Energy Discussion

[Randy Daytona]

I wonder what happened to all of Russia's offshore production? I remember reading a while back that oil has to trade over $100 a barrel for it to make money. Seems like they'd turn that back on if they had the ability to do so.

Russia only has about 5% of its production offshore, about 60% comes from Siberia. If those wells (or transport, or storage) are knocked offline, there is a good chance they will be frozen and then have to be re-drilled. Russia has usually sourced that expertise from the oil majors and lacks the ability to do that type of drilling itself - in other words, a good chunk of oil and gas production may be knocked offline permanently.

Production is also being interrupted in the Middle East, not just oil but LNG from Qatar whose specialized and highly refrigerated equipment is more difficult to repair / transport. We are looking at a whole new energy market: good for renewables, good for coal, and good news for exporters of hydrocarbons from the Western Hemisphere. If Venezuela gets ramped up, that could be profitable, if the other provinces let Alberta build pipelines the oil sands could help with supply- and the US is going to make bank - unless a new administration hostile to fossil fuels, the revenues it produces and the well paid workers it employs decides otherwise.

 

[taxi1]

unless a new administration hostile to fossil fuels, the revenues it produces and the well paid workers it employs

I don't think anyone is going to be hostile to revenues and well paid workers.

 

[taxi1]

Renewable energy is going to be energy security. Throw in fission and (someday) fusion.

Even if we have all the oil, the external market is going to exert control on our internal prices, e.g., diesel fuel, which is skyrocketing right when the harvest is in. A typical combine burns 200 gallons/day.

Good for the oil companies that they are making lots of money, and for the employees and stockholders of them. But that is a pretty small subset of Americans. Most are just consumers of the product.

 

[Randy Daytona]

Renewable energy is going to be energy security. Throw in fission and (someday) fusion.

Even if we have all the oil, the external market is going to exert control on our internal prices, e.g., diesel fuel, which is skyrocketing right when the harvest is in. A typical combine burns 200 gallons/day.

Good for the oil companies that they are making lots of money, and for the employees and stockholders of them. But that is a pretty small subset of Americans. Most are just consumers of the product.

I appreciate your perspective on renewables and consider them part of an all of the above mix energy strategy.

That said, I have serious reservations about our greatest strategic rival controlling the vast majority of the mining and processing of rare earths AND the production of solar panels, wind turbines and controlling equipment- that seems like a national security disaster waiting to happen.

 

[taxi1]

I appreciate your perspective on renewables and consider them part of an all of the above mix energy strategy.

That said, I have serious reservations about our greatest strategic rival controlling the vast majority of the mining and processing of rare earths AND the production of solar panels, wind turbines and controlling equipment- that seems like a national security disaster waiting to happen.

Amen on the strategic rival controlling the capability of make renewables. It is absolutely insane to me that we are ceding that to them right now, too. Just bonkers stupid. We are actually paying wind tech firms money to shelve their efforts. F***ing nuts. And our grid is a shit-show.

I'm betting if we put our heads down and addressed it, there would be good high paying jobs available in that field.

Sodium-Ion is a battery tech that we have the raw materials for. Less volumetric efficient compared to Lithium-Ion, but there's a bunch of uses where that is not a big deal. We should be funding the tech to mature it for grid storage and accelerate its adoption.