The Political Page, The Market And Energy Page -- Yeah, Sometimes They Overlap -- March 19, 2018 -- Groningen To Be Cut -- Huge News For US LNG Exports

Wow, I'm off the net for one hour while biking back from the library and so much news pops up in that one hour.

First, most important: TSLA shares plunge. Hard to say why. The market in general has plunged, but there have been a lot of red flags around Tesla the past two weeks. But then this, just being reported today, at WSJ: Uber suspends driverless-car program after pedestrian killed. The Arizona test program was a big, big deal for all involved. My hunch: the shutdown will be temporary. The implications will last a lot longer. Phantom Touch, Vampire Drain, and now Pedestrian Pain.

Second, and more interesting, at least for me: Groningen natural gas field production cut decision by Mar 31: minister. Reported over at Platts.

Dutch economy minister Eric Wiebes will send a letter to the country's Cabinet containing details of a major cut to extraction levels at the Groningen gas field by March 31 at the latest.
Last Thursday, when Wiebes visited the damage claims desk in Groningen, he told local media he would send a letter about the future of gas extraction at Groningen by the end of March.

The current production quota for the 2017-18 Gas Year ending September 30 is 21.6 Bcm.

Following a 3.4-magnitude earthquake in the northern Dutch province of Groningen on January 8, with reports saying the quake was related to gas extraction, Wiebes said Groningen gas production could be cut by up to 2 Bcm in the current gas year, depending on temperatures.

Dutch gas regulator SodM also recommended a 12 Bcm/year cap on gas output from Groningen be introduced.

However, the final decision is up to Wiebes and he was expected to announce a production cut for the current gas year by March.

Groningen is not linked at the sidebar at the right; maybe it should be. LOL. It's easy to find -- just "google/search" Groningen on the blog.

Third: international Saudi Aramco IPO shelved. Will list IPO on Saudi exchange only, for time being.

• Saudi Arabia is walking back plans for a massive public share offering for state oil giant Aramco, the world's biggest oil company, on a big international stock exchange.
• Aramco is now expected to move forward with a listing on the Saudi stock exchange, with plans for an international listing at least temporarily shelved.
• Aramco said a range of international listing options were still under consideration.