Fifty years ago this week, legislation authorizing construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Richard Nixon.
The whole process took all of five days.
Read More
Recent production cuts by OPEC are predicted to raise gas prices by 15 to 30 cents, according to energy analyst Patrick De Haan.
De Haan’s prediction, if accurate, will leave gas prices at an estimated $3.95 to $4.10 per gallon, according to U.S. gas averages recorded by AAA. While current gas prices are not directly tied to oil supply on a day-to-day basis, the dwindling gas supply in America will eventually feel a ripple effect as the oil supply continues to be reduced.
Read More
During a “vote-a-rama” on their $739 billion reconciliation spending bill that has hundreds of billions for climate and health care programs, Democratic senators had to take a series of uncomfortable votes on hot-button issues — particularly tough for those representing swing states.
The bill, which also includes federal funding for 87,000 new IRS agents, passed on a party line vote 51-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie.
Read More
Environmental groups sued the Interior Department Tuesday to challenge the first oil and gas lease sale on public lands during the Biden administration.
A coalition of environmental groups led by Dakota Resource Council filed a lawsuit in in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that the sales violate the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which requires that the Interior Department prevent “unnecessary or undue degradation” of public lands.
Read More
More than a third of small businesses can’t pay rent, newly released data shows.
The small business network Alignable released new survey results that found that 35% of U.S. small business owners “could not pay their rent in full or on time in June.”
Read More
The Biden administration is mulling the prospect of banning new American offshore oil and natural gas drilling projects as fuel prices continue to spike, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, working closely with the White House to shape policy, will release its drafted five-year plan for new oil and gas drilling leases in federal waters to Congress by June 30, according to The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter. The administration is likely to stop new offshore drilling projects in the Atlantic and the Pacific, and is considering whether to end leasing in the Arctic and Gulf of Mexico.
Read More
In what has become a seemingly every day occurrence, gas prices rose to a new record high Sunday as the national average approaches $5 a gallon.
Nine states already have surpassed the $5 threshold, and several others are just pennies away.
According to AAA, the average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline reached $4.85 Sunday, up an additional three cents from Saturday and 24 cents from last week.
Read More
The “Gasoline Misery Index” from the Metro Business Daily Network details the direct impact record-high gas prices have had on consumers across the United States.
Since President Joe Biden took office, prices of gas and other goods and services have continued to increase, as many peaked after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Read More
In California, the state government is considering multiple options to provide relief for car owners who have to face the highest fuel prices in the nation, including handouts of up to $800 per person.
According to ABC News, Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) announced on Wednesday a new proposal to combat rising gas prices. In addition to giving out debit cards with as much as $400 for each vehicle, up to two vehicles per person, the proposal includes a tax break, free rides on public transit, and efforts to promote alternative methods of transportation.
Read More
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen defended sustainable investing practices and climate change policies that have negatively impacted U.S. oil and gas drilling in an interview Friday.
“I don’t think that the ESG movement and the emphasis on climate change is creating the problems that we have,” Yellen told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday morning when asked if investors need to rethink their stance on fossil fuels. “If anything, the problem is that we haven’t moved as rapidly as we should have.”
Read More
The Biden administration backtracked on reports that it is resuming the federal oil and gas leasing program in light of a recent appeals court decision.
On Friday, Reuters reported that the Department of the Interior (DOI), the agency tasked with overseeing the leasing program, was planning to resume the previously-delayed program. But a DOI spokesperson pushed back on the report, saying it overstated the administration’s position that it would begin planning the next steps, not that it had already resumed the program.
Read More
Every single one of senile president Joe Biden’s struggles was easily foreseeable.
It’s a bold statement, since many if not most of the issues that confront a new president can’t always be seen from a distance. If it can be said that elections are always about the future, it’s just as true to claim that the future would almost certainly be shaped by yet unseen events and circumstances that no politician could forthrightly discuss in the lead-up to his victory.
Read More
The day after President Biden announced that the United States would ban imports of Russian oil and gas, a group of eleven powerful European investment funds that includes Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager, outlined plans to force Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second largest bank, to cut its lending to oil and gas companies. The juxtaposition of these two events dramatizes the fundamental disunity of the West. At the same time as the Biden administration is sanctioning Russian oil and gas producers, Western investors are sanctioning Western ones. Under the banner of ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing, the West’s capital is being deployed to create an artificial shortage of oil and gas produced by its companies and reward non-Western oil and gas producers such as Russia and Iran with higher prices. In doing so, the West is undermining its own security interests.
Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, energy markets were already extremely tight. In the past, high oil and gas prices stimulated a supply-side response leading to increased output and to prices falling back. This relationship has broken down. According to analysts at JP Morgan, capital spending by S&P Global 1200 energy companies peaked in 2015 at just over $400 billion and shrank to around $120 billion last year – less than half its previous trough of $250 billion in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, even though global demand is now around 15% higher than it was then.
Read More
A new poll conducted by Insider Advantage for the Center for American Greatness shows Biden in big trouble with voters. 54% of likely voters disapprove of Biden’s job approval versus 42% who approve. Worse, this survey shows that only 36% approve of his handling of Ukraine. Other highlights from the survey are the 64% of people who believe high gas prices should be solved by eliminating Biden’s restrictions on pumping American oil and gas.
Perhaps most troubling, and portending more difficulty in the future for the country is the question that asked, “How much is rising inflation in the cost of goods and services impacting you and your family?” 85% of respondents said that inflation is having a “significant” impact on them and their families. Inflation, of course, is bad for the country, especially the middle class. But the politics of it spell trouble for Democrats whose policies have increased and accelerated the inflation currently beggaring the nation.
Read More
Part of a key pipeline transporting natural gas from Russia to Europe suddenly reversed its flow direction Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Flows in the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which sends natural gas to Germany via Poland, were recorded going eastward away from Europe on Tuesday morning, data from the European firm Gascade showed, Reuters reported, citing data from German network operator Gascade. Flows leaving Germany were moving at a whopping 4.3 million kilowatt-hours per hour at one section of the pipeline.
Read More
1. Oil and gas proceeds fund more than one-third of the entire Russian federal budget.
Russia produces 12% of the world’s oil. Its economy is strongly dependent on its publicly owned oil and gas sector — which employs about 2.5 million people, and generates an average of $191 million in revenue every day for the Kremlin.
Read More
When the Biden administration appeals to Iran, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia for oil but rejects American and Canadian oil and gas production, there is something profoundly wrong.
Why does Joe Biden think dictators are better than Americans? Why send money to Iran instead of Oklahoma – or to Venezuela instead of Texas? If he wants to send money outside the United States, why not send money to Canada rather than Saudi Arabia?
Read More
The White House has repeatedly suggested the private sector can boost oil supply amid surging gas prices, but industry groups have countered that the administration has placed hurdles for new drilling.
“There are 9,000 unused, approved drilling permits,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday. “So I would suggest you ask the oil companies why they’re not using those if there’s a desire to drill more.”
Read More
As Joe Biden’s approval numbers sink further into the sewer, the only thing he’s building back better is 1970s-style inflation. Up until Biden, most polls usually named Jimmy Carter as one of the weakest and most inept presidents we’ve ever had. That was until Biden showed up and said, “Hold my beer!” Which you have to know has brought so much joy to Carter. Heck, he probably has a set of “Let’s go Brandon!” PJs that he wears every night as he thanks God for the gift of Biden.
Fact is, this country is now being “led” by a man who absolutely will go down as one of the worst presidents in our history. In just over a year, Biden has brought inflation roaring back to levels not seen in 40 years, has destroyed our southern border as millions of illegal aliens, along with Chinese fentanyl, flood the country, and now we have been involved in two major international debacles with Afghanistan and Ukraine. The list could go on, but perhaps that’s too depressing.
Rest assured, however, it’s not going to get better. Biden is like the anti-Midas, turning everything he touches into crap.
Read More