US House Republicans unveil energy bill package
Republican leaders in the US House of Representatives today introduced the text of a massive energy and permitting bill they plan to bring up for a floor vote at the end of the month.
The 174-page bill seeks to expand federal oil and gas leasing land, accelerate permitting, relax environmental reviews, make it easier to approve critical mineral mines and revise royalty sharing. The bill will "tackle the energy crisis" caused by President Joe Biden's "disastrous policies," House majority leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) said.
The bill has effectively no chance of being approved in the US Senate, where the Democratic majority has no appetite for considering sweeping changes to federal energy policy. But House Republicans believe passing an expansive bill can offer a contrast to White House policies, while also becoming a starting point for future bipartisan negotiations related to permitting.
The bill would fast-track approval of cross-border oil and gas pipelines, eliminate the US Energy Department's role in authorizing LNG exports, mandate quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales, and overhaul vast parts of federal environmental reviews. It would also repeal key parts of last year's Inflation Reduction Act, such as a new fee on methane emissions, a $27bn program to lower greenhouse gas emissions and other climate-related spending.
US senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) has urged the House to try to pass a standalone permitting bill, rather than a much broader energy package, as a way to support bipartisan negotiations later this year. Even some Senate Republicans have taken a dim view on the idea of taking votes on energy policy that has little chance of being enacted.
"A messaging bill is not designed to solve any problems," US senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said last week at the S&P Global CERAWeek conference in Houston. "I don't have time for that kind of stuff."
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Hurricane Francine brings rain to the lower Miss. River
Hurricane Francine brings rain to the lower Miss. River
Houston, 13 September (Argus) — Hurricane Francine dropped 4-8 inches of rain around the lower Mississippi River, raising forecast water levels on the river and potentially improving shipping conditions for barges. Points between Cairo, Illinois, and Vicksburg, Mississippi, that were at their low water thresholds over the week are now forecast to exit those thresholds in the coming week according to the National Weather Service (NWS). Increased rainfall from Hurricane Francine has locations like Greenville, Mississippi and Helena, Arkansas entering regular water levels as soon as this weekend. Other locations, such as Memphis, Tennessee, will see a bump in water levels, but will remain at its low water threshold, said NWS. The US Coast Guard has not made any changes to the draft and towing restrictions since 10 September when they changed the point for heavier loading from Greenville, Mississippi, to Vicksburg for southbound limits. More water is likely to enter the lower Mississippi River through its tributaries in the coming days, after Francine has passed the Mississippi Delta. The storm made landfall as a hurricane on the Louisiana coast the evening of 11 September but downgraded to a tropical storm as it moved northward. By Meghan Yoyotte Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
About 42pc of US Gulf oil output still shut on Francine
About 42pc of US Gulf oil output still shut on Francine
New York, 13 September (Argus) — About 42pc of oil output in the Gulf of Mexico was still shut-in on Friday, just days after Hurricane Francine passed through the region. Around 732,316 b/d of offshore oil output was off line as of 12:30pm ET Friday, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), while 973.20mn cf/d of natural gas production, or 52pc of the region's output, was also off line. The volume of crude production shut in rose slightly from yesterday, by about 2,000 b/d, while curtailed gas output fell. Operators evacuated workers from 144 platforms this week ahead of the storm. Shell said today it is ramping up production at its Appomattox, Mars, Vito, Ursa and Olympus platforms after resolving downstream issues. However, the company's Perdido, Auger and Enchilada/Salsa assets remain shut-in due to other downstream issues. And drilling remains on hold at its Whale asset, which is scheduled to begin operations later this year. The port of New Orleans resumed all normal operations Thursday evening. Preliminary damage assessments showed no significant damage to facilities or infrastructure, port officials said, while onshore refinery operational issues appear to be minor . By Stephen Cunningham and Tray Swanson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Fulcrum Bioenergy files for Chapter 11 relief
Fulcrum Bioenergy files for Chapter 11 relief
New York, 13 September (Argus) — A US company that had set ambitious plans to convert garbage into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and attracted investments from major airlines and energy companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week. Fulcrum Bioenergy and subsidiaries filed for relief before the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Monday, estimating outstanding obligations to over 200 creditors at more than $456mn. A lawyer representing Fulcrum, Robert Dehney, said at a Thursday hearing that the company was on the verge of declaring Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which typically involves liquidation of assets, before a late-breaking bid from an interested company prompted a change in plans. Fulcrum chief restructuring officer Mark Smith said in a declaration to the court that the company wants to initiate the sales process and move through the chapter 11 process on an "expeditious timeline." Judge Thomas Horan on Thursday preliminarily approved various first-day motions, including a request to continue paying Fulcrum's handful of remaining employees. Fulcrum began initial operations at its flagship Nevada facility in 2022, becoming the first company to commercialize a clean fuels pathway based on gasifying garbage and signing offtake agreements with BP, United Airlines, and others. The process at the Nevada site involved receiving and sorting landfill waste, converting that to a synthetic crude oil through a gasification process, and then sending that feedstock to a Marathon Petroleum refinery to be processed into a usable low-carbon fuel. Fulcrum eventually wanted to be able to upgrade the synthetic crude into SAF on site. An archived version of the Fulcrum website, which is no longer online, also set plans for eventual biorefineries and feedstock processing facilities in Indiana, along the US Gulf coast, and in the UK and said its suite of facilities could ultimately support 400mn USG/yr of production capacity. But Fulcrum has reported few updates on its progress more recently, and there were signs of financial struggles. Multiple contractors have filed lawsuits alleging missed payments, while UMB Bank indicated in October last year that Fulcrum had defaulted on debt obligations. The Nevada site ceased operations in May and plans for other US facilities are apparently on hold, though filings indicate that Fulcrum has not yet determined whether to begin restructuring proceedings for any subsidiaries outside the US. Fulcrum's business "represents a revolutionary idea," Smith said in his declaration, but "as with all cutting-edge businesses, the cost of innovation has been born through delays in operations and the inability to anticipate issues based on prior ventures and experiences." There were necessary equipment changes after initial operations begun, but these were expensive and affected by supply chain delays, he said. It is unclear how much feedstock was successfully delivered to Marathon, which declined to comment. The Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific, which had signed an offtake agreement with Fulcrum, told Argus that it never received any SAF. Other companies that had signed offtake agreements did not immediately respond to requests for comment or declined to comment. Fulcrum had been soliciting interest from potential buyers for months and finalized an agreement with a company called Switch LTD, which agreed this month to offer a "stalking horse" bid to purchase Fulcrum's assets for $15mn and issue a loan of up to $5mn to fund Fulcrum's bankruptcy cases. A stalking horse bidding method is a way to arrive at a minimum bid price that other prospective buyers then must exceed. Filings before the court this week did not elaborate on the nature of Switch's business or its reasons for wanting to acquire Fulcrum's assets. Dehney described Switch as a "disinterested third party" and said that Fulcrum has received other interest from prospective buyers, some eyeing all of Fulcrum's assets and some just looking at physical property, intellectual property, or the UK subsidiary specifically. Failure to launch The idea of gasifying waste to produce fuel has long been attractive, since feedstock costs would be low and the Fischer-Tropsch chemical process to convert synthetic gas to liquids has been known for decades. Demand for low-carbon alternatives to jet fuel is high among major airlines, some of which have government mandates to meet or voluntary goals to rapidly scale up SAF consumption by 2030. While Fulcrum's Chapter 11 filing "was not really a surprise" given its recent financial troubles, it could give investors pause about future projects aiming to use similar technology, according to BloombergNEF renewable fuels senior associate Jade Patterson. The large majority of SAF capacity currently and the bulk of planned capacity additions through 2030 come from the more established method of hydroprocessing non-petroleum feedstocks like fats, oils, and greases, Patterson said. Efforts to build gas-to-liquids facilities, by comparison, have faced delays and financial challenges. Red Rock Biofuels had aimed for a refinery converting forest waste to begin operations in 2020 , but the company that later acquired the Oregon site at auction is now targeting a 2026 launch for its clean fuels facility. And Fulcrum's plans for converting waste into fuel go back more than a decade, having inked its first deal with a municipal solid waste supplier in 2008. Kickstarting a market for a novel fuel pathway has also not been helped by a dip over the last year for prices of US federal and state environmental credits, which function as a crucial source of revenue for biofuel producers. There is also uncertainty about how much federal subsidy certain fuels will earn when an Inflation Reduction Act tax credit for low-carbon fuels kicks off next year. But other gas-to-liquids companies are marching on — including DG Fuels, whose president told Argus last month that the company plans to reach a final investment decision by the first quarter next year on a potentially 178mn USG/yr SAF plant in Louisiana that will gasify biomass. The company has earlier-stage plans for similar facilities in Maine and Nebraska. By Cole Martin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US oil exports: WTI mixed while TMX rises
US oil exports: WTI mixed while TMX rises
Houston, 13 September (Argus) — US light sweet waterborne spot crude prices were mixed over the week as Asian buying interest firms. WTI loading 15-45 days forward at the US Gulf coast narrowed its discount to December Ice Brent by 50¢/bl to 93¢/bl. The free-on-board (fob) value weakened by 4¢/bl against the secondary coastal crude benchmark WTI Houston to a 26¢/bl midpoint premium as October-loading differentials were mostly unchanged due to a major industry event happening in Singapore this week. Demand for WTI climbed a bit earlier in the week as Asia-Pacific refiners stepped up their purchases of October-loading WTI prior to the start of S&P's Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC) conference this week in Singapore. It was unclear whether the pace of Asian buying would continue after this week. Asian buyers typically seek WTI supplies around two weeks earlier than European customers. Prior to the spike in Asian buying of WTI, Chinese demand had been relatively weak, although delegates at the Singapore conference said this demand weakness was overstated. Chinese oil demand growth is slowing but has not yet peaked, while growth in the use of naphtha and jet fuel is offsetting declines in motor fuel consumption, delegates heard at the Argus Asia-Pacific Oil Markets Forum on 10 September. The growth in the use of naphtha and jet fuel is offsetting declines in motor fuel consumption. The slowdown in oil demand growth is attributed to signs of weakness in the Chinese economy and the country's push for electric vehicles. Despite the slowdown, some experts believe that the weakness in Chinese oil demand is being exaggerated, and they view China as a maturing market with lower growth like other OECD countries. Elsewhere, tanker freight rates are expected to increase in the coming months due to a recovery in demand for dirty tankers, according to delegates at the Appec conference in Singapore. The rates for clean tanker freight fell in the third quarter due to competition from dirty tankers, but there has been a recent increase in demand for dirty tankers, hinting at a general recovery in the fourth-quarter rates. Americas Pacific coast Values for Canadian crude exported via the 590,000 b/d Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) pipeline strengthened amid volatility in the underlying futures market. Free-on-board (fob) High-tan crude exported from Vancouver strengthened 10¢/bl to a $10.53/bl discount to January Ice Brent, while Cold Lake fob Vancouver rose 20¢/bl to a $9.55/bl discount against the benchmark. Ice Brent crude futures prices fell below $70/bl during the week, the first time since late 2021. This decline came after low Chinese crude imports in July and the delay by OPEC+ alliance members to increase output. Despite disruptions to Libyan crude output, the prices continued to fall. OPEC's research arm remains bullish on oil demand, while some trading firm executives suggested that prices may need to fall further to stimulate demand. Analysts and traders are factoring in the softness in China, the impending Federal Reserve easing cycle in the US, and mixed messages from OPEC. Elsewhere, sections of the 622,000 b/d Keystone crude pipeline remain at reduced pressure since a spill nearly two years ago, but its operator is making strides to have those restrictions potentially removed. TC Energy's Keystone pipeline is a major thoroughfare for Canadian heavy crude destined for the US midcontinent and Gulf coast, but a rupture in December 2022 took the cross-border pipeline off line for more than three weeks. Service was mostly restored in the months following the incident, but more crude could likely be moved down the line if pressure restrictions are lifted. Canada's west coast now exports more Canadian crude than the US Gulf coast after the startup of the TMX pipeline. Lifted restrictions on the Keystone pipeline could potentially disrupt crude flows through TMX. By Andrea Agee and Rachel McGuire Planned US crude export cargoes Tanker name Size Charterer Destination Laycan Asia-Pacific Front Forth VLCC Phillips 66 China 7-14 September 2024 C. Earnest VLCC Mercuria China 7-14 September 2024 Khurais VLCC Unipec China 10-14 September 2024 Ilma VLCC SK Energy South Korea 15 September 2024 Legio X Equestris VLCC Aramco Trading Singapore 15 September 2024 Plata Glory VLCC Phillips 66 Taiwan and/or South Korea 19 September 2024 Seamajesty Suezmax Shell Singapore 19 September 2024 Dht Sundarabans VLCC ExxonMobil Singapore 24 September 2024 Yasa Scorpion VLCC Unpiec China 25-30 September 2024 Basrah VLCC Unipec China 30 September 2024 New Corolla VLCC Hyundai Oil Bank South Korea 3-5 October 2024 Front Alta VLCC Shell South Korea 5 October 2024 Cosflying Lake VLCC BP Singapore 8 October 224 Celeste Nova VLCC Chevron South Korea 8 October 224 Landbridge Glory VLCC Equinor Asia-Pacific 13 October 2024 Front Tana VLCC SK Energy South Korea 13 October 2024 Hillah VLCC PTT Ningbo, China 15 October 2024 Sinokor TBN VLCC Occidental Petroleum Asia-Pacific 16 October 2024 Europe Andromeda VLCC BP Europe 8-14 September 2024 Seaways Endeavor VLCC ExxonMobil Europe 14 September 2024 Levantine Sea Aframax Chevron Europe 15 September 2024 Seatribute Aframax BP Europe 15 September 2024 Yuan Bei Hai Suezmax Equinor Europe 15 September 2024 Arctic Suezmax BP Europe 18 September, 2024 Aegean Horizon Suezmax Vitol Europe 18-19 September 2024 Morning Hope VLCC ExxonMobil Europe 21 September 2024 Eagle Veracruz VLCC ExxonMobil Europe 27 September 2024 Cobalt Nova VLCC BP Europe 13-17 October 2024 Americas and misc. Front Shanghai Suezmax Energy Transfer Porto Sudeste, Brazil 13-14 September 2024 Green Adventure Aframax Chevron East Coast Canada 15 September 2024 Seaways Frio Suezmax Petrobras Brazil 21 September 2024 Shipping fixture reports Select US crude cargoes in transit Tanker name Size Loading window Destination ETA Asia-Pacific Houston Voyager VLCC 22-24 July 2024 Maoming, China Alongside Seavoice VLCC 20-24 July 2024 Ulsan, South Korea 15 September 2024 Dht Panther VLCC 11-16 July 2024 Kaohsiung, Taiwan 16 September 2024 Arsan VLCC 19-25 July 2024 Daesan, South Korea 16 September 2024 Dht Osprey VLCC 23-27 July 2024 Taoyuan, Taiwan 17 September 2024 Xin Long Yang VLCC 29 July 2024 - 3 August 2024 Paradip, India 20 September 2024 Maxim VLCC 26-29 July 2024 Kaohsiung, Taiwan 22 September 2024 Halcyon VLCC 2-6 August 2024 South Korea 27 September 2024 Cap Victor Suezmax 5-7 August 2024 Mumbai, India 28 September 2024 Advantage Verdict VLCC 12-16 August 2024 Singapore 5 October 2024 Cosnew Lake VLCC 13-18 August 2024 Yeosu, South Korea 9 October 2024 DHT Redwood VLCC 15-18 August 2024 Asia-Pacific 10 October 2024 Maharah VLCC 15-21 August 2024 Daesan, South Korea 12 October 2024 Maran Thaleia VLCC 16-21 August 2024 China 13 October 2024 Vl Brilliant VLCC 21-26 August 2024 Kaohsiung, Taiwan 17 October 2024 Dias I VLCC 23-27 August 2024 Geoje, South Korea 17 October 2024 Amphitrite VLCC 27-31 August 2024 Singapore 19 October 2024 Great Lady VLCC 30 August - 3 September 2024 Singapore 25 October 2024 Dijilah VLCC 3-6 September 2024 Mumbai, India 27 October 2024 Europe Ithaki DF Aframax 27-28 August 2024 Fos, France 16 September 2024 Seagrace Suezmax 29-31 August 2024 Immingham, United Kingdom 17 September 2024 Minerva Nounou Aframax 30-31 August 2024 Rotterdam, The Netherlands 17 September 2024 Achilleas Suezmax 30-31 August 2024 Rotterdam, The Netherlands 18 September, 2024 Eagle Ventura VLCC 28 August - 4 September Rotterdam, The Netherlands 20 September 2024 Nordic Zenith Suezmax 30 August - 2 September Wilhelmshaven, Germany 21 September 2024 Horten VLCC 31 August - 5 September 2024 Rotterdam, The Netherlands 22 September 2024 Drepanos Aframax 3-5 September 2024 Immingham, United Kingdom 23 September 2024 Atlantic Suezmax 29 August - 1 September 2024 Trieste, Italy 23 September 2024 Sola TS Aframax 6-8 September 2024 A Coruña, Spain 24 September 2024 Front Ull Suezmax 5-7 September 2024 Wilhelmshaven, Germany 25 September, 2024 Atlantic Emerald Aframax 7-9 September 2024 Spain 26 September 2024 Crude Zephyrus Suezmax 3-4 September 2024 Ancona, Italy 26 September 2024 Grimstad Aframax 9-11 September 2024 Rotterdam, The Netherlands 29 September 2024 Nordic Vega Suezmax 3-4 September 2024 Porvoo, Finland 29 September 2024 Minerva Libra Aframax 7-9 September 2024 Milazzo, Italy 30 September 2024 Kpler and Vortexa Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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