Oil and Gas Watch

Brendan Gibbons

Trump officials mislead on fertilizer price relief in effort to ram through Louisiana ammonia plant

With farmers suffering from high global fertilizer prices due to the war in Iran, Trump Administration officials held a press conference May 19 unveiling their plan to speed up permitting for a Louisiana facility they said would help provide economic relief for the American agricultural community. The only problem? The majority of the ammonia manufactured from natural gas at the proposed Blue Point Complex near Donaldsonville will not be used to make fertilizer, but rather to ship to overseas customers and as a fuel for a power plant and a steel factory, according to corporate disclosures and announcements.

November 14, 2024

Why Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ policies will not reduce U.S. oil and gasoline prices

Donald Trump won a return to the White House in part by convincing American voters that he would unleash more oil and gas production, which would reduce fuel prices, curb inflation and cut grocery prices. But petroleum industry experts doubt this will work in a global market. Energy experts say American companies will not simply produce more petroleum and sell fuel at a lower price because competing nations like Saudi Arabia could simply reduce their own production and keep global prices high for their own financial or political reasons.

Brendan Gibbons

November 7, 2024

After securing $135 million in tax breaks, pipeline company plans massive ethane “cracker” in Southeast Texas

In Nederland, Texas, pipeline company Energy Transfer is proposing to build a massive new facility that would turn the components of natural gas into the basic chemicals used to make single-use plastics and other petrochemicals. The facility has garnered $134.6 million in tax breaks over 10 years from the local school district, despite being capable of emitting more than 8,500 tons per year of harmful air pollutants and more greenhouse gas emissions than a coal-fired power plant.

Alexandra Shaykevich

October 31, 2024

America’s first 'gas to liquids' plant could produce fuel in North Dakota

The the North Dakota Public Service Commission recently approved a siting permit for a Canadian company called Cerilon to build a gas-to-liquids plant in Trenton, about 10 minutes from the Montana border in a shale formation with some of the most productive oil and gas fields in the country. Gas-to-liquids technology chemically separates the components of natural gas into liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel that are usually made from petroleum. The idea has been around for nearly a century – but large-scale applications in the U.S. have faced significant delays or cancellations, in part because of economics.

Courtney Bernhardt

October 24, 2024

Chronic failures in Texas’ management of oil & gas wells raise alarms about the state’s request to run carbon capture

With billions of dollars in incentives on the line, companies across the U.S. are planning wells intended to permanently dispose of carbon dioxide, or CO₂. In most states, the Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for permitting these wells. However, the EPA has handed over that authority to three states -- North Dakota, Wyoming, and Louisiana. Texas now wants to join that list. Critics question whether the state's oil and gas regulator is fit for the job and competent enough to handle a major expansion of its authority into a new area of growth.

October 17, 2024

Leaks at Illinois carbon injection project cast a shadow on the future of taxpayer-subsidized carbon capture

An ethanol plant in central Illinois has stopped injecting carbon dioxide (CO2) into the ground after a potential leak was discovered on the property for the second time this year. The problems at the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) plant raise questions about the safety of about 150 other carbon capture wells proposed across the U.S., most with taxpayer funding.