The PetroNerds Podcast

In this episode of the PetroNerds podcast, your host Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds, takes you on a 47-minute whirlwind tour of the oil market, oil prices, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and OPEC’s monthly market reports, inflation, the White House Press Briefing on August 11th, 2021 on inflation and OPEC, the US Consumer Price Index (CPI), and China’s coal-fired steel mill surge.  This podcast is another must-listen-to episode and jam-packed with market intel.  Trisha goes through the recent drivers in oil price declines, rampant inflation in the US and the Consumer Price Index and dovetails this all into monthly market reports from the IEA and OPEC and the White House Press Briefing on the Biden Administration’s claims that inflation is not as bad as it seems and the need for and call on OPEC and OPEC Plus to increase production and lower gasoline prices.  As always, she sprinkles in valid information on China and oil demand and closes the podcast on some recent data brought to light in a Financial Times article titled “China Puts Growth Ahead of Climate with Surge in Coal Powered Steel Mills.”

Trisha Curtis and Ethan Bellamy bounce around global issues covering Norway, China, the US, and OPEC. Trisha In this special, one hour plus edition of the PetroNerds podcast, Trisha Curtis and Ethan Bellamy sit down with Justin Kringstad, the director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority, to cover everything Williston Basin, Bakken, and North Dakota.  They talk inventory, completions, rigs, flaring, midstream infrastructure and Bitcoin Mining. Kringstad brings 13 years of experience at the pipeline authority to a comprehensive look at this US energy powerhouse. Companies mentioned include True Companies, Crusoe Energy, Energy Transfer, Enbridge, ONEOK, Hess and Continental Resources.  Trisha, Ethan, and Justin cover the details of production, gas, flaring, pipelines and takeaway capacity, transportation discounts, CO2, EOR (enhanced oil recovery), ESG.

Trisha Curtis and Ethan Bellamy bounce around global issues covering Norway, China, the US, and OPEC. Trisha continues to see the $65 to $75 price band for WTI Crude oil as most likely. Near month futures prices at the time of the podcast were $72 oil and $4 gas, both healthy figures for an industry that keeps adding rigs and frac spreads w-o-w. Looking ahead, the US will digest the end of the eviction moratorium and the lapse of COVID benefits, which should fill out the workforce. The Delta variant remains a wildcard for global macro. Ethan tries to put some guardrails around Trisha’s discussions of the global economy, International Energy Agency figures, electricity prices in the US, and China’s power use, commitments to climate change, and intricacies of policy-making and outcomes.

In Episode 22, Trisha Curtis and Ethan Bellamy discuss crude oil prices and the backslide to $66 as the market digests two negatives: the increased baseline allocation to the United Arab Emirates within OPEC and fears of the delta variant of COVID-19 reducing demand. Trisha sees WTI crude as appropriately priced in a band of $65 to $75, while Ethan sees further short-run weakness in oil to $63 for the August contract, but is more bullish on natural gas to $3.70 week on week on summer heating demand. Trisha provided some thoughts on DUG Permian & Eagle Ford, where she spoke last week. The mood was bullish 2014, which she finds a bit too optimistic given OPEC spare capacity. Producers are bulled up, which may not be helpful for US supply, which should be growing and suppressing the price.

In episode 21 of the PetroNerds podcast, Trisha Curtis and Ethan Bellamy get into the weeds on the Saudi and UAE production volumes and disputes in the latest OPEC Plus meeting or non meeting debacle.  They talk about oil prices and the risks to the upside and downside as well as activity in the US and what is happening with US oil demand.  They conclude with an impressive analytical link between Chinese human right abuses and forced labor issues in the province of Xinjiang, Chinese solar panels, and well known names from the Exxon and Engine No. 1 ordeal, Vanguard, State Street, and Blackrock.  (Correction: Trisha said “Stay Street” in the podcast and meant “State Street”) This is a must listen to episode folks! The link to the South China Morning Post article can be found here.

Trisha will be speaking at DUG on Tuesday, July 13th, check out the agenda here.