Daily Energy Standup Episode #290 – Weekly Recap: Self-Driving Cars, Biden’s Policies, and the Future of the Oil Market

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Would you buy a Ford self-driving car that would automatically drive to a repo company if you missed a payment? 

January 13, 2024 Stu Turley

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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: [00:00:14] What’s going on, everybody? Welcome in to the Saturday edition of the weekly Energy News Beat daily standup recap. We appreciate you guys sticking with us all week. Stay tuned. The team has a great weekly recap. We talk about everything that happened this week was top of mind. Lots of reform. Um, Biden trying to ban natural gas. Absolutely unbelievable. Guys, I’m going to turn it over to the weekly recap guys. Hit the description below for all the info. We’ll see you next week. [00:00:41][26.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:00:42] Would you buy a Ford self-driving car that automatically would drive to a repo company if you missed a payment? This is not headline news, I didn’t. I found this on a little local TV station, so I’ve embedded the video here and I just thought it was absolutely. Who the, the, uh, newscasters from the local ten. Or we’re, like, going, huh? Can you imagine having your car wake up in the middle of the night and go, you a bad man, and then run out and go to the collection agency? [00:01:14][32.2]

Michael Tanner: [00:01:15] So, so. Yeah. So, so to bring you guys into the fold here, Ford has filed a patent for self-driving cars that would basically drive the car away from the owner after a series of missed payments in catch. I mean, it’s kind of funny, to be honest, and it’s something I didn’t even think about when it comes to self-driving. And in this, I mean, self-driving an EV cars are different, but it’s one of those second order effects that we like to talk about of, oh yeah, it’s a payment. Now, instead of having the guy come up and and try to slip your car into, uh, in into a tow truck as fast as possible, you just sort of a sudden move down to see your car just driving away. [00:01:53][38.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:01:54] Now, here’s where I bring up a couple warning. They said the first infractions would be, uh, the heater going on, uh, really bad. The. And then the sound. No, they didn’t. [00:02:04][10.5]

Michael Tanner: [00:02:05] They’re just going to blast you with heat in the summer. [00:02:06][1.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:02:07] Oh, yeah. And then they’d play rap where they would play some music that is not in your, you know, your, uh, venue. You know, some people hate country western, some people hate rap. They would just go to whatever you never listen to and play it. Really, for. [00:02:20][13.4]

Michael Tanner: [00:02:21] Some people, they would just blast the energy News podcast 24 seven. [00:02:24][3.3]

Stuart Turley: [00:02:25] Hey, there’s some advertising for you. Hey, here’s another burger is actually is is, uh, terrorism. Uh, and we know that the EVs are capable of being hacked. So what happens if, uh, Big Brother U. Here’s where it gets really, uh, once they get the disinformation done, can you imagine putting something out on Twitter and they go, you bad, you very bad. And then they take that almost sound like Elmer Foot. They take the car and it goes away. It goes into government prison, your car, because you put something bad on Twitter. The Biden administration is about to just absolutely make it all worse. Uh, you gotta love a quality administration. This last article, uh, Biden administration issues a new natural gas tax in the latest fossil fuel crackdown. This is just absolutely despicable. Um, this was on Fox News, and the EPA spearheaded the proposal, said it will help tackle wasteful methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, encouraging facilities with the highest emissions to level or meet or exceed levels of performance. You’re going to get taxed, which begins at 900 per metric ton of wasteful emissions in 2024 and increases to 1200 for 2025 and 1500 for 20 and 26. I just had another great interview with, um, some folks, and this is a lot of money to the oil and gas industry. Unbelievable. [00:04:06][100.9]

Michael Tanner: [00:04:07] Well, again, it’s going to put the smaller companies out of business and it’s going to lock in large, you know, you know, large international companies. I mean, when it comes down to it, Chevron, Exxon and BP love these type of rules I‘m sure. Yeah. Add a little tax on there. You know who can’t stand it. The 90% of oil and gas operators who are considered small cap. So they don’t account for a large amount of production. What they do account for is a large amount of, you know, and they do actually account for a large amount of production relative to what the big companies do. But I think this is where I always. [00:04:38][31.7]

Stuart Turley: [00:04:39] 50% of the oil in the country is made by private companies. [00:04:43][4.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:04:44] Yeah, but I’m talking about your mom and pop, your mom and pop operators, the companies that, you know, the guys that are supplying, you know, are selling 15 loads, you know, 150 loads a month versus are doing 2 million barrels of oil a day. What I’m saying is Exxon loves it when they come out with this. There’s a reason why the API, who is funded by the large oil and gas companies, have come out for a carbon tax. You think it’s because they like the carbon? Well, no, it’s because eight companies provide their funding, and all eight of those companies would love nothing more than to raise the cost of winter freeze cuts US natural gas output for everybody who’s in the Midwest right now, I’m sure you are experiencing the quote unquote deep freeze that’s going on right now. I‘m here in Dallas. It’s only 11 degrees, so it’s not horrible. People here are a little ridiculous, but subzero temperatures in much of the United States have frozen gas wells, leading to a drop in production to the lowest levels in eight months, according to Reuters, citing local data. His report also added that demand for electricity, on the other hand, was heading for a record high in some states, notably the one I sit in, which is Texas the grid. Later there, Ercot issued a conservation, um, call for Monday on expectations that demand will break last summer’s record. Here’s that quote out of air. Uh, Ercot operating reserves are expected to be low Monday morning due to the freezing temperatures, record breaking demand, and unseasonably low wind. Gotta throw that last part in there for all of our renewables, folks. Unseasonably low wind. It’s what happens when there’s no wind. Unfortunately, the turbines don’t spin. Rotors also cite some data from LCG. Its market research unit suggested that demand for natural gas, including exports, could hit 164 point 6,000,000,000 cubic feet today, rising to a further 171.9 BCF on Tuesday. Both figures would be record breaking. In North Dakota, we saw gas production was down somewhere around 700 and 800,000,000 cubic feet a day, while oil production had declined by somewhere around 250 to 280,000 barrels of oil per day. Absolutely unbelievable. Ironically, we did see, you know, futures prices didn’t hold up great, but we did see spot prices specifically that Henry Hub spot price surge by 400% over the weekend. Um, hitting about $17 per British thermal unit pound. That compares about $3. And then BTU that is currently what’s kind of getting traded on right now. Um, absolutely incredible what’s going on? I mean, it comes out to say, you know, you can put up the tweet from David Blackmon. I mean, I mean, this says it all right. Now you’ve got 0% wind going on. That’s never going to help. You also have 0% solar. It is at 530 in the morning. So it’s a little bit of a uh a smoke and mirrors there. But absolutely unbelievable. Natural gas even with being frozen is saving the day. Hope everybody this morning to go warm shower and thank your local oil field worker. [00:07:38][174.2]

Stuart Turley: [00:07:39] Let’s go to the op ed. New report highlights green failure in Europe and warns America. Um, this one’s pretty interesting. Uh, ruber. Uh, that was, uh, report for the Real Clear Foundation has a couple great quotes in it. Uh, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Um, uh, you know, this ties in to, uh, the Davos crew and everything else. Uh, the analysis of this Great Britain heating the cries for decarbonization, starting when Parliament wrote an 80% decrease in emissions in law in 2008, they raised it to 100% or net 0 in 2019. And since they have, it’s been a disaster. So, um, the differences between the British energy cost and those here in the US are static. Greek Brits pay an average of $228 per megawatt hour for electricity from coal in 2022, and Americans pay an average of $27 per megawatt net in huge difference. Yeah, I mean unbelievable. [00:08:57][77.5]

Michael Tanner: [00:08:58] Yeah. I mean it’s it’s it’s pretty crazy. I talked about this last night in my show low solo show, Show Low. [00:09:03][5.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:09:05] We got us a new podcast. [00:09:06][0.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:09:06] Our show this this inflation reduction act. Everyone’s taking a bite out of the Apple. You’ve got Blackrock buying up infrastructure companies. Why? Because they care about climate change. Absolutely not because they want a little bit of that government revenue. [00:09:21][15.0]

Stuart Turley: [00:09:22] Right. It’s absolutely hilarious. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was given well over $1 billion of his personal wealth to the Sierra Club to fund its Beyond Coal and Beyond Carbon campaigns. He designed it to rid the U.S. of every coal fired plant by 2030. [00:09:42][19.2]

Michael Tanner: [00:09:43] You that you wouldn’t save the environment more if you just took that billion and flushed it down the drain, then you would actually deploying it through the Sierra Club and out into the economy. [00:09:54][11.7]

Stuart Turley: [00:09:55] You know what? You know what. Total energy right now. [00:09:57][1.8]

Michael Tanner: [00:09:57] Fliers, our friends, more oil and gas. [00:09:59][2.2]

Stuart Turley: [00:10:00] Our friends over a year. Yeah. Our our friends over at Total Energy figured it out. They bought new, uh, natural gas power plants in Texas. Uh, enough to power the. Two nuclear reactors and they’re going to make money on. Yeah. So absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, what would a second term mean for U.S. oil and gas. [00:10:22][22.1]

Michael Tanner: [00:10:23] Second Trump secondary. [00:10:24][0.8]

Stuart Turley: [00:10:25] Trump term. Thank you. Let me say this. I got to give a shout out to, uh, RT Trevino, uh, big dog over there at Pecos Operating. He has said he makes more money when a Democrat is in power because the oil prices are higher. All right. Yeah. So all the oil guys are over here kind of going okay. Lowering regulatory issues, uh, is good under the Trump Biden administration. Biden makes them more money. [00:10:56][31.3]

Michael Tanner: [00:10:58] Well, I think well, what to expect from a Trump administration if he were to win again. Well looser regulations. Rig count instead of going down, are probably gonna go back up. Oil production is going to continue to increase at a rapid pace because more smaller operators have the ability to produce. And guess what that means. Prices will naturally be suppressed. It’s interesting from the standpoint of everyone, gas is generally a Republican, but we all make way more money when the Democrats are in power. So I love that they that aren’t talking about this because it’s really true. It also is good to point out that leasing on federal lands and specifically offshore, is going to be a lot easier, which those two things move the needle way more than, you know, six. [00:11:46][48.7]

Stuart Turley: [00:11:47] Actually. Exactly. And this article has some fantastic points in it. Uh, but I think R.T., uh, was absolutely the best way we could articulate that point. Yeah. [00:11:59][11.8]

Michael Tanner: [00:11:59] And to be honest, President Biden’s liable to get us into a war with Iran that’s going to send prices through the roof. Oh, yeah, I might get drafted, but that’s, you know. [00:12:08][8.6]

Stuart Turley: [00:12:08] Yeah, the Hootie and the Blowfish are already at it and we’re about to you know, he’s going to go try to take out. He doesn’t even know what he’s doing though. But hey, um, I mean, I’m ready for some ice cream. I’m a little hungry talking about Biden’s good buddy Biden. He weighs in banning natural gas exports to save the climate. Holy cow, Batman, this is out of Politico. The Biden administration is launching a review that could tap the brakes on booming U.S. natural gas exports. We’re the largest exporter of natural gas in the world. We’re really hoping that the Doe will pause any new permits for industry, because we know that the Biden administration really needs a climate win in order for them to win the public, win the election. This is criminal. If these politicians want to be elected or reelected in this upcoming presidential election, they’re going to have to make some bold choices and some bold moves. In the words of Scooby Doo, retro second order of facts are going to go horribly on this one. [00:13:26][77.3]

Michael Tanner: [00:13:26] Yeah, I mean, I think here’s the problem. The problem is natural gas is probably the only thing that can save us from climate change with, with, while also not absolutely destroying the communities when it comes to how much energy we have available. So it’s absolutely insane that they want to do this. You know, we’re about to cover why the EIA and the IEA need reform. The Department of Energy need some reform. [00:13:53][27.0]

Stuart Turley: [00:13:54] Oh, absolutely. And and also when you they’re they’re looking at $34 trillion in debt. But when you talk about the exports, the math for exports, you got to have exports when you’re in debt, $110.5 billion in exports this year. Geez. All right. Anyway, market to be short of oil from 2025 on onwards, says Occidental CEO at Davos. Uh, hey, I was surprised to see her there. Um, I said hi to her in the hall, but she, uh, kind of was a little busy. I I’m surprised I’m not surprised by her comments. Um, and I’m not surprised that she’s there, quite honestly, is because Occidental has done a great job. You’ve. In order to survive in this carbon nutty world, they’ve gone down the carbon round and are getting the carbon subsidies and everything else. Um. Hollub said that the near term, the markets are not balanced, supply demand is not balanced, adding that 2025 and beyond is when the world is going to be short of oil. So this is what she is saying is indirect. Contrary to what the EIA or saying in the IEA, both of those are, you know, like missing some cookies upstairs. I think this is another quote from her. I think the industry is going is looking at a scenario where we will be able to do all the right things we need to do as part of the transition. She’s got a level head on her shoulders. Even though she’s at Davos. I hope she takes a bath on the way out. [00:15:35][101.3]

Michael Tanner: [00:15:36] She really does. I mean, we did the the Oxy Crown ROC deal we did on the deal spotlight. Little expensive little expensive. But if prices are going to rise significantly maybe the deal doesn’t look that bad to begin with. Um, but yeah, it’s surprising to see her at Davos, but also not oxy. Uh uh uh, if you had to say a progressive oil and gas company, they’d qualify as one from the standpoint of they dabble in ESG. They dabble in, you know, the carbon capture space. They’ve got their stuffs in there. They’re more you know, it doesn’t surprise me that oxy there I did see on CNBC this morning. Uh Michael Wirth Chevron is well represented there. So they’re all there man. [00:16:13][37.0]

Stuart Turley: [00:16:13] Hey I gotta give a shout out to Jamie Diamond. Uh, this morning he had a, uh, also an interesting comment. He said, why can’t we all just get along and say, uh, quit having, uh, the Democrats start, you know, yelling at the the mag is because the mag is actually had some good ideas. And so he just says, hey, why don’t we all have discussions? I liked what he had to say. I don’t always like what he has to say, but I want to give a shout out to folks when they do say something like, yeah, I don’t agree with everything, Maggie, but I don’t agree with me and yelled at either. Joe. All right. [00:16:13][0.0][936.8]

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