Free Republic

Nothing quite tickles the fancy of energy investors like a giant oil or gas find. But here’s the secret sauce: stocks of small-cap companies tend to enjoy serious leverage whenever they strike oil, whereas the heavyweights, well, not so much. You don’t have to look very far for an example: shares of ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM) are down more than 20% since the company announced a 14-strong string of good discoveries off the coast of Guyana in 2015, one of its best finds ever. That’s because companies like Exxon have their fingers in too many pies, and their share prices depend...

"The United States is now -- and I said it and I'll say it all night long -- number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world. And there's nobody even close," said Trump at a "Keep America Great" rally in Hershey, Penn. on Tuesday. "In the Trump era, America became the big player in the energy world," Varney continued. "Now, that is a '180' from just a few years ago. And we all feel the benefit." "A strong economy and gas gets cheaper?" observed Varney. "It's not supposed to be like that. But with Trump's policies, we...

''It’s not at all surprising that in 1977 Exxon management might reject a warning from one of its scientists that rising carbon dioxide emissions were going to pose a problem. It certainly wasn’t widely accepted at that time, and we have the benefit now of 40 years of hindsight. That’s why whenever someone says “Exxon knew”, I respond “Did they though?”

Because we have done so well with Energy over the last few years (thank you, Mr. President!), we are a net Energy Exporter, & now the Number One Energy Producer in the World. We don’t need Middle Eastern Oil & Gas, & in fact have very few tankers there, but will help our Allies!

Drone attacks on two critical production facilities in Saudi Arabia wiped out over 5% of the world’s oil supply in one go, eliminating the spare capacity of the entire globe. The attacks, which targeted an oil processing facility at Abqaiq and the nearby Khurais oil field knocked out 5.7 million barrels of daily crude production, a whopping 50% of Saudi Arabia’s entire oil output. “This incident effectively eliminates the world’s spare capacity,” said Sarah Cottle, global head of market insight at S&P Global Platts. The attacks led at one point to oil prices spiking by 19%, the biggest leap since...

U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), negligible just three years ago, now amount to 10% of the global market and at 22 million tonnes so far this year are equal to the total volumes pumped out in 2018, Refinitiv data showed. The data, comprised of tracked individual journeys made by LNG tankers from supply source to destination, also showed LNG production hit an all-time high last month of 31 million tonnes. As global volumes grow, Qatar, for years the world’s largest LNG supplier, lost market share to Australia, which exported more LNG than any other country in the past...

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order next week in response to environmental activists’ ongoing legal efforts to stymie his administration’s efforts to reduce regulations and ramp up pipeline construction to allow Americans access to the abundant domestic supply of natural gas. “The effort is spurred by the blockage of the construction of the 125-mile Constitution Pipeline from Pennsylvania to New York,” CNBC reported. “Officials say the administration’s broader goal is to lower energy prices by accelerating the transport of natural gas and to reaffirm U.S. energy ‘dominance,’ a word that appeared multiple times in an early...

President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission survived his confirmation vote Thursday, returning a GOP majority to the powerful federal agency. Bernard McNamee — Trump’s pick to become a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) — won confirmation by a 50-49 vote. The razor-thin margin fell along party lines, with Democrats sharply opposed to his nomination. The vote brings an end to what became a contentious candidacy for McNamee. Democrats on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee initially took umbrage with his past work in the Department of Energy, where he led an unsuccessful effort...

(AP) – The United States is pumping record amounts of oil, vaulting over Russia to become the world’s biggest producer of crude. The Energy Information Administration said Thursday that the U.S. produced more than 11.3 million barrels a day in August, a 4 percent increase over the old record set in July. Russia’s energy ministry estimates that country pumped 11.2 million barrels a day in August. OPEC reports Saudi Arabia pumped 10.4 million barrels a day It’s the first time since 1973 that the U.S. leads the world in oil production. in August including Texas, which accounts for about 40...

The White House on Monday rolled out a new plan that would allow higher blends of ethanol in vehicle fuels, amid concerns that the change could lead to more air pollution. The administration’s memo calls to extend the sale of E15 -- consisting of 15 percent of ethanol blended into gasoline -- year round. The fuel was blocked between June 1 and Sept. 15, as science shows burning ethanol in warmer temperature leads to heightened ground-level ozone pollution and smog. A senior White House official said the plan was part of President Trump’s free market plan. “This action is basically...

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says the U.S. Navy can blockade Russia if needed to keep it from controlling energy supplies in the Middle East as it does in Europe. "The United States has that ability, with our Navy, to make sure the sea lanes are open..." Zinke said on Friday at an industry event in Pittsburgh hosted by the Consumer Energy Alliance. He was there to explain why hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and the shale energy boom has given the U.S. an edge over its rivals Russia and Iran, by making the U.S. less dependent on foreign sources of energy....

News Releases Senator Murray Slams President Trump’s Plan to Prop Up Coal While Moving U.S. Backward on Efforts to Combat Climate Change Aug 21 2018 (SEATTLE) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) issued the following statement on President Trump’s announcement to replace President Obama’s Clean Power Plan with a version that will do little to reduce emissions or transition to renewable energy sources in order to address climate change, while simply continuing business as usual at coal plants.“Once again, President Trump is putting profits for his well-connected friends ahead of the health and well-being of the millions of...

In terms of its effect on the lives of Americans, as well as the economy, the change of U.S. policy announced by the Trump administration last month to almost no media attention is a big deal. Ellen Knickmeyer of the Associated Press picked up on it belatedly: Conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative for the U.S., the Trump administration declares in a major new policy statement that threatens to undermine decades of government campaigns for gas-thrifty cars and other conservation programs.

When it comes to coal, the United States is what the Middle East is for oil. That fact is not lost on an industry competing for relevancy at a time when it’s undersold by natural gas and renewable energy. It’s not lost on the coal-producing towns in the nation that have long relied on the mineral for jobs and economic development. And it’s certainly not lost on Greg Merle, whose company is pitching what he hopes — what he believes — might just be the answer for a declining industry desperate to remain viable. Merle is the president of Riverview...

Over 16,000 pro-life Christians have recently signed a petition asking that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be protected from drilling. The reason we are speaking out is because we are "called by God to be a steward of America's majesty." And the Arctic Refuge is one of the most majestic places in our nation. Unfortunately, the Arctic Refuge has never been more imperiled. After four decades of attempts, last year drilling proponents succeeded in attaching an amendment allowing drilling to a must-pass spending bill. Even past staunch Republican defenders of the Arctic Refuge voted the wrong way this time. Before...

.S. President Donald Trump on Friday directed Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take emergency steps to keep at-risk coal and nuclear plants running, the White House announced. Under the directive, Perry would require grid operators to buy electricity from ailing nuclear and coal-fired power plants to keep them from being shuttered. “Unfortunately, impending retirements of fuel-secure power facilities are leading to a rapid depletion of a critical part of our nation’s energy mix, and impacting the resilience of our power grid,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

Gasoline prices in Fresno already increased beyond $4 per gallon this week at some places in town. And gas prices are projected to rise even more going into the summer in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. A year ago, the national average for was $2.34 for a gallon of gas, according to a CNN Money report. These days, that national average has jumped to $2.81 per gallon. Those in Fresno can probably add a dollar on top of the national price, with high state taxes and stringent standards for reformulating...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Today is Earth Day, and it is the perfect time to celebrate the natural resources like oil, natural gas and coal, which are gifts to humanity from Mother Earth herself. These indispensable drivers of modern society will no doubt be demonized today amid all the frightful doom and gloom predictions that will be launched by environmental activists and repeated by various media outlets. All the vitriol directed at these fossil fuels by the environmental community notwithstanding, it is a simple fact that our prosperous, modern, energy-hungry society was made possible by the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump criticized OPEC on Friday for output curbs that have helped raise global oil prices and said “artificially” high prices would not be accepted, drawing rebukes from oil-producing countries as prices dipped following his remarks. “Looks like OPEC is at it again. With record amounts of Oil all over the place, including the fully loaded ships at sea. Oil prices are artificially Very High! No good and will not be accepted!” Trump wrote on Twitter. Several members of OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, said in response that oil prices were not...

The U.S. Department of the Interior will offer offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida for oil and gas exploration and development //snipp// This will be the largest such lease sale in the country's history, it will include almost 77 million acres of federal waters in the Gulf. The lease sale will be live streamed online from New Orleans.