Southwestern Energy to cut 44% of workforce.

There is a 400 lb invisible gorilla in the alternative energy discussion space: nuclear power.
Nuclear is by far the most cheap and efficient means we know of for producing energy but we are afraid of it.
Sure, it has risks but we are rather irrational when it comes to assessing risk. All the lives lost and illnesses caused in producing fossil fuel energy are orders of magnitude greater than atomic.

 

US Navy. World's largest producer and user of nuclear energy. Zero mishaps that we know of.

 

Very cost intensive to due to regs. Had occasion to visit the TVNA plant ( Nuclear ) some moons back and got the 5 cent tour ( less control room )
Facility is 2 complete units -identical but only one is operating. Ok...so this is your backup? No....future expansion of capacity ? No not really...ok,spare parts then.....well no.Engineer tells me he cannot touch the dead unit...not even take a bolt off it....forbidden! But the rate payers paid to build it....so it sits, a brand new unit complete with security shacks, cages, control rooms, all of it.

Also told me it takes longer to permit a unit and costs more than the actual build itself. Felt like I was talking to truck management. Logic appeared identical.

And I agree, Navy has game...ask them.

 

I was speaking with one of my dear friend s from Australia the other day that is in the business of selling mining equipment worldwide.

I got him talking about Lithium the main ingredient in the batteries .

Any where there was or is a lakebed there is lithium .

The Great Salt Flats would be a Goldmine of lithium.

 

No idea. I've never been to the US so I have no way to compare standard of living or wages.

 

This is off an AG sight I look at:

ought oh.. this could be the start of a trend.. just when you thought the US was on the road to energy independence.. things start going to pot..??

( http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/05/colorado-fracking-fight.html )

Initiative 75 would give local government the authority to regulate oil-and-gas development, including banning, limiting or imposing moratoriums on such development. It would amend the state's constitution and give local officials more power to enact regulations that impact energy development and related companies. "These measures are really backdoor fracking bans that would be economically devastating for our state," said a spokesperson for Protect Colorado, an industry-backed issue committee fighting measures 75 and 78.

Protect Colorado, which has received funding from Anadarko and other energy companies, claims the initiatives would cost the state 140,000 jobs and $217 billion in economic activity over the next 15 years.

The Greenies are gonna argue that we need to move past crude anyway.. as Electric Cars are a coming..

but will that really curb crude oil consumption?

Rapier says.. "no." ( http://www.energytrendsinsider.com/2016/07/29/why-i-am-skeptical-of-electric-vehicles/ )

BY ROBERT RAPIER ON JUL 29, 2016

I am skeptical that EVs are going to make any dent in our oil consumption in the foreseeable future.

Let me explain why by first examining global crude oil demand growth over the past three decades. In the 32 years since 1984, global crude oil demand has increased by 36 million barrels per day (bpd) – an average annual increase of 1.1 million bpd per year:



Year-over-year crude oil demand declined in only 3 of those 32 years, and in each case bounced back to the historical growth rate very quickly. Further, the average annual increase since 2010 has been well above the historical average at more than 1.5 million bpd per year.

Of course that’s history, which merely gives us an indication that the long-term trends for oil consumption have been up for a long time. The reason they continue to grow is that growth is being driven by developing countries. Demand in developed countries has been falling (although U.S. gasoline demand is at a record high this year). But that graph admittedly doesn’t necessarily tell us about the future. So we have to look for examples that may give some insight into the future.

I first give you Norway. Following years of very generous subsidies for EVs, Norway has the largest fleet of plug-in EVs per capita in the world. Norway’s growth rate for EVs has been higher than that of any other country, averaging an amazing 110% per year for the past seven years:



One would expect a decline in Norway’s oil consumption given those trends. After all, Norway is surrounded by members of the European Union (EU), where demand for oil since 2008 is down 14% (primarily in response to much higher oil prices). Nearby countries like Denmark (-14%), Sweden (-16%), and Finland (-21%) all had big declines.

But not Norway. Norway’s consumption has trended slightly higher while all the countries around it experienced double-digit declines in petroleum demand since 2008.



Some may immediately note that Norway’s consumption has been relatively flat for several years, but keep in mind that demand was declining across the developed world in response to $100/bbl oil. So what happened in Norway? Shouldn’t demand there have declined at least as much as in countries that didn’t have explosive EV growth?

The reason the huge growth in electric vehicles didn’t translate into a reduction in demand in Norway is because it is set against a backdrop of a rising population and a growing fleet of vehicles on the roads (as is the case worldwide). The problem is that the conventional car fleet is adding cars faster than EVs are adding cars:



Also important to note that Norway is adding a lot of diesel engines to the fleet, another factor that helps explain the flattening in their oil demand. But, as the graph shows since 2008 they added about 300,000 diesel and gasoline cars to the roads, but despite the explosive growth in EVs the total over the same time period is only about 80,000 cars. And Norway’s explosive EV growth rate is starting to slow as the country scales back its generous subsidies.

Consider that in the U.S., from 2014 to 2015, new car sales of conventional internal combustion vehicles increased from 16.5 million to 17.5 million. Yet EV sales in the U.S. actually decreased from 122,438 to 116,099. In other words, they have a very long way to go to even dent the growth in conventional new car sales, much less make an actual reduction in the fleet.

speaking of US Crude Oil production.. it's.. still falling...

Weekly U.S. Field Production of Crude Oil (Thousand Barrels per Day)

Year-Month Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5
End Date Value End Date Value End Date Value End Date Value End Date Value


2015-Jul 07/03 9,604 07/10 9,562 07/17 9,558 07/24 9,413 07/31 9,465
2015-Aug 08/07 9,395 08/14 9,348 08/21 9,337 08/28 9,218
2015-Sep 09/04 9,135 09/11 9,117 09/18 9,136 09/25 9,096
2015-Oct 10/02 9,172 10/09 9,096 10/16 9,096 10/23 9,112 10/30 9,160
2015-Nov 11/06 9,185 11/13 9,182 11/20 9,165 11/27 9,202
2015-Dec 12/04 9,164 12/11 9,176 12/18 9,179 12/25 9,202

2016-Jan 01/01 9,219 01/08 9,227 01/15 9,235 01/22 9,221 01/29 9,214
2016-Feb 02/05 9,186 02/12 9,135 02/19 9,102 02/26 9,077
2016-Mar 03/04 9,078 03/11 9,068 03/18 9,038 03/25 9,022
2016-Apr 04/01 9,008 04/08 8,977 04/15 8,953 04/22 8,938 04/29 8,825
2016-May 05/06 8,802 05/13 8,791 05/20 8,767 05/27 8,735
2016-Jun 06/03 8,745 06/10 8,716 06/17 8,677 06/24 8,622
2016-Jul 07/01 8,428 07/08 8,485 07/15 8,494 07/22 8,515 07/29 8,460

Over the past year.. US Crude production has fallen a little over a million bbls per day.. with no sign of letting up yet...

In fact if initive 75 gets passed.. the trend could accelerate..

So why haven't crude prices taken off yet?

( http://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-global-kemp-idUSKCN10E1KG )

Look at Venezula for example.. Socialism anyone..???

 

At 43 a barrel I don't see it getting any better. We will see 29 a barrel by 2017.

Exploration is Done

Iran gets on line with Saudi Arabia flooding the market and we will have cheap oil for a decade

 

I wasn't one of those people since my paycheck was 80% more then than it is now.

 

1.) France has been nuclear for years...don't remember reports of problems.
2.) Tesla built monster battery plant Nevada next to big lithium mine.
3.) Colorado???? What did you expect? Smokin' too much Oceano Ditch Weed.
(Sorry Oceano).