Another Reason to Nationalize Big Oil
When BP or another company “goes green” and sells oil wells, other companies just keep pumping them.
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A gas flare at an oil well site outside Williston, North Dakota
What gets left behind when a major oil company opts to go net-zero? Just because greenhouse gas emissions move off a corporate balance sheet doesn’t mean they disappear. That’s the upshot of a lengthy new investigation by Bloomberg’s Rachel Adams-Heard.
The story looks at BP, which, as part of its ongoing and implausible rebranding as a low-carbon company, sold off long-standing assets in Alaska’s North Slope in 2019 to the privately held driller Hilcorp International. Months after taking over, Hilcorp ramped up production by 4.7 percent. Greenhouse gas emissions rose by 8.2 percent.
BP Walks Away From Alaska, But Emissions Continue Duration: 07:49 Apr.15 BP sold everything it owned in Alaska last year, reducing its carbon footprint as it tries to zero out emissions by midcentury. But those northern oil fields are still operating and emissions from there are harder to track. Bloomberg s Rachel Adams-Heard joins Quicktake to discuss.
Energy Emergency - Texas Power Provider Warns Of Rotating Outages As Cold Weather Tests Limits Of Grid situation in Texas doing from bad to worse:
Weather forecast models suggest the polar vortex will continue pouring Arctic air into much of the central US through Feb. 20. This means nat gas prices could rise even higher early next week as electricity demand continues to soar over the weekend as Americans crank up their thermostats and watch Netflix shows or mine Bitcoin.
Texas power grid operator
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is asking consumers and businesses to reduce their electricity use as much as possible Sunday, Feb. 14 through Tuesday, Feb. 16.