Capitol Crude: The US Energy Policy Podcast

Venezuelan sanctions and the Maduro regime have been a backburner issue so far for US President Joe Biden. When he was elected, many energy analysts predicted he would grant some sanctions relief on humanitarian grounds. Fernando Ferreira, director of Rapidan Energy Group's Geopolitical Risk Service, predicts we'll start to see the White House's direction on Venezuela later this year. We asked him...

The US and Iran are entering a sixth round of indirect talks in Vienna aimed at restarting the 2015 nuclear deal. S&P Global Platts Analytics still expects the sides to reach a deal in the coming months, with the Biden administration removing sanctions on Iran's oil, petrochemical, shipping and other sectors by September. This sanctions relief would allow Iran to boost crude and condensate exports...

Investors are proving they have climate change and the energy transition on the their minds. Last week, activist investors got at least two seats on the ExxonMobil board of directors, and Chevron's shareholders approved Scope 3 emission targets, both which could lead to lower oil and gas production ahead. The popularity of ESG (environmental, social and governance) investments is soaring. But what...

The Biden administration surprised many last week in granting a sanctions waiver to the company building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. The move allows work to continue on the almost-finished project, despite long-standing US opposition on the grounds that it will increase Germany's dependence on Russian gas supplies. We spoke with US Senator Kevin Cramer, Republican-North...

The White House and Democrats in Congress are looking at a number of ways to increase taxes and federal revenues from the oil and gas industry as part of their climate and clean energy agenda. They're looking at higher royalty rates on federal lands and eliminating deductions like intangible drilling costs and percentage depletion. We spoke with Dan Naatz, executive vice president for the Independ...

We're sizing up some of the top geopolitical factors influencing oil markets with Paul Sheldon, chief geopolitical adviser for S&P Global Platts Analytics. The US and Iran entered a fourth round of indirect talks in Vienna this month. Sheldon explains why he still sees good odds of a framework deal emerging within weeks and what that would mean for the US easing sanctions on Iran's oil, petrochemi...

Will the cyberattack that forced the largest US oil pipeline to shut down for days be a wake-up call for the industry to rapidly shore up its cyber defenses? On this special episode, we have two interviews from cybersecurity experts. Both say they were not entirely surprised by the attack on the Colonial Pipeline, as they have witnessed the oil and gas sector be slower to adopt cyber security prog...

Just how realistic are the ESG goals being set each quarter by US energy producers in the face of rising pressure from investors, banks and the government to become more environmentally sustainable? The Biden administration has ushered in new climate priorities across the government, including the Environmental Protection Agency reviewing methane limits, the Federal Reserve weighing climate risks...

The US Interior Department has approved more than 500 drilling permits on federal lands and waters since January, despite the Biden administration's halt to new lease sales. The agency has not said when it might resume leasing, other than canceling any sales through June. Producer-state senators contend that this pause will turn into a permanent ban. Senator John Hoeven, Republican-North Dakota, m...

The Dakota Access Pipeline returns to court today for a pivotal hearing. The Biden administration has been asked by the federal judge in the case to disclose whether it supports an immediate shutdown of the pipeline while the Army Corps of Engineers conducts a new environmental review. We spoke with Senator John Hoeven, Republican-North Dakota, about the risks to the state if Dakota Access has to...

Louisiana sits at the crossroads of US climate policy, from experiencing some of the earliest effects of rising sea levels and changing weather patterns to depending on fossil fuels for economic growth. We spoke with US Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican-Louisiana, about how the Biden administration's climate policies are playing out in his state. He contends the White House's climate ambitions igno...

Argentina's oil production has been on the rise this year, recovering from the demand and price impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Oil output climbed to 492,000 b/d in February, up from 446,000 b/d in May. While that was still down from 520,000 b/d in March 2020, market watchers appear confident that production will fully recover by the end of 2021. Argentina's current administration has been ke...

Opportunity zones are tax-advantaged investment vehicles that grew out of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to bring economic redevelopment to impoverished areas. For the oil and gas industry, opportunity zones can benefit producers and investors. US Energy Development, a small upstream producer, recently added an opportunity zone to its portfolio in New Mexico called the Shetland project. We talk...

The administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico came to power with the promise to undo the energy reform of his predecessor, which opened the private sector to investment. During the last 18 months, the government has issued agreements, decrees and regulations in its strategy to benefit the state utility. We spoke to Victor Ureta of Acclaim Energy, a Mexico-based consultancy,...

The dearth of newly sanctioned LNG export projects in 2020 and so far in 2021 — especially in North America, which has been responsible for the majority of new LNG supply globally over the last five years — is a worrisome sign for the market that could lead to more price volatility in the future. In North America, there was only one new liquefaction project sanctioned last year — Sempra Energy's E...

Environmental, social and governance considerations have becoming pressing issues among refiners in today's net-zero carbon world. While other refiners and oil companies are starting to embrace ESG, it has been a key part of Meridian Energy's strategy since 2013, when the company was formed. We talked with Meridian CEO Bill Prentice about building an ESG refinery in North Dakota.

Mexican production of crude oil has declined continuously since reaching a peak in 2004. Since then, the government has tried to bring back production while keeping revenues steady. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has embarked on a new quest to rescue Pemex, whose waning revenues have been needed to help develop Mexico for the last seven decades. We spoke with Marco Cota, a former Pemex exec...

Conversations at this year's CERAWeek by IHS Markit, held virtually this year after being canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, were wide ranging, although energy transition was often the main topic.

As the shortest route from the US Gulf Coast to East Asia, the Panama Canal has emerged as a key fixture in global trade flow dynamics. We spoke with Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, administrator of the Panama Canal Authority, who has been working to reduce congestion of the canal, which has grown in part because of LNG shipments from the US.

For the past several days, much of the producing states of Texas and Oklahoma have been gripped by sub-freezing temperatures, ice storms and snow. Today we talk with Parker Fawcett, North American supply analyst for S&P Global Platts Analytics, to discuss the impact of the severe weather on US oil and gas production, and other consequences of the winter storms.

The Uinta Basin in Utah is the producing area of the US Rocky Mountains. Its production has declined in recent years for two reasons: the region's isolation and the gooey, waxy crude produced from it. We spoke with Mark Hemphill, senior vice president for the Rio Grande Pacific Corp. He is project manager for the Uinta Basin Railway, an 85-mile, $1.5 billion project to bring Uinta Basin crude to a...

US President Joe Biden make good on his campaign promises and rejoined the Paris Agreement upon taking office, a move that has huge implications for Mexico in particular, given the current energy strategy of the government, which focuses on fossil fuels. We spoke with Aldo Flores-Quiroga, senior adviser for energy and natural resources at FTI Consulting. He formerly served as secretary-general of...

Apart from simple supply and demand, nothing impacts oil markets as much as geopolitics. Former President Donald Trump did everything he could to load up sanctions on countries like Iran and Venezuela in order to cut down on their crude exports. Now we'll see what President Joe Biden might do and whether those moves lead to more barrels coming back on oversupplied markets. We spoke with Paul Sheld...

President Joe Biden's inauguration was particularly momentous, including for energy companies and markets. A flurry of executive actions were signed just hours after Biden took the oath of office, and against that background there are big changes underway in federal policy. Oil, natural gas and energy transition will all be impacted by these early moves.

Today we are looking at oil storage trends. Oil storage sits at the heart of oil pricing, and a lot has happened in this arena over the last year, mirroring crude and product markets. Ahead of S&P Global Platts' Oil Storage Virtual Conference, to be held January 21, we talked with two experts in the field: Richard Redoglia, CEO of Matrix Global Holdings; and Steven Barsamian, Chief Operating Offic...