Is there any truth to the claims in this article?

https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/bye-bye-saudi-america

Hello guys,

I've been accepted for fully funded PhD in my top 4 choices, i.e., Stanford (Energy Resources Engineering (former PE), TAMU (PE), UT (PE) and Penn State (PE), would you be so kind giving me your thoughts as of which one should I follow.

I totally understand that many factors can be influential in my final decision but I would like to receive unvarnished opinions from as many perspectives (industry ties, locality, reputation, research fever, academic environment, funds robustness, etc.) as I can get.

Personally, my baseline to push forward definitely is the subsurface chain as in RE and other interrelated disciplines.

Every aspect would be greatly appreciated!

I am wondering if this accurate. So I can use it for educational purposes.

The eight OPEC+ countries, which previously announced additional voluntary adjustments in April and November 2023, namely Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman met virtually on 3 April 2025, to review global market conditions and outlook.

In view of the continuing healthy market fundamentals and the positive market outlook, and in accordance with the decision agreed upon on 5 December 2024, subsequently reaffirmed on 3 March 2025, to start a gradual and flexible return of the 2.2 million barrels per day voluntary adjustments starting from 1 April 2025, the eight participating countries will implement a production adjustment of 411 thousand barrels per day, equivalent to three monthly increments, in May 2025. This includes the increment originally planned for May in addition to two monthly increments. The gradual increases may be paused or reversed subject to evolving market conditions. This flexibility will allow the group to continue to support oil market stability. The eight OPEC+ countries also noted that this measure will provide an opportunity for the participating countries to accelerate their compensation.

The eight countries reaffirmed their commitment to the voluntary production adjustments agreed at the 53rd JMMC meeting on 3 April 2024. They also confirmed their intention to fully compensate any overproduced volume since January 2024 and to submit updated front-loaded compensation plans to the OPEC Secretariat by 15 April 2025 which will be posted on the Secretariat's website.

The eight OPEC+ countries will hold monthly meetings to review market conditions, conformity, and compensation. The eight countries will meet on the 5th of May to decide on June production levels.

How ‘bout, “Deregulate, baby, deregulate!”

I've tried to search google and even ask Chat GPT to create a map for me, but does anyone have a sort of heat map of the US that shows where sweet vs sour gas is produced?

Why don't pump jack operators disguise their equipment more/do they hide them? (Of course, I wouldn't recognize the ones that are disguised.)

Electrical service facilities that would qualify as "eyesores" in urban/developed areas often get surrounded by false building facades, or end up placed inside vacant, hollowed out buildings.

I ask because I was driving South out of Ojai in Southern California and there are plenty of jacks visible from the stretch of 33 between Ventura and Casitas Springs. I would have expected more of the locals to complain about them, honestly.

Dallas Fed Energy Survey of ~130 oil & gas energy executives, March 26, 2025

The company outlook index decreased 12 points to -4.9, suggesting slight pessimism among firms. Meanwhile, the outlook uncertainty index jumped 21 points to 43.1.

On average, respondents expect a West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price of $68 per barrel at year-end 2025; responses ranged from $50 to $100 per barrel. When asked about longer-term expectations, respondents on average said they expect a WTI oil price of $74 per barrel two years from now and $82 per barrel five years from now.

Questions:

• What WTI oil price does your firm need to cover operating expenses for existing wells? The average price across the entire sample is approximately $41 per barrel, up from $39 last year.
• What WTI oil price does your firm need to profitably drill a new well? For the entire sample, firms need $65 per barrel on average to profitably drill, higher than the $64-per-barrel price when this question was asked in 2024 Q1.
• What impact do you expect the 25 percent steel import tariffs to have on your customer demand for 2025?A majority of oil and gas support services firm executives—55 percent—expect the impact of the steel import tariffs to slightly decrease customer demand for 2025.

Comments:

• For the average onshore upstream operator, the current administration versus the previous administration regulatory regime shows no real change at all. We still get our permits from the Railroad Commission in Texas, for example, not the Environmental Protection Agency. The federal regulatory regime matters if you are operating in the Gulf of Mexico or Alaska but not for the Permian, Eagle Ford, Bakken, Utica, etc
• In a strange twist to the administration's hope for more domestic oil and gas production, higher steel tariffs may result in fewer wells completed due to higher completion costs, and, in particular, the cost of oil country tubular goods. The margins are thin enough for many wells, and this will likely result in downward pressure on total wells brought online.
• The rig count is flat and scrap prices are up. Time to scrap more rigs; there are lots of rigs that will never go back to work.
• The key word to describe 2025 so far is “uncertainty” and as a public company, our investors hate uncertainty... At $50-per-barrel oil, we will see U.S. oil production start to decline immediately and likely significantly (1 million barrels per day plus within a couple quarters). This is not “energy dominance.”
• The administration's chaos is a disaster for the commodity markets. "Drill, baby, drill" is nothing short of a myth and populist rallying cry. Tariff policy is impossible for us to predict and doesn't have a clear goal. We want more stability.
• The administration’s tariffs immediately increased the cost of our casing and tubing by 25 percent even though inventory costs our pipe brokers less. U.S. tubular manufacturers immediately raised their prices to reflect the anticipated tariffs on steel. The threat of $50 oil prices by the administration has caused our firm to reduce its 2025 and 2026 capital expenditures. "Drill, baby, drill" does not work with $50 per barrel oil. Rigs will get dropped, employment in the oil industry will decrease, and U.S. oil production will decline as it did during COVID-19.
• The disconnection of oil and natural gas markets, specifically commodity pricing, seems to be causing a feast-or-famine effect on the industry. Companies with natural-gas-weighted assets will spend more money in 2025 developing their assets, but oil-weighted companies will decrease capital spending with the current pressure on oil pricing for 2025.
• Oil prices have decreased while operating costs have continued to increase. To stimulate new activity, oil prices need to be in the $75-$80 per barrel range.  Natural gas take-away in the Permian Basin has not improved for any of my properties, and I am still getting paid slightly negative to barely positive prices for natural gas. Last month I was paid 29 cents per million cubic feet. I feel very negative about the short-term outlook for the oil and gas business.
• I have never felt more uncertainty about our business in my entire 40-plus-year career.

Hi Everyone! I am a University student currently enrolled in a marketing course. For our final group project, we have teamed up with Medatech to gather insights for company marketing research. Medatech is a company that offers sustainable engineering and fuel solutions for a wide variety of sectors. The Borterra division of the company has developed the Rodbot, a hydraulic robotic arm designed to automate the handling and loading of drill rods, with applications in oil, construction and mining!

We’re hoping to gain some potential insights and opinions on Medatech’s current user platform. As such we would greatly appreciate it if you took a few minutes out of your day to help us out with this. Your valuable feedback would help us inform future innovations in the oil, construction and mining industries! The survey is attached in the link below: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd0TB-AIG-VN6qk9iJMGhFZuM_pFojz3u1_76dBVoMaUoHs-g/viewform?usp=dialog