National Geographic says shrinking sea ice is causing the largest redrawing of its global atlas since the breakup of the Soviet Union. “Ice loss is accelerated in the Arctic because of a phenomenon known as the feedback loop: Thin ice is less reflective than thick ice, allowing more sunlight to be absorbed by the ocean,… Keep reading →
Industry veterans talk about “The Great Crew Change,” which is occurring as an older generation of experienced oil & gas industry employees retire. The new crew coming on to take their place is often made up of twenty- and thrity-somethings who see new opportunities in a booming industry. “The gap in generations resulted from the… Keep reading →
Scott O’Malia, a member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said in a recent speech that the commission lacks the technology necessary to effectively track communications between traders and futures exchanges operated by CME Group Inc. and IntercontinentalExchange Group Inc., where a bulk of the world’s oil and natural gas contracts are bought and sold.… Keep reading →
Analysis of the March 30 local elections from Turkey scholar Soner Cagaptay and former U.S. ambassador to Ankara James Jeffrey. On March 31, 2014, Soner Cagaptay and James Jeffrey addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Cagaptay, the Institute’s Beyer Family Fellow and Turkish Research Program director, is author of The Rise of Turkey: The… Keep reading →
The US could run afoul of the WTO if LNG export approvals are not more quickly granted. “In a report commissioned by the National Association of Manufacturers, he [James Bacchus] wrote, ‘The tables may be turned on the United States directly in the WTO, but also through other countries walking away from core principles that… Keep reading →
The Huntsman Corporation’s Peter Huntsman has this op-ed in USA Today that invokes a poll in which people were asked to respond to these statements: Some say that exporting American natural gas to other countries will increase economic growth, keep thousands employed, and help increase domestic production of natural gas. Others say that American natural gas should… Keep reading →
The US Department of Energy is conducting a test sale of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Five million barrels of sour crude are being offered for April, 2014 delivery from the West Hackberry and Big Hill sites on the US Gulf Coast. The sale is reportedly timed to coincide with US refiners’ annual… Keep reading →
The Saudis threatened to block fellow GCC member Qatar’s land and sea borders unless it cuts all Muslim Brotherhood ties, shuts down Al Jazeera and expels think tanks Brookings Doha Centre and the Rand Qatar Policy Institute. Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Doha last week to protest Qatar’s Muslim Brotherhood support,… Keep reading →
Continental Resources’ Chariman and Chief Executive Harold Hamm will not lose his controlling interest in the company as a result of divorce proceedings, according to an Oklahoma District Court judge. Continental is one of the largest oil producers operating in the Bakken Shale and Hamm’s roughly 124 million shares in the company are estimated to… Keep reading →
In a wide-ranging interview, Maria van der Hoeven, chief executive of the International Energy Agency said US oil production growth – which is heavily leveraged toward light, tight oil – is expected to plateau and decline post 2025. “The light tight oil revolution in the United States is changing the geographical map of oil trade.… Keep reading →
