WEATHERING STORMS
Spate of hurricanes slashed Gulf oil output in August.
WASHINGTON — A series of hurricanes pushed offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico lower by more than 25 percent in August to 1.2 million barrels per day, the Department of Energy said last week.
It was the largest month-tomonth drop since September 2008, when Hurricanes Ike and Gustav reduced Gulf production by more than 70 percent to less than 500,000 barrels per day.
In August the back-to-back hits of Hurricanes Laura and Marco over a two-week period resulted in more than 80 percent of offshore production in the Gulf being shut in at some point, the Energy Information Administration said.
So far, 2020 has proved to be a particularly active year for storm activity in the region. Thirty named storms have formed in the Atlantic Ocean, the most on record, resulting in Gulf oil and gas production being shut down six times — and hurricane season doesn’t end for another week.
Oil discoveries are weathering downturn
Oil companies are on track to discover 10 billion barrels this year, despite the coronavirus pandemic temporarily halting exploration activity this spring.
More than 8 billion barrels of crude and associated natural gas have been discovered so far this year, up from a decades-low 7.7 billion discovered in 2019, according to Rystad Energy.
“Global oil and gas operators will chase plenty of additional volumes in wildcats planned for the final two months of the 2020, although some may not be completed until early 2021 and will therefore add to next year’s tally,” Palzor Shenga, a senior upstream analyst with Rystad, said in a statement.
Oil exploration activity has remained resilient this year despite concerns that the global pandemic would drive down crude discoveries to its lowest level in decades. Oil and gas companies have been drilling in mature oil fields such as Brazil and Norway as well as in promising new prospects called wildcats in Suriname, Guyana, South Africa and Turkey.
Most of the discovered oil took place in Russia with 1.5 billion barrels, followed by Suriname with 1.4 billion barrels and the United Arab Emirates with 1.1 billion barrels, the Norwegian energy research firm said.
Companies that made the most discoveries so far this year include Russia’s Gazprom, French major Total and Houston-based Apache. The Houston independent has found about 700 million barrels of oil and gas this year, mainly off the coast of Suriname, according to Rystad.
Lawmaker wants to boost renewable power
About 25 percent of electric generating capacity in Texas comes from renewable sources, but a Texas legislator wants to see if that could expand to 50 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050.
El Paso Democrat César Blanco, who was elected to the state Senate this month, has introduced a bill that would require the Public Utility Commission to conduct a study on the feasibility of expanding the state’s renewable energy goal.
Texas last set a renewables goal in 1999 to produce 5,000 megawatts of new renewable power by 2015 and 10,000 megawatts by 2025. Texas surpassed its 2025 target in 2009.
The study would identify how Texas could generate all of its electricity with renewable sources, including potential obstacles and an examination of the economic benefits.
Blanco could not be immediately reached for comment.
The report, along with recommendations to reach the goals, would be due at the end of 2022.
Texas could be home to largest solar site
Invenergy, a Chicago-based developer of electricity generation facilities, is building a 1,310megawatt solar energy farm in northeast Texas.
The Samson Solar Energy Center in Lamar, Red River and Franklin counties will be the nation’s largest solar site when it’s completed in 2023, Invenergy says.
Several companies are buying the output through power purchase agreements to meet their own renewable goals, including AT&T, Honda and McDonald’s. Three Texas cities including Bryan, Denton and Garland also have established power purchase agreements.