2022
June 30, 2022
Dismukes on On Par with the President
CES Executive Director and Professor David Dismukes appears on the June 30 episode of On Par with the President, a podcast hosted by Louisiana State University President William F. Tate IV. In this segment, Dismukes discusses gasoline prices, energy, the global impact of Louisiana’s energy industry, and more.
The On Par podcast features LSU students, faculty, or staff who are at the very top of their game about their journey to success, setting and fulfilling goals, creating a legacy, and a variety of other topics.
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April 20, 2022
New Report Provides Policy Makers Guidance on Plugging and Abandoning Offshore Wells
Center for Energy Studies faculty have collaborated on a new paper that examines offshore
well plugging and abandoning (P&A) liabilities and provides guidance to federal policy
makers during the formulation of P&A programs. Part of an oil and gas research initiative
at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, the study identifies at least
three objectives of potential P&A programs: reducing future financial P&A liability
for tax payers, lowering environmental risk, and preserving or increasing employment
while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Findings include:
- As of the end of 2020, approximately 22,000 offshore oil and gas wells in the United States were not permanently P&Aed. The cost to P&A all of these wells is estimated at approximately $47 billion.
- Studies show that, because leaks from wells in shallow water and closer to shore pose greater environmental risks than those from wells farther offshore, and because P&Aing deeper-water wells more expensive, the cost/benefit ratio of P&Aing wells nearer to shore is more favorable than that for offshore wells.
- P&A costs associated with certain inactive wells in shallow waters that are not likely to resume production is estimated at $8.3 billion.
- Over a 10-year period, approximately 10,500 jobs per year could be created through a P&A program for shallow-water wells.
- Oil and gas production is not expected to be impacted because the wells that would likely be P&Aed no longer produce significant quantities of hydrocarbons.
Authors are
- Mark Agerton, assistant professor, University of California-Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and nonresident scholar, Center for Energy Studies, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy;
- Siddhartha Narra, research associate, LSU Center for Energy Studies;
- Brian Snyder, associate professor, LSU Department of Environmental Sciences; and
- Gregory B. Upton, Jr., (corresponding author), associate professor, LSU Center for Energy Studies.
Posted March 29, 2022
Upton, Nehiba Provide Comment on EPA's Proposed RFS Small Refinery Exemption Decision
In December 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to deny
more than 60 pending small refinery exemption (SRE) petitions from small refineries
that were requesting an exemption from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.
The RFS is a federal program that requires transportation fuel sold in the United
States to contain a minimum amount of renewable fuels, such as ethanol, blended into
the fuel purchased by consumers.
Center for Energy Studies Associate Professor-Research Greg Upton and Assistant Professor-Research Cody Nehiba provided an opinion on two specific claims made by the EPA in its proposal. Their expert opinion was submitted to the EPA in Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0566.
Perkins Coie LLP, 20 small refineries with diverse geographic dispersion, and three anonymous academic reviewers were given the opportunity to review and provide feedback on this report. The analysis and opinions expressed, however, are those of the authors alone.
Posted January 10, 2022
Decarbonization Topic of ASSA Session
At this year’s meeting of the Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA), Center for
Energy Studies Associate Professor Greg Upton, and University of California-Davis
Professor Mark Agerton organized, and served as moderators for, a panel discussion
titled, “Decarbonizing the Global Economy: Balancing Economic Efficiency and Political
Feasibility.” The panel, hosted by the International Association for Energy Economics
(IAEE), was held virtually on Saturday, January 8. Panelists included Robert N. Stavins,
Harvard University; Barry Rabe, University of Michigan; Adam Sieminski, King Abdullah
Petroleum Studies & Research Center (KAPSARC); and Garret Graves, United States House
of Representatives.
Panelists discussed decarbonization policies in terms of both economic efficiency
and political feasibility. Panelists also brought a variety of perspectives, including
economics, political science, industry, and government.
The discussion was recorded and is available on the CES YouTube channel.