What are US oil and gas producers most concerned about in the current oil price environment and over the longer term? Financial advisory and consulting firm BDO took a stab at answering that question in their annual BDO Oil and Gas RiskFactor Report, which analyzes the risks listed in the most recent 10-K filings of the… Keep reading →
With the global oil market in a situation where futures contract prices are higher than prevailing prices – known by traders as contango – there is an incentive to purchase crude now and hold it until oil prices recover. Indeed, the world’s largest trading houses have been chartering tankers and shares of oil tanker companies… Keep reading →
Will it make a difference? Maybe. Certainly the fact that the Risky Business Project is fronted by a bipartisan and big-money bunch gives a high-profile twist to the U.S. climate-change discussion, at least in the short term. Led by former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, ex-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer, the… Keep reading →
In the last article of Breaking Energy’s series on Myanmar, we take a look at the state of foreign investment. For more on the challenges facing the government and how the country uses electricity, see the first article. For details on the government’s pricing structure and demand projections, see the second article. While residents… Keep reading →
The energy industry has the opportunity to become a leader rather than a laggard on climate change risk analysis by embracing the evaluation of risks and applying its significant financial and management resources to the improvement of climate resiliency. A new National Climate Assessment is set for release in late April 2014, and one of… Keep reading →
There are some words in the business world that become swiftly debased: innovation and cleantech are, along with “crowd” anything, are among the worst of recent offenders. But that doesn’t mean that any of these terms fail to represent meaningful concepts for energy sector decision-makers, and if anything participants in energy business decision… Keep reading →
No doubt the Energy and Utilities industry has witnessed increasing complexity and significant challenges in recent years, centering around compliance issues, competitive pricing pressures, and business continuity. These issues, amongst others, will remain the focus for Board and Management’s corporate strategy and 2014 planning meetings around the world. Looking back on year 2013, and ahead… Keep reading →
The US power sector is just beginning to understand the extent of the challenge it faces in replacing a retiring workforce, and to take steps to address it. But even if utilities manage to fill vacant positions, it remains to be seen how smoothly they can integrate a new generation of workers, and how long… Keep reading →
After many years of essentially never worrying about power delivery, the past decade has brought an accelerating number of service interruptions to the citizens of the United States and steadily raised concerns about the sources of their energy alongside renewed interest in details of the system’s functioning. Those of us who have been working in… Keep reading →
The energy finance community has been eagerly anticipating the introduction of solar asset-backed securities – “solar securitization,” – for at least three years, and may be waiting for another year or more. But sooner or later, securitization is coming to solar finance, and when it does, it will have a profound impact on the pace… Keep reading →
