There have been lots of recent headlines about how much money the governments of oil exporting nations will lose as a result of declining oil prices. But these countries will really just earn less money than they would from selling their product at a higher price. The price of oil has never been static and… Keep reading →
In its goal of pursuing statehood, the Islamic State became an oil state at the worst time. When international oil prices were trading closer to $100/bbl, it’s estimated that IS could have been making $6 million a day from black market oil sales. The oil price decline is altering the way IS conducts its business… Keep reading →
Argentina needs foreign technical and financial assistance to tap its considerable shale resources. Unable to access international debt and capital markets after a recent default, the country is restructuring legislation to make investment opportunities more attractive to international oil companies. [Reuters] Global accounting firm Ernst & Young released its latest quarterly Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness… Keep reading →
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation – NNPC – allegedly withheld $49.8 billion of oil revenue from the Nigerian government and recently sought to explain what happened to $10.8 billion of that sum. Corruption has long plagued the Nigerian oil industry and the country ranked 144th out of 177 nations analyzed in Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption… Keep reading →
Domestic Saudi Arabian oil consumption increasingly cuts into oil exports, reducing the valuable revenue those exported barrels provide, which funds the country’s current account surplus. Subsidized domestic prices incentivize direct burning crude to generate power needed to cool a growing Saudi population. As the Kingdom shifts more to natural gas for power generation – freeing… Keep reading →
“The world has failed us,” Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa recently said regarding a missed opportunity to preserve pristine Amazon rainforest from oil development. The government offered to forgo drilling in the oil-rich region if the international community donated $3.6 billion to a preservation trust fund. The initiative reportedly raised only $13 million. The proposal dates… Keep reading →
