Witness Blog
Fact Sheet: Freeport LNG
One of the U.S.'s largest LNG terminals, Freeport LNG is currently applying to renew and amend its Title V Air Permits. The permits that were supposedly rigorously reviewed by regulators were riddled with errors. They included incorrect coordinates for the Freeport LNG facilities, and one of them has sections that...
Innovation or Panic: The New LNG Funding Model
Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) export is an extremely expensive undertaking. Price tags on new facilities are in the billions of dollars and it often takes years or even decades before a terminal is profitable. Last month, the Natural Gas Union published their quarterly Gas in Transition magazine discussing the current...
Enforcement Capacity in NM’s Permian Basin: A Legislative Tour with NM Lawmakers
Senator Pope, candidate for LT. Governor. Senator Sedilo Lopez. Rep Debra Sarinana. Oil Conservation Director Albert Chang, Albuquerque Councilwoman Tammy Fiebelkorn, and staff from Oilfield Witness and Elected Officials to Protect America. Oilfield Witness recently hosted New Mexico lawmakers for a field tour through the Permian Basin, giving them...
The OGMP’s New Role in EU Methane Regulation
The oil and gas industry and some major environmental NGOs are fighting. That should not surprise anyone, but this fight has put both groups in strange positions. Traditionally the battle between these groups looks like this: the industry claims it is clean or getting cleaner while the environmental movement polices...
Global LNG Industry Growth Will Be Casualty of War
A year ago I wrote this: “The global LNG industry has an economics problem.” That was from an article about how India was more likely to move to renewables to replace coal power generation than LNG (liquefied natural gas aka methane). How did that last year go? By September, Bloomberg reported this:...
Mexico’s Economic Opportunity: Solar and Storage Over U.S. Natural Gas Dependence
Mexico’s increasing dependence on natural gas (methane) imports from the U.S. will lead to higher energy prices for Mexico while missing the opportunity to rapidly transition to solar plus storage. Mexico’s energy system is heavily reliant on imported U.S. natural gas, giving the U.S. incredible leverage over Mexico. The current...
Winter Storm Fern Creates Major Emissions Event
The U.S. loves the legends of the wildcatters drilling for oil while enduring on the American frontier. However, the modern oil and gas industry bears little resemblance to those legends. Today’s oil and gas industry is a fragile web of facilities that is sensitive to high temperatures, low temperatures, wind,...
Lessons from the Bakken
The New York Times recently profiled Harold Hamm, Continental CEO Resources chairman emeritus, and noted how Hamm is advising Trump to go all in on fossil fuels. This should surprise no one as Harold Hamm is a one-trick pony. His one trick is making bold promises about the future of shale oil...
EU Methane Regulations: Trace and Claim
The current negotiations around EU/US methane regulations are being sold to the public based on a major unproven assumption which is being repeated by many of the largest “green” NGOs in Europe and the US. The Assumption: There is already more than enough natural gas (methane) produced in the U.S....
Factsheet: Global Methane Pledge 2025
Last week, the UN released its 2025 Global Methane Pledge report. At 147 pages, the report is dense. Oilfield Witness waded through it so you don’t have too. While framed in an optimistic light, the report’s findings are grim: Even if the fossil fuel industry implemented every feasible methane control...