Energy sector starts newyearstrong

From Staffreports

The oil and gasindustrywas awash in success in 2022.

With the priceofcrude rising to ahigh of $116per barrel in June, global companies such as ExxonMobil ($59.1billion), Shell ($40 billion) and Chevron ($36.5 billion) posted record earnings forthe year

Crude oil had dropped below $80 per barrel by early February, but optimismfor the sector,both nationallyand locally, abounds for2023.

“The industryitself is very strong, and forthe futureit looksverypositive,” said Dewey Bartlett, aboard member of the Oklahoma Energy ProducersAllianceand president of Keener Oil &Gas Co.“The abilityofthe oil and gasindustrytoact as a bridgetowhatevernew alternative energy sourcescan be used has become moreunderstood, which is good news “It’s alsobeen good that more people areaccepting the fact that bridging and changeover aregoing to take averysignificant amount of time to occur decades.”

Williams is among the local energy companies dedicated to such an environmental segue.

The Tulsa-based firm in 2020 setanet goal of 56%absolute reduction from 2005 levels in companywide greenhousegas emissions by 2030,putting the companyontrack fornet-zero carbon emissions by 2050

But the mantraofWilliams CEOAlan Armstrong is that the countryneeds to do morenow with what it already has,particularly with natural gas. He said during aspeech at the UniversityofTulsainJanuarythat the United States has ample naturalgas reserves but that alack of infrastructure and complex permitting makethose resources difficult to harvest.

“The U.S. is so well-positioned in the right hereand the right now, not waiting on new technologies down the road, not waiting on other resourceswe have in the U.S.,” Armstrong said in January. “Wecan dramatically reduceemissions and lowerpeople’scosts at the utilitylevel if we simplywould allowourselves to build the infrastructurethat we knowhow to build. It’s not rocket science.”

Thelocal energy industrytook ahit last summer when global oil field services companyBaker Hughes,a fixtureinBrokenArrow, said it would close its facilityin2023.

Tulsa-based McElroy Manufacturing announced last month that it would refurbish that 173,000-square-foot campus and establish a plant there by mid-2024

Manypublic oil companies from Tulsafared well in 2022.

Through the first nine months of the year,Williams reported earningsof$1.37 billion, ONEOK $1.23 billion and Magellan MidstreamPartners$849 million.

Oklahoma’s oil rig count as of early Februarywas 64,a 14-rig increase from the same time a year ago, according to Houston-based Baker Hughes

In early February, theAAA averagegasoline pricefor agallon of unleaded in the Tulsametro was$2.96,comparedto$3.18 for the same time ayearago

In 2022, the wholesale U.S. natural gasspot priceatHenry

Hub averaged $6.45/MMBtu,the highest levelsince2008,according to the Energy Information Administration basedondata from RefinitivEikon. That price wasdownto$2.65 at the end of January.

As forliquefied gas, those markets aregrowinginthe United States

Wherenatural gaspipelines arenot feasibleordonot exist, liquefying natural gasisa wayto move naturalgas from producing regions to markets

As of July,the United States ranked thirdgloballybehind Australia and Qatarinliquefied natural gasexportcapacity, producing 73.9 million metric tons per year,according to statista. com.

“The United States is becoming amuch largersource for worldwide consumption of LNG as other countries and economies recoverfromCOVID and the Ukraine war,” Bartlett said. “Asall of that evolvesintoa more positive situation, then demand forLNG willincrease even more. Natural gaswill recoverinavery strong wayeventually.”