Welcome to this week’s edition of The Buzz, a weekly feature where Kallanish Energy editors select the quartet of stories this past week we feel were the most important – have the chance to make the biggest impact on the oil and gas industry — and energy as a whole.
This week’s selections include:
Venezuela bypasses U.S. sanctions by selling crude via Russia: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is moving cash from Venezuelan oil sales through Russian state energy giant Rosneft, as he looks to evade U.S. sanctions designed to oust him from power, according to sources and documents reviewed by Reuters.
With its economy hurting from years of recession and a sharp decline in crude oil production, Venezuela was already struggling to finance imports and government spending before Washington imposed tough restrictions on state oil company Pdvsa in January.
Oil accounts for more than 90% of exports from Venezuela and the majority share of government revenue.
Under the plan uncovered by Reuters, Pdvsa has started moving invoices from its oil sales to Rosneft. The Russian energy giant pays Pdvsa immediately at a discount to the sale price, avoiding the usual 30-to-90 day timeframe for completing oil transactions and collects the full amount later from the buyer, according to the documents and sources.
Chevron-Anadarko deal turns Big 3 into Big 4 oil companies: The energy industry was buzzing and energy stocks were on the rise after California-based Chevron announced it was acquiring Anadarko Petroleum for $33 billion, or $65 per share.
That was a 37% premium to The Woodlands, Texas-based Anadarko’s April 11 closing price.
The deal strengthens Chevron in the Permian’s Delaware Basin in West Texas and New Mexico, along with in the Gulf of Mexico, Africa and Mozambique, with a liquefied natural gas project.
It is a deal that, in effect, creates the Big Four oil giants: Chevron, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP. It’s the biggest energy deal since Royal Dutch Shell acquired the BG Group in 2015 for $50 billion.
Warren calls for ban on new federal O&G leases: Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren says she would ban fossil fuel production on federal lands if she became president in 2020.
Warren, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, called for a “total moratorium” on new federal fossil fuel leases on public lands. She said she would sign an executive order on her first day as president to end federal oil and gas leasing.
She also said she supports a ban of drilling offshore and on producing oil, gas and coal from government-owned lands. Warren would, instead, for renewable energy projects. The U.S. should produce 10% renewable energy, she said. The plan is part of her strategy for fighting climate change.
Her comments came under fire from Energy in Depth, a pro-drilling national trade group. Her ideas would have “rapid and devastating impacts” on local energy-based economies across the United States, Eid said.
Supreme Court refuses to hear appeals of nuclear subsidies: The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld nuclear power plant subsidies as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in New York and Illinois.
The high court refused to hear appeals and rejected a petition from an electricity trade association. That means the decisions by two federal appeals courts will stand.
The Supreme Court does not explain its decision when it refuses to hear cases.
The decision affirms the legality of similar state programs and permits some state involvement in shaping energy policies that do not directly influence power markets.
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