Natural gas pipelines receive a bump from the president
Trump order seeks to boost pipelines
President Donald Trump came to Houston to sign an executive order directing Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler to review the agency’s permitting processes to speed up the construction of natural gas pipelines. He also signed another order streamlining permitting for crossborder infrastructure projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline during an event at the International Union of Operating Engineers’ training and education center in Crosby.
Oil supply shrinks; demand might, too
Global oil markets are tightening as OPEC supply falls, but demand could soften because of economic threats, the International Energy Agency reported. Crude inventories are set to decline for the rest of the year as Saudi Arabia and its partners curb production and exports from Venezuela and Iran are squeezed by economic and political crises, the agency said in its monthly report. But it cautioned that threats in the world economy, from Europe to emerging markets, could take a toll on fuel consumption.
Shell sells stake in deep-water interest
Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday it will sell its stake in a deep-water Gulf of Mexico development for nearly $1 billion. The transaction will hand over Shell’s 22.45 percent stake in the Caesar-Tonga project, which came online in 2012, for $965 million in cash to Israel’s Delek Group. The development is operated by The Woodlands exploration and production comnpany Anadarko Petroleum. Shell is only the third-largest stakeholder in the project after Anadarko and Norway’s Equinor.
Exxon leads way in discoveries
A trio of offshore discoveries made by Exxon Mobil has set up 2019 to be the biggest year for new finds since 2014, when the last oil boom went bust. With discoveries made offshore of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean and off of Guyana in South America, Exxon Mobil alone accounts for nearly 40 percent of the new oil and gas gains found in the first quarter of the year, according to a new report from the Norwegian research firm Rystad Energy.
Kerry, Hagel call for climate action
Former Secretary of State John Kerry and former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Congress last week President Donald Trump was risking national security by ignoring the threat climate change poses to world order, as dwindling food and water supplies may drive mass migration and terrorism in the decades ahead. Appearing before the House Oversight Committee last Tuesday, Kerry and Hagel, both of whom served under former
President
Barack
Obama, im- plored Republicans and Democrats to work together to address the threat.
Shell plans $300M in climate projects
Royal Dutch Shell said it will invest $300 million in reforestation and other conservation projects over three years to reduce the energy major’s carbon footprint and help combat climate change. While Shell isn’t shifting away from oil and gas, the Anglo-Dutch firm aims to shrink its net carbon footprint by up to 3 percent in three years.
Other Big Oil firms are beginning to move beyond lip service and do more to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.