The issue of exporting US crude oil – essentially banned since the 1970’s energy crisis – is gaining steam, as US domestic oil production volumes increase to levels few thought possible just a few years ago. Amid this environment of surging incremental production, certain high-profile industry and high-ranking government officials soften to the idea of… Keep reading →
Mexico’s legislature recently passed historic energy reforms designed to attract desperately-needed foreign direct investment to the inefficient nationalized energy sector for the first time since 1938. This was when then-President Lázaro Cárdenas seized fields from U.S. and British companies and made oil at all stages of production, refining and distribution constitutionally guaranteed legal property of… Keep reading →
It might the hottest issue in solar, but a leading analyst says not to worry – for now, at least. We’re talking about the debate over net metering – NEM, for net energy metering, by the industry’s nomenclature. Utilities have been pushing back against NEM policies that often reward solar power system owners at the… Keep reading →
Germany is facing an energy paradox where significant increases in renewably-generated power – mostly from wind and solar – are being surpassed by increases in coal-fired power. Part of the reason stems from the country’s decision to phase out its nuclear fleet. A majority of the nuclear generation capacity that has come offline – 8… Keep reading →
Near record low temperatures today in New York and Boston are driving up spot gas and power prices, as utilities struggle to obtain power generation fuel amid pipeline constraints caused by surging demand. Some East Coast generators have taken to burning oil in cases where they cannot source natural gas fast enough or in adequate… Keep reading →
First there were the Gasland movies, then Matt Damon’s Promised Land, more recently celebrities were acting silly on You Tube, and now it appears a fracking-related zombie film is set to hit theaters (or streaming video services) later this year. While the film will clearly not be the science-based discourse this important issues deserves, as… Keep reading →
Freezing weather throughout much of the US is sending spot energy prices soaring. “Natural gas for next-day delivery on the Transco pipeline into New York rose to a record $90 per million British thermal units on Monday, up 660 per cent from last week’s close and 20 times more than benchmark futures prices, according to… Keep reading →
DOE reports the U.S. at the forefront of the global fuel cell industry with significant advancements in the fuel cell and hydrogen technologies market. On December 19, 2013, the Department of Energy (DOE) released three reports highlighting strong progress in the U.S. fuel cell and hydrogen technologies market. The U.S. remains at the forefront of… 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 →
Like any other asset, crude oil trades on supply as well as demand. And while an improving U.S. economy can be expected to boost the demand for oil, a stronger supply picture should take any wind out of oil’s sales in 2014. “Although the U.S. economic growth story might make it seem as though… Keep reading →
