Exxon Mobil Considering Huge Expansion To Its Beaumont Refinery (Texas); July 29, 2014

Yet on today's agenda: SM Energy should report earnings today after the market closes.

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US Could Be Energy Independent By 2020

Well, Duh 

Nuclear, Coal, Natural Gas, and Oil

Wind, Solar, Hydroelectric

Yahoo!Finance is reporting:

Despite the Keystone XL pipeline still waiting final approval (currently in a review process that won’t be finished until after the 2014 midterm), one thing that is for certain is the North American energy renaissance is for real. Domestic production of crude oil and natural gas is on the rise, as the U.S. eyes the possibility of finally achieving energy independence.

Back in 2006, President Bush in his state of the union address presented the case that the U.S. was addicted to oil. While domestic consumption of oil is down from those days, current consumption and rising demand from abroad could keep this industry chugging along nicely in the U.S.

Count equity strategist David Lefkowitz of UBS among the believers. Lefkowitz is convinced that within the next decade, the U.S. will finally achieve energy independence. Not only that, but Lefkowitz believes a domestic surplus of natural gas will then make the U.S. a net exporter of the commodity.

T. Boone Pickens knew this five years ago, that the US could be energy independent; if not the "US," certainly North America. But Algore et al have done everything in their power to delay the inevitable.

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XOM Might Expand Beaumont Refinery (Houston)

This is really cool. Earlier this morning I posted a link to an RBN Energy blog in which RBN continued its analysis of the tsunami of oil hitting the Houston area which is quickly running out of storage and refinery capacity. A reader sent me a link to this story. Dallas Business Journal is reporting:

Exxon Mobil reportedly is considering a major expansion of its Beaumont refinery in response to the U.S. shale boom, according to Reuters.

People with knowledge of the situation told Reuters a potential multibillion-dollar expansion of the 344,600-barrel-per-day refinery could expand it to at least 500,000 bpd or possibly as much as 700,000 bpd. The expansion could be complete by 2020 and would include adding a third crude distillation unit.

2020 is just around the corner.

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The Next Big Thing

In an unrelated note, Bloomberg is reporting that Bloom Energy may have hit a tipping point:

Exelon Corp., largest U.S. producer of nuclear power, agreed to buy fuel-cell power plants with 21 megawatts of capacity that Bloom Energy Corp. plans to install at 75 corporate sites in four states.

Commercial customers including AT&T Inc. will purchase the electricity, often at a premium to a utility's grid price, for each plant's ability to provide power locally with less pollution and more reliability than the grid, said KR Sridhar, Bloom's co-founder and CEO.

The deal shows the growing interest in fuel cell generators, which produce electricity where it's consumed from natural gas through a chemical reaction that produces fewer carbon emissions than plants that burn fuel. It's Exelon's first investment in systems from Bloom, which will operate and maintain them, the Chicago-based utility owner said.

A huge thank-you to Steve for sending me this note also. 

Comment: when oil was a few dollars/bbl and gasoline cost 32 cents/gallon, there was not a lot of incentive to look for less expensive alternatives. Now, for many reasons, more than just cost, there's a lot of incentive to look for alternate sources, and early adapters are doing just that. Wiki says:
Bloom stated that two hundred servers have been deployed in California for corporations including eBay, Google, and Wal-Mart.