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EV manufacturers lose money. Lots of it.
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
Dec23/Dec24
Recently more than 3,000 auto dealers asked Washington to ease up on its EV target. Demand for these vehicles is tapering. The vehicles are arriving at dealerships faster than they’re selling. Manufacturer’s incentives, government incentives, and price cuts have not stopped the declining interest in EVs.
Market research shows it now takes a dealership about 57 days to sell an EV. Versus 20 days a year ago. Furthermore, it now takes about 37 days to sell a hybrid versus 20 days a year ago. Gasoline-powered vehicles generally sell within a month.
Too many buyers and dealers feel EVs are unaffordable. There is also concern about diminished driving range in both hot and cold weather. There are also those buyers who don’t have garages for charging at home or enough available public charging stations. Bottom line, current technology is not able to support the EV market the government is attempting to create. [Read more. Page 27]
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Risk vs. Preparedness
By: Karolin Jappe | Emergency Management, McKENZIE COUNTY, ND
Dec23/Dec24
Oil and Gas Operators take safety seriously and conduct emergency preparedness exercises annually (many times more frequently). Those exercises include not just the operating company personnel, but also federal, state, local officials and specifically local Emergency Managers. The intent is to have any individual or organization that would be involved in an emergency response situation to be familiar and comfortable with the operations and safety procedures so they can perform their best in the moment. As Karolin Jappe, Emergency Manager of McKenzie County, ND will tell you, she feels better prepared with the oilfield than she does with individual families because she trains annually with many of the oilfield companies. If something does happen, the training exercises have instilled a confidence through emergency preparedness, ‘we are ready.’
The first line of defense when it comes to responding to incidents in the Oil and Gas Industry starts with relationships. The following is an example and explains the components of the safety plans used by the local Oil and Gas Operators and how they are implemented. [Read more. Page 23]
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Forecasters See Oil Prices Hit $100 a Barrel by Year End, Raising Gas and Diesel Prices
By: IER | Institute for Energy Research
Oct/Nov 2023
President Biden’s energy policies are helping to raise oil prices to $100 a barrel.
Biden’s actions since his first day in office have removed the U.S. as the swing producer in the world, and Saudi and Russian market moves now have enormous impacts on world prices.
Last year, Biden sold oil from the emergency reserve to moderate prices as the mid-term election neared, drawing down reserves to a 40-year low.
Distillate inventories are low, and diesel prices are rising as refiners are reducing output and switching to biofuel production which gets massive taxpayer benefits. [Read more. Page 27]
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Electric Dreams: Gas-powered Cars won’t Die off any Time Soon. Why?
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
Oct/Nov 2023
Since the first well was drilled in 1859 in Pennsylvania by Edwin Drake, the industry that was built on oil has been on a roller-coaster ride. It’s been boom-and-bust from the start. Fortunes made, fortunes lost. Even John D. Rockefeller had to endure huge swings in the health of his growing enterprise. As has often been the case, the causes of booms and busts were not apparent at the start of a new cycle. At times new technologies forced change on existing businesses.
Through much of the 1800s artificial light was produced by burning oil. Much of the oil came from whales, which were becoming scarce. That was good news for Rockefeller. He’d built a huge business selling oil extracted from the wells in Pennsylvania to consumers who needed a replacement for whale oil. The good times lasted through the end of the 19th century.
[Read more. Page 8]
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North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum joins a crowded Presidential race. Character Counts – We’re paying attention. Are you America?
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
Aug/Sept 2023
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum knows the difference between wheat and chaff. He knows right from wrong. He has the right character. The right stuff.
Next year the US will hold a presidential election. But everything leading up to this election will test the nation in new and worrisome ways. For starters, the two leading candidates present voters with far more negatives than positives. It’s hard to find any reasons to be positive about either of them. Both carry more devastating baggage than any previous candidates.
If re-elected, the current occupant of the White House would be 82 at the start of a possible second term. But the bigger and more frightening concern is his pending neurological breakdown. It’s painfully obvious he’s in a state of mental decline, which means the public has no idea who’s actually in charge. His wife? His sister?
[Read more. Page 8]
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Electric Dreams: Gas-powered Cars won’t Die off any Time Soon. Why?
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
Aug/Sept 2023
Numerous governments around the world are trying to drive gasoline-powered vehicles off the road. They’re pushing hard, and they appear to be making some progress. According to the Global EV Outlook, a report from the International Energy Agency’s (IEA), estimated that by 2030, sales of electric vehicles could account for 35 percent of new vehicle purchases worldwide. This is due to policies and measures that have been put in place by governments.
What about the US? Standard & Poors Global Mobility unit issued a forecast stating electric vehicle sales in the US could reach 40 percent of total passenger car sales by 2030. Other, more optimistic projections, suggest electric vehicle sales will exceed 50 percent by 2030.
What about the percentage of cars in the US that will be electric by 2050? The Annual Energy Outlook published by the Energy Information Administration. projects electric vehicles will account for between 13 percent and 29 percent of new light-duty vehicle sales in 2050 and between 11 percent and 26 percent of on-road light-duty vehicles.
[Read more. Page 12]
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Will Electric Vehicles Make Money?
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
June/July23
Manufacturing gasoline and diesel-powered cars and trucks is an expensive business. But the world’s leading vehicle-makers have gotten good at it over the last 125 years. That means, for the most part, they can count on their operations being profitable. On the other hand, when it comes to manufacturing and selling electric vehicles, it’s possible to lose a lot of money. How much is a lot? In the case of Ford, the company lost about $2.1 billion on its EV business last year. In other words, about $34,000 for each of the 62,000 electric vehicles it sold in 2022. Last year’s losses were twice as bad as the losses in 2021.
In keeping with the trend, things got worse in the beginning of this year. A lot worse. The company sold about 11,000 vehicles in the first quarter of this year and lost about $720 million, or more than $65,000 on every EV it sold. Meanwhile, inflation is everywhere. Even during low inflationary times, car prices rise. Manufacturing costs for EVs are not declining. A sore point is battery costs. In 2022 the cost of battery packs rose about 7%.
[Read more. Page 8]
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A few facts on how the Biden Administration and Democrats Have Made it Harder to Produce Oil & Gas
By: Thomas J. Pyle | President, Institute for Energy Research (IER)
June/July23
President Biden and the Democrats in Congress have a plan for American energy: make it harder to produce and more expensive to purchase. Since Mr. Biden took office, his administration and its allies have taken over 150 actions deliberately designed to make it harder to produce energy here in America.
On January 20, 2021,
Besides canceling the Keystone XL pipeline,
President Biden restricted domestic production by issuing a moratorium on all oil and natural gas leasing activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
He also restored and expanded the use of the government-created social cost of carbon metric to artificially increase the regulatory costs of energy production of fossil fuels when performing analyses, as well as artificially increase the so-called “benefits” of decreasing production.
Biden continued to revoke Trump administration executive orders, including those related to the Waters of the United States rule and the Antiquities Act. The Trump-era actions decreased regulations on Federal land and expanded the ability to produce energy domestically.
[Read more. Page 20]
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WOW! eleven years!! We have been with you through those boom years and the lean years, and like you, we’re still here.
By: Mary Edwards & Staff
Bakken Oil Business Journal
April/May23
We’ve gotten to know you, the movers and shakers, in part, by attending nearly every Energy Show in the greater Bakken Oil and Gas Region (from North Dakota to Wyoming to Denver these past 11 years.) We are always amazed at the extraordinary people who operate the oil & gas businesses that are central to our American economy and impressed by the wonderful industry leaders we meet at the Shows.
We are YOUR way to let your customers know the business and services you provide to the Industry. Lastly, we work for the best bosses there are – ALL OF YOU… Thank you for making US your Business to Business O&G Resource all these years. We appreciate you!
[Read more. Page 6]
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Warren Buffett and Occidental Petroleum
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
April/May23
It’s generally good news for investors when Warren Buffett spots a company with stock worth owning. It’s even better news when he steadily increases his ownership of a particular company. These days Buffett is buying shares of Occidental Petroleum (OXY).
He’s been building his position since 2019. He now owns over 210 million shares worth more than $12 billion – a figure that represents about four percent of Berkshire Hathaway’s total portfolio. He holds about 24 percent of the oil producer’s stock. It’s his seventh largest holding. The five largest positions are Apple, Bank of America, Chevron, Coca-Cola, and American Express.
[Read more. Page 22]
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New York Aims to Ban Fossil Fuels Soon
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
Feb/March23
Many states are engaged in crafting and legislating laws that will set the course for the removal of fossil fuels from their economies. These states have set timetables and milestones to mark their progress. New York is one of those states. The governor and other legislators expect NY to begin the “decarbonization” process now, and complete the transition by 2050. The first milestone is to be reached by 2030.
That means New York has only seven years to achieve the first of the goals expressed in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). What is the first goal?
[Read more. Page 8]
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Oil Prices. What’s Ahead?
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
Feb/March23
It’s now that time of year when everyone with a view on the future of oil prices shares their thoughts. And, like most years, the forecasters will miss the mark. Nevertheless, they will try their best with only the past as a guide.
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs believes the current strength of Russian oil production, if it lasts, will put only a little downward pressure on prices. The European Union has agreed to a ban on imports of Russian oil in February 2023 to cut Russia’s revenues in response to its invasion of Ukraine. Even so, the investment bank expects Russian oil production to ease only about a half million barrels per day by April, mainly due to a lack of available tankers to transport it. To reroute its oil products ahead of the EU embargo, Russia has increased diesel supplies to Turkey and Morocco. Hence, Goldman offers a “bullish” estimate of Brent crude of an average of $97.50 per barrel for the year.
[Read more. Page 12]
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