Fossil Fuels: They May be Old, but They’re Never Out of Date
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
Dec 2021/Jan 2022
The energy markets have been on a roller coaster ride the last two years. Their ups and downs have occurred in response to events no one saw coming.
In December 2019, oil averaged about $67 per barrel. Prices had risen through 2019 due to consumer confidence for a prosperous 2020.
Then, out of nowhere, came the corona virus and everything changed, almost overnight. No longer were analysts predicting higher prices. Suggestions of a return to $100 oil vanished. Oil demand evaporated in early 2020 when travel was restricted, and most in-person entertainment was halted. Even retail shopping was thrown into chaos.
[Read more. Page 7]
It’s Not the End of the World — Another climate conference has come and gone.
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
Dec 2021/Jan 2022
The COP26 meeting in Glasgow brought together representatives from almost all the world’s nations in an effort to spread fears of gloom and doom while attempting to wheedle trillions of dollars from wealthy nations to save the world from the imaginary existential crisis they envision.
A review of the media coverage of the conference would convince many that the world is facing biblical plagues — fires, floods, hurricanes, drought, and disease. But the facts say otherwise. Over the last century humanity has solved far more dangerous problems than climate change.
Global warming does pose problems, but it’s not the uncontrollable disaster often described in the headlines. The real disaster–the solutions activists propose are likely to be far more damaging than the climate change they’re trying to prevent.
[Read more. Page 23]
Covid by the Numbers
— Now almost two years old
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
Oct/Nov 2021
Excerpt: The Immigration Crisis
According to the Border Patrol, the official estimate of migrants who have entered illegally since Biden became president is about 1.5 million. But, the actual figure is likely to be much worse. It’s reasonable to estimate the true figure is double the official estimate.
Worse, not only are they entering illegally; there is no evidence any immigrants have been vaccinated against covid. Hence, the new arrivals are certain to impose a huge burden on the US health system at a time when resistance to vaccine mandates is running high.
[Read more. Page 12]
The Fiscal and Economic Impacts of Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Lease Moratorium and Drilling Ban Policies
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
Oct/Nov 2021
America is now led by a presidential administration that is hostile to the oil and gas industries. The Biden Administration, through its support of the Green New Deal, has already expressed its desire to eliminate our use of oil and gas through political power.
Excerpt: Under a drilling ban, losses might be about $2.7 billion in Wyoming and $3.1 billion annually in New Mexico.
These losses represent what could have been spent on developing oil and gas in these states were it not for the government-imposed restrictions. The investment losses in the other states, particularly Colorado, Utah, North Dakota, and Alaska would likely be smaller but reach several hundred million dollars per year.
[Read more. Page 7]
Impacts of the Oil and Natural Gas Industry on the US Economy
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
August/Sept 2021
What does the oil and natural gas industry mean to the economy of the US? In short, a lot. To answer the question, the American Petroleum Institute engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to quantify the economic impacts of the US oil and natural gas industry on employment, labor income, and value added at the national and state levels.
[Read more. Page 7]
Study: What Stopping Global Warming Would Require of Americans
August/Sept 2021
A team led by University of Leeds researcher Jefim Vogel has published a new study, “Socio-economic conditions for satisfying human needs at low energy use,” in Global Environmental Change. According to the study, to save the planet from climate change, Americans must cut their energy use by more than 90 percent and families of four would need to live in housing no larger than 640 square feet. Public transportation would account for most travel and travel would be limited to between 3,000 to 10,000 miles per person annually.
[Read more. Page 10]
Are electric vehicles really better for the environment? In Short, are they worth it?
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
June/July 2021
There are more than a million Electric Vehicles (EVs) on our highways today, and the numbers are growing at a rapid pace. It’s estimated there may be as many as 18 million in the US by 2025.
Why? For the most part, it seems buyers are motivated by the idea that driving an EV is better for the environment. Are they right? If they’re right, does it matter?
[Read more. Page 7]
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum – At the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference
June/July 2021
Today, I want to talk about the game-changing opportunities that lie before us and present you with a challenge that if met, would strengthen and secure our position as a global leader in energy development.
But first, let me talk about this last year and again, some more about the amazing resiliency that all of you have shown in overcoming unprecedented obstacles. It started with that unprecedented drop in oil prices spurred by the Russia/Saudi price war followed on the heels by the global pandemic.
[Read more. Page 22]
Lithium — The New Oil
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
April/May 2021
The new presidential administration has acknowledged its goal of increasing the sales of electric vehicles. To make that happen, in February, President Biden signed an executive order which aims to increase access to lithium batteries for electric vehicles.
There’s a lot at stake. In short, everything about lithium is political. From where it’s found and where it’s processed. Every step of the way is troubling. Why Lithium?
[Read more. Page 7]
The Bad News — We’ll Always Have Paris
By: Mark Mathis, Clear Energy Alliance
April/May 2021
Here’s the most important thing to know about the electric grid. It’s an astonishing technical wonder that is the foundation of life in the modern world. It should not be taken for granted. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what we are doing.
I bring this up in the wake of the big freeze in Texas and the subsequent blackout to more than four million residents. People were hit with electric bills for thousands of dollars, some as high as $15,000! Texas power providers billed residents approximately $50 billion for a single week of service in which many of those same people had no electricity part of that time. For context, consider that Texans normally spend $35 billion for their electricity in an entire year.
[Read more. Page 10]
Houston We Have a Problem. OR DO WE ?
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
February/March 2021
Oasis Petroleum seems to have taken some good advice from the Frank Sinatra songbook. For about a decade this exploration & production company was on the way up. Growing and prospering, making headway in the boom-&-bust oil industry. Then, just the way Sinatra sang it in “That’s Life”, the company was able to say it was flying high in April, then shot down in May, give or take a few months.
[Read more. Page 6]
The Bad News — We’ll Always Have Paris
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
February/March 2021
In one of his first acts as president, Joe Biden signed an executive order that directs the US to rejoin the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. This is the same set of agreements President Trump rejected in 2017, and the same agreements from which the US withdrew on November 4, 2020. Unfortunately, it’s clear the Biden administration is following the same path as the Obama administration. However, this time the stakes are higher. Rejoining may well impose more punishment on Americans than previously expected.
[Read more. Page 16]
Carbon Neutral in 2035? Not a Chance
By: Mark Mathis | Author, Speaker, Filmmaker, and President of Clear Energy Alliance
December 2020/January 2021
In the final debate before the 2020 presidential election Joe Biden said that American industries must transition to renewable energy sources to get to zero emissions by 2025. He clearly misspoke. A few minutes later he changed the target date to 2035. Whew! Good thing he corrected himself in time to limit the mocking on Twitter, right? But what the trolls on Twitter (and the vast majority of people at home) didn’t realize is that Biden’s revised date for carbon neutrality was just as idiotic as his gaffe.
Let me clarify this with an analogy.
[Read more. Page 7]
The Future of the Pandemic
By: Chris Bischof | Senior Writer, Bakken Oil Business Journal
December 2020/January 2021
We’re in a panic. The world-wide number of covid cases has surpassed 55 million, and the global death toll has exceeded 1.3 million. In the US, the virus has infected over 11 million and killed over 250,000. What lies ahead?
The Virus’s arrival: The virus first appeared in China. From there it leaped around the world with frightening speed. Since the beginning of the year, nation after nation reported its arrival and its rapid spread.
[Read more. Page 16]
