Good morning, here's what the Oilman has for you today:

• Seven EU States Aim for Zero-Carbon Grids

• Billionaire of the Week: Tim Dunn

• Upcoming Oil and Gas Events

• Tweet of the Day

Seven EU States Aim for Zero-Carbon Grids

Seven EU countries have announced a pledge to become carbon-free in their electricity generation by 2035.

The list includes tiny states such as Austria and Luxembourg but also France and Germany.

Quite an ambition as the bloc returns to coal and gas.

A flexible definition of “renewable”

At first glance, the pledge looks quite funny.

I mean, Germany recently closed its nuclear plants and reopened a coal mine.

So it’s really hard to see it go full-zero in emissions from the grid in a little over 10 years.

But there’s a catch. Of course, there’s a catch.

All these countries have interconnected grids.

So they can import “green” electricity from each other.

France is very green, thanks to nuclear.

Austria is also green, thanks to hydro, pretty much like Norway.

These are not exactly expansion-ready resources, especially hydro.

So it would be up to wind and solar to make up the difference to 100% green grid.

Not going to happen

It’s not going to happen, however, because it can’t happen.

Did you know that Germany just closed a massive 4-billion-euro deal with Norway?

It’s for gas deliveries over the long term, and it’s the largest deal Equinor has closed in 40 years.

So much for going full-renewable.

Not to mention how much it would cost to expand the grid to accommodate all the wind and solar.

Which won’t work.

Because it will just cost too much.

There are already plenty of estimates about the cost of a grid expansion of such scale.

We’re talking about hundreds of billions, whatever the currency.

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Billionaire of the Week: Tim Dunn

Another Permian success story

One of the richest Texans, notorious for his generous support for the Republican Party in the state, Tim Dunn is worth $1.3 billion to date.

It wasn’t always like this.

Shotgun career

When Tim Dunn was in high school, he played lead guitar in a band.

He also had plans for law school.

As it often happens, life had its own plans.

He found himself married and a father right after graduating from university.

To support that family, he started work at Exxon.

In hindsight, this probably sealed his fate as an oilman.

From Parker and Parsley to CrownRock

Dunn joined a company named Parker and Parsley in the late 1980s.

By the mid-90s, the company had gone from near-bankrupt to a growth engine.

We all know it today as Pioneer Natural Resources.

Well, until Exxon bought it.

Dunn set up his own company, CrownRock, in the mid-90s.

That gave him a place in the front row of the shale revolution.

With 140,000 bpd in production, CrownRock was among the biggest Permian producers.

Until two weeks ago, when Oxy snapped it for $12 billion.

The inconvenient billionaire

Tim Dunn is notorious for his ultra-conservative political and religious views.

He’s so notorious, in fact, that after the CrownRock sale, some worried it would give him more financial power to promote these views.

Chances are he doesn’t care about that.

Not with $12 billion in the family chest.

Upcoming Oil & Gas Events

• January 16: TIPRO/IPAA Leaders in Industry Luncheon, Petroleum Club of Houston, Houston, TX

• January 17: IPAA Private Capital Conference, The Post Oak at Uptown Houston, Houston, TX

• January 17-18: GO-WV Winter Meeting, Marriott Town Center Hotel, Charleston, WV

• January 18: Kansas Oil and Gas Day Legislative Reception, Kansas State Capital, Topeka, KS

• January 23-25: POWERGEN International, Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans

Around the Global Patch

🇹🇷 Turkey leverages NATO bid in diplomacy.
🇨🇳 China's surging unconventional gas boom.
🇷🇺 Russia's robust oil exports to China and India soar.

Tweet of the Day

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