Industry Trends ///
Norway, Western Europe’s biggest oil producing nation, plans to expand its green energy industry and strengthen its power grid, but isn’t willing to budge when it comes to exploiting its oil and gas resources.
Oil consumption will climb by 5%, or about 5 million barrels a day, in the second half of 2021 versus the first as the world emerges from the pandemic slump, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries forecast in a report.
Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Imperial, MEG Energy and Suncor Energy formally announced the Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero initiative. “The initiative is an industry driven, made-in-Alberta solution which will strengthen our position as global ESG leaders,” said Sonya Savage, Alberta’s Minister of Energy.
The session will be at least the second meeting this year between top API executives and White House National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy, who is coordinating the Biden administration’s efforts to clamp down on greenhouse gas emissions from the use of fossil fuels.
Oil broke through a months-long trading range as expectations of tightening supplies in the U.S. compounded signs the world’s largest oil-consuming country is in the midst of a robust recovery.
KKR is bucking the trend among private-equity peers that have been unloading shale investments after back-to-back oil market busts. The move may signal a bullish turn with U.S. crude prices heading for the best annual performance since 2015.
KKR and Contango are doubling down on investing in exploration and production companies as many in the sector seek to recover from years of poor returns amid the shale boom and bust. The combination is said to allow the merged company to reach greater scale, boost access to capital and drive down the cost of production.
Energy giant BP sees a strong recovery in global crude demand and expects it to last for some time, with U.S. shale production being kept in check, according to CEO Bernard Looney.
Oil and gas employment has remained fairly flat in 2021 as companies have focused on reducing debt, repaying investors and focusing on research and development instead of boosting production. Employment in the sector is down 13.8% since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.
“The world risks a severe deficit of oil and gas,” Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said Saturday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “The world consumes oil, but isn’t ready to invest in it.”
If the world were to follow the International Energy Agency’s controversial road map, which said investment in new fields would have to stop immediately to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, “the price for oil will go to, what, $200? Gas prices will skyrocket,” said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth signaled he would consider selling its 20% stake in a Canadian oil sands mine as its faces investor pressure to do more to curb emissions and fight climate change.
“Much greater resources have to be mobilized and directed to clean energy technologies to put the world on track to reach net-zero emissions by 2050,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director. Among other milestones, the IEA's 2050 plan depends on all new oil and gas exploration worldwide being halted several weeks ago.
OPEC+ stuck to its plan to hike oil output in July, but Saudi Arabia’s energy minister kept the market guessing as to whether the group will add more supply later this year to keep pace with the accelerating global recovery.
The coalition led by Saudi Arabia and Russia believes that the glut created during the pandemic has nearly gone, and that oil stockpiles will diminish rapidly in the second half of the year as lockdowns ease and travel gathers pace.
The global natural gas industry is in an existential race: either find a way to be part of the next generation of energy or risk getting supplanted by alternatives.
For the first time in decades, oil companies aren’t rushing to increase production to chase rising oil prices as Brent crude approaches $70. Even in the Permian, the prolific shale basin at the center of the U.S. energy boom, drillers are resisting their traditional boom-and-bust cycle of spending.
The Pew Research Center released a new poll which found that nearly two-thirds of the U.S. public opposes phasing out fossil fuels as a means of addressing climate change.
In the past, environmental activist investors were limited to the odd shareholder proposal, inevitably rebuffed by the boards and management teams. On Wednesday by contrast, shareholders ousted two Exxon Mobil directors seen as insufficiently attuned to the threat of climate change, while Chevron shareholders voted for a proposal to compel the company to reduce pollution by its customers.
Suncor Energy aims to reduce emissions by 10 megatons by 2030, from about 29 megatons in 2019. Half of the target will be achieved at its oil sands plants, refineries and other facilities through using carbon capture technology, switching fuels for operations and increasing energy efficiency.