If you haven’t been near a computer, television or radio, benchmark oil prices are down about 40% from June. Given the ubiquitous media coverage, it can be hard to cut through the noise to find more insightful analysis and different views. (Liam Denning has an interesting piece in the Journal today that discusses Saudi pricing… Keep reading →
Oil market observers will take a break from their Turkey preparations this Thursday to see whether Opec producers decide to cut oil output in a bid to stabilize prices. The meeting being held in Vienna will be long over by the time folks in the US sit down to Thanksgiving dinner. But there is no… Keep reading →
There is a contentious debate underway regarding mandated ethanol blending into gasoline that touches on issues like food versus fuel and the sanctity of free markets. The severe drought that hit the US this past summer reduced corn crop yields – a major ethanol feedstock – and sparked calls for a waiver of the Renewable Fuels Standard that reportedly uses some 40% of the US corn crop to produce ethanol.
When Breaking Energy recently sat down with two industry analysts and asked them about mandated ethanol blending, we received decidedly anti-RFS viewpoints. In this video, David Rewcastle, Senior Energy Analyst with Source Capital Group and Michael Lynch, President and Director of Global Petroleum Service with Strategic Energy Economic Research explain why government-mandated ethanol blending into gasoline is flawed and suggest how the system might be improved. Keep reading →
Investors are always looking for broad trends within industries that can provide clues to which equities might unlock the most value. The growth in US oil and gas production over the past few years has been all over the headlines, but with thousands of producers, contractors and suppliers contributing to the boom, where can investors focus their attention within the equity markets?
In this video, Breaking Energy speaks with experts David Rewcastle, Senior Energy Analyst with Source Capital Group and Michael Lynch, President and Director of Global Petroleum Service with Strategic Energy Economic Research about which types of companies they expect to benefit from surging US petroleum output. Keep reading →
Exporting crude oil from the US has been a politically divisive issue given given the country’s significant level of import dependence, which has dramatically declined in recent years with the shale gas and tight oil production boom.
This domestic liquids production increase – which is primarily light and sweet – fetches higher prices on the international market than the lower quality grades many refineries along the Gulf Coast have been configured to process. This has led some industry watchers and analysts to suggest that it would make economic sense to export surplus crude and liquids while purchasing cheaper heavy oil from global markets that can be efficiently refined into gasoline and other finished products here in the US. Keep reading →
The concept of the United States being energy independent has been around for decades, with the past 8 US presidents calling for it and even suggesting dates by when it might be achieved. However, the recent ramp up in domestic oil and gas production has drastically reduced oil imports and rejuvenated the discussion, with some believing the long sought-after goal could finally be around the corner.
Some have suggested that North American energy independence – including petroleum exports – is a more realistic pursuit. Others maintain energy security is what really matters and that it’s impossible and even undesirable to disconnect the US from the global oil market. Keep reading →
The Marcellus Shale is living up to its promise.
The biggest portion of the massive Appalachian gas field – that underlying Pennsylvania – produced 895 billion cubic feet of gas in the first half of 2012, more than twice as much as it did a year earlier, and 42 percent more than in the second half of last year. Keep reading →
Prices for natural gas are headed lower after a hot summer showed signs of the first boost in pricing for the fuel on which the US energy sector is increasingly relying.
With the approaching end of the cooling season and continued strong supply from domestic gas producers, prices are likely to revert to their earlier trading range between $2 and $3 per million BTU, predicted Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research, a Massachusetts consultancy. Keep reading →
Natural gas producers in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale will have to comply with local zoning codes after a state appellate court struck down a new law that sought to pre-empt municipal ordinances with a statewide land-use standard.
Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court said Thursday that the pre-emption provisions in the controversial Act 13 were unconstitutional because they allow incompatible uses in zoning areas and fail to protect the interests of neighboring property owners. Keep reading →
Natural gas industry calls for relying on statewide standards of regulation received a setback when a Pennsylvania court placed a temporary injunction on a new law that limits local control over the industry.
Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Keith Quigley ordered on April 11 that local ordinances over zoning for oil and gas installations must remain in place for the time being, placing a temporary hold on part of Pennsylvania’s new Act 13, a wide-ranging law governing development of the Marcellus Shale, one of America’s biggest natural gas fields. Keep reading →
