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Oil and Gas Saw Record Profits in 2022

Last year, President Biden slammed Exxon Mobil for making “more money than God”. But guess what, oil and gas saw record profits in 2022.

That moment underlined a sharp turnaround from 2020 when the pandemic slashed oil prices and ground energy companies to a near-halt. That year, Exxon posted a $22B loss — its first in decades.

Last year, though — as global demand skyrocketed while supply remained tight, especially amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the industry boomed.

Here comes the scrutiny

The record profits have sparked renewed pressure on the industry, which has plowed ahead with tens of billions of dollars in dividends and stock buybacks, per NPR.

On Tuesday, the White House called out oil companies for this, and President Biden has previously threatened higher taxes on energy companies that don’t reinvest money into increasing supply.

Interestingly, Europe has imposed a 33% tax on “surplus profits” from energy firms to redistribute to consumers. Exxon sued to block that tax, which it estimates would cost ~$1.8B for 2022.

What about renewables?

Some oil giants are reportedly scaling back renewable energy plans as they look to maintain high-performing legacy oil-and-gas businesses, per The Wall Street Journal.

But that doesn’t mean companies aren’t transitioning away from gas in the long term. BP has said it plans to reduce fossil-fuel production by 40% from 2019 levels by 2030, though it’s also considering dialing back investments in solar and wind.

Along those lines, this week, Cathie Wood’s asset management firm Ark Invest released its popular “Big Ideas” report for 2023. The group forecasts that by 2030, with the rise of EVs, oil demand for cars could dip 30%.

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Source: the HUSTLE

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USA Oil and Gas Employs Almost 1 Million in 2022

The USA oil and gas industry employed 948,943 professionals in 2022.

That’s according to the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association’s (TIPRO) latest State of Energy Report, which noted that this figure represented a net increase of 39,721 direct jobs compared to 2021, subject to revisions. There were 358,776 direct U.S. upstream sector jobs in 2022. This marks a net increase of 32,627 jobs compared to 2021, the report outlined.

The largest sector by employment in the U.S. oil and gas industry was Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations. It has 199,552 workers in 2022. Next is Oil and Gas Pipeline and Related Structures Construction (129,949), Natural Gas Distribution (111,918), and Crude Petroleum Extraction (82,628). This is what is in the report. The largest gains in jobs in 2022 occurred in Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations, with a net increase of 23,039 jobs compared to 2021, followed by Drilling Oil and Gas Wells (9,489), and Oil and Gas Field Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing (2,450), the report highlighted.

According to the report, 21 percent of jobs were held by individuals between the ages of 25-34, 28 percent were held by those between 35-44, 23 percent were held by those between 45-54, 19 percent were held by those between 55-64, and five percent were held by those who were 65 or older. The oil and gas industry was said to have paid a national average wage of $120,665 in 2022, which the report noted was 74 percent higher than the average private sector wage in the U.S.

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Source: Rig Zone

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Woodside Nearly Doubles Revenue as Fossil Fuel Giants Cash in on Oil and Gas Prices

Fossil Fuel Giants Cash in on Oil and Gas Prices? Woodside Energy’s quarterly revenue has nearly doubled. It was just in a year! Thanks to strong gas pricing following a similar announcement from oil and gas giant Santos last week.

Woodside on Wednesday reported an 81% jump in its fourth-quarter revenue despite recent declines in oil prices.

The company’s high performance is likely down to the fact that most of Woodside’s LNG sales are linked to oil prices on a three to six-month lag.

The giant also profited from the acquisition of BHP Group assets, and benefits from exposure to gas hubs with strong prices like the Japan-Korea Marker (JKM) in Asia and the Netherlands’ TTF – in 2022, 23% of Woodside’s LNG was sold at prices linked to gas hub indexes, according to Reuters.

Despite this, fourth-quarter revenue was down 12% from the third quarter, riding lower prices and reduced trading activity.

CEO Meg O’Neill said oil production in the fourth quarter, a record 51.6 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), was the highest annual production in the company’s history. O’Neill linked the company’s record performance to asset reliability.

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Source: Renew Economy

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Oil Prices Hit 7-Week High on Stronger China Outlook

Oil prices rose by around 1per cent on Monday to a seven-week high, extending last week’s gains on the back of a stronger outlook thanks to an expected economic recovery in top oil importer China this year.

Brent crude was up US$1.28, or 1.5per cent, at US$88.91 a barrel at 11:06 a.m. EST (1606 GMT). The session high was US$88.99 a barrel, the highest since Dec. 1.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 76 cents, or 0.9per cent, to US$82.40. The session high was US$82.64 a barrel, the highest since Dec. 5.

Last week Brent rose 2.8per cent while the U.S. benchmark logged a 1.8per cent gain.

Asian trading was slower because of the Lunar New Year holiday, but analysts said that optimism over China’s reopening is likely to drive oil prices higher.

Sukrit Vijayakar, director of Mumbai-based energy consultancy Trifecta, said the market wants to preserve long positions in case Chinese growth resumes.

Data shows a solid pick-up in travel in China after COVID-19 curbs were eased, ANZ commodity analysts said in a note, pointing out that road traffic congestion in the country’s 15 key cities so far this month is up 22per cent from the same period last year.

Crude Oil Prices

Crude oil prices in much of the world’s physical markets have started the year with a rally as China has shown signs of more buying and traders have worried that sanctions on Russia could tighten supply.

“While the (China) reopening itself will no doubt prove to be complicated, particularly over the holiday season, early indications suggest there has been a rise in activity, meaning the economy could perform better,” said OANDA analyst Craig Erlam.

Brent is expected to move back into a range between US$90 and US$100 as the oil market tightens, Erlam said.

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Source: Oil & Gas 360

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Oil production picking up in second-largest U.S. shale field

Oil production in South Texas, home of the second largest U.S. shale field, is going to rise as much as 4% this year. It is as higher prices spur more drilling and as U.S. crude exports set new records.

Output in the Eagle Ford shale field tanked in 2020. On the other hand, it has returned to growth with an average increase per month. It is about 17,000 barrels per bay (bpd) in the back half of 2022, according to U.S. government data. Its gains will help keep U.S. output rising as the Permian basin, the largest U.S. shale field has slowed rapidly in the last year.

Output in the Eagle Ford is going to rise between 25,000 to 40,000 barrels per day. This is what Alexandre Ramos-Peon said. He is the head of shale well research at Rystad Energy.

“Over the past few months, oil and gas production in South Texas have been showing new signs of life”. An analyst at RBN Energy, said in a report.

The number of rigs drilling for oil in the Eagle Ford rose to 69 in the week of Jan. 13, the highest since March 2019, up from 43 a year ago, according to the latest data from Baker Hughes.

Devon Energy Corp closed on a $1.8 billion deal in September that doubled its presence and will increase the proportion of oil from its wells in the Eagle Ford to 60% from 49%, RBN Energy said.

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Source: Reuters

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Oil Prices Rally As Confidence In A Global Economic Rebound Grows

Oil prices rally extended Tuesday’s gains into Wednesday. It is rising by 1% in early European trade. It is as market sentiment turned bullish on hopes that China’s reopening would boost demand growth. With that, major economies may avoid recessions.

The U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, was trading up by 0.95% at $81.00 as of 9:05 CET. Brent Crude, the international benchmark, was rising by 0.76% at $86.60. This is a building on the gains from Tuesday. We saw the strongest settlement in Brent since early December.

Signs of cautious optimism about a recovery in economies and oil demand had started to emerge. This is what OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al-Ghais said on Tuesday. All thanks to the Chinese reopening. The most recent GDP data out of China, while pointing to the lowest economic growth since the 1970s, beat the consensus estimate.

“The good outweighs the bad with the outlook for China’s economic future.  China’s latest swathe of economic data points provide significant optimism that their reopening momentum could impress throughout the year,” Ed Moya, Senior Market Analyst, The Americas, at OANDA, said on Tuesday.

Yet, Moya warned that “China reopening optimism induced oil rally might have a little more in it, but it should stall out soon. Energy traders are probably a couple of dollars away from massive technical resistance.”

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Source: Oil Price

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U.S. Gasoline Demand, Prices Still Rising

Average U.S. retail gasoline prices have risen due to the demand for the second week in a row. It is now 8.2 cents above the week ago price. This is waht  Gas Buddy said in a note on Monday, citing refinery outages.

While gasoline prices are now $3.25 per gallon as of Sunday and above last week’s averages, according to Gas Buddy data, prices are relatively flat on the month.

“Last week, the rise in gasoline prices continued, still due to previous refinery outages caused by the cold weather the week of Christmas. However, I’m optimistic that as refiners get back online, we could see the increases slow down as we head into the time of year when gasoline demand is at its weakest,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a note. “While gasoline prices have rallied, average diesel prices continue to drift lower, which certainly bodes well for the overall economy. As long as refiners are able to get back online soon from previous cold-weather outages, we could see supply start to recover at the same time demand is weak, which could bring gas prices down again. The window of opportunity, however, is shrinking, and by late February or early March, we’ll likely kick off the seasonal rise in gasoline prices.”

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Source: Oil Price

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Thanks To Oil And Gas – Texas Is Flush With Money

Since the initial discovery of oil at Spindletop on January 10, 1901, the financial fortunes of the Texas state government have tended to ebb. Thanks to oil and Gas! For the flow of fortunes of the state’s oil and gas industry. In his biennial official state revenue estimate that precedes each legislative session, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar showed that, 122 years later, that relationship has not changed.

On Monday, Hegar delivered the best budget news in the state’s history. The Comptroller reported that legislators will have a record budget surplus of $32.7 billion to work with as they formulate the state’s budget for the 2024-25 biennium.

Writing in the Austin American Statesman, Hegar attributed much of the credit for the happy revenue situation to the state’s oil and gas industry. “Texas revenues over the last 18 months have been remarkable,” Hegar says. “Only three times in the last 30 years has Texas total tax collection grown by double digits over the previous year. Those three increases range from 10 to 13%. By comparison, last year’s increase was a whopping 25.6%…with staggering growth from oil and gas severance taxes.”

The growth in state severance tax collections is not surprising, given that the tax is assessed on the sales value of the production, not as a percentage of volume as is the case in some other states. Thus, the high commodity prices for both oil and natural gas during 2022 were big drivers of this increase.

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Source: Forbes

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Oil and Gas Industry Lauds EPA Decision To Reverse Course in Permian Basin

The Biden administration has backed down from a plan to impose what critics said were “draconian regulations”. It is in the Permian Basin of west Texas and southeastern New Mexico. This a move lauded by the oil and gas industry and Gov. Greg Abbott.

The Biden Administration on Thursday released its Fall 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. This includes planned rule-makings and federal action. In it, the Environmental Protection Agency omitted its plan to impose “discretionary redesignation” of air quality conditions in the Permian Basin.

Last June, the EPA announced it was reversing a 2017 decision. This is by designating regions of the Permian Basin as nonattainment areas. It means they don’t comply with the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

In response, Abbott sent letters to the president first arguing in June that the EPA plan. It says that “it could lead to skyrocketing prices at the pump by reducing production. Moreover will increase the cost of that production, or do both”. In August, he argued the EPA’s plan to attack Texas production” was “based on illogical and flawed grounds.”

The president didn’t respond. Instead, the EPA said if it decided to do anything it would notify Abbott and solicit state input.

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Source: Washington Examiner

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High Oil Price up to $121 a Barrel when China Fully Re-Opens | Dan Yergin

While S&P’s Dan Yergin expects the base case for oil prices to stand at $90 in 2023, there remains a chance it could go as high as $121 when China fully reopens, he said, adding that there are three major uncertainties looming over the market. Let’s talk more about this high oil price trend.

“Our base case for 2023 is $90 for Brent but you have to look at other cases,” the S&P Global vice chairman said, adding there are three major uncertainties: the Federal Reserve’s decisions, China demand, and Moscow’s reaction to the price caps.

“If China gets over Covid … then you add a lot of demand to the market,” Yergin told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Tuesday.

That could be “one big boost” and push prices to $121 a barrel, building on strains caused by underinvestment in oil and gas, Yergin said. That would be near highs set in March after Russia invaded Ukraine.

On the flipside, Yergin said prices could fall to around $70 per barrel in a recession.

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Source: CNBC

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