DISCLAIMER: None of these stereotypes are mutually exclusive. Loosely based on company men I've had to deal with.
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As of March, work dried up for me. LinkedIn has been a sad parade of posts: companies declaring "We're making hand sanitizer!" and people I actually like posting that they've been let go and/or retiring. Poor bastards. I hate LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a combination of the saccharine insincerity of HR, companies pleading to be noticed for their bullshit diversity/inclusion/safety initiatives, the worst people you've ever known posting about their mostly faux accomplishments* and senior managers smugly posting about that one time they gave a homeless dude $20 and "never stop seeing humanity in the world no matter how busy you are". *Off topic: I once went to a professional development seminar led by a dude with a "PMHR in Human Resources Development, which is for those of you who don't know, basically what a PE is to engineers." - Bullshit HR Guy with Bullshit Certification (The seminar sucked ) Anyways.
Rig count has collapsed, driving around Midland yards I didn't even know were there are suddenly chocked full of rigs. The news has been full of sh*t stories about how the oil industry is in "terminal decline" and how the only reason WTI is in $30/bbl is cause OPEC has been merciful. I've been thinking about all of this quite alot - I've had time - and it is my livelihood. Is everything that bad? ,This post is a review and commentary on the book Dictionary of Petroleum Exploration and Drilling by Norman J. Hyne, PennWell Publishers. March 2014 978-1593703134, 778 Pages, Hardcover  I've had a number of conversations over beers with other industry people on this topic and decided to finally write a post on it. **********************************************************************************************************************************
Sure, we could hit the kill switch on fossil fuels, and 1/3 of the world would starve.
This post is a review and commentary on the book World Atlas of Oil and Gas Basins by Li Gouyu, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. March 2011, ISBN-978-0-470-65661-7.  The greatest obstacle in the way of new investment and development on the North Slope or the mythical gas pipeline is the Alaska's tax regime. Simply stating that Alaska's tax burden on Oil Companies is undue is a nebulous statement that has no weight if not backed up by numerical evidence other than to alienate oneself from every Democrat within earshot. Everyone can agree that by virtue of their fiduciary responsibility to shareholders, E&P companies have a vested interest in minimizing their tax burden. Therefore it it is a clear conflict of interest for the latter to directly dictate the taxation structure. The case made in this piece is that Alaska's tax structure is exceedingly heavy and over the past 30 years, been subject to frequent change - particularly in the last decade. The amount of take specified by any particular tax regime is less of an issue than the frequent change in when it comes to encouraging investment. Alaska's North Slope has been called a geologist's dream and an investor's nightmare. This is not the bitter complaints of a brash CEO but rather a accurate reflection of reality.  Cartoon from 1978, ADN
Gas and oil are fundamentally different. Most individuals do not completely comprehend just how different they are and how gas projects (particularly with respect to LNG) are a completely different economic ball game.
1. Buyer Be There
When it comes to crude oil, you find it, produce it and sell it. Possibly the market price is lower than anticipated but finding crude buyers is not an issue, also crude oil is fairly cost effectively bunkered.
For LNG: sell first, produce it later. A industry joke is there three LNG permits you must have: DOE, FERC and Adam Smith Permit. The first two are easy to get because they authorize your LNG project to lose money in a environmentally sanctioned manner. Note that a FERC permit alone cost $100 million dollars and the US Government is happy to accept that check in the spirit of American laissez faire without inquiring to the interest of would-be buyers. You have to actually be able to sell the LNG to make money. Financiers, banks, venture capitalist and private investors will not lend money or put capitol into a LNG project without buyers.
Alaska's political spirit animal has been a natural gas pipeline for many many years. As in since the Carter Presidency.
99% of Alaskan’s (and unfortunate Canadians in the Yukon territory) have heard about it for so long that sentences containing: “Governor”, “Natural Gas Pipeline”, “Alaska’s Gas”, “Gas Line Initiative” actuated a mental auto mute or at least a change of channel. Mis-information abounds and facts seem to have the flexibility of Russian gymnast and the latter's drug testing regiment.
When something has been discussed for 20+ years....... we. stop. caring.
But because interesting things are happening, it's worth paying attention to, if for no other reasons - it's an E&P thing. Governor Walker is the newest face of the gas line and has not disappointed on the drama front. The Republican sector of the Alaska legislature has traded reams of irate letters and press releases with the Governor. Americans have unique ways of doing things that strike non-American's as distinctly weird. Examples would be drug marketing, calling the World Series the World Series and soda cup sizes large enough to baptize a harbor seal oh and us being THE ONLY COUNTRY BESIDES THE UK (a country that has yet to decide on a dental plan....) TO NOT USE THE METRIC SYSTEM.
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AuthorI grew up with fire, ice and North Slope Crude in my veins. I completed a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering and currently work as a wireline field engineer in the Permian. Archives
June 2020
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