Leave it to good old T. Boone Pickens to compare frog boiling with the US-Opec strategic relationship. Pickens today posted a piece on LinkedIn promoting his ‘Pickens Plan’ – a multi-pronged approach to eliminating US oil imports – that harkened back to President Nixon’s promise of US energy independence. In 1973, President Nixon said: “Let… Keep reading →
Washington’s relationship with Riyadh has always been focused on mutually-beneficial policies, while politely ignoring considerable societal differences. There have certainly been periods of ideological conflict, but the House of Saud and the Obama Administration currently find themselves very far apart on several important issues. And while leadership in Washington thus far appears relatively unconcerned –… Keep reading →
Two of the oil industry’s more colorful chief executives – Total’s Christophe de Margerie and Eni’s Paolo Scaroni – provided some choice remarks on a range of energy-related topics yesterday at a Council on Foreign Relations event, The Future of Energy. They were joined by Michael Levi, director of the Council’s program on energy security… Keep reading →
Only Saudis & Russians pump more oil According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), US will surpass Russia in total production of liquid fuels in 3rd Qtr. 2013 – that includes crude oil plus biofuels like ethanol. Moreover, US is now the third largest crude oil producer behind Saudi Arabia and barely trailing Russia. Saudi… Keep reading →
Saudi Arabia’s early history dates back 15,000 to 20,000 years, but the modern Kingdom, founded on this day in 1932, has since become the most powerful Opec member and the world’s most influential oil exporter. “Since King Abdulaziz Al-Saud established the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, its transformation has been astonishing…On September 23,… Keep reading →
In 1956, a little-known geologist named Marion King Hubbert published a paper predicting that oil supplies were destined to reach a peak as the cheap and easy to tap reservoirs were depleted over time. He predicted that US oil production would peak somewhere between the late 1960s to early 1970s. Others, including oil financier Mathew… Keep reading →
Global benchmark oil prices in the spotlight for the past few weeks amid Middle East and North African supply concerns have arguably been tempered by strong North American output keeping the global market adequately supplied. How long can this dynamic persist, however? Respected analyst Amy Myers Jaffe delves into this question in a recent Fuel… Keep reading →
Saudi Arabia has taken another step towards building up its nuclear power generation capacity by signing a Memorandum of Understanding for in-country collaboration with Westinghouse Electricity, Exelon Nuclear Partners and Toshiba. Nuclear could be a key tool in managing a mismatch between rising in-country energy consumption and a heavy dependence on oil exports to meet… Keep reading →
Domestic Saudi Arabian oil consumption increasingly cuts into oil exports, reducing the valuable revenue those exported barrels provide, which funds the country’s current account surplus. Subsidized domestic prices incentivize direct burning crude to generate power needed to cool a growing Saudi population. As the Kingdom shifts more to natural gas for power generation – freeing… Keep reading →
Forget Syria, Here’s a Real Oil Market Supply Concern
By Jared AndersonIt made for great headlines, but the Syrian conflict never posed a serious risk to global oil supplies. Syria’s domestic production has dwindled and civil war ground exports down to virtually nothing last year. Escalating violence in Egypt, however, presents much more serious global oil market risk. Insurgents displeased with the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood… Keep reading →