The Energy Thread

[Moliere]

Moliere, I lost track. Did you end up taking that new job this year. Update if you will.

The new job is crazy and hectic. The guy that had my job is now demoted and my whole team is brand new....not to mention that year end close is 4 business days away. Frankly I'm swamped and am only carving out time for running and sex so my participation here will be limited for another month or two. I'll give a better update sometime in early February after all our year end reporting is done.

[LA Ute]

Energy: is the era of Middle Eastern dominance coming to an end?

It's been so long since we have had good news on the energy front that I want to be cautious about what Walter Russell Mead says here:

Australia has designs on becoming the leading natural gas supplier for not only Asia, but the entire world. Indeed, the country has the offshore resources and the thirsty markets nearby in Asia to pass Qatar as the world’s top supplier of LNG.

However, Australia’s march towards energy superpowerdom is beginning to run into domestic problems—and new competition. Rising labor costs and high prices in Australia’s booming economy are making it unexpectedly difficult for the Aussies to export their gas and now energy-hungry Asian countries like China and Japan are starting to eye alternative and equally cheap gas from North America....

Whether it’s Australian, American, or Canadian gas that wins the race to the Asian market (and most likely, there is plenty of demand for all three), a few things seem clear:

(1) The long era in which the Middle East was the global supplier of hydrocarbons is coming to an end.

(2) A global switch from coal to natural gas is one of the most practical ways available for civilization to begin the transition to a new kind of energy market. Greens take note.

(3) Asia is not going to be self sufficient in either energy or food in the 21st century, which, from the standpoint of those who hope to see the world becoming a more peaceful and economically integrated place, is a very good thing. The rising Asian powers will need a healthy, stable and secure global system to feed their people and run their economies.

Otto von Bismark once said that the most important fact of the 20th century would be that the Americans and the British spoke the same language. The most important fact of the 21st century may well be that Asia and the English speaking world share a set of complementary interests in building a peaceful world system.

I hope he's right. Regarding oil and gas exploration in the USA, I've been told by completely non-partisan investment analyst types that in North America, fracking will change everything and that the anti-carbon fuels forces simply won't be able to stop it.

[Donuthole]

Are you too good for the energy thread?

[Goatnapper'96]

It's been so long since we have had good news on the energy front that I want to be cautious about what Walter Russell Mead says here:



I hope he's right. Regarding oil and gas exploration in the USA, I've been told by completely non-partisan investment analyst types that in North America, fracking will change everything and that the anti-carbon fuels forces simply won't be able to stop it.

In what I have read over the past couple of years I think oil and gas could lead a decent recovery if allowed. The liberal greenies will not stop the invisible hand but between them and the uncertainity/mistrust of the administration will be enough of an impediment that I don't think we will take off like we could.

I think President Obama's pivot towards the far east is the right answer as far as attention and resources. It is just hard for us to get out of the middle east because of Israel.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Are you too good for the energy thread?

Merged.

[Donuthole]

Merged.

[LA Ute]

Merged.

Thanks to you both.

[LA Ute]

This new Matt Damon film looks like it seeks to add to the fracking discussion in a sensitive and responsible manner:

It is being panned widely (even by Mother Jones) and its January release shows that it's not expected to do well. Then there's this:

Matt Damon’s Anti-Fracking Movie Financed by Oil-Rich Arab Nation

I think the Middle Eastern oil-producing nations are nervous. They should be.

[Moliere]

It is being panned widely (even by Mother Jones) and its January release shows that it's not expected to do well. Then there's this:

Matt Damon’s Anti-Fracking Movie Financed by Oil-Rich Arab Nation

I think the Middle Eastern oil-producing nations are nervous. They should be.

I saw a trailer for the film when I saw Les Mis. There was a lot of audible laughter from the gallery. Granted, I saw it in Houston where I imagine 75% of the audience is employed by big oil.

[Pheidippides]

It's been so long since we have had good news on the energy front that I want to be cautious about what Walter Russell Mead says here:



I hope he's right. Regarding oil and gas exploration in the USA, I've been told by completely non-partisan investment analyst types that in North America, fracking will change everything and that the anti-carbon fuels forces simply won't be able to stop it.

I'm hardly unbiased, but I agree.

[LA Ute]

The Energy Independence Thread

I don't see another thread on this topic, but mods, feel free to merge this one in if such a thread exists.

I don't think I am alone in being pleasantly surprised (thrilled, really) at how good the USA's energy prospects seem to look. Maybe it happened fast, or was not covered well in the news media, or I just wasn't paying enough attention.

America the Independent: Oil Imports Reach New Low

America is about to reach a new energy milestone: According to recent government forecasts, oil imports will will drop to the lowest level in more than 25 years in 2014. The FT reports that imports will fall to six million barrels per day, half of the 12 million barrels per day we imported from 2004–07, putting America well on the road to energy independence.

Our increasing energy independence has a lot to do with the new drilling technologies changing the domestic oil production landscape. Because of new extraction techniques like fracking and horizontal drilling, the International Energy Agency now believes that the U.S. will become the world’s largest oil producer by the end of the decade, perhaps even cutting net imports down to zero.

The drop in oil imports is good news even for those greens who still think, against the evidence, that fracking poses unacceptable environmental risks. Increased U.S. production isn’t the only thing taking a bite out of oil imports; decreased consumption has also played a role. Consumption has gone from 20.7 million barrels per day in 2007 to 18.7 million in 2012.

The news isn’t all good. As Michael Levi points out over at the CFR, because oil prices are high, even with reduced imports by volume we are still spending a big chunk of change on them. And it isn’t a miracle cure for everything that ails us.

Still, energy independence won’t free America to disregard the role of the Middle East in the world economy, but it will give us much more flexibility in dealing with the difficult problems this region presents. The tax revenues from greater oil and gas production at home, plus the beneficial results of the hundreds of thousands of new energy jobs that stand to be created will materially help our long term budget picture.

The good news about energy continues to roll in.

All you guys who are in the energy business made a smart choice!

[snowcat]

Related - US carbon emissions drop to a 20 year low - mostly due to fracking.

http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/18649...ylist_id=87185

[Jacob]

Remember when Robin thought it was a no-brainer that we should not do any fraking, anywhere? That was fun.

[Katy Lied]

http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/1...ndoras_promise

Sundance is screening Pandora's Promise, a pro nuclear film that revisits all of the bad info out there on nuclear energy. It claims it's the only energy source that has the ability to stop climate change.

Funny how the perception has changed.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Not sure why this wouldn't go in the Energy thread.