Harold Hamm, the billionaire wildcatter and a major donor to President Donald Trump, has challenged a claim from the new US energy secretary that domestic oil companies could increase production even at prices as low as $50 a barrel.
Hamm’s words represent one the first signs of public push-back from the US shale industry against the Trump administration’s energy policy. Hamm, 79, was one of the president’s biggest financial backers in last year’s election.
Many in the sector have welcomed the new administration’s policy of cutting regulations and boosting domestic oil and gas production. But that support sits uneasily alongside Trump’s statements calling for significantly lower energy prices.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the Financial Times this week that while new supply will push down prices, oil companies will learn to innovate and bounce back.
Speaking Thursday, Hamm, 79, the co-founder and chairman of closely held shale driller Continental Resources, warned that US drillers need $80-a-barrel oil to be able to cover costs at some wells.
In a 2019 video for his company Liberty Energy, newly minted Secretary of Energy Chris Wright made a show of how harmless fracking fluid was by mixing some up and drinking it with his staff, as if it were MAGA’s latest Covid remedy.
Problem with the demonstration is, Fracking fluid that goes down into the hole is not the problem. It’s the stuff that comes back out. Catch this EPA page before it gets taken down.
Q: Have you found scientific evidence that hydraulic fracturing can impact drinking water resources? A: Yes. EPA has found scientific evidence that activities in the hydraulic fracturing water cycle can impact drinking water resources under some circumstances. Impacts can range in frequency and severity, depending on the combination of hydraulic fracturing water cycle activities and local- or regional-scale factors. The following combinations of activities and factors are more likely than others to result in more frequent or more severe impacts:
Water withdrawals for hydraulic fracturing in times or areas of low water availability, particularly in areas with limited or declining groundwater resources;
Spills during the management of hydraulic fracturing fluids and chemicals or produced water that result in large volumes or high concentrations of chemicals reaching groundwater resources;
Injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into wells with inadequate mechanical integrity, allowing gases or liquids to move to groundwater resources;
Injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids directly into groundwater resources;
Discharge of inadequately treated hydraulic fracturing wastewater to surface water resources; and,
Disposal or storage of hydraulic fracturing wastewater in unlined pits, resulting in contamination of groundwater resources.
The above conclusions are based on cases of identified impacts and other data, information, and analyses presented in the report. Cases of impacts were identified for all stages of the hydraulic fracturing water cycle. Identified impacts generally occurred near hydraulically fractured oil and gas production wells and ranged in severity, from temporary changes in water quality to contamination that made private drinking water wells unusable.
He’s not kidding. He’s crazy. He’s done so much damage already it’s terrifying.
He’s following Putin’s playbook in the way he’s treating Canada, much like Putin acted towards Ukraine pre-invasion. He is putting Europe in the position of deciding whether to defend the front door against Putin, or the back door against Trump. This is demonic, and almost everyone is treating it like it’s a sideshow. It is not.
Phase 1 – Political Destabilization and Subversion of Greenland
In his India Today interview, Howard Lutnick spelled it out. “We need Greenland for national security for the Arctic. Everyone would agree that Greenland is vital. And why is Denmark there? Because the Vikings conquered it hundreds of years ago? I mean, what does Denmark have to do with Greenland? You know the answer is nothing,”
The next likely path is for the White House to make increasingly dramatic statements about demanding a referendum amongst the people of Greenland. Coupled with a massive social media campaign backed by Elon Musk, a false narrative that Greenlanders want to join the United States would start to permeate the right-wing and pro-Russian news media. Trump and his staff have already commented that Greenland is critical to the United States for “national security.” What they failed to mention is that they want access to rare earth minerals for advanced technologies. Although these minerals exist in the United States, there is an imperialistic belief that Canada and Greenland are untapped regions of wealth that America must control if it wants to dominate the 21st century.
Note that an early phone call between Trump and the Danish Prime Minister left the Danes in a panic when they realized his shouting and use of profanities convinced them that he was dead serious about seizing Greenland. So, what is the goal of all of this talk? The goal of seizing Greenland would give Trump’s imperialist and technologist cronies access to massive under-ice mineral deposits. Note that these could only be accessed if Trump lets climate change continue to take its toll on the North Sea Ice. Also, in the political uproar of a military annexation, the United States could use the pretext of moving its naval and military assets into defensive positions near Greenland for a surprise invasion of Canada.
I posted the interview above the other day, but it’s worth a listen if you haven’t, if for no reason other than appreciating how smart this guy is, and how comprehensive his knowledge base, and how painful it’s going to be for him to sit in a room and engage with the current Troglodyte in the White House.
What hasn’t yet gotten much press attention are Carney’s views about climate change and fossil fuels, which are commendably grounded in science but carry radical political and economic implications. Over the past decade, Carney has repeatedly stated that the vast majority of Earth’s remaining reserves of oil, gas, and coal must be left in the ground, unburned — because burning them would risk a catastrophic overheating of the planet. The world’s climate scientists have been saying exactly that with increasing urgency for years. But leaving most fossil fuels in the ground poses enormous practical challenges for Canada, one of the world’s foremost producers and exporters of oil and gas. It also could be another flashpoint between Canada and the US, which now is led by an administration promoting climate-change denial.
With new elections expected very soon in Canada, this consequential twist in the climate story cries out for fresh reporting. Canada’s opposition parties will call for a vote of no confidence when parliament resumes on March 24; if the vote passes, Canadians would return to the polls, probably by early May. As Carney faces voters, reporters might well ask if he still believes that most fossil fuels must be left unburned. And if so, how does he plan to pursue that vision when fossil fuels are such a big part of Canada’s economy?
An insurance exec in California is lured into a conversation with a Tinder date, who turns out to be an operative for Project Veritas, a right wing media operation with a history of manipulation and fraud. Not clear from the reporting what the sting was attempting to accomplish, but clearly the far right has an interest in casting the current climate-fueled insurance crisis as some kind of money grab by Insurance companies.
In any case, the Exec was recorded making some pretty unassailable points about the problem of people building in Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas that are particularly vulnerable to climate impacts.
In a leaked undercover video, comments from a now-fired State Farm executive are raising questions about the company’s massive rate hike request.
The secretive video obtained and posted by conservative O’Keefe Media Group shows Haden Kirkpatrick, the former Vice President of Innovation and Venture Capital at State Farm speaking openly about the victims of the Palisades Fire and residents of the Bay Area.
Kirkpatrick told the New York Times the video was recorded during a tinder date.
“Like in Marin County and Northern California… or some of the fringe areas like where the Palisades are, there should never be houses built there in the first place,” Kirkpatrick said in the recorded video.
“People want to be built in areas where they have natural areas around them for their ego… but it’s also a f****** desert.”
Worthwhile interviews with knowledgeable oil experts.
Above, Scott Sheffield owned Pioneer Natural Resources, the premier producer in the Permian basin region, which he recently sold to Exxon.
Ignore his sucking up to Donald Trump, and just listen to his assessment of the shale resource – which he believes has seen its peak in that area, at least at current prices in the mid 60s. But Trump wants oil producers to increase production, AND drive prices into the 50s, even while tariffs are raising the prices of steel and aluminum that are a big part of oil production costs.
Below, Analyst Eric Nuttall was struck by Sheffield’s comments, and adds more. Bottom line, ‘Drill baby Drill” is a toothless slogan. There is no shot for Trump to jawbone Oil producers to drill more at a loss.
Trump on Greenland: "Denmark is very far away. A boat landed there 200 years ago or something and they say they have rights to it. I don't know if that's true. I don't think it is, actually … we really need it for national security … maybe you'll see more and more soldiers go there."
He’s forcing Europe to choose between guarding their front door in Ukraine, or their back door in Canada and Greenland. Taking direction directly from Putin, if there was any doubt.
Major energy CEO Joe Dominguez spoke at the CERA conference in Houston this week, fielding questions about the challenge of powering burgeoning demand from Data centers and AI. He’s not too concerned about it.
Joseph Dominguez is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Constellation, which employs 14,000 workers, has generating capacity of more than 32,400 megawatts and serves more than 16 million homes and businesses with clean energy. With revenues of more than $17 billion and total assets of $49 billion, Constellation comprises both the nation’s lowest-carbon fleet among large power producers and the largest competitive energy supplier. Together, they are America’s clean energy leader, producing about 10% of the nation’s clean energy and helping America transition to a clean, sustainable future.
On the other hand, Dominguez did offer, unprompted, some of this dark concerns about climate change – apologizing to his audience and genuflecting to the new administration all along the way. Nevertheless…
Just heard from a friend who had visited South Florida, not far from Babcock Ranch, a large, planned solar powered community. When Hurricane Ian came ashore a few years ago, residents at Babcock Ranch rode it out, keeping power, lights, and internet on while all around them communities descended into chaos.
