AgLA06 said:

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htxag09 said:

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WSJ: Inside Exxon's Strategy to Downplay Climate Change - Internal documents show what the oil giant said publicly was very different from how it approached the issue privately in the Tillerson era

Anyone following this? Usually a fan of WSJ but this definitely seems like a clickbait headline/article.

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Saying one thing about current operations and preparing for future risk isn't mutually exclusive. They're energy companies, not oil companies at this point. While BP may have gone off the rails a little, they're all ensuring they can pivot to any financially feasible energy position whether that's algae, solar, wind, oil, etc.

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Right.

I know I'm in the industry so generally biased, but I really don't see anything wrong with his internal conversations that WSJ quoted as damning....

Quote:

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May 2012
Exxon researchers met regularly about developments in climate science
but continued to discuss doubts about the scientific consensus. Ahead of
a meeting dubbed 'Friday climate overview' among Exxon's top climate
scientists, one researcher said:

Quote:

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Under 'some skeptic arguments disproven' - my question is, are there any
'skeptic' arguments that we consider to be not yet disproven, or credible
and worthy of further investigation?

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Quote:

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June 2015
Tillerson received regular updates on climate science from Exxon's chief
researchers and in some instances asked about uncertainty in
climate-change modeling. An Exxon executive wrote Kheshgi:

Quote:

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Rex called this afternoon with a couple of pretty detailed questions on
climate science: [1] Do climate scientists understand and are they able to
quantify the radiative forcing/GHG/climate impacts of events like
volcanos and forest fires. If so, how and how well? Is there differentiation
between major events like Mt Pinatubo and other much smaller events?
[2] Does the climate modeling community include these events and
effects in their climate models and projections of future temperatures and
impacts? If so, how and how well? Are these types of events/impacts a
major or minor source of uncertainty?"

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Hell, more people should question these models based on their track record....

Those sound like the practical conversations we should be having instead of alarmist headline articles multiple times a day.

AgLA06 said:

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txaggie_08 said:

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Can some of you smart guys talk a little to the pricing spread between WTI and Brent? I know it's closed the gap some, but with the shift in exports / imports and shale the last decade, I kind of expected it to somewhat balance and that hasn't quite happened.

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It's basically just a function of relative S&D for WTI in the US vs Europe and then subtract out the shipping costs. WTI is, even in Europe, not everyone's favorite crude because WTI tends to make a lot of naphtha. This is balanced to a degree by thr ability to blend their crude slate for optimal margins.

Anyways thats a long way to say that the WTI-Brent export arb opens and closes frequently depending on things like freight costs and European demand. With OPEC cutting production, freight costs have come down recently, and the WTI-Brent spread needed to economically export to Europe is now that much cheaper. So if the spread didn't adjust you'd probably see a bunch of exports start to load a bunch of extra cargos destined for Europe.... And that would change relative S&D for WTI in both the US and Europe, which then would then get reflected in the WTI-Brent spread.

Another, relatively new thing (a few months) is that WTI can now be delivered into Europe on the dated brent contract. Europe did this to increase liquidity of brent spec physical crude. The result is that the two markets are more efficiently tied together than ever before.

Disclaimer: I haven't been following crude markets as closely for a year or so because I trade other commodities.

BiochemAg97 said:

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txaggie_08 said:

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From my understanding, it's that WTI is a lighter crude that has to be blended. Our plants in the US aren't equipped to process it alone. Kind of the reason why "energy independence" isn't totally correct. We still rely on foreign oil imports to blend with our production

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That has been the story for years. We have at times been net exporters, so more going out than coming in, due to shale. With Brent being consistently higher for years, why haven't the refineries switched to using more light shale and less heavy? At least for the Texas/Gulf Coast refineries with easy access to light shale oil.

Are they sticking with heavier crude because of product mix?

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I believe our own alphabet soup agencies have more to do with that.

AgLA06 said:

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BiochemAg97 said:

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txaggie_08 said:

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From my understanding, it's that WTI is a lighter crude that has to be blended. Our plants in the US aren't equipped to process it alone. Kind of the reason why "energy independence" isn't totally correct. We still rely on foreign oil imports to blend with our production

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That has been the story for years. We have at times been net exporters, so more going out than coming in, due to shale. With Brent being consistently higher for years, why haven't the refineries switched to using more light shale and less heavy? At least for the Texas/Gulf Coast refineries with easy access to light shale oil.

Are they sticking with heavier crude because of product mix?

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I believe our own alphabet soup agencies have more to do with that.

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Our increased capacity to export since Obama lifted the export ban to today when we dredged Choprus Christi so they can load VLCCs more efficiently and built pipelines direct from the Permian would suggest it's not some government conspiracy.

dreyOO said:

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I'm not gonna name names, but Monday night I had dinner with one of Rex's mentors and a guy that was in Obama's administration/true believer type.

Was literally oil and vinegar.

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Isn't it oil and water? Oil and vinegar make a tasty salad dressing.

txaggie_08 said:

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From my understanding, it's that WTI is a lighter crude that has to be blended. Our plants in the US aren't equipped to process it alone. Kind of the reason why "energy independence" isn't totally correct. We still rely on foreign oil imports to blend with our production

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If only there was an allied country to the north of america who had super heavy crude and a giant pipeline that would be key to integrating it into gulf coast refineries.

Wouldn't that be XLent for america's energy independence.

jagvocate said:

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dreyOO said:

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I'm not gonna name names, but Monday night I had dinner with one of Rex's mentors and a guy that was in Obama's administration/true believer type.

Was literally oil and vinegar.

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Isn't it oil and water? Oil and vinegar make a tasty salad dressing.

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Let it go man, its just water under the fridge.

$94 today...?

I think we will see $120 before $80 again.

Premium said:

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I think we will see $120 before $80 again.

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Cramer just called the top in oil.

Count me in the camp with Premium

one MEEN Ag said:

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jagvocate said:

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dreyOO said:

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I'm not gonna name names, but Monday night I had dinner with one of Rex's mentors and a guy that was in Obama's administration/true believer type.

Was literally oil and vinegar.

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Isn't it oil and water? Oil and vinegar make a tasty salad dressing.

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Let it go man, its just water under the fridge.

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This is why I come to Texags.

aggiebrad94 said:

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one MEEN Ag said:

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jagvocate said:

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dreyOO said:

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I'm not gonna name names, but Monday night I had dinner with one of Rex's mentors and a guy that was in Obama's administration/true believer type.

Was literally oil and vinegar.

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Isn't it oil and water? Oil and vinegar make a tasty salad dressing.

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Let it go man, its just water under the fridge.

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This is why I come to Texags.

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I can't take credit. I never watched trailer park boys but I did stumble across a youtube video of 'rickyisms' which is his best stupid take one liners.

I try to sneak them into conversation to see if anyone else catches them or is paying attention. Some favorites include the previous fridge comment. Other good ones include:

'supply and command'
'is that your mating name?' (instead of maiden)
'Two birds stoned at once'
'worst case Ontario'