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 →
Those familiar with the US oil and gas industry probably saw the now famous picture of North Dakota from space at night that depicts widespread natural gas flaring. As hydrocarbon production – primarily oil – rapidly increases, new wells in remote areas often flare natural gas until gathering pipelines are constructed to transport the gas… Keep reading →
By Brad Quick A handful of counties in North Dakota are churning out more oil and gas than the entire state of Alaska. Welcome to the Bakken, the jewel of The Rough Rider State. But a look beyond the drillers working the state’s Bakken field reveals many players who see another opportunity: building North Dakota’s infrastructure. In May,… Keep reading →
The US oil and gas market offers something that virtually no other market in the world does – easy entry for non-traditional investors, who are helping to bolster the capital available for much-needed infrastructure buildout. The US oil and gas market is one of few in the world, if not the only one, that features… Keep reading →
Though it’s not easy to quantify exactly how much the recent US oil & gas production boom contributes to GDP growth, the CME Group’s Chief Economist Blu Putnam gives it a go. Read an exclusive Breaking Energy interview with Blu Putnam here. Since 2005 US oil production increased 29% and natural gas output rose 33%,… Keep reading →
In a departure from the large-scale infrastructure proposals that dominate international development politics, a thinktank, Fuel Freedom Foundation, funded by tech entrepreneurs Joseph Hollander and Eyal Aronoff proposes smaller scale investments to leverage local fuel availability, although early models rely on numbers from developed economies. The UN Secretary General’s Sustainable Energy for All campaign and… Keep reading →
Investment bank Raymond James has updated its US oil and natural gas liquids production forecast, with new estimates suggesting that the country could produce enough oil to satisfy domestic demand in less than ten years’ time. “The U.S. could easily be approaching the ‘holy grail’ of net oil ‘energy independence’ toward the end of the… Keep reading →
Supporters of coal have called the planned new rules from the EPA on CO2 emissions from coal-fired power generation a war on coal and have pledged to fight the rule-making process. It is true that there will almost certainly not be a new coal-fired electric generating station built in the U.S. for at least the… Keep reading →
A question that frequently surfaces in discussions about energy and environment is why we continue to use fossil fuels, rather than transition to cleaner energy sources, given the threats posed by climate change. According to Statoil chief economist Eirik Wærness, no one has identified a means of sustaining acceptable levels of economic growth without them.… Keep reading →
The dramatic shift in the US natural gas sector over the past five years calls for a rethink of at least some aspects of natural gas policy. But heated debates over its economic and environmental impacts, and uncertain progress on regulatory and legislative changes, show how elusive agreement on a new policy trajectory can be.… Keep reading →
