Powering the Planet

Sign in Subscribe

Justin Mikulka

Sabine Pass LNG Export Terminal

US LNG - Debts No Honest Man Could Pay

Before the epic U.S. housing and commercial real estate crash of 2008, bankers were applying innovative approaches to lending. One of their new products was the NINJA loan, which stood for “No Income, No Job, No Assets.” You might be thinking, “How could anyone be so dumb to loan

big rig climbing hill

Gluttons For Punishment: Oil Industry Doubles Down Against Reality

The world is facing a multi-year oil glut where the oil producers will be pumping more oil out of the ground than the world is using. This will keep oil prices at low levels – likely well below the level that most US shale oil producers can make a profit. But

LNG storage tanks. Credit: Justin Mikulka

Gambling Debts

In 2019 there was a bidding war for the Permian-based oil and gas company Anadarko. Chevron reached a deal to pay $33 billion for Anadarko but then Occidental (Oxy) got into the game and a bidding war ensued and Oxy ended up paying $57 billion. This was made possible by

Sun sets over Exxon's Golden Pass LNG

As Solar Dominates, the Sun Sets on the LNG Boom

Gastech is a big deal in the global methane/natural gas industry. Gastech also openly embraces the false claims that the gas industry is somehow going to “...accelerate the global shift toward cleaner, more sustainable energy.” The idea that methane in the form of LNG is somehow cleaner or more

Leaving LNG behind.

LNG - The Oil Industry’s Last Scam

Do you remember the “algae as oil” years? For a whole ten years we were subjected to this scam from the biggest oil companies. We learned about it in 2009 and at the time Exxon predicted “it could produce fuels in five to 10 years.” And then after four years

Old pumpjack in the Texas Permian basin with large flare in the distance

US Media and the Oil Industry: The Lies that Blind

Where is the oil? In the first week of December 2024, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that the U.S. produced a record amount of oil at 13.6 million barrels per day. This record was achieved under the Biden administration despite how we were constantly told this administration

The End of the U.S. LNG Bubble

The End of the U.S. LNG Bubble

For the U.S. LNG industry to make money it will require many factors all to align in the "Goldilocks Window" and that outcome is highly unlikely.