Daily Standup Top Stories
Businesses Urge Biden to Use ‘Every Tool’ in Mexico Energy Spat
Business groups representing American oil producers, renewable electricity and manufacturers urged the Biden administration to use “every tool available” to push Mexico to address complaints about its nationalist energy policy that the US says violates […]
Biden Officials Back Alaska Oil Project Scorned by Environmentalists
The Biden administration has decided to authorize a mammoth ConocoPhillips oil project in northwest Alaska, rejecting arguments from environmental activists who insist it will exacerbate climate change, according to people familiar with the matter. After […]
Renewable energy investors squeezed by higher interest rates, costs
NEW YORK/HOUSTON, (Reuters) – Corporations and investors have been pouring money into renewable energy projects, seeing an opportunity to grasp the Holy Grail of socially conscious investing: do good while doing well. But sharply higher […]
Renewable energy investors squeezed by higher interest rates, costs
NEW YORK/HOUSTON, (Reuters) – Corporations and investors have been pouring money into renewable energy projects, seeing an opportunity to grasp the Holy Grail of socially conscious investing: do good while doing well. But sharply higher […]
What to expect after Iran, Saudi Arabia agree to restore ties
Tehran, Iran – Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations in a China-brokered deal that could have wide-ranging consequences but building on it, analysts say, will prove the main challenge. The agreement […]
Highlights of the Podcast
00:00 – Intro
05:09 – Businesses urge Biden to use every tool. Mexico
07:10 – Biden officials back Alaska oil project scorned by environmentalist
09:57 – Renewable energy investors squeezed by higher interest rates and cost
12:26 – Russia uses ship to ship transfers to boost diesel exports to Saudi Arabia
14:32 – What to expect after Iran and Saudi Arabia agree to restore ties that was brokered by China specifically in Beijing
16:30 – Market Update
18:31 – Outro
Follow Stuart On LinkedIn and Twitter
Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.
Daily Energy Standup Episode #79
Michael Tanner [00:00:14] What is going on, everybody? Welcome to another edition of
the Daily Energy News Beat Standup here on this gorgeous Monday, March 13th, 2023.
As always, I’m your humble correspondent, Michael Tanner, coming to you from an
undisclosed location. You’re in Dallas, Texas, joined by the executive producer of the
show, the purveyor of the show and the direct publisher of the world’s greatest website,
EnergyNewsBeat.com, Stuart Turley, my man, how do you have a good weekend.
Stuart Turley [00:00:40] As beautiful day in the neighborhood. Lots of work.
Michael Tanner [00:00:43] Yeah. I’m excited to announce that after years of waiting, I
finally have secured my first home. It was it was a quick process. I got a variable interest
only loan from SVP Bank, SBB.
Stuart Turley [00:00:59] Nice.
Michael Tanner [00:01:00] They were for some reason on Friday they were really insisted
that I wire them the down payment quick, so I was luckily able to get that in. So were good.
Stuart Turley [00:01:10] Congratulations.
Michael Tanner [00:01:13] I don’t know how much of the show we will spend covering the
fallout from the Silicon Valley Bank. It’s kind of the news everybody is talking about. I don’t
know how much this touches the energy market other than they were a big, big, big loan of
loner of money. I don’t know how you are, though, any other way to put it than that to the
climate tech industry.
Michael Tanner [00:01:34] So there are a large amount of climate tech companies that
have massive amount of exposure. If you guys don’t know, Silicon Valley Bank on Friday
was taken over by the FDIC. And as we actually record this Sunday night here, it’s about
why it’s not Sunday night, it’s Sunday afternoon here about 3:30 p.m..
Michael Tanner [00:01:51] Lots could change since the time we record this and by the
time things happen Monday. So I don’t really necessarily want to get into the whole what
the fallout of what it means, because I’m going to come up with my opinion now and it’s
going to get changed here in 2 hours, obviously, before the Asian markets open. We’re
going to hear something. By the time you guys listen to this on Monday, obviously things
will have completely changed.
Michael Tanner [00:02:10] So the only thing I think I will say before I let you comment
briefly is I think we’ve got people on both sides of the argument saying let it fail A people.
Other people are saying, no, you got to bail it out.
Michael Tanner [00:02:21] There’s hypocrisy on both sides. I think the people, as always,
take it hurts are the innocent employees who just happen to work at these start ups who
now all of a sudden their payroll may or may not be in jeopardy.
Michael Tanner [00:02:31] Obviously, they’re not just going to get laid off the FDA.
There’s going to be things that happen. I don’t miss a few paychecks and it’s going to
expose how some how. Yeah, it’s it’s just not good. I feel for those people specifically.
Stuart Turley [00:02:43] Oh, it’s always the consumers and the employees that get it in
the drive thru and my heart goes out to everybody. My heart goes out to everybody that’s
going to be impacted on this and it’s bad management from the management side of the
bank when they were buying so many bonds and things with the high interest or the low
interest rates and they did.
going to be impacted on this and it’s bad management from the management side of the
bank when they were buying so many bonds and things with the high interest or the low
interest rates and they did.
Michael Tanner [00:03:03] They did not hedge their interest rate exposure, it’s insane.
Stuart Turley [00:03:09] You know, it was basic management and then I believe the CEO
took 3.4 million out, I believe, the week before. So he saw it coming. Yeah. You know, go
figure that out. So our heart goes out to everybody.
Michael Tanner [00:03:25] Yeah. That’s all I’ll say about that. Well, we’ll have some
stories on energy news, so you can check out that. But we do have a great show for you
guys lined up today. First, [00:03:33]businesses urge Biden to use, quote, every tool in
Mexico, energy spat. [4.3s] There is a huge, very interesting decision that’s coming down
from the Mexican government in terms of what to do with their energy business. There’s a
lot of interesting things going on. So Stu wi’ll dive into this article and cover what that
means.
Michael Tanner [00:03:49] Next. [00:03:50]Biden’s official Backs Alaskan Oil Project
Scorned by environmentalists. [4.1s] This is a huge win for the Alaskan oil business. The
Biden administration has come in and actually backed that project we covered a week and
a half ago. So Stu will cover the fallout from that decision.
Michael Tanner [00:04:05] Next. [00:04:05]Renewable energy investors squeezed by
higher interest rates and cost [3.6s] that flows a little bit into the Silicon Valley open that we
just talked about with as interest rates rise. It’s going to be very interesting to see how
some of these marginal loans pan out. So we’ll cover what that means for the renewable
energy industry.
Michael Tanner [00:04:21] Next. [00:04:22]Russia uses ship to ship transfers to boost
diesel export to Saudi Arabia. [4.3s] Ooh, spicy stew. We’ll talk about what that means.
And then finally, [00:04:30]what to expect after Iran and Saudi Arabia agree to restore ties
that was brokered by China specifically in Beijing. [7.0s] So they will still cover the
geopolitical fallout from there. He’ll kick it over to me, I’ll mainly cover the outlook on crude
oil and natural gas this week and what to expect, if anything, in those markets. Before I
could get back to you guys,.
Michael Tanner [00:04:50] As always, check us out. World’s greatest website www.energynewsbeat.com Dashboard.EnergyNewsBeat.com our combo data
News. We are hard at work at V2 check out the description below. All of the articles we
are about to cover Are there energynewsbeat.com? I’m out of breath though, Stu. Where
do you want to begin?
Stuart Turley [00:05:07] A first article coming around the corner. Businesses urge Biden
to use every tool. Mexico. Here’s one key line out of it right there at the top. It appears that
the administration of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will not change the
course of his country’s energy policy without continued direct and forceful pressure from
the U.S. government. Here’s the problem.
Stuart Turley [00:05:32] The cartels I don’t know if any if you watch the news this
weekend, Michael, but they were showing it on Fox. And there are cartels all the way
across the U.S. from Mexico cartels. And so it’s just amazing how much they proliferated
through the whole U.S.. Here’s the gadget. The cartels are running Mexico.
across the U.S. from Mexico cartels. And so it’s just amazing how much they proliferated
through the whole U.S.. Here’s the gadget. The cartels are running Mexico.
Stuart Turley [00:05:52] Biden is upset because the Mexican government owned by the
cartels are wanting to reduce the energy steps and not falling in line with what Biden
wants. So this is going to be just a lot bigger issue than the lobbyist for the oil and gas
companies trying to lobby the Bidens to influence the cartels to influence. Holy smokes. I
mean, this is going to be an issue.
Michael Tanner [00:06:23] Interesting. So what you’re telling me is the cartel isn’t
interested in renewable energy projects.
Stuart Turley [00:06:28] No, about that.
Michael Tanner [00:06:30] Who would have thought that? Who would have seen that one
coming?
Stuart Turley [00:06:33] I didn’t. I had to read through the tea leaves on this one. And so
we got us a real problem. And the only solution to this is close the border. Believe it or not,
close the border because the cartels are going to do things that are not good and that has
nothing to do with what the title of this article was.
Michael Tanner [00:06:55] Yeah, I don’t know if closing the borders is the right strategy,
but something has to be done. You’re right.
Stuart Turley [00:07:00] We’ll table that for another discussion. But let’s go off to the next
one here. So, okay. This one is really interesting. Talking about a double hammer, Biden
officials back Alaska oil project scorned by environmentalist Michael. Just to give our
listeners a little bit of a recap on this, this is the Willow Project by Conoco Phillips up on
the North Slope. Conoco Phillips originally had requested to drill from five locations at
Willow, but supported a plan with only three sites after pushback from regulators.
Stuart Turley [00:07:35] This was actually approved after Trump two years, and then they
get stonewalled on some more approval processes. The entire project that Michael is $8
billion and it will have 23 million acre was set aside for this. But there’s some oil. Let me
give you an oil number here.
Stuart Turley [00:07:59] It is 600 million barrels of oil, as well as some 200 million tons of
carbon dioxide emissions tied to burning it. So a huge project. Now, the nice thing is this
would flow into the Alyeska Pipeline coming straight on down to it’s the Alaska I believe is
at less than 5% utilized right now.
Michael Tanner [00:08:23] So it’s 180,000 barrels of oil a day projected once they get this
project turned online, I think is a huge win for the Alaskan people, you know. Yes. Because
this whole argument about universal basic income people in Alaska being getting checks
from oil and gas for years now, they’re used to it.
Michael Tanner [00:08:39] So they’re they’re going to love this person. I think this is a you
know, we give credit where credit is due on the show, credit by administration in front of a
lot of flack in their own party to go ahead and approve this. Good for them.
Stuart Turley [00:08:53] That he had no choice in the side benefit or side note on this
article, Michael, was the fact that the SPR is now naked and that thing is running down the
road. And so the oil prices have not come down. Had he not done this, there would be no
way that they could fill the the reserves any time soon. So all of a sudden this thing has got
to get started or he truly would be in deep doo doo.
road. And so the oil prices have not come down. Had he not done this, there would be no
way that they could fill the the reserves any time soon. So all of a sudden this thing has got
to get started or he truly would be in deep doo doo.
Michael Tanner [00:09:24] Yeah. It’s going to be interesting. They mention in this article
it’s going to be years before you actually see oil flowing for this project because there’s a
short window in which you can do construction because of the freezing and thawing. So
it’s, you know, don’t invade Russia in the wintertime. We know that’s a historical policy.
Stuart Turley [00:09:39] Oh, absolutely right. So anyway, hats off to them for having to do
it. But when they were cornered, it was either not fill the SPR, which was not mentioned in
this article. You had to understand that play why they stood up to the renewable gang.
Stuart Turley [00:09:55] Next article coming around the corner. Renewable energy
investors squeezed by higher interest rates and cost. This has you mentioned it, Michael,
in the first. This story actually has a byline with the bank. Failure this weekend. Higher cost
buyers and sellers of renewable power projects recalculating potential returns, hampering
fundraising, mergers and acquisitions, M&A.
Stuart Turley [00:10:25] One of the quotes in here is just horrific. We came out of a cycle
of low interest rates in which it was easy to look for an asset buy, build, de-risk and sell
cashflows. Now the transitions we are seeing are for growth.
Stuart Turley [00:10:41] They’re not based so much on cash flows, said Oscar Perez,
investment director for fund manager at Quality Energy. The pool of operators or investors
out there who can handle those changes and generate improvements. It is much smaller
than you’d think. So the whole renewable market is in trouble.
Stuart Turley [00:11:03] We’re not going to be able to add new renewables we’re not
going to be able to add new. You’re not going to have financing. You’re not going to have I
mean, you and I talked last week, even several for several weeks now, just because we
have the Inflation Reduction Act with all the extra money doesn’t mean it’s going to get
done.
Michael Tanner [00:11:22] And it’s got to get it’s got to get distributed to it’s guy. It’s got to
go somewhere. So it’ll be interesting to see how it ends up flowing. I do think with the
collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, you will see it’s going to hurt the renewables game even
more because this was one of the few banks that came out and made very generous loans
to these climate tech companies. So it’ll be interesting to see how this money and through
what mechanism this money gets distributed through now.
Stuart Turley [00:11:50] And what’s going to be interesting is you’re going to see people,
you can tell and I’m going to give a shout out to the energy News Beat team here. We’re
about a consumer. We are about the American people, the people of the world, and low
cost energy.
Stuart Turley [00:12:06] This is not a good thing by by any stretch of the imagination. So,
anyway, moving right along to the next one here. All right, Michael, you and I over the years have had a lot of fun talking about this one. But in January, we knew this was
coming around the corner.
Stuart Turley [00:12:23] So here we are on March 13th. Russia uses ship to ship transfers
to boost diesel exports to Saudi Arabia. Okay. Using a ship to ship transfer or assets,
Russian is shortening the routes for tankers headed to Africa and Asia after Moscow is
now banned from exporting fuels to the EU.
Stuart Turley [00:12:49] This goes hand in hand with the other story that we have that’s
on news beat. Russia started exporting diesel to Saudi Arabia, its ally in the Opec+ group,
in February after Moscow’s key fuel export outlet, the EU enacted an embargo on
February 5th.
Stuart Turley [00:13:09] So these ship to ship transfers have been increasing. We knew
that they were going to do this and you and I even talked about it. I think we go back to the
day.
Stuart Turley [00:13:19] According to Jp morgan last paragraph in this article, Russian
fuel exports could slip by 300,000 barrels per day as a result of the EU embargo. That
number is critical, Michael, because that’s diesel.
Michael Tanner [00:13:35] Or these refined product. It’s a completely different market and
that’s what I think is interesting.
Stuart Turley [00:13:41] Yes. And the EU is going to get hammered, as you would say. Or
was that Ace Ventura hammered because it.
Michael Tanner [00:13:54] Was as it was a feature? No, you’re exactly right. You called
this. Don’t don’t hurt yourself patting yourself on the back, which he has.
Stuart Turley [00:14:03] But guess who else is going to get hit? Who? Our beloved friends
in the East. Bees because of the.
Michael Tanner [00:14:10] New York for them.
Stuart Turley [00:14:12] Yeah. Diesel prices back east are going to get hammered.
Michael Tanner [00:14:17] All right, What’s next?
Stuart Turley [00:14:19] All right. Boy, I would never make it as a has been to love that
movie, even though he’s a little bit weird. All right. What about what to expect after Iran,
Saudi Arabia agreeing to restore ties. This article is actually got some great points.
Michael, you nailed the whole thing right here in the beginning comments of our podcast
today.
Stuart Turley [00:14:44] This was signed in Beijing. Holy smokes. So you have Saudi
Arabia and you have I.R.A. tying the knot. And in the article it comes down here. They
have a high level of distrust. However, this is a middle finger, a double double barreled
middle finger to the Biden administration from the Saudis.
Stuart Turley [00:15:11] But. They’re going in with a very level open eye as they as the
Saudis dip their toe into this relationship. The quote out of here, Saudi Arabia will still be
cautious in economic dealings with Iran because it does not want to be exposed to U.S.
sanctions. That’s why they’re sticking their toe in the water. They’re not worried about U.S.
sanctions. So that is critical right there.
sanctions. So that is critical right there.
Michael Tanner [00:15:40] So it’s it’s pretty scary that these deals are getting brokered
with the United States because who knows what’s getting agreed upon behind closed
doors. Now, it’s scary even when the United States is involved, too. And we’re not involved
that.
Stuart Turley [00:15:54] No. And our current administration has absolutely handed China
the keys to the world.
Michael Tanner [00:16:04] Oh, yeah. I mean, there’s. Our foreign policy is horrible right
now. That it’s. Been that way for years. You froze. You didn’t freeze up. No, I.
Stuart Turley [00:16:13] Was like I had a little warning, a little warning bell going off in my
head. I was kind of like, do I respond with. No. I’ll save that for another show like that.
Michael Tanner [00:16:27] For another one. All right. Well, on the finance side, guys,
again, not much happened this weekend other than that crazy as the big news. We have
SFB, we have VB. Just staying up with all these acronyms is unbelievable. Crude did did
finish 76, 68, natural gas, $2.43. So it ends the week down from where it finished at the
beginning over $3.
Michael Tanner [00:16:51] So again, warmer weather coming in, not going to help.
Natural gas prices reports all the way turned on and that’s clearly not doing anything to
help support prices. So, again, I will continue to take the oil on that one. Crude oil prices
again, I think I you know, I’m stick to my guns here, too. I don’t think I think eighties the cap
here on WTI. I don’t see how this will continue to rise much farther above that point.
Michael Tanner [00:17:13] I do think maybe 70 $72 is the floor. So I do think we’re in this
nice 70 to 80 range, which is about you should be able to balance your books there. And if
you can’t produce profitable oil at $70, eek, eek.
Stuart Turley [00:17:25] I agree.
Michael Tanner [00:17:25] So I don’t think there’s much very quiet you know, it’s all quiet
on the western front, on the oil and gas news finance and news side. I do think the M&A
action will be interesting to see if that kicks up. We just what we just finish up earnings
season you guys can check out all the different earnings.
Michael Tanner [00:17:42] So it’ll be interesting to see how this Q1 finishes up. We’ve got
about 15 days left and then we’re fresh on to a new quarter and that’s summer season. So
it’s going to be interesting to do anything else that we need to let them know about before
they get going on this Monday.
Stuart Turley [00:17:55] I’ll tell you, buckle up financially. I am concerned about the bank.
You know, we all need to knuckle down and be prepared to help each other as Americans.
Michael Tanner [00:18:06] Yeah, I got to log in after the show and figure out how my new
home loans doing.
Stuart Turley [00:18:11] That was a good one.
Michael Tanner [00:18:13] All right, guys, with that, we’ll let you get out of here. Start your
day. Thanks for checking us out on this Monday. We know there’s a lot of options, so we
appreciate it. Stuart Turley, I’m Michael Tanner. We’ll see you tomorrow.
