The Best-Mislaid Plans of Mice and Men Often Go Awry: Biden Oil Edition

But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,

In proving foresight may be vain:

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men

Gang aft agley,

An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,

For promis’d joy!

To a Mouse BY ROBERT BURNS, 1785

Guest “My apologies to Robert Burns” by David Middleton

The LNG Export Plan

Remember back in March, when Biden promised to ramp up US LNG exports to Europe?

JUNE 23, 2022
Fire causes shutdown of Freeport liquefied natural gas export terminal

On June 8, 2022, a fire at Freeport LNG‘s natural gas liquefaction plant on the Gulf Coast in South Texas led to the full shutdown of the facility. The shutdown of Freeport LNG will reduce total U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity by approximately 2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), or 17% of total U.S. LNG export capacity.

Freeport LNG is one of seven LNG export facilities operating in the United States. Freeport LNG has three operating liquefaction units (called trains) that have a combined baseload capacity of 1.98 Bcf/d and peak capacity of 2.14 Bcf/d. The facility shipped its first LNG cargo in September 2019, and it was the fifth U.S. LNG export terminal to come online in the Lower 48 states. A fourth liquefaction train (with a capacity of 0.67 Bcf/d) has been fully approved, but its owner has not yet reached a final investment decision.

According to Freeport LNG Development, L.P., the preliminary assessment suggests that the fire was caused by excess pressure in an LNG transfer pipeline that moves LNG from the facility’s storage tank to the terminal’s dock facilities. The fire did not affect Freeport LNG’s main facilities, such as its liquefaction trains, LNG storage tanks, dock facilities, or LNG process areas. The company announced that it does not expect the terminal to return to full service until late 2022, although it aims to have the terminal partially operating in approximately 90 days.

[…]

Principal contributors: Victoria Zaretskaya, James Easton, Kirby Lawrence

Tags: natural gas, exports/imports, LNG (liquefied natural gas), outages

EIA

Most of the Freeport LNG shipments this year were going to Europe:

The sudden ~2 Bcf/d glut in domestic supply caused US natural gas prices to retreat and European LNG prices to skyrocket again.

The Freeport facility accounts for roughly 20% of U.S. LNG processing capacity, drawing 2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of natural gas from U.S. shale producers.

A full restart of the facility will not happen until late this year, the company said this week. The outage sent U.S. gas futures down 18% from the price a day before the fire, while European gas prices have surged more than 60%, with an additional boost from less gas on Russian pipelines. read more

Reuters

In the meantime, Biden’s FERC is slow-walking natural gas infrastructure permits…

API: FERC Policy Changes Would Cause Uncertainty and Hamper LNG Export and Reliability Goals

202.682.8114 | press@api.org

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2022 – The American Petroleum Institute (API) today filed reply comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) addressing the assertions of other commenters and continuing to express concerns that the Commission’s two revised policy statements would chill investment in critical natural gas infrastructure. Increasing regulatory uncertainty and permitting delays, these policy changes directly conflict with FERC’s mandate to ensure a reliable supply of natural gas under the Natural Gas Act (NGA) and run counter to the goals of the United States and European Union joint task force to increase LNG exports to Europe. 

In filed reply comments on FERC’s Draft GHG Emissions Policy Statement, API Senior Vice President of Policy, Economics and Regulatory Affairs Frank Macchiarola highlighted API’s shared goal of reducing GHG emissions through economy-wide and industry-led initiatives to address emissions associated with energy production. However, Macchiarola cautioned that the Commission should not regulate outside its statutory authority. 

“Other regulators have greater levels of expertise, not to mention congressionally-granted authority to regulate in these areas. FERC should not complicate or contradict the broader regulatory framework affecting industry by inserting itself in these areas,” Macchiarola said. Resources like EPA’s Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) are better suited to monitoring GHG reduction and mitigation efforts and FERC’s involvement could unnecessarily complicate the regulatory process. 

“Natural gas pipeline infrastructure provides access to natural gas electric generation facilities, which can, and often do displace coal-fired electric generation and facilitate the integration of renewable energy resources into the nation’s power mix,” Macchiarola said. “API encourages FERC to view our industry as a vital partner in the efforts to reduce our nation’s GHG emissions, not as an obstacle.” 

[…]

API

The Go Begging to OPEC Plan

Remember when Biden begged OPEC to increase production, while kneecapping domestic production?

Big Oil blasts Biden for turning to OPEC for more crude
By Matt Egan, CNN Business
Fri August 13, 2021

New York CNN Business — 

Big Oil is not pleased with the White House’s push this week for more crude from OPEC and its allies.

The American Petroleum Institute, the powerful lobby group that represents the US oil and gas industry, is arguing President Joe Biden should be working to boost oil production at home before looking overseas.

“You’d think the first place you would go would be American producers, rather than OPEC, which literally held this country hostage for decades because they were our top supplier,” API President Mike Sommers told CNN Business.

In response, a White House official stressed the importance of “reliable and stable energy markets at this critical moment” in the global recovery from the pandemic.

“President Biden has made clear that he wants Americans to have access to affordable energy, including at the pump,” the US official told CNN Business.

[…]

CNN

Unfortunately, OPEC doesn’t appear have a magical production dial either.

June 28, 2022

Macron tells Biden that UAE, Saudi can barely raise oil output

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, June 28 (Reuters) – Two top OPEC oil producers, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, can barely increase oil production, French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said he had been told by the UAE’s president.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been perceived as the only two countries in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) with spare capacity to boost global deliveries that could reduce prices.

“I had a call with MbZ,” Macron was heard telling U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 summit, using shorthand for UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. “He told me two things. I’m at a maximum, maximum (production capacity). This is what he claims.”

“And then he said (the) Saudis can increase by 150 (thousands barrels per day). Maybe a little bit more, but they don’t have huge capacities before six months’ time,” Macron said.

[…]

Reuters

The Shutdown US Offshore Drilling Plan

Remember when Biden promised to halt offshore drilling?

He hasn’t managed to do that yet; however it does still seem to be a top priority.

So far, his maladministration has unlawfully refused hold the remaining offshore lease sales in the 2017-2022 leasing program and this is already affecting production from our second most prolific oil & gas basin. They have also, thus far, refused to issue a new five year leasing program, even though the current one expires on June 30, 2022.

His rabidly Anti-American Interior Secretary promised that a draft of a new five year leasing plan would be made available by the end of this month.

THE HEAT REPORT
June 27, 2022 Press Release
Issues: Energy
The HEAT Report is a weekly newsletter focusing on how members of the House Energy Action Team (HEAT) promote American energy security, and an all-of-the-above energy economy.

[…]

President Biden has done everything he can to shut down American energy production. He blames everybody but himself for skyrocketing gas prices, but the public knows better. Now, he plans to travel over 5,000 miles to Saudi Arabia to beg for more oil production when he could open up the spigots right here at home.

Later this week, all eyes will be on Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who has promised to deliver a draft of the Biden Administration’s five-year offshore energy leasing plan by the end of June when the current plan expires. Once again, this Administration is waiting until the last minute to do its duty, while hardworking Americans are desperate for relief at the pump.

Instead of focusing on leftist, anti-energy policies that will cost billions of dollars, President Biden should focus on opening up American energy production in places like the Gulf of Mexico and turn to energy-producing states to unleash the full potential of American energy and bring our nation out of this energy crisis.

[…]

Rep. Steve Scalise (R, LA01)

According to The New York Times, Biden placed the preparation of the new five year plan (2022-2027) in the immensely incapable hands of Chief of Staff Ron Klain and a handful of Biden’s closest political hacks. One of the options supposedly being considered is to have no Federal lease sales in the new lease sale plan.

Oddly written paragraph. Recent lease sale records of decision have included a “no action alternative;” however that option has never been chosen before because it is s stupid-@$$ option and it doesn’t even mean what the intrepid NYT journalists seem to think it means. The “no action alternative” doesn’t apply to the five year program. It would apply to individual lease sales.

The decision to hold Lease Sale 257 recognizes the role that GOM oil and gas resources play in addressing the Nation’s demand for domestic energy sources and fosters economic benefits, including employment, labor income, and tax revenues, which are highest in Gulf Coast States and also distributed widely across the United States. Revenues from offshore oil and gas lease sales support national conservation programs and coastal resiliency for applicable coastal states and political subdivisions under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006.

After considering the benefits and potential impacts evaluated in the 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, all comments received, and determining that no new information or circumstances substantially affect the conclusions of that analysis, I have concluded that OCSLA permits me to hold GOM Lease Sale 257 in the manner described herein. In making my decision, I considered the alternatives, information, analyses, and any objections submitted by State, Tribal, and local governments, and public commenters for consideration by the lead and cooperating agencies in developing the 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS.

[…]

GOM Lease Sale 257 would not be held under Alternative E, which is the No Action Alternative analyzed in the 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS. Alternative E was not selected because if it were, revenue would not be collected by the Federal Government nor subsequently disbursed to the States. If the proposed GOM region-wide lease sale were not held, the overall near-term level of OCS oil and gas-related activity in the region would be reduced. However, not holding a single lease sale would not significantly change the overall activity levels in the GOM (i.e., on blocks leased in previous lease sales) and the associated environmental impacts in the near term.

4. ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE ALTERNATIVE
BOEM identified Alternative E, defined as the No Action Alternative, as environmentally preferable in the 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS. The No Action Alternative is considered environmentally preferable because not holding the lease sale would preclude OCS oil- and gas related activities related to new leases from occurring, along with the resulting environmental effects in the Gulf of Mexico. However, significant OCS oil- and gas-related activity would be expected to continue under existing leases and, with only forty-eight percent of leases with approved exploration plans or development plans, the majority of currently leased blocks are still in the early exploration phase. Therefore, a no action alternative will not have immediate environmental benefits. It is also possible that in the short term, assuming OCS oil- and gas related activities remain confined to acreage currently leased, OCS operators would likely reevaluate their exploration, delineation, and development strategies across their existing portfolio and reallocate resources accordingly. This could also lead to small increases in the intensity of the activities in already leased areas and attendant small increases in impacts in those areas.

Record of Decision for Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Lease Sale 257, 31 August 2021

There has been at least one Gulf of Mexico Federal lease sale every year since at least 1954. “Not offering any new lease sales” has not happened in the past. There have been lease sales every year since the passage of the Submerged Lands Act (SLA) of 1953. 2022 will likely be the first year without a lease sale, the second if you count 2021. BOEM held Sale 257 in November 2021; however a corrupt Obama judge voided it… Because climate change.

Decisions, decisions! Which plan will Biden choose?

1. Continue to hold lease sales in at least the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico and alienate his Enviromarxist terrorist allies, until being replaced by Ron DeSantis in 2025?
2. Hold no offshore lease sales to appease his Enviromarxist terrorist allies, until being replaced by Ron DeSantis in 2025?

Biden’s track record leads me to think it’ll be plan #2, a continuation of the Fiasco-American plan!