Capitol Crude: The US Energy Policy Podcast

Consulting firm ScottMadden's latest energy industry update, fittingly titled "Under Pressure," outlines how rising post-pandemic energy demand, ambitious decarbonization targets, soaring commodity prices, and geopolitical tensions have all combined to put immense pressure on the global energy industry. As a result, the US power sector is seeing its resolve to hold to more aggressive climate goals...

Global energy markets have gone through dramatic shifts since Russia's invasion of Ukraine , and the risks around high prices and tight supply are not expected to ease anytime soon. Atul Arya, chief energy strategist for S&P Global Commodity Insights, spoke with senior editor Meghan Gordon about those challenges. They discuss how the war has changed the pace of the energy transition away from foss...

The Texas Railroad Commission -- which regulates the state's oil and gas industry, not railroads -- just went through perhaps its highest profile election. Chairman Wayne Christian faced oil and gas lawyer Sarah Stogner who posed tough questions about his enforcement record and the commission's response to the 2021 Texas blackout. Christian won with 65% of the vote, but the campaign raised the pro...

The new geopolitical scene is shaking up the outlook for LNG globally. The club of LNG suppliers has greatly expanded, with the US and others looking to increase their export capacity. This has created an environment for more favorable prices and contracts for importers as the desire for energy transition and energy security is boosting global demand, including in countries that have historically...

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney recently made the rounds in Washington, talking to lawmakers and State Department officials about the role Canada, and specifically Alberta's oil sands, can play in ensuring North American energy security and easing American drivers' pain at the pump. And his frustration with the lack of proactive outreach by the Biden administration to Alberta, which accounts for over...

As the US and Europe move to cut methane emissions, will the demand pull for cleaner LNG spread to price-sensitive Asia? Ben Cahill, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, published a report this month looking at how concerns about methane emissions might spread elsewhere in the world, and how the focus on methane could reshape the LNG market. Cahill argues that it...

As Europe aims to phase out Russian oil imports within months, attention is starting to shift to whether the US will impose secondary sanctions on Russian oil customers. Edward Fishman, who was the Russia and Europe sanctions lead at the State Department during the Obama administration, argues the US should take that step. Fishman, nonresident fellow at Columbia's Center for Global Energy Policy,...

The shipping sector faces a massive challenge in decarbonizing to meet global climate goals. To accelerate those efforts, leaders at the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow last year agreed to develop at least six green shipping corridors by 2025 and many more by 2030. The Biden administration has fully supported the plan and is urging private industry to also get on board. One of the more...

The energy sector has found itself in the crosshairs of what's been called a rare and dangerous state-sponsored malware threat capable of disruption, sabotage, and potentially physical destruction of energy assets, with LNG and electric facilities believed to be the initial target. Meanwhile, a collaboration between oil and gas companies and the R&D arm of the Department of Homeland Security, call...

President Joe Biden's executive order on tackling the climate crisis, among other things, launched a review of existing fossil fuel leasing and permitting practices. Climate and conservation groups had hoped the review would drill down into federal oil and natural gas leasing activity's impact on climate change, but the report issued Nov. 26 was mostly silent on climate. Now, groups represented by...

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission will soon get an infusion of four new voices, as the Senate voted March 28 on nominations that will bring the derivatives regulator back to a full complement of five members. Some hope this will jumpstart action at the agency after a year of being relatively quiet on energy derivatives regulation. Tyson Slocum, energy program director at Public Citizen,...

Global food security, just like energy security, has emerged as a major risk from Russia's war in Ukraine. Today we're looking at the shakeup in agriculture markets with Peter Meyer, S&P Global's head of grain, oilseed and feedstock analytics. He explains the role of Russia and Ukraine in growing wheat, corn and other crops for the world, how major buyers like China are reacting, whether US farmer...

US oil supply is expected to increase this year, and new tools tracking upstream emissions will bring interesting new insights. Deb Ryan, head of low-carbon market analytics for S&P Global Commodity Insights, explains her team's monthly carbon-intensity estimates, which rank upstream emissions from 104 oil fields around the world. She's watching what will happen in the Permian Basin as drillers po...

The oil markets' reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been dramatic to say the least as global oil and gas supplies, already struggling to keep up with the strong post-pandemic recovery in fuel demand, were further tightened as countries pulled away from Russian resources. And the Analytics team at S&P Global Commodity Insights has said "there are not sufficient sources of incremental supp...

The Russia crisis has upended the energy world in significant ways, posing massive new risks for supply, demand and prices. Joe McMonigle, secretary-general of the International Energy Forum, joined us to discuss some of those important shifts. He doesn't see actual oil supply disruptions stemming from the Russia crisis so far, and he continues to view insufficient upstream investment as the top r...

Will US oil drillers respond to triple-digit oil prices after months of restraint? Scott Sheffield, CEO of top Permian driller Pioneer Natural Resources, tells Capitol Crude that his commitment to slow growth could soon shift as a result of the Russia crisis. He said Pioneer could ramp up to 10% growth for a few years if there's a global effort to replace Russian exports. S&P Global Commodity Insi...

Using satellite data from 2019 and 2020, a team of French and US researchers created the first systematic estimate of large methane leaks that can only be seen from space. They detected about 1,800 so-called "ultra-emitters" over the two years, of which roughly 1,200 came from oil and gas facilities. Those high-emitting events, which are normally undetectable and not accounted for in national gree...

The International Maritime Organization has set its sights on slashing the global shipping industry's total emissions in half by 2050, with an interim target of cutting the carbon intensity of all ships by at least 40% by 2030. S&P Global Platts Analytics expects momentum to build for ammonia-fueled ships as companies strive to meet these ambitious goals, and sees the potential for more than 2,500...

Where is US oil production headed with prices at $90/b and some analysts seeing triple digits ahead? We're digging into the US upstream outlook from several angles, with: • Mitch Fane, Ernst & Young's Americas energy leader, on what's driving capital decisions, uncertainty around ESG disclosure requirements, and the state of industry consolidation and digital transformation (3:16). • Nathan Hasbro...

Russia's standoff with the West over Ukraine continues to stir anxieties across global energy and commodity markets about possible new sanctions. Brian O'Toole , nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former senior sanctions official at the US Treasury Department, joined Platts senior editor Meghan Gordon to discuss the penalties the US and EU might impose if Russia invades. He pr...

The Russia-Ukraine standoff has significant implications for the global gas and LNG markets, given Europe's reliance on Russian supply. It's peak winter demand season, and European gas inventories have been falling daily. Gas in storage stands at about 40% full, versus 53% full at the same time a year ago. The Biden administration said last week it was working with European allies to find addition...

Countries around the world committed to keeping the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius at the last United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. But when looking at the world's aggregate performance across key indicators of clean energy innovation, a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation found "a global lack of urgency."...

As you heard in last week's episode, geopolitical events have the potential to move energy markets in a big way in 2022. Today we're looking at three key geopolitical angles that have some common ties: the Russia-Ukraine tensions, the recent unrest in Kazakhstan, and fuel subsidies in general. Paul Sheldon, chief geopolitical adviser for S&P Global Platts Analytics, joined senior editor Meghan Gor...

Global oil markets are starting 2022 with a number of factors that could make for another volatile year. OPEC is continuing its monthly supply increases but taking a cautious approach so far given uncertain demand. A return of Iran barrels is not a sure thing as the nuclear talks stretch into a second year. The US tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a big way at the end of last year, but tha...

US oil refiners are pushing back against the Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to deny small refinery exemptions and other aspects of the latest biofuel mandate. They argue the policy will force some plants to close and increase gasoline prices further at a time the Biden administration is looking to ease pain at the pump for US drivers. In its long-awaited Renewable Fuel Standard proposa...