FROM THE OIL PATCH
PG&E moves power underground in plan to bury 10,000 miles
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is working on an ambitious project to bury thousands of miles of power lines in an effort to prevent igniting fires with its equipment and avoid shutting down electricity during hot and windy weather. PG&E announced last year that it planned to bury 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) of power lines in the next decade at a projected cost of $15 billion to $30 billion. The announcement came just days after PG&E informed regulators that a 70-foot (23-meter) pine tree that toppled on one of its power lines ignited a major fire in Butte County, the same rural
Inflation rates taking toll on new US infrastructure projects
The price of a foot of water pipe in Tucson, Arizona: up 19%. The cost of a ton of asphalt in a small Massachusetts town: up 37%. The estimate to build a new airport terminal in Des Moines, Iowa: 69% higher, with a several year delay. Inflation is taking a toll on infrastructure projects across the U.S., driving up costs so much that state and local officials are postponing projects, scaling back others and reprioritizing their needs. The price hikes already are diminishing the value of a $1 trillion infrastructure plan President Joe Biden signed into law just seven months ago. That
With Record Gas Prices, President Biden Must Prioritize Energy Infrastructure
President Biden’s regulatory policies toward domestic energy production have unwittingly only worsened America’s energy crisis. The cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, pausing lease sales on federal lands and offshore, and enacting new burdensome federal rules are not easing record costs we see today. The national average for gasoline is
Democrats Still Focused On Punishing Big Oil As Gas Tops $5 A Gallon
Democratic leaders on the House Natural Resources Committee sent letters to five public relations (PR) firms Sunday, requesting information about their work with the fossil fuel industry. Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva, the committee’s chairman, and California Rep. Katie Porter, the top Democrat on the panel’s oversight and investigations subcommittee, accused
U.S. Update: Midstream Markets Turn Up Gas on Higher Prices, Global Demand
This is not how things were supposed to go. When the world shut down for a pandemic two years ago and carbon emissions plummeted, environmentalists saw an opportunity to leap forward on climate goals by rallying around renewables and leaving oil and gas in the ground. But Russia’s invasion of
World Oil editorial: UK government can’t have it both ways
Recent moves by the UK government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicate that people in his regime must think that they can play both sides of the street, so to speak, when it comes to oil and gas policy, and get away with it. We are here to tell them
CRUDE OIL WEEKLY UPDATE (Week Ending 06-24-22)
Several U.S. Energy Information Administration product releases scheduled for the week of June 20, 2022, will be delayed as a result of systems issues.
NATURAL GAS WEEKLY UPDATE (Week Ending 06-24-22)
In the News (EIA): First-year productivity of Haynesville and Marcellus wells more than doubled between 2014 and 2020: This article is the third in a
Zekelman Industries Steel Snapshot for June 2022
(by Mike Mechley, Executive VP of Strategic Procurement, www.ZekelmanIndustries.com) Platts June HR Coil $1,180 down $200 from May. Nucor continues to add downstream acquisitions. United
Preston Pipe Report – May 2022
(by Paul Vivian and Rick Preckel, www.prestonpipe.com) Market Monitor – Back in February, we wrote about new FERC regulations that had been enacted that could
Pipe Logix Line Pipe Report – May 2022
(by Kurt Minnich, www.pipe-logix.com) Line pipe prices were up 3.5% in May with domestic prices up 2.4% and import prices up 4.8%. Compared to a
AISI Press Release on Latest U.S. Imports of Steel Products – June 2022
(American Iron and Steel Institute, www.steel.org – June 8, 2022) Based on the Commerce Department’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, the
