U.S. Shale Is Pushing OPEC To Breaking Point

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
http://www.thegwpf.com

The trend in the United States of accelerating oil production does not seem to be slowing down. Recent reports show that oil production from U.S. shale producers will increase in April, according to the Energy Information Administration. High market prices are currently being supported by OPEC cutbacks, and these higher profits are funding the growth of American drilling.

The release from the EIA predicts that net oil production will increase by 109,000 barrels per day in April. The seven major oil and gas basins that were included in the report will then have an output over nearly 5 million barrels per day collectively.

The monthly projections from the EIA have been climbing month after month since December. That month, 11 large oil exporting countries joined the supply cuts established by OPEC to control what they believed was an oversupplied market for crude oil.

In the United States, the main benefactors have been drillers at the Permian Basin, in Western Texas and southern New Mexico. The basin has been producing high volume since the end of 2016. The EIA expects the Permian drillers to see a gain of 70,000 barrels per day next month in their projections.

However, the Permian Basin is not the only United States site trying to capitalize on high prices. Drillers in southeast Texas, the Eagle Ford region, have also been ramping up production. Those drillers will amount for an increase 28,000 barrels per day in the EIA’s overall growth projections. Prior growth expectations for Eagle Ford producers was half on that number, at an increase of 14,000 barrels per day; the growth is not only steady, but is accelerating.

The EIA report for next month also shows a decline at several U.S. drilling sites. Take, for instance, the Niobrara region of Colorado and the Bakken Shale production in North Dakota. Both will experience declines of 11,000 barrels per day, and 10,000 barrels per day respectively.

The supply increases by the U.S. have capped any gains to be seen for OPEC nations from their cutbacks. This has been keeping crude futures within a tight range. On Monday, March 13th, U.S. crude ended at $48.40, a price that hasn’t been seen since before OPEC announced their cutbacks in December 2016.

These recent developments have led analysts to believe OPEC’s cutback policy is fated to end in the near future.

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via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) http://www.thegwpf.com

March 16, 2017 at 11:17PM

Less Than 20% Of US Republicans Are Concerned About Global Warming

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
http://www.thegwpf.com

A landmark year in 2016 for global warming politics has further deepened the already formidable divide between Republicans and Democrats on the issue. Two-thirds (66%) of Democrats say they worry about global warming a great deal, compared with 18% of Republicans.

The 66% of Democrats worrying a great deal about the issue is the highest percentage in Gallup’s annual polling on the question since at least 2000 and is nine percentage points above last year’s previous high of 57%. Forty-five percent of independents now say they worry a great deal, a jump of 11 points from 2016. The rise in concern among both Democrats and independents has pushed the overall percentage of Americans saying they worry about global warming to 45% – the highest level in nearly three decades of Gallup polling. Republicans’ 18% who say they worry a great deal is the same as last year’s percentage and 11 points below the party’s high of 29% in 2000.

The widening gap between Republicans and Democrats comes after a year that highlighted vast differences between the parties on global warming issues. In April 2016, the United States joined 195 other countries in signing the Paris Agreement on climate change — the most comprehensive international agreement to date on combatting global warming. It had been a long-standing goal of Democratic President Barack Obama, who said of the day the agreement was signed: “History may well judge it as a turning point for our planet.”

But in November, only four days after the agreement went into effect, Republican Donald Trump was elected president on a campaign that included a vow to cancel U.S. involvement in the treaty.

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via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) http://www.thegwpf.com

March 16, 2017 at 11:17PM

Alan Carlin: A particularly troublesome aspect of climate alarmism

via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
http://ift.tt/1WIzElD

Had enough of climate propaganda?

Last week EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt stated that: “I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do, and there’s tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.”

I can only applaud Pruitt’s thoughtful comments, writes Alan Carlin.

But in fact there is not just uncertainty as Pruitt said, but actual evidence that there are no significant effects of rising human-caused emissions or atmospheric CO2 levels on global temperatures.

The Climate-Industrial Complex (CIC) has responded to Pruitt’s comments with all its usual propaganda concerning 97% of scientists, sea level rise, scientific “consensus,” etc., all of which are either incorrect, misleading, or irrelevant to the CIC’s assertion that human activity is the primary contributor to global warming.

The Particularly Troublesome Aspect
The CIC response suggests what a serious problem the CIC has created by its climate alarmist propaganda. They have told the public, politicians, and the press that “global warming” (alias “climate change”) is primarily due to human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide, and that if this continues at current levels that this will result in catastrophic global warming.

Since carbon dioxide from human sources comes primarily from human use of energy, they claim that such use must be restricted if not ended. There are many problems with this argument.

First, most CO2 originates primarily from sources other than humans.

Second, the CIC has never proven that this hypothesis is valid science even though they are the ones arguing for huge public expenditures to implement their desired policies.

Third, climate skeptics have shown that every alarmist argument is contradicted by science.

Fourth, a recent study concludes that the basic alarmist hypothesis is scientifically incorrect by showing that increases in atmospheric CO2 levels have no statistically significant effect on global temperatures.

Fifth, the governmental actions the CIC proposes would have no measurable effect on global warming, and probably none at all, at a very high cost to taxpayers and ratepayers, particularly less well-to-do ones.

Continued here.
– – –
Talkshop note: we might add a sixth – most so-called greenhouse gas is in fact water vapour, not CO2.

via Tallbloke’s Talkshop http://ift.tt/1WIzElD

March 16, 2017 at 10:39PM

Global CO2 Emissions Have Stopped Rising, International Energy Agency Says

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
http://www.thegwpf.com

Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions were flat for a third straight year in 2016 even as the global economy grew, according to the International Energy Agency, signaling a continuing decoupling of emissions and economic activity.

This was the result of growing renewable power generation, switches from coal to natural gas, improvements in energy efficiency, as well as structural changes in the global economy.

Global emissions from the energy sector stood at 32.1 gigatonnes last year, the same as the previous two years, while the global economy grew 3.1%, according to estimates from the IEA. Carbon dioxide emissions declined in the United States and China, the world’s two-largest energy users and emitters, and were stable in Europe, offsetting increases in most of the rest of the world.

The biggest drop came from the United States, where carbon dioxide emissions fell 3%, or 160 million tonnes, while the economy grew by 1.6%. The decline was driven by a surge in shale gas supplies and more attractive renewable power that displaced coal. Emissions in the United States last year were at their lowest level since 1992, a period during which the economy grew by 80%.

“These three years of flat emissions in a growing global economy signal an emerging trend and that is certainly a cause for optimism, even if it is too soon to say that global emissions have definitely peaked,” said Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director. “They are also a sign that market dynamics and technological improvements matter. This is especially true in the United States, where abundant shale gas supplies have become a cheap power source.”

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via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) http://www.thegwpf.com

March 16, 2017 at 09:16PM