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 […]
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 […]
Saudi Aramco CEO says energy transition is failing, world should abandon ‘fantasy’ of phasing out oil
HOUSTON — Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said Monday that the energy transition is failing and policymakers should abandon the “fantasy” of phasing out oil and gas, as demand for fossil fuels is expected to […]
CERAWEEK-BIG OIL EXECUTIVES PUSH BACK AGAINST CALLS FOR FAST ENERGY TRANSITION
HOUSTON, March 18 (Reuters) – Top oil executives took to the stage of a major energy conference on Monday to vocally oppose calls for a quick move away from fossil fuels, saying society would pay a steep cost […]
CERAWEEK: TotalEnergies to acquire upstream position in Eagle Ford Shale
Global energy company TotalEnergies is expanding in the US shale patch with an upstream acquisition in the Eagle Ford of South Texas, chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said March 18. “We are willing to integrate […]
Deutschland: How Germany Is Dominating Hydrogen Market
With 3827 kilometers of pipeline across the country, Germany is blazing a trail through the continent in terms of hydrogen infrastructure growth. Indeed, plans within the country are so far advanced that Germany is set to become […]
Highlights of the Podcast
00:00 – Intro
01:30 – California: We Need *Another* $100 Billion for High-Speed Rail – What is a few billion between friends?
06:03 – Pennsylvania governor unveils plan to cut greenhouse gases, boost renewables in big energy producer
09:33 – Saudi Aramco CEO says energy transition is failing, world should abandon ‘fantasy’ of phasing out oil
11:43 – CERAWEEK-BIG OIL EXECUTIVES PUSH BACK AGAINST CALLS FOR FAST ENERGY TRANSITION
14:27 – CERAWEEK: TotalEnergies to acquire upstream position in Eagle Ford Shale
16:33 – Deutschland: How Germany Is Dominating Hydrogen Market
20:11 – Outro
Follow StuartOn 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 in to a special edition of the Daily Energy News Beat standup here on this gorgeous Saturday, March 23rd, 2024. I’m Michael Tanner, joined by Stuart Turley. It’s a busy week man. [00:00:27][13.3]
Stuart Turley: [00:00:28] Oh it was brutal out there. But what a news. [00:00:31][2.8]
Michael Tanner: [00:00:32] We oh so much stuff I mean we talked about I mean everything from the gamut big ceraweek. So lots of stuff going on from ceraweek big headlines Saudi Aramco you know, calling the energy transition a fantasy. So there’s nothing that gets too fired up like here. And I mean, Nazar talk about the the energy transition fantasy and make we love a good making fun of the IEA. You know. [00:00:59][27.0]
Stuart Turley: [00:00:59] We and I also got to interview, Brandon from, the Nuclear Energy Institute from Sierra. So that one we’ve already got in the can and, it’ll be released next week. [00:01:11][11.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:01:11] Good. So we’ve got some ceraweek content. We’ve got everything. We appreciate everybody checking us out. You know, we’re going to kind of chalk it up to the team here and let them pick some of the top stories from the week. But yes, as always guys, energynewsbeat.com. Check us out. You can find us there. Hit the description below. We’ll see you on Monday folks. [00:01:30][18.6]
Stuart Turley: [00:01:31] Hey let’s start with our buddy Newsom California. We need another billion for high speed rail. This little. [00:01:38][7.1]
Michael Tanner: [00:01:38] 100 billion. [00:01:39][0.5]
Stuart Turley: [00:01:39] 100 billion. Thank you. This is absolutely a disaster. And have you ever seen the comedian Ron White? [00:01:48][8.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:01:49] Yes. [00:01:49][0.0]
Stuart Turley: [00:01:50] 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 at 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? [00:02:43][53.5]
Michael Tanner: [00:02:44] Listen, 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. [00:02:49][5.5]
Stuart Turley: [00:02:50] Okay. Here we go. [00:02:51][0.7]
Stuart Turley: [00:04:06] So I guess it’s. [00:04:08][2.2]
Michael Tanner: [00:04:10] 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 mean, 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 shorts because it’s all inflation. [00:04:56][45.7]
Stuart Turley: [00:04:57] Oh, it’s worse than that. It’s graph. And I guarantee you there was graft on the bridge and this was 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. [00:05:11][14.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:05:15] The next governor using that excuse. [00:05:17][2.1]
Stuart Turley: [00:05:18] 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 gonna 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. I mean, it’s it’s it’s so let’s go to the next story. But you gotta I mean, you gotta read the whole article on news beat energynewsbeat.com. [00:06:01][42.9]
[00:06:03] 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, 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. And I have David Callahan. We love David, love David, which represents, Pennsylvania’s 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. But Pennsylvania is now. Oh, this is from Alex. Bombs. Things I gotta. [00:07:33][90.3]
Michael Tanner: [00:07:33] Say. That’s not from Dave. [00:07:34][0.9]
Stuart Turley: [00:07:35] 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. [00:08:19][44.2]
Michael Tanner: [00:08:20] Now, this energy tax. [00:08:21][0.9]
Stuart Turley: [00:08:21] Is just. [00:08:21][0.2]
Michael Tanner: [00:08:21] 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’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, 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 were, you know, any off the stand? We’ll remember the. [00:08:52][30.5]
Stuart Turley: [00:08:52] Electric in Scranton. And I didn’t even associate it with the office. I love the The Office series. [00:08:59][6.7]
Michael Tanner: [00:09:00] 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. [00:09:08][8.3]
Stuart Turley: [00:09:09] We have got to move the energy news beat headquarters to Scranton. Since this is the electricity, and we can have our own office show the electric. I mean. [00:09:20][10.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:09:21] Hey, you’re Michael Scott, that’s for sure. [00:09:23][2.3]
Stuart Turley: [00:09:25] Who is the other, sarcastic goofball that had the farm? Oh, I’m Dwight. Yeah, you’re right. Saudi Aramco CEO says energy transition is failing and world should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil. This one is pretty cool. Our main this year said, that energy transition is failing the real world. Here’s a quote. In the real world, the current transition strategy is visibly falling on most fronts as it collides with five hard realities. The they are, urgently needed. Let’s see where they are. [00:10:06][41.0]
Michael Tanner: [00:10:07] Yeah, I was I watched this interview because it was on. CNBC. He says that there’s these five hard realities, but didn’t really go on and explain what they were. The next quote that he’s got is a transition strategy. Reset is urgently needed. And my proposal is this we should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas and instead invest them in adequately or invest in adequately reflecting realistic demand assumption. Well, that’s a shot across to the IEA. [00:10:34][27.1]
Stuart Turley: [00:10:35] Oh, absolutely. And in Paris they said that. Oh, shoot. Peak oil and gas and coal would come in 2030. Nasser said demand is unlikely to peak any time soon. Okay. We know that, Janet Yellen is saying that inflation is transitory. I’d like to say that we’ve got a new one. Now, Nasser is saying natural gas is not transitory. So he has a better haircut than Janet Yellen. [00:11:05][29.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:11:06] Oh, yeah. Ha ha ha ha! Hey, at least he’s got. At least they both got hair compared to what. [00:11:11][4.3]
Stuart Turley: [00:11:11] You’re working with over there. Smoke em if you got em. That was a good fight. [00:11:14][3.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:11:15] But no, this. Really. I was watching this live on CNBC. This was a shot across at the IAEA. And he specifically says that he goes. He goes on to suggest that the IAEA is focusing on demand in the U.S. and Europe. It needs to refocus on the developing world as well. Who would have thought the IAEA only cares about the countries that give it money? Who would have thought. [00:11:36][21.2]
Stuart Turley: [00:11:37] Who would have thought that they’ve been criminally, accepting money? I’m going to call them criminals. Big oil executives push back against calls for fast energy transition. You know, transition is generally smooth. This is not going to be smooth. [00:11:55][17.5]
Michael Tanner: [00:11:55] So smooth as some of those self-driving Uber’s down in Phenix. [00:11:59][4.0]
Stuart Turley: [00:12:00] Oh, yeah. Retro. Here’s where, I mean, we already talked about this. We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas. Instead, invest in them adequately to reflect and demand. How good is that? Let’s let the markets decide. That was a great quote right there. Despite the growth of electric vehicles, oil demand will reach a new record 204 million barrels per day this year. Peak oil still is not around the corner. [00:12:36][35.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:12:37] I love this quote. Meg O’Neill. She’s the CEO of Woodside Energy. She was on a panel and said, quote, you’re hearing some very pragmatic views up here. And, you know, they basically were saying we we need to reject what are, quote, these simplistic views that the transition to cleaner fuels can happen at an unrealistic pace. So that’s what’s interesting about this. You know, this is supposed to be the climate green, you know, event of the year, you know, sort of trying to center themselves as the summer cop 20, you know, another version of car. People are going after the energy transition here. It’s been good to see. We saw Petrobras CEO, Exxon Mobil CEO, shell CEO all come out. It’s Ceraweek and basically reject this quick energy transition. It’s been kind of crazy to see. [00:13:25][47.7]
Stuart Turley: [00:13:26] Yeah. And Jennifer Granholm, I still think that if she ever dated after him, it’d be grim. One she says, that’s one opinion, she said of NASA’s prediction continuing long term for fossil. There’s been other studies that suggest the opposite, that oil and gas demand and fossil demand will peak by 2030. Whatever she smoking, I want to buy some because she is not clearly looking at the market data. Here’s well. [00:13:57][31.5]
Michael Tanner: [00:13:58] I mean, she’s she’s clearly clinging to the the IEA’s interpretation that by 2030 will have reached peak oil demand. So I mean, that’s the beautiful part about it. If you’re a politician, you’ve got the IEA to lean on and say, well, they’re telling me it’s their fault. [00:14:13][15.5]
Stuart Turley: [00:14:14] Right. And there’s not a lot of incentives to drive low carbon hydrogen fuel projects. And it it’s unbelievable. [00:14:26][12.1]
Michael Tanner: [00:14:27] TotalEnergies acquiring upstream position in Eagle Ford shale. This didn’t have this on as you like to say. Didn’t have this on my bingo card. [00:14:35][8.1]
Stuart Turley: [00:14:36] I would not have either you know I don’t know. [00:14:39][3.0]
Michael Tanner: [00:14:40] Yeah they’ve not TotalEnergies. It’s in the space and acquiring a non-operated which is again interesting. one operated upstream acquisition in the Eagle Ford Shale. It’s basically owned and it’s owned by Lewis Energy Group and operated by EOG. To give you an idea, this is in Webb County down there, and this is mainly to support the Rio Grande LNG terminal. So they’re basically getting it as a non-operating partner, attempting to secure some marketing for their LNG assets, but also taking, again that non-operated position and taking it off Lewis Energy Group. And so so very interesting. Remember today is your deal that total has with next decade. To basically export about 5.4 million tons per year, of LNG, which they’ll luckily be able to sneak through because they’ve already started building it. They that investment decision or that FID final investment decision was made in 2023 to build out that first phase, which should have the total production capacity about 17 point, 6 million mega or million tons per year. So absolutely unbelievable. But total energy they, they go ahead and get in on the the non-Arab side. Very interesting. I would not have guesses. They’re not immune and they’re not idiots when it comes to upstream. But they haven’t operated upstream in or in in the United States in a long time. So. Can be very interested to see how this works out. [00:16:07][87.6]
Stuart Turley: [00:16:08] They did buy the, all the, natural gas power plants enough for two nuclear reactors in gigawatts being produced so that they own a lot of power plants. So they’re buying the whole food chain in Texas. [00:16:24][16.1]
Michael Tanner: [00:16:25] 1.21GW. [00:16:25][0.0]
Stuart Turley: [00:16:28] If I only had hair, I would use that line. [00:16:29][1.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:16:30] If only you did, you little dog. [00:16:33][2.5]
Stuart Turley: [00:16:33] How? Germany is dominating the hydrogen market. Okay, energy with Germany is kind of a bad thing right now, because Germany and California have the two highest energy costs in the world. Both are industrializing because of their energy policies. So let’s start this. If somebody is de industrializing and they’re horrible with decisions, would you want to follow them as an energy lemming? How is Germany dominating the hydrogen market? Question mark. Ten gigawatts of, like, electrolysis lasers are predicted to produce, half a million tons of green hydrogen annually. This investment means it’s set to boast more hydrogen valleys than any other country in the world. France is expected to sit in second place, with four in the UK, and the Netherlands are supposed to have two apiece. It doesn’t work. I almost want to do my Biden imitation. I’m leaning into the mic. It doesn’t work. Where’s the water? Hydrogen takes a lot of water, no matter what process. This is part of the great EU hydrogen corridor that you can put these things into a normal pipeline. They say that you can put them in natural gas. And I was big on this. It doesn’t work. It has to be all new pipelines. The cost is prohibitive. [00:18:10][96.8]
Michael Tanner: [00:18:13] Yeah. No, I mean, I, I. You’re absolutely right. It’s I mean, there’s funding available for it. So people are going to create projects to do that. I do love there in this, this hydrogen corridor. I found that super interesting. Now in in Germany’s defense, they are one of the final high quality manufacturing countries in the world. High precision tools. They’re made. They’re safe. Manufacturing is one of the best in the world. So if anybody’s going to. [00:18:43][30.2]
Stuart Turley: [00:18:44] They were the operative word is, were they? Most high tech folks are leaving and they have quit investing in new technology in Germany. Okay. Words were. [00:19:01][17.0]
Michael Tanner: [00:19:03] Okay. I mean, I still don’t think it’s going to work, but if they if. You can’t get a word in with them. I think in my, you know, you got to try. Now is this a little bit of just a government grab to to to to funnel some money to some other bureaucrats. Well probably, but they are actually trying to make it happen again. Is it going to work? I don’t know, but I’m all for private industry doing this. Like BMW goes down to talk about how, BMW is looking and how much they’re spending on trying to get a hydrogen car. I’m all for private industry doing this because that’s the efficient market way. [00:19:40][37.7]
Stuart Turley: [00:19:41] Yep. I agree. I love having profits from companies supported by the markets. Get the energy. [00:19:50][8.3]
Michael Tanner: [00:19:50] We’ll see, we’ll see. Just like we’re seeing with wind and solar. We’ll see if it reigns supreme. [00:19:54][4.4]
Stuart Turley: [00:19:55] No. Yeah. Let’s spend some more money. Taxpayers got all of that to give away. Okay, let’s go to the next point. [00:20:02][6.4]
Michael Tanner: [00:20:02] For private industry. Oh, I’m not for public spending. There’s a difference. [00:20:08][5.9]
Stuart Turley: [00:20:09] A huge difference. [00:20:09][0.0][1141.8]
– Get in Contact With The Show –
