Energy Prospectus

U.S. House's Hoyer doesn't agree with call to tap oil reserve. Reuters.
U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he is not in agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's call for tapping the strategic oil reserve to lower gas prices, saying he believed the reserve was there to be used if there is a collapse in supply in times of emergency. "I'm not in agreement with that. I think that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is not for a raise in prices, it's for a collapse in supply at times of emergency, i.e. a conflagration in the Middle East which essentially shuts off supply," Hoyer told reporters when asked if he agreed with Schumer's comments.

Judge keeps Michigan oil pipeline case in federal court. Westport News.
A federal judge retained jurisdiction Tuesday in a dispute over a Canadian oil pipeline that runs through a section of the Great Lakes, rejecting Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's contention that the case belongs in state court. The clash over whether Enbridge Energy's Line 5 should continue operating raises issues “under consideration at the highest levels of this country's government” involving a U.S.-Canada treaty and federal pipeline safety regulation, U.S. District Judge Janet Neff ruled.

U.S. shale has a message for Biden: Ask us to increase oil production, not OPEC. CNBC.
The chief executive of Occidental Petroleum said the Biden administration should ask U.S. oil producers to boost supply if necessary, rather than OPEC. The Biden administration asked OPEC and its allies to boost production in late summer when gasoline prices soared. There are strong signs that U.S. production is bouncing back.

U.S. to hold huge crude oil sale in the Gulf of Mexico. Associated Press.
The U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday will auction vast oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico estimated to hold up to 1.1 billion barrels of crude, the first such sale under President Joe Biden and a harbinger of the challenges he faces to reach climate goals that depend on deep cuts in fossil fuel emissions. The livestreamed sale will invite energy companies to bid on drilling leases across some 136,000 square miles (352,000 square kilometers) — about twice the area of Florida. Note: Center Square and CNN also report.

CO2-free natural gas? CCS project powers grid for first time. E&E News.
A Texas natural gas plant has delivered emissions-free electricity to the grid for the “first time anywhere in the world” for this kind of technology, according to an announcement yesterday from clean energy company Net Power LLC. The company said its natural gas test project in La Porte, Texas, exported enough energy to power more than 1,000 homes during a first-time grid synchronization — calling the delivery a “major milestone for the energy industry.”

Resurgent oil supply expected to soothe tight market. Wall Street Journal.
Rebounding economic activity and natural gas shortages recently pushed the developed world’s oil reserves to their lowest since early 2015, but growing crude supply could soon ease that pressure, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. In its closely watched monthly market report, the IEA said that the tight supply and demand balance in the global oil market could be about to ease. It expects output to rise by 1.5 million barrels a day in the remainder of 2021, with the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Russia accounting for around half of that amount.