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Daily Standup Top Stories
Spain and Portugal Hit by Widespread Blackout
ENB Pub Note: The grid interconnects between countries are not beneficial for a country’s grid security. If you cannot control it within your own borders, you can not control it outside of your borders, and […]
US Urges Eastern Europe to Split From EU Energy Transition Aims
ENB Pub Note: Net Zero and the Green New Deal spending have been disastrous for energy prices and the ecological impact on the globe. Net-zero spending typically includes investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean […]
California’s New Oil Drilling Permits Drop From Thousands to Dozens per Year
ENB Pub Note: I am interviewing Mike Umbro and Ronald Stein on this huge California issue tomorrow, and it will be released within a week. California is now considered a national security risk due to […]
Big Oil Could Trim Buybacks After Price Rout – But Oil and Gas is still a good investment
ENB Pub Note: This article by Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com makes some excellent points. I still feel that energy, Utility, critical minerals, oil, and gas are still good investments. There are some great deals available, […]
Highlights of the Podcast
00:00 – Intro
01:37 – Spain and Portugal Hit by Widespread Blackout
07:26 – US Urges Eastern Europe to Split From EU Energy Transition Aims
09:17 – California’s New Oil Drilling Permits Drop From Thousands to Dozens per Year
11:58 – Big Oil Could Trim Buybacks After Price Rout – But Oil and Gas is still a good investment
17:53 – Markets Update
19:54 – Outro
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– Get in Contact With The Show –
Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.
Michael Tanner: [00:00:00] New segment called Stu Conspiracy Corner because obviously this is some sort of cyber attack but I want to get into your mind a little bit. What do you think is going on here? [00:00:08][8.7]
Stuart Turley: [00:00:09] Well, if you really want my honest opinion, I think that the EU and the as an organization is in trouble, and the EU is looking at ways of controlling the population, and if there are massive blackouts, the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab said that there will blackouts and we will take you down. [00:00:32][22.9]
Michael Tanner: [00:00:39] What’s going on everybody? Welcome into the Tuesday, April 29th, 2025 edition of the Daily Energy Newsbeat. Stand up, here are today’s top headlines. First up, holy smokes, this is a big one, folks. Spain and Portugal hit by widespread blackout. Unbelievable, we’ll cover it from all angles. Next up, US urges Eastern Europe to split from EU amid energy transition aims. Interesting one here. Next up, California’s new oil drilling permits drop from a thousand to dozens per year. Finally, big oil could trim buybacks after price route, but oil and gas is still a good investment. This could be on the finance side, but we’re going to leave it in the news section and then we’ll just kick over and lightly, lightly cover what happened in the oil and gas markets today as we gear up for a big round of earnings. As always, I am Michael Tanner joined by Stuart Turley. I’d say, where do you want to begin? [00:01:36][56.7]
Stuart Turley: [00:01:37] But we’ve got to start with Spain and Portugal. We got to start with Spain and, and Michael, I just want to say this real quickly. Energy security starts at home and we’ll come back to this comment here in a little bit, but Spain and Portugal hit by widespread blackout. It eased over into France and a few others. And where we in the United States only have grid interconnects with Mexico and snow Mexico, I mean Canada, you have France-Germany interconnects, you have Spain interconnects you have UK, they’re all interconnected up there and I put all of those in this article, Michael, to go through all those here in a bit, but the Spain-France Beksa Santa leg leg of it is 2,800 megawatts France Germany is 13.6 gigawatts. Spain-Germany connected via France. Then you have Spain-Portugal. This whole thing. And Javier Blas put out a great post. It was about solar was 60 percent. Wind was 12 percent. Nuclear was a good solid 11 percent. But you have a combined cycle or what they call Dispatchable or no inertia? Inertia is what’s called dispatchable or power plants that are spun up and that’s called inertia. So gas fired was less than 3%. They basically idled all of their non-dispatchable power. I mean it was just unbelievable. Was this, how was this done? And so when the sun goes down, it’s evening there in Spain now, past the siesta time and they’re now end of the dinner hour. If they haven’t gotten it fixed yet, they got some serious boo-goo problems today. [00:03:25][108.2]
Michael Tanner: [00:03:25] Yeah. I mean, obviously our hearts and thoughts and prayers go out to everybody in, in Spain who’s affected by this. I mean there’s untold number, I mean there’s, there’s going to be a, a body count associated with this energy. As Stu pointed out is secure. It’s one of the reasons why, you know, we pound the, our fists on the table to, for the United States to watch out to this stuff. It’s pretty unbelievable. This blackout started this morning or really last night and kind of rolled over. Into the morning as you said it not only affected Spain and Portugal did bleed into France a little bit You know right now there’s there’s kind of there’s really one cause or at least what they’re telling us is the cause Is some sort of cyber attack whether that’s state-sponsored whether it’s a rogue group, you know Or whether it is a combination of the two like kind of a hamas situation where iran is really sponsoring hamas, but then Iran can say when Hamas does something, we’re at an arms length. I’m not saying either of those two are involved. I’m just kind of using the idea of some sort of non-governmental backed, but kind of governmental backed organization. I mean, it’s pretty crazy. Things are still out right now. I mean we’re sitting here at about five 30 central time, right? Stu, things are still. [00:04:36][70.7]
Stuart Turley: [00:04:37] Yes, and it’s really a big deal. It is bringing to light the, and a good pun, by the way, it’s bringing to life the horrific problem of renewable energy that is not renewable, it is not sustainable, and is not dispatchable. That is the critical part. In the article on energynewsbeat.co Robert LaFargo from France on LinkedIn wrote, a massive block out has struck in Spain, Portugal and parts of France, but he puts in here possible causes for state cyber attack, but he also says that it could have really been a cyber attack. And Michael, I want to bring this up To a very big point to our listeners on Energy Newsbeat. The Biden administration put back into the grid. Let me make this very clear from a wall street journal article that I reported on two years ago they put back in to the grid grid components that can be cyber hacked by China and shut down 490 different major interconnects that can be shut down by China. So this is a real thing. Energy security starts at home. [00:05:55][78.5]
Michael Tanner: [00:05:55] Yeah, I want to start a new segment called Stu Conspiracy Corner because obviously this is some sort of cyber attack But I want get into your mind a little bit. What do you think’s going on here? [00:06:06][10.3]
Stuart Turley: [00:06:06] Well, if you really want my honest opinion, I think that the EU and the as an organization is in trouble, and the EU is looking at ways of controlling the population. And if there are massive blackouts, the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab said that there will be blackouts and we will take you down. Would you believe that the man is just nutty enough, he just retired, but are his mechanisms still in place? Yeah! [00:06:37][30.8]
Michael Tanner: [00:06:38] Be prepared. [00:06:38][0.3]
Stuart Turley: [00:06:39] Good old Klaus Schwab, I knew you had [00:06:40][1.6]
Michael Tanner: [00:06:41] crazy cooking behind there. [00:06:42][1.1]
Stuart Turley: [00:06:42] I’m not saying it is. I’m saying that it is a cyber attack, or it was non-dispatchable power that they’ve overdone on the grid. And they’re absolutely… grid planning is horrific. [00:06:57][14.4]
Michael Tanner: [00:06:58] You go with Klaus Schwab, I’m going to say it was the Ukrainian Seals. [00:07:01][3.0]
Stuart Turley: [00:07:02] That’s my vote. I’m gonna go with the dolphins. The Ukrainian dolphins training the Ukraine seals and he was brainwashed by Schwab. Help the lizard people. [00:07:11][9.4]
Michael Tanner: [00:07:11] Well, there you go. But no, but in all seriousness, guys, just to kind of wrap this up, really scary situation, what’s going on in Spain and Portugal, prayers go out to everybody there, you know, we will keep you updated as, as new information rules out, but super scary stuff. Let’s jump, let’s jump over to some more geopolitical stuff here. You bet. [00:07:29][17.9]
Stuart Turley: [00:07:30] U.S. Urges Eastern Europe to split from the EU energy transition aims. Michael, there is no energy transition. What? There’s no energy transition. I mean, we are the only thing out of the trillions of dollars that wind and solar and hydrogen have added to is the use of more fossil fuels. And if you take a look at this article, it was pretty cool. I added a bunch of stuff in here. Global spending, approximately $1.8 trillion, was invested in clean energy in 2023. But you know how much power that added? How much? Not even enough to cover the extra demand. It did not add a blip to it. Secretary Wright is announcing over there in the EU, and this brings up the EU loss of power, not loss of power as in light bulb power. But they are losing power and secretary right is over there the partnership between the u.s poland and italy and then president trump starts negotiating his trade tariff deals individually countries the eu trading block is actually worthless this is a big it’s related everything is related in these stories here. [00:08:43][73.7]
Michael Tanner: [00:08:44] Yeah, no, I think it’s funny how it’s Eastern Europe and not necessarily Western Europe, but that does include a contingent of Poland, Belarus, obviously you have Ukraine, Russia. It’s going to be very interesting. Again, I Think this focuses specifically on Poland. I love seeing Chris Wright, good friend of the show, as I might add, get out there and talk about this stuff. We need to get him back on or we may need to make a trip to DC to get him on a show because this is all the stuff that he’s going. [00:09:11][26.6]
Stuart Turley: [00:09:11] Right now, you know, get my bicycle and start driving now. [00:09:14][3.3]
Michael Tanner: [00:09:15] Yeah, no, no kidding. So all right, let’s move to California. This one’s crazy. [00:09:19][3.7]
Stuart Turley: [00:09:19] I’m interviewing tomorrow Mike Umbro, who is also a great friend of the show, and Ronald Stein on this big issue. We talked about it last week with California’s war on oil, and Gavin Newsom goes like this, Michael, he goes, who me? A war on Oil? Me? I have not. I think we need oil. What an idiot. This and the title of this article is California’s new drilling permits drop from thousands to dozens per year. This exemplifies what a horrific energy policy looks like. Statistics provided by the California Department of Conservation to the Epoch Times show that new drilling permits in the state increased from 1,788 in 2018 to 2,676. In 2019 and then decreased 1,994 in 2020. Since then new permits plummeted from 564 in 2021 and 561. Michael we’re talking only 500 wells. We’re talking California was energy independent before Gavin Newsom got into office and he has destroyed the state. [00:10:40][80.7]
Michael Tanner: [00:10:40] Yeah, I think this is hilarious right now. So California Geological Energy Management Division, CalGEM, is the one, is kind of the regulating body that approves these permits. Get this, Stu. Currently, the rules say that if CalGem doesn’t reply within 10 days, a permit is automatically approved. The catch? CalGems will send an email automatically acknowledging receipt of the application, but then doesn’t respond for years. And that’s according to State Senator Shannon Grove, who represents the bakers for field area so you get an auto reply of hey we got it you we got it with it’s it’s a lot of money to it you know if you’ve ever hung out at the dvd you know how slow things can get so [00:11:23][42.4]
Stuart Turley: [00:11:24] Man, watching paint dry is a whole new meaning. So I’m excited about this entire thing. And you know who the losers are in this, Michael? What? The consumers in there. We’ve also had a story run on energynewsbeat.co. We had a story about the gasoline prices in a new study that was, wait for it, not caused by pilfering or theft. It was 100% based on their policy. [00:11:53][28.7]
Michael Tanner: [00:11:53] Yeah, unbelievable, unbelievable. [00:11:56][2.2]
Stuart Turley: [00:11:55] By a university at Stanford. [00:11:57][1.7]
Michael Tanner: [00:11:58] Let’s let’s move to this last one here. This is an interesting kind of crossover [00:12:01][3.6]
Stuart Turley: [00:12:02] Big oil could trim buybacks after price route, but oil and gas is still a good investment. I love my oil and gasses investments. Currently about 35% returns. I like it. Analysts anticipate some big oil companies may announce reduced share buyback programs. Investors are focused on how companies will address the recent drop in oil prices, and companies are reporting Q1 earnings this week with additional future on financial plans. Michael, ESG investing did do a great job for the oil and gas governance side of the ESG, and that means that they’re giving back their money to their investors. If it’s one quarter that you don’t get a buyback program, hey, it’s not a big deal. When you look at the overall reaching prices, I’m still a permable right now based off of everything I’m seeing. [00:12:57][54.9]
Michael Tanner: [00:12:59] Is so what you know to give you the answer and then I’ll explain why I think this is the answer big oil and analysts disagree with you they think oil prices are going to be down because if prices are going down obviously if you’re an oil and gas company your stock is fairly tethered to oil and gas prices your revenue is somewhat tailored to prices specifically if you know if you in the shale business. And so if your, if your long-term view say over the next 6 to 12 to 18 months, is that oil prices are going to rise significantly in this intermediate term where your stock price has dropped because prices have dropped. Wouldn’t you want to increase buybacks? Or so because you can acquire your own stock at a buy low, sell high sort of strategy at a lower price and then see the appreciation if Stu is correct that prices will go to $80 by the end of the year. But that’s not what they’re doing. These analysts are expecting share buyback cuts. Specifically Exxon, they see moving to the lower end of their guidance from a share buy back perspective. They also may announce Chevron might do that as well as BP. So what these analysts are saying is we believe oil prices are going to continue to stay low. This is going to be a drag on the stock. Why buy back the stock and just keep that and help leverage your balance sheet? So, yes, I- I think there’s a lot of good arguments why oil prices should be a permable, like Stu would say, and be higher, but that’s not what these oil companies are signaling. So I think it’s a very interesting twist in there from that standpoint. I think what you’ll see is super majors outperform pure play EMP companies because of their midstream and downstream and trading operations, which is where, and that always happens. These super majors don’t go down quite as much when the market tanks. quite as much when the market rises, because they have these other lines of business that are a little bit more steady. Specifically, when prices are down, you see some of these trading chemicals and trading division end up actually making more money. So I think it’s very fascinating. I’d love to be a permable, but I think what the data Stu is showing us is the opposite. [00:15:18][138.3]
Stuart Turley: [00:15:18] Well, but also take a look at natural gas. Natural gas is at the lowest it has been in five years in this year’s storage right now. So, you know, some of the other stuff is oil and gas. You’re still going to see some decent gas prices going on for a while. [00:15:33][14.9]
Michael Tanner: [00:15:34] So we will see, guys. Let’s quickly just cover oil and gas prices before we do that. Let’s go ahead and pay the bills. As always, thank you for checking us out on the world’s greatest website, www.energynewsbee.com, the best place for all your energy and oil and gas news. Stu and the team do a tremendous job making sure that website stays up to Everything you need to know to be at the tip of the spear when it comes to the energy and the oil and gas business. Go ahead and hit that description below. All links to the timestamps. Links to the articles you can also check us out via the link to our sub stack the energy newsbeat dot sub stack dot com we’ve got some great great stuff coming up for that and we are super super excited to be rolling out much more content it’s a great way to support the show we’d also like to give a quick shout out to our friends over at reese energy consulting the best oil natural gas and lng midstream company guys if you are in the upstream space and you’re not working with a marketing company I promise They’re going to get you. Multiple dollars back on your, well, I can’t promise you that, because maybe you do have a great deal with your midstream first purchaser, but you might not, and the people that will tell you is Reese Energy Consulting, if you’re an upstream company, if you’re in the midstream company, I’d highly recommend calling them. They can help you out with everything, which way. We really appreciate their support. Tell them that Energy Newsbeat sent you, and you will get a thousand percent discount on your services. That’s a joke for all the legal people watching, but… You definitely give us a shout when you head their way. And finally, guys, it’s never too early to start thinking about your 2025 portfolio and how it’s going to shake out. If you are interested in becoming Billy Bob Thornton from Landman, so when you watch season two, as it drops end of this year, maybe early next year, you can be like, hey, that’s me. We have all the info on how you can get involved in oil and gas investing. Go to investinoil.energynewsbeat.com. You got three great benefits by investing and oil and gas. Portfolio diversification, a nice tax deduction, and some sweet monthly dividends. That’s key. So if you just, if you need a tax deduction, that’s great. A lot of ways to get tax deductions, but there’s only a few ways to get tax deductions and make a little bit of money on top of diversifying your portfolio. And finally, on top of becoming Billy Bob Thornton from Lamott, and that’s investing in oil and gas, invest in oil.energynewsbeat.com or hit that link in the description below. Let’s look at the indices, Stu, S&P 500, basically flat, same with the NASDAQ. On the day, two and 10 year yields fell tremendously. Two year yields down 1.7 percentage points, 10 year yield. Down 1.15 percentage points. Dollar index dropped about six tenths of a percentage point. Bitcoin about up a percent, trading basically at $95,000. Crude oil, pretty much flat or not flat. It was about, I would say, you know, it was kind of up and down all day. Up, opened above $63, rose a little bit and then kind of tumbled down where we’re sitting at about $62 as we record this here at about 6 p.m. Central time on the 28th. Brent Oil, same deal, dropped about two percentage points, 65.68 natural gas, up big to $3.31 mainly on coming expected heat wave, but really what caused that jump was the rollover from the April to May contract. As I mentioned, prices dropped today mainly on the fact that this US-China trade war seems to continuing. To increase down about 1.5 percentage points on the Brent side. WTI again was down about 1.54 percentage points. Here’s the quote from Gary Cunningham, director of market research and energy. This wait and see attitude coming out of the US China talks is leaving a bad taste in people’s mouths. If the talks go bad, you could see a drop in demand for oil from China. You know, you know, President Trump has said, and Beijing have both said that progress is being made to de-escalate this trade war. The question is what happens. We also did know that some OPEC countries are expecting to suggest that the group increases oil output for those hikes for the second consecutive month. So that sentiment has kind of turned everything bearish, you know, which is interesting. Not much has happened. You know, the blackout that happened in Spain, no real effect on the prices, but it’s, it’s pretty spicy stew. You know we’re gearing up tomorrow for a big earnings day. So I hope everybody stays, stays frosty for that one. Anything I’m missing, Stu? No, should be a great day tomorrow. Should be a great day, guys. Well, we appreciate you sticking with us through this episode and we’re going to let you guys get back to it as always. I am Michael Tanner joined by Stuart Turley. Thank you for checking us out on the world’s greatest podcast. We’ll see you tomorrow folks. [00:15:34][0.0][909.1]
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