US crude oil output surges to new all-time record highs in January. It’s a great day for the US energy industry, a great day for the frackers, and a great day for American-style capitalism. The record high oil production this year further solidifies America’s new status as a world energy superpower in a new era of US energy abundance. — Mark J. Perry, AEIdeas, 7 February 2018
The historic and economic significance of the record high oil output goes beyond just reaching a new energy production milestone. While that milestone is certainly important, it also reveals important lessons about American-style capitalism and the American ‘petropreneurs’ who risked their reputations and fortunes, and spent decades trying to “crack the shale code” that finally allowed them to extract oil and natural gas trapped in shale rock miles below the ground when everybody, including the large oil and gas companies, thought that was a crazy and futile exercise. — Mark J. Perry, AEIdeas, 7 February 2018
The U.S.’s Permian Basin is looking like Saudi Arabia, with as much as 1 million barrels of spare oil capacity ready to go into production, according to Nansen Saleri, former head of reservoir management at Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest crude exporter. —Wael Mahdi, Bloomberg, 5 February 2018
The exchange in December highlights how Russia and Saudi Arabia have over the past 18 months forged an unlikely alliance in energy, despite being on opposing sides on other issues such as the Syrian conflict. The traditional rivals, which combined produce a fifth of the world’s crude, now speak with a united voice on energy-related matters and frame their relationship in strategic terms. —Financial Times, 8 February 2018
A European Commission decision on Wednesday (7 February) to approve state aid for emergency power plants – often gas or coal-fired – has been accused of complicating ongoing negotiations in the European Parliament. —EurActive, 7 February
The UK government’s latest release of production emissions data shows that cuts in all sectors other than power generation have stagnated. However, the cost of further reductions in electricity generation emissions will inhibit the electrification needed to galvanize emissions reduction trends in those sectors, in transport for example, which is now the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. —GWPF Energy, 7 February 2018
But the Greens oppose any drilling and fracking and the lie a day news media spread these lies even though the same Greens and Liberal lie a day news media use fossil fuels of some kind in their everyday lives
This shows the difference between energy production being controlled by the government vs. controlled by private businesses. In the US if companies see an opportunity to make money on movement in the price of crude they will increase production. And with fracking they can ratchet up their production pretty quickly. Bad news for OPEC countries and Russia but removes the strangle-hold they have had on oil for so long