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March 20, 2022Blog

TEXAS COMPTROLLER INVESTIGATING FINACIAL COMPANIES FOR OIL AND GAS BOYCOTTING

Texas is America’s biggest oil-producing state and seeks to acknowledge the financial institutions’ fossil fuel investment procedures and policies. Texas Comptroller, Glenn Hegar, is questioning 19 major financial companies to clarify whether they are boycotting the fossil fuel industry. According to Reuters, this includes the world’s largest resource manager BlackRock and a few top U.S. banks, such as JPMorgan and Wells Fargo.
The Senate Bill 13 was passed on June 14, 2021 and effective on September 1, 2021 in the state of Texas. This new law declares that Texas state agencies that invest funds from investing in financial companies that boycott energy companies is prohibited.
To implement the bill, Hegar sent a letter of clarification to the 19 financial firms’ oil and gas stance.
“A company that fails to provide clarification 60 days after receiving this letter will be presumed to be boycotting energy companies,” the Comptroller’s office said in a statement on Wednesday, March 16.
“Numerous companies and their leadership are pushing an environmental and social agenda that not only threatens Texas economy and jobs, but also undermines national security. All of this comes at a time when Texas oil and natural gas should be playing a key role in supporting the American economy and providing security for our allies abroad,” Hegar continued.
Comptroller Hegar will be sending more letter to over 100 other publicly traded investment companies that appear to fund boycotting fossil fuels.
“These companies will be asked to list all of their mutual funds and ETFs that refuse to invest in fossil fuels. Responses collected from these entities will help finalize the Comptroller’s list of companies that boycott the fossil fuel sector,” the Comptroller’s office assured.

March 9, 2022Blog

OIL PRICES CLIMB AS BIDEN DECLARES FULL BAN ON RUSSIAN ENERGY IMPORTS

“Today, I’m announcing the United States is targeting the main artery of Russia’s economy. We’re banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy. That means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at U.S. ports and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin’s war machine,” President Biden said in a White House announcement.

The invasion of Ukraine resulted in severe sanction responses from the US, the EU, and the UK in regard to the International SWIFT system which was only the beginning of cutting off Russian commodities. On Tuesday, the United States declared a ban on energy product imports from Russia without the inclusion of European allies. This ban consists of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and coal, says an anonymous source from Bloomberg.

President Biden understood that not every European ally is in the position to include themselves in sanctioning Russia’s energy supplies. Analysts say that if the West bans Russian oil, international crude prices can potentially reach $150 per barrel. Therefore, the full ban decision was considered in close consultation with its European allies.

So far, Western allies have abstained from sanctions on Russia’s energy exports due to the concerns of shortages in the oil market. Europe is more reliant on Russian oil than the US.

“Currently, there is no way to secure Europe’s supply of energy for heat generation, mobility, power supply, and industry,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says.

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