Capitol Crude: The US Energy Policy Podcast

Today we are examining the outlook for new North American liquefaction projects to be sanctioned in 2021 amid a virtual standstill in 2020. The recent runup in the Platts JKM has buoyed developers, but challenges remain. S&P Global Platts natural writer Harry Weber spoke with Charif Souki, co-founder and executive chairman of Tellurian, which is proposing to build an export facility in Louisiana....

The 2020 US elections were arguably the most consequential of our time. Among the many issues that drove voters to choose one candidate over another was energy. Oil, natural gas and the energy transition all were at play, and now the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden will be expected to deliver on promises made. Jasmin Melvin and Maya Weber of S&P Global Platts and Ellie Potter...

Earlier this year the oil market suffered a historic price collapse as pandemic-blunted demand left the world awash in crude. Against this background, the OPEC+ group in April agreed to is deepest-ever production cuts. The agreement was largely successful in fostering a recovery in oil prices throughout the summer and fall, but oil demand outlooks have again come under pressure. The group reached...

US crude output fell this year in response to low demand stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. Production has held at around 10.5 million b/d to 11 million b/d since late October, according to the US Energy Information Administration. But that is down roughly 2 million b/d on the year, and many analysts expect little change for 2021. However, some oil industry leaders are much more bearish on pr...

The presidential election is over, and the results are being certified. President Donald Trump may keep contesting votes in court, but we're expecting the beginning of the Biden administration come January. Today we look at the state of the midstream oil sector amid an ongoing pandemic and an upcoming Democratic White House that won't be as friendly toward putting new pipe in the ground. The never...

California and its clean car ambitions had a lot riding on the US presidential election. The state's Air Resources Board spent the Trump presidency fighting with the US Environmental Protection Agency about its rollback of Obama-era tailpipe standards, which were set to increase average fuel economy of the US passenger vehicle fleet by 5% annually from 2021 to 2026. The Trump administration slashe...

The US oil and gas sector is facing several huge transitions all at once: the immediate crisis brought on by the pandemic and a longer-term energy transition away from fossil fuels. Today we're looking at a third shift confronting the US upstream: digital transformation and the need for the oil and gas workforce to catch up in this area. A new survey by Ernst & Young found a major digital skills g...

Joe Biden is now officially president-elect after securing a win in natural gas-rich Pennsylvania despite the fight over fracking we've heard so much about these last long weeks. S&P Global Platts Analytics predicts a muted production impact if Biden bans new federal drilling permits, putting up to 1.1 million b/d of oil output and 3.7 Bcf/d of gas output at risk by 2025. On this special episode,...

Dozens of highly consequential energy issues are at play in this week's US elections, ranging from who will occupy the Oval Office for the next four years, to who will fill the last open seat on the Texas Railroad Commission. But overhanging all of this is a US economy crippled by the ongoing pandemic. Beth Ann Bovino, US Chief Economist for S&P Global Ratings, helps explore this unique interplay.

It's Election Day in the US, and at a lot is at stake in the energy sector for the next four years. We're revisiting three key policy areas that could shift direction depending on today's vote: * US policy in the Middle East and Washington's relationship with OPEC, with Amy Myers Jaffe, research professor and managing director of the Climate Policy Lab at Tufts University's Fletcher School. * US o...

A victory by Joe Biden in the US presidential election could have a big impact on the US-Mexico relationship and might even force the Mexican administration to change course on its energy goals. Mexico's energy policy is currently focused on fossil fuels, despite having international commitments to move toward green sources of energy and the legal framework to do so. We spoke with Guillermo Zuniga...

US oil and gas producers were already facing a tough investment climate by the time this spring's price crash and demand plunge decimated capital spending plans. Layered on top of this near-term crisis is a much bigger, longer-term threat: climate change. A recent Commodity Futures Trading Commission report argues climate change could pose a major risk to the stability of the US financial system....

For the global oil market, one of the biggest wildcards of the US presidential election is Iran sanctions relief under a Biden administration. This would return more than 2 million b/d to an already very oversupplied oil market. Today we have two predictions for how this would play out and how quickly. Nareeka Ahir, geopolitical analyst for S&P Global Platts Analytics, argues that Biden will want...

The coronavirus pandemic has rapidly accelerated the digitization of US energy companies, moving operational technology and corporate networks into workers' homes. Leo Simonovich, vice president and global head of industrial cyber and digital security at Siemens Energy, says this has heightened the need for oil, gas and power companies to increase their cyber defenses. With more point-to-point con...

The US presidential election could have far-reaching implications for the global oil market. Chris Midgley, global head of analytics for S&P Global Platts, takes us through the biggest potential impacts for supply, demand and price. He covers Iran sanctions relief scenarios, the outlook for OPEC+ cohesion, the US upstream forecast under Biden drilling restrictions and the future of US trade relati...

In Part 2 of our look at the US presidential candidates' evolving energy platforms, we examine how progressive Democrats have pushed former Vice President Joe Biden further left on climate and environmental policies. Glenn Schwartz, director of Rapidan Energy Group's Energy Policy Service, shares his latest prediction for how far Biden will go in restricting oil and gas drilling, and why running m...

In this two-part episode, we look at how both US presidential candidates' energy platforms have evolved since the start of campaigning. They have had to respond to massive market shifts, a string of natural disasters signaling a changing climate, and waning poll numbers in key states. In Part 1, we look at President Donald Trump's platform with Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor and CEO of Canary, a...

How much will November's presidential election actually influence the outlook for US oil and gas production? Artem Abramov, head of shale research for Rystad Energy, makes the somewhat contrarian case that whoever is in the White House come next year will not greatly sway US production either way. Rystad predicts a federal drilling ban, as proposed by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, wou...

The November presidential election adds to risks for natural gas pipelines, which link production to demand centers but increasingly face opposition from those seeking to phase out fossil fuels. For interstate gas pipelines, the federal government remains an important gatekeeper for permitting. If Democratic nominee Joe Biden is elected president, a change in leadership at the Federal Energy Regul...

A victory in November for former Vice President Joe Biden in November could influence oil and gas companies' decarbonization plans, given Biden's climate and clean energy proposals. European oil majors tend to outpace their US counterparts in terms of climate goals, likely due to the European Green Deal, but could a Democratic victory this fall encourage companies to adopt stricter emission reduct...

Global oil supply far exceeds demand right now as the coronavirus pandemic keeps travel restrictions in place and commuters working from home. Commodities analysts Leigh Goehring and Adam Rozencwajg, managing partners of Goehring and Rozencwajg, argue that the pandemic and current oil market conditions will be a catalyst for a coming global energy crisis. They think we're not far from a global oil...

Guyana is one of the most promising new sources for non-OPEC oil production growth, and the country just emerged from a chaotic five-month election drama. Opposition leader Mohamed Irfaan Ali was sworn into office as the country's new president last week. The small South American country is home to the biggest oil discovery in recent years. In January, ExxonMobil boosted its reserves estimate for...

US oil producers have started bringing some shut-in wells back online since this spring's price crash. S&P Global Platts Analytics expects the nearly all the shut-in volumes to come back by October. But US oil output will continue to decline as a result of some $41 billion in capital expenditure cuts announced by drillers this year. Ash Singh, manager of non-OPEC supply at Platts Analytics, expect...

A massive regulatory shift could occur if US President Donald Trump loses the White House in November. Former Vice President Joe Biden has embraced energy and climate priorities that swing further left than many of the Obama administration's, as evidenced by his recently announced four-year, $2 trillion climate plan focused on clean energy infrastructure and jobs. We spoke with David Livingston, s...

US President Donald Trump has used the phrase "take the oil" many times, both as a candidate to criticize previous administrations' strategies in Iraq and while in the White House when discussing Syria. The idea is rooted in the belief that countries have gone to war in the past to grab natural resources, especially oil. This week's guest scrutinized that idea in her new book, "The Oil Wars Myth."...