Capitol Crude: The US Energy Policy Podcast

Last week delivered some huge news on the pipeline front that highlights the challenges ahead for the US midstream sector and the fate of future efforts to build multi-state energy projects. First Duke Energy and Dominion Energy announced they were canceling the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline after already spending more than $3 billion on it. Then a federal judge ordered Energy Transfer to sh...

The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and a host of other global tensions and trade conflicts brewing in recent months have heightened geopolitical risks to energy trade. Harvard University professor Meghan O'Sullivan  shares what she sees as the top geopolitical themes likely to persist beyond the pandemic. O'Sullivan is the director of the Geopolitics of Energy Project at Harvard's Kennedy S...

US oil and gas drilling has slowed to a crawl since global oil demand crashed this spring and prices tumbled with it. Now that WTI has crept back up into the high $30s/b and potentially above $40/b, have we seen the worst of this drilling slowdown? Ted Hall, a vice president at Kayrros, shares his views on current activity, bolstered by satellite and other geo-tracking. We talk about what the dril...

Rapidan Energy Group predicts sweeping changes for the energy sector if former Vice President Joe Biden beats US President Donald Trump in November. Biden's policies would have global implications for energy trade, altering US/China relations, the pace of Iran's oil recovery, trans-Atlantic climate action and other factors. In the US, a Biden White House would likely sharply limit oil and gas prod...

US oil producers have started announcing plans for putting shut wells back online. But just how sustainable are these plans at current prices and with the uncertain global demand outlook? And how are OPEC and its allies going to view this returning US shale production as they're deciding how long to keep their massive oil supply cuts in place? Jason Modglin, the new president of the Texas Alliance...

The global oil demand shock is accelerating what was already coming to US shale, argues Adam Waterous, CEO of Waterous Energy Fund. Waterous argued in January on Capitol Crude that US unconventional production had peaked, and the industry's unstable financial footing set it up for massive capital flight and a prolonged downturn. Now Waterous predicts US shale output will sink by 3 million-4 millio...

The US House of Representatives has passed the $3 trillion HEROES stimulus package with barely a mention of the energy sector. The legislation is going nowhere in its current form after Senate Republicans dismissed it out of hand and President Trump promised to veto it. So where is the financial aid that the White House promised the oil and gas sector? Kevin Book, managing director of ClearView En...

Plunging demand, collapsing prices and a reeling global economy are creating an extremely tough climate for the US upstream oil and gas sector. US Senator Dan Sullivan, Republican-Alaska, argues another factor is basically kicking the sector while it's down. Sullivan says some of the largest US banks are no longer willing to lend the sector money -- not because of these economic concerns -- but be...

US President Donald Trump has promised relief to the ailing oil and gas sector, and it's not yet clear if the recently expanded Federal Reserve lending program is the full extent of that aid. Democrats easily blocked the administration's first attempt to help drillers in the form of buying US crude at low prices to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The incident underscored just how hard it wou...

A surge of Saudi crude is heading for US ports, the result of the OPEC heavyweight slashing its April selling prices during the thick of its price war with Russia last month. Oil-state senators are calling on the White House to impose tariffs or other trade barriers to stop the deliveries. So far President Trump has not addressed the looming imports, but Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette called it...

With the world locked down for the coronavirus, global oil demand is seeing its sharpest plunge on record. Current estimates have 2020 oil demand contracting by as little as 6.8 million b/d, as predicted by OPEC, to as much as 9.3 million b/d, according to the International Energy Agency. Still further downgrades are possible based on when economic activity starts to return. But so much is unknown...

President Donald Trump once saw gasoline prices below $1/gallon one of his greatest assets in his re-election campaign, but low oil prices have pushed US shale and American energy dominance to the brink of collapse and his views have changed. On this week's podcast, Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, talks about the new OPEC+ agreement, the damage the price war may have had on US-Saud...

OPEC, primarily Saudi Arabia, has found blame for the recent price collapse, with calls from the US Congress for tariffs, import bans and sanctions. To start this week's Capitol Crude, Senator Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, talks about his views on how the Saudis are trying to crater prices and destroy the US shale industry. But how much can OPEC really do to stem the recent oil price co...

US lawmakers from oil-producing states are trying to increase pressure on the White House to do something to help drillers getting hammered by plummeting prices -- from aggressive diplomacy to banning crude imports. We spoke with US Senator Lisa Murkowski, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She expects producers in her home state of Alaska to take an immediate hit from...

The consequences of this will likely last years. In the midst of a price war, global oil demand is in a free fall. The spread of the coronavirus has left 3 billion people worldwide unable to get on a plane, drive to work or go anywhere, really, at all. In response, global oil demand is plummeting. The International Energy Agency says as much as 20 million b/d of oil demand may be lost this year. O...

As oil prices dipped to levels not seen in nearly two decades, US shale operators slashed budgets and rig counts and braced for a hellish few months, if not years. Is even a modest price rebound possible in the near term? Will Saudi Arabia and Russia return to talks over a new supply cut? Has the price collapse forever altered US oil sanctions policy? On today's Capitol Crude Helima Croft, managin...

US Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette joined Capitol Crude hours after his department announced it was seeking an initial 30 million barrels of US crude oil to store in the country's emergency stockpile. This is part of President Donald Trump's pledge to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve "right up to the top." We spoke with Brouillette about how this attempt to help US oil producers will work. We...

The fallout from the coronavirus and the collapse of the OPEC+ supply cut agreement have dealt US shale producers a massive blow. How the sector ultimately fares might depend on where US oil exports are headed. US crude exports climbed above 4 million b/d in the last week of February, but will that represent a peak for this year and beyond? Port of Corpus Christi CEO Sean Strawbridge joined Platts...

The relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia is ... complicated. For decades, the US has depended on the Saudis for crude oil exports and the Saudis have depended on the US for military protection. But US shale oil growth has changed all that. On this week's Capitol Crude, Ellen Wald talks about the state of US-Saudi relations, how that relationship may change further if there is a Democrat in...

Seemingly long-term US sanctions on oil flows out of Iran and Venezuela, a blockade in Libya with no end in sight, and even more production cuts from the OPEC+ coalition expected this week are adding up to a loss of roughly 6% of global supply -- but prices are cratering. Demand, specifically weakening demand caused by the effects of the coronavirus, is far outweighing even unprecedented declines...

As investors and consumers demand more focus on sustainability, the oil industry is feeling the pressure. What will an energy transition mean for liquid fuel use, and will oil refiners be able to respond to radical shifts in demand in the coming decades? We spoke with Madhav Acharya, the technology to market adviser at the US Department of Energy's independent Advanced Research Projects Agency–Ene...

Even with the Democratic candidate still uncertain, this November's US presidential election presents two distinctly divergent paths forward for global oil policy, David Goldwyn says on today's Platts Capitol Crude podcast. Goldwyn, president of Goldwyn Global Strategies and chair of the Atlantic Council's energy advisory group, says a Trump victory will allow the Trump administration to fully imp...

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney hopes to end his government's oil production curtailments this year as rail and pipeline capacity expand to handle the full supply. The province posted record-high oil production in December despite the curtailments, as exemptions for crude-by-rail shipments allowed producers to boost output. Curtailed operators have added 30 rigs year on year as they move capital back...

After more than a year of crippling US sanctions, Venezuela's once-thriving oil sector is a shell of its former self: its output just a fraction of its peak, its state-run oil company toxic to international investors, its pipelines crumbling, its refineries closed. A new report from the Inter-American Dialogue argues that Western oil companies will be needed if Venezuela's oil sector can be revive...

When it comes to total shareholder return, oil and gas companies have performed the worst of any industry over the past five years, according to a new report from the Boston Consulting Group. Oil price and geopolitical uncertainty, mistrust of management and the ongoing transition away from fossil fuels have all contributed to investor wariness, the report states. How can these companies, from sup...