Energy & Commodities

Fracking in California is About to Get a Lot More Difficult

Posted by Nick Cunningham

on Tuesday, 16 July 2019 8:31

Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom sacked the state’s top oil regulator after the Desert Sun reported that fracking permits in California doubled in the first six months of this year without the Governor’s knowledge. The Desert Sun report was based on data from FracTracker Alliance and Consumer Watchdog, two organizations that keep tabs on the industry.

“The Governor has long held concerns about fracking and its impacts on Californians and our environment, and knows that ultimately California and our global partners will need to transition away from oil and gas extraction,” Governor Newsom’s chief of staff Ann O’Leary said in an email to California’s Secretary of Natural Resources.

The Desert Sun, based on data from the consumer advocacy groups, also reported that top officials with the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) held investments in the oil and gas companies that they regulated. Roughly 45 percent of the permits went to companies that officials held stocks in, according to the watchdog groups. At the same time, nearly two dozen officials hired at the agency under former Governor Jerry Brown came from oil companies that have a presence in the state….CLICK for complete article

How Different Generations Think About Investing

Posted by Jeff Desjardins

on Monday, 15 July 2019 13:10

Every generation thinks about investing a little differently.

This is partially due to the fact that each cohort finds itself on a distinct leg of life’s journey. While boomers focus on retirement, Gen Zers are thinking about education and careers. As a result, it’s not surprising to find that investment objectives can differ by age group.

However, there are other major reasons that contribute to each unique generational view. For example, what major world events shaped the mindset of each generation? Also…Click here for full article.

An Unexpected Boon For Alberta’s Oil Producers

Posted by Nawar Alsaadi

on Monday, 15 July 2019 13:02

Alberta light oil producers have been decimated over the last few years, and especially so in the last nine months following the “blow up” in the Canadian light oil differential in Q4/2018 to over $30 a barrel.

This extreme widening in the differential has added to the woes of an industry still reeling from the impact of the 2014 oil collapse and has prompted Alberta’s government to take the rare step of imposing…Click here for full article

Streaming Services Add Up: What Happened To Cord-Cutting To Save On Cable?

Posted by Dave Royse

on Thursday, 11 July 2019 9:07

Cord-cutting was supposed to be the cheaper, better alternative to cable and satellite TV. Why pay for endless hours of people fixing up houses, six cooking networks and minor league Italian basketball when all you really watch is “Game of Thrones” and the Steelers?

Cord-cutting — dropping cable or satellite in favor of internet-delivered content — shows no signs of slowing. The flight from traditional pay TV has hit new records for consecutive quarters, including the first three months of this year, when cable and satellite companies, like Comcast Corp lost more than 1 million subscribers.

Just over 3 million people quit the cable-satellite habit in 2018.

As it turns out, unbundling cable channels hasn’t turned out to be a cure-all for the TV bill blues….CLICK for complete article

The World’s First Trillion Dollar Oil Company Has A Big Problem

Posted by Tsvetana Paraskova

on Thursday, 11 July 2019 8:59

China’s biggest oil and gas producer PetroChina—the first company in the world to reach a US$1-trillion valuation more than ten years ago—is now so cheap that it is worth less than the value of its oil and gas reserves.

PetroChina is listed in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and New York. It has been trading in Hong Kong and New York since 2000, a year after its parent, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), created it by transferring most of the upstream assets to the new company.

PetroChina’s H-shares traded in Hong Kong give the company a current enterprise value of the equivalent of US$169 billion, while analysts at Bernstein have estimated that its proven oil and gas reserves in the ground are worth US$208.7 billion, Bloomberg reports.

Typically, no energy company should ever trade below the value of its reserves in the ground, because a premium to the resources value implies that a firm has growth potential to develop those resources, Bernstein told Bloomberg.

PetroChina, however, is currently the exception to the rule, as its enterprise value/reserves value ratio is now below 1—at 0.801, the lowest among 25 large oil and gas companies around the world that Bernstein tracks. PetroChina is also the only one of those 25 firms with a lower enterprise value than the value of its reserves….CLICK for complete article