The International Energy Agency’s December Oil Market Report considers the market reaction to last month’s interim agreement signed by Iran and the P5+1 nations. The OECD oil market watchdog says the oil market mostly took the deal in stride and numerous other factors are exerting greater pressure on oil price behavior than the six-month agreement… Keep reading →
A lawyer that represents utilities argues in an editorial the EPA’s Cross-state Air Pollution Rule enacted in 2011 causes lesser polluting states to subsidize some of the pollution reduction in states that emit greater volumes of harmful pollutants. The lesser polluting states also tend to have higher electricity costs and would thus be unfairly impacted… Keep reading →
Wednesday, 21 leading scientists, engineers and technical experts submitted a letter* to Governor Jerry Brown endorsing the benefits of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in California. The AP reported: The letter…comes after California adopted regulations requiring oil companies to test groundwater and disclose chemicals used in fracking. The group said the strict new rules, which become permanent in… Keep reading →
This Forbes piece profiles Noble Energy’s diverse portfolio of assets that may appear haphazard, but according to CEO Charles D. Davidson, “This isn’t an accident. This is a strategy.” [Forbes] A top oil and gas banker moves from Morgan Stanley to Credit Suisse. “Before making the move, Mr. McCabe was at Morgan Stanley, and has… Keep reading →
A proposal to tighten up the U.S.’s mess of 42 different energy incentives – more than two dozen of them short-term measures that frequently roil the markets as they expire or near expiration – is drawing a split reaction from the nation’s two largest renewable energy sectors. The American Wind Energy Association commended Sen. Max… Keep reading →
The value placed on sustainable business practices and investments made in companies that embrace environmentally-friendly sustainable operating procedures has truly become de rigueur. You can’t watch TV, walk through the supermarket or read a corporate website without getting bombarded by green, carbon-neutral, organic, energy-efficient messaging. But how much of this is green-washed hype and how… Keep reading →
More problems with the Renewable Fuel Standard – an ethanol and biodiesel US transportation fuel supply blending requirement – have arisen with fraud allegations against an Indiana company that sold 33.5 million renewable-fuel credits for biofuel it never produced. This is not the first time fraudulent renewable-fuel credits have disrupted the RIN market and the EPA has been… Keep reading →
The year 2013 marked a new era for sustainable energy and cleantech. Innovative sustainable technologies have started to mature and are getting closer to mainstream acceptance. Growing pains are over for many of these technologies and they can now simultaneously reduce cost and the energy intensity of products and production processes, while also improving the… Keep reading →
Although debunked for having nothing to do with natural gas development or hydraulic fracturing, anyone familiar with the internet has likely seen the now-famous clip of someone lighting tap water on fire in the activist documentary Gasland. In an effort to obtain baseline drinking water data in New York’s portion of the Marcellus Shale… Keep reading →
What Did the Oil Industry Learn From the Khodorkovsky Saga?
By Jared AndersonThe final chapter in one of early post-Soviet Russia’s most high-profile oil industry shakeups appears to be coming to a close with the largely symbolic pardon of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former head of Yukos. The company was one of Russia’s largest oil companies by reserves and production during the free-wheeling privatizations of the 1990’s when Soviet… Keep reading →