WASHINGTON (May 19, 2022) — During testimony before the U.S Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources today, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland confirmed that, despite delays in implementation from the previous Administration, the Interior Department will release the Proposed Program – the next step in the five-year offshore energy planning process – by June 30, 2022, which is the expiration of the current program. A Proposed Program is not a decision to issue specific leases or to authorize any drilling or development.
DOI
Archive for the ‘energy policy’ Category
The June 30, 2022 deadline for releasing the Proposed OCS Leasing Program has been missed without explanation
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 5 year leasing plan, DOI, offshore oil and gas on July 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »
SCOTUS: West Virginia 6, EPA 3. These statements should resonate with regulators and industry.
Posted in climate, energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged climate, GHG emissions, Justice Gorsuch, Lease Sale 257, SCOTUS, West Virginia vs. EPA on June 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »
When Congress seems slow to solve problems, it may be only natural that those in the Executive Branch might seek to take matters into their own hands. But the Constitution does not authorize agencies to use pen-and-phone regulations as substitutes for laws passed by the people’s representatives.
Justice Gorsuch in concurrence
Capping carbon dioxide emissions at a level that will force a nationwide transition away from the use of coal to generate electricity may be a sensible “solution to the crisis of the day.” New York v. United States, 505 U. S. 144, 187 (1992). But it is not plausible that Congress gave EPA the authority to adopt on its own such a regulatory scheme in Section 111(d). A decision of such magnitude and consequence rests with Congress itself, or an agency acting pursuant to a clear delegation from that representative body.
Justice Roberts for the majority
At first glance, the SCOTUS decision would seem to affect the regulation of GHG emissions on the OCS and possibly the Lease Sale 257 decision (now being appeal), which was based on BOEM’s failure to estimate the effect of reduced OCS production on GHG emissions outside the US.
EIA GoM forecast points to the importance of new production
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 5 year leasing plan, EIA, Gulf of Mexico production, IER on June 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Leasing shutdowns have consequences. See the IER article, and the post below regarding the importance of new production, which is dependent on consistent leasing and exploration programs. Will the proposed leasing plan be issued today as promised?
“According to EIA, declining production from existing Gulf of Mexico fields will largely offset the increases in oil production from the new fields, with natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico continuing its three-year decline. During 2021, 15 percent of U.S. oil production and 2 percent of U.S. natural gas production was produced in the Gulf of Mexico.”
IER
Another achievement we should be applauding – first production from the Spruance Field
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Gulf of Mexico, LLOG, new production, Sale 257, simpler safer greener, Spruance on June 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“The two-well subsea development is producing, in combination, approximately 16,000 barrels of oil per day and 13 million cubic feet of gas per day via a 14-mile subsea tieback to the EnVen-operated Lobster platform in EW 873. First production was achieved less than three years after the initial exploratory discovery well was drilled.”
LLOG
The project owners (below) are all independent producers and private equity firms. Houston Energy, LLOG, Red Willow, EnVen, and Beacon were also among the high bidders in Lease Sale 257, which was vacated by a questionable court decision that the Federal government chose not to appeal.
The companies responsible for these important projects (see “simpler, safer, greener”) that have or will soon initiate production were also active bidders at Lease Sale 257. The absence of leasing has thus seriously handicapped the companies most responsible for the production surge to over 2 million BOPD in 2019 and for sustaining the current Gulf production rate of 1.7 million BOPD.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve is now below 500 million barrels
Posted in energy policy, tagged 500 million barrels, DOE, inventory, SPR on June 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Brief filed by 14 states in support of the Sale 257 appeal
Posted in climate, energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 5 year leasing plan, Lease Sale 257, States appeal, Texas on June 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Per their court filing, Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia seek to protect oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the United States. The States’ brief is rather political, which is not surprising given their support for offshore leasing and the apparent alignment of the Federal defendants and the plaintiffs in support of the decision by Judge Contreras to vacate the sale.
As was expected at the time of the ruling, the court decision on Sale 257 shut down offshore leasing for the remainder of the 2017-22 Five Year Plan. Secretary of the Interior Haaland has promised that a new proposed leasing plan will be released by 6/30/2022, but that is just the start of the lengthy planning process.
Interesting NEPA data from the States’ brief:
- In 2018 CEQ found that, across the federal government, the average EIS completion time and issuance of a Record of Decision was over 4.5 years and the median was 3.6 years.
- On average, Interior takes five years and the Department of Transportation 6.5 years to complete an EIS—and that’s not including the usual years of resulting litigation.
- CEQ found that “across all Federal agencies, draft EISs averaged 586 pages in total, with a median document length of 403 pages.” As a result, “[t]he entire original purpose of doing NEPA analysis has been lost along the way to creating mountains of data and information in the hopes of successfully defending against inevitable litigation.”
Many thanks to the Texas AG for making the States’ brief readily available online. Unfortunately, that is not the case for the other briefs filed in support of the sale.
Update on the Sale 257 appeal
Posted in climate, energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged API, DOI, Lease Sale 257, Louisiana on June 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Per a very good OGJ update, API, Louisiana, Chevron, bp, Shell, NOIA, the EnerGeo trade group of geophysical contractors, 14 states filing jointly, and the US Chamber of Commerce have submitted briefs to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Don’t expect a decision soon. The environmental advocacy groups are not scheduled to file their responses until Aug. 26, after which replies can be filed. No decision is expected before November at the earliest.
Previous posts and background information on Lease Sale 257.
EIA short term production forecast for the Gulf of Mexico looks about right
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged EIA short term forecast, gas production, Gulf of Mexico, longer term concerns, oil production on June 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The EIA forecast looks about right. Production from new projects should offset existing field declines and maintain relatively stable volumes over the next 2-3 years. In the intermediate and longer terms we have problems given the dearth of exploratory drilling and new discoveries, and the complete absence of leasing.
Letter from Chevron CEO Mike Wirth to President Biden
Posted in energy policy, tagged Chevron, letter to President Biden, Mike Wirth on June 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Kudos to Mike Wirth. It’s nice to see a CEO with some backbone. Most importantly, he defended his employees and their vital contribution to society.
“Chevron and its 37,000 employees work every day to help provide the world with the energy it demands and to lift up the lives of billions of people who rely on these supplies. Notwithstanding these efforts, your Administration has largely sought to criticize, and at times vilify, our industry. These actions are not beneficial to meeting the challenges we face and are not what the American people deserve.”
The comment that follows is interesting. Perhaps he wants to hear from the Climate Policy Office?
“Chevron will engage in this week’s meeting with Secretary Granholm. I encourage you to also send your senior advisors to this meeting, so they too can engage in a robust conversation.”
Will the proposed 5 Year Leasing Program (US offshore) be released by June 30? How many regions will have sales? Total number of sales?
Posted in Alaska, energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 5 year leasing plan, Alaska, DOI, Gulf of Mexico, Secretary Haaland on June 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »
- Secretary of the Interior Haaland committed to releasing the Proposed Program by June 30, 2022. Will that deadline be met? BOE’s guess is that the deadline will be met. However, the White House Climate Policy Office, which seems to control energy policy, may have other ideas.
- Number of regions in which lease sales will be proposed: BOE thinks 2, the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. There is no chance of >2. A GoM only proposed program is possible, but we doubt that Alaska will be eliminated at this early stage.
- Number of lease sales proposed: BOE guesses a total of 7 sales, 5 in the GoM and 2 in Alaska. The “under” is probably a better bet than the “over,” unless they eschew area-wide GoM sales and propose an increased number of more targeted sales.
For comparison, the previous six 5-Year Programs have included 10-12 GoM sales (11.3 average), 1-8 Alaska sales (4.3 ave.), 0-1 Atlantic sales (0.3 ave.), and no Pacific sales.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 