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ENERGY IMPLICATIONS OF SPEAKER VOTE: The historic ouster of Kevin McCarthy from his speakership sent shockwaves through Washington – but left a number of questions unanswered on how House Republicans plan to govern themselves. With a government spending deadline looming and several bills on the burner, the move to boot McCarthy is likely to affect every legislative corner until a new speaker is picked – and that includes energy.
To get you caught up: Before Tuesday’s drama, the House was set to begin debate on an Energy and Water Development appropriations bill. After the vote on the motion to vacate occurred, the chamber was abruptly adjourned for a week.
Here’s what’s being held-up by the speakership debacle:
Appropriations bills: We are 43 days away from the next government funding deadline – but only 4 spending bills have passed out of the lower chamber. The House was on its way to vote on an Energy and Water Development funding bill that would fund projects and related agencies, passing a rule to begin debate on the bill. But debate could not begin after the speaker was vacated from his position.
McCarthy’s ejection, and the subsequent adjournment of the House, increases the chances of a government shutdown by putting pause on valuable floor time. It goes without saying that a shutdown negatively affects Washington – agencies shut down, employees are furloughed, and institutions lose revenue. However, the larger issue of spending will still be in question even after the Nov. 17 deadline, with many wondering whether Congress is able to pass all 12 appropriation bills before an automatic, overall 1% cut is implemented if a continuing resolution is still in place come Jan. 1, 2024.
Johnson’s LNG bill: A bill that would change the procedures for approval of the import and export of natural gas was pulled from floor consideration after conservatives tanked a vote that would allow the bill, along with a defense appropriations measure and a bill that would condemn the New Mexico governor, to move forward earlier this month. Since then, the bill has not come back onto the schedule.
The bill, dubbed “Unlocking Our Domestic LNG Potential Act,” would repeal certain restrictions on the import and export of natural gas under the Natural Gas Act, which include restrictions related to free trade agreements. The bill would also grant the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the exclusive authority to approve or deny applications for liquified natural gas terminals to import or export natural gas.
The White House issued a statement of administrative policy two weeks ago, stating that it “strongly opposes the legislation” because the bill, in their view, would eliminate important checks on imports and exports of natural gas.
Just last week, Republican Rep. Bill Johnson of Ohio, who introduced the measure, was advocating for passage of his bill in a brief interview with the Washington Examiner.
“But if we really want to address the issue of emissions, and clean up emissions, let’s start putting America’s liquid natural gas on the global market with my LNG expansion bill,” he told Nancy. When asked when the bill would be scheduled to be put back onto the floor, the Ohio Republican said, “It’s going to be soon. That’s what I’m told.”
But a lot has changed in the seven days since we’ve spoken with Johnson. Ben Keeler, Johnson’s communications director, said it’s unclear when the bill will be rescheduled for a vote.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep) and Nancy Vu (@NancyVu99). Email [email protected] or [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
POPE FRANCIS TAKES AIM AT U.S. EMISSIONS: Pope Francis scolded the U.S. in a new 12-page apostolic exhortation on the “climate crisis.”
“If we consider that emissions per individual in the United States are about two times greater than those of individuals living in China, and about seven times greater than the average of the poorest countries, we can state that a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact,” he said.
The exhortation comes eight years after Francis published his first climate-focused encyclical, a lengthy, 192-page document, Laudato si’, in which he called on the faithful to take climate-conscious steps and embrace “ecological conservation” to help mitigate the effects of global warming.
“Despite all attempts to deny, conceal, gloss over or relativize the issue, the signs of climate change are here and increasingly evident,” Francis writes in the new document, Laudate Deum.
SEPTEMBER SHATTERS HEAT RECORDS AND ALARMS FORECASTERS: The month of September shattered previous global heat records by a whopping 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit—or the largest monthly margin ever recorded, according to scientists.
Temperatures were 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit higher than average temperatures from 1991-2000, preliminary data shows—and in fact, more closely resembled averages for the month of July than September.
The 0.9 degree jump is an astonishingly large margin, according to scientists, who noted that heat records are often broken by fractions of a degree.
“This month was, in my professional opinion as a climate scientist – absolutely gobsmackingly bananas,” climate scientist Zeke Hausfather tweeted. “This September would not have been out of place as a typical July this decade in terms of global temperatures.”
Mika Rantanen, a researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute specializing on issues of climate change and extreme weather, also weighed in on the extremely hot global average. Simply by adding the latest data point from September 2023 to a line graph, he said, “the linear warming trend since 1979 increased by 10%.”
“I’m still struggling to comprehend how a single year can jump so much compared to previous years,” he added.
SAUDI ARABIA AND RUSSIA SAY THEY’LL MAINTAIN OIL CUTS: Saudi Arabia and Russia said today that they will each extend their voluntary oil cuts through the end of 2023, keeping 1.3 million barrels per day of their oil off of global markets.
OPEC+ production levels also remained unchanged, leaders announced following today’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee meeting. “This voluntary cut decision will be reviewed next month to consider deepening the cut or increasing production,” Saudi Arabia said.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said today that so far, Russia and Saudi Arabia’s supply cuts have helped steady oil markets globally at a time of high volatility and uncertain demand. “We are also fulfilling our obligations in full,” Novak said on Rossiya-24 news outlet. Russia also said it will review its voluntary 500,000 bpd output cut, which it announced in April, before next month’s meeting.
Meanwhile, oil prices dropped by more than $2 per barrel today, as concerns over demand were outweighed by fears of prolonged high interest rates, with futures for international benchmark Brent crude dropping below $90, to $88.90 per barrel, and futures for U.S.-based West Texas Intermediate falling to $87.13 per barrel, a 2.35% drop.
“Market attention has shifted from the focus on the short term tightness to the implications of interest rates staying higher for longer, the subdued macro environment that entails, and how OPEC+ plans to deal with that when it meets on 26th November,” Investec analyst Callum Macpherson told Reuters.
…MEANWHILE, RUSSIA WEIGHS LIFTING ITS DIESEL EXPORT BAN: Russia is also weighing a partial ending of its diesel export ban. Sources told the Russian news outlet Kommersant that a lift on the ban, which applies to diesel and gasoline exports, could be coming within “days” due to the country’s lack of internal storage facilities.
The storage situation has grown concerning to Russian oil and gas majors, the outlet reported, who fear that a prolonged export ban could force them to slow down their operations.
Still, it is unclear how far Russia will go in lifting the ban. Kommersant reports that the Kremlin is considering only resuming its exports of piped diesel, which could still be subject to quotas to avoid a surge in prices from outside countries. The gasoline export ban is likely to remain in place.
“While a ban on diesel exports from the largest diesel exporter sounds precarious for the wider diesel market amid low stocks and heading into winter, in reality it could significantly harm Russia if prolonged,” Vortexa senior market analyst Pamela Munger said in a note last week.
“Tank storage is said to be only a few weeks away from tank tops and shutting down refineries and minimizing pipelines is normally tricky business from an operational perspective,” she added.
RUSSIAN OIL AND GAS PROFITS RISE IN SEPTEMBER, DATA SHOWS: Russian oil and gas profits increased by roughly 15% in September compared to the previous month, according to new data published by the country’s finance ministry, driven by a rise in revenue from its mineral extraction tax.
As a whole, however, Russian oil and gas profits dropped by 34.5% between January and September 2023 compared to the same nine-month period last year, according to official government data, as Western sanctions packages and the G-7-backed price cap on Moscow’s oil and refined petroleum products came into force.
The Rundown
Bloomberg BP begins operations of new landfill-to-gas project
E&E News New England states ink deal to cooperate on offshore wind
Financial Times Climate change leads homebuyers to seek a place not in the sun
