all quiet in the energy space

with key earnings over the next few weeks

Big West Texas skies

Highlights

(Petrolytic) - All is eerily quiet in the energy space. And while natural gas prices recovered from an early week decline, both gas and crude closed within a pretty tight range. In any case, the key highlights to begin this week:

Oil & Gas

• WTI open: $41.26/bbl

• Brent open: $43.35/bbl

• Natural gas open: $1.80/Mmbtu

• Crude oil refining -103 kbopd to 14.2 mmbopd (week of 7/17)

• US crude oil imports +373 kbopd to 5.9 mmbopd (week of 7/17)

• US commercial crude inventories + 4.9 mmbbl to 536.6 mmbbl

• US active oil rigs +1 to 181

• US active gas rigs 0-3 to 68

• Int'l active rigs -24 to 781 (Canada is + 10 to 42; big jump)

• US active frac spreads +13 to 80

Renewables

• ExxonMobil collaborates on discovery of carbon capture enhancement - The company, along with UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs have discovered a new material that could capture 90% of CO2 emitted from industrial sources

• Opinion piece on India revisiting the National Renewable Energy Policy

• Goldman Sachs takes over solar project - First Solar announced the acquisition of the 123MW AC American Kings Solar project in California.
  

• Cobalt: $12.93/lb

• Lithium carbonate: $3.29/lb

• Nickel: $6.11/lb

• Solar photovoltaic module: $0.21/peak watt

• Uranium: $32.90/lb

Electric Power Energy Source

EIA net generation by energy source

Earnings

In case you missed it, many oilfield services companies released Q2 earnings last week; including Schlumberger, Halliburton, and Baker Hughes. Similarly, a number of high-profile E&P's are set to disclose this week. Among these are:

• Shell - July 30 before market open

• Total - July 30

• ExxonMobil - July 31 before market open

• Chevron - July 31 before market open

• Eni - July 31

Looking forward to the next few weeks are renewable energy earnings. These include:

• SunPower Corp – August 5 before market open

• First Solar, Inc – August 6, after market close

• Brookefield Renewable Partners – August 7 before market open

While the office 10-Q filings aren't typically available for a few weeks post-earnings release, we can still glean interesting data. For example, we're interested in CARES Act benefits and layoffs. While Baker Hughes noted a $75 MM benefit, they also reported significant layoffs. This in contrast with the Halliburton and Schlumberger filings; neither of these two firms reported a benefit. Schlumberger, however, did announce a significant 21,000 jobs-cut.

Have a great Monday, and stay safe.