Oil Companies Sitting On Already Leased Land: Why?

Ridiculous. But keep telling yourself that. The heads of oil companies have already explained why they aren’t using new wells. Massive profits.

You can’t accept that they’re being honest. It’s gotta be because they are hated by the left.

Just silliness.

https://news.yahoo.com/oil-gas-execu...204337317.html

https://www.kcra.com/amp/article/gas...-more/39528197

Profits profits profits. Originally Posted by 1blackman1

Ok, that does make sense too. So what is your point?

Reposting with the below OPs permission:

...I am but a mere URL provider to both the stars and dirty little peoples of the universe. If you were of the mind to drill on the land you have leased for drilling, this is where you go for that:

U.S Department of the Interior - Bureau of Land Management
aka the actual BLM, not the made up one for influencing election rigging and "for free" shopping excursions and mostly peaceful, yet fiery and destructive protests

APPLICATIONS FOR PERMITS TO DRILL

On this page, you can find the latest information on approved and pending applications for permits to drill.

Once a leaseholder, operator, or designated agent identifies an oil and gas deposit on a Federal lease, they can file an application for permit to drill.

The BLM cannot approve an application for permit to drill until the operator meets the requirements of certain laws and regulations, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Endangered Species Act. Upon receiving an APD, BLM typically conducts an onsite inspection with surface and/or mineral estate owners, resource specialists, the operator, and when applicable, other Surface Management Agencies (or SMAs, such as states, tribal representatives, or other Federal agencies like the USDA Forest Service). After completing these inspections, the BLM, together with any other relevant SMAs, conducts a NEPA analysis, and then approves, approves with modifications, denies, or defers action on the application. Deferred action or denials can occur because the operator fails to provide all the necessary information or due to severe resource concerns. The BLM and other SMAs may add Conditions of Approval to the APD to protect site-specific resources. An approved APD is valid for two years or until the lease expires, whichever occurs first, but the BLM may grant a two-year extension to allow the operator more time to drill...

BTW: They also provide data on Received, Approved and Pending Permits. Maybe they have a page somewhere that includes pretty graphs of these over time. Dunno. But did you happen to catch a look at how many other bureaucratic hoops need to be jumped through in that one paragraph?!?

Speaking of politics:

Biden Delays Oil Permits as Gasoline Prices Surge on Ukraine

• Court order blocking climate policy may slow permits, leases
• Analysts see gasoline topping $4 a gallon in U.S. on tensions

The Biden administration has delayed issuing permits for new oil and gas drilling on federal land, a move that could complicate efforts to tame gasoline prices that are poised to top $4 per gallon amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The Interior Department warned of delays in new drilling permits after a Louisiana-based federal district judge blocked the administration’s method for assessing how its permit approvals affect climate change.

“To have your judicial system and regulatory branch trying to throttle oil and gas production while you’re scrambling to look under every rock around the world for a barrel of oil is awkward and contradictory,” said Bob McNally, a former White House official who heads Rapidan Energy Group, a Washington-based consulting firm...

Ridiculous. But keep telling yourself that. The heads of oil companies have already explained why they aren’t using new wells. Massive profits.

Profits profits profits. Originally Posted by 1blackman1

I always wonder why the greedy oil companies weren't driving up the price of oil for their massive profits when Trump was in office...

Can anyone explain that? Why is it since the Biden regime was installed that the Oil execs became greedy and drove u fuel costs.

needs some 'splaining.

Trump/Biden years:

Oil down/up
ISIS quite/attacking
Afghanistan no casualties/Chaos and death
Russia careful and quiet/invading Ukraine
Korea quiet/missile testing and threatening

Every world leader sees that President Biden is in steep cognative decline.

Ridiculous. But keep telling yourself that. The heads of oil companies have already explained why they aren’t using new wells. Massive profits.

You can’t accept that they’re being honest. It’s gotta be because they are hated by the left.

Just silliness.

https://news.yahoo.com/oil-gas-execu...204337317.html

https://www.kcra.com/amp/article/gas...-more/39528197

Profits profits profits. Originally Posted by 1blackman1

This is surprising. You're one of the smartest posters on this board. You live in Baton Rouge so you have friends and possibly family who work in the oil and gas industry. And yet you fall for the Progressive propaganda.

You and WTF are hyper focused on the short term. And yes, in the short term, the inability of the oil and gas industry to generate free cash flows is one of the reasons why it's not able to go head over heals into debt and raise tons of capital right now. The banks and investors won't countenance it. Why should they? I'm looking at financial data for the S&P Oil and
Gas Exploration and Production Index right now. The index is at 5209. The cumulative "earnings per share" before XO items over the last 10 years is -6090! In other words, the E&P companies have lost more money over the last 10 years than what they're worth, in terms of market capitalization, today!

Times are supposed to be pretty good in the oil and gas sector. Huge profits, so that Democratic politicians are talking about imposing a windfall profits tax. Today, in Congressional hearings ,they're badgering oil company executives for allegedly paying dividends and doing buybacks instead of investing in the industry. What a load of complete bull shit!!! In the last 12 months, the ROE for the aforementioned index of E&P companies is 9%. Even with allegedly high prices, the companies are barely making an acceptable return on capital.

Repeating myself, you and WTF, like the Democratic politicians and the news sources you linked to, focus too much on the short term. Well, in your links, the media didn't entirely even get that right. The major obstacle right now to ramping up production is shortages of men and materials. There are big shortages of steel tubulars, frack sand and the like. It's harder to get people to work in Pecos or Williston because two years ago a lot of them lost their jobs when the price of oil went to shit. I'm sure many of your neighbors lost their jobs during the downturns in the oilfield in 2015 and 2020.

As ICU and Why_Yes_I_Do posted, in the long term, the threat of government policy is the big obstacle. BP and Shell are just letting their production run down and not reinvesting in oil and gas. If the Progressives get their way, and turn the USA to the left of Europe, the same thing will happen here, and already is to an extent.

Your links fail to note that there's another reason private equity and Wall Street and the banks aren't pumping massive quantities of capital into oil and gas right now, besides getting burned in the past. Institutional investors are abandoning fossil fuels right and left, both for the sake of political correctness and "saving the planet", and also because they see the writing on the wall. Biden, one of the supposed moderates in the Democratic Party, wants to eliminate the fossil fuel industry by 2050. The Progressives want to do it a whole lot faster, by 2030 or 2035.

Finally, the reason the oil companies, in your words, "aren't using [as many] wells" is because instead of typically drilling 5000 foot vertical wells with small frack jobs, they're drilling down to 9,000 feet, then drilling another 2 miles horizontally, before pumping massive amounts of sand and fluids into the well bores. So they're spending many times more money per well, on a smaller number of wells, that cost a lot more to drill and complete.

The same politicians who were browbeating oil company executives in October, 2021 for producing too much oil will be browbeating them in Congressional hearings today for producing too little.

Jim Cramer (CNBC), who hasn't been a very good prognosticator of prospects for E&P companies, did get something right this morning. He basically said some of the politicians don't want oil companies to be rational actors. Instead they want them to drill like there's no tomorrow, like the "legendary" Aubrey McClendon. That is, drill themselves straight into bankruptcy.

Democrats Have Gasoline Price Amnesia
Only last October they browbeat U.S. CEOs to produce less oil and gas.

House Democrats must have political amnesia—or hope Americans do. On Wednesday they’re holding another political struggle session to lash oil and gas CEOs for surging gasoline prices. But only last autumn they were demanding that these same companies produce less oil to reduce the global supply of crude.
During the Oct. 28 hearing, California Rep. Ro Khanna praised BP and Shell CEOs for pledging to reduce their oil production. Then he asked U.S. oil execs why they weren’t doing the same. “Are you embarrassed as an American company that your production is going up while the European counterparts are going down?” he asked Chevron CEO Michael Wirth.

Mr. Wirth tried to explain that new supply was needed to meet rising global demand, but the Silicon Valley Congressman persisted: “It is not a gotcha question. Do you commit to do anything to matching your European counterparts to try to bring the actual demand of oil production down?”

Mr. Wirth replied: “With all due respect, I’m very proud of our company and what we do.”

He should be. The U.S. oil and gas industry supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and produces far fewer methane emissions than Russia. Until recently the U.S. was the world’s swing oil producer, helping keep crude prices down. Not everyone can afford a Tesla.

Mr. Khanna next flogged Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods : “Would you commit to matching your European counterparts to reducing the production of oil?”

Mr. Woods answered gamely, “We’re committed to lowering our emissions.”

Mr. Khanna wasn’t satisfied: “No. Are you committed to lowering the production as the Paris accords say or no? It’s a yes or no.”

If progressives truly cared about the climate, they’d support more U.S. oil and gas production, which could replace supply from countries with lower environmental standards and higher emissions. More U.S. natural gas exports would also reduce global consumption of coal, which is much more carbon intensive. But the Democratic left’s main goal nowadays is reducing U.S. oil and gas production, which all other things being equal means less supply and higher energy prices.

California Rep. Katie Porter illuminated this when she chided the CEOs for opposing Mr. Biden’s halt on new oil and gas leases on federal land: “You already have 13.9 million acres! This is equivalent to Maryland and New Jersey combined. How much more do you need?” Twenty-six House Democrats have signed onto a bill introduced in December to ban fracking as well as oil and natural gas exports.

Now they blame oil companies and Vladimir Putin for high gasoline prices, but their policies empower Vladimir Putin by keeping global oil prices higher than they should be.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/gasolin...ds-11649195950

1) Do your ankles even get wet when you walk on water?
2) Do we have to start calling you Saint Tiny now?


Great analysis of the industry today.

This is surprising. You're one of the smartest posters on this board. You live in Baton Rouge so you have friends and possibly family who work in the oil and gas industry. And yet you fall for the Progressive propaganda.

You and WTF are hyper focused on the short term. And yes, in the short term, the inability of the oil and gas industry to generate free cash flows is one of the reasons why it's not able to go head over heals into debt and raise tons of equity capital right now. The banks and investors won't countenance it. Why should they? I'm looking at financial data for the S&P Oil and
Gas Exploration and Production Index right now. The index is at 5209. The cumulative "earnings per share" before XO items over the last 10 years is -6090! In other words, the E&P companies have lost more money over the last 10 years than what they're worth, in terms of market capitalization, today!

Times are supposed to be pretty good in the oil and gas sector. Huge profits, so that Democratic politicians are talking about imposing a windfall profits tax. Today, in Congressional hearings ,they're badgering oil company executives for allegedly paying dividends and doing buybacks instead of investing in the industry. What a load of complete bull shit!!! In the last 12 months, the ROE for the aforementioned index of E&P companies is 9%. Even with allegedly high prices, the companies are barely making an acceptable return on capital.

You and WTF, like the Democratic politicians and the news sources you linked to, appear to be hyperfocused on the short term. Well, in your links, they didn't entirely even get that right. The major obstacle right now to ramping up production is shortages of men and materials. There are big shortages of steel tubulars, frack sand and the like. It's harder to get people to work in Pecos or Williston because two years ago a lot of them lost their jobs during past busts. I'm sure many of your neighbors lost their jobs during the downturns in the oilfield in 2015 and 2020.

As ICU and Why_Yes_I_Do posted, in the long term, the threat of government policy is the big obstacle. BP and Shell are just letting their production run down and not reinvesting in oil and gas. If the Progressives get their way, and turn the USA to the left of Europe, the same thing will happen here, and already is to an extent.

Your links fail to note that there's another reason private equity and Wall Street and the banks aren't pumping massive quantities of capital into oil and gas right now, besides getting burned in the past. Institutional investors are abandoning fossil fuels right and left, both for the sake of political correctness and "saving the planet", and also because they see the writing on the wall. Biden, one of the supposed moderates in the Democratic Party, wants to eliminate the fossil fuel industry by 2050. The Progressives want to do it a whole lot faster, by 2030 or 2035.

Finally, the reason the oil companies, in your words, "aren't using [as many] wells" is because instead of typically drilling 5000 foot vertical wells with small frack jobs, they're drilling down to 9,000 feet, then drilling another 2 miles horizontally, before pumping massive amounts of sand and fluids into the well bores. So they're spending many times more money per well, on a smaller number of wells, that cost a lot more to drill and complete. Originally Posted by Tiny

1) Do your ankles even get wet when you walk on water?
2) Do we have to start calling you Saint Tiny now?


Great analysis of the industry today. Originally Posted by Why_Yes_I_Do

Thanks. No, canonization will not come until after I pass away, but contributions to the Free Markets Church of Tiny are welcome now.

Your posts on the economy and energy are always worthwhile reading btw.

You coulda stopped after the first few sentences and I woulda been satisfied. Lol

So I take the oil execs at their word. They’ve made a business decision based on profit modeling which suggests to them extracted more oil from Unused leases is more expensive than sapping the wells they have. You’re not naive enough to believe that they are choosing to forgo additional profits because some in congress don’t like them. As long as there is profit to be made, they will dig and dig to their hearts desires.

This isn’t really a long vs short term problem. Yes I’m the short term the profit combined with shareholder pressure for dividends is preventing new investment. They said so.

... "DRILL MATES DRILL!" ...

#### Salty

"It will take 18 months to complete the XL pipeline! Yeah, and whose fucking fault is that?


"it will take years for new wells to come on line". Yeah and whose fucking fault is that?


This very complex issue is actually very simple to understand. Joe Biden and Democrats did their very best starting 15 months ago to shut down the oil and gas industry to the point that Joe Biden told his audience during his campaign, that he would put these oil and gas executives in jail if he was elected.


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...nt-damage.html


'We should put them in jail!' Joe Biden wants to prosecute fossil fuel executives

Joe Biden

said Sunday that fossil fuel executives should be jailed – but failed to mention that his son was on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas firm.

And we wonder why they don't trust anything Joe Biden and these Democrats say?

But what galls me the most is Biden causing through his policies and words, reduced production in this country for "climate change" reasons and then when oil prices go up, he ask the same people OPEC, that we tried for years to get away from, to help him out by putting at least the amount of oil into the market to replace what he foolishly shut down.

That's really all one needs to know. We lost jobs, we lost revenue by not continuing to be energy independent and then "buy" from the worst actors in the world, that which we stopped producing.

Which BTW causes the world to buy and burn oil and gas that is not as clean as what we could produce.

Great plan to combat climate change, huh?

You coulda stopped after the first few sentences and I woulda been satisfied. Lol Originally Posted by 1blackman1

I come from the Hedonist School of Debate. We figure if we write something so long you never get to the end of it, then you won't provide a substantive reply. And so we win!

Bahahahaha! Or whatever it is that the Waco Kid writes.

1) Do your ankles even get wet when you walk on water?
2) Do we have to start calling you Saint Tiny now?


Great analysis of the industry today. Originally Posted by Why_Yes_I_Do

Except, oer usual, he gives way to much credit to the power of the green movement!

You and WTF are hyper focused on the short term. And yes, in the short term, the inability of the oil and gas industry to generate free cash flows is one of the reasons why it's not able to go head over heals into debt and raise tons of capital right now. The banks and investors won't countenance it.
Originally Posted by Tiny

That is just not true. I posted about Wells Fargo opening up their spickets in the long ass thread

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/why...fuels-paradise


However defined, those sums are offset by the funds still flowing directly toward dirty energy. For example, if those four banks continued to fund fossil fuels for the rest of the decade at the rate they did in 2021, it would total just over $1.6 trillion of new investment by 2030. This at a time when scientists say fossil-fuel production and consumption must ramp down sharply. Hence the growing focus on banks’ say-do gap.

I come from the Hedonist School of Debate. We figure if we write something so long you never get to the end of it, then you won't provide a substantive reply. And so we win!

Bahahahaha! Or whatever it is that the Waco Kid writes. Originally Posted by Tiny

Lol.