tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post6830926501488556033..comments2024-03-24T11:01:27.668-04:00Comments on Resource Insights: United States as energy exporter: Is it "fake news"?Kurt Cobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-53925899576609129272018-04-15T07:51:10.686-04:002018-04-15T07:51:10.686-04:00The EIA is by no means immune from government inte...The EIA is by no means immune from government interference. Though other agencies are forbidden from influencing or editing the reports and figures the agency publishes, like any federal agency it must answer to Congressional appropriators who control its budget. Moreover, the head of the agency is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Since the EIA administrator is a political appointee, he or she serves at the pleasure of the president and can be dismissed at any time.Kurt Cobbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-81302724196629808912018-04-01T16:57:32.324-04:002018-04-01T16:57:32.324-04:00The EIA has been granted immunity from government ...The EIA has been granted immunity from government interference in doing their jobs, similar to the Supreme Court in some respects..any reason to presume that they spend their time responding to their masters when in reality they have none?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-2676656871494631422018-03-05T10:08:53.306-05:002018-03-05T10:08:53.306-05:00I'm agreeing with you that C2-C4 aren't li...I'm agreeing with you that C2-C4 aren't like gasoline or jet or diesel or crude oil. Just if you separate it out, you need a new category for the essay, whatever you call it.<br /><br />Coal: slight net exports<br />Natural gas: slight net exports<br />Electricity: slight net imports<br />Uranium: strong net imports<br />Crude: still strong imports but down lately<br />Crude products (excluding C2-C4): strong exports<br />C2-C4: strong exports<br /><br />All I'm saying is the minor point that if you cut them out of the crude products category, you need a new category to contain them. And in that category, we are strong net exporters.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-46453122131551084372018-03-04T18:39:08.852-05:002018-03-04T18:39:08.852-05:00To respond to anonymous, we need to be careful abo...To respond to anonymous, we need to be careful about terminology. NGLs are not the same as NGPLs. NGLs are a larger category that includes NGPLs plus lease condensate. Lease condensate is, in fact, part of the petroleum production stream and so is reflected in the numbers I cite for oil. Because imports of NGPLs are negligible, exports are about the number you could infer from my piece, around 1.5 mbpd. It's important to note that NGPLs are often used as petrochemical feedstocks (ethane, for example). When they are used as sources of energy (butane and propane, for example), they represent about 60 percent of the energy density of oil by volume. Those who lump in NGPLs with oil often gloss over this fact. NGPLs are direct substitutes for oil only on a very limited basis.Kurt Cobbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-55277502780513819562018-03-04T18:28:31.006-05:002018-03-04T18:28:31.006-05:00Shawn, my general rule is never to put down to gui...Shawn, my general rule is never to put down to guile what can be explained by incompetence. I think, in this case, we have a little of both. Those who seek to push an agenda that is helped by American "energy dominance" simply echo the headlines. That's the guile, not much of it, admittedly. The strange thing is that they and their staffs are so incompetent they don't seem to be able to do what I did--namely, look up on the EIA site what's actually going on. Now, the EIA is a fabulous place to get energy statistics. But its forecasts are driven by political considerations, namely, the Congressional committees who decide on their funding. The EIA can't be too far from the consensus if they expect to please their funders. Perhaps it's a survival mechanism for if the funding is cut to nothing, we'll have no statistics. BTW, the EIA says that <a href="https://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2015/01/us-department-of-energy-our-forecasts.html" rel="nofollow">it doesn't actually do forecasts.</a> Go figure.<br /><br />Kurt Cobbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-37626468568465267122018-03-04T18:27:54.193-05:002018-03-04T18:27:54.193-05:00That's OK to remove propane from the refined p...That's OK to remove propane from the refined products but then you need to make a new category for NGLs (like you had for uranium, coal, electricity, etc.) And we are strong net exporters of NGLs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-65111326941716174102018-03-04T12:41:08.748-05:002018-03-04T12:41:08.748-05:00Kurt
Thanks for this excellent summary.
Any thou...Kurt<br /><br />Thanks for this excellent summary.<br /><br />Any thought that this talk of energy independence is geopolitical propaganda from the “deep state” or whatever? Or just self-serving hype from the industry? How independent is the EIA?<br /><br />Some days I think there is a veil that is purposely put before our eyes to mask the true state of things. Other days I just marvel at self-interested driven biases and think that everyone is just busy running to nowhere like the hamster on the flywheel.<br />Shawn Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11133575785476157598noreply@blogger.com