Week Recap: Nuclear Gains, EV Costs, and Oil Shipping Surges

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Georgia’s Clean Energy Outpaces Fossil Fuels with New Nuclear Boost

Heavy Hitters: EVs Smash Through Guardrails, Raising New Safety Concerns

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Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.

Michael Tanner: [00:00:10] What’s going on? Welcome into a special weekly recap edition of the Daily Energy News Beat Stand up here on this gorgeous September 28th, 2024. As always, I am Michael Tanner, joined by Stuart Turley. Holy smokes. It’s been a long week. Wow. We don’t. [00:00:27][16.2]

Stuart Turley: [00:00:27] It is. I’ll tell you the you know, Michael, four years ago when you and I started doing this podcast, there were a couple episodes we actually had to hunt for stories. Yeah. Hey, I’ve never seen such craziness going on around the world in the energy market. [00:00:41][14.3]

Michael Tanner: [00:00:42] Yeah, it’s there’s so much going on. We had some great stories that we talked about this week, you know, everything from I did getting into the oil field, starting to read your emails. The market went wild. So there was a lot of stuff. You wrote out a solo show one time. You did. Been a great week, but let’s go ahead and just kick it off to the team. They’ve lined up some of the top stories for the week. Before we do that, guys, we got to quickly pay the bills. As always, the news and analysis that you hear brought to you by the world’s greatest website dot energy news becomes do in the team, do a tremendous job making sure that websites be up to speed. Everything you need to know to be the tip of the spear when it comes to the energy in the oil and gas business. Go ahead and hit that description below for all links to the timestamps, links to the articles and links to everything you need to be. Stay in touch with energy news, but you can hit us up on substack. I also have a great, great oil and gas working interest project that we were partnering up with our friends Ray Trevino and the crew. Truth to offer you a basically a chance to become your own oil man. So if you’ve ever wanted to be able to to walk around and tell people I invested in oil opportunity, go ahead and hit that link. Invest in oil dot energy newsbeat.com for a chance and we will keep it going. But otherwise still I’m going to go ahead and kick it off to the team. Let’s see what’s up. [00:01:55][73.1]

Stuart Turley: [00:01:55] Georgia is clean energy outpaces fossil fuels with new nuclear boast. I am so happy that the nuclear community is getting this boost. For the first time ever, the US state of Georgia has more clean power than hydrocarbon fueled power in its grid. Would you have ever thought you’d hear that kind of a title without nuclear in it? [00:02:18][22.5]

Michael Tanner: [00:02:18] I wouldn’t be. Well, no. I do not think that. [00:02:20][1.8]

Stuart Turley: [00:02:20] We we it is we are not going to get to any kind of net zero without nuclear a unit three and unit four at Plant Vogel near Waynesboro, Georgia, and started commercial operations in the past year, making Votel the biggest nuclear power plant with nearly five gigawatt of total generating capacity, surpassing the 4200 new max M.W. Palo Verde plant in Arizona. I’ve been to that plant in Arizona has a beautiful plan. [00:02:51][30.6]

Michael Tanner: [00:02:52] It’s a lot of megawatts. Holy smokes, it is. [00:02:54][2.3]

Stuart Turley: [00:02:54] It took 15 years and a cost of 36.8 billion, more than twice the projected timelines. Michael, we can’t make that energy transition if we don’t behave. We’ve got to follow in the footsteps of the UAE. UAE did four years under budget and on time, you know, in order to do a nuclear reactor, four years under budget and on time is a formula that we had to figure out. [00:03:24][29.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:03:25] Yeah, I know. It’s definitely something that we need to figure out. And yeah, it’s I mean, that’s a pretty big it’s a lot of money, but hey, it goes to show that if you can actually get one of these done, you can. There’s a lot of energy and there’s a lot of clean energy economy involved with nuclear. But we have to figure out on the regulation side how to do it for cheaper. [00:03:43][18.6]

Stuart Turley: [00:03:44] Yes. And the other big story this weekend, Michael, was the fact that Amazon is signing up for Amazon. One of the big tech companies is signing up with Three Mile Island for a 20 year extension to Three Mile Island for the ones that did not burn down, burn or melt down. And excited about. [00:04:02][18.3]

Michael Tanner: [00:04:03] That. No, I’m very excited. Now under that that $36.8 billion, if you break that down on a on a per kilowatt per hour basis, it’s actually some of the most expensive energy relative to where, you know, other forms of energy like natural gas, fossil fuels, all this other stuff. So, yes, it’s clean. Yes, we love nuclear. But at that price point, it really doesn’t make any sense. And this is maybe the first time I’ll agree with the environmentalists. You know, the quote here from from Britton McCorkle, executive director of the Georgia Conservation Voters, coauthor of the report, Photo is a cautionary tale for the rest of the country. Here in Georgia, we’re stuck with the most expensive our ever produced. Nothing to take pride in. So it’s a double edged sword. But some of this nuclear stuff we’ve got to bring, Yes, we love nuclear, but we got to bring that cost down or else what are we actually doing? Well, when you put that into a we could have had five Keystone pipelines. [00:05:00][57.4]

Stuart Turley: [00:05:01] Exactly. And you know why it got that high elations. [00:05:05][4.1]

Michael Tanner: [00:05:05] I’m with you. [00:05:06][0.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:05:06] Yeah. Trillions of dollars. The Biden-Harris administration has cost in regulatory actions. We did that story a month or so ago. Every heavy hitter smashed through the guardrails and raising new safety concerns. The weight makes a difference. You know, you got Tyrus, who is a huge man as a wrestler. I would not want to wrestle that man. Weight matters when you’re driving and inertia and when you’re fighting somebody worse than you. The test used is 7,140 pound to 20 2022 rivian R1T truck when a barrier at 60mph. Footage on this article showing the heavy me completely blasting through the guardrail and launching over a concrete wall while sending trucks flying. You know what? If you’re a bad guy and you’re a terrorist and you want to invoke damage, get an easy. No. [00:06:11][64.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:06:11] I mean, it’s frightening. It’s really it’s really incredible. And you’d think because a lot of the infrastructure, a lot of like the actual quote unquote engine of an E, these actually in the back and a lot of in it’s empty up front which also which is also scary to think about that the heaviest parts aren’t even in the front and they’re still slamming through guardrails. It shows you how much new stuff is in this. Now. You know, they’ll over time they may or may not figure this out, but it’s a super, super scary thing. And I encourage everybody, if you go click the link in the article below, you’ll have a link directly to this video. [00:06:44][32.9]

Stuart Turley: [00:06:45] yeah, it’s frightening. I’ll tell you, I do want a cybertruck. I’m just going to let you know right now. I saw the Cybertruck camper and I’m me. I’m like, Man, I was cool. I’m all in. I want a cybertruck. But as a third car, I don’t want it as a primary vehicle. I think cybertruck’s because they’re bulletproof or where we need to go. [00:07:04][19.8]

Michael Tanner: [00:07:05] Is driving electric now more expensive than petrol or diesel? This is actually a study that came out of England, Britain’s public charging network is I’m going to read it straight from the article here. He’s facing criticisms for high costs, making the EV driving potentially twice as expensive as using petrol or diesel cars on a year over year basis. UK has actually added about 12 2500 rapid and quote unquote ultra rapid charging stations, which is about a 40% increase year over year, according to some data that was shared with the Times. These chargers cost an average of 80 pounds per kilowatt hour, which makes it extremely difficult for people who don’t have access to a low cost home charging network to actually make the switch. So just like in the United States, we spend all of this money to build out infrastructure that nobody uses. They build out all this rapid charging infrastructure. And now guess what? You can’t use it because it’s so expensive. What’s even funnier is, according to that same report, even those using the slower public chargers may pay more per mile than petrol or diesel. I mean, guys, here’s the thing. The reason why gasoline and fossil fuels are currently dominating the market is because they’re so efficient. It’s the lowest cost, most efficient fuel. It’s not just the lowest cost. It’s not just the most efficient, it’s lowest cost combined with the most efficient. That’s what everybody looks for. So the market will gravitate towards things that work. People in the UK want to use EVs. They’d love nothing more. We know, we know how they are up here in the UK. I’m sorry if anybody’s listening to this from the UK, but we you know, you guys are definitely a little bit more left leaning than us here in the States. So we know you want to use EVs. The problem is you can’t because there are unfortunately too expensive or they do take too much time. They have to call ultra rapid. It’s going to takes, what, 20 minutes to charge. So they’re dying over in the UK due to these EVs. And again, I think you’re going to, you know, to some extent and I’ve talked about I think you’re going to see people continue to move between hybrids, which gives you a little bit of best of both worlds. [00:09:11][125.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:09:11] California Sues Exxon over Global Plastic Pollution. This one’s pretty unbelievable, folks. So California and several environmental groups sued Exxon Mobil on Monday and accused the oil giant of engaging in a decades long campaign that helped fuel plastic waste pollution. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who spoke at an event, guess what? Climate Week in New York City, said that the state sued Exxon after concluding a nearly two year long investigation where he says that Exxon has been deliberately misleading the public about the limitations of recycling. This all specifically centers around Exxon’s promotion of what they were calling, quote unquote, advanced recycling, which is a process called Pro Lois’s. I don’t know, guys. I’m not an English major here. All I know is that this process turns hard to recycle plastics into fuel. He said that this technology, slow progress is a sign of Exxon’s ongoing. Deception. Unbelievable. The technology, slow progress is a sign of Exxon’s ongoing deception. Well, maybe it’s a hard problem to solve. Has this dude ever gotten out of his little comfy ag office to figure that out, or is he too busy hobnobbing on his private jet that he flew over to New York City to talk at, quote unquote, Climate Week, where they have the A.C. cranked up and are probably using Russian gas to do that. I mean, it’s just dripping in irony, all of this. Here’s the quote from our good friend Bonta AG over there. Today’s lawsuit is the fullest picture to date of ExxonMobil’s decades long deception. Well, I thought it was just a two year long deception over this advanced fuels thing. But we’ll get to that. And we are asking the court to uphold Exxon’s fully accountable for its role in actively creating and exacerbating the plastic pollution crisis through its campaign of deception. Here’s here’s Exxon’s response. It’s a good one, actually. Suing people makes headlines, but solving the plastic waste problem won’t advance. Recycling is a real solution. Has an addict adding that California has done nothing to advance cause, like which is true. They’ve done nothing to do that. So this again, is political retribution because these are not like ExxonMobil. And I mean, this. Does Exxon even have facilities in California? I know Chevron does. They just it just boggles my mind that with all the craziness going on in California, everything that’s going on, the craziness that’s going on in California, this dude assigned his staff to try to sue Exxon Mobil. And guess what? Newsflash, you ain’t going to win because Exxon is going to have just a few more resources than you have to fight this. And again, you’re you’re you’re, you’re, you’re you can’t win here. You can’t win here. Exxon, if they don’t care about recycling and just continue to produce oil, well, they’re going to, you know, hit them on the climate change front. But if they actually try to do something, this advanced plastics problem, which I it’s hard. I mean, recycling stuff because newsflash and I pointed the camera you guys don’t separate your recycling properly enough if you the listener actually separated your recycling better. Maybe this stuff works, but you don’t. Okay, so what? So they’re trying to. Well, maybe there’s some hard to recycle stuff or maybe there’s a mixture. Let’s figure out a way to actually recycle it. Then they get burned for that because it’s a, quote unquote, deceptive process. It’s unbelievable. It’s why you should in my opinion, if I was running Exxon, I wouldn’t even worry about. Sure, let them sue us. It’s a write off that we get. Well, we’ll hire some lawyers there. I mean, there’s other stuff going on. I mean, we know the stuff that’s going on in West Texas in there fundamentally, and their fundamental disregard for the ability to plug old wells. I mean, they should be focused on that stuff, which is actually harming the environment versus this. We’re actually trying to do that. I mean, it’s unbelievable. This stuff gets me worked up, you know, I guess environment, you know, you’re going to read this article, Environmental groups Praise the lawsuit. Oceans Plastic campaign directors in California’s lawsuit will hold the industry accountable and debunk the plastic recycling narrative that holds us back from real solutions. You know what? I want to debunk your Oceana stuff. That’s Christy. That’s what I want to do. So just just unbelievable. I’m going to move on, break it to worked up. [00:13:15][244.0]

Stuart Turley: [00:13:15] As demand drops, Automakers reverse EV targets despite billions in Biden-Harris subsidies. This is actually abysmal when you consider that the Harris Biden administration had tried and forced the United States into EVs. And some of the EV numbers are pretty amazing when you sit back and take a look at from a global perspective, how many of these are on the road and how much they’ve saved in climate change, quote unquote. Not much, if at all. Any. And so in fact, nothing. Because by the time you add the extra wear and tear on the tires, they go through the tires twice as much. By the time you add the diesel, you add all of the things it takes to make an E car. There’s been a negligible effect on the environment. In fact, it’s about to be a negative impact on the environment when you consider the batteries for all of them that are coming out of service and are going to need to be recycled. And the recycling market for those batteries is nonexistent right now for a wide array of automakers have abandoned the EV goal since February with Volvo, Ford and Mercedes-Benz all dialing back electric quotas or dropping previously planned product lines. This is huge. The auto industry’s change in direction is despite billions in subsidies doled out to the industry via the 2021 bipartisan Infrastructure bill and the 2020 Inflation Reduction Act. Both of those should be called the Particulars Bill Bundle, with the White House offering a 7500 federal tax credit for certain EVs. This is where they. Really did not do any any favors because only the folks that need a $7,500 tax deduction or break can get it. But then it didn’t even work on all of the cars. Like only one, the Ford Mustangs would even qualify. And then all of the others. So the regulations designed to phase out internal combustion engines, including tailpipe emissions rules, would effectively require 67% of light duty vehicles sold after model year 30, 20, 32 to be electric or hybrids. It ain’t going to happen. And Toyota is leading the charge on the hybrids and the rest of the market is behind. So Ford even canceled plans to produce three row electric mule vehicle SUV in August and reduced output of its Ford F-150 lightning pickup in January. Ford lost $4.7 billion in 2023, equating to nearly $65,000 per TV it sold. We’re not going to launch vehicles unless they’re going to be profitable within 12 months of launch. That’s pretty strong. Hats off to them. They’ve got to stay in business and government needs to stay out of the way of business. [00:16:27][191.7]

Stuart Turley: [00:16:28] Russia ramps up Arctic Oil tanker shipping to a new record. Michael With a month left to go that already exceeds last year, 15 oil tankers have crossed the Arctic waters so far. Russia has dispatched a record amount of oil through the Arctic Circle. 10.7 million barrels of crude went through the Northern Sea route. I’ll tell you what, he’s got a thing going on there. It’s pretty crazy. [00:16:58][29.9]

Michael Tanner: [00:16:58] Yeah, it is. I mean, to give you know, as that compares to last year, this article points out that last year in total, only 14 vessels, which had about 10.5 million barrels, crossed that same Northern Sea route last year. So they’re cranking it up. And you’re right, it really all has to do with the fact that that Red Sea is shutting down the Cold War. Yeah, I wouldn’t want to be on that ship. [00:17:19][20.8]

Stuart Turley: [00:17:20] No. But it’s also how much is going on. It takes a week to go over the northern crossing from Nova, Somalia, in the west to the Bering Strait to the east there. It’s 12 to 14 more days to reach the ports of Shanghai and those of northern China. It really saves a lot of good time because the northern routes. [00:17:39][19.6]

Michael Tanner: [00:17:40] It really does. Now, you know, eventually, obviously, Russia is going to have a majority of control of that route. You don’t know some of the chicanery that go on there. I find it interesting, you know, the national tanker owners, Aleutian Federation, the not for profit organization that was established on behalf of the world’s ship owners, to basically just kind of protect and provide effective strong. They are reading this article saying the remote, the remoteness, lack of infrastructure and the inhospitable conditions in the Arctic means significant logistical and operational challenges might be overcome in the event of an oil spill. I mean, they’re not wrong about that. [00:18:17][37.1]

Stuart Turley: [00:18:18] No, absolutely not. And especially because they’re using a lot of the dirt fleet, older tankers and self-insured. So if an accident happens, you’re going to go up to Putin and go. Payette Right. [00:18:30][12.3]

Michael Tanner: [00:18:32] Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. [00:18:34][1.9]

Stuart Turley: [00:18:34] I don’t think so. [00:18:34][0.0][1089.9]

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