Daily Standup Top Stories
The End of Coal Is Nowhere In Sight
Retirement of coal-fired power plants in the West has done nothing to reverse global coal demand. Global coal consumption is set to remain at these high levels—or even hit new all-time highs—for a few more […]
Coal Consumption Remains High in the United States
The United States remains a major consumer and producer of coal, even with the growth of renewable energy sources. Coal consumption and production have decreased in recent years, but coal still plays a significant role […]
Could China Hack Our Electric Grid? – in 4 words – Yes and How Soon? The Real Question – Is Mayorkas in on it?
This article was published on Jan 12, 2024, and I was screaming about potential problems with China and the Grid with potential back doors. -Update 2-124-2025 – There is 492 Transformers with confirmed back doors […]
‘BRICS is dead’ if it messes with dollar – Trump
The US president has warned of severe tariffs if the geopolitical bloc pursues a common currency US President Donald Trump has declared the BRICS trade and development group “dead” and threatened to impose massive tariffs […]
Trump to boost US offshore oil and gas with new energy dominance council
AmericasOffshore The White House US president Donald Trump has signed an executive order establishing a new council focused on boosting the country’s production and export of fossil fuels. Trump signed another executive order which formally […]
Highlights of the Podcast
00:00 – Intro
01:23 – The End of Coal Is Nowhere In Sight
03:02 – Coal Consumption Remains High in the United States
04:03 – Could China Hack Our Electric Grid? – in 4 words – Yes and How Soon? The Real Question – Is Mayorkas in on it?
05:20 – ‘BRICS is dead’ if it messes with dollar – Trump
10:09 – Trump Unleashes LNG and Drilling Free-for-All
14:21 – Markets Update
16:22 – Rig Count Overview & Summary Count
17:11 – Diamondback in talks to buy Double Eagle for more than $5 billion, source says
19:06 – Outro
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– Get in Contact With The Show –
Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.
Michael Tanner: [00:00:09] What’s going on everybody. Welcome into the Monday, February 17th, 2025 edition of the Daily Energy Newsbeat Standup. Here are today’s top headlines. First up, the end of coal is nowhere in sight. This will be a good one. Sticking upon that coal theme. Next up, coal consumption remains high in the United States. We’ll fly over to China. Could China hack our electrical grid in four words? Yes. And how soon? The real question is, is mayorkas on it? This is a great deep dive into our electric grid. And finally, quote, Brics is dead. If it messes with the dollar, according to Trump, we’ll stick on the Trump theme. He and Trump unleashes LNG and drilling in free -for -all. Stu, and tossed over to me. I will quickly cover what happened in the oil and gas markets on Friday. It’s really a pretty down week or down day. And the third week oil prices have finished down relative to where they started. We did actually see a slight bump up in rig counts and then a potential diamond back double eagle buyout that we will cover. And we will cover it all, folks. As always, I’m Michael Tanner joined by Stuart Turley. Hey, where do you want to begin? [00:01:22][72.9]
Stuart Turley: [00:01:23] Let’s start with the end of coal is nowhere in sight. You got to love a good story like this one. Retirement of coal power plants in the West has done nothing to reverse global coal demand. It’s all about China. And the article does a great job going through. Global operating coal power capacity has increased by 13 percent in 2015. And then you take a look at that map, Michael, in our I’ve took it from the global power plants. Look at where all the global power plants are. South Africa, the United States, India and China. Holy smokes, Batman. Until China changes it, there’s going to be no reason to shut our coal plants down. [00:02:10][47.1]
Michael Tanner: [00:02:10] And I love the they’re all skewed towards the East Coast, which is an interesting an interesting little note there. You notice the places like Texas and up and down the Midwest where we have a lot of oil and gas. There’s not that many coal plants going. So very interesting. Now, obviously, we know in the East Coast, we do have the largest natural gas reserves in the United States. But then a lot of that natural gas is piped down to Texas to get refined. And then, you know, the East Coast ends up burning fuel, oil and coal. So very interesting there. Yeah, not much is going to change. I mean, coal is is still right now the baseload power of choice, at least for the electrical grid. Now, obviously, if you’re talking about the data center boom, that’s not necessarily what they’re looking at. But it really is interesting to look at the disbursement of all these coal plants. And I think it leads right into this next one here about where coal consumption is going. [00:03:01][51.1]
Stuart Turley: [00:03:02] Oh, yeah. The next article is coal consumption remains high in the U .S. And it’s in a little more specific details on it. And the EIA forecast coal share of the U .S. electricity will fall to a record low of 16 .1 percent in 2024. And we are cutting out, but you know who a great man once said? Chris Wright just said he’s not going to be shutting down any more coal plants. So, you know, he now understands he coal production has fallen in recent years and oil and gas production increased. So you take a look at the EIA numbers, 2 .7 percent year on year from 2022 to 2023 of five hundred and seventy seven point nine million tons. [00:03:45][42.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:03:45] Yeah, I think the interesting part is that if you dig into the numbers here, you see that the production of coal is actually falling quicker than consumption, which, you know, again leads to OK, that’s fine. But the question is, what’s going to fill in the gap? You know, you know, for reference, the United States is the fourth largest coal producer that’s behind China, India and Indonesia. But we also happen to have the most coal reserves of any country. We have about two hundred and six active coal plants that remained at the end of twenty twenty three and about a quarter of the domestic coal generation is expected to be retired by the end of twenty four. That’s only about twenty five percent. But the pace of planned retirement slowed last year as energy demand increased. [00:04:25][40.2]
Stuart Turley: [00:04:26] Right. And we’re going to see we’re going to see a continued slowing of that. Hey, let’s go to the next one. Speaking of grids, could China hack our electric grid in four year in four words? Yes. And how soon? The real question is, mayorcas still in on it or was he in on it? And the answer is yes. I originally posted that article after interviewing Michael Yon in the Darien Gap on January 12th, 2024. Michael, this post just came out over the weekend from the disrespected trucker. And it turns out that there is now that original article talks about 32 major grid interconnects that were one of them was seized and it was taken. And now back doors were found. There are now four hundred and ninety two transformers confirmed with back doors in our grid. When I originally wrote this story, there was only 32. Wow. Biden let them in. [00:05:29][63.3]
Michael Tanner: [00:05:31] Well, I think this is a topic that we’ve been talking about for years now is the fragility of the grid. And with President Trump and his, you know, Secretary of State Rubio, the Defense Department, they’re they’re fairly adversarial with China. And we can we can whether or not you agree or disagree with whether or not we should be adversarial towards China. The question is, if they perceive us to be more adversarial, they’re coming for the grid. And it’s basically open season because it’s not hard to do it. [00:06:01][30.5]
Stuart Turley: [00:06:01] Oh, no, they they can take it down within about 15 minutes. And they and we again, we talked about this on this podcast before where they connected to the grid via the balloons that now turned out that that. Oh, wait a minute. That’s a conspiracy theory. They were actually electronically capable of connecting to the grid. So let’s go to the next story here. Brics is dead if it messes with a dollar. That story also goes in with our LNG, because LNG is Trump’s ace in the hole for exports. The world is coming to the realization we’re now between these two stories. We are now opening up tariffs, reciprocal tariffs across every country. And I love the way he did that. And like Canada has 200 percent tariffs on our agricultural products. OK, let’s start putting 200 percent on Canadian products. I’m OK with his thought process on these two articles he’s going to be using. And it’s Michael, before you cringe and you start telling me to be quiet. It’s it is a negotiation point on how he does this thing. And this is how President Trump does things. LNG is going to be his ace in the hole as he goes through in the next two weeks to start really negotiating with President Trump. Zelensky is no longer even at the table. President Putin and President Trump. And now the EU is not even at the table. And so they’re going to get the end of the Ukraine war done. And you’re going to see trade wars really coming around in a positive way. So you take a look at BRICS. BRICS was really successful. Michael, you and I talked about this as well. And that is because we had weaponized the U .S. dollar. [00:07:49][107.8]
Michael Tanner: [00:07:50] Yes. But and so my my only question is, is a tariff not weaponizing the dollar? [00:07:54][4.5]
Stuart Turley: [00:07:55] No. If they’re already tariffing us, they’re tariffing their their weaponized their dollars and they’re not buying our material. So his is if you are already tariffing the United States, I’m going to put reciprocal tariffs back on. Why are all the tariffs one way? I’m all in, baby. So you’re telling me that we should just lay down and let everybody tariff our stuff and never buy our stuff? [00:08:19][24.0]
Michael Tanner: [00:08:19] Well, I mean, we do have the largest GDP in the world. So something’s working right. All I am pointing out is that the reason why BRICS was looking at an alternative currency was because of the United States weaponization of its status as the world’s reserve currency. And if we and if we want to keep it that way, that doesn’t mean a good leader doesn’t just say, I’m the leader. Suck it up. Whatever I say goes. It’s not what a good leader does. A good leader works with its consortium of people to come up with a solution that benefits not just one, but all. So I think tariffs on some goods are OK. And I’m OK with I’m not against tariffs 100 percent. I’m not for a hundred percent tariff. I agree with what President Putin said. I’m not a Putin fan, but I agree with what he said. He condemned the U .S. government. He said at the end of this this little the last paragraph here in the article, calling the dollar’s weaponization a big mistake that is driving nations to explore alternative. We shouldn’t be driving nations to explore alternative currencies because that will be detrimental to us. And a hundred percent tariff is not going to work when BRICS now has 36 percent of the global GDP, almost 50 percent of the world’s population and is exploring bringing other people in. So I think there’s a fine line. We’ve got to walk here because we do not want BRICS to come out with another currency. That would be detrimental to our economy. And anything we do that again, everything’s a fine line here. That’s all I’m saying. [00:09:44][84.8]
Stuart Turley: [00:09:44] I agree. And I think President Trump is teeing it up for negotiations. And that’s all it is. People need to understand President Trump is negotiating and saying what drives the liberals nuts is the way he talked. And I think it’s kind of funny because he’s not going to end up with tariffs for everybody. He’s going to end up with negotiated things. I think it’s a great way to do it. [00:10:06][22.5]
Michael Tanner: [00:10:07] Art of the deal, baby. Art of the deal. What’s next? [00:10:09][1.8]
Stuart Turley: [00:10:09] Well, Trump unleashes LNG and he’s got this last part it all toes in and it unleashes LNG and drilling for all. It’s still not going to be drill, baby, drill. This is wasted no time and flexing his pro -fossil fuel stance, approving the first LNG export permit since Biden’s controversial pause last year in which he doesn’t remember doing it. I thought that was absolutely hysterical. Commonwealth LNG, the long awaited recipient of the permit, can now proceed with 9 .5 million metric tons per annum exported in Louisiana. We love it. And when you talk about BRIC and you talk about Russia and you talk about the end of the Ukraine War, they’re meeting in Saudi Arabia in the next couple of weeks. It’ll probably be three weeks. And you’re going to see Putin, President and Saudi Arabia all sit down and you think about this. President Trump’s got LNG on the table. And that is his big weapon saying, hey, if you want to not pay tariffs, buy our LNG. Here’s a side note. We don’t have the tankers in the United States control to guarantee shipment. We got to get rid of the Jones Act. [00:11:19][70.4]
Michael Tanner: [00:11:20] No, you’ve been on the Jones Act for a while. Commonwealth, I think LNG is, I think, the biggest winner in all of this, a .k .a. owned by Cambridge, who has placed a really large bet into the LNG space. So that seems to be working up OK with them. You know, it is fascinating that now I think it is. The fascinating part about all of this is where you’re going to see some of the new development from the large infrastructure goes. And we talked about plenty. We talked about this at NAEP. Drill baby drill is coined by Chris Wright is really build baby build. And so I think this is the first step in that, you know, the nice part is it. You know, the executive branch and the Secretary of Energy and Interior do have fairly large broad authority to do a lot of this stuff, which is helpful because this stuff can now move quickly. And I’m all for LNG. So I think this is awesome. [00:12:10][49.8]
Stuart Turley: [00:12:10] Oh, I think it’s a great way to export and get U .S. dollars in the petro saved the U .S. currency because there is a gold row happening around the world with a shortage of actual gold being held versus what is in the actual vaults. And I find it funny that there’s now a call for Doge to audit Fort Knox. [00:12:30][20.0]
Michael Tanner: [00:12:32] Yeah, who? That’s a story for another time. Let’s go ahead and jump over to finance, too. But before we do that, we’ve got to pay the bills as always. Thank you for checking us out here on the world’s greatest website that energy newsbeat .com. Stu and the team do a tremendous job making sure that website stays up to speed. Everything you need to know to be the tip of the spear when it comes to the energy and the oil and gas business. Hit the description below for all links to the timestamps, links to the articles. You can also subscribe to us via our substack, the energy newsbeat.substack dot com. The best place to support the show. Go ahead and sign up for paid subscription to get access to a bunch of premium articles and premium papers that we only publish to that substack for paid subscribers and get easier access. If you want to ask Stu or myself any questions about the business. I also shout out to our sponsor, Reese Energy Consulting, you know, with Ellen, with all this stuff going on in LNG, guys, in that space, you need to be working with Reese. Reese Energy Consulting, they can take you soup to nuts on any project, help you navigate the regulatory stuff. And then also if you’re an EMP operator, they have they have a really well defined built out oil and gas marketing business where they will help you make more money on your gas contracts and with your first purchaser contracts for oil. You’re leaving money on the table if you’re not working with an oil and gas marketing company. And we love Reese Energy Consulting. So go ahead and reach out to them guys. Their stuff is in the description below. And finally, if you want to become Billy Bob Thornton from Landman, go ahead and go to investinoil .energynewsbeat .com. We have a bunch of great resources there about how you can get started, how you can make a little bit of a distribution, save a boatload on taxes and wear a cowboy hat to all your parties and say, I am Billy Bob Thornton from Landman. So those three things right there, guys, highly recommend going there. Invest in oil .energynewsbeat .com. [00:14:20][108.1]
Michael Tanner: [00:14:21] Let’s go ahead and quickly just look at top line indices. S &P 500 basically flat on Friday. NASDAQ was up about three tenths of a percentage point. Two and 10 year yields were down 1 .1 and 1 .2 percentage points. Conservatively, dollar index was down about a quarter of a percentage point. Bitcoin $96 ,000 and about 800 bucks. That’s that’s about 0 .76 % down. Crude oil was down about 55 cents, about three quarters of a percentage point. Going down to 74, a 70, 74 Brent oil was down about three tenths of a percentage point, 74, 75. We’re testing that $70 range and we’re recording this about one o ‘clock here on Sunday. And markets appear to open a little bit down from crude oil side. So it’ll be interesting to see what happens there. Our XOP was our E &P securities contract was actually up about eight tenths of a percentage point. Natural gas was up to $3 .72 or up about 2 .6 percentage points. I think that the main reason for crude being down is, as Stu mentioned, that prospective Russia -Ukraine peace deal that both Russia and the United States are in the middle of negotiations. You know, a lot of that, you know, while that was and the reason why those peace deals are negative for oil prices is that could, you know, unleash these quote unquote sanctions that are having or ease the sanctions that Russia has, which we’ll see more crude oil come back onto more the global market. Obviously, Russia is still exporting, but they are more selective and where they can. And a lot of that isn’t necessarily touching the global markets. A lot of that downward pressure on oil was stopped by the fact that the U .S. announced that in April they’re going to go ahead and give more tariff recommendations. As we talked about, as we know, tariffs will raise the price of goods coming into the states. And with us being about a 40 percent importer of oil, that that will affect more prices. So those two things kind of balance what could have been a really down day for oil. Obviously, we know that Iran is is and the pressure being put on Iran to slow and stop as much oil production as possible. It’ll be fairly interesting. We also did see we can go ahead and put this chart up on the screen. Rig counts were up to, though, despite oil going down. So there is an interesting sentiment going on right now in the business. You know, I would say two rigs is, you know, basically flat. I do think the interesting thing is that is three weeks in a row. We have seen rig counts rise. So something is is moving on to say something. [00:16:41][140.6]
Stuart Turley: [00:16:42] Yeah. Offshore or onshore, did it say onshore rigs to onshore? [00:16:45][3.2]
Michael Tanner: [00:16:45] OK, cool. Again, I think offshore is still getting geared up. And there and offshore again plays the long game. You know, it’s a five to ten year cycle for when you’re talking about onshore or offshore development. They’re they’re not necessarily playing the weekly price game, whereas an onshore company might do a little bit. I do think one of those rigs was a natural gas rig. So I do think that some of that stuff goes in there. And the other interesting thing I saw, Stu, on the M &A front, Diamondback in talks to buy Double Eagle for more than five billion dollars. This is a big one here, guys. Diamondback Energy, you know, as we know, recently just gobbled up Endeavor Resources for 26 billion. And now they’re apparently, according to sources, in talks to buy Double Eagle, which is majority backed by NCAP and Apollo Global Management. And this could be about five billion dollars. If you recall last year, there was a report that they were exploring the sale of Double Eagles, exploring a sale that could be worth more than six point five billion dollars. So the price has gone down a little bit. And, you know, as we record this on Sunday afternoon, as you listen to this on Monday, things might actually have been announced. But also it could be possible, as this person said in part of the negotiations, that a new suitor comes out. I mean, you know, again, five billion, you know, for 90 ,000 BOE per day and about fifty five thousand net acres. It’s actually a pretty good deal. I would have expected it to be slightly more. As we know, the Double Eagle is on their fourth iteration. They’ve actually already spun up Double Eagle five. So I wonder a lot of this might be NCAP, who was also backing Double Eagle five, wanting to liquidate their position in four, get some liquidity, be able to come in and prop up Double Eagle five even more. So very interesting, very interesting source there. Nobody really responded to any of these requests. And this was all courtesy of the Wall Street Journal. So super interesting. You know, I think Double Eagle gets, you know, having been kind of the Double Eagle gets a lot of the P .E. praise as they’re kind of the gold standard for how to run the P .E. markets, mainly due to the fact that they were able to start back in the early 2010s when it was kind of the heyday for private equity and acquisitions. And so now once you prove you can do it once you get more money, once you prove you can do it twice, you get a lot more money. And now when they’re on three, four and five, you get a lot more money. So it’ll be very interesting to see where things go. But Diamondback can talk to by Double Eagle. We will see where this goes. That’s really all I’ve got, Stu. What should people be worried about this week? [00:19:08][142.7]
Stuart Turley: [00:19:08] Oh, I don’t know about worried. I think keep your head on a swivel. There’s still a lot of things going around out there, but I think the world is healing. And I think we’re going to see some big financial news more out of Doge. I think people are going to wake up and go, how corrupt is our government? [00:19:25][16.4]
Michael Tanner: [00:19:25] Yeah, no kidding. Well, well, guys, don’t join the with. Luckily, we don’t take any government financing, so Doge isn’t coming for us. But we appreciate you guys sticking with us as always for Stuart Turley. I’m Michael Tanner. We appreciate you guys checking us out. See you tomorrow. [00:19:25][0.0][1144.5]
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