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936horn

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PBF Paulsboro cutting 200+ employees and stopping most refining. Another one of our customers. Not our biggest, but we’ve been doing work with them yearly a long time.  As more of these keeps popping the get worried what things are going to look like here first quarter. 
 

https://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/news/2020/10/pbf-energy-to-shut-fuel-producing-units-at-paulsboro-new-jersey-refinery?id=82778924

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I remember being down in Pearsall for opening day of dove season circa 2014.  I think we stayed in a Motel 6 and my share of the room was $100 per night to sleep on the floor.  Split it 4 other dudes, so that fucker was running around $500 per night.

Boy, that shit didn't last.

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Since bottoming out at 244 in mid-August, rig count has steadily climbed back up to 312 as of this past Friday.  
Still would need to add another 92 just to get back to the previous all-time low of 404 heading into Memorial Day 2016. 
~500 more to get back to pre-COVID environment. 

Booo the longer it takes to restart the rigs the faster prices will rise
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1 hour ago, immamac said:

Who in this thread doesn't believe in climate change and a transition out of traditional energy into new energy alternatives as the future of the industry within the next 5-10 years?

I think that climate change is occurring, but to blame it solely on the oil and gas industry when everyone across the globe is voraciously consuming their products is ridiculous. Oil and gas are the blood of the world economy and without some kind of massive, global joint effort, oil and gas will continue to be the blood of the world economy for at least the next 3 decades. To shut down oil and gas production in the United States in the next 5-10 years would absolutely kneecap the US economy and be a huge advantage to oil producing countries that have been adversarial to the United States on the global stage and would seriously endanger the national and economic security of the United States.

Over the next 5-10 years, efforts would be better spent on improving existing technologies to lessen CO2 emissions, whether it be reduced ICE emissions, carbon capture, or whatever else may be needed to actually reduce atmospheric CO2 to pre Industrial Revolution levels. In my opinion, it is far more likely to find the technology to do that in the next 5-10 years than to eliminate the oil and gas industry. Occidental Petroleum, for example, is part of two projects that I know of that have developed true zero-emission power generation. The NET Power Facility in La Porte and the Century Plant out in West Texas both capture 100% of the CO2 generated in a form that can be stored. So, it seems like we are closer to that technology than the entire global overhaul necessary to halt and then eventually reverse climate change.

 

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2 hours ago, immamac said:

 

This is an incredible talk. 

Well I'm in oil and gas, so anytime someone (not really talking about you here) tries to tell me or talk about how the world or even the US is going to transition into alternatives in some relatively short time frame, I try and point them to this video.

Also, I really like his description of the tech sector's carbon footprint.  Since I'm in the evil, dirty O&G biz as opposed to the darling tech sector, the irony is not lost on me.

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The following presentation done by Scott Tinker at the BEG, does a great job of addressing climate change and the difficulties and possible timing of a transition to alternatives.
 

That’s a great piece. At the end though he clearly makes two points (1) access to energy makes it easier to take care of the local environment and (2) batteries and renewables will not bring us to a solution to climate change, not even close.

He talks about carbon capture but unless I missed it he didn’t have a climate change solution. I’m not making a political point, I’ve always thought with regulation yes the energy sector would be the likely source for a solution. rather, I’m asking what does the math really look like if the politicians aren’t driving the conversation.

The tech sector especially cloud computing component was enlightening as well. The beginning where he took climate and energy and compared to wealth was excellent as well.
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2 hours ago, sunset87 said:

Well I'm in oil and gas, so anytime someone (not really talking about you here) tries to tell me or talk about how the world or even the US is going to transition into alternatives in some relatively short time frame, I try and point them to this video.

Also, I really like his description of the tech sector's carbon footprint.  Since I'm in the evil, dirty O&G biz as opposed to the darling tech sector, the irony is not lost on me.

The tech sector has to run their A/Cs non-stop to keep server rooms the size of small cities cool. This is lost on practically everyone. People don’t like to be told their Instagram pics lead to pollution. 


There’s a really good Planet Money episode on two guys that collect pollutants and sell carbon credits to companies in California. Basically these guys are making a fortune collecting old refrigerants from unwitting customers. They destroy the refrigerants in a blast furnace. They submit paperwork to the State of California for carbon credits. They then sell the credits to Google, Amazon, etc...
 

I’d say they’re providing a valuable public service, but they’re not doing it out of the the kindness of their hearts. They’re overcompensated. The podcast also outlines how California’s carbon credit system is fraught with fraud. Chinese and Indian polluters/fraudsters are specifically mentioned. 
 

I’d expect carbon credits to be federal law at some point soon. The science/value is lost of me. It won’t encourage companies to pollute less. It’ll encourage them to generate carbon credits which they can use and then sell to other companies. It boils down to moving carbon around from place to place and the government giving companies credit for it. 

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The tech sector has to run their A/Cs non-stop to keep server rooms the size of small cities cool. This is lost on practically everyone. People don’t like to be told their Instagram pics lead to pollution. 

There’s a really good Planet Money episode on two guys that collect pollutants and sell carbon credits to companies in California. Basically these guys are making a fortune collecting old refrigerants from unwitting customers. They destroy the refrigerants in a blast furnace. They submit paperwork to the State of California for carbon credits. They then sell the credits to Google, Amazon, etc...
 
I’d say they’re providing a valuable public service, but they’re not doing it out of the the kindness of their hearts. They’re overcompensated. The podcast also outlines how California’s carbon credit system is fraught with fraud. Chinese and Indian polluters/fraudsters are specifically mentioned. 
 
I’d expect carbon credits to be federal law at some point soon. The science/value is lost of me. It won’t encourage companies to pollute less. It’ll encourage them to generate carbon credits which they can use and then sell to other companies. It boils down to moving carbon around from place to place and the government giving companies credit for it. 

Carbon credits as well as declines in CO2 in western economies do one thing according to that guys video presentation - result in CO2 exports to Asia. They make it, they pollute it, we buy it. And they make it with coal.
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On 11/23/2020 at 6:02 PM, troph said:

He talks about carbon capture but unless I missed it he didn’t have a climate change solution. I’m not making a political point, I’ve always thought with regulation yes the energy sector would be the likely source for a solution. rather, I’m asking what does the math really look like if the politicians aren’t driving the conversation.

He had one slide in there about what would be the biggest impacts

Replace coal with natural gas, recapture carbon as much as possible
Nuclear
Coal - recapture as much carbon as possible
 

Starts around 40:28.

 

 

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He had one slide in there about what would be the biggest impacts
Replace coal with natural gas, recapture carbon as much as possible
Nuclear
Coal - recapture as much carbon as possible
 
Starts around 40:28.
 
 

I saw that. But what wasn’t addressed in those slides or the presentation is the success of that model.

At some point we need a realistic model that works and solves the climate change problem. A bigger impact is better but it seems we really do need to nearly put the genie back in the bottle or there will be hell to pay.
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I think there’s a win-win for the Biden Administration if they encore the laws currently on the books. “Job creation” in the EPA and state of regulatory agencies, it’ll force out bad producers, and oh yeah reduce methane emissions which will be good for everybody. 
 

Things that piss me off about our industry

- Bad producers. They know who they are. 
- Methane leaks. Maintain your well sites! If some documentarians can afford an infrared camera you can afford to figure out where your leaks are. 
- Unnecessary flaring. My FIL’s ranch near Midland looks like the damned Houston Ship Channel right now. I get it, you have to eliminate the gas pressure to safely produce the crude. Spend a buck and install a pipeline. Historians are going to be laughing at us in 50 years for wasting so much natural gas.

 

Lessors signing new leases, please make sure you have strict provisions in your lease to limit flaring because you will get screwed out of plenty of money. Anything that that comes out of the wellhead you should get a piece of. 
 

Edited by billfromlaketravis
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I agree. The problem with the EPA is not regulations, it's the lack of manpower to efficiently process documents and enforce regulations on bad producers. EPA needs more funding. This false narrative that regulations hurt the industry is stupid. Regulations don't hurt the industry, slow ass processing of permits, applications, and such hurt the industry. The same goes for certain counties. They need more people to do the job efficiently. 

I agree about flaring. I would go further, I also believe flaring should not be allowed. Again, this is something human ingenuity can solve. I've read all types of things, you can spend the money to install a pipe, you could capture it to power the pad, the drill rig, etc. I've even read reports where companies are selling the gas to power onsite bitcoin farms. Humans are smart. They can figure shit out. Just outlaw flaring, give them a time period, and they will figure out a way to dispose, sell, redirect, etc. 

 

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Flaring is a big issue, especially in the Permian. In most cases it’s not as simple as building a pipeline to sales. Quite a few gathering systems in active areas are at capacity and can’t take anymore gas. So there is no market. 

Most leases we see now have provisions to pay royalties whether or not you flare gas. The big companies will pay the royalties even though they are flaring because the oil is valuable enough to cover it. Not sure how much the decline in oil prices has effected this practice.

I have seen some companies renting/selling gas powered generators to take flared gas and use it to electrify the pumping systems and equipment on the producing pads.

 I think the problem is getting a lot of attention, getting better and will be greatly reduced fairly soon.

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6 hours ago, sunset87 said:

Flaring is a big issue, especially in the Permian. In most cases it’s not as simple as building a pipeline to sales. Quite a few gathering systems in active areas are at capacity and can’t take anymore gas. So there is no market. 

Most leases we see now have provisions to pay royalties whether or not you flare gas. The big companies will pay the royalties even though they are flaring because the oil is valuable enough to cover it. Not sure how much the decline in oil prices has effected this practice.

I have seen some companies renting/selling gas powered generators to take flared gas and use it to electrify the pumping systems and equipment on the producing pads.

 I think the problem is getting a lot of attention, getting better and will be greatly reduced fairly soon.

You can’t truck gas so it creates a myriad of takeaway issues. If I were a politician in West Texas I’d be deeply pissed off about flaring. Good luck catching a nice night time desert breeze with 10 wells flaring down the road. And oh yeah the light pollution. 
 

A lot of my lessors are moving to Lubbock. I can’t blame them. Much less drilling activity, better hospitals, better restaurants, Tech home games (in normal conditions), and close enough (in West Texas terms) to go check on things. 

Edited by billfromlaketravis
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13 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

You can’t truck gas so it creates a myriad of takeaway issues. If I were a politician in West Texas I’d be deeply pissed off about flaring. Good luck catching a nice night time desert breeze with 10 wells flaring down the road. And oh yeah the light pollution. 
 

A lot of my lessors are moving to Lubbock. I can’t blame them. Much less drilling activity, better hospitals, better restaurants, Tech home games (in normal conditions), and close enough (in West Texas terms) to go check on things. 

Lol, it’s not that bad or big of a deal. I live in Midland, the least of our worries are flares out in the countryside. There’s not that many. We have bigger problems, like a terrible drought and bad roads.

Moving to Lubbock? Hadn’t heard that one. Not sure that’s much of an improvement unless you’re a Tech fan. I mean it’s Lubbock, not Austin or San Antonio, etc...

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16 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

I’ve decided to take a package. I’ve got another month. I was offered my job, but decided to go to business school instead and transition out of the industry. I’ve had a good run. Good luck to the rest of you. Wish you all another boom. 

Best of luck to you. Two of my friends have gone that route and they seem pretty happy. One ended up in VC and the other works at Alvarez and Marsal. How many years do you have in O&G? 
 

I tried leaving in 2016 to get an mba but didn’t end up getting in anywhere I wanted to quit for. Then I got an expat position and now I’m stuck making too much money to quit. 

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20 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

I’ve got 15 years in O&G. I’ve enjoyed my career, but have some corporate burnout to be honest. 

I’ve been in the same time and I’ve gotten close to this but the money is too good and the job too easy (office) for me to give up yet. But with all of the rolling layoffs I’ve came to peace if they draw my number and plan to transition out. 

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On 11/26/2020 at 9:59 AM, Neonmoon said:

I agree. The problem with the EPA is not regulations, it's the lack of manpower to efficiently process documents and enforce regulations on bad producers. EPA needs more funding. This false narrative that regulations hurt the industry is stupid. Regulations don't hurt the industry, slow ass processing of permits, applications, and such hurt the industry. The same goes for certain counties. They need more people to do the job efficiently. 

I agree about flaring. I would go further, I also believe flaring should not be allowed. Again, this is something human ingenuity can solve. I've read all types of things, you can spend the money to install a pipe, you could capture it to power the pad, the drill rig, etc. I've even read reports where companies are selling the gas to power onsite bitcoin farms. Humans are smart. They can figure shit out. Just outlaw flaring, give them a time period, and they will figure out a way to dispose, sell, redirect, etc. 

 

Shit, in the 20s, produced "flare" gas was used to power pumpjacks and powerhouses that operated multiple pumpjacks in a field and did so for half a century.

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9 hours ago, Archer said:

I’ve been in the same time and I’ve gotten close to this but the money is too good and the job too easy (office) for me to give up yet. But with all of the rolling layoffs I’ve came to peace if they draw my number and plan to transition out. 

this, im humping this donkey until it passes out, then im humping it some more

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21 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

this, im humping this donkey until it passes out, then im humping it some more

Yup. Ride it until it dies and hope it’s taken me far enough to get by with a job slinging beer at a local brewery for a little extra money as my next play. 

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Quote

Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to write down the value of U.S. and South American natural gas assets by as much as $20 billion, the largest impairment in its modern history, and is slashing long-term capital spending.

The company said Monday it will take a non-cash impairment charge for the current quarter after removing some gas fields from its development plan. Capital spending won’t exceed $25 billion a year through 2025, a $10 billion reduction from the company’s pre-pandemic target.

 

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Exxon-Logs-Record-Writedown-Slashes-Long-Term-15764518.php

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