USAID Blocks DOGE

USAID tried to block DOGE audit

February 3, 2025 Mariel Alumit

Highlights of the Podcast

00:00 – Intro

01:52 – Tariffs on Oil Are a Major Problem for U.S. Refiners

03:38 – USAID tried to block DOGE audit

09:32 – The Geopolitics and Energy Potential of Greenland

10:27 – Zelensky has no idea where most of ‘$200 billion’ in US aid went

11:10 – Shell still expects mid-year launch for LNG Canada

14:58 – Markets Update

17:38 – Chevron Reports Fourth Quarter 2024 Results

18:53 – ExxonMobil Announces 2024 Results

19:38 – Outro

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Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.

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Michael Tanner [00:00:09] What’s going on, everybody? Welcome into the Tuesday, February 4th, 2025, edition of the Daily Energy News. Beat Stand up. Here are today’s top headlines. First up, tariffs on oil are a major problem for U.S. refiners. We’ll dive into that. But yes, absolutely not great. Next up, USAID tried to block Dodge audit. This has a little bit to do with energy and more to do with the fact that we’re funding coups around the world. So we’ll dive into all that. Next up, the geopolitics and energy potential of Greenland. Finally, Zelinski has no idea where most of its 200 billion in US aid went. I wish that was a mistake. Finally, Shell still expects midyear launch for LNG Canada student tosser and me. I will quickly cover what happened in the oil and gas market. Mainly the the kind of the fallout from tariffs. No tariffs, lots going on. There’s dual update us and then we have two earnings come from the big boys Chevron and Exxon dropped their earnings. Pretty much the same message. Record growth was good production, but we will cover all that And a bag of chips, folks, as always, I am Michael Tanner, joined by Stuart Turner who tomorrow we will be get to do a live in person podcast of the new. It won’t be live but we will be in person. I have a feeling we’ll have a special guest, a.k.a. Ray Trevino on the show because we’re all going up in the same Airbnb, but it’s going to be great. I am super excited for Nate. If you are down there, come by Booth 3117. We’re going to be doing podcast throughout the whole day, Wednesday, Thursday, a little bit of Friday. We look forward to seeing you. But Stu, where do you want to begin this show? 

Stuart Turley [00:01:52] Hey, let’s start with tariffs on oil are a major problem for U.S. refiners. Michael, first and this is breaking news as we are recording this, Trudeau called up and said, I give in. So he is already putting $1 billion on the border so he can secure the the Canadian border. So the tariffs. And Trump said, well, we’re going to go ahead and reduce the tariffs. Now, the 10% on Canadian oil import doesn’t break the U.S. refining, but it would add the cost of the refiners in the Midwest and West Coast through a weakened Canadian dollar. So it is important and I’m glad that we’re not going to have to. But just because they’re a chatter head and they say we’re going to put a people on the border and we’re going to stop fentanyl from coming into the United States, doesn’t mean that they’re going to like do a sleight of hand. So this is this is an important point. Also, Michael, if you look at the Canadian pipelines Map Energy East was canceled by the green energy policy folks in Canada in Trudeau’s cabinet. And that could have saved them this whole problem because right now they don’t have a way to transport anything unless it’s on U.S. pipelines. So they would it would really it would have been a major if you take a look at 2% of our GDP is Canada that we actually buy from Canada. They actually tariff our agricultural products and our cars and everything else. Everybody’s over here going, tariffs are bad. Every other country in the world tariffs, the United States. This is an equaling balance of what President Trump is do ing. I’m all in. [00:03:38]Well, let’s go to the next story here. What a bunch of knuckleheads use a tried to block doge [6.8s] audit. You can’t buy this kind of entertainment. Why does this matter to energy, you ask Michael. Go ahead. Asking that. 

Michael Tanner [00:03:54] Why does this matter to energy use? 

Stuart Turley [00:03:56] Aid was the one that actually gave Hunter Biden and Burisma unlimited loans for drilling in Ukraine. Where did all this come from? You’re about to see all of this pile out in the record keeping. They did not want this single thing coming out. So it is absolutely abysmal. No, they tried to cover up their corruption. 

Michael Tanner [00:04:23] Okay. I have a little bit more of a nuanced take on this. Okay. From the standpoint of I’ve never been a fan of USAID. I’ve heard it, you know, you know, if if you would all hang out with Stuart Turley, you understand the deep state, You understand, you know, the where all of the all of the the the the meddling that we do overseas. Okay. Right. A lot of these guys are this they are behind coups in Africa. They’re behind government takeovers in Singapore. But Elon Musk is an unelected official. And the Constitution clearly gives Congress the power of the purse. And so while I am in favor of the moves he is making because they align with. Myself aligned with my political beliefs. I personally believe what he is doing, running around to all of as an unelected bureaucrat. Unelected, you might ask, is no, no, no time over. There is just nobody elected him. You cast their vote for Donald Trump and JD Baird. You didn’t cast a vote for Elon Musk. No, no, no, no. 

Stuart Turley [00:05:26] I’m going to give you my. 

Michael Tanner [00:05:27] No, no, no, no, no. 

Stuart Turley [00:05:28] I’m giving you my opinion. When I’m done. When you’re done, I’m going to give you my opinion. 

Michael Tanner [00:05:32] Okay. If this was George Soros running around doing this for Kamala Harris, you would think this is what’s going on right now is a coup in the United States. I just that’s a fact. So the fact that Elon Musk is doing this gives me cause for pause to say is this precedent that is being set by unelected bureaucrats running around. Yes, shut off the USAID. I’m all for it. But the Constitution clearly gives that authority to Congress. And if we can read the IG, we can read it in the in the in the Constitution. So while I am in favor of what’s going on here, what this does is chill my spine a little bit because this eventually like Chevron, remember the Chevron deference that was passed by Republicans in the Reagan administration who thought giving authority to institutions that they control would be a great thing. Well, guess what happened then? For 20 years, Chevron deference was used by, guess who, Democrats who’ve been in charge for the last 20 years, basically give or take a little bit of George Bush. You can argue whether or not he was a Republican or not. But the point is, I this does give me a little bit of a scare when it comes to precedent and the fact that if George Soros was running around in the same capacity that Elon Musk is running, Kamala Harris’s Department of Government Efficiency, we would be on this show screaming from the high heavens about a government coup. So I’m just nervous. 

Stuart Turley [00:06:54] You let me say, okay, your point is very valid. But here’s the difference. They tried to hide and not allow Elon Musk in. That’s first off. 

Michael Tanner [00:07:05] Because technically the U.S. Congress appropriated money for that know which is given to them by the Constitution. 

Stuart Turley [00:07:11] But they also have been funneling none of this was also being funneled under terrorism and they were going to terrorist other folks. So, no, the Constitution you’re you’re mixing two different things. I don’t money was not did the money was not given to U.S. aid under certain bills. There is a big money hole that’s going on here. 

Michael Tanner [00:07:36] I agree with you on USAID. It’s like, does it matter the end goal or the path you take to get there? You learn that in Sunday school. Does it matter about is does you know just how you get to a right conclusion matter the path I’m what you do in the. 

Stuart Turley [00:07:51] Last year. 

Michael Tanner [00:07:52] USA. I have not given. 

Stuart Turley [00:07:54] Any payments in the last 40 fucking years. 

Michael Tanner [00:07:59] Okay. I agree with you. I agree with you on USAID. My question was, if George Soros was doing this. 

Stuart Turley [00:08:06] To he has been well. 

Michael Tanner [00:08:08] So then two wrongs make a right. I’m just nervous because this power is going to come back to bite us. I don’t mind Elon Musk coming in and implementing new software systems to speed up the government. My issue is in 15 years when the Democrats eventually take over because it’s all cycles, this isn’t just going to be Trump’s not going to be in power for the next 20 years. 

Stuart Turley [00:08:26] No, he’s not. 

Michael Tanner [00:08:26] So what’s going to happen when. 

Stuart Turley [00:08:28] You’re off base? In my opinion, and I think that you are your ideal all your being and I had a dialog on this. When you sit there and you take a look at the trillions of dollars that have been stolen from the American people over the last 40 years, that’s where it is now coming to light. And we’re about to see how far bad it has gotten. What President Trump has also done today was set up a sovereign wealth fund for infrastructure. And going through this, you’re going to see some new things coming around the corner to protect against this coming back around more. 

Michael Tanner [00:09:05] For sovereign wealth, right? Yes, I’m an ideologue, so I like the Constitution. It is great. I know I’m crazy. I know you just mind blowing the Constitution. But, you know, this this just gives me a little bit of a cue and. 

Stuart Turley [00:09:17] Right. You and Ilhan Omar said today that we are now in a constitution, a disaster. Right now, this woman is an illegal alien in the United States that married her brother. And then you and her sounding the same. So I’m all in. [00:09:32]Let’s let’s go to the next story. [1.4s] Sorry. Geopolitics and the energy potential in Greenland. Greenland is now got a bunch of more stuff going on, even though there’s, what, four people up there, Michael. And so there’s 57,000 people up there and Denmark is now reached back out because they’re all of a sudden going, wait a minute, there’s a lot more to this. Russia is the world’s large. Greenland is the world’s largest island lying off the North Atlantic. There’s lots of hydro electric. There’s lots of other stuff in there. Critical minerals. And this. This is really, really cool. Greenland is home to quantities of oil and gas, the Arctic Circle. This is huge. And I think that when you take this, when this is going to end up being a big win, especially with President Trump winning in Panama, you know, they they folded yesterday. [00:10:27]So let’s go to the next story here. [1.3s] Zelensky has no idea where most of the 200 billion went in U.S. aid. Yeah. I wonder why that is. He received far less than the amount repeatedly cited by President Trump and other officials. We’re we’re all in here for 200 billion more than the EU. I mean, are we that stupid? President Trump said last month we spent over 200 billion. Michael, do you know what President Trump just did today? 

Michael Tanner [00:10:55] I know what he do. 

Stuart Turley [00:10:56] He basically is telling Ukraine, we want all your minerals because all the money that we gave you, we now own all your minerals. Now, is that robbery? I don’t know. But I thought it was kind of funny. So we’ll see if that one goes through. [00:11:10]Let’s go to the next story. Shell expects midyear launch [3.0s] for LNG Canada. This is really exciting. And when you take a look at the LNG market around the world, Shell’s finance chief Sinead Gorman said. Analyst and fourth quarter earnings call Thursday that LNG Canada is making great progress and hoping to move forward. This is going to be a big boon for California and for Canada because they are actually able to ship to the Asian market where this is coming out of. This is pretty exciting for them. 

Michael Tanner [00:11:44] Yeah, I mean, I think most countries and companies are shifting towards an LNG first model, especially especially here in the United States when you’re to start seeing, in my opinion, an easier time to build a lot of this. It is crazy. It is one of the largest private investments in Canadian history. It’s going to do 14 million tons per year of LNG with that that are able to be exported and plans to double the capacity through 28. So, I mean, it’s it is kind of insane to do what they’re trying to do. 

Stuart Turley [00:12:11] I it’s great if they do it now. The sad part is most of that is going to go to the sovereign folks over there in the eastern part of Canada and it’s going to be a very big boon for revenue stream that they’re going to just basically steal. You got to love it. 

Michael Tanner [00:12:27] You got to love it. So, all right. Let’s go ahead and jump over and pay the bills. As always, guys, thank you for checking us out here on the world’s greatest website. www.Energy newsbeat.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 speed. Everything you need to know to be the tip of the spear when it comes to the energy and the oil and gas business. We are also proud to announce new sponsor of the show, Reese Energy Consulting. We absolutely love those people. Steve Reese is one of the foremost expert in the business. He has an excellent staff there that will help you out with all your oil and gas marketing needs. You’re getting shorted from your purchaser on gas. I promise you that. I promise you, you’re leaving money on the table, not working with Steve Reese and Reese Energy Consulting. They can go out, they can read, negotiate all of your first, purchase your contract and make sure you get better deals. They also do excellent midstream consulting for all these new LNG facilities. Getting Bill, Steve Reese and Reese Energy Consulting is the team I would want to call. Give them a call, guys. Check them out. Reese Energy consulting.com. We’ll have all of their links in the description below. You can also check out that description for all links at the timestamps links to the articles you’re about to hear. Subscribe to us on substack. That’s the best way to support the show. Stu has been dropping some tremendous paid for on the articles there. We really appreciate all the hard work him and the team have put into that. It’s a great resource for everything. I mean, as always, guys, and if you need more information on how to get involved and become Billy Bob Thornton from Land Men and finally invest in oil and gas. Go ahead and hit that description below and invest in oil. That energy news. Be decomp and you will find everything, everything out to do that. And ultimately, guys, you will be Billy Bob Thornton from Land Man. We’re going to be seeing a lot of those people down at napes do. I can’t read it right. We are excited to be down there. Booth one or Booth 3117. Come check us out. We shooting our podcast there. We’ll be shooting the crude truth there. David Blackman’s going to be relaunching his podcast. Who all do you have lined up to? 

Stuart Turley [00:14:30] It’s kind of crazy. Let me get to the calendar here. And we have a ton of folks here. We’ve got Steve Reese. Yes, we have Steve Canard. We have Doug Sandridge, we have Rachel with W Energy, we have Jeff Krim. 

Michael Tanner [00:14:47] All of Jeff. 

Stuart Turley [00:14:49] We love Jeff. So it’s going to be just pretty crazy. 

Michael Tanner [00:14:52] It’s going to be crazy. Check us out there again. Booth 3117. Guys, go ahead and check us out there. [00:14:58]All right, let’s go. And [0.8s] looking at some of the some of the markets, the really interesting day markets were up, then they were down. Her markets started down actually rose day intraday. But day over day lost about 3 or 3 quarters of a percentage point. Nasdaq down a little bit more. A lot to do with the on again, off again tariffs that happened, as you mentioned a little bit about that’s a two and ten year yields. The spread was actually like 8/10 of a percent. So two years up one full percentage points, ten year yields down 2/10 of a percentage point. Dollar index basically flat. Bitcoin was down all the way below 95,000. It’s since risen above 1 to 1 for about four and a half percentage points. Good, about $101,000. Crude oil, it was down day over day, mainly, again, due to the fact of these tariffs. 7316 was the saddle price up 8/10 of a percentage point intraday or since then the closing here at about noon. Brant oil basically flat, 7585. Natural gas, big, big spike up ten percentage points or about $0.30 up to $3.35. Stu So it was a pretty unbelievable day. Again, the on again off again tariffs that we did see from Mexico is is a little bit a little bit crazy. You know, we we we we both saw as Canada and Mexico both kind of called back their tariffs that they had put on there. Mexico agreed to reinforce its northern border in order to stem the flow of both illegals. But I think also what he’s worried about is the drugs. As you know, a lot of fentanyl comes through the border there. I think a lot of this tariffs are remains to be seen on the out on the kind of the fallout from the economy. Most of the countries that we’re putting tariffs on, we actually buy more goods from them that we then we sell to them. So from the standpoint of who pays the tariff, whether the exporter pays the tariff. So if we’re if Canada is exporting more, then we’re exporting to them on a net basis. Canada’s panic now from China as well. I slightly disagree on the China tariff or excuse me, I agree on on the China tariff, I agree on New Mexico, the Mexico tariff and the Canadian tariff. The problem is we export a lot of goods to a lot of other countries. So us having exports on on other things could could get interesting. We do about 3.8 billion of imports of Canadian crude oil. So they clearly didn’t want that. A 25% spread put on that. You know, and especially coming out of Canada, it’s that heavier crude grade which we need to fill up our refineries, which is part of the part of the reason why they’re so fairly, fairly interesting. There will be interesting to how the markets digest some of this. We saw Chevron and Exxon earnings, nothing really to talk about other than both had really [00:17:36]record earnings on Chevron [0.9s] side, 3.2 billion of earnings adjusted earnings came in at just under 3.6 billion. Total earnings for total year 24 was up or was at 17.6 million barrels. Are $1 million Billion dollars excuse me, that’s actually down from 2023, which was at 21.3 billion. But the majority of that was made up on they actually increased upstream revenue from 17.4 billion for the total year up to 18.6. They saw about a $5 million to $5 billion drop in it downstream earnings, which is which is, you know, again, has a lot to do with where gas prices are on some other stuff. There is, you know, they spent about four, you know, 4.3 billion in capital in the third quarter compared to 4.1 in Q3. In 2023. They spent about 15.8 billion in capital, and in 2024, they spent about 16.4 billion in terms of off production growth. That $16 billion just raised production from 1.3 are from 3.1 million barrels, a whopping 200,000 BOE a day to 3.3 million per day. So that’s a lot of billions to raise it such a small amount. I always love looking at those numbers. [00:18:53]ExxonMobil, on the other hand, are [1.5s] pretty, pretty great. Their U.S. earnings were a down technically year over year by about 2.3 billion, 33.6 billion a full year 2024 and full year 2023 was 36.8 billion. Again, spending about 1.2 more billion a year for a slight, slight production increase, which again, I always find hilarious. It goes to show you guys how how difficult it is to obtain debt, to drill, to drill good quality, productive wells in the United States. You’re always fighting decline curves. So it’s it’s fairly fascinating there. But you guys can check all that out on energy news be.com which is the best place for all of your earnings stuff Stu what did I miss? [00:19:38]Do what shall people be worried about? [1.0s]

Stuart Turley [00:19:40] Well the Canadian tariffs. President Trump is going to review those again in 30 days to make sure that the border is secure. And so I think we’re going to be buckling up. You’re going to see some more financial changes and you’re going to find out how corrupt our government really was. 

Michael Tanner [00:19:57] It’s going to be crazy guys again. And we look forward to seeing everybody at night. With that, we will let you guys get out of here, get back to work. Appreciate you guys, as always. For Stuart Turley. I’m Ilhan Omar. We will see you guys tomorrow. For another show.