Our Bubble Economy Is On Its Last Gasp

Over the years I’ve heard the cries of “Economic Collapse Ahead!” more times then I care to remember. I’m sure you have as well. Ever since the crash of 2007-2008, it seems like nearly every internet voice has claimed at one time or another, that we are headed for an apocalyptic market correction (and just […]

Inflation Watch: How Much $1 Used To Get You

Despite promises that inflation is “contained,” the dollar ain’t quite what it used to be…     Don’t Worry. Inflation is Well Contained according to your friends at the Federal Reserve. burning platform

British PM vows justice after ‘act of pure evil’

British Prime Minister David Cameron said this weekend that the apparent beheading of British aid worker David Haines by Islamic State militants was an “act of pure evil” and vowed to “hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice.” Cameron made the comments late Saturday after a video emerged online released by ISIL or […]

The Soft Patch In Oil Prices Is Here To Stay

Summary The world has been living with expensive oil for the past decade. Expensive oil is associated with higher capex on exploration and production. The current oversupply of oil is a secular, not a cyclical phenomenon: expect the soft patch in oil prices to persist. One good way of estimating whether oil is expensive or […]

The Seven Billionth Child

What is the future of this seven billionth child? The seven billionth child is here. The clock has stopped ticking. Past midnight on October 31, the symbolic seven billionth child was born into some mega spotlights. This time, the UN refrained from declaring one baby as the seven billionth child. Each country declared its own […]

Bakken Providing Jobs, Economic Growth

In a scene that is being played out in a number of areas across the country, residents of Williston, North Dakota are learning first-hand what a robust energy industry can do for a municipality. In fact, as economic development success stories go, few can top that of Williston, which has been going through a growth […]

With Gas Cut Off, Ukraine Looks West

Keeping Ukraine warm keeps Andriy Kobolev up at night. Mr. Kobolev, the head of Ukraine’s state energy company, Naftogaz, is scrambling to keep gas flowing into his country as winter looms. Russia’s energy giant, Gazprom, had provided a little more than half of Ukraine’s total gas supply, but suspended its shipments in June in the […]

Coal-to-gas displacement not to exceed 2012-2013 levels

At recent natural gas prices, analysts at Barclays Research said Friday that coal-to-gas displacement will not reach the heights it did in 2012 and 2013, with implied average coal displacement in 2014 of 2.5 Bcf/d, or about 74% of that in the previous year. “While current prices certainly are lower than the high levels during […]

White House, Pentagon say US ‘at war’ with ISIS

The White House and Pentagon acknowledged Friday that the U.S. “is at war” with the Islamic State — contradicting Secretary of State John Kerry and others who a day earlier refused to use that term, prompting criticism from lawmakers that the administration was downplaying the conflict. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest and Pentagon spokesman […]

Entire Leadership of ISIS Opposition Wiped Out by ‘Unexplained’ Explosion

Nearly fifty senior commanders of a major coalition of Islamic ‘moderates’ opposed to ISIS in Syria have been killed by an explosion at their secret command bunker as they met to discuss strategy against the the Islamic State. The blast in the Northwest region of Idlib, Syria on Tuesday killed senior members of rebel group […]

Exploding World, Cheap Oil

Geopolitical crises abound, but oil producers are still pumping — and pumping more than the world needs. Here’s a bit of a puzzler. The world is in flames, with an Islamist terrorist group on the rampage across the Middle East, the White House weighing another fight in Iraq, Russia and Europe still trading sanctions and […]

New Sanctions to Stall Exxon’s Arctic Oil Plans

Exxon Mobil’s ambitions in Russia appear to have been dashed, at least until the Ukraine crisis is resolved. As part of the latest round of sanctions against Russia, the United States government took aim at Exxon’s project in the Arctic Ocean, ordering American companies to cut off exports to Russian oil exploration within 14 days. […]

The Greatest Peak Oil Novel Ever Written

  Herman Melville never mentioned “peak whale oil” in his “Moby Dick”, published in 1851. But the novel can be understood taking into account the fact that the American whaling industry was going through its production peak just during those years. We may consider “Moby Dick” as the greatest peak oil novel ever written. In […]

Oil Price Plunge? It’s The Global Economy, Stupid!

The decline in the price of oil – in the face of surging geopolitical pandemonium – has been lauded as indicative of both US’ awesomeness in energy independence and a tax cut for Americans… but, as the following chart suggests, there may be another – much more realistic – explanation for why oil is plunging… […]

China Daily: “Western Sanctions Will Make Moscow Back The Chinese Yuan Against The Dollar”

The recent NATO summit in Wales, held against the background of the armed conflict in Ukraine, has brought back the Cold War atmosphere to Europe. NATO’s partnership with Russia remains formally suspended. In fact, NATO is treating Russia more as an adversary than a partner. The alliance is setting up a “Rapid Reaction Force” to […]

Oil and Gas Production – Has oil reached its peak?

To make petroleum takes millions of years and a lot of dead compressed animal and plant matter. Now unless there is a mass extinction on the horizon, then petroleum is clearly a non-renewable product. Knowing how much oil we have left has caused a fierce debate amongst many scientists. The oil companies say there is […]

How Technology is Revolutionising the Oil and Gas Industry

When a compressor at Chevron’s massive Sanha gas field off the coast of Southern Africa showed subtle signs of overloading, the first person to notice was not one of the crew on site but rather a drilling expert sitting in front of an array of screens and monitors high up in a Houston office tower […]

On Becoming an Ecomodernist

The last few years have seen the emergence of a new environmental movement — sometimes called ecomodernism, other times eco-pragmatism — that offers a positive vision of our environmental future, rejects Romantic ideas about nature as unscientific and reactionary, and embraces advanced technologies, including taboo ones, like nuclear power and genetically modified organisms, as necessary to reducing humankind’s ecological footprint. […]

Scotland’s $25 billion question: How much oil?

A week before Scotland votes on whether to split from the United Kingdom, a furious row has erupted over just how much oil the new state would have. The heart of Britain’s energy industry is in Scotland. Oil and gas firms, and their suppliers, employ about 200,000 people and contribute about £15 billion ($25 billion) […]

What Petrodollar: Russia, China To Create SWIFT Alternative

If, when in February Victoria Nuland infamously launched a (not so) covert campaign to replace the ruling Ukraine president oblivious to the human casualties, resulting in a civil war in east Ukraine, NATO encroachment along the borders of Russia, and a near-terminal escalation in hostilities between Ukraine, Russian, and various regional NATO members, the US […]

Islamic State’s Ultimate Goal: Saudi Arabia’s Oil Wells

For the terrorist group known as the Islamic State, Syria and Iraq were a good place to start their campaign, but in order to survive and prosper it knew from the outset that it had no choice but to set its sights on the ultimate prize: the oil fields of Saudi Arabia.  It is in […]

Data Avalanche and the ‘Great Crew Change’ in the Oil and Gas Industry

In an August article for McKinsey Insights the authors – Stefano Martinotti, Jim Nolten, and Jens Arne Steinsbø – write that “the rapid progress of technology such as big data and analytics, sensors, and control systems offers oil and gas companies the chance to automate high-cost, dangerous, or error-prone tasks”, thereby positioning themselves to significantly […]

International Energy Agency slashes oil demand outlook

The oil market has lost pace because of weak growth in Europe and slowdown in China, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday, cutting its estimates for demand. The growth in demand for oil this year and next will be markedly lower than expected, the IEA said, and this together with plentiful supply explains […]

If oil prices stay low for long, Putin and OPEC are headed for trouble

Oil plunged today below $100 a barrel, a psychological threshold that, if it holds, threatens the rulers of Russia and numerous OPEC states that rely on higher prices to mollify their populations. A critical question, then, is whether we are looking at a sustained period of lower prices or a blip before a swing back up. The […]

Whose consumption is killing the planet?

THE CONSEQUENCES of human-induced climate change are dire. Crop failures will increase. Severe weather and rising sea levels will wreak more havoc. Species are being wiped out by the hour–and the continued existence of our own is threatened. Even without the threat of climate change, we live in a world of vast inequality, where the […]

Saudi Reports Oil Cutback As OPEC Again Cuts Demand View

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia told OPEC it reduced its oil output in August by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), a cutback coinciding with a drop in oil prices towards the kingdom’s preferred level of $100 a barrel. In a monthly report issued on Wednesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries also cut its […]

Scotland independence vote sets North Sea oil industry on edge

Scotland’s independence vote has received a last-minute jolt of energy as polls show a surge by the Nationalist camp, which has effectively countered a mostly downbeat “No” campaign and picked holes in London’s claims to be a responsible custodian of North Sea oil. A week ahead of the September 18 referendum and with oil remaining […]

Global Food Supply May Not Meet Escalating Demand

As the world population continues to grow, by about 1 billion people every 12 to 14 years since the 1960s, the global food supply may not meet escalating demand — particularly for agriculturally poor countries in arid to semi-arid regions, such as Africa’s Sahel, that already depend on imports for much of their food supply. […]

US Boosts 2015 Oil Forecast As Shale Powers Push To 10 MMbpd

The U.S. government on Tuesday jacked up its forecast for oil production next year by 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) as the boom in shale oil drilling continues to confound expectations of slower growth. The U.S. Energy Information Administration now expects domestic output to rise to 9.53 million bpd, growing by around 1 million bpd […]

How Saudi Arabia Will Kick Its Oil Habit

Why you should care Because the world’s largest oil producer will soon run out of the “good sh*t.” How Saudi Arabia handles the transition will be a case study for future students everywhere. Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s biggest economy and the world’s largest oil producer, is running out of its black gold. Some estimate […]

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