RP Weekly Recap | February 1 – 5

Summary

Early last year, the Trump administration’s Department of Energy celebrated a special birthday. “Happy Third Operating Anniversary, Petra Nova!” The release celebrated a Texas based power-plant successfully removing carbon dioxide from the plant’s emissions and safely storing them for three years. But the celebration was short lived as Petra Nova barely made it to its fourth birthday before being shuttered indefinitely in what may be one of the last gasps for carbon capture and storage technology in the U.S. While it is grim news for the aspiring technology, maybe Elon Musk can bring new vigor to CCS with his upcoming carbon capture competition. Check out this story and more in this week’s recap of all things happening in oil and gas!

COVID-19 Updates

COVID-19 Statistics

• Number of Cases (Worldwide): 105,048,430 (up from 101,687,508 last week)
• Number of Cases (USA): 26,700,945 (up from 25,793,302 last week)
• Statistics courtesy of Johns Hopkins

Financial & Economic Updates

U.S. Oil Market News

• The Only Carbon Capture Plant in the U.S. Just Closed
• ExxonMobil Reports Its First Annual Loss Since 1999 Merger 
• Shell’s Profits Plunge 87% In 2020
• Cold Weather Pushes Gas Prices Above $3
• The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America Sets Net-Zero Emissions Goal for 2050
• Biden Gets Sued Over Recent Executive Order
• What Biden’s Pause On Oil And Gas Leases On Federal Lands Means For Colorado 
• Surge Energy America Announces Significant Midland Basin Acquisition
• Oil Prices Inch Lower On EIA Crude Inventory Report
• Tiny Oil Company Gets 1000% Wall Street Bets Bump
• Exxon, Chevron CEOs Discussed Merger
• BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Calls On CEOs Worldwide To Disclose Concrete Plans For Reaching Net Zero By 2050
• U.S. Oil Production On Course To Hit Record Levels In 2023
• The Dark Side Of ‘Green Energy’ And Its Threat To The Nation’s Environment **MUST READ**
• Natural Gas Pipeline Leak Spurs Landowners To Assail Colorado’s “Subterranean Toxic Spaghetti” **INTERESTING READ**

Global Market News

• Oxy Delivers World-First Carbon Neutral Crude To India
• Alberta Wants To Make The U.S. Pay For Scrapped Keystone XL
• How The Coup In Myanmar Will Impact Energy Markets
• Denmark To Build Wind Energy Hub On Artificial Island In The North Sea
• Mud-Gas Breakthrough: Equinor Develops Real-Time Reservoir-Fluid Identification
• Shale Consolidation: Enerplus Acquiring Bakken Bruin E&P Operating 
• China’s CNOOC Launches World’s First Ultradeep Semisub Production and Storage Platform
• Columbia Has One Of The Most Exciting Energy Plays Seen In Years
• China Set To Add 140 GW Renewable Energy Capacity In 2021
• Brazil’s Petrobras Exports Record Amount Of Crude In January
• India Worried About Rapid Oil Price Rally
• Does The World Have Enough Energy To Support The EV Boom? **INTERESTING (QUICK) READ**     

Employment Updates

• Oslo-Listed Seismic Survey Shipping Company, Polarcus, Terminates All Employees
• A Disappointing 49,000 Jobs Added in January as Labor Market Continues to Struggle – the modest gain of 49,000 jobs is likely to add to concerns the labor market is not recovering quickly enough from the pandemic

United States Rig Count

• UP 8 from last week for a total of 392
• Down 50.3% from one year ago
• Statistics courtesy of Baker Hughes

RARE PETRO Updates

Content Updates – News Pulse – Podcast

• Episode 9 (3-D Printing) from our newest segment, the Modern Mobile Oilfield is available now! This series is a collaborative effort between world renowned author Geoffrey Cann and RP host Tavis Killian that will expand on topics covered in the book “Bits, Bytes, and Barrels”. This new segment is aimed at energy professionals at any level who are looking to better understand the future of a digital oilfield, and potentially implement these technologies into their company’s workflow. Be sure to watch or listen on all available platforms!

• Episode Ten of The Industry Leader Spotlight Podcast is available now! Be sure to check out our interview with Professor and the Department Head for the Petroleum Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines, heavily decorated SPE member and well published academic, Dr. Jennifer Miskimins!  

• A new episode of the Periodical Podcast is available now! Be sure to check out our discussion on part two of our three part series covering President Joe Biden’s Energy Policy where we will dive into his second executive order on climate change and how he may have begun to wage a war against the fossil fuel industry which has underpinned the nation’s economy for more than a century.  

• This week’s Periodical continues with part two of a three three part series investigating President Joe Biden’s Energy Policy and his plan for a Clean Energy Revolution. Part two dives into how Joe Biden wasted no time putting the climate crisis back on the U.S. government agenda, proving to the world he meant business to become the “climate president”. With new executive orders detailing far-ranging plans to shift the U.S. away from fossil fuels in order to create millions of jobs in renewable energy while conserving vast swaths of public lands and water, the commander and chief finds himself at an impasse. Biden has taken office at an inflection point in U.S. energy policy, where fossil fuels still dominate transportation and electricity generation, even as they are starting to lose ground to both market forces and shifting public opinion. Now, even though the United States and the world face a profound climate crisis, Joe Biden needs to take his foot off the gas to implement small steps in order to tackle the climate crisis on a united front instead of waging war against fossil fuels.

• As Always, A New Monday Madness Podcast!

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