The Spotlight is back on in Texas...

By Alexander Bencini

The Mid-Week Energy Blog - 24 February 2021

In this article: Enormous electric bills have sparked concern in Texas over who should be footing the bill. As power resumes for most of Texas, some households face utility bills as high as $10,000. It's no surprise that only yesterday, a number of top directors of Texas’s electric grid operator; The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) stepped down after the entity faced sharp criticism from the massive failure of the state power system that resulted in left millions last week without light, heat, and water. President Biden is expected to pay a visit to Texas this Friday and rest assured; discussion on Texas' energy infrastructure isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Want to share your own thoughts? Have questions to ask our panelists? Join us for our SPE Live — Texas Special this Thursday

Over 30 of the world’s leading oil, gas, and petrochemical Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) gathered virtually as part of ADNOC's Innovation Week, to discuss the role of technology and innovation in shaping the future of the oil and gas industry as it responds to disruptive forces and navigates the post-COVID recovery. One only has to check out ADNOC's Panorama Digital Command Center, to realise that there is indeed more to the energy industry's digital implementation than just talk.

Finally, on the humanitarian front, it's worth highlighting that Ghana is the first recipient of historic first shipment of the COVAX vaccine. COVAX is co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and WHO. The aim of COVAX is to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world. Just a few hours ago, the FDA has endorsed Johnson & Johnson's single shot vaccine - Let's hope the success continues.

Price Check: WTI Crude is now $62.37 (08:12AM CST) having sat comfortably above $50 since January 5th 2021 and rising above $60 since Friday 19th. Brent sits at $65.86 (08:12AM CST). Hanging on above $60 since February 8th 2021 and having seen a somewhat-steady rise since the start of the week.

Here are this Week's Energy Headlines:

Oil and gas producers in the Permian Basin are revealing the extent of their losses from a historic winter storm that caused widespread power outages and wellhead freeze-offs across much of Texas and in other parts of the southern US last week. Read the full article by Trent Jacobs in JPT

“Vaccine news is helping oil, as the likely removal of mobility restrictions over the coming months on the back of vaccine rollouts should further boost the oil demand and price recovery,” UBS oil analyst Giovanni Staunovo said. But, tempering the upbeat mood, the chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, said the U.S. economic recovery remained “uneven and far from complete” and it would be “some time” before the central bank considered changing policies it had adopted to help the country back to full employment. Read the full article in CNBC

Other Articles I'm Reading:

• Shale Giants Hold the Line Despite $60 Oil (Energy Intelligence)
• Biden To Send The Electric Vehicle Revolution Into Overdrive (OilPrice.com)
• Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Schlumberger launch upstream gateway (Oil Review Middle East)
• Petronas Makes Oil and Gas Discoveries (RigZone)
• Iraq’s southern oil exports average 2.7 million bpd so far in February (Arab News)
• Blue ammonia’s role in the energy transition of Saudi Arabia and Japan (Hellenic Shipping)

This Week on SPE Live:

Upcoming Broadcasts:

Thursday, 25 February — The Texas Power Failure — What Went Wrong and Why?

Tuesday, 2 March — Beyond Automation in Well Construction

Thursday, 4 March — Oil & Gas Asia Pacific — License to Operate

Recent Broadcasts:

Thursday, 18 February — Intelligent Water Management – A Discussion with B3 Insight

If you're not following the series already, take a look at our Live and On-Demand content.

For Entertainment Purposes: 

Music on Right Now:

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio — Warm-up Set (Live on KEXP)

It's a 18 minute warm up set and delivers everything you would expect from this Seattle-based organ led trio. Need a positive start to the day? Begin with this. Then proceed to make coffee.

In My Video Queue: 

No Time To Die - Cinemas - October 2021

If Universal Pictures are happy to finally release the new James Bond in October 2021, I think we can consider life in general to be more 'stable' in the new-normal post summer. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, check it out below (and yes, we are still stuck with Daniel Craig till the end of 2021).

That's it for this week.

Wherever you are in the world, thank you for reading and keep safe.

About the Society of Petroleum Engineers

SPE is the largest individual-member organization serving managers, engineers, scientists and other professionals in the upstream segment of the oil and gas industry.

Learn more at https://www.spe.org/en/.

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Alexander Bencini, a multimedia producer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers, based in Dubai and proudly European, enjoys following the ever changing dynamics of the global energy markets. When he's not putting together this blog or brainstorming with his colleagues, Alex enjoys supporting his two football teams - Bayern Munich and the Indianapolis Colts.