. [00:15:22][5.9]

Michael Tanner: [00:15:22] You pat yourself on the back later, Stu. Let’s go ahead and move over to the finance segment, guys. S&P 500 up 2/10 of a percentage point. NASDAQ climbs about a full percentage point. But I think the big shocker of the day, crude oil down about three and a half percentage points on a pretty nice tumble all the way from a little bit above $81 to its current sitting point 7708. As we record this somewhere about 545 here on the seventh. What that means is just an absolute incredible drop from what happened. You know, in terms of what I think people expected before the day. But I find this interesting, Stu So we got the EPI, the U.S. API, crude oil inventory, stock essence. As we know, the IEA drops their crude oil inventory estimates tomorrow. The API a day before comes out and says, here’s what we think it’s going to be. They forecasted a 300,000 barrel draw from the crude oil reserves. Instead, the API estimates an 11.9 million barrel build, which absolutely should have sent the markets crazy. The problem is still that was announced at 230 Central Time and at 230 Central Time we were already trading at 7750, as you would say, back. [00:16:35][72.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:16:36] To Scooby. [00:16:37][1.1]

Michael Tanner: [00:16:38] Doo. And the real question is, I don’t know, you talk to routers, they tell you that, oh, we’ve got China’s data coming out of China is raising concerns about the country’s oil demand, but they specifically mentioned the API numbers. The problem is the API numbers. If you look at the timing, did it move it? So the real question I have, Stu, is who leaked this information to the traders? Obviously, somebody at the American Petroleum Institute didn’t keep their data on lock because there’s no way this China data affected prices this much. This has everything to do with the fact that the API is coming out and saying, holy smokes, red flags. Now, it’s going to be interesting to see what the EIA reports tomorrow, whether or not they confirm or deny this do. But I’m not trying to dip my toe into the conspiracy into your pool, which is the conspiracy pool too often. But I’m diving headfirst in on this one. Somebody leaked this data. [00:17:24][45.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:17:24] I you are. You’re dead on. Right. But I think it’s also. So here’s the real question. We’ve ordered it. We know Biden’s not running the White House. Does he want lower oil? And this is a joke. Come on, Quit. Quit. Work with me here. This is a joke. Everybody on our podcast in Iran looked at me and I mean, his head snapped back and I was like, All right, this is a joke. No, Who’s running the White House? We don’t know, but it ain’t him. Now, last year, my uncle, they did say the EPA. I mean, they were coming out with the numbers, the EIA was coming out with the numbers that were falsified, that was documented. So who’s falsifying and who’s communicating with who? That’s a that’s a legitimate question. Yeah. [00:18:08][44.2]

Michael Tanner: [00:18:08] And this has more to do, in my opinion, with the API not keeping a mark on it, but it’s going to be interesting again to see what have you guys listening to this on Wednesday, what the EIA drops at 1030. So we will be covering that in depth. I think the only other interesting thing that I saw today, Stu, was Occidental and BlackRock did a little joint venture today. So a nice headline here. Occidental and BlackRock formed joint venture to develop Stratus world’s largest direct air capture racket I mean plant. BlackRock decides to invest 550 million to help advance construction currently underway for this Stratus direct air capture facility in Ector County, Texas. Through its diversified infrastructure business, BlackRock has signed a definite agreement to form a joint venture with Oxy through its subsidiary, the 1.5, which is obviously 1.5 degrees Celsius. Oh, good one. Good one there for the marketing team there that this new joint venture will now own Stratus. This is designed to capture 500,000 tons of CO2 per year. Construction’s about 30% done and expects to be operational mid 2025. Expects you to employ about 1000 people during the construction and up to 75 once operational. You can see the quotes from thinking. Vicki Vickie Harlow Never thought you see those two people standing next to each other. What’s your thoughts on direct air capture? Still. [00:19:26][77.7]

Stuart Turley: [00:19:27] It’s a waste of time. Here’s the plant trees. I mean, that’s a better and better thing. Now, here’s the thing, Larry Fink, I’m going to go check with him because he listens to the show. Yeah, we you and I, we’ve been talking, man, saying that the reason that Warren Buffett has bought so much Oxy is because of the money, the federal money that’s going to the carbon capture Vicki is leading the charge on. And he all of a sudden, after you and I talk about that on the show, here comes Larry Fink going, I like this me as Gee, but I like this me as, Jeez, it actually works. Well, here’s Occidental. [00:20:07][40.3]

Michael Tanner: [00:20:08] Do you want to know why he likes this? Because to date, 1.5 assigned signed carbon removal. Credit purchase agreements with multiple, multiple customers, including Amazon, Airbus, All Nippon Airways, TD Bank Group, the Houston Astros and the Houston Texans. So, sure, it’s all about investing in the critical, as Larry Fink said in his quote, the critical role of American energy companies in climate technology innovation. It’s also a carbon credit scheme scheme. You know. So, yes, you know, we know if BlackRock’s around, they’re attempting to make money. So good for them. But, you know. [00:20:45][36.4]

Stuart Turley: [00:20:45] But that is my goal. That is 90% validation about my comments about why Warren Buffett was buying it 100%. [00:20:54][9.2]

Michael Tanner: [00:20:55] I don’t don’t hurt your shoulder patting yourself on your back. [00:20:58][2.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:20:58] Oh, I’m I’m a legend in my own mind. Just bear with me. This is the only time that I’m a legend. I walk in from the dinner table and my wife goes, Hey, Chowder, head, sit down. [00:21:10][12.2]

Michael Tanner: [00:21:11] Well, what should people be worried about this week for Iraq? Wrap up? [00:21:13][2.6]

Stuart Turley: [00:21:13] Whether or not my wife listens to this podcast? Well. [00:21:16][2.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:21:18] I trust me, she does. And she’s got better things to do. But we we appreciate you guys checking this out. Again, all this stuff courtesy the world’s greatest website www.energynewsbeat.com here Description below Email us questions@energynewsbeat.com for Stuart Turley I’m Michael Tanner. We’ll see you tomorrow, folks. [00:21:18][0.0][1229.7]