Regulators crack down on Texas shale gas flaring By Kevin Crowley and Rachel Adams-Heard on 2/10/2021
HOUSTON (Bloomberg) Texasâs energy regulator is taking an uncharacteristically critical approach toward burning off excess natural gas, a sign that growing pressure from environmentalists and investors to curb the controversial practice is paying off.
The Texas Railroad Commission on Tuesday deferred a series of applications belonging to oil companies including Ovintiv Inc. One such request by SN Operating LLC sought to flare more than $1 million worth of gas because it would be too expensive to build a pipeline to haul the fuel to markets, a claim the agencyâs newest member said warranted âfurther investigation.â
Bidenâs anti-oil crusade can make climate change worse By Kevin Crowley, Rachel Adams-Heard and Alix Steel on 1/30/2021
HOUSTON (Bloomberg) American oil executives began a pushback against some of President Joe Bidenâs climate policies by making the case that fossil fuels from U.S. shale have a lower carbon footprint than imports.
President Joe Biden and climate czar John Kerry
Since taking office this month, the Biden administration has made swift moves to pause sales of oil and gas leases on federal land, cancel the Keystone XL pipeline and expand the governmentâs fleet of clean-energy vehicles. The U.S. oil industry, already under pressure from low prices and investor pessimism, is particularly concerned about limiting access to resources on federal acreage in New Mexico, Wyoming, Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
by Bloomberg
|Thursday, January 28, 2021
Oilfield services exec says industry is aghast at the new administration s changes.
(Bloomberg) Oil and gas companies knew they would face a fight with President Joe Biden, who had campaigned on tackling climate change. Nobody expected fossil fuel to come under such an immediate attack.
Biden didn’t quietly sidetrack the Keystone XL pipeline with legal maneuvers. The new president yanked the permit on his very first day in office, blocking a project that would have delivered crude from Alberta’s oil sands before even speaking to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
He didn’t simply rejoin the Paris climate pact, as he promised during the campaign, but had his climate advisor, Gina McCarthy, commit Wednesday to “the most aggressive” carbon cut the U.S. can make. That came just before Biden signed a climate-related executive order suspending new oil and gas leases on public lands, directing federal agencies to purch
As much as 40% of the natural gas that’s expected to be flared in the Permian Basin in 2025 could be avoided at no cost to drillers if regulators abandoned their hands-off approach to the controversial practice, according to a report.
BP pushes Texas to ban gas flaring, then files 121 requests to flare Texas gas By Rachel Adams-Heard on 1/27/2021
LONDON (Bloomberg) Last year, BP Plc called on Texas regulators to take bold action to stamp out the routine flaring of natural gas, a harmful environmental practice thatâs drawn increasing scrutiny from investors.
Yet on Tuesday, it was BPâs turn to get pushback from the Texas Railroad Commission when 121 of its flaring requests were up for consideration. The agency postponed a decision until its next meeting, and its newest member slammed the burning of excess gas as a âwaste of our precious resources.â