Daily Standup Top Stories
California: We Need *Another* $100 Billion for High-Speed Rail – What is a few billion between friends?
source: Hot Air: Ed Morrissey: Hey, a hundred billion here, a hundred billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money. But apparently not real progress. When I first started writing about California’s high-speed […]
Net zero: climate goal will slide to 2060 or later as transition investments fail to pay off, Bain & Co survey says
Confidence is eroding, as the percentage of executives predicting net zero by 2060 instead of 2050 rises to 62 per cent from 54 per cent a year ago Customers’ reluctance to pay higher prices prevents […]
Biden’s budget: A continued attack on reliable energy and freedom
President Joe Biden’s FY 2025 budget request of $7.3 trillion is exactly what Americans should have expected: increased spending and taxes. A budget is more than just numbers, though. It’s a reflection of policy priorities and the ideological perspective […]
Pennsylvania governor unveils plan to cut greenhouse gases, boost renewables in big energy producer
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro unveiled a plan Wednesday to fight climate change, saying he will back legislation to make power plant owners in the nation’s third-biggest energy-producing state pay for their […]
Highlights of the Podcast
00:00 – Intro
01:34 – California: We Need *Another* $100 Billion for High-Speed Rail – What is a few billion between friends?
06:07 – Net zero: climate goal will slide to 2060 or later as transition investments fail to pay off, Bain & Co survey says
10:17 – Biden’s budget: A continued attack on reliable energy and freedom
12:42 – Pennsylvania governor unveils plan to cut greenhouse gases, boost renewables in big energy producer
17:14 – Markets Update – Oil prices dip, but set for weekly gain of over 3% and Rig Counts
22:41 – Outro
Follow Stuart On LinkedIn and Twitter
Follow Michael On LinkedIn and Twitter
– Get in Contact With The Show –
Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.
Michael Tanner: [00:00:14] What’s going on, everybody? Welcome into the Monday, March 18th, 2024 edition of the Daily Energy News Beat stand up. Here are today’s top headlines. First up California. We need, quote, another hundred billion for the high speed rail. In the words of Stu, what is a few billion between friends? Unbelievable. Next up. Net zero climate goals will slide to 2060 or later as transition investments failed to pay off. Bain and Co certainly says. Got to love that. Next up Biden’s budget a continued attack on reliable energy and freedom. The cover art on this one is absolutely unbelievable. It’s a black hole of money. Next up Pennsylvania governor unveils plan to cut greenhouse gases, boost renewables in the one of the larger energy producing states on the coast. We’ll dive into all of that. He’ll then toss it over to me. I will quickly cover what’s going on in the oil and gas finance market, and then talk about what happened to Rig Count, some super interesting stuff there, and then probably peruse a little bit. There’s there’s not much going on in the oil and gas business right now. So that probably means something’s up. So we’ll dive into all of that. And a bag of chips guys. As always I’m Michael Tanner joined by Stuart Turley. Where do you want to begin. [00:01:33][79.2]
Stuart Turley: [00:01:34] Hey let’s start with our buddy Newsom. California. We need another billion for high speed rail. This little. [00:01:41][7.2]
Michael Tanner: [00:01:41] 100 billion, 100. [00:01:42][1.0]
Stuart Turley: [00:01:43] Billion. Thank you. This is absolutely a disaster. And have you ever seen the comedian Ron White? [00:01:51][8.2]
Michael Tanner: [00:01:52] Yes. [00:01:52][0.0]
Stuart Turley: [00:01:53] It billion is the way he would say it. And we need a coupon in order to go ahead and get to this ticket. Hey, this is absolutely, bismol. Let me read you just a couple things here. California high speed admitted the project cost had ballooned to 98 billion. Flash forward a couple of years to today. Couple years, and they need another hundred billion. And then we have a video here in a second. But let me give you a quote. Economic headwinds. Really? I’d say a brick wall. And so anyway, I’m going to tee up this video. It’s a minute, I believe it’s a minute. Seven. And Michael, you just saw the video. What are your thoughts on this before we tee it up for podcast list? [00:02:47][54.0]
Michael Tanner: [00:02:47] I think the only way to the only way to see it is just watch it. So we’ll we’ll give our take after. [00:02:53][5.1]
Stuart Turley: [00:02:53] Okay. Here we go. [00:02:54][0.6]
Stuart Turley: [00:04:09] I guess. [00:04:09][0.2]
Michael Tanner: [00:04:12] There’s a couple things in there that’s hilarious. One is the same guy in the speech he’s talking about when I was leading the Bay bridge construction. Oh, the dude, the Golden Gate Bridge construction, notoriously overbudget and off schedule, and we’ve got the same when? When I was in the middle of it. I mean, it’s it’s the blind leading the blind up here. What? I maybe you have to also remember, this started out as a $33 billion project. Still a huge number, but not that big. It’s now over 200 billion they think they need. They got a measly 3.5 from the Obama administration and then immediately grew to 42 billion. I mean, the problem is what’s hilarious is this is kicking Biden in the George because it’s all inflation. [00:04:58][46.0]
Stuart Turley: [00:05:00] Oh, it’s worse than that. It’s graft. And I guarantee you there was graft on the bridge. And this is accusations of graft. I don’t have a fact. And the other. One is I love his quote, Michael. It’s a disaster until it’s not. [00:05:14][14.7]
Michael Tanner: [00:05:18] The next day. I’m going to start using that excuse. [00:05:20][2.1]
Stuart Turley: [00:05:21] It’s a disaster till it’s not. The last thing that’s in here is, the news anchor for that, that show, TV show in California says, oh. By the way, they need a real friend in the white House because the U.S. taxpayers are going to pay this billion. And they and they show a picture of Biden like they do on Gutfeld. You know, boom, here’s this, this friend of the project. And then they go, the previous president boom, here’s Trump. And it goes, he’s not so much a friend of the project. [00:05:54][33.0]
Michael Tanner: [00:05:56] I mean, it’s. [00:05:56][0.4]
Stuart Turley: [00:05:56] It’s it’s so let’s go to the next story. But you gotta I mean, you gotta read the whole article on energynewsbeat.com. Hey, let’s go to net zero. Climate goal will slide to 2060 or later as transition investments failed to pay off Bain and Co. Survey says Michael there are two key bullet points I want to read here right now. Confidence is eroding as the percentage of executives present in print predicting net zero by 2060 instead of 2050 rise 62% from 54% a year ago. Customers reluctance to pay higher prices and I’m going to go because they can’t, is scaling, transition oriented businesses, especially amid high interest rates. Respondents say, Holy smokes, Batman, the rest of this article is pretty, nuts. Michael. [00:07:03][67.1]
Michael Tanner: [00:07:04] Well, what’s funny is, you know, there’s always this the the signal, and then there’s the noise. What do we’ve been hearing for the past five years? Everybody, you know, net zero by 2030, 2035, we’re close. We just need to do a little more wind, a little more solar. Yeah. If you actually if you actually, you know, survey people and survey executives now they’re in the oil and gas utilities, chemicals, mining and agriculture business. But you also have to remember those are the people that are in the energy space. So they should be investing in whatever is going to make them profits. Last year it was 54%, this year at 62. So even last year the energy sector didn’t think we were going to get to 2050, make it by 2050. Then why are they trying to shove 2030 and 2035 down our throats? That’s just what you know. Hey, I say this all the time. Would they? The hand says over here what the other hand is really trying to say because they’re off by a scale of 30. I mean, we we covered it nauseum. What’s what’s going on? At 26, seven, eight, everybody was saying 20, 30, 20, 35. Yet the people in the energy business think it’s 2060 now. [00:08:21][77.1]
Stuart Turley: [00:08:22] And I can’t read this. This article is missing, Bain, the Bain survey. I’m not sure if it’s Mister Bain. Or, hey, I got to do my Bain, imitation from bad. [00:08:34][11.9]
Michael Tanner: [00:08:34] Notes right here. Here’s the quote. Joe Scalise, he head of Bain’s Energy and Natural Resource Practice, based in San Francisco. He says this quote, clearly, the longer the executives are at the front lines of the energy transition, the more sober they are getting about the transitions, practical realities. And this dude’s in San Francisco. So, you know, he didn’t really want to say that. [00:08:55][20.6]
Stuart Turley: [00:08:55] Oh, and he’s probably got 10%. I wonder if he’s the big guy. He may have gotten 10%. [00:09:00][4.4]
Michael Tanner: [00:09:01] It’s it’s it’s pretty unbelievable. You know, another one of their leaders over there. You know, one of the other quotes that came out, this guy’s based in Washington, though, the direct impact of higher interest rates on the cost of transition projects in one of the most important stories of 2023 and is likely shaping you executives perspective on the challenges associated with customers willingness to pay. Have we thought about, inflation? Have we thought of, you know, the it’s just interest rate? Well, why are interest rates hot? Well, it’s really because we’ve printed money for the past 20 years, and we were at the forefront of recommending the fed do that. [00:09:37][35.4]
Stuart Turley: [00:09:37] Here’s another one, Michael. Oil giant. We covered this earlier in last week. Oil giant shell announced Thursday that they would relax 2030 emissions reduction target, 20% between 15 and 20% while scrapping its 2035 target. And they’re going back to oil and gas and they’ve they’re following Chevron and, Exxon. Unbelievable. I’ve never thought I’d see this, change. No wonder Biden stepped down and. And turned it over to the other guy. I mean, not Biden. Carrie. Lurch. Saurus. Rex. Let’s go to Biden’s budget. Continue to attack unreliable energy and freedom. There’s the black hole of, money going down the drain here. This article request 7.3 trillion. Exactly what Americans should have expected. Increased spending. And here’s the part I hate taxes. The Inflation Reduction Act, whose green subsidies will likely cost over a trillion. And in this article, it does say driving up electricity, energy prices and threaten the grid. I’ll tell you, it is absolutely nuts. [00:11:02][84.5]
Michael Tanner: [00:11:05] Yeah. I mean, this budget is unbelievable, $7.3 trillion. [00:11:10][5.0]
Stuart Turley: [00:11:12] This is going to put us over, who? I’ve talked to several financial, folks, this is going to put us over insolvency. Honestly, this is destined to put the US between BRICs taking away the U.S. dollar and this. We are going to have so much interest that we’re not going to be able to pay. So. [00:11:36][24.2]
Michael Tanner: [00:11:37] Oh, well, absolutely. I mean, I could have told you that. I mean, we’re already to the point where our interest payments are with with where interest, which, where like corporate, you know, all these government floating rate debts are sitting at right now. If you remember, we’re paying China over there. It be it’s this this is exactly what you expect. This is going to expand the American climate force, which is I mean, listen to this. This how scary this sounds. We are going to mobilize. Here’s the quote. Mobilize a new, diverse generation of more than 20,000 clean energy conservation and climate resilience workers. Oh, yeah, that. [00:12:13][36.7]
Stuart Turley: [00:12:14] Gen Z struggle. Gen Z in the article. [00:12:17][3.3]
Michael Tanner: [00:12:18] Gen Z love it. We love Gen Z. [00:12:20][2.0]
Stuart Turley: [00:12:21] Oh, yeah, but that’s. This is buying votes, dude. I think this is one way around. Here’s my thing. [00:12:27][6.4]
Michael Tanner: [00:12:28] Votes $1 trillion for 20,000 employees. Sign me up. [00:12:32][4.6]
Stuart Turley: [00:12:34] We need to have an a consulting arm. Fired up for energy. I’m serious. [00:12:40][6.1]
Michael Tanner: [00:12:41] We do. I can. [00:12:42][1.0]
Stuart Turley: [00:12:42] Let’s go to Pennsylvania. Governor. Love me some Pennsylvania. They’re now the largest exporter of, electricity on the East Coast area. And, Pennsylvania governor unveiled a plan that cut greenhouse gases. It’s guess what it is? It’s coal. Cutting coal, plants out, boost renewables. And big energy producer, our buddy, this is governor Josh Shapiro. The plan to fight climate change. He nicknamed Electric Electricity City. His plan will make Pennsylvania competitive in a clean energy economy. It’s not going to happen. Here’s a quote from him. If they choose to do nothing, they’re choosing to be less competitive in an environment that demands, excellence. At to the table every day, they’re choosing to fall behind if they do nothing. Here is a quote from our buddies over there at the Marcellus Coalition. I love him. Trying to find it. I have. [00:13:49][66.8]
Michael Tanner: [00:13:49] David Callahan. We love. [00:13:50][1.0]
Stuart Turley: [00:13:50] David. Love David, which represents, Pennsylvania enormous natural gas industry. He says even when the what the government has proposed is not enough to meet the needs of addressing the climate crisis. It’s a huge step forward. Pennsylvania is now. Oh, this is from Alex. Bombs. Things like I. [00:14:12][22.0]
Michael Tanner: [00:14:13] Say, that’s not from Dave. [00:14:14][0.9]
Stuart Turley: [00:14:14] Oh, no. Here, let me get you. Dave’s, said, represents Pennsylvania’s enormous natural gas. The most pressing challenges ensuring the grid is stable and reliable. Reliable, said Dave Callahan. He’s that on. Right. And you, you know, you sit back and kind of go, if they did nothing, Michael, and turn down the gas, excuse me, the coal plants and replaced with natural gas plants, they would save in cost, kilowatt per hour to all consumers on the, as far as they could export energy. They have the opportunity to make a bunch of tax revenue. [00:14:58][44.2]
Michael Tanner: [00:14:59] No taxes. They they really do. And I mean, I’m all for shutting down coal plants and retrofitting them and moving into natural gas. The problem is, that’s not quite what. It’s going on here. It’s a let’s shut down coal and let’s try to bring in wind and solar, because, you know, the fact that, you know, hey, you know, what’s hilarious is Scranton, Pennsylvania is nicknamed the Electric City. Is that from the office or is that because they’re actually producing electricity? We are, you know, any office that will remember the. [00:15:31][32.3]
Stuart Turley: [00:15:32] Electric in Scranton. And I didn’t even associate it with the office. I love the The Office series. [00:15:38][6.8]
Michael Tanner: [00:15:39] Oh, absolutely, I don’t I you know, we can’t be so sure about that. But remember, 60% of the state’s electricity comes from natural gas. [00:15:48][8.3]
Stuart Turley: [00:15:49] Okay, we have got to move the energy news, meet headquarters to Scranton. Since this is electricity and we can have our own office show the electric. I mean. [00:15:59][10.7]
Michael Tanner: [00:16:00] Hey, you’re Michael Scott, that’s for sure. [00:16:03][2.2]
Stuart Turley: [00:16:04] Who is the other, sarcastic goofball that had the farm? Oh. [00:16:08][4.2]
Michael Tanner: [00:16:10] I’m Dwight. Yeah, you’re all right. [00:16:11][1.9]
Stuart Turley: [00:16:12] You’re. It’s off to you, Michael. [00:16:13][0.9]
Michael Tanner: [00:16:14] All right. Well, we’ll go ahead and move, into oil prices. Before we do that, guys will pay the bills. As always. This, the news and analysis you just heard is brought to you by the world’s greatest website, energynewsbeat.com The best place for all of your energy and oil and gas news, stupid. The team do a tremendous job making sure that website stays up to speed. Everything you need to know to be the tip of the spear when it comes to the energy business. Hit the description below. All the news links, all the different articles timestamps you can jump around. Go back to hear about, you know, dive into more about Biden’s budget, all that stuff. You can also check out dashboard.Energy News. Beat.com the best place for your data energy news combo. We’re really working on some cool stuff there, so. Get that while you still can. There’s also a survey, if you don’t mind hitting the link below, in the description below, and go ahead and fill that out. We really appreciate your feedback over there. As always guys, just check us out. www.Energynewsbeat.com. [00:17:09][54.4]
Michael Tanner: [00:17:14] In terms of of oil prices, I mean, for the week, we actually had a really great week. We were 3% higher week over week for oil prices. Finishing somewhere around 8104 is where WTI closed. Set to open here shortly at about fairly flat $81. We did see Brant oil above $85. in that case you know really you know, on Friday specifically we had a little bit of a choppy day. But there is, you know, really there is some, you know, there’s some sentiment out there right now that supplies are getting a little bit, getting a little bit tight. The quote from, you know, Phil Flynn over at Price Futures Group prices are at a risk going higher. And again he notes that specific supply cutting specifically you know for this potential cut in interest rates which is coming up. You know there I think the issue is inflation is still above 2%. So a lot of your thesis on where prices are going to go from here is based upon some sort of relaxing of those interest rates. Good luck. Because we saw some not great economic data come out over the last two weeks that I think keep that is going to keep the fed from most likely cutting as much as they want. Remember, they had a couple rate cuts. I think it was four rate cuts or three rate cuts already priced into the market this year. If it’s only two, what does that mean then? That means everything gets pulled back a little bit. We do still see, all time, you know, very close to all time highs. S&P 500 is up above 5000. 100 Nasdaq, even though didn’t have a great week is is still booming. Natural gas still struggling one dollars and $0.66 for that spot price. And this is what I found hilarious. Okay, Stu. So on Friday, we saw rig counts. Rig count actually jumped. Overall, in the United States, we saw seven, an increase of seven rigs week over week from, what we were last week. Six oil rigs, one gas bridge to one company. We’re one company is picking up a gas rig. Now, I always like to say, who knows? You know, you lay off to do some more investigation. Who is this company? They. They should be if if they should be tried for high crimes and crimes against the economic state. Because it’s unbelievable. You can’t make money at these prices. You can’t. And what the crazy part is, it’s not that you’re keeping a rig active. We’ve seen we if you if you’re Chesapeake, if you’re southwestern, if you’re one of these big companies, it behooves you to keep at least a rig running. But nobody’s picking up rigs picking up a rig right now. Oh. [00:19:53][159.6]
Stuart Turley: [00:19:54] I could see how they do that. If the lease, has a contract to say if you’re not drilling by X number days. I’ve even seen. [00:20:03][8.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:20:03] I better hope. I bet you better hope it’s a drill clause in the lease. You bet. You better hope it it them that that’s you. [00:20:10][6.8]
Stuart Turley: [00:20:12] You. [00:20:12][0.0]
Michael Tanner: [00:20:13] Maybe let the lease go. [00:20:13][0.7]
Stuart Turley: [00:20:14] A no, a rig going out could save a lot of money, depending on the size of the lease. Okay. I’m just saying, I I’m, I look. Thanks. [00:20:26][11.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:20:26] Tony. Sanchez. Thank you. [00:20:27][1.2]
Stuart Turley: [00:20:28] I look more at, total financial, all of the package. When you and I did the deal eval of the OCS, you were. You were throwing that bad dog out, and I. I kind of said there might be more to it. And we found a couple reasons why. Right? I don’t know. [00:20:44][16.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:20:45] I’m with you, I just, I yeah. Let’s it at $1.60 gas. It saves you money to go drill a gas. Well that’s genius, that’s genius. [00:20:53][8.0]
Stuart Turley: [00:20:54] But you don’t know the full picture of the deal. [00:20:56][1.9]
Michael Tanner: [00:20:57] I just say it. There are very few situations, in my opinion, in which adding a gas rig right now is a net economic positive when it all shakes out in the end. So I’m going to be, I’m going to I’m going to say you might be right, but I’m a I got about 90% of the scenarios on my side. You got about 10%. So I’ll take my odds. [00:21:21][23.6]
Stuart Turley: [00:21:22] What’s the odds of a 10%, conspiracy theory, Michael? And what’s the difference of a conspiracy theory? It is now. [00:21:29][7.2]
Michael Tanner: [00:21:30] It’s a conspiracy. [00:21:30][0.2]
Stuart Turley: [00:21:31] It’s a conspiracy theory. I mean, this could be, I guess. [00:21:35][3.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:21:37] Yeah. This whoever’s big in this gas rig is a conspiracy that they. They better be listening to conspiracies. [00:21:42][5.5]
Stuart Turley: [00:21:45] One week, Michael. That’s all it is. [00:21:46][1.7]
Michael Tanner: [00:21:47] But that’s a difference of one week. Why? What else you got for us? Let’s wrap this. [00:21:50][3.5]
Stuart Turley: [00:21:50] Up. I’ll tell you what, Michael, there is so much coming around the corner. The it. Is going to get weirder and weirder as we get closer to an election. And all I can say is, take care of your family and get ready to be able to survive just based off of emergencies, natural disasters, and have a plan for at least some, backup generators. I mean, I’m just trying to say natural disaster. Prepare your family. FEMA won’t be there. [00:22:22][31.1]
Michael Tanner: [00:22:23] Sponsored by FEMA. Sponsored by saying it was sponsored by FEMA while your disaster relief. Hey, check them out. [00:22:29][6.5]
Stuart Turley: [00:22:29] Well, do you remember one of our best sponsors that came in on the ads on the podcast? It was the Border Patrol. You need a job with a border patrol. Go figure that one out. [00:22:40][10.1]
Michael Tanner: [00:22:40] Yeah. Go figure. That one. All right, guys, with that, we’re going to let you get out of here. Start your Monday. Thank you for checking us out. World’s greatest podcast energy news beat podcast. Check us out YouTube. Spotify, Apple podcast. Wherever you get your Substack. [00:22:53][13.4]
Stuart Turley: [00:22:54] The Energy News meet on Substack, it’s going. [00:22:57][2.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:22:58] Yes, check us out on Substack. We appreciate it, guys. Hope you don’t have any too many, meetings today, but we hope we made it a little easier. We’ll see you guys tomorrow. [00:22:58][0.0][1296.5]
– Get in Contact With The Show –
