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News & Events
December 19, 2019
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Gulf Coast Energy Outlook 2020 Released with Kickoff Event
The LSU Center for Energy Studies and the E. J. Ourso College of Business released the 2020 Gulf Coast Energy Outlook with a kickoff event on Wednesday, November 6. The 2020 GCEO examines trends in upstream oil and gas activity, transportation infrastructure and bottlenecks, and downstream investments in refining and petrochemicals. Energy sector-specific employment forecasts are also provided.
Findings include:
- Drilling activity has slowed this past year, and this slowed pace is expected to continue given low oil and natural gas price forecasts.
- While drilling activity has slowed, production continues to rise due to continued well productivity.
- Increased oil and natural gas production has led to significant and continued pipeline investment opportunities.
- Industrial development and capital expenditures for both Louisiana and Texas have slowed in 2019, but are anticipated to rebound in 2020 through 2023.
David E. Dismukes, executive director and professor, LSU Center for Energy Studies; Dek Terrell, professor, LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business; and Gregory B. Upton, Jr., assistant professor, LSU Center for Energy Studies, authored the report.
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CES Welcomes New Research Faculty
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Assistant Professor
Cody Nehiba
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In August, the Center welcomed two new faculty members, Assistant Professors Cody S. Nehiba and Brittany L. Tarufelli.
Nehiba specializes in the fields of environmental, public, and urban economics. His research examines the regulation of negative externalities with specific focuses on the
transportation sector and fossil fuel taxation. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Irvine, and a B.A. in economics from Augsburg University in Minneapolis.
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Assistant Professor
Brittany Tarufelli
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Tarufelli is an applied microeconomist studying relationships between public policy, energy markets, and the environment. Her research evaluates the ongoing transition to clean energy, focusing on interactions between sub-global environmental policies and energy market designs.
As a Ph.D. candidate, she served in the Office of Energy Poli
cy and Innovation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
Tarufelli holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of
Wyoming, an M.S. in business economics from the University of Amsterdam, and a B.S. in financial analysis from Louisiana State University Shreveport. Prior to her doctoral
studies, Brittany worked at "Big Four" accounting firms as a strategy and management consultant in four nations.
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2020-21 Louisiana Economic Outlook Released
LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business Professor Emeritus of Economics Loren Scott unveiled the 2020-21 Louisiana Economic Outlook (LEO) at The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report's annual Top 100 Luncheon, held Sept. 24, 2019. Greg Upton, assistant professor at the Center for Energy Studies, contributed to the LEO.
The LEO shows job growth picking up over the next two years after a slow period in 2018-19 and estimates that the state will add 53,800 jobs over 2020-21, surpassing the two-million-job mark annually for the first time in its history.
Read the full press release.
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Dismukes: PURPA Reform Will Protect Utility Ratepayers
In July, David E. Dismukes, CES professor and executive director, published research recommending the immediate reform of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, or PURPA, a piece of federal legislation adopted during the energy crises of the 1970s and early 1980s.
The research finds that PURPA's overly-generous and unnecessary "buy-back" provisions have led to the development of around 70,000 megawatts (MW) of excessive renewable generation capacity equivalent to more than $100 billion in new capital investment that is being paid for by retail utility ratepayers.
Dismukes notes that, in 1978, the year in which PURPA was passed, electric utilities were vertically integrated and highly regulated monopolies, and non-utility energy represented less than five percent of total U.S. power generation. At the time, PURPA tried to subject wholesale power generation to competition by introducing a host of new players and new capacity.
PURPA forced regulated utilities, who at the time owned all power transmission assets, and were the direct link to end-user customers, to purchase electricity from these new generation developers at a set of fixed prices and contract terms. At that time, PURPA represented "a disruptive piece of federal legislation" that ultimately helped to prove that electric power generation was not a natural monopoly and that competition could be sustained in the electric power industry. However, since then, electricity markets have undergone more than three decades worth of reform, making them highly competitive with numerous wholesale buyers and sellers.
Dismukes argues that PURPA's mandatory purchase requirements are not needed today, especially given the highly competitive nature of regional electricity markets and the regulatory provisions that require power transmission systems to be operated and governed to support open and non-discriminatory access. The mandatory buy-back provisions included in PURPA simply force utilities to purchase electricity generation capacity that is not needed at prices that do not reflect current market fundamentals. Ultimately, the financial liability of these federally mandated excess electricity purchases will be passed on to ratepayers.
Dismukes says that continuing to allow renewable developers to take advantage of these PURPA buyback provisions will continue to lead to long-term ratepayer financial burdens, incentivize uneconomic renewable energy capacity development, and ultimately increase ratepayer costs. Dismukes notes that PURPA reform "should eliminate a set of regressive and excessive subsidies that benefit large renewable generation developers and their investors-and burden retail ratepayers."
The Institute for Energy Research contributed to Dismukes' research.
View or download the paper.
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 In addition to the Gulf Coast Energy Outlook, the Louisiana Economic Outlook, and PURPA reform, recent CES faculty research includes work on
- the challenges of industrial carbon capture and storage
- Gulf of Mexico well trends, structure inventory and forecast models
- an update on the Louisiana and Texas rigs-to-reefs programs in the Gulf of Mexico
- a case study of Louisiana rooftop solar subsidies.
Publications featuring recent CES research include
- The Energy Journal
- International Journal of Sustainable Energy
- Offshore
- Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering
- Ocean Development and International Law
- Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering
- and more.
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Impressive Year for LSU Team
No, not that team. CES faculty have been quoted, and Center events referenced, in more than 35 items in local, national, and international news outlets this year. Topics include the findings of the Gulf Coast Energy Outlook, Louisiana's vulnerability to tariffs, economic impacts of the oil industry downturn in Acadiana, and the state's role in LNG exports.
View the list of CES news items.
The Twitter thread for the Gulf Coast Energy Outlook Kickoff earned nearly 14,000 impressions (the number of times a tweet shows up in somebody's timeline), thanks to a re-tweet by LSU. #score
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The Center hosted multiple and varied events during the summer and fall, ranging from full-scale conferences to small, informal informational meetings.
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Energy Summit 2019
CES hosted its annual fall conference
Energy Summit on Wednesday, Oct. 23, addressing the theme "Challenging Traditional Paradigms." Topics discussed included Austin Chalk developments, utility regulatory policy, trends in methane emissions, and the outlook for industrial construction. The more than 80 in attendance included representatives from the upstream oil and gas industry, pipeline companies, storage and mid-stream companies, petrochemical companies, gas and power utilities, state environmental and utility regulators, university students, faculty and staff, and news media.
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In September, the U.S. Department of State Foreign Press Centers brought several foreign journalists on an international reporting tour focused on energy diversity. The journalists represented Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Lithuania, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Vietnam. Greg Upton provided an overview of the U.S. energy sector and answered their questions. The group also traveled to Austin, Texas.
Earlier in the year, representatives from Australia's Northern Territory visited the Center to learn about Louisiana's energy industry. The Northern Territory has abundant natural gas reserves located in shale rock. David Dismukes provided an overview of Louisiana's energy landscape, including a review of domestic shale gas basins and plays, as well as an industry outlook. The meeting was organized by Greater New Orleans, Inc. and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.
In May, six journalists from Germany visited the Center to discuss Louisiana's liquefied natural gas developments, carbon capture and storage, and solar. The Germans' visit, organized by the U.S. Department of State, included a presentation by David Dismukes titled, "Overview of Louisiana LNG issues and trends," as well as a tour of a liquefied natural gas facility in Lake Charles with Greg Upton. Dismukes and Upton were also interviewed for a German radio program.
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Third Annual Coastal Symposium
On October 18 & 19, LGS and the New Orleans Geological Society hosted the Third Annual Coastal Symposium, an academic Louisiana coastal conference for engineers, geographers, and policy makers from across the range of geoscience-related disciplines. Topics covered interpretations and insights into Louisiana coastal geology, both onshore and offshore, geophysics, geomorphology, and geography.
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Energy Kingdoms Book Signing
On Nov. 13, the Center hosted Jim Krane, Ph.D., of Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. Krane discussed his book Energy Kingdoms: Oil and Political Survival in the Persian Gulf and described how traditional Persian Gulf monarchs have used oil to remain in power. Faculty and students from LSU's departments of Environmental Sciences, Petroleum Engineering, Geography & Anthropology, and Political Science attended. LSU Bookstore (Barnes & Noble) was on hand for the book sale and sold several copies after the event.
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Mark your 2020 calendar
March 23 & 24 -
Louisiana Water Conference: A gathering of scientists specializing in hydrology, water chemistry, hydraulic modeling, sediments, and more.
May 20 -
Louisiana Oil and Gas Symposium 2020: A symposium examining the state of the Louisiana oil and gas industry, its economics, and its future.
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Scholarships Available for 2020-2021
The Center for Energy Studies is now accepting applications for its four energy-related scholarships for LSU students for the 2020-2021 academic year.
The application deadline is March 31, 2020.
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Questions or comments?
Contact us at ces@lsu.edu
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