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

• BP Prays 🙏 That Argus Lives Up to Its Mythological Namesake

• Biden’s F+ ESG Rating with LNG Project Approval

• Tweet of the Day

BP Prays That Argus Lives Up to Its Mythological Namesake

Thirteen years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP has started its first new deepwater platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

Dubbed Argus, the platform should help boost BP’s Gulf output by 20%.

But the Oilman knows what you’re really wondering…

What’s an Argus?

It’s a Greek mythical creature with a bazillion eyes. It’s known to be “a watchful guardian.”

So…BP wants their new platform to be known as a mythological guardian as opposed to a disaster that did zero favors for public opinion on the oil & gas industry.

Remember that? BP was saddled with more than $60 billion in penalty payments after the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, and the industry faced much tougher technical requirements to avoid a repeat.

You’d think after such an ordeal, BP would try and become invisible in the Gulf.

It did for a while.

Remember when British Petroleum rebranded to Beyond Petroleum?

Because the general public totally forgets that you produce fossil fuels when you change your name…right?

But BP is no longer going beyond petroleum. It is returning to it…

Living on a prayer

Three years ago when CEO Bernard Looney took the helm of BP, he took a leap of faith and pledged a fast transition to a renewable-energy-focused business model.

Three years later, the Green energy gods have not smiled upon BP.

Looney’s not happy with the returns BP is seeing from its renewable energy investments.

Any honest ESG fund manager could’ve told him it was to be expected.

So BP is:

• Falling back on oil and gas in a big way

• Delaying emission reduction targets

• And even opening a new platform in the Gulf of Mexico

With major losses on their “energy transition”, BP is hoping Argus boosts their gulf oil production. 🙏 But **Spoiler alert** In Greek mythology, Zeus sends Hermes to cut off Argus’ head.

Let’s hope BP does better with their Argus platform.

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Biden’s F+ ESG Rating with LNG Project Approval

After greenlighting the Willow oil project in Alaska, President Biden this week angered climate activists with another fossil fuel project approval.

The Alaska LNG project will cost close to $40 billion and should be operational by 2030.

Economic interests trump climate alarm

Per a Reuters report, the administration carried out an environmental assessment of the project and found it perfect.

That means it found Alaska LNG had economic and international security benefits.

Of course it would – look at the state of LNG demand these days. Thanks, Europe!

But the White House also slapped climate activist opponents by telling them they’d failed to show evidence exports from the Alaska LNG facility would go against “the public interest.”

Now that’s awkward.

The administration itself is all in on the energy transition. It’s putting $370 billion on it.

This should mean the transition is in the public interest…

It should also mean that fossil fuels go against that interest…

But, it’s complicated…like Biden’s school records.

The LNG play is a long-term energy security bet

The U.S. is flush with cheap natural gas. It’s so cheap its price has dropped below $2 per mmBtu.

And the domestic market is saturated.

Is there anything that makes more sense than building infrastructure to send more of that gas overseas? It’s doubtful.

So, it’s good for the industry. But it’s also good for cutting emissions.

The main export market for Alaska LNG will be Asia.

Asia was until recently trying to quit coal and replace it with LNG, but then LNG got so expensive they went back to coal.

Alaska LNG would make total sense unless opponents get their way.

And that would be a major win for coal in Asia

Around the Global Patch

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🇨🇳 China's Insatiable Thirst for Oil Reaches New Heights: Imports Skyrocket
🇷🇺 Putin Rules Russia Without A Smartphone! What's He Hiding?

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