Oil

NPR

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How Big Oil Companies Are Promising a Low-Carbon Future : NPR

Big Oil is standing on the precipice of something. But no one can agree what it is. A long, slow decline? An abrupt collapse? A remarkable reinvention?

Mounting urgency about climate change has finally reached the boardrooms of Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell and other international oil companies. Under intense pressure, these companies are universally pledging to prepare for a low-carbon or "lower-carbon" future. The Week That Shook Big Oil Business The Week That Shook Big Oil

But there's no consensus what a future with less oil would look like for companies that have been greatly enriched by the fossil fuels driving climate change.

Hacked Pipeline May Stay Shut for Days, Raising Concerns About Fuel Supply – The New York Times

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Hacked Pipeline May Stay Shut for Days, Raising Concerns About Fuel Supply – The New York Times

While the shutdown has so far had little impact on supplies of gasoline, diesel or jet fuel, some energy analysts warned that a prolonged suspension could raise prices at the pump along the East Coast and leave some smaller airports scrambling for jet fuel.

Colonial Pipeline, the pipeline operator, said on Sunday afternoon that it was developing “a system restart plan” and would restore service to some small lines between terminals and delivery points but “will bring our full system back online only when we believe it is safe to do so.”

The company, which shut down the pipeline on Friday, acknowledged on Saturday that it had been the victim of a ransomware attack by a criminal group, meaning that the hacker may hold the company’s data hostage until it pays a ransom. Colonial Pipeline, which is privately held, would not say whether it had paid a ransom. By failing to state a timeline for reopening on Sunday, the company renewed questions about whether the operations of the pipeline could still be in jeopardy.

Blowout

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Blowout

Such accidents, however, are rarely the fault of just a few individuals. Offshore drilling is a complex operation that involves hundreds of people; 126 people were employed on the Horizon drilling the Macondo well on the day of the accident. By then, the project was already running six weeks behind schedule and some $58 million over budget. Everyone was under pressure to finish drilling and get the well into production.

This Week in Petroleum

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This Week in Petroleum

EIA forecasts that OPEC crude oil production will increase in 2021. The production forecast reflects OPEC’s announced increases to production targets and rising production in Libya. On January 5, 2021, OPEC announced that it will maintain the previously agreed to January 2021 production increase of 0.5 million b/d. The latest OPEC agreement also calls for production increases from Russia and Kazakhstan in ebruary and March (totaling 75,000 b/d per month). Saudi Arabia announced that it would voluntarily cut production by an additional 1.0 million b/d during ebruary and March, however, resulting in lower overall OPEC production in early 2021. EIA forecasts that OPEC crude oil production will average 27.2 million b/d in 2021 and 28.2 million b/d in 2022, up from an estimated 25.6 million b/d in 2020.

EIA expects crude oil production in the Lower 48 states, excluding the ederal Offshore Gulf of Mexico, (L48) will decline through ebruary 2021 because declining legacy well production is expected to offset production from new wells. or U.S. tight oil production, EIA analysis shows that changes in oil prices affect changes in crude oil production with about a six-month lag. EIA expects that recent increases in oil prices and active drilling rigs will contribute to L48 production beginning to grow in the second quarter of 2021. EIA expects L48 production will average 8.9 million b/d in 2021, 3% lower than 2020 production levels. As drilling activity increases during the forecast period, EIA expects L48 production will rise by 0.4 million b/d from 2021 and average 9.3 million b/d in 2022. Most of the L48 onshore growth is expected to occur in the Permian region.

Is Plastic Recycling A Lie? Oil Companies Touted Recycling To Sell More Plastic

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Is Plastic Recycling A Lie? Oil Companies Touted Recycling To Sell More Plastic

The industry's awareness that recycling wouldn't keep plastic out of landfills and the environment dates to the program's earliest days, we found. "There is serious doubt that [recycling plastic] can ever be made viable on an economic basis," one industry insider wrote in a 1974 speech.

Yet the industry spent millions telling people to recycle, because, as one former top industry insider told NPR, selling recycling sold plastic, even if it wasn't true.

"If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be as concerned about the environment," Larry Thomas, former president of the Society of the Plastics Industry, known today as the Plastics Industry Association and one of the industry's most powerful trade groups in Washington, D.C., told NPR.

In response, industry representative Steve Russell, until recently the vice president of plastics for the trade group the American Chemistry Council, said the industry has never intentionally misled the public about recycling and is committed to ensuring all plastic is recycled.